Rabbit for dinner? It not only sounds good but it actually was quite a delicious meal as mom frequently cooked the meat during the fall hunting season in central Michigan. Dad and brother would spend a few hours on a brisk Sunday in the “back woods” taking pride in supplying food for the dinner table. A family of seven required a few of the fair game to fill the dinner plates.
Just as she prepared chicken, mom pan-cooked the skinned and gutted animals in a frying pan in a bit of water. The preparation without some type of oil may sound a little odd but once the meat was done the water was ready to be made into mouth pleasing gravy; the natural juices made the gravy exceptionally tasty.
With the typical mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables and browned crescent rolls it was a true home-cooked country meal. Now, as you picked the meat off the bones, you were aware and took heed to the fact that you had a fair chance of biting into a buckshot pellet.
The same went for pheasant, another creature of nature.
Since I was raised on these animals, I don’t remember them having a gamy taste. It was just plain good eatin’, unlike venison, which I could barely keep down. When mom said we were having “steak” for dinner, I learned not to make an assumption and had an immediate mood change when the aroma told me the truth of the meal.
As our Creator intended, sustaining life with the bounties of nature is man’s means to that end. Rabbit is fine, pheasant is too, but squirrel was another cherished item on an autumn menu. As to fattening these little creatures, just let them eat nuts.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
In Memory of Decoration Day
I remember May 30th as being Decoration Day.
Attending a Memorial Service at church might start the day, then a parade at 10 a.m. with a great amount of chatter among the spectators along the route. A crowd began in front of the Bricks and Ivy of Dansville Agricultural High School, following a course that led to Howard Cemetery. Everyone was either a friend or a relative or an acquaintance that might become a neighbor. A 21-gun salute was followed with residents at the gravesites of loved ones.
There were floats, the Dansville High School Marching Band with majorettes twirling their batons, Girl and Boy Scouts, members of the 4-H Club, the Fire Department, and antique and convertible cars that carried the Senior Prom couple. Horses and bikes decorated with patriot colors were also proudly placed in the procession. Every marcher had more than just a couple of hands waving to get their attentions.
At the lead were members of the V.F.W. Their banner was the American Flag.
History leads to May 5, 1868, when General John Logan proclaimed the 30th day of the month as a day set aside “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land”. General Logan was the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization whose members were veterans of the Union Army that had served in the American Civil War. Thus became Decoration Day.
Understandably, Southern states did not acknowledge the day.
The alternate name Memorial Day began as early as 1882 and became more accepted following WWII. It was the local veterans of that war who worked at the Oldsmobile plant in Lansing, that helped introduce the new name to our community. Union labor groups played a part in further popularizing the name.
After WWI, it became a day to honor all Americans who died fighting in any and all wars. It wasn’t until 1968 that “Memorial Day” became the official name when Congress passed legislation that created the Uniform Monday Holiday Act; the effective date was January 1, 1971, making this, along with Washington’ Birthday, Columbus Day and Veterans Day, three-day Federal holidays.
For many, Memorial Day also marks the beginning of summer vacations.
In 1968, the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of Decoration Day, time still honored the age-old tradition in small communities, such as where I called home in my teenage years. Flowers were often grown in people’s gardens, perhaps an original arrangement crafted by a neighbor and proudly placed on the graves of the fallen. The American Flag also adorned the gravesites. The display of bright colors accented the Red, White and Blue.
A gathering of friends and families with a barbecue in the afternoon finished the day. At that time, a three-day weekend was infrequent, which helped mark it as a special day of patriotic tribute. The new millennia may once again put the true meaning of Memorial Day in our lives as we the honor those who gave their lives during the war in Iraq. As in the past, these soldiers, and others who have defended the freedoms of every American, deserve being remembered.
A soldier’s grave should be decorated, as were their uniforms with Medals of Honor.
Attending a Memorial Service at church might start the day, then a parade at 10 a.m. with a great amount of chatter among the spectators along the route. A crowd began in front of the Bricks and Ivy of Dansville Agricultural High School, following a course that led to Howard Cemetery. Everyone was either a friend or a relative or an acquaintance that might become a neighbor. A 21-gun salute was followed with residents at the gravesites of loved ones.
There were floats, the Dansville High School Marching Band with majorettes twirling their batons, Girl and Boy Scouts, members of the 4-H Club, the Fire Department, and antique and convertible cars that carried the Senior Prom couple. Horses and bikes decorated with patriot colors were also proudly placed in the procession. Every marcher had more than just a couple of hands waving to get their attentions.
At the lead were members of the V.F.W. Their banner was the American Flag.
History leads to May 5, 1868, when General John Logan proclaimed the 30th day of the month as a day set aside “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land”. General Logan was the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization whose members were veterans of the Union Army that had served in the American Civil War. Thus became Decoration Day.
Understandably, Southern states did not acknowledge the day.
The alternate name Memorial Day began as early as 1882 and became more accepted following WWII. It was the local veterans of that war who worked at the Oldsmobile plant in Lansing, that helped introduce the new name to our community. Union labor groups played a part in further popularizing the name.
After WWI, it became a day to honor all Americans who died fighting in any and all wars. It wasn’t until 1968 that “Memorial Day” became the official name when Congress passed legislation that created the Uniform Monday Holiday Act; the effective date was January 1, 1971, making this, along with Washington’ Birthday, Columbus Day and Veterans Day, three-day Federal holidays.
For many, Memorial Day also marks the beginning of summer vacations.
In 1968, the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of Decoration Day, time still honored the age-old tradition in small communities, such as where I called home in my teenage years. Flowers were often grown in people’s gardens, perhaps an original arrangement crafted by a neighbor and proudly placed on the graves of the fallen. The American Flag also adorned the gravesites. The display of bright colors accented the Red, White and Blue.
A gathering of friends and families with a barbecue in the afternoon finished the day. At that time, a three-day weekend was infrequent, which helped mark it as a special day of patriotic tribute. The new millennia may once again put the true meaning of Memorial Day in our lives as we the honor those who gave their lives during the war in Iraq. As in the past, these soldiers, and others who have defended the freedoms of every American, deserve being remembered.
A soldier’s grave should be decorated, as were their uniforms with Medals of Honor.
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