Mother was in charge of discipline in our family. She believed in corporal punishment. When necessary, she got a leather strap (a piece of bridal reigns), grabbed me by the arm, and with her strap in her left hand, let me have it. I ran around her in circles, begging for mercy.

 One time I came up with the bright idea that if I hid the strap, which she kept in the top drawer of the chest-of-drawers, I would avoid the impending spanking. It didn’t work; she found it.

Memorable Incident 1: Back then people couldn’t afford to throw worn clothes away; they would mend them. Mother had a device that facilitated darning socks. It was a wooden “egg” on a stick. I was walking around the house one day playing with it, saying “darn it, darn it.” She gave me a spanking because she thought that I was uttering swearwords.

 Memorable Incident 2: I caught Adrienne and Carol Lynn Merritt playing with matches out behind the house. I told mother. Adrienne denied it, so I called her a name using the “L” word. Mother gave me a spanking for using the “L” word.

 Daddy The Seldom Disciplinarian. I only remember one whipping that Daddy gave me; he didn’t have to because I usually didn’t challenge him. It resulted from an incident out in the corral at Portales while we were branding some calves. I was attempting to “heel” a calf with a rope and Daddy started laughing at me because I kept missing. I threw the rope down. That wasn’t the smart thing to do, because he picked it up and worked me over with it.

 I don’t resent my folks for disciplining me. In the vast majority of cases; I deserved it. They disciplined me because they loved me.