Book Excerpt: Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam (Spring Cleaning)

Written by LeAnn R. Ralph


Continued from page 1

I looked down atrepparttar bottle again. “But I thought this was for cars. And trucks.”

Dad shrugged. “Well, yes, I guess it is.”

“Then why are you using it onrepparttar 110873 tractor?”

My big brother, Ingman, waxed his car a couple of times a year, and my sister, Loretta, waxed her car as well. But I had never seen Dad wax anything.

“I wanted to get this done before I startrepparttar 110874 field work,” he said, “to help protectrepparttar 110875 paint.”

“Protectrepparttar 110876 paint? From what?”

“The sun," he explained. "Sun' s hard onrepparttar 110877 paint. Fades it."

I had to admit thatrepparttar 110878 tractor did look nice. The red parts were bright and shiny, like an apple that's been polished, andrepparttar 110879 white parts looked as clean as puffy clouds drifting across a blue summer sky.

“The sun would faderepparttar 110880 paint?"I asked. "Likerepparttar 110881 sun faded Mom’s curtains inrepparttar 110882 living room?”

The curtains had been white with gold and brown patterns that reminded me of leaves drifting torepparttar 110883 ground on a warm fall day. Mom said she likedrepparttar 110884 curtains because they were pretty and were made of heavy cotton and would be easy to wash. Except that afterrepparttar 110885 first summer,repparttar 110886 curtains didn't have gold and brown patterns anymore. They were mostly just white with pale brown streaks.

Mom saidrepparttar 110887 streaks made her curtains look like they were dirty, sorepparttar 110888 curtains had been replaced with something Mom called "drapes" that wererepparttar 110889 color of ripe corn. Yellow was my mother's favorite color. Mom said ifrepparttar 110890 sun faded her new drapes she was going to give up and leaverepparttar 110891 living room windows bare.

Byrepparttar 110892 smile on Dad’s face, I could tell he clearly rememberedrepparttar 110893 episode with Mom’s curtains.

“Yes, kind of like that,” he replied.

He reached into his back pocket, pulled out another rag and held it up.

It was a piece of Mom’s curtains.

"Mom's letting you use her curtains to waxrepparttar 110894 tractor?"

"Well, I don't know if she knows I'm using them to waxrepparttar 110895 tractor. They're not much good for curtains anymore, but they make dandy wiping rags."

I watched as my father rubbed a few more spots onrepparttar 110896 engine cowling. A breeze rustledrepparttar 110897 maple branches arched high above our heads. The maples didn't have leaves yet, but they were covered with fuzzy red buds that would soon turn into leaves. Fromrepparttar 110898 other side ofrepparttar 110899 barnyard fence, one of our cows bellowed. "Mooooooo!" she said.

I turned towardrepparttar 110900 barn and saw a dozen ofrepparttar 110901 cows standing byrepparttar 110902 fence, watching us. Most of our cows were black-and-white Holsteins.

Dad looked up and sawrepparttar 110903 cows too. "I guess they know it's almost time for their supper, don't they." He climbed offrepparttar 110904 stepladder and turned to me. "Since they all seem to be expecting it, I suppose I'd better put them inrepparttar 110905 barn and feed them. And you should probably go inrepparttar 110906 house and change out of your school clothes."

"What's Dad doing?" Mom asked when I walked intorepparttar 110907 kitchen a few minutes later. She sat byrepparttar 110908 kitchen table with a cup of coffee and an oatmeal cookie andrepparttar 110909 newspaper spread out in front of her. We had lots of newspapers at our house. One that came once a week, and one that came every day. Mom was readingrepparttar 110910 one that came every day.

"How did you know I was talking to Dad?" I asked as I set my books onrepparttar 110911 table.

"When you didn't come inrepparttar 110912 house right away, I poked my head outrepparttar 110913 door to see where you were," she replied.

I might have known. My mother hardly ever missed anything that went on aroundrepparttar 110914 place.

"Dad just got done waxingrepparttar 110915 tractor," I said.

"Dad's waxingrepparttar 110916 four-sixty?"

"With Turtle Wax. And he used your curtains."

Mom frowned. "My curtains? What inrepparttar 110917 world is he doing using my curtains?"

She paused. "Oh—you meanrepparttar 110918 curtains I put intorepparttar 110919 rag bag. I knew he was doing something withrepparttar 110920 tractor, but I didn't know he was waxing it."

The hollow feeling inrepparttar 110921 pit of my stomach suddenly reminded me I still had not yet eaten a snack. "What's for supper?"

"Meatballs and gravy and mashed potatoes," Mom said. "I suppose you're hungry right now, though, aren't you."

"I'm starving."

She turned to look atrepparttar 110922 clock. "I don't think you're starving inrepparttar 110923 literal sense, but we won't eat for at least an hour, so I suppose a couple of cookies would be all right."

Last weekend Loretta had baked a batch of oatmeal cookies. I reached intorepparttar 110924 canister onrepparttar 110925 counter. Usually my sister made ordinary oatmeal cookies, but this time she had added coconut.

After I had finished my cookies, I went upstairs to change my clothes, and then a little while later, Dad came inrepparttar 110926 house.

"I hear you've been doing y our spring cleaning," Mom said.

"My spring cleaning?" Dad replied. "Well, yes, I suppose you could say that. We paid good money forrepparttar 110927 big tractor and it doesn't hurt to keep it looking nice."

"I also heard you used my curtains."

"They're not much good for curtains anymore," Dad said.

My mother sighed. "No, they're not."

Dad grinned. "Especially not since you ripped them up into rags."

Mom turned and made her way over torepparttar 110928 table, graspingrepparttar 110929 back of one ofrepparttar 110930 kitchen chairs to keep her balance. It wasn't so much that Mom sat down. She collapsed. The polio hadn't left her legs with enough strength to allow her to sit down gracefully.

"Roy," she said to Dad after she had settled into her chair, "since when do you have time to waxrepparttar 110931 tractor, of all things?"

My father shrugged. "What else am I going to do on a beautiful spring day when I can't get out inrepparttar 110932 field yet? Those curtains were just what I needed to dorepparttar 110933 job. If you don't mind, I'd like to keep them out inrepparttar 110934 shed to use for polish rags."

"Well," Mom said, "I'm glad my curtains are good for something."

Although that wasrepparttar 110935 first time I saw Dad waxingrepparttar 110936 tractor, it certainly wasn'trepparttar 110937 last. Inrepparttar 110938 following years onrepparttar 110939 first nice spring day, he would getrepparttar 110940 four-sixty out to wax it before he startedrepparttar 110941 field work.

Every year, Mom and Loretta did their spring cleaning, too, washing walls and windows and curtains inrepparttar 110942 kitchen,repparttar 110943 living room,repparttar 110944 bathroom and all three bedrooms.

From what I could see, Dad had more fun than Mom and Loretta.

Instead of cleaningrepparttar 110945 curtains—he usedrepparttar 110946 curtains to do his cleaning.

*********************



LeAnn R. Ralph http://ruralroute2.com


News Release: Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam

Written by LeAnn R. Ralph


Continued from page 1

According to Midwest Book Review, Ralph's first book, Christmas In Dairyland: True Stories From A Wisconsin Farm "is a heartwarming anthology of true anecdotes of rural life on a Wisconsin dairy farm. Even though Wisconsin is still known as America's Dairyland, life on a family homestead is fast being replaced by corporate agribusiness, andrepparttar memories treasured in Christmas In Dairyland are quickly becoming unique milestones of an era needing to be preserved in thought and print forrepparttar 110872 sake of future generations. Christmas In Dairyland is simply wonderful reading and is a 'must' for all Wisconsin public library collections."

Ralph earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with a writing emphasis fromrepparttar 110873 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and also earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from UW-Whitewater. She worked as a newspaper reporter for nine years and also has taught English at a boys' boarding school. She isrepparttar 110874 editor ofrepparttar 110875 Wisconsin Regional Writer (the quarterly publication ofrepparttar 110876 Wisconsin Regional Writers' Assoc.).

Give Me a Home Whererepparttar 110877 Dairy Cows Roam and Christmas in Dairyland (True Stories from a Wisconsin Farm)are available through Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. For more information or to orderrepparttar 110878 books, visit www.ruralroute2.com or call LeAnn at (715) 962-3368.

Contact Information: LeAnn R. Ralph; E6689 970th Ave.; Colfax, WI 54730; (715) 962-3368 e-mail: bigpines@ruralroute2.com

LeAnn R. Ralph http://ruralroute2.com


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