Treasure Dig

When my brother and I made that trip together to South Dakota in the late 70's, we went on a little "archeology dig". Uncle Donny had heard in some family story-telling about a dump site at a dry creek bed on the Schultz family farm. Uncle Lloyd led the way showing us the site, handed us a couple of shovels and gave us the go-ahead. Back in the "old days" on the farm, there were no garbage trucks coming around to pick up your refuse and trash. A bonfire every so often got rid of the flammables, the rest was put on a "junk pile", buried in a hole, or dumped at some non tillable spot on the farm. We came up with a few treasures that day, wondering why G'ma and G'pa would throw away these wonderful things !! Haven't we all thrown away or given away something, later regretting it, wishing we had it back ?? BUT, just how much "stuff" can a person keep ?? We just have to let it live in our memories and forgive ourselves. Hopefully, someone else is getting enjoyment from it !! This 7" crock was my find that day, along with a green depression glass water pitcher. They were dirty and grimy. The crock was filled with old lard and had a couple little chips on it. The water pitcher had nary a crack in it ! They were perfect ! Donny found a tin that had army memorabilia in it, having belonged to one of the uncles during World War II. You have the pitcher and my brother kept the tin. My little lidded crock, (minus the lard), sits on the landing at the top of my stairs along with other stoneware crocks and jugs, most of which have their own stories to tell.