I don't think I could ever live in town again. I grew up in the city limits. However, I was exposed to country life through my dad and his side of the family. I was alwayscomfortable with animals as pets, livestock and food. I like to fish because you have the option of throwing them back. I have never been much on hunting, because of all the work involved in cleaning and butchering them. One December 26, 1974 I witnessed something I will never forget. I remember the date because it was the day Jack Benny died. On that day my grand dad had a "hog-killing." My family and I traveled up early that morning to MP. It was cold. There was a big old hog in my grand dad's cattle trailer. Dad shot him right between the eyes and Pa-Pa slit his throat and they hung him up by his hind legs and let him bleed out. Then the work began: skinning and butchering. There was a large kettle of boiling water, like Granny Clampett had. I don't really remember all the steps, but in the end there was ham, bacon, and lard soap.
I never really thought about all I had seen as a kid, until when I was working in Dallas. My friend Ken and I were downtown where we worked and we went into a bookstore and I found the brand new Jeff Foxworthy book, "You Might be a Redneck if ..." This was before anyone ever heard of Jeff Foxworthy. Ken and I laughed until we couldn't breath. Ken, also an engineer, was as uncomfortable living in Big D as I was. I remember the joke "... you walk the excess off your jeans rather than hem them." That was every pair of jeans I had ever seen Ken wear. While some jokes didn't apply directly to me or my family, I related to 90% of them based on my friends and personal experiences. Many were almost too personal to be funny.
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