New day

Well, a new day has come and almost gone. We went to church this morning and then we went out to lunch. Lunch was pretty good I guess. I have no sense of taste. I don't know what happened to it.

We came home from lunch and went swimming. Boy that was good. It was 102 degrees outside.

I'm sure going to miss that pool when we sell our house but I will still will be glad when we sell. I don't know what we will do when we sell. We may move to Arkansas or Oklahoma or we may stay in California. We will be praying about that. We want to do what God wants us to do.

Our Garden

Well here I am again. Now if I can just think of anything to say.

I am still working full time and have no idea when I will retire. I am still feeling pretty good and I really like my job. I am job coach for an adult day care center. I teach mentally challenged adults to mow lawns, weedeat and pull weeds, so they can make a few dollars. It is a very rewarding job, not financially but spiritually. To watch these guys grow is a whole new experience for me. In a way I learn as much from them as they do from me. I am thinking about retirement pretty soon though. I will soon be seventy years old and I want to spend more time with my wife.

We are getting ready to plant our garden . We weren't going to put in a garden this year, but we decided to because we both like fresh vegetables and they cost a fortune in the store, so we are going to put in a small garden. My wife is a big help to me. she drove the tractor and plowed with a turning plow, while I followed behind her with a tiller so we are about ready to plant. I am looking forward to picking peas, corn, beans, tomatoes and who knows what else.

My Family

I woke up this morning not feeling too good, but I got out of bed and went to work anyway. What is this? I used to get up every morning feeling great . Could it be because I am getting older. No, I will be 70 years young in June. I am not complaining. I am just glad to be here. I do enjoy life and my family and friends.

My son, his wife and 5 kids were here this weekend and I really enjoyed them, But who wouldn't. First there is Evan the oldest of Ken's kids. He is so smart (unbelievably so), and his smile will melt your heart. Next there is Jarod. He has the most beautiful eyes you have ever seen. Then there is Caylum. He has the wildest hair you have ever seen and a permanent smile on his face. He is the dare devil of the family. There is nothing he will not try. Next is Kiara. She is a princess, a very beautiful little girl, a flower in our life and last Leila, the 2 month old who is also a beautiful baby girl. They were all with us this weekend and the only thing that would make me happier would be for my other two kids and their 7 kids to be here also.

Charles, my oldest son and his wife Mashelle and their three sons. Josh the oldest used to ride on my shoulders a lot, But those days are over, He is now 18 years old and a big boy, but he is still my first born grandson who we ( my wife and I love very much). Next there is Nick, the scholar of the family. I remember him as a little boy who reminded me of Popeyes nephew, Sweetpea, but he is growing up too. Last is Joey. Joey is 13 years old and a wonderful grandson. Joey always wanted to help when he visited us.

Sheri, my daughter and her husband Mike and there 4 children. Dylan, their oldest son and the athlete of the family. He is a left handed pitcher and a very good one if I do say so myself. Madi, our first princess. She is growing up so fast and getting more beautiful every day. Then there is Gavin. What can I say about Gavin? Well if you see some Gavin jokes, you would understand he is the comedian of the family and he is always Wright. And then comes Ethan. He is the daredevil of the family. Mr Spiderman himself. He climbs walls, refrigerators, and anything else he sees to climb.

Then there is my wife, who I will not say much about, because I already said a lot about her in Love of my life, but sh is what keeps me young, because she is the Love of my Life. These are all the people that makes me glad to be alive.

Love of my Life

I married the love of my life June the 28th, 1963. We have been married almost 45 years and she is still the love of my life. We have been through many trials and many blessings of God. We have raised three wonderful children and they have given us 12 wonderful grandchildren. Now having said this, I am going to go back to the beginning and tell you something of our life.

When I first met Sue she was a quiet southern girl. She was very shy. For those of you who know her now, you will not believe this. She has now come into her own and that is good.

When we married I worked at a sawmill and I did not make much money. She scrimped and saved. We did not have much, but we had God in our lives. That is all we needed and she never complained, but I wanted to give her more. We decided to move to California, but that did not work out very good either, so we moved back to Arkansas. I got a job in construction. This was better than the sawmill, but when we finished the job, I did not want to follow the job so I went back to work at the sawmill.

We bought our first house. We paid $800.00 dollars for it. The payments were $38.00 per month and we still had a hard time making them, so we moved back to California. I found a job (again at a sawmill), but i made twice as much as I did in Arkansas. We were on a roll. Now we had money. we were catching up on everything, but then disaster struck. On the way home from work, I was hit by a freight train, but once again God was with us. My brother was in the car with me. He was in a coma fo 10 days, but came out okay. God spared us both.

While I was recuperating, I decided to go to college. I majored in Accounting and went to work for W. M. Beaty & Associates. That is when our life really turned around. Thanks to God. You will notice I give God a lot of credit for this. God is still a big part of our life and he has never failed us. No God is our life. As the song goes: Isn't it great when he's four days late he's still on time.

Now I am cutting this short, because most of my story is in a book my wife wrote, but I am going to post day to day things as they happen to me. Maybe even things about my wife. As you know she often posts about me.

Bullies and Wayne

Wayne was named Ottis Wayne Benefield, He was not a big boy but he was definietly bigger than me, After all I only weighed 122 when I graduated high school.
The Benefields were a tough bunch. Never a problem starting a fight or ending one. My uncle was Uncle Will, he was a half brother to my Dad. He had two sons, those boys being Eli David, (E.D.) and Wayne. We spent a lot of time together growing up.
We did go to a gravel pit like swim hole. There was a boy there, He was big, Really big. His name was Toby. He was always picking at the younger boys, Coy, Myself and anyone that was around. He would push us under the water and hold us down.
One day I went to Wayne, I told him what was going on, he found Toby and told him, If you ever bother the boys again, You will answer to me. Toby knew Wayne and the reputation of the Benefields. He never bothered us again.
I am not sure my Mom and Dad knew we went but I am equally sure they would not have paid any attention.
My Uncle Will got into lots of fights, He would go into the local bars and start fights. One time he came to Redding and 3 guys picked a fight with him. He was never one to let a fight pass. Uncle Will beat up the three guys and when the cops arrived, Uncle was sitting at the bar having a beer. The bartender told him if he had known he could beat those three guys he would never have called the cops. It was a self defense thing so no time was served. You have to remember Redding and Red Bluff were once rough towns, They had lots of bars and equally lots of cowboys. All three of the Benefield men were tough, Uncle Will, Uncle Turner, and Uncle Clarence.
Dont know how my dad turned out so mellow. My uncels told me my Dad was not so mellow, they said he was pretty tough when he was younger and they were running around. I can not imagine him being tough, I only knew him as pretty soft spoken and usually drinking. I did see my Dad sober up pretty fast when Leon needed him, during one of his seizures. My Dad did love his sons, and wanted to help out but he just couldnt seem to manage the alcohol.

State Theatre

Every Saturday we wanted to go to the movies, We would beg Leon for Money to to , perhpas 25 cents cor the movie , and a dime for popcorn and soda. The movie always had seriels, Lone Ranger, Zorro or something similar. Every week it ended with a cliff hanger, if you missed a show you did not know what happened to your hero. one week Zorro was riding a buckboard over the edge of a cliff, It was horrifying, Of course we knew he would make it but what if they decided to end his reign?Man the suspense was intruguing. Coy and I often discussed the options. Next Saturday we would pick up the story line, with the buckboard scene, and at the last minute you would see Zorro jump off and make it. Always left us in suspense. Of course there was a movie too but the weekly seriels kept us coming back.
We were pretty much allowed to roam Red Bluff. After all it was a small town and I had a brother, or My Dad working at one or more of the restaurants. The togetherness of my family helped us through the hard times. Often I wonder how we made it at all. My sisters were not much help and it made me angry to have to help with the dishes. I wanted to go play, or get into mischief.
We often played ball with our cousins, We did not have a regular baseball so my dad improvised. He would take a walnut, tap a small nail into it, with a piece of string attached. He would then wind the twine around the nut until it was the size of a baseball. We had so much fun with a home made ball. At least we had fun until it came unraveled. One time we hit it over the fence into a ladys yard. She went out picked up the ball and took it into her house. My cousin, Wayne Benefield, walked over and asked her for it, she shut the door, He then leaned on the doorbell, when she opened the door again, he held out his hand and said, "The Pill, Lady the Pill." She handed the ball over. On another occasion we would stop and pick plums from a colored ladys tree, We did not go into her yard but would pick them up outside. Every time she saw us she would say "Move on boys, dont bother them plums, them plums belong to me". We still laugh about that.
I loved going to the Red Bluff Plunge. I was a pretty good swimmer, I was self taught. When we went I always went to the highest diving board. I was never afraid of the water. Guess you can tell that by the pipeline walks I took. When I joined the Navy that lack of fear helped me a lot. Guess that story is a few years down the line.

Yes life in Red Bluff was a lot of fun, for the most part, we went to movies, we roamed the streets, we had our Benefield cousins to play with, We had lots of aunts and uncles around. when we moved back to arkansas all that was gone. No more movies, we lived in the country, We did go swimming in the old creeks but never made it to the local swimming pool. We were no better off or no worse off, still just poor with no real baseballs or bats. Oh yes, our bats were usually an old two by four that was whittled down or an ax handle. We always made the best of things, After all we were a family and family sticks together.

Come back and check me out I have lots more stories.

The River

We lived in Red Bluff for 6 years, enough time to roam the streets and know lots of people. During this time, we lived by the river, We had a little house on the river banks, it may have been two bedrooms but we all piled into one or two beds anyway. The house was small, but to me it was home, and as good as my dad could provide, He was a cook at the chicken shack and they slaughtered their own chickens daily. Plus you can be sure it was great fried chicken, my Dad was a good cook. Better than my Mom. Poor Mom she just could not cook and she wasted so much. Garlic she hated garlic and complained when Dad used it in cooking. So back to the river. The house was small but not as small as the second house we used when the river flooded. The river would rise into our house, so we had to go to higher ground. Up the hill we had a little house, it was boards half way up like house, then a tarp was put on top, like a roof of a house with a gable to keep us dry. Warm it was not, I am sure we had a heater but also I am equally sure it was wood heater. How we cooked is a mystery, but it must have been on the wood stove, The bathroom was an outhouse, toilet, Community one at that. At one time one of the tenants of that little settlement, was on the toilet, he was the dirtiest man around. I am sure he never took a bath. He was sitting on one seat and when my Mom went up, the door was unlocked, he said, 'Come on in this is a two seater' LOL The river bridge was another issue, In those days it was a wooden bridge, you have all been across that bridge, it is the one after you exit the freeway and go directly into town, chico exit. So the story of the bridge goes, coy and I would walk across the river on the pipeline, it is a big pipe that runs under the bridge. We did this often, not a problem in our eyes, Well one day Dad saw us, he met us at the other end, He was saying come on son Dad have something for you, he had something alright, it was a belt on our rear ends. You can bet if we walked that again, we made sure Dad was not around. We saw no danger we could swim, which we often did at the red bluff plunge. No problem but in retrospect it was a very dangerous stunt, I being no older than 12 and coy 10. One of our adventures included shooting out windows of a building with a BB gun and going to weekly shows at the State Theatre in REd Bluff.

My little Red Hat

It was 1944, my dad had moved to California, my older brothers, Jim, Leon and CB were already here and thought the move would be good for the family.
I was only 6 years old, Times were hard in Arkansas, We never seemed to have enough food or enough warmth, and never enough clothing. Our jeans and shirts had patches on the patches. I of course do not remember most of these hard time, it was just a way of life.
Wynell was 13.
Dad finally sent for us, We boarded the train in Pine Bluff, to begin our journey across the country. So our first trip was not by Old car on Route 66 or by Wagon Train, I know that must dissapoint some of you, since you think I am ancient.
My Mom bought me a little red cap, like a baseball cap, I had never had a cap. While we were traveling, the windows were open, We had no air conditioning, and I am sure we did not even have a sleeper car. We probably slept in our seats. One day my little cap blew out the window, I remember crying for a long time about that cap, and having a feeling of loss and disappointment.
For food, I recall the bologna sandwiches. They were the best food I ever had. Mama bought them on the train. In 1944 bologna was so good. Unlike anything you buy today. No fillers just great meat.
When we arrived in Red Bluff, it was late. My Dad was asleep on one of the carts that sit at railroad stations. I believe we moved into a little shack on Oak street in Red Bluff.
My Aunt Esther gave me a photo of that little shack a few weeks ago, I will share it as soon as we get it scanned in and posted.
Being only 6 at the time, I began school at Lincoln Street school, I would remain in California until I began 7th grade then we moved back to Sheridan.
During my years in Red Bluff a lot of life happened to my siblings myself.
The next story will deal with the River, The Bridge, and our two homes on the river.



Stay tuned, (if I can dig it out of him).

First Memory

The first memory I had was of an old plow mare. Her name was "Ole Coalie" As you can see, by the name, the mare was black.
I was probably 4 yers old, so Coy would have been 2.

One day we decided to all ride her, Several of us got on her back, Coy, Myself, Virgil, and maybe one more. Not sure.
We were doing pretty good Coalie had back bones that could hurt if you hit them just right.
Suddenly Coalie ran under a clothesline, all of us got swept off by the clothesline. no one was hurt but I am sure Mama was upset that we had ridden the mare.

My next memory was of a move we made, We moved often, Dad used to joke that we had to move when the rent came due. Often he would see and emptry house and decide to move in. We only once in our life had running water, and an inside bathroom but the well was dry so we had to run to the well to get water, and the bathroom was of no use.

When we borrowed the truck for the move, It had (had being operative) big wooden sideboards on the back to support itme being moved. As Dad was pulling into a service station,( to get gas, at psosibly 10 cents a gallon, the truck would not fit under the station awning , which was probably homemade anyway, ) The sideboards came off and fell all around the kids in the back.
I was possibly 6 at this time.

I never lived in one house a year at a time, Sometime only a month. They walls were so thin the winter winds could blow through. My Dad took an old 55 gallon drum and put legs on it, cut out a door and made a heater out of it. That old drum was pretty thin material. It is amazing our house did not burn down, In fact one did, but that is another story, I know few details as I was only a baby at the time,.

Stay tuned