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