ozarkmountaingal

Its a beautiful morning in the Ozarks today. On days like these it was time to start gathering firewood.

Even today wood is used to warm homes, man caves, and  workshops in the Ozarks.

When I was a child there had to be enough wood cut, split and stacked to last all winter. There were two stoves that had to be fed through out the winter. We had the cook stove that had to be fed. Then there was the potbelly stove to feed.

The cook stove had special requirements.  The wood had to be cut and split to fit into the firebox  of the stove. The fire when started had to have coals where you were wanting to cook.

I tried making a fire in my grandma’s one time. She had to redo it. She told me the way I making it would have all of the heat in the front of the stove. I guess that didn’t make good oven heat and made it more difficult to cook on it.

My grandpa did the outdoor chores. In the winter he would break the ice on the pond. Feed the animals, and milk the cow. Sometimes he would gather the eggs. Then he would dress up warmly and go hunt.

I still remember his hat that grandma had made for him.

It was very unique. On the front of the hat it had a duck’s bill on the back of the hat was a squirrel tail. If I remember right,  around the edge of the hat it had rabbit fur.

Grandpa never went hunting alone. He took his little dog with him. His little dog was a Jack Russell Terrier. It was mostly white, but had a couple of black spots on him. Of course his name was Spot.

Spot loved to go hunting. When he went with grandpa,  grandpa was sure to bring back something. A squirrel or two, some quail, maybe turkey or duck.  Grandpa kept the family fed.

To be continued