Part Deux

Ok, Robin and Alice, I am back doing what I love to do best..., making a fool of myself with my own words. I expect to see your eyeball prints on this page each and every day.

I was supposed to go to the creek and have my biannual mid-winter bath last evening, but I became so busy exchanging emails that I forgot. Is tough; may have to wait 'til April. One thing I do need is a fresh supply of lye soap. I don't do any hog killing nowadays, so I have no fat to render and mix with wood ashes, which are the source of lye. Suppose I will order some off the net.

I bet most of you have never used lye soap, especially you young city slicker whipper snappers. The one thing I remember most about making the stuff is the amount of work involved. Mix the ingredients in a large kettle and cook over an open fire. That part is easy enough. Then comes the work; stirring and stirring for hours on end with a large wooden paddle. When the gob becomes thick enough so that the paddle will stand alone in it, it is done. Pour in a container such as an old cake pan, and allow to cool and harden for a week or so. Cut into hand sized blocks and have a ball in the old galvanized tub.

Granny made three different strengths by varying the amount of lye. The mildest was for washing clothes. The next was for washing grownups. The third and by far the strongest was a special creation for washing me. I am a natural born dirt attractor; I can walk within twenty feet of someone working on a car and I will get greasy. Mud holes seem to jump all over me. I get within shouting distance of soot and I resemble Al Jolson. Polecat stink can travel for miles just to settle on me.

Bath or no bath, I suppose I could change my bloomers. I've been wearing these since a week before Christmas, when I took my last shower. I generally wear them 'til they get yellowish-brown all over, except the very back which tends to get nearly black with caked streaks.

I need to got to the smell-well department at Wallyworld and get some deodorant. I've been mixing some of Carolyn's perfume with Vaseline and sticking it on thick, but it doesn't last more than a week 'til I have to do it again.

Being a native born and reared Tennessean ain't half bad.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

The photo is of my sweetie pie...