Photo: Near Kingston, Tennessee.
This was originally a "redneck" quiz, but in my opinion rednecks don't have an entirely good reputation and there's a bit of a prideful thing about being stupid for some of them. Being a country girl or farm girl is more what I'm used to, so I took the liberty to change the name. You don't have to be stupid to be countrified. :-) Some of the wisest people I've know where country people.
Have you ever...
1. Owned a pellet or BB gun as a kid? Used my brother's as a kid. We have one now, though. It is mostly used for getting peafowl off of the truck and to discourage the peacock from screaming too close to the house from late winter through summer.
2. Owned a real gun? No. My husband does. I've never shot it.
3. Shot a real gun? Yes, I think so.
4. Gone squirrel or rabbit hunting? No.
5. Gone fishing? Yes. The most fun I ever had fishing was on the pier at Pismo Beach, California. We were fishing for baby red snapper and an old timer from out of town had given my dad a tip on how to set up our lines and how to bounce them to catch the most fish. My little brother and I were catching them so fast that my dad didn't have time to fish himself. The locals were not pleased to be out-fished by a couple of kids who didn't know what they were doing. hehe Otherwise fishing seems boring to me. I'd rather be reading a book without the bother of keeping track of a fishing rod. ;-)
6. Owned or used a slingshot? Yes, used one.
7. Plucked a chicken/turkey? Yes, when we lived in Kenya I helped a Kenyan lady dress a chicken. I think we plucked feathers, among other things.
8. Eaten poke weed? No.
9. Eaten deer meat? Yes.
10. Eaten frog legs? Yes.
11. Fed a baby farm animal with a bottle? I don't think so.
12. Gathered fresh eggs? Yes, but very little.
13. Driven a stick shift? Yes. My brother tried to teach me to drive his VW Bug. It was not a big success. I never did it enough to really get comfortable with it. That's the kind version of the story. ;-)
14. Started a vehicle using a manual choke? No.
15. Rode in the back of a pick-up truck? Yes.
16. Shucked or shelled corn? Yes. I've also eaten field corn when it was still soft enough to cook and eat off the cob.
17. Waded barefoot in a creek? Yes, but I managed to never get a leech attached to me.
18. Caught fireflies in a jar at night? Yes.
19. Tasted wild honeysuckle? Yes.
20. Gathered wild blackberries? Yes. And I had the poison ivy rash to prove it.
21. Used an outhouse? Yes. In leopard country and once on a very cold and snowy day in Michigan.
22. Rode a horse? Yes.
23. Smelled the scent of cured tobacco hanging in a tobacco barn? No. But my dad uses tobacco to make insecticide for his plants. That stuff has its own "unique" smell. <insert eyeroll here>
24. Taken the ashes out of a wood stove or wood heater? Yes.
25. Carried in firewood? Yes.
26. Walked barefoot down a gravel or dirt road? Yes.
27. Slept in a tent? Yes.
28. Been attacked by a rooster? No.
29. Eaten raw apple, potato or turnip off the blade of a pocket knife? Not directly into my mouth. It was someone else's knife.
30. Dipped skoal or chewing tobacco or had it applied to a Bee sting? No. We used baking soda mixed with water on bee stings, I think.
31. Eaten homemade snow Ice Cream? Yes.
32. Used a pump to draw water from a well? Yes, but not the old timey type.
33. Been on a hayride? Yes.
34. Jumped into a pile of raked leaves? Yes.
35. Carved your initials into a tree? I don't think so.
36. Sucked on a piece of water hose to siphon gas out of a gas tank? No.
37. Been shocked by an electric fence? I don't think so, but only because I was chicken. ;-)
38. Split wood with an ax? No.
39. Hung laundry outside on a clothesline? Yes
40. Eaten fried bologna? No. Well, I have eaten cooked Lebanon bologna (and that is not a Middle Eastern thing. It is a Pennsylvanian thing.). Lebanon bologna is another whole thing than the usual type of pre-sliced American stuff.
41. Eaten grits for breakfast? Yes.
42. Eaten wild hog, racoon or opossum? Yes - racoon. It was terrible. And wild hog, which was meh. And I never did cook the second piece that was in the freezer. The dog(s) got it.
Other things I've done as a country girl:
1. Picked corn and fruit at you-pick farms.
2. Picked up apple drops at an orchard.
3. Made apple cider. Made maple sugar candy from syrup my brother cooked down.
4. Canned and frozen vegetables we grew and fruit from our own tree (as well as purchased produce).
5. Picked wild raspberries and I think strawberries.
6. Found a bird's nest and watched baby birds grow up.
7. Notified the sheriff's department as to who the owners were of the loose pigs they found. (Not us. ;-) )
8. Had stray animals on our property (before we got a fence). White donkeys one time and goats another. Oh, and that miniature bull.
9. Had wild animals living under the place I lived (woodchuck in Michigan, skunks in Tennessee).
10. Had to think about running across wild animals in the dark and take appropriate precautions.
11. Started a kerosene heater.
12. Been broken down on a country road in the winter.
13. Found abandoned apple trees growing wild in the woods.
14. Cultivated a wild rose.
15. Started a fire in a woodstove.
16. Eaten dandelion flowers and greens and dandelion jelly.
17. Eaten daylilies.
18. Eaten bantam chicken, duck, and peafowl eggs. (Not all at once.) I used to feed green grass to the neighbor's bantams trough the fence too - when I was a kid.
19. Laughed at a city slicker. ;-) (I'm sure I've been laughed at by city people too!)
20. Harvested wildflower seeds.
23. Gone to a country church where there was no air conditioning for hot, humid weather. Played the piano for an old fashioned "sing" in one of those too.
22. Picked pussy willow.
(I don't remember if I picked this bunch, but I picked a bunch the day I took this photo. It was our neighbor's bush/tree in Tennessee. She let me pick some.)
Loved your list of answers! It's amazing how many things to me seem just common things..suppose I have a bit of country in me to. Although where I come from they call you a bush girl. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting, Jennifer. "Bush girl" sounds like an Australian term to me. :-) I have to say that in some ways I consider some of these things common too. :-)
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