Just sitting on our front porch this morning, enjoying a cup of coffee, and the still cool-enough temps (80’s) when I saw about 5 chickens and roosters in our yard. They belong to our neighbors down the road, just came for a visit, I guess. Fried chicken came to mind immediately, but of course these chickens were safe — I’d never be able to wring a chicken’s neck or chop off its head with an ax. Even so, then I’d have to remove those feathers and other parts — so, the trip to the grocery store sounds a lot easier (and more pleasant!).

Reminded me of the good “old days” when we gave our toddlers a drumstick to chew on? Our grandkids won’t eat chicken “with bones in it.” They are too attached to chicken tenders (and “chicken parts”), I guess. Wonder how many Generation X “kids” even know how to cut up a whole chicken — not just to get the legs and thighs, but to get the pully bone (wishbone for those who don’t know) and the two pieces of the back bone. Some of my favorite memories were at my grandmother’s table pulling the pully bone apart with my cousin, Terry. Supposedly, the one who got the biggest part could make a wish and it would come true! Where can we get pully bones today? Only at home, I believe.

And some will remember the “old days” when feedsacks were used as material to make various wearing apparel, as well as quilts. Learned today that feedsacks were even made into underwear for some folks — afterall, they were 100% cotton and felt much better against the bare skin than some other materials available. Today, if you can find an old feedsack piece of material, you’ll pay dearly for it. Now, each time I find some, I’ll wonder where it was worn or used in the “old days.”

How times have changed: “in the old days, Grandma put the apple pie in the window sill to cool — her grandchildren put their apple pies in the window sill to thaw.”