DOG TROT KIND OF DAY
Compliments of Nolan Bailey
Minden Friends and Classmates:
Perhaps some of the regulars on the Minden Memories site can identify with the
following recollection....
"Hangin´ around, nothing to do but frown, rainy days
and
Mondays always get me down..." I've never understood this
song. We country kids always loved rainy days. What's not to
like about a rainy day and the clean fresh smell that always comes
when raindrops clean the air?
LIVING BACK THEN
In the muggy hot summers we barefooted country kids would
often lie under huge oaks and watch the fluffy cotton boll cumulus clouds
billowing upward toward the sun. We could imagine that we were seeing all kinds
of animals and people in the shapes of the ever changing clouds. “Do you see
the sheep? Oh, oh, there’s granddaddy’s face! Look over there, that’s a big
pine tree in the sky.”
Then, suddenly, and with little warning, a jagged bolt of lightening--a
brilliant flash of light in the summer sky--would streak across the menagerie of
our imagination. A loud crash of thunder would resonate through the pine forest
just seconds later, a harbinger of more interesting things to come.
Soon an iridescent curtain of cool water would begin to slowly advance across
the broad expanse of pines to the pasture below and up the hill toward our
home. As the raindrops began to beat upon the canopy of the mighty oak trees,
we would make a dash for the back porch seeking sanctuary in the dog trot often
found in the older country homes. When we expressed fear about the sound of
thunder, Mom would assure us by saying, “Oh, it’s just the Good Lord filling up
his tater wagon.” That sounded reasonable to us because we had begun filling up
real tater wagons as soon as we could toss those taters over the sides.
We kids enjoyed playing in the dog trot on rainy days and would make an
occasional dash through the rain drops to play under the back porch. Since our
home had a tin roof, the rhythm of the raindrops provided a relaxing and
peaceful lullaby. If one has never heard the sound of rain on a tin roof his or
her life is not yet complete.
The wind would howl through the eaves and the lightening would flash and thunder
would rumble across the fields, but we children were safe in our own little
world-the dog trot. Often, the wind would blow mist from the rain into our safe
harbor but somehow all of these things were soothing and comforting to we
kids--enchanting and mystical to our young ears.
The song of a summertime storm is like no other. It drums out a lulling rhythm
on a tin roof, creates a tapping on one’s bedroom window, forms whistling winds,
and the rustling of leaves. As kids we loved to sit on the back porch during
thunderstorms as the cooling rain splattered through the screen onto our faces.
Much simpler times when kids lived life day by day....
Nolan, Did you write that song? It is beautiful.
Sherry
"Hangin´
around, nothing to do but frown, rainy days and Mondays always get me
down..."
The line (above in quotes) comes from a popular song...
The rest of the "mess" is mine... <grin>Nolan