Blacksmith

My granddaddy were a blacksmith. Back when I were little, in the 1930's, we still a bunch of horses in Harper and my granddaddy (we called him Pa) shoed 'em all. As the horse population started to drop off Pa got into the business of building wooden side walls for pickup trucks so the owners could haul cattle and such with out buying a bigger truck. This is what he called his wood and metal business. He let me help him even though I were still a little flipper. This is where I got interested in welding. Pa had a welding setup and showed me how to weld. I got better'n most anybody around and pretty soon I were taking on odd joys for the locals. My mama made me quit though when there were a welding accident in McComb.
A man who worked for the railroad were welding a gas tank from a truck and it exploded. After he recovered he told how he were real careful to empty all the gasoline from the tank, but there were still fumes floating around in there. So I went back to my job at the grocery store, bagging and delivering. After my mama passed on I took up welding again. I got kinda arty and started making metal animals what peoples staked out in their yards. One of the ones most popular were a little monkey with hooks what could be hung from a tree.