I remember the Forties - Stories for my Grandchildren

While going through one of my mother's notebooks, I found this list. I wrote it; I'm not sure when, and I'm not sure why, but Mother had it and saved it. There are some things that probably won't make sense to you, but I'm going to publish it like I wrote it.

• A black cat named "Soot"
• A Cocker Spaniel named "Susie"
•  Being butted off a log by a goat named "Sweet Pea"
• A stove that had a model T coil "pilot light"
•  A Mangle that was also the family note-board
•  A wringer-type washing machine that would grab your hand if you weren't careful
•  A water tank up on a tower in our back yard
• A girlfriend named Marilyn, but she moved away
• Sitting in the car, listening to war news on the radio
• We drove a "four door sit-down"
• Visiting Uncle Marvin and Aunt Polly, playing at the stock tank, getting raw peanuts to roast
• Visiting Uncle Benny and Aunt Lou Amma, making corn-husk boats, "divining" for water, playing "I dropped my dolly" on their piano
• Playing Chinese checkers with Grandmother Bramblett -  until I won
• A trip to Lake Caddo to visit relatives, sleeping on the pool table
•  A cowboy outfit for Christmas
•  A bicycle with a little front wheel and a basket so big in front I could stand in it
• Learning to ride my Daddy's bicycle that was so big I couldn't sit on the seat - even with the pedals  blocked up
• My brother's Cushman motor scooter, and the night it arrived
• Margarine with the yellow dots that you squeezed for color
• Tablets that you added to sugar water to make "maple syrup"
• Walking to a garden plot close to our house
• Losing my favorite toy car in the plowed furrows of Mr. Webber's garden behind his house
• Gathering up all the discarded Christmas trees and building forts; then having a big bonfire with them
• Getting my head busted by Ida Jo Waller and getting stitches
• Swimming lessons at the YMCA- 
• Reading every Bobbsey Twins book in the Public Library
•  Daddy making a crystal radio that really worked
• Rushing to Tatum's grocery to buy Bubblegum when some came in
• Charging groceries at Minchew's little store
• Playing kick-the-can on summer nights
• Mr. & Mrs. Morrison next door, and Fred and Mary Baker the next house over
• The dancing Popeye puppet that Fred Baker made for me
• His dog Rusty, riding in the back of his pickup
• Swinging off of our garage on a rope tied to a tree next to the Kingston's
• The world's largest comic book collection, housed in Danny Webber's room out back
• The Jewel T man - one of the purchases was a pitcher in the shape of a pig. An ice cube often appeared to be its tongue sticking out
• Running away from home - until Mother passed me in the car going somewhere
• Ladies quilting in the basement of the church
• Lemon meringue pie when the visiting preacher came to Sunday dinner
• Not understanding why my sister was crying if she was so happy