The Postcards for Mom Pranksters

There are so many stories I could tell about the torment we had to endure as children. I suppose that I should pull out one of the more notable of occasions that involved Mom and the stove.

My brother and I were fairly young and Mom was not working. Thus she stayed home with us and had dinner "ready" for Dad when he got home from work. One afternoon Mom was "cooking" baked potatoes. She put them in the oven and went off to do other womanly things. My brother and I were in the kitchen at the table when we heard a loud "bang". Mom came running in to the kitchen and said "what was that?" We did not know what it was and stated so. She then tells us to go in to the back yard and see if someone is shooting at us. Which we did and came back to report that there were no snipers that we could see. (as I get older I have to wonder what the hell she was thinking sending her children out to "see if someone is shooting at us"). As it turns out she had forgotten to poke holes in the potatoes and under the heat they exploded in the oven thus causing the "bang".

I think of this story often and just have to wonder sometimes...

The potatoes were also a source of several jokes we played on mom growing up.

Will and I spent a lot of time in the woods behind our house. We had a creek behind our home and often we would find rocks that were of the same size and shape as a good russet potato. Somehow these rocks would find their way in to Moms potato bag. Plenty of entertainment when she would grab one and try to peel it.