Category: Katy Carr Peterson

Katy Carr Peterson

REFLECTIONS OF GRANDMA KATIE

GRANDMA KATIE
By Diane Frame Bertone for all of her grandchildren

carr_katie_ester_labelOur Grandma Katie came to Oklahoma from Arkansas in a covered wagon pulled by two mules, “Pepper and Ader”, when she was only five years old. The family milk cow was tied to the back of the wagon. The trip took five to six days. Grandma Katie passionately told about crossing the river at Webber Falls on a ferryboat. She was so very scared that the wagon would fall into the river, and she said her little feet nearly froze off. The family cooked on a campfire (more…)

Katy Carr Peterson

Aunt Katy Gives an Anatomy Lesson

steer-grill_48-150x150It was summer, and we were in Oklahoma again. Back from the east coast, and our urban life style.

It was early in the morning, and I was at Aunt Katy’s house. I was not very old, I’m thinking 3rd or 4th grade. She asked me if I wanted to go out to the ranch that day; they were going to make steers. That caught my interest as I thought steers came into the world the usual way; I did not know they were manufactured. Being an inquisitive child I asked her, “How do you make steers?”

She replied, “Well you know, they cut off their #%$”. I looked at her perplexed not understanding what #%$ meant. She proceeded to go through a list of slang terms for that portion of the male anatomy, with me looking puzzled the whole time. Finally, in desperation, she said, “They cut off their testicles.”

“Oh”, I said. There was a word I finally understood and being not only an inquisitive child but precocious I quickly cross referenced all the previous attempts back to this word. I learned several words that day for which my mother would have grabbed the soap bar had she heard me saying them.

I did not go watch steers being manufactured that day. I don’t remember if that was my decision or Aunt Katy’s decision, I suspect the later.