Pet and Animal Adventures
 
        Pets and animals have always been a big part of life down in the mill village. Most folks had pets of various species, mostly dogs and cats.  Most of the homes enjoyed these pets as it brought much enjoyment from time to time. There was also some who had animals for more economic reasons. Hogs and cows were a source of food and milk for several. The hogs would be fed all summer with most of their food being supplied by other neighbors scraps and leftovers. Thus, everyone on the mill village knew the term " slop bucket", since they saved these leftovers for neighbors who were raising hogs. When I think about it I marvel at the thought of keeping a smelly slop bucket around just to help a friend or neighbor. I can't imagine anyone being that willing to help anybody that much these days.  This chapter is dedicated to all the events involving pets and animals that I remember growing up in the mill village.                                  
       
     Though most of the folks had dogs or cats, a very few of us had the distinct pleasure of having enough land around our modest homes to have a cow or a horse. We lived over in Pee Dee #1 where most of the homes had bigger lots, usually at least an acre. We at times had horses to ride and care for.

     The one that stands out to me was a wild and cantankerous beast that has become legendary in the Kelly family and always has been referred to as " the Strawberry Roan " due to his distinctive color. This horse was a piece of work and today a parent would be hauled into court and charged with child abuse if they had allowed it on the property, much less allowed a child to ride him. To say the Strawberry Roan was spirited would be a great understatement.

     First of all he loved to run, and run he would. Wide open with no desire or sense to stop. You had better be ready to go when you got on because go you would, and he could run like the wind. Stopping was not an issue this horse ever considered.

     He also had a mind of his own about whatever direction he wanted to go. Wherever he wanted ,that's where you went . If you where strong enough to pull his head to one side you could mount him if you got on from the other side because he would bite you if he was in one of his moods,which was all the time. If you pulled his head around to change directions, he would just keep going the way he wanted with his head pulled to the left or right - it made no difference to him. He was going wherever he wanted and you were going that way too.

     The day Daddy came home with him was a memorable event in itself. He was a beautiful horse, no denying that but know one, even Dad, could have known how that was going to go. Right off he ended up in the neighbors yard and my Dad went down to show my brother how to ride him. He thought of himself as an experienced equestrian (horseman).

     Now to get the full impact of this episode you have to know that there was a house between ours and the yard that the horse was in. So Dad as usual never worried about unimportant things like a horse bucking or anything like that. My Mom was used to my Dad getting into bad situations but that's another chapter to be told later. Anyway, she was at the window washing dishes when she casually looked up thru the window and said,  "Lord, Ed just went high as the house!"

     And then, as if nothing was out of the ordinary, she went back to washing dishes. But bad as this was for Dad it was not over for him, not by a long shot because, unfortunately for him, going straight up in the air caused him to come back down behind the horse. And as you know from watching bronco busters in the rodeo a horse continues to buck long after he has dispatched his tormentor. The Strawberry Roan was no exception, except he did everything a little harder, like kicking up his heels.  Both heels caught Dad square in the chest which caused him to ricochet with maximum velocity out into the field bordering the yard. He did survive this as he always did but he had a reminder of the event for several weeks in the form of two horseshoe prints on his chest.

     Even after this Dad allowed us to keep the Strawberry Roan for a good while and my older brother managed to calm him down a little but he never lost his great spirit or that desire to run.

     Now when Dad decided to sell this horse he knew it was going to be difficult because of his wild nature. But Dad had a plan as usual. He decided after much rationalizing, which Dad was good at doing, that since the Roan was so strong he would make someone a good plow horse. Another big, big miscalculation. But like I said, Dad could rationalize anything if he wanted too.

     The only thing now was to find a sucker, excuse me, a buyer.  Dad knew plenty of them, so that was easy enough. The next problem was to make the Roan marketable as a plow horse. Dad had a plan there also. He had two of my uncles come over and along with my brother they all three rode the Roan all that day till he was worn down. Then he called the mark ,excuse me again , the buyer, to come over and try him out. This being late Saturday evening the buyer came by, hooked him to a plow and let him disc a few rows of corn. The Roan performed like a champ. This of course was because he was so worn down. The guy just knew he had made a steal and bought him on the spot.

     Dad put the money in his pocket with his lounge against his cheek and his eyes like slits. Dads problem was all over - he thought. Well don't you believe it ! That's because being it was late Saturday evening, and the fellow took the horse home and let him rest up all night and all day Sunday. The problem came when he took him out bright and early Monday morning to disc between the rows of his own corn field.  "BIG, BIG MISTAKE!"

     The story goes that the guy never got a chance to say "GEE or HAA". In fact, he doesn't remember what he uttered that day but he does remember being drug for at least a half mile of corn before he managed to let go. And the last he saw of that Strawberry Roan was of him sprinting down the highway with his plow still attached - making sparks as it bounced on the road about every ten yards!