Never let it be said that the "old" days were easier or better.  We just didn't know any better. 

I was born (literally) on a farm in Central Illinois.  I was the seventh in a family of eight.   Three boys, then two girls, then three more boys.  In a family of that size, it's not unusual for the younger ones to not really have grown up with the older, and our family was no different. 

My earliest recollection of farm life was of an old rooster that we had that just delighted in chasing me!  I couldn't have been more than three or four at that time.  I remember that other family members would tell me to "pick up a stick and to hit that rooster" to make him quit chasing me.  But, at that early age, I was terrified of that rooster.  Before I ventured out of the house I always made sure that I was with one of my older siblings.  On the rare occasion that I did go out by myself, I would first look thru all the windows, and out the doors for that darned old rooster.   Then, not seeing him any where around, I very cautiously ventured outside.  When I was about half way between the house and the barn, that old rooster came running for me from around one of the buildings!  I froze in my tracks knowing there was no way that I could make it back to the house, or to the barn, or to any of the other buildings.   I'm sure I was yelling at the top of my lungs - praying that one of my siblings would hear me and come to my rescue.  But, none heard me, and none came!  Out of shear desperation, I saw a pretty good sized stick close by where I was standing.  It was then that I remembered my siblings telling me to pick up a stick and hit that rooster.  And I reacted!  Boy, did I ever.  The first contact I made with that stick, I hit that old rooster in the head, and stopped him cold in his tracks! 

I don't remember what happened next.  Most probably, I, after having stopped that roosters' charge, ran back to the safety of the house.  Then, after recounting all the events, I began to realize just what I had done!  I had STOPPED that rooster!!    I don't recall whether the next events happened that day, the next day, or several days later.  But, most probably within the next day or two, I found another stick, and I went LOOKING for that rooster!  And, boy did I ever make him sorry he ever chased me!  Never, ever, again did I have a rooster chase me because I was as ready as ready can be! 

Soon after, my mother fixed chicken (rooster) for Sunday dinner.