Grandma garner goes in the sugar barrel

I remember we had a big barrel sized can in the kitchen corner (on the other side of the wall from the porch sink) by dad's table chair.  It was a blue/green color and we called it the sugar can because we kept it full of sugar.  One time Carla was sitting on it and the lid caved in.  She ended up sitting right down in the sugar.  We thought it was so funny.

Aunt holly

Where the Bear Sleeps!

"Do you want to find out where the bear sleeps?" I heard in the dark. A large dark figure was standing there glaring down at me. I froze in place...

I was at most four years old, but just like many other nights I had found myself lying awake in my bed worrying that our door wasn't locked. I couldn't sleep until I made sure that the house was secured. So, I slipped out of my bed and so as not to get caught out of my room after my parents thought I was fast asleep I tiptoed through the darkness to my door. I slowly opened my door making sure that the door across the hallway that belonged to mom and dad's room was shut.

The coast was clear so I continued my tiptoe down to the end of the hall into the living room where I could see both the front door and the back door in the kitchen. I looked out the back door's stain glass window that had lost it's color in the dark. All I could see now were shadows moving back and forth behind it. It looked like a big dark figure with hands moving it's big long fingers as if he were scratching the other side of the window, but there was no sound other than the blowing wind. I stared at it for a long time, too scared to move for fear that whatever was making the shadows behind the stain glass would see or hear me. Finally I convinced myself that the it was just the trees in the back yard making shadows on the window. Either way, standing there for very long would just leave the house unprotected. I bravely turned around and skilfully snuck over to the front door and gave the lock a good turn. Whew! One door down.

I turned back and saw the shadows moving through the dark windows in the back door. I was trapped again by the thought of what could be watching me behind the dark windows. I rationalized that it had to be the trees and that since the front door was now secured I didn't need to worry about the back door. I headed back with a job well done, or at least as much as one boy could be expected to do. I was just about to my door when the door opposite mine opened up and dad, the "grizzly bear" he often told us he was asked me what I was doing. I explained my noble task, that's when he posed the famous question that none dared to answer, "Do you want to find out where the bear sleeps?"

He must not have realized the value of my heroic task! I had just been on a dangerous journey through the dark. I wasn't afraid to answer. I bravely looked up at the towering grizzly and said, "I already know where the bear sleeps!"
"And where is that?" asked dad. I pointed in towards his room, "In there" I replied. Dad pointed into my own room and in a gruff whisper said I better get in my own room before I really find out where the bear sleeps!



I'm not sure how many times I got up in the night to keep the house protected. However, there were moments when my duty to lock the door boosted my bravery so that I even managed to lock the back door. As I lay in bed each night after a job well done, I might have thought to myself, "My family sure is lucky to have such a brave brother."

Escape Artist- first in a series?

Rachel, when you were just less than 2, you pushed a chair up to the door undid the safety latch (flippy lock), unlocked the door, and took off for town. The paper boy was bringing you back when we discovered the open door and chair and ran out. You were to the traffic light ... at 200 North and 100 East in Logan, with the apparent intention of going to Main street when the paperboy was smart enough to think "this ain't right" and was bringing you away from Main. And imagine that, we purposely did not invoke the parent curse on you and it happened anyway.

We find out Joshua has an allergy

When Joshua was a little over two years old, he got his first ear infection.  When he was nearly finished with his dose of penicillin, I (Rachel) noticed he had a light rash all over his body.  Unusually, I took him back into doctor, who said that he just had a minor reaction to one of the inactive ingredients.

Six months later, Joshua was sick again and was given another prescription for penicillin (well, amoxicillin, but not too different).  Again, when the infection was cleared up, his body got a rash.  This time it was a bold and bright pattern all over his skin, he was puffy, and itched.  Since it was the weekend (and we had a brand new baby in the house), I took him into the Urgent Care facility.  The doctor there (who, I think was more competent than our regular pediatrician) said he had a classic allergic reaction and gave him some medicine to help with the itch.

Throughout, Joshua was cheerful and aside from scratching a bit and telling us it hurt, gave no indication that he was at all uncomfortable.  Since there was no problem, we decided to take him to nursery the next day.  What an uproar he caused.  He looked awful, and the teachers and parents were understandably concerned that the nasty rash was contagious.  After a few days, the rash cleared up and we've been careful to make sure he doesn't have penicillin since then, on the one occasion he's had an infection.  Given the rapid escalation of his reaction, I don't want to see what more exposures would do!

Daniel and the Evans' (former) Swingset

One evening, soon after Bobby and Susan bought their house, we went over for a BBQ.  The previous owners (The Fillmores) had left their swing set as part of the deal and 2 year old Daniel was really enjoying it.  As he sat to go down the slide, he started screaming.  What was wrong, we wondered as we ran toward him.  A wasp!  As Mommy grabbed for Daniel to get him off the slide, Daddy swatted at the offending insect.  Not a wise choice by Daddy; both Mommy and Daniel were stung.  A popsicle helped Daniel feel better, but ever since then he's been terrified of flying insects.  It took a long time to convince him that flies were just dirty, not out to get him.  We discovered that the swing set had a wasp nest in the end of the overhead beam, right next to the slide.  Obviously, Daniel's playing disturbed them.  But, in the end it was the wasps who lost as the swing set got recycled not too long thereafter.

The First Post

Sometimes at night, the boys want to skip the story from a book.  In the car, they request a "special" story.  What do they want?  They want to hear a real-life story, a narrated- if slightly exaggerated- event, and not about someone famous or far-removed.  The heroes of the stories they want to hear are their aunts and uncles, mom and dad, grandmas and grandpas, and the greats even further back.  So, help us out!  If you have lots of stories to tell on these erst-while heroes, leave a comment requesting to be added as an author.  If you only have a moment or two you want to share, email me at rachelgarner.familystories@blogger.com  When writing, please use full name tags.  If you'd like to add further detail, clarify your role in the event, or defend your reputation, feel free to leave comments.  Thanks for your help!