Grandma Stella Smith and Chickens

Hatching Chickens

My Grandmother, Stella Smith somehow knew when a hen was ready to set. She also knew which eggs were fertilized and would put the eggs under her. I guess Grandma knew all about the science of chickens hatching. She would watch the hen and the eggs. If any of the chickens were having trouble getting out of the egg, Grandma would help them a little bit. She would have my sister and me come over to where the hen was sitting and the chicks were being born. We would watch along with Grandma very quietly. Thinking back on it now, it was all so miraculous. 

Once the chicks were old enough, they would be released into the chicken pen. Grandpa would buy special food for them but we also fed them scraps from the table. It was fun watching them grow up but we knew that they would someday be food right from the start. They would either become food or they would produce food.


Getting Ready for the Table

At one time, my Grandma was a very large woman but she was always on the move and always working. Grandma would kill the chickens as a first step for getting them ready for the table. The way she would do it was to wring their necks which would break them. I remember Grandma getting out in the chicken pen with a chicken in each hand. She would swing her wrist around in circles until the chickens necks broke. Sometimes, she would do this to several young fryers so she could prepare them for the freezer in order to have chicken for the winter. I remember chickens flopping all around Grandma in the chicken pen.


Time to Pluck

I loved my Grandma so much that I wanted to be just like her and do everything that she did. She took care of my sister and me when our parents worked which was a lot. I followed my Grandma around everywhere she went and slept in the same bed as her often. 


When Grandma killed the chickens and plucked them, so did I. I remember that I was probably about 4 to 6 years old and I was helping Grandma to pluck chickens. My baby sister was almost exactly two years younger than me and I don't remember her doing any chicken plucking. If she was 2 or 3, I can see why she wouldn't or even 4 or 5. Tudy and I were different. Maybe she was hanging out with Grandpa but he was still working in the fields at that time so maybe she was taking a nap. I just don't remember her being there. I do remember helping Grandma to pluck chickens 2 or 3 times.


I remember that this chicken plucking took place when the house was still two rooms. Grandma would heat a big pot of water on the stove. She would give me a small aluminum tub and she would have one. She would dip a dead chicken into the water to soften up the feathers to make them easier to pull out. Then she would put the dead chicken legs in my little hand and I would go to plucking. I loved plunging my hands into the feathers and I was being just like my Grandma. I know that I must not have done a great job of plucking but Grandma told me that I did. Once all of the chickens were plucked, she would clean them, and burn the pin feathers off by holding them above the burner on the stove. She would then cook some up and freeze the others if she had killed a bunch of them. 


Fast Forward to Today 2023

Please Do Not hand me a dead chicken now to pluck!!!

It Was Hot So We Cooled Em Off

We Cooled the Ladies Off!

The population of Poplar, CA in the 1950s and 1960s was about 800-1,000 people at the most and I think that included the population of  Cotton-Center and outlying areas.

My family lived in a two room house, (my Dad later added another room).  We lived between the Short family and the Glory family on Imperial Rd.

It was a warm, uh, lets make that a hot as hell summer day in the Central Valley of California.  My sister, Tudy and I were home with our Mom and we were playing outside.  I was about six and Tudy was about four years old.

We were playing on the side of the yard next to the Glory's because they had a couple of big old shade trees.  It was at least a little cooler under those trees.

Mrs. Glory and some of her women friends were sitting under the shade trees visiting and talking about how hot it was.  They kept carrying on about the heat and fanning themselves with paper fans and homemade fans made from pieces of paper.  Some of them were fanning themselves with their dress-tails.  Now Mrs. Glory and her lady friends were not a petite bunch.  These ladies loved their fried chicken and starches! 

Tudy and I had been playing in the water earlier so I knew that running through the sprinkler helped to cool one off in the heat.  As I listened to the ladies complain about the heat nonstop, I came up with a brilliant idea!

I enlisted the aid of my little sister and told Tudy to go into the kitchen and get Mama's bottle of dish-washing liquid.  Tudy went and fetched the bottle and I proceeded to fill it up with water.

I told Tudy that we were going to cool the ladies off.  We hid behind the tree and I started squirting them with the water.  The ladies started jumping all around hoopin' and hollerin!  They were causing quite a commotion!  They made so much noise that Mama came out of the house and caught Tudy and me red handed cooling the ladies off.

Mama said, "Helen Jane, what are you doing"?  I was trying to explain to Mama that we were just trying to cool the ladies off.  She took the bottle away from me, and made us go into the house.  Of course she threatened us with "Wait until your Daddy gets home"!

Mama apologized to Mrs. Glory and her friends for our bad behavior.  She kept threatening us with Daddy for the rest of the day.  We got our little butts beat when Daddy got home.

I later caught our parents laughing about us cooling Mrs. Glory and her friends off.  I don't recall Mrs. Glory ever getting out in the yard like that again and complaining about the heat. 

I was just trying to help the ladies, and Tudy thought it was a good idea too.  I was in total agreement with them that it was really, really, hot.

We Lost Uncle Lloyd

Gone But Not Forgotten Uncle Lloyd

Uncle Lloyd McKay was from my Mom's side of the family.  He was married to my Mother's oldest sister, Thelma Irene Smith.  I loved my Uncle Lloyd so much.  He passed away last week at the age of 93 1/2. 

When I was young, we lived in Poplar, CA until I was 11 years old.  I only had one sister who was younger than me by two years.  Aunt Thelma and Uncle Lloyd lived in Stockton, CA.  They had a large family of five girls and two boys.  I used to love it when they would come to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Smith.

My sister, Tudy and I were at our Grandparents house more than we were at home.  Grandma took care of us while our parents worked. 

Uncle Lloyd loved kids.  When he came to visit, he always gave me a lot of attention.  He didn't play ball, or run with the kids like my Dad did.  Uncle Lloyd was a talker.  He loved to talk and he loved to know about people and how they were doing.  Uncle Lloyd always made me feel so important!  He made me feel that way until the day he died.

My Uncle Lloyd always drove a station wagon when his kids were growing up.   I loved to pile into the station wagon with all of my McKay cousins and my sister.  We never had any money so we would mostly just go to Church or to the grocery store.

After my family moved from Poplar and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, my sister and I used to stay a week or two at a time with Aunt Thelma and Uncle Lloyd.  They had a small house so we would crowd into bed with our cousins.  I would sleep with Carol and Fay, and my sister Tudy would sleep with Pam and Kathy.  It was lots of fun because we had lots of kids to hang out with even if it was at their house.

Uncle Lloyd was a doer and a helper.  He was always helping someone out by mowing their lawn, taking them to the doctor, helping them work on their house, etc.  When my grandparents got older and needed more help, he would drive up and down the 99 several times a month.

After Grandma died, Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Thelma brought my Grandpa Smith home to take care of him.  Uncle Lloyd helped him to bathe and do that sort of thing after Grandpa reached that point.  They took really good care of Grandpa with Aunt Thelma doing the cooking and Uncle Lloyd doing the physical part of the caring until Grandpa passed away.

Their oldest child, Lloyd David got a brain tumor that was terminal.  They brought him home.  Uncle Lloyd took care of his oldest son until he passed away.
Aunt Thelma developed several health issues.  She was totally bedridden, couldn't talk and was fed through a tube in her stomach for a couple of years.  Uncle Lloyd was right there with her taking care of her.

After Aunt Thelma could no longer talk, Uncle Lloyd used to call me to keep me up to date on the family comings and goings and the latest gossip.  Uncle Lloyd would also plant okra just for me.  It is hard for me to grow it in my area so he would grow it for me.

Uncle Lloyd loved his family.  He was a wonderful family man, a good Christian, and a great human being!  Because he cared so much about others, he was a natural at being an outstanding Father, Husband, Grandfather, Great Grandfather, Son in Law, Father in Law, Uncle, and Friend.

I know that he is in Heaven with Aunt Thelma and they are having a wonderful time. 
His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant