Today’s guest post was written by Ed Ammons.
Grandma’s pasture was on a rather steep hillside along and above the road through Hightower Gap. Cows are not so good at climbing so hers would work their way back and forth along the length of the pasture only climbing a few steps at the end before working their way back in the opposite direction. Back and forth that way until they reached the top. Day after day, year after year this went on until their hooves flattened their pathways. Imagine wide stairs climbing the steep mountainside.
At the bottom of the pasture was a barbed wire fence that snaked along the top of the road bank. From the fence to the road was a twelve-to-fifteen-foot drop. At one place, just over the fence at the top of the pasture, was an apple tree whose fruit was well worth the climb.
As many people may know climbing down a steep hillside can be harder than climbing up. So, when your belly’s full of sweet, sweet apples and you’re too lazy to climb back down, what do you do? Well, you take the lazy way down and lay down and roll!
It’s a long way down and the farther you go the faster you roll. Along about mid-way you start wondering how you are going to stop. Are you going to wind up in a barbed wire fence? Are you going to go flying out into the road? Whose idea was this anyway?
But you manage to stop, and you don’t know how you did because you have rolled so many times that you don’t even know who you are, where you are, and up from down. You’re still now but the rest of the world is rolling in every direction and you’re trying to hold to the ground to keep from falling off. What do you do now?
Well, you lay there until the world settles down enough for you to stand up, then climb back and up and replace the apples you lost on the way down. Then you do it all over again!
That’s not a picture of Grandma’s pasture of course, I don’t have one, but it serves to illustrate the beauty of the nearby Appalachian landscape. That’s the Little Tennessee River looking upstream from the suspension bridge at Needmore.
Ed
I hope you enjoyed Ed’s memories as much as I do! His writing brings back memories of rolling down grassy banks when I was a girl.
Tipper
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Hi Tipper,
We still have the steep hill but now it is covered in pines.
The hill we played on was in the woods above the house.
In the fall we would rake up leaves at the bottom of the hill.
Run down the hill and jump in them. It was so much fun.
When we got tired of playing Aunt Pauline would help us and we
would rake up the leaves in bark sacks. Then we would take them
back to the duck house (storage building) for storage. In the winter
they were used as bedding for the dog or the pigs or both.
Several years ago we used leaves in our dog beds. They worked just
as well now as they did then. Dogs loved them especially the odors they had
in them from the woods. Now our dogs are spoiled and have heated beds in the
heated building. Kathy Patterson
Such great memories! Lovely story!
I had forgotten about this when I wrote my comment this morning, I can remember way back-early 60’s, when my sister( younger than me) rolled down a steep hill on the backside of our property and ended up in a small spring fed creek at the bottom of the hill. It was during the winter and we were getting up firewood and I remember stopping and rushing her back to the house to change clothes and get warm.
I love that story. I could picture it perfectly in my mind. As a country kid myself, I’ve spent many hours rolling down hills. Lol. Thanks for the story and letting me relive those memories. 🙂 Have a great day!
Great story, Cousin Ed.
Thank you for the picture. I’ve stood on that bridge a few times but don’t have a photo of the river.
My son took that picture for me the last time he went to visit his mothers grave. I can’t travel nearly that far but he goes and brings back pictures. Not too far upriver from there up on the mountain to the right is where his mother (my wife) is buried and where I will soon be. They call it Grave Gap Cemetery but I always knew it as Windy Gap.
Mr. Ed, the picture was beautiful and your story was so sweet. My grandma and grandpa lived in the Missouri Ozarks and some relatives in the Arkansas region of the Ozarks. The hills were like mountains to us. Absolutely beautiful. I remember the icy cold creeks at the foot of the hill my grandparents lived on. He had a cow troth next to this creek. We little ones would use that to swim in. We nearly froze in it but never thought to not jump in that water. My relatives in Arkansas lived more near rivers but they were also cold as an icy pool could be. Hope you have a great new year. I really enjoyed your memories.
When my brother and me were little, we used old moving boxes or delivery boxes to roll down the small hill. Us inside the boxes. I’m sure we must have been sore, but we had fun. Tipper, you never fail to bring back fond memories of my childhood. Thank you for all the joy your family brings us. Hug to Granny. Anna from Arkansas.
It was always so much fun to roll down a hill. Thanks, Ed, for reminding me of some fun times and thank you Tipper for sharing this post. Have a great day everyone!
My Grandpap’s cow field was steep and I used to climb it repeatedly to get in shape for sports. In the winter we would ride sleds down it. It had three wide ‘shelves’ on the way down that would send you airborne for an extra thrill. You had to roll off at the bottom before you hit the bob-wire fence at the bottom.
I had the brilliant idea one day to ride down on my belly. The first time the sled hit the ground knocked the wind out of me, and I rolled off the sled before the next shelf. I made a nice snow angel while my wind recovered.
bahahaha, reminds me of 1976 we were at Mom and Dad’s outside of Murphy. it had snowed and the neighbors kids wanted Ron to come sled with them in the cow pasture. which he was happy to be invited. this went on for a while till cow decided it wanted to move on up the hill about the time Ron was going down.. clipped the legs out from under the cow.. haha they both rode on down to the bottom. (they was not hurt). Mrs. McClure was not happy that the cow did give milk for a couple of days.
Thanks Ed, I enjoyed your story about sliding down your grandmother’s pasture. We didn’t grow up with a hill large enough to slide down, but I know I would have enjoyed it, until I came to a stop. I hate the feeling of dizziness, worst feeling ever! Have a great day everyone!
Ed did a fine job writing his memories of his Grandma’s cows that were in her pasture. It does amaze me how God gave each animal and us humans survival instincts. The cows knew to get the apples they had to climb up the mountain side each day then back down to rest at night. I love his memories of rolling down the mountain. It reminded me of how as a child my siblings and I would do the same. The only difference was we never had apples with us to lose and we rolled off a hill, not a mountain. Now rolling off a mountain would have thrilled us! I just don’t think I could have survived that long of a roll, but it sure would have been fun to have tried back then. Great post Ed! Thank you for sharing your memories with us, we enjoyed it!
That sounds like so much fun. I grew up in Georgetown, SC . We would honestly roll down the sand dunes at Pawleys Island and Litchfield beach the very same way. They were so big. We would run to the ocean and rinse the sand off and do it all over again. It was so much fun. The sand dunes are gone now. So sad.
What a great memory this is for all of us.
As always praying for Granny.
Some people can paint pictures using words! Although I didn’t read about any cow piles I could picture them in that field too but in my imagination and not with my words. We had a similar hill in one of our pastures on the back side of our Sequatchie Valley, Tn farm where my youngest brother and I sledded as kids. Those paths the cows made across the side of our hill made bumps in our sledding. Sometimes they threw us off the sled. Of course our sleds were just patched together bases of worn homemade Adirondack chairs or whatever we could find. There was a rock fence at the bottom next to the creek but enough space in the flat for a road for the wagon and a small pond on one side. The sleds always stopped before getting too close to the rock fence or pond. I did my share of rolling down the steep hill in front of the house when there were no cows there. What fun! Ed, your story certainly brought back fun memories. Thanks.
Yep, country kids make their own fun. I had forgotten about rolling or spinning for fun. I did that as a boy. Don’t dare encourage woosey now of course. Those who’ve never tried it can’t guess how well sliding on the grass – or pine needles – is using a piece of cardboard works. About those cow trails, the origin of what are now major highways is said to have been animal trails, especially buffalo. They are a herd animal like cows. And, as mentioned, animals are smart about conserving energy by staying on grade. I saw examples of that lots of times working in the woods.
Growing up as kids, our yard was not level & I remember a berm on the property. It wasn’t real steep but enough for us kids to roll about 8 or 10 feet down it. That was always a fun time outside. Thanks for the memories!
Prayers for Granny & all her relatives and for Matt’s mom & dad also.
I enjoyed reading everyone’s posts. I grew up in central Indiana where the hills were just starting. My dad would fish at the reservoir south of us so I did have a few steep hill memories. We would climb the hills when we got bored fishing with our cane poles and explore the woods. our hills are nothing compared to the beautiful south. Prayers for everyone!
In Grandma’s front yard we would fold ourselves up in a car tire and someone would start us rolling. Near the bottom we leaned over and the rolling stopped. Because we sometimes rolled out into the road we had to listen before starting for any cars coming up the gravel road. No sound – go!
I love the old pictures! Granny Gazie was so stylish!
Ed, Thank you for the chuckle this morning. I would have just been happy that I didn’t roll over a new cow patty! Lol! We have a small hill beside our house, and my grandchildren just love rolling down it…and sledding down it in winter.
I was raised on flatland but often played in my grandparent’s pasture. I have noticed animal paths, (not only cows) will usually be the easiest path around or through some of those steep hills or other places in nature. I loved the picture, it made my right arm twitch wanting to grab a rod and fish. I am glad November has passed and I don’t have to look at the picture every morning of Matt holding that pretty trout! I think he was rubbing it in! By the way, Ed didn’t say in his story, but I have heard cows raised in a steep hill pasture will have two legs shorter than the other two in order to stand up straight! Ed is this true? I enjoy a lot of Ed’s stories, he needs to write more.
I don’t think the tale of shorter legged cows is true. If it were, they wouldn’t be able to come back. If they turn they would end up tipping over. Then it would cows rolling down the mountain not kids. Now, if you owned the whole mountain they could walk all the way around it to get home. But you’d have to call them a day early to get them home by milking time.
Ed, I hope you realize I was trying to “be funny” when I wrote that and was just teasing. I’m about the dimest bulb in the pack but but bright enough to know that that ain’t true. I was sincere when I wrote I enjoy reading your stories and would enjoy reading more of them.
Randy, I knew you were joking. I was trying to joke back with you. A good laugh sometimes makes us forget our worries for a minute.
Thank is the lif you want for your kids and great grandchildren. We have rolled and sled down the hill in front of our home place as kids. There was a short flat bottom area with a creek then a fence on the other side closest to the road. Our children are missing out on those wonderful experiences. Oh how I wish that they could live in both worlds at the same time. I know you, Matt, Austin and those girls will see to it that those babies have a shot at living that life. That little boy’s are blessed to be loved by so many. Please pray for Sayward and our family today. I am to have a Telahealth call with her doctor to discuss some medication today. This is not a path we ever wanted to start down, but may have to. Please continue to pray for her roommate Kelsie. She is very sick with pneumonia and battles many seizures. God bless you all and I pray for all of you.
Drama, I’m sorry. I will pray! Thank you for your prayers!!
Ed, I always heard the older people say that cows were the best at surveying routes up and around hills.
From experience, I do know it was much easier following their laid-out route than climbing straight up a hill. The best I can remember, they grazed as they followed the path back and forth, always upward, around the side of the hill?
I failed to mention that Sanford, the cows grazed their way along reaching up into the median and finding a few blades of grass among the blackberry briars there. I think I also failed to adequately express just how steep the hillside really was. As steep as the stairs in a house? Maybe steeper!
Cattle are a plains animal. Turning around on a steep mountainside, for cattle, is difficult at best. And to anyone who hasn’t seen it happen, it is equally difficult to imagine. Almost comical.
Mountainside pastures like that are the rule rather than the exception. All the land that was flat enough for planting crops was reserved for just that. Everything else was pasture.
I’d like to say thank you to those that pray for me, and my family, thank you very much, I don’t always come back and look after posting, leaving a comment here, but today I thought I would say thank you and God bless you, each and everyone
thank you for Ed’s story today Tipper, I wish I was young again and could roll down that Hill, God bless Granny, God bless the Wilson and Pressley family
That reminds me of my Momo’s backyard. As a child it seemed so steep and we rolled and played back there. Thank you for helping me remember.
As a child I would have loved rolling down that hill and wouldn’t have thought twice about where I might end up!
Y’all have a blessed day! Prayers and love❤️❤️
Good Morning Tipper, Matt and Acorns. I loved rolling down hills. There is a big pasture hill just across the holler from our trailer. Ive climbed up it many times and sledded down it in the snow a few. There is a fence a the bottom. Seems like there is usually a fence at the bottom. When we were kids there were plenty of hills to roll down. In 1970 Mama and Daddy bought a house here and we settled in the community of Pandora when Daddy retired from the Army. there was a hill in the front yard and a bigger, steeper hill behind the house with a big, flat garden space on top. We took the large cardboard moving boxes and used them as sleds. We wore the grass slick on the hill behind the house. The neighborhood kids soon found out what we were doing and joined in. It was the best beginning to summer ever. I keep y’all in my prayers. I love Y’all.
Barbara, do you ever watch the Little League (baseball) World Series on tv? They play every year in Williamsport, PA. While the games are going on, dozens of kids repeatedly slide down the steep hill on cardboard behind the playing field. Some just roll, as Ed described. It is not hard to tell who is having the most fun, the competing Little Leaguers or the carefree bunch who are there just to play on that hillside.
We used to roll until we were almost sick. Thank you for sharing!
Norman, I just saw your message from yesterday about finding a new doctor. I pray for the Lord to guide you to the right one. God bless!
thank you Debbie, I have not been checking back in after I post, I found your post this morning, thank you for praying in God bless you