Biographic Information: English, Female, 60yrs
Themes: Biographical information (participant’s age, where participant is from), Michigan vs. El Paso, Languages spoken by participant and participant’s family (Polish), Participant’s family (memories, traditions, dynamics, childhood), Participant’s likes and interests (pets, hobbies, volunteering)
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Transcript:
[00:00]
Interviewer: So I’m gonna go ahead and start. Um, so first, I just wanna thank you for allowing me to interview you and ask you these questions. Um, so my first question for you is uh, just to uh, state how old you are?
Participant: Sixty.
I: Okay. And my next question is, where are you from?
P: Um, a place called Taylor, Michigan? It’s outside of Detroit
I: What was your favorite part about um, Taylor?
P: The four different seasons? (both laugh) You definitely had seasons you had the summer which was humid, which wasn’t fun
I: Hmm.
P: Then you had the winter that had the snow. And of course the fall, beautiful tree leaves that changed colors. And in the spring, of course, you got the flowers blooming and growing.
I: Um, and so now you’re living in Las Cruces, how long have you been living- or I guess, when did you move from, from Michigan, down here?
P: Uh, June, nineteen, ’77. So after I, I left the eighth grade.
I: Okay. And did you move- did you move to Las Cruces, or where did you move directly from Michigan?
P: We originally moved from uh, Michigan to El Paso, because my mom’s brother lived in El Paso.
I: Okay. And how long were you in El Paso?
P: Four years?
I: Did you-
P: While I went to high school
I: Did you enjoy it?
P: Yes
I: Yeah?
P: I walked to school the majority of the time.
I: Hmm!
P: So,
I: What high school did you go to?
P: Andris on the Northeast.
I: Oh, okay. Hmm, I wonder, um, because El Paso is a is a border town?
P: Yes
I: And so I wonder if you’re able to talk to me about like the cultural differences from living in Michigan.
I: Then to coming all the way down here, you know, practically the desert and then it’s a border town so it’s a [Mhm.] different culture. How did that feel?
P: Definitely different culture. [Mhm.] One big thing that sticks out is the masses when I went to church are different from what they were in Michigan. I mean, they say the same things, and they do the same thing, but down here you’ve got the the uh, I forget what they call them. The Indians who play the drums and everything. Um, you’ve got the Mariachis. You don’t have that kind of things back in Michigan.
I: Hmm,
P: Um, Some of the music is the same, depending upon what area of Michigan. I am half Polish
so we still have the polkas, the polkas sound very similar to the, the Spanish polkas that you get down here but it was a big change, and two up there you’re raised, the music you’re raised with is the Motown sound. Get down here, and it’s all country music.
I: Yeah.
P: So, there was quite a big change, culturally.
I: Mhm.
P: And I’m not used to having roses blooming on Christmas Day! (laughs)
I: Because it is too cold they’d freeze up there, huh?
P: Yes, yes. You’re lucky if you have poinsettias inside the house.
I: Right. Right. Um [So.] So kinda going off that I wanna ask you what um ‘cause you mentioned You’re Polish, what languages were spoken in your household?
P: My mom is the one who was Polish, and she did speak a little bit of it, but not so much in the house. My father’s wish was that she would have spoken more of it to me.
I: Mmm.
P: This- my uncle could speak Polish pretty well and when we moved down here he was our translator ‘cause he learned how to speak Spanish.
I: Oh
P: and we didn’t (laughs) so.
I: Uh, okay. So I’m gonna go on to the next question, is um, what is your favorite, or what was your favorite family tradition? And why? [5:00]
P: Oh, favorite family tradition. Well no, I have to say this may sound odd, but it was the Fourth of July. ‘Cause we always used to go into Detroit to watch the fireworks together. We go to a park that they would shoot ‘em off at and we would get to- we’d bring something to eat, have a little picnic beforehand. We’d watch the parade, have a picnic and then watch the fireworks together.
I: Mmm.
P: ‘Cause my dad was working quite a lot when I was growing up. So it was always, “Be quiet don’t wake up your father.”. “Be quiet, don’t wake up to dad.” you know “He’s sleeping.” so when we would get time together like that, to go to the, the parade end, to the the fireworks, that was our time together. Because Christmas, was, it was good we were together, but I’d have to say I enjoyed the Fourth of July better.
I: Thank you for sharing. Um, the next question is uh, what is a- I guess kind of going off that as well, what is a positive memory from your childhood?
P: The, the one that I had was uh, my dad was working on the Fourth of July one year, and we did get to go to the parade, and we had our little picnic but he wasn’t going to be able to go to the fireworks, and he, he worked on the railroad yard. He talked to his boss and his boss, allowed him to bring mys- self and my mom and we got to go up in the tower.
I: Oh wow.
P: Up, where they, you know, they’ve overlooked the um the railroads yard and they would watch for anybody or anybody doing anything or anything like that, and he let us go up in the tower, though, to watch the fireworks together. So that was fun, because you could turn any place you looked, you turned all the way around, you could see fireworks shut off all over the place. So.
I: That’s really nice. I can, yeah.
P: Yeah.
I: Let’s see, next is, what are you passionate about?
P: What am I passionate about? Well, honestly, I’d have to say animals. (laughs) [Mhm.] Um, you know yourself I’ve got the cats in the house and everything, and I, um, I’m like my dad in that case, ‘cause we both loved animals and this is I, I’d rather uh have the cats around than people sometimes. (laughs) So, you know, keeping up with them helping out where I can with them.
I: Yeah. Well, can you talk to me more about the kinds of things you do um, I know that you’re a- you’re really active in the community with helping animals like, can you tell me more about what you do? the certain things that you do.
P: Uh, well, uh basically I guess you’d call it part of the cleaning crew. (lauhgs) down at the Cats Meow I go in there and I help them. It’s the usual things that you do for your own cats at home You scoop litter boxes, you clean up, make sure they’ve got food, the water and then some of the cats that have just come in are usually afraid or they’re just real shy, and they don’t want to be really touched by anybody. But I have found a lot of times, if you talk with ‘em real slow and calmly they’ll uh come around. So it’s just I would rather do that than you know actually be involved with the adoption process, but uh, working with the animals hands on so, and then you have to play, of course, play with some of ‘em.
Yeah.
P: Which is fun, always fun.
I: Yeah, um, how long have you been doing that with the cat’s meow?
P: Uh, well, I left for time. I was doing it, for I’d have to say it was about ten years, and then, due to my father having dementia, I had to step back [10:00] for a while to take care of him and help take care of him and then I rejoined um just after Covid let up, so I’ve been back at it what? years now?
I: Oh, wow.
P: I think it’s been about four years. No, when did Covid let up? Twenty-
I: 2020
P: 2020. So, it’s three years.
I: Wow.
P: Yeah. I was there when they first opened.
I: Yeah, oh, wow!
P: And since they first opened up I was there volunteering with them. Then I you know, I stepped back. Like I said my dad de- developed dementia [Mhm.] and slowly started to get worse, and I had to I had to step back from a lot of my volunteering to help[Mhm.] take care of him.
I: Mhm. Um, I guess kind of going off that when talking about your your father, can you- this is kind of a broad question, so you can talk about it um as much as you’d like. Um, the, the as much details you’re comfortable with. But it’s just, can you tell me about your family? Your immediate family, your extended family. Whatever you’re comfortable with.
P: Okay uh, immediate family, we were small. It was just my mom, my dad and myself.
I: Mhm.
P: Um, and I was very much attached to my father [Mhm.] I used to ride a bus to school and he was leaving for work when I was coming home from school. I would run a block over to my streets so I could be there when he drove by, and he’d honk the horn and wave at me.
I: Mhm.
P: and uh, he worked I say two and a half jobs. It was railroad. He was a, uh, Timpkins. That’s the division of Rockwell International. He was in the tool crib there and then he was also naval reserves. So once a month he went out to the Navy Base, but uh, I think I was more like my dad than I was my mom. (laughs) Um, we were a small group. Uh, my mom had arthritis that was what cued us to move from Michigan down here, [Mhm.] was her arthritis that she had very bad and the he passed away in their house, and when he developed dementia it slowly got worse, but he never forgot us! He never did forget us. He’d, he’d correct himself once in a while he’d call me by my mom’s name. And then he’d look and say, “You’re not your mother!!” (laughs) he’d correct himself. And when he passed away, since we lived very close together, as we’re only we were five mobile homes apart we would run down- I ran down when I heard she called me and told me I ran down to their house so I could, you know take care of her, and I told her you go in your bedroom, and I’ll handle it. And uh she survived about a year and a half after he passed away. She moved into assisted living, and then she fell. She went into the hospital, they did surgery, and she ended up with pneumonia and that’s finally what took her life. But they were both the same age, and they had been married for sixty-nine years. I had always hope to be married and do like they did, but that wasn’t to be. I wish it had been that’s um, They were always together, and you know I was with them a lot of times we’d go places together, all three of us, so it was, it was good, you know. My mom taught me many things. (laughs) There’s this crocheting, knitting, all kinds of crafting stuff, because when you’re back in Michigan and it’s snowing outside, you can’t very well do much of anything else. (laughs)
I: Yeah
P: So. Yeah but we had a, they had a good long life, and I hope to follow suit with the good long life, so yeah.
I: Well, thank you for sharing that. Um, let me, see um. [15:00] (9.0) So, we talked about family traditions, but now, I, wanna- I’m gonna ask kind of the same question, but are there any traditions that you have made you know on your own as an adult?
P: Hmm. Oh
P: I can’t really say that I have. I know, I, started one, and then covid hit and everything went out, the window. I wanted to just go out on like Christmas Eve and go drive around and look at the houses and see the lights on ‘em.
I: Mhm.
P: and that lasted for maybe one year, and then, then Covid hit so all of that stopped, and I haven’t done it since. But I used to make myself a nice big I made myself a nice big hot chocolate in a thermal cup and I did it the first year I went and drove around it. It also didn’t seem the same to me I was trying to get out to do something, and you know, for myself. But that was the year my mom had passed away, so it was hard for me to get out and really try some- I tried but it didn’t work out. (lauhgs) So yeah. That’s as to I don’t think I’ve actually really succeeded in doing anything really new since then.
I: Okay um. So menti- uh earlier you mentioned uh your cats. Ca-
P: Mhm.
I: Can we talk about them?
P: Oh, you bet! (laughs) I’m always willing to talk about the cats! So yeah,
P: I have- first one I had was called Boots. He was a gray long hair and he acted like a dog I asked the vet about that one time, and the vet said, because you have no other cats he doesn’t know how else to act [Mhm.] He used to meet me at the door when I came home from work, and he was always, he would free eat, so he would just go to his bowl and eat whatever he wanted to, but never overweighed. And he stayed with me for twenty years, and, and I had to have him put down ‘cause he developed arthritis. He could hardly walk [Mhm.] anymore so. And then I always said the two that I currently have were university cats and I’d always said if I could get my hands on Bootsy when I was ready to, he would come home with me and he was sick and I got him into a carrier opened the carrier door, and he ran right in for me. And I took them to the vet And they took care of them, and they were like well, this is a feral cat, what do you want us to do with him? Cause normally for the surgery they would put down a feral cat, and I said, No, you’re not putting him down he’s coming home with me.
I: Mhm.
P: So I have Bootsie and he began to gain a bunch of weight. And my boss was the one who said, “He had a buddy he used to pal around with.” [Mmm.] You know you’re right, so I got permission I brought home Cuddles, [Ohhh.] with him. And Cuddles took a little bit more to adapt to the house because um, you know, he wasn’t used to it. And Bootsie came in when he was sick so I was medicating him and everything so he just kind of bonded, really bonded with me. And it was so cute the first day he decided to come out of the bedroom where I had him. I was sitting watching a TV program. He snuck out into the front room he looked at the TV, and he shot through into the kitchen and Bootsie was laying right next to me, and just looked at him like, what in the world was that about? (both laugh) He wasn’t used to a TV.
I: Mhm.
P: So you know, it took him a while to get settled back in but now, you know, they just wander the house wherever they care to go.
I: Mhm.
P: And then, of course, I’ve got the fosters that are here right now is this, there’s uh, Tigris and Patches. So patches will be going out this weekend. He’s going into the center.
I: Oh, okay.
P: So. [20:00] But yeah they’ve been great. This sort of they’re, they’re, lots of fun to watch.
I: Mhm.
P: You know, they run around playing, um, the you know, with that with dogs, too sometimes they get playing.
I: Yeah, they can entertain each other.
P: Yes and since I had always had dogs,
I: Mhm.
P: But when I moved out and on my own I don’t have a yard, so I don’t have a fence and I thought I worked eight hours day Monday through Friday at that time and this is this, there’s no way I can have a puppy in the house I’d have to run home every lunch hour to take it outside and everything. So I thought puppies wouldn’t work.
I: Mhm.
P: I would’ve loved had a pup- puppy but I couldn’t do it. You know, it’s just there was no way, and that’s, a guy that I worked with came down and said I have a cat had kittens behind my tool shed, and I have one left. Do you want him? (laughs) So that was it. I went down and I saw him, and I says. “What do you have to do for him?” He says, “Provide a litter, box, food, and water.”
I: Mhm.
P: And I says, “That’s all?” he say’s, “Pretty much, that’s it.” He ended up- I ended up with a cat.
I: And that wa-, that was Boots right?
P: That was Boots. Yes. I sometimes say that Bootsie is a reincarnation of boots.
I: Mhm.
P: Because he doesn’t use his claws. He has claws, but he doesn’t use ‘em.
I: Hmm. I had Boots, the first one declawed.
I: Oh, okay
P: So and Bootsie, does- doesn’t use them, though.
I: Hmm!
P: So I thought, he’s Boots reincarnated. [Yeah.] Hence the name Bootsie. [Yeah.] (lauhgs) So yeah. And then I have of course, there’s the feral cats at the University I maintain a feeding station, and I haven’t seen much of either one of em really, lately. I don’t know what’s going on. And then I’ve got a couple that hang around out here outside of my home.
I: Mhm.
P: That one of the super nice he walks over to to you and wants to be petted all the time. It’s the greatest, and if you do not paying attention to him, he will come into the house. (lauhgs)
I: Oh.
P: You have to open the door and make sure you’re blocking it, or he will come into the house.So but he’s a sweet guy, he just, he comes in and makes himself at home. He’ll lay down on a chair or something, and he’ll lay there for a while, and then he’ll get up and go back to the front door, like, “Okay, I’ve had enough. Let me back out.” (both lauhgs) But, yeah. Lots of kittens, unfortunately. So I try and trap them to get them fixed and then release them back out if you can. If you can’t already work with ‘em an get ‘em socialized, you know, for adoption you have to let them back out, but- which is difficult for me to do. (lauhgs)
I: to let him back? Yeah.
P: Yeah, I have enough problems just trying to take him into the Cat’s Meow. (lauhgs) Yeah, this is, I’ve got this, the one girl in here, Tigris, um, I’ve been, I’ve been thinking I have to let her go back out, and everything, ‘cause she’s only getting used to me.
I: Mhm.
P: But I just can’t do it.
I: Yeah.
P: And then, you know, this is uh, hopef- I’m hoping, I’m very hopeful, that the kitten has brought out a side of her that I haven’t seen before. She’s getting more playful and one running around, so I’m looking forward to the day when I can say I think she’s ready to be adopted. So I hope. (laughs) Otherwise, I’m gonna end up with the third cat in here. (both laugh)
I: A third cat.
P: I’m not gonna be able to let her go back out. (laughs) [Yeah.]
P: You fell in love, I guess. I have fallen in love with her, yes.
I: How are they, boys getting along with her?
P: They pretty much have laid the ground rules.
I: Okay.
P: I mean, they are eighteen years old now. So they’re just like, leave us alone. They’ve growled at ‘em a few times and taken swatted at her with a paws, but they pretty much go lay down in bed, or some place, and just say, you know, leave us alone, and they’ve learned both of ‘em, the kitten as well have learned, don’t lose- don’t bother the big guys. [Yeah.] You just leave ‘em alone.
I: Yeah I guess it’s also- [Yeah,] go ahead. [25:00]
P: I was gonna say, I, I am not sure how much longer the big guys will be with me cause they are years old.
I: Mhm.
P: So, I may end up keeping her anyways? (laughs) Yep. So, alright.
I: Okay, let’s see. This next question is, what’s your favorite restaurant? And can you tell me about the last time you went there?
P: My favorite restaurant, I would have to say, is Olive Garden.
I: Mhm.
P: and I went for my birthday by myself there just before Covid But then I think we went last year sometime, didn’t we? I think we did.
I: I think yeah, we celebrated a February birth- I don’t know what month birthdays at the, at the office, but yeah. [Okay.]
P: Yeah, at, yeah, I think we did.
I: Yeah.
P: We went as a group and, yeah that was fun.
I: Mhm.
P: I like going out like that.
I: Mhm.
P: That’s fun. You know, especially since I don’t- I’m more of a say at home type person.
I: Yeah.
P: This is- but to go out in a group like that for me, that’s fun, especially with people I know.
I: So, so, Olive Garden, what’s your favorite uh, I guess entree to order? or your favorite menu item?
P: Egg Plant Parmesan. (laughs)
I: Egg Plant Parmesan. That’s a classic that’s,
P: Mhm.
I: I think mine-
P: When I was younger I would have said, spaghetti.
I: I know right now I’m thinking of Lasagna. Very (laughs)
P: Mhm.
I: Um,
P: Yeah
I: No, mine’s not even a entree I think it’s a dessert. It’s like those donuts. Those little, I don’t know what [Mmm.] they’re called. They’re Italian donuts [Mhm, mhm.] I think that’s my favorite menu item. [Yeah.] Yeah.
P: Yeah, those are good. Or the other one is the uh, (sign) what is it? The lady fingers?
I: Oh, yeah.
P: Yeah.
I: I think I, yeah.
P: Yeah that’s my favorite dessert there. (laughs) For sure.
I: So, this one is, have you received any influential advice? If so, what did it consist of?
P: Info or advice?
I: Oh uh, influential advice.
P: Influential advice. Okay. Okay. (10.0) Right off hand I’m not thinking of anything I probably have over the years. (laughs) But I’m not thinking of anything. (14.0). You know what? I do- yeah. Okay. Uh, singing with the choirs, um the one thing I kinda get down on myself and get a little too hard on myself when I don’t hit right notes. I get aggravated. And uh, my thing was uh you’re doing this for fun you don’t need to hit the right notes all the time. This is just relax and go with it. (laughs). So yeah. That’s the only thing, I think of right off hand.
I: Okay. Um, I guess kind of on the same page, What are, what’s um advice that you would offer yourself then, at a younger age?
P: Don’t be so much of a perfectionist. (laughs) Um, I’ve been told I was a perfectionist quite a number of times. I’ve been known to you know, with the crocheting you can pull it apart real easily if you do something wrong [30:00] I’ve been known to get half way through and pull something apart, because I didn’t like the way it looked.
I: Hmm.
P: So it’s- and I used to make these little ornament- Christmas ornaments with pins and beads that you poke into a Styrofoam ball I would do those to a certain point, and kept looking at the picture, and kept putting ‘em in- putting the pins in there and everything. I’ve been known to pull ‘em apart because I didn’t like, I did, it didn’t match the picture.
I: Mmm.
P: and I didn’t like that, so I take it apart and redo it. And so I, I, and I still hang on to a lot of those tendencies that’s like, don’t be so much of a perfectionist. Let it be. (laughs)
I: Yeah. Yeah, that kind of goes hand in hand with what you were talking about with choir.
P: Yeah.
I: Um, about hitting the right notes.
P: Yeah, yes. True.
I: Um, ta- can you talk to me more about um your crocheting? You know like how you start, I know you said your mom taught you.
P: My mom [But.] and my grandmother taught me.
I: Mhm.
P: Quite a few years ago. (laughs) Um, that was something simple that she could do, and my grandmother actually crocheted Christmas stockings for us, um, and I was just I would sit and watch her, and I always fe- uh you know, all I had to do was ask and one of them would show me how. And uh, I never really did a whole, whole lot at the beginning. I would do a scarf. Um, a hat. I never got into doing mittens I couldn’t figure it out. (laughs) and uh, but lately I picked it back up. And I’ve been using crocheting to do toys, cat toys and I’ve done uh, I did a baby blanket- or just a throw blanket for my best friend back in Michigan, her grandson this past year and I shipped it back to Michigan (laughs) and she loved it. She wrote me a long letter after that, and um, and then um, I’ve done little things since then. Small items I’m not doing anything really large because I tend to take a long time. (laughs) working on the larger blankets and stuff. I can do ‘em, but it just takes me too long so. Knitting I haven’t done in years. I did that I made some um slipper socks one year and those came out good, but you’d wash ‘em, and they’d shrink so (lauhgs) that wasn’t such a good idea. Um, and then I, I, I’ve gone back to the crocheting I’ve also done my mom taught me um cross stitch.
I: Mhm.
P: Embroidery
I: Mhm.
P: And, I did that one year I did a whole bunch of little Christmas ornaments with that so. She taught me quite a bit of things, I’m like a sit back there when it snows, and you’re stuck at home
I: Yeah.
P: You need to learn to do something. She, she’s the one who taught me to sew uh. She was always good- she had a lot of things she learned how to do, and she taught me a lot of ‘em. Um, lots of different craft things. Um, so I don’t know if you can see it over my shoulder, the ship painting?
I: Yeah.
P: My mom did that.
I: Oh, wow. She painted that?
P: She painted that. It was a paint my number, but she did that.
I: Yeah, wow.
P: The- yeah, uh, but I took a lot of the things that she used to do and and you know I’ve done a few paint by numbers, but nothing like that.
I: Yeah, that’s really good I thought, it was professional.
P: Oh!
I: Yeah.
P: Yeah, she did a beautiful job at it. That’s why the one thing- when she was selling stuff [35:00] out of her uh, mobile home to move,
I: Mhm.
P: I said, you’re not selling that I want that, (laughs) and she’s like, “Really?” (laughs) So in a way, I guess it’s kind of where I get the perfectionism from, because she was like, “Really, you want that?” (laughs) Yes, mom, I want that. So, yeah. Oh and then uh she used to do upholstery on furniture
I: Oh, wow! That’s-
P: She taught me a little bit of that but don’t- it’s just I haven’t done it in years. She yeah, she used to redo chairs and stuff for their house.
I: Mhm.
P: and then same thing with the, the windowsills, she used to revarnish ‘em. So, they actually had the wood on there sills in their mobile home so she’d have to go back every, every few years and varnish ‘em over again because of the sun coming through the windows. Yeah. So yeah. That’s- she’s yeah, she taught me a lot of things. Since my dad was outside, she was inside. She taught me a lot of the things inside so. My dad, the his was the garden area, and how to cut the grass and that stuff so yeah. Yeah, there were quite a few things, needle point, jigsaw puzzles! We used to love to do jigsaw puzzles! It was always something- I’d come home from work, and we’d have ‘em- or from school and we’d have them spread out on the counter where we wouldn’t have to take ‘em down. (lauhgs)
I: Yeah.
P: So we can do some jigsaw puzzles. You know, specially, you know, during the wintertime you’d come home, and it be snowing outside.
I: Mhm.
P: So you couldn’t do a whole lot and then sometimes school would get cancelled. Not as often as it does down here, but (lauhgs)
I: I know, and for much less, I imagine. Down here. [Yeah.]
P: They’d have- I always used to say at the beginning ‘cause I walked to school in El Paso and it was snowing one day and I was like, “Oh, great! It’s snowing!”, you know so I started hiking it down. People kept stopping and asking me, “Do you wanna ride?”, “ Do you wanna ride?” No, I’m fine I’m just walking to school and this is- schools down here get closed for inches of snow
I: Yeah.
P: Snow back in Michigan, you have to have feet of snow
I: Yeah.
P: before they shut down the schools.
I: Yeah.
P: So big difference, but
I: Yeah.
sometimes the power would go out, and but we had a fireplace back there.
I: Oh, okay.
P: So I’d go to my mamma and say, “Can I start a fire in the fireplace?” And she’d say, “Yeah.” and then the power would go out so it would be perfect timing. (laughs) [Mhm.] So, we’d get down in front of the fireplace and we’d have our little dog in there in the front room, and we were fine.
I: Yeah, that, that sounds nice. That um [Yeah.] Yeah, what you said about up there, north, like feet of snow before anything gets cancelled before you have to stay home from work, and but then but uh [Mhm.] here it doesn’t even snow, it just like we have a freeze overnight and school’s canceled or delayed and [Yes, yes.]. I, I also [Yeah.] kinda fi- think that’s a little over dramatic (laughs) [Yeah.] a little dramatic but uh but at the same time people up north um they don’t they don’t deal with the same heat that we do down here [Right.]
P: So, this, we deal that in Michigan it was ninety, you’d have the ninety degree weather
I: Mhm
P: But then you also had the humidity to go along with it.
I: Mhm.
P: So spend a lot of time in the summer in the pools (laughs) it’s ‘cause of the humidity
I: Yeah, here I don-t [either in]
P: pools or in the basement
I: Oh, yeah.
P: Yeah, that was the one thing I did not like about the weather back there we were in Tornado Alley.
I: Oh, yeah. Oh.
P: So you hit You could have tornadoes, back there and my mom and I would grab the dog and we’d head down we had our safe room down in the basement in case anything would happen so we’d head down there but it was always scary especially when I didn’t quite know [40:00] where they were at, or which way was which and they’d say, “A tornado’s been spotted um, on Eureka Boulevard.”, and I’m going uh, Eureka’s just over the over that uh over the hill a little waysaway from me, [Mhm.] but then it would end up it was the other end of Eureka, so it was nowhere near us. But I didn’t know that.
I: Mhm
P: When I was young, you know this is I’d hear it I’d get all in a panic, and I’d get the dog down stairs, my parents weren’t home, and then they’d come home, and they were like, “What’s the matter?” This is tornado’s been spotted, “I was worried that you weren’t going to get home.” And then my dad would listen to it, he would hear it, and then he’d say, “Okay, we’re fine it’s the other end of the the boulevard.” [Yeah.] So okay. So. But what I really got a kick out of a few years back was when a tornado was spotted or the conditions were ripe for a tornado and they kept saying “Warning! Warning! Warning! And I’m going, that’s not a warning. If you, if one’s been spotted it’s a warning.
I: Right.
P: If the conditions are right, it’s a watch
I: Mhm.
P: and everybody was like panicking and everything, and it ended up it was a watch, not a warning
I: Yeah, you’re talking about here?
P: Yeah. It ended up one did come down, but I I’m still not so sure it was a tornado. I think it might have been a big dust devil. (laughs)
I: Yeah.
P: Over by the town of Mesilla.
I: Yeah, yeah, we’re not used to that kind of weather. (laughs) Cooled. [Yeah.] Uh, I guess tornado ‘cause it does get very windy here. The wind, [Yeah.] and we have like a really really small monsoon season.
P: Mhm.
I: But that’s it. [Yeah.] Otherwise [Yeah.] it’s dry.
P: Yeah I don’t think we even had a monsoon season this year.
I: I don’t think so. But yeah.
P: Yeah, we need some rain that would sure be truly nice.
I: It would be, let me see, we have time. We have time for one more question. Oh, okay, I can say what- uh, this one. What is the best gift you have ever received? And can you tell me when or how- when/how you received it?
P: Best gift I’ve ever received, well I’d have to say it was from my parents um, they- I had purchased my first mobile home and I’d gotten a loan on it and everything. I paid on it for about years. My father contacted the loan company, and he stepped in, and he told me he says. “You have paid on the mobile home long enough.” and they paid off the loan. So as that, course save me a whole bunch of interest, and that and everything. And then I just eventually over time I paid them back. But uh I kept- I’d call my mom, “I’m gonna make the deposit today.” and she says, “Why do you keep calling us? Just make the deposits. We don’t care when you do or how much you do” (both laugh) “Just make the deposits.” And I was, “Oh, okay.” So yeah, so they helped me with my first mobile home. To get into it and not be charged so much for it and then uh they helped me again to purchase the current car that I have. The one condition- well, actually, conditions my father put on that was it needed to be American made and needed to be large enough to put a wheelchair in the back without having to struggle to take an in and out of a trunk. So that’s how I ended up with what I have, And he, he in turn, since he liked my choice and everything he gave me the the money to pay for that outright with no loan. So yeah. I would say those were the gifts that I remembered from them. They were always very- the two of them, if I needed anything I could go to them. So so they would help me out. When I was younger I always felt bad about asking [45:00] for things. (lauhgs) My mom was like, “Why?” you know, and I says, “Well, Daddy works so much!” and I, I figures we weren’t that well off. We had a house and everything but as, I thought he worked so much we’re not that well, off with everything. And she told me, “No, we’re fine. 46:57We’re comfortable. Don’t worry about it.” So yeah but those are the you know, the the fun fun times this is- that was before- the car was just before my dad was really diagnosed with dementia. So, that’s yeah, he kept asking my mom, he had just come home from hospital not too long before, “Has she gone to look for cars?” My mom’s like, “You just came home!” So yeah. Yeah. They were always good about stuff like that. So yeah, and then I remember his mother- my mom told me that they had borrowed some money from her one time, and they paid back the money to her and she told my mom that she would give to my father, but she would never give to any of her other children because they would never pay it back. (laughs)
So yeah. Yeah, I’d say that, that was probably it. He liked that car.
I: Yeah. (lauhgs)
P: He did so yeah, yeah.
[46:57]
New Mexico Border Spanish Corpus 