I have had the notion that foreshadowing meant giving hints in any way, that were followed by an event in the story. (sort of like breadcrumbs--if you had paid attention, you would have seen it coming)..

In the United States, the leading cotton-producing states are Texas, California, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Arizona. Other leading producers of cotton include China, India, Pakistan, Brazil, and Turkey. While some of the market for cotton is being taken over by synthetic fibers, the cotton plant is still considered the fiber (and oil) of life.

If people want to know what hard was let them introduce themselves to the tobacco field and the tobacco barn. There is no comparison to picking cotton in the fall and a tobacco field in July in Georgia. None.

At an early age, I picked cotton and had the old-fashioned pick sack, as it was called. Boy was that a long time ago and hope I never have to go back to that, I would starve to death.

There are things, that's an absolute must, to take to the field. For instance, we didn't go to the cotton field without a long sleeved shirt. The stalks and the burrs on the stalks made it almost a must to have a pretty heavy, long sleeved shirt. And when it was cold, we would always wear more than one layer so we could pull off one layer, now and then, as the day got warmer. Another necessity was gloves! Nothing was more devastating than getting into the field without your gloves, or maybe two for the right hand! Well, there was an answer for even that! We would turn one of those wrong side out for the left hand! A little ragged, but it worked until we could do better!

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First, I'll define the length. Sacks come in certain lengths if you bought ready made ones. Some was 10 ft. and then some was 12 ft. and over, but homemade ones could be just about any length. Strong people or big boys usually had a 12 ft. or 15 ft. sack, whereas, women and children ranged from 5 ft. to 12 ft. ones.

In 1837, using steel from a broken saw blade, he created a plow where the blades were hightly polished and would clean themselves as they moved through the fields. Before long manuifacturing plows became the center of his business." (The John Deere Story from Turning the Pages of Time Cookbook). Here is a picture of : John Deere with his plow invention from Turning the Pages of Time courtesy of Deere & Company

"Tell him the truth, boy," he shouted. "One of them Siscos picked up the stick of wood, didn't he?"

Stick says he has to take Hank in.

(Page 113)

"Mr. Spruill took a step forward and said to Pappy, 'If he leaves, we leave, too. Right now.'

Pappy was prepared for this. Hill people wer enoted for their ability to break camp and disappear quickly, and none of us doubted Mr. Spruill meant what he said. They would be gone in an hour, back to Eureka Springs, back to their mountains and their moonshine. It would be virtually impossible to harvest eighty acres of cotton with just the Mexicans to help us. Every pouns was crucial. Every hand."

There may be little or nothing beyond the grave
But the strong are saying nothing till they see?

•Mom was home when the kids got home from school. •When nobody owned a purebred dog. •When a quarter was a decent allowance, and another quarter, a huge bonus. •When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny. •When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time. And, you didn't pay for air. And, you got trading stamps to boot.

•When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents. •When the worst thing you could do at school was smoke in the bathrooms, flunk a test or chew gum. •When a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car ... to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady and girls wore a class ring with an inch of wrapped yarn so it would fit her finger. •And no one ever asked where the car keys were 'cause they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked. •And you got in big trouble if you accidentally locked the doors at home, since no one ever had a key.

•Remember lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying things like "That cloud looks like a ..... " •Remember jumping waves at the ocean for hours in that cold water. •And playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game. Back then, baseball was not a psychological group learning experience--it was a game. •Remember when stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals 'cause no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger.

And with all our progress ... don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace ...and share it with the children of today?

•Remember when being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home. •Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we all survived because their love was greater than the threat.

•Go back with me for a minute.... •Before the Internet or the MAC. Before semi automatics and crack. Before SEGA or Super Nintendo ... Way back .... •I'm talkin' bout hide and go seek at dusk. •Red light, Green light. •Kick the can. •Playing kickball & dodgeball until your porch light came on. •Mother May I? •Red Rover •Hula Hoops •Roller skating to music •Running through the sprinkler

Wait ....

•Catchin' lightning bugs in a jar Christmas morning •Your first day of school •Bedtime Prayers and Goodnight Kisses •Climbing trees • Getting an Ice Cream off the Ice Cream Truck •A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers •Jumpin' on the bed. Pillow fights •Runnin' till you were out of breath •Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt •Being tired from playin'.... •Your first crush .... Remember that?

I'm not finished yet.... •Kool-aid was the drink of summer •Toting your friends on your handle bars •Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school •Class Field Trips •When nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got there.

Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!

There's nothing like the good old days. They were good then, and they're good now when we think about them. I want to go back to the time when............

•Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo" •Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do it over!" •"Race issue"; meant arguing about who ran the fastest. •Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly" •Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening.

•It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends. •Being old, referred to anyone over 20. •The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties. •Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better. •It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park.

•Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true. •Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog" dare" •Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles. •The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. •Water balloons were the ultimate weapon. •Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.