FLORIDA MEMORIES FROM A FLORIDA NATIVE BY TOM ROUTZONG - I Remember Family
Family memories are things that you might want to pass down so they are not forgotten. Mine run from funny to serious.
Family memories are things that you might want to pass down so they are not forgotten. Mine run from funny to serious.
My family always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve at our house. My sister and I were usually the only kids present but the house was filled with aunts and uncles.
I will always remember what I got from my Aunt Rachel and Uncle Fred when I was six years old. Everyone had opened their gifts and my father told me to go out to the barn and check to see if Betsy had had her calf. When I got into the barn, there was my old bike freshly painted with a new seat, peddles and even a horn. I remember screaming and riding it into the house so happy I could hardly stand it. They had gotten the bike a week before and fixed it up for my gift. That was the best gift ever!
I will always remember what I got from my Aunt Rachel and Uncle Fred when I was six years old. Everyone had opened their gifts and my father told me to go out to the barn and check to see if Betsy had had her calf. When I got into the barn, there was my old bike freshly painted with a new seat, peddles and even a horn. I remember screaming and riding it into the house so happy I could hardly stand it. They had gotten the bike a week before and fixed it up for my gift. That was the best gift ever!
I can picture my sister Freddie now when her afternoon job was to collect eggs. She knew all the places to check and one place was in the shed in an old orange crate up on a shelf.
When she reached up to get the eggs, she came and told daddy that the hen pecked her on the hand so she must be setting. Daddy came and took the crate down and there was no chicken hen in there. There was a huge chicken snake eating the eggs. I can still hear my sister screaming all the way to the house. Needless to say, collecting eggs became my job after that.
When she reached up to get the eggs, she came and told daddy that the hen pecked her on the hand so she must be setting. Daddy came and took the crate down and there was no chicken hen in there. There was a huge chicken snake eating the eggs. I can still hear my sister screaming all the way to the house. Needless to say, collecting eggs became my job after that.
My father had several little tales he shared and I remember these the most. Gus Edwards, a lawyer and realtor, told daddy that if the next baby (me) was a boy, he would give him a lot right on the ocean in Cocoa Beach.
My daddy said to him, “No thanks, who would want land right on the beach filled with sand and sand spurs.”
This lot is right where Coconuts is today! Imagine what it would be worth now!
A year later Mr. Edwards sold daddy the thirty acres in West Cocoa where I grew up.
Another little comment - I remember daddy laughing and telling everyone was about Eddie his full-time helper in his building business. This guy worked for him for years. He was Mr. Eddie.
Every Friday daddy would pay him cash for the work week and on Monday, Eddie would ask if he could borrow some money. Daddy always loaned him some and after months of doing this Daddy asked him, “What in the hell do you do with all your money so fast”?
Eddie’s answer was, “Mr. Harry, you ain’t never been Eddie on a Saturday night.”
My father “hit the bottle” every weekend and kept it sitting in the windowsill in our kitchen. Right next to it, my mother kept a Real Kill bottle of bug spray. When my buddies came over they always kidded me and said, “Your daddy drinks bug spray!”
My daddy said to him, “No thanks, who would want land right on the beach filled with sand and sand spurs.”
This lot is right where Coconuts is today! Imagine what it would be worth now!
A year later Mr. Edwards sold daddy the thirty acres in West Cocoa where I grew up.
Another little comment - I remember daddy laughing and telling everyone was about Eddie his full-time helper in his building business. This guy worked for him for years. He was Mr. Eddie.
Every Friday daddy would pay him cash for the work week and on Monday, Eddie would ask if he could borrow some money. Daddy always loaned him some and after months of doing this Daddy asked him, “What in the hell do you do with all your money so fast”?
Eddie’s answer was, “Mr. Harry, you ain’t never been Eddie on a Saturday night.”
My father “hit the bottle” every weekend and kept it sitting in the windowsill in our kitchen. Right next to it, my mother kept a Real Kill bottle of bug spray. When my buddies came over they always kidded me and said, “Your daddy drinks bug spray!”
I must have been a good kid in daddy’s eyes since he only spanked me twice. I remember both parents saying when I was really young, our family dog jumped up and bit daddy for spanking me.
The next time happened when I was a teenager. Daddy was sitting on a bench in front of his work shed and I asked him if I could go somewhere and he said no. I then commented back, “Why not?”
That’s when this three-foot wide hand hit me on the butt and sent me sailing out into the yard. As I got up, he said, “That’s why”.
Needless to say, I didn’t question ask why again.
Speaking of spankings, my mother was the parent who used a switch way too often on me. Of course, my sister never got spanked.
The next time happened when I was a teenager. Daddy was sitting on a bench in front of his work shed and I asked him if I could go somewhere and he said no. I then commented back, “Why not?”
That’s when this three-foot wide hand hit me on the butt and sent me sailing out into the yard. As I got up, he said, “That’s why”.
Needless to say, I didn’t question ask why again.
Speaking of spankings, my mother was the parent who used a switch way too often on me. Of course, my sister never got spanked.
I remember being told to go cut her a switch and I knew it had to be very thin and about three feet long. It also had to be from our mulberry tree.
A switch was the decoration on our dining room table. She had a tall antique Hull vase that held “my switch”.
That vase is the one thing I regret not keeping when I settled the family estate.
A switch was the decoration on our dining room table. She had a tall antique Hull vase that held “my switch”.
That vase is the one thing I regret not keeping when I settled the family estate.
I remember getting my first kitten. A family friend’s cat had kittens and I got to pick out the one I wanted. I named her Kitty.
One day I was carrying Ketty around the pasture which was surrounded with an electric fence and I decided to see what would happen if I stuck Kitty to the “hot wire.”
My parents said they heard me screaming to the top of my lungs standing in front of the fence with both arms straight up and poor Kitty was still running through the pasture. The current passed through Kitty and shocked me! That was a good lesson learned.
Last but not least is this - when my mother would go to Georgia to visit family, my grandmother came and stayed with us. She would not cook one of our chickens that had been running free until she penned it up for five days to clean it out.
The day she was going to fix that chicken, my sister and I begged her to let us wring its neck like we had seen everyone else do.
She agreed and I got the chicken out of the cage and grabbed it’s neck and started twirling it around just like everyone else did. What I didn’t know was you had to jerk it up and down after twirling.
So, I threw the chicken down thinking it was dead but, oh no, she got up and started running away. My grandmother told us if we didn’t catch that chicken we were having liver for supper.
That was all we needed to hear, so we both chased the chicken until she feel over and we grabbed her and took her to our grandmother. That was a good fried chicken dinner rather that the liver and onions we almost got.
I suggest you think back and jot down some interesting things that happened to you so your family can hear about them.
FLORIDA MEMORIES FROM A FLORIDA NATIVE BY TOM ROUTZONG
Tom Routzong shares memories of old Florida
Copyright 2019 Tom Routzong
Contact Tom at:
Sunny Harbor Publishing
321-252-9874
[email protected]
One day I was carrying Ketty around the pasture which was surrounded with an electric fence and I decided to see what would happen if I stuck Kitty to the “hot wire.”
My parents said they heard me screaming to the top of my lungs standing in front of the fence with both arms straight up and poor Kitty was still running through the pasture. The current passed through Kitty and shocked me! That was a good lesson learned.
Last but not least is this - when my mother would go to Georgia to visit family, my grandmother came and stayed with us. She would not cook one of our chickens that had been running free until she penned it up for five days to clean it out.
The day she was going to fix that chicken, my sister and I begged her to let us wring its neck like we had seen everyone else do.
She agreed and I got the chicken out of the cage and grabbed it’s neck and started twirling it around just like everyone else did. What I didn’t know was you had to jerk it up and down after twirling.
So, I threw the chicken down thinking it was dead but, oh no, she got up and started running away. My grandmother told us if we didn’t catch that chicken we were having liver for supper.
That was all we needed to hear, so we both chased the chicken until she feel over and we grabbed her and took her to our grandmother. That was a good fried chicken dinner rather that the liver and onions we almost got.
I suggest you think back and jot down some interesting things that happened to you so your family can hear about them.
FLORIDA MEMORIES FROM A FLORIDA NATIVE BY TOM ROUTZONG
Tom Routzong shares memories of old Florida
Copyright 2019 Tom Routzong
Contact Tom at:
Sunny Harbor Publishing
321-252-9874
[email protected]
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