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Who Told You To Plow
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Who Told You To Plow


Sep 11, 2021, 5:05 PM

Yesterday, Sept. 10, would have been my Dad's 150th. birthday. Born in 1871, he was 50 years old when I was born. This story is about him but it needs an introduction.

When I was growing up, we did not have individual bedrooms for my sisters and brothers. My older brother and I shared a bedroom. In later years, as my generation reached adulthood, we began a tradition of a family gathering the weekend after Christmas at our old home town in Florida. In 2018, my older brother, who was then 99 and just before his death n February, were talking about "the old days". I asked him, "what were the first words we heard each morning"? Without hesitation he responded, "who told you to plow"? I had not heard those words in years.

Our Dad was a low maintenance alarm clock. He arose every morning, 365 days each year (366 days during leap year) at precisely 6:00 AM. He went directly to the kitchen and turned on the kerosene stove in the summer time to make his coffee. In the winter time he had to start a fire in the wood burning kitchen stove and then the wood burning space heater. His next task was to retrieve the Florida Times Union and start his day by reading the sports section.

It was now time to wake up the boys. He did not use words to awaken us, he had two methods. In the summer time if any of our body parts were exposed, he would take a broom straw or feather and tickle us. And then he would ask, "who told you to plow?". In the winter time he would get cold water on a wash cloth, leaving just enough water so there would be a few drops to fall on out face. And then those famous words, "who told you to plow"?

Never, during all of those years, did he utter words to arouse us from our sleep. And, I have no idea where those words came from. On a side note, my Dad was the Company Commander of a National Guard Company. They were called up for active duty during the Spanish-American War but did not have to leave the US. I seriously doubt he wakened his men each morning by the same methods.

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