M Stevens-David
M Stevens-David
Potatoes
It was now the end of May and winter still had not shown any inclination of relinquishing her hold on the county. Oh, sure, there had been the odd couple of days, here and there, when the ever-present wind had died a little and the inhabitants of our small Aroostook County, Maine town had dared to hope that there had been a reprieve, but it didn't happen.
Jun 26, 2009 - 12:23:53 PM
M Stevens-David
Tha Trash Nazi
Jake kicked the living room door shut with the heel of his scuffed sneaker and threw his jacket into his father's old recliner. His mother, hearing the sound of the old oak door being so harshly treated, stuck her head around the corner of the living room wall and looked intently at her youngest son.
Jun 18, 2009 - 12:26:17 PM
M Stevens-David
Stolen Apples
Up over the hill behind our house, on land owned by our nearest neighbor, Les Page, was an old apple orchard that had been planted by his great grandfather. No one had bothered with the orchard for a long time and by the time we were growing up a lot of the trees were already dead or dying. During apple season, us Stevens' kids used to pull commando raids on that apple orchard every chance we got.
Jun 17, 2009 - 11:07:01 AM
M Stevens-David
Cowboys & Turkeys
Our Dad, William James Stevens, was born in Castle Hill, in Aroostook County, Maine on January 19, 1915, the oldest son of James William Stevens and Eunice Robinson. Being of Scot and Swedish ancestry, in adulthood, he stood about six feet tall and weighed around one hundred sixty-five pounds. As long as he lived, his weight never did catch-up to his raw-boned frame.
Apr 1, 2009 - 10:37:28 PM
M Stevens-David
Revenge Is Sweet
Our nearest neighbors on the Goding Road were the Porter family which was comprised of five children and a mother. It was generally rumored around town that each child had a different father but that didn't matter much to us kids. We were just happy to have some other kids to play or fight with other than our own brothers and sisters.
Mar 27, 2009 - 11:17:27 AM
M Stevens-David
Tha Bear
Old Piney Woodsman had a really bad habit and this habit drove everyone who knew him just a little bit crazy. He had the habit of stretching the truth just a little and some folks thought that he stretched the truth more than just a little, if the truth be told.
Mar 26, 2009 - 2:58:27 PM
M Stevens-David
Emma
When I was growing up in Aroostook County during the fifty's and sixty's, as in most small towns, many of the people who lived around us were related to us in one way or another. One of those who come to mind was a woman named Emma Goodrich.
Mar 14, 2009 - 7:00:27 PM
M Stevens-David
Tippy
Mother said that she would never forget the day that the animal came limping up the dusty, dirt road to our house. It was the middle of a very hot August for Aroostook County, Maine and Mother had risen at her usual five to feed Dad and get him off to work. She had gotten the three oldest children out of the house to walk the two miles up the dirt road to the Old South School and her day was already long.
Feb 24, 2009 - 12:12:05 PM
M Stevens-David
The Waiting Room
There's something about "free" services that brings out the best or worse in people or at least that's what I've always found. Why do I say this? Let me explain.
Feb 16, 2009 - 2:16:52 PM
M Stevens-David
The Hot Flash
In nineteen ninety-four, my whole life, as I knew it, changed drastically. I was sailing through life, quite happy with whom I was and what I had accomplished throughout the years, but alas, over night, menopause hit and everything changed.
Feb 12, 2009 - 11:26:16 AM
M Stevens-David
Tha Huntin Trip
Nineteen fifty-five had been a good year for Dad. The potatoes that he'd so lovingly and patiently nursed along all year had been dug and the yield had been better than expected. And now that the bulk of the harvest had been sold, Dad could breathe a sigh of relief and take a little time off. These breaks were few and far between and he was due for a rest. He always looked forward to a few good fishin trips each year in the early spring before the potatoes demanded all of his attention and now that the first mark of fall was on the trees, Dad's blood stirred with the long anticipated annual hunting trip up to Musquacook with his boys, Walt and Jake.
Jan 8, 2009 - 1:43:29 PM
M Stevens-David
The Age Game
It really started when I was about sixteen, this little harmless game that I played with myself and others. One would think that one ages fast enough that one wouldn't want to make oneself seem chronologically older but the human mind often works in funny and inexplicable ways. It is a kind of psychological game that I have carried with me throughout all the years but alas, it has finally come to an end. I can understand at sixteen, wanting to appear older but as I aged, well, it all went a little bit like this.
Dec 29, 2008 - 3:28:17 PM
M Stevens-David
Tha Boots
In 1954 Dad fell in love. But the really odd thing about this new-found love affair wasn't that he fell in love with another woman and his strange feelings didn't bother Mother one dite. You see, Dad fell in love with a pair of hunting boots.
Dec 16, 2008 - 11:03:20 AM
M Stevens-David
The Bath - Part Two
August 2008 arrived once again and so did Peyton. I couldn't believe a year had passed since her last summer's visit and now that she was ten, I expected a lot of changes and I wasn't disappointed either. Since her mother was attending conferences in Arizona for her final preparation for her Doctoral dissertation, we had arranged to drive from Minot, Maine down to Newington, New Hampshire to pick her up for her two week stay.
Dec 8, 2008 - 11:53:03 AM
M Stevens-David
Protocol of Potato Picking
Growing up in Aroostook County, Maine, we knew a lot about potatoes, not because we were particularly interested in them but because they were always all around us and dad worked with that specie all of his natural life.
Nov 1, 2008 - 12:01:00 AM
M Stevens-David
Prayers
Every Sunday, throughout the Ashland area in Aroostook County, Maine the churches of all the different denominations would ring their bells and church-going folks would hurry off to their respective houses of worship. Competition for the lost and sliding souls among the churches was fierce and God help you if you didn't belong to what each group considered the "best" church and the "best" church was the group you happened to be talking to at the moment.
Oct 31, 2008 - 9:42:11 PM
M Stevens-David
Philbert
The residents of Aroostook County, Maine generally consider themselves to be conservative by nature and it usually takes quite a while for new styles and fads to catch on. When the news finally reached Ashland that longer hairstyles were "in" for men, the news was greeted with wholehearted enthusiasm. The entire male population heaved a sigh that was equal to a condemned man's relief, when he hears that his death sentence has been rescinded.
Oct 23, 2008 - 10:38:12 AM
M Stevens-David
Outhouse Rules
In all his years of married life, there was only one place where Dad wasn't bothered by anyone, with the exception of flies, midges, mosquitoes, moose flies, deerflies and spiders. Dad, overwhelmed and outnumbered by his family, besides mother there were five girls and three boys, escaped to this quiet retreat as often as he possibly could.
Oct 13, 2008 - 12:30:55 PM
M Stevens-David
Snooky Long
By the time Snooky was born, his parents were well into their forties and after trying for years, they'd finally given up on ever having a child of their own. At birth, he didn't look at all like most of the other newborn babies. He already looked older than the other babies and his skin had a slightly olive cast to it. He had a profusion of pitch black hair which stood straight up on his little round head. His face was oval and he had his father's decidedly pointed chin. His nose, which was slightly pointed, gave him a fox-like appearance but it was his eyes that one really paid attention to. They were jet black and there was a shine to them that most people's eyes didn't have. Even when he was real little, he had a way of fixing his black, shiny eyes directly on a person and this made folks feel very uncomfortable because he never seemed to blink.
Oct 13, 2008 - 12:21:38 PM
M Stevens-David
Great Aunt Cassie
She was our great aunt but us Stevens' kids always called her Aunt Cassie. She only stood about five feet tall in her stocking feet but she had more drive and energy in her little finger than most people had in their whole body. There wasn't anything that she couldn't or wouldn't do if she put her mind to it. To me, she was the epitome of the true American pioneer spirit.
Sep 22, 2008 - 2:05:35 PM
M Stevens-David
Mother
Mother, most of all was a true survivor. There wasn't anything, if she put her mind to it, she couldn't do. She cooked, knit, wallpapered, painted, sawed, sanded and sewed. She tore old clothes apart and made new ones for us out of them. If there were any scraps leftover, she'd use the remnants to make patchwork blankets. She never threw anything away.
Sep 10, 2008 - 10:00:57 AM
M Stevens-David
Maple Syrup
Aroostook County is infamous for her snowstorms. One particular storm that I remember will stay in my mind forever. It is the time we had a particularly heavy Northeaster. The storm slid into Maine from the east. It had been trapped by an arctic flow that had dipped down into the county from Canada. The storm revolved where it was for the better part of three days and left five feet of heavily packed snow before moving off into the Canadian Maritimes.
Sep 3, 2008 - 12:37:57 PM
M Stevens-David
The Kerosene Can
Mother swore as she hit her thumb on the side of the iron grate of our old kerosene cook stove that she was cleaning. She wiped her hands on her apron and examined her thumb more closely. "It hurts like hell but it's too far from tha heart to kill me!" she said to the room at large and to no one in particular and continued polishing the old stove.
Aug 27, 2008 - 9:13:20 AM
M Stevens-David
The Flame Thrower
The very same summer of 1991, that my husband bought me my Craftsman lawn tractor; he also made me another present. All summer long while I so diligently kept the lawn so beautifully mowed, he'd had the thankless job of trimming the grass that grew so abundantly along our five rock walls. He'd eye the new growth all week long, knowing that come Saturday, there was another trimming job waiting for him because for some obscure reason, I'd been unable to learn how to use that noisy, dangerous machine. I'd become proficient in the use of the rototiller, the lawn sprayer, the lawn edger and all the other machines one needs to keep their property in pristine condition but me and the weed eater didn't like each other one dite!
Aug 16, 2008 - 11:31:00 AM
M Stevens-David
The Manure Spreader
Hugh McHatten stopped the tractor just short of the barn doors and swung around in the seat to look back over the field that he'd just dressed. He jist loved this job. Yes-sir, there was something about spreading manure that made him feel good. Some people would say that this was a nasty, smelly job but Hughy didn't care. There was something about loadin the spreader right to the top and then driving back and forth across the empty fields and seein the manure flying out the back onto the ground. He jist loved it! After all, it didn't cost him nothin; it was poor man's fertilizer.
Aug 12, 2008 - 10:29:39 AM
M Stevens-David
Uncle
Besides our Great Uncle Hal, one of my other favorite relatives was my grandfather's brother whom we affectionately called Uncle Barney or Uncle. He was really our great uncle but we always called him Uncle Barney.
Aug 12, 2008 - 10:15:27 AM
M Stevens-David
Leroy
I'll never forget the time our cousin Leroy came for a visit. We considered him a "city" kid because he lived three miles closer to town than we did. Leroy really wasn't all that popular with us because he liked to brag so damn much.
Aug 5, 2008 - 9:29:13 AM
M Stevens-David
The Out-of-Staters
Even today, what with all the modern advances, you never know if the "newest" fly dope will work until you've spent a night in the woods of Aroostook County. The gatekeepers along the entrance to the northern Maine woods used to laugh to themselves when a vehicle full of "out-of-staters" stopped to pick up their out of state fishing and camping permits because they'd already spent the better part of their vacation, before driving on to "the county," shopping at L.L. Beans in Freeport. The visitors had already spent a fortune on all the latest fishing and camping equipment known to man. The gatekeepers could guess almost to the penny, upon seeing the non-Mainers strutting around in all their fishing gear glory, how much money they'd parted with at L.L. Beans.
Aug 2, 2008 - 9:35:00 PM
M Stevens-David
Mainely Memories
In the seventeen hundreds they came. At first it was but a trickle but still they came. They came from the North, the East and the South. They were of many different tongues, Indian, French, English, Irish, Scots, German and Italian. They came with all that they owned tied in rolls across their backs or just the very clothes they wore.
Jul 27, 2008 - 12:23:49 AM
M Stevens-David
Jake
My brother Jake and I were born only sixteen months apart. At birth, he was given the Christian name of Arnold Louis at birth but, our great Uncle Hal soon christened him "Jake" and this nickname was to stick with him throughout his life. He was a chubby little boy with bright carrot colored hair and he had a dusting of light orange freckles scattered across his nose. His eyes were bright, blue and when he smiled in his lopsided way, huge dimples appeared in both cheeks. If you've ever seen one of Norman Rockwell's paintings of American children, then you've seen Jake.
Jul 26, 2008 - 10:16:26 PM
M Stevens-David
Home Brew
Mother could make something out of almost anything. She took old castoff clothes that others had thrown away, ripped them apart and sewed us clothes and blankets. She did everything well and she did everything. She wall papered, painted, gardened, hunted, canned and anything else that a woman with a large family needed to do to keep her family cared for. But, most of all, she was known for her cooking. Dad was the envy of all the men in his potato house crew because of the luscious food mother packed in his rusty old lunch pail.
Jul 22, 2008 - 9:20:13 AM
M Stevens-David
Holy Rollers
About a mile and a half down the Masardis Road from my grandfather Colbath's house was a small wooden structure that was the Pentecostal Church. At the time of my growing up years it had been painted white with a green trim and there was a small black cross nailed to the wood just above the front door. This structure held a great deal of interest to us Stevens' kids because we passed it each and every day on our way to and from school.
Jul 17, 2008 - 11:52:54 AM
M Stevens-David
Great Uncle Hal
Mother's uncle, Harold Sutherland, was a tall gaunt man with a fringe of flaming red hair and piercing blue eyes. He was as Scottish as a person could get and damn proud of it too. He and his wife Cassie owned and operated a small family farm on the Goding Road about a half a mile down the road from our house. Aunt Cassie and Uncle Hal as we called them were the limelight of our lives. When things got too boring at our house, we could always be found at their house listening to or being involved in some aspect of their daily life.
Jul 17, 2008 - 11:42:33 AM
M Stevens-David
Graveyard
Down the road about a fourth of a mile from our house on the Goding Road was an old cemetery, which was surrounded by a rusting, black wrought iron fence. My siblings and I, once we'd gathered our courage, used to climb over the rickety fence to examine the names and dates on the old tombstones from time to time. The cemetery contained the graves of some of the earliest settlers in our area of Aroostook County.
Jul 8, 2008 - 12:58:53 PM
M Stevens-David
Grampy
When most people think of their grandfathers they think of them with deep love and affection but not me. My maternal grandfather was not a man whom one could like or love easily.
Jun 26, 2008 - 11:19:50 AM
M Stevens-David
Drugstore Days
When I was about sixteen, I went to work as a clerk at Chasse's Drugstore in Ashland. The large, turn of the century building sat on the corner of Main and Oak Streets and three-quarters of the building held everything that one could possibly need, from pots and pans to clothing. This century old emporium held magical and wondrous things for old and young alike.
Jun 19, 2008 - 11:29:00 AM
M Stevens-David
Diary of an Ice Storm
Wednesday, January 7, 1998: Sleet and freezing rain all day long
Jun 18, 2008 - 11:26:01 AM
M Stevens-David
Hake
Another good old friend of Dad's was a fellow named Hake Paige. Hake and Dad had known each other since they'd gone to school together as children. Over the years, they'd worked together in the potato houses, gone on hunting and fishing trips and been downright good friends. They'd shared a good many butts, brews and stories in all the time they'd been acquainted.
Jun 17, 2008 - 11:06:06 AM
M Stevens-David
Goin Home
Walt adjusted his sunglasses to block the early morning sun as it reflected off the edge of the Piscataqua Bay Bridge and directly into his eyes. He accelerated just a dite and the rental Thunderbird picked-up the demand without hesitation. He leaned back and settled himself more comfortably into the soft, leather seat and let his mind wander a little, he was goin home. He looked up and saw his reflection in the rear view mirror and then he lifted his hand and rubbed it across the day-old stubble on his face. The light brown beard was mixed here and there with a just a hint of gray and Walt didn't particularly like that thought at all.
Jun 16, 2008 - 10:17:11 AM
M Stevens-David
Aroostook River Fishin
We lived about half a mile up the road from Uncle Hal's island which the Aroostook River flowed around. Our great Aunt Cassie and Uncle Hal owned all the land down to the river and they usually planted potatoes on this land every year. As kids, we used to spend most of our free time down on the island fishing, playing, cutting down trees, building cabins and generally wrecking havoc on their property.
Jun 9, 2008 - 11:03:54 AM
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