TALES FROM TALLOW FLAT

THESSE ARE STORIES FROM MY CHILDHOOD UP UNTIL 1994 WHEN THEY WERE PUBLISHED AS A SERIES IN THE HUMBLE SUN . I WAS BORN IN THE AREA KNOWN AS TALLOW FLAT WHICH RUNS ROUGHLY FROM MORGAN CEMETERY RD ALONG DAW COLLINS TO THE OTHER SIDE OF FM 2090 . BEFORE CLEAR CUTTING OF MOST OF THE TIMBER IT WAS THE MAIN DRAINAGE FROM THE HIGHER GROUND WHERE DAW COLLINS AND MORGAN CEMETERY MEET . A FLAT BECAUSE OF THE WATER IS USUALLY FREER OF UNDERBRUSH THAN THE HAMMOCKS ON EITHER SIDE . NOW THEY ARE MOSTLY GONE BECAUSE OF CLEAR CUTTING AND HOMES BEING BUILT . IN MY CHILDHOOD WHEN WE HAD AN ESPECIALLY WET WINTER THE WATER FLOWED DOWN THE FLATS LIKE A RIVER . MOST OF THE TREES THAT GREW IN FLATS WERE PIN OAK OR WATER OAK AND THEY WERE PRIME SQUIRREL HUNTING AND THE BEST DEER STANDS BECAUSE OF THE VISIBILITY . ALSO , THEY WERE THE BEST PLACES TO PICK UP PINE KNOTS FOR KINDLING . PINE KNOTS ARE REMNANTS OF THE HUGE PINES THAT WERE CUT MANY YEARS BEFORE AND AS THE OUTER WOOD ROTTED AWAY THE RICH IN TURPENTINE HEARTS WERE LEFT , ALMOST IMPERVIOUS TO ROT AND A FEW CHIPS OR SPLINTERS WOULD BURN QUICKLY AND HOT TO START THE OAK WOODS USED FOR HEAT QUICKLY . MY DAD WOULD HOOK OL' ALEC , FEATURED IN A COUPLE OF STORIES , TO THE SLIDE AND WE WOULD LOAD IT WITH PINE KNOTS TO HAVE PLENTY OF KINDLING TO START FIRES IN HEATERS AND STOVES . THERE WERE ALSO NATURAL PONDS HWERE DUCKS WOULD FIND AN ABUNDANCE OF ACORNS AND OTHER FOODS , USING THE PONDS AS REST STOPS ON THEIR WAY SOUTH IN THE WINTER . A FEW OF THE PONDS HELD WATER IN HOLES EVEN IN THE DRIEST SUMMERS AND PROVIDED WATER FOR THE LIVESTOCK AND WILD ANIMALS THAT LIVED IN THE WOODS . CLEAR CUTTING OF TIMBER HAS DESTOYED MOST OF THOSE . IN THOSE DAYS THE LAND WAS OWNED BY LARGE TIMBER COMPANIES AND THEY ALLOWED ANYONE TO HUNT , FISH OR JUST WANDER THROUGH THE WOODS AS I DID . AS LONG AS YOU DID NOT DAMAGE PINE TREES , THE MONEY CROP , YOU WERE WELOCOME . DEER HAD BECOME SO FEW THAT IN THE 1930'S DEER HUNTING HAD BEEN CLOSED FOR 20 YEARS . THEY STARTED MAKING A COMEBACK IN THE 1960'S WITH STOCKING AND DEER MOVING NORTH FROM THE GROWING DEVELOPMENT OF KINGWOOD'S 50,000 ACRES . IN THE 1970'S THEY INCREASED TO THE POINT THAT THEY BECAME PESTS FOR CROPS AND THEY STILL ARE TODAY EVEN THOUGH MOST OF THE WOODS ARE GONE . I LIVE ON LAND THAT MY GRANDFATHER BOUGHT IN 1911 FOR $ 5.00 AN ACRE . MY GREAT GRANDFATHER COLLINS SETTLED ALONG WHAT IS NOW MORGAN CEMETERY RD IN THE 1870S AND MORGAN CEMETERY IS NAMED AFTER MY MY GREAT AUNT'S HUSBAND ON LAND SHE INHERITED . AT ONE TIME EVERYONE WHO LIVED ALONG THE ROAD AS FAR AS THE CEMETERY WAS RELATED TO ME . WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME WHY I WANT TO LIVE IN AN AREA THAT IS STILL ISOLATED , 5 MILESS TO THE NEAREST CONVENIENCE STORE , NO CABLE TV , IT IS STILL MOSTLY QUIET AND PEACEFUL AND I LIVE AMONG PEOPLE I HAVE KNOWN MY WHOLE LIFE . THIS IS WHERE MY ROOTS ARE AND I AM SURROUNDED BY MEMORIES OF THE PEOPLE I LOVED . I LIVED IN HOUSTON FOR 30 SOME ODD YEARS , I DON'T NEED THAT ANYMORE , I'LL TAKE TALLOW FLAT .