The Legend of Opalee Shirley part III

I'm not inventive. I don't have a good eye for building or constructing. Honestly, not only am I not good at such things, but also projects like that intimidate the mess outta me. I'm awkward with all tools, and I get splinters just looking at wood. Please don't think that I'm hatin' on myself. I mean, I know I've got some grand qualities, but creating stuff outta lumber? Umm. No.

Give me a broken heart to love on any day, but pass the hammer and nails to someone else.

You would've gladly handed them to Pa Shirley.

I'm not sure what's normal for farmin' folks. I don't know if what Pa did was common to survive. I'm not certain of much, but I choose to believe that he was extraordinary in his skills. Maybe it's just the way my best friend tells me about his daddy's life that I have decided to think he was brilliant.

He had no formal education on architecture. He watched his daddy, and learned from the community. That fascinates me more than I can explain.

Pa Doodle designed and built hog pens, bee hives, sheds, animal traps and smoke houses. I just reread my sentence. He was a bee keeper, folks. Is it me or is that the coolest thing ever? I love telling folks that he did that. Yes, my father-in-law made his own honey.

He was a survivor with these skills, but also he used his imagination to enjoy nature. Opalee Shirley built 4 story bird houses with balconies. Deano calls them bird condos. His favorite type bird was the Purple Martin. He learned what attracted them, and enjoyed watching them nesting. He also enjoyed building simple squirrel homes.

I'm pretty sure I could go on and on about how amazing I think he is. I love his love for creation, and his survivor skills. Again, these are talents that my simple mind can't comprehend.

I'm thinking that you, dear reader, probably have relatives that have similar brilliant minds. I hope you do, and I hope you know and appreciate the mind that comes with such a person.

But, here comes the doozy part of Opalee. You know I gotta give you a bit of dooziness, right?

For years the man that I love shared a pallet on the floor with his older sister in a room with his Granny, Emmer Irene. No lie, all I know about her is that she was married to a kind a gentle man, and that she was rough as a corn cob. I'd love to throw some quotes that I'm told she'd say, but I'm afraid it'd make you blush.

Deano says that Emmer was "old school." One example is that she'd wake up at chicken-thirty to start her day. She'd drink her coffee, and wake up the rest of the household to make sure their day had started as well.

I think Pa doodle loved Ma doodle a tremendous amount. Again, the man was creative in his way to survive. Even in how to survive living with his beautiful wife and tough as nails momma.

So, Opalee looks at his favorite hickory tree, and develops a plan. He puts 4 telephone poles in the ground, and built flooring for a tree house on these poles. This tree house was about 25' in the air. The home was screened in with a tin roof. Dean was sitting with me as I started typing these thoughts. He mentioned that you could hear the coyotes and crickets at night. The slight breeze blowing through trees that you loved to hear and feel on those hot Louisiana nights. They let their Doberman Pincher sleep up there with them. Pa also had a Coleman's stove up there to make strong coffee in the morning. Catty corner to this sweet house he put 4 more poles and built them a porch. Sounds sweet, eh? Can I just tell you about the bed? I like to save the best for last, ya know? He got the queen size bed and decided it'd be sweet to hang it from chains. So, it was a swinging bed in a tree house. No lie. Amazing and beautiful.

Back to surviving with a dear old momma,, a sweet wife and 4 wild kids.

Penny and Bobie loved to mess with their roommate, Granny Shirley. One morning Penny and Bobie were wide awake at 2am. They must've been 10 and 5 years old, and naughty little stinkers wired on strong LA coffee. "Oh, how fun it would be to set Granny's watch fast," the stinkpots said aloud. The boogers set that watch for 4:30am. So, they mad coffee at 2:15am, and woke up that poor old Granny at 2:20am tellin' her she over slept! She rubs those eyes with embarrassment, and sips on her coffee. She stands up, and asks why in the world Opalee and Ellen were still sleeping. She stomps outside, and unfortunately can't climb those stairs to the tree house. So, she just hollers and cusses at 'em to get outta bed at 3am! Dean says he remembers the words his daddy said back to her. You'd think there'd be some regret with my sweet husband for messin' with his granny like that. Nope. He laughed and giggled when he told me about it.

Poor Emmer Irene.

What would a good legend about a man be if there wasn't a good background with his momma?

It's late and I should edit it, eh? Maybe later. This is the my story, and I might polish it later, alligator.