Identity – Childhood Memories Alphabet – H

H is for Hair

    As I was growing up, my Mother did not cut my hair. Mostly I had two braids. So I did not fix my own hair. I'm afraid that I was envious of girls who had curly hair. Because even when my braids were undone, my hair was only wavy straight. Also I thought it would be so neat to have red hair, but mine was and still is rather a plain light brown. [This was originally written about 10 years ago.]   It was when I was 9 years old, in the 4th grade, my Mom took me to a beauty parlor and my braids were cut off and I had a permanent. Mostly after that, my Mom gave me Toni home permanents and later I gave her home permanents.

H is for Hunting    

    My Dad did a lot of hunting. I can remember knowing that he went out early on winter mornings and hunted ducks and geese. We ate both of these when he was successful. I especially liked duck when my Mother would boil the duck(s) and take the meat off the bones and then roast it with bread dressing. In the fall, he usually went deer and elk hunting in Eastern Oregon. One of our friends and neighbors had served in World War II and had met a man from Eastern Oregon who invited him to come over and hunt after the war was over. This neighbor invited my Dad to go along. This became a tradition of about 25 years. They hunted in a group and usually there was venison and elk meat to eat each year. I liked both of these types of meat. One year my Dad decided to try bow hunting and he and some friends when to southeast Oregon and hunted antelope. Antelope meat was OK, but I like the others a little better. He also tried deer hunting with a bow and arrow.

   One of the special events for my Dad was the year he was invited by a different neighbor to join a group going to British Columbia to hunt. The original person was not able to go, so my Dad was a substitute to fill out the group. This was a guided hunt and most was by horseback. He hadn't ridden a horse for many years, but survived OK. He did shoot a moose, but was able to only bring back the horns. Other people who had shot moose shared their meat. They had the meat made into frankfurters. Even a part of a moose makes a large amount of frankfurters. We called them moose wienies and before they were used up I was really becoming tired of eating them.