Birdnests,Fifty Cent Piece and Grandma VanDyke

As a child,every kid had their hero.Mine was Grandma VanDyke,she had the answers to everything.
She had a huge kitchen as I remember and a nice old cook stove in the corner,next to her rocking chair.
Most of the older grandkids hauled the wood in for her,that she feed her stove with.
No running water in the house.Water was hauled everyday by her son "Uncle Willis",sometimes cousin "Randy"...
The outhouse was behind the woodshed,spotless,oderless and always swept out everyday.
Her yard was huge,lots of play area for the grandkids.
I spent alot of time with Grandma,sometimes overnight too.Her stories were of ahhhh!
She could tell you stories that you knew where high tales,but her voice made them so believable!
The best foods that I ate as a child came off her old cook stove,mostly burgers,potatoes and veggies...
Plus a huge glass of cold milk for every meal.
My favorite chore helping Grandma was the walk to the grocery store for her.If I remember the store was called "Rays Grocery",right on the highway.
She would always give me a dollar bill and it was always the same list too,one pound of burger,one quart of milk and a can of tobacco"Prince Albert" in the can.
Usually there was 15 cents left for change,that was my reward for doing this chore for her.
Watching television with her was always fun,she would always talk back to the television,telling the broadcasters and actors they were liars,their product wasn't true,stuff to that nature.
Grandma was a Christian woman,keeping her bible on the dining room table at all times,unless she was reading it.
Its the only book I ever seen in her home too.Always told me that anything I ever needed to know was in that book!
Could quote it from front to back too!Seen her do it a few times..
When outside,Grandma was at her best,knowing nature like I never seen someone do!
Not even to this day!
We would look at the birds in flight or the horses next door running towards their corral.
She would say,"its going to rain soon".How do you know that Grandma?I just do,trust me.
Than walk over to the many ant piles in her yard and point down to several of them,saying"see the ants building their dirt piles higher around their nests".Yes,I would say.
That means its going to rain out soon,the creatures are getting ready for the rain.
About four or five hours later,its raining.
Like I said,she was my hero,knew everything as far as I was concerned.
I remember around my birthday as a young child,Grandma would always say "your birthday is coming up,don't forget to come by Grandma's,ok".
My birthday I would head over to Grandma's.sometimes she would be outside or in her rocker in the house.
Grandma had this way of laughing and smiling at the same time.It always made a person feel warm.
Still to this day,I don't know how or why she did this for me,but she did.
It was always,"Lets go outside and look for your birthday gift".
We would walk outside,I'm excited to see what it was!
The first year I remember Grandma doing this,was me being excited and curious,all in one!
She would say"Hey there is something in that tree over there".I would glance over there and see a birds nest.
I would say,"Its just a birds nest Grandma".
Well go check it out for me,I would walk over to the tree and climb up to the nest(wasn't to far up) and look into the nest.
Looking back at me was a shiny fifty cent piece! I would yell back to Grandma"There is money in this nest"!
Grandma would chuckle and say"How did that get in there"?
Can't remember how many years she did this for me,but I did enjoy every year,like it was the first time.
As an adult,I'll be walking by a tree or see a birds nest somewhere else,it brings this fond memory of Grandma VanDyke....................Grandma VanDyke my hero...

Michael VanDyke

To spray or not to spray........

It was a cool spring day,snow sitting here and there,with some ice still on the water holes.
I was doing some chores in my house,when the telephone rang.
I answered it and it was my boys grandmother,she was talking so fast,that I couldn't understand her.
I said slow down,whats wrong?
Grandma said,"there is a skunk outside the house and its trying to get into the house"!!!!
I told her,ok,I'll be out there as soon as I can get there and hung up the telephone.
Before going out there,I finished what chore I was doing.
In the mean time she must have called her husband,he drives semi and was gone that week.
The telephone rings again and its her husband.He says,"Mike can you hurry out to the farm and see whats going on out there with that skunk,I'm on the road and can't do anything about it".
I told him I was headed out there as soon as I could hang the telephone up.
On the way out of my house,I grab my rifle and some ammo.Hop into the car and off I go to grandma's house.
As I pull into the farmstead,I park my car by the machine shop and walk over to the house to see what is going on.Grandpa is standing by the garage door motion me towards the garage.
We go into the house from the garage area and she says the skunk is just outside the door by the deck.
I walk out to the deck and start looking around,not seeing anything.Then I could hear a scratching sound from below somewhere.
I look over the railing off the deck and see a skunk down inside one of the window wells of the basement windows.It was trying to dig its way out or something to get out!
I go back into the house and tell her to stay put,that I would try to figure some way to get the skunk out and away from the house.
As I walk outside,I knew I was safe,because the skunk couldn't get out from the area it was in.
I walked over to the machine shop and started looking for something to help me get this animal out of the window well without me having to be there.
I didn't want to get sprayed or have it spray at all around the house!
I finally seen some plywood and wood stakes,so I come up with a plan.Make a little staircase type thing to let the skunk walk up out of the window well.
Plus making two covers to throw over the two window wells to keep the skunk from doing this again.
As my story plot thickens,there are a couple things I forget to do!
I left my rifle in the car and I leave the two wood covers in the shop!Do I have you thinking now?
I finish making the walkway and head over to the window well.I look down and the skunk sees me and starts to really want out of there!
I notice one thing about this animal,its dragging its tail and doesn't even try to spray me.
To me,that means its sick!
Well either way,it has to be out of there.So I set the board against the window well and let it slide down till it hits the dirt below....The skunk sees a way out now and uses the walk way I made and starts walking up the board.
I run onto the deck and into the house to see what it wants to do.As the skunk gets out of the window well,it walks around the deck towards the other window well and falls in!! AHHHHHHH,why didn't I cover that hole up first!!!
I head out the door,run to the shop,grab the boards and walk back to the deck area,covering the one window well up with one board.
I go over to the other side of the deck,slide the walk way down into the window well.
That skunk is getting angry now and doesn't like me there at all! It comes scrambling out of that hole fast and starts running towards the other window well and it seen it couldn't get down into the hole.
In the mean time I had the other window well covered too.
Run back into the house just in time to see the skunk run over to the other hole and seen it couldn't get to it too.So it heads to the deck,gets on it and looks into the house!
Grandma is losing it by now,I calmed her,saying it can't get in!
The skunk than turns around and heads off the deck and crawls under it.Well ok another problem!
Now my other mistake I told you about,I left my rifle in my car and I had to get it.
As soon as I thought of an answer,the skunk takes off towards the shop and the doors are open on it.
Grandma is yelling,"the doors,the doors"! Off I go to try and beat that skunk to the shop!
As we are both about to the shop,the skunk realizes I'm following it and doesn't like it,not one bit!
It turns around and starts chasing me!I'm like holy crap this skunk is crazy and is coming after me!
The only thing I could think of was to run towards my car. Thats where my rifle was.
Did you know skunks can run fast.At least this one could.It was right on my heels and I couldn't open the door up to my car fast enough,so I take off around the car again,with this crazy skunk chasing me!
In the mean time grandma is yelling and screaming from the garage about the whole situation!
I run towards the back of the car and woosh,I hit a ice patch and go down!
The skunk still coming towards me,I start kicking at it and trying to crawl away in a backwards motion.
Not a simple task!
I kicked it in the head about three times and it still chomped at me with its teeth showing and biting at the same time.It started biting my boots and wasn't backing down!
Grandma still screaming in the background!!
I wanted out of there and fast,but how was I to do that! Finally one last kick to the head and it was enough to knock it backwards into the fenderwell of my car,giving me enough time to get up and haul butt to the house!
Let me tell you something,I could hear my heart beating through my clothes and it was ticking mighty fast!
Grandma comes running in too and asks if I'm alright...
I sit down and look outside,seeing the skunk headed back towards the deck,going under it and laying down.
Ok,its time to get serious now and get rid of this animal once and for all!
I tell grandma that I have to go get my rifle out of the car and shoot this skunk,one way or the other,because something wasn't right about its behavior!
As I walk out towards the garage,I tell myself its all or nothing.
I look over towards the deck and see the skunk laying under the deck,looking the opposite way of me.
So like a bolt of slow lightning,I take off racing towards the car,not looking back either!
I open the car door and get it,slamming the door!
I look over towards the deck,the skunk still laying down.Things are looking better now,but not for the skunk.
I grab my rifle,load it with ammo and get out of the car.As I was walking towards the garage again,I started thinking that I still had to get that animal from underneath of the deck before I could shoot it.
I get into the house again and explain to grandma,that I have to get that skunk away from the house someway.Then I thought,noise,animals hate noise.
I found a old heavy book,took it out to the deck and threw it on the floor of the deck.It made a huge thumping sound,which made the skunk bolt from under the deck!
It was headed towards the feed buildings and wasn't looking back. I grabbed my rifle,put a good aim on it and squeezed the trigger.Down it goes,not even one twitch.
I go back into the house and told grandma,its finished,the skunk is gone.
I waited about a half an hour before I went out to grab the skunk and take it out to the trees across the road.
I called up the county agent and told him about the skunk and the way it was acting.He said he would check it out the next day.
The day after,I get a phone call,its the county agent,telling me that the skunk was sick and might of had rabies.He asked me if I got bit,I told him no,but it was close!
He said he disposed of the animal and all was well.
As I think of that day.I ask myself,would I have done it different.Probably not!
I didn't get bit,nor did I get sprayed!I do know one thing about that day of events.I'll have one heck of a story to share with whom ever wants to listen to me tell it.....
And to always bring your rifle to a gun fight!