Dad's favorite chore, if you could call it that, was fishing and making nets to catch big catfish from Red River. My duty was tying the webbing for the nets, while Dad constructed matching sets of beautiful dogwood hoops.
He hand picked dogwood saplings for the hoops and they had to be perfect. He wanted Price Dogwood when he could find it. Dogwood as a building material, somehow captured my admiration and awe. I guess because we used it for so many things around our farm and fish camp. The dogwood hoops, among other things, became toys that we threw and and rolled down sandy lanes. We made "Whirly jigs" also called "Buzz saws" that got me a whipping. The longest of the branches Dad used to construct garden trellises for the climbing butterbeans and tomatoes.
As a young child, I was right beside Dad in all of his doings. I was the older of two boys, so it "fell my lot" to accompany Dad. My younger brother's lot was: "Stay home and take care of your mother." I helped him build boats and net-hoops, carve net needles and blocks for gauging the size of the mesh in our nets. I was right beside him in everything he did.
