Story about Grandma Mixson
By Glenda (Mixson) Sykes

I do have a few stories of how grandma Rosalee (yes she laughed at how I always spelled her name) would watch us when I was really little. I remember she would wait for my dad to get home from work early in the day(guess he was working nights ) and have him go hunting for dinner.. He would bring home quail, dove, squirrel or rabbit and she would skin and clean it . Then she cooked it on the wood stove in her house. She made us cookies on that wood stove and the smell was wonderful. Once she had us chase a chicken around the yard, she'd cut off it's head and told us it was trying to run away. Once I was aware of the fact my dad was shooting doves and cried about it, she tried to keep me from seeing what she clean dinner after that. I would play under her quilting frame and she told us about her mom and dad, though I don't remember the stories I just remember her talking about them. In the winter she let us sleep in the little room next to the kitchen that was divided with rough wood planks that you could see though so we would stay warmer. We would peep through the cracks at her and grandpa.  I believe it was her wash room or pantry. She kept sewing stuff in there. I remember Debra would pinch me or poke me with pins and i would cry so grandma would put me on her bed and keep the door open between the two rooms so she could watch me. When it was cold in the middle room , I asked her how she could work on her quilts in the cold and she said she would do it at night while her and grandpa would talk by the fire. Her kitchen was warm, sunny and smelled good. I only remember grandpa a very little, he was always working. I remember seeing him a few times like when Michael had a calf I think grandpa had given him and it was time to butcher, we hung out on the fence looking at it, I didn't know what was up until later. And once I remember fussing because I was not big enough to swing on the barn swing into the hay pile.  Grandpa Mixson called me a cry baby . Grandma was always very sweet to me.

Glenda Sykes, July 25, 2009