Rabbit Box Blog

Memories and stories of our family

  • Grandma Estie

    Assorted memories A quick Internet search suggests this starting memory happened in 1962. Chuck Shelton was staying with Grandpa and Grandma Shelton for what we came to call his yearly sabbatical, although at age 10 or 11 I doubt we knew that word yet.  Chuck and I are first cousins, both born in July 1951. Continue reading

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  • Grandpa Nelson’s Truck

    As long as I knew him, Grandpa Nelson Shelton had a truck. In going through my growing set of family photos, I noticed how often one of his trucks is in the background. He used to refer to his farm as a “truck farm.” As a child, I found this an odd term – he Continue reading

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  • Dad’s War Diary

    After dropping out of school to help with his family’s expenses, Dad (Robert Neal Lineberger, Sr., or “Bob” or “Bobby”) received his notice to appear at Fort Bragg, NC for his draft physical. He carried with him a small pocket calendar, which he carried throughout his Army service. He jotted a few cryptic notes about Continue reading

  • Estie’s Wash Day

    There was no electricity at the Old House until long after Mom and Dad were married, so washing was done pretty much the same way it was in the nineteenth century. While the children were growing up, each was assigned a task on wash day, like carrying water or tending the fire. Mom remembers that Continue reading

  • Grandpa Nelson’s Shirt

    Grandpa Nelson were notoriously difficult to please when it came to gifts.  Even the most thoughtfully selected gift would often be met with an exclamation that everyone in the family came to dread, because almost all of us heard it around Christmas and birthdays: “Well, whudja get me that fur?!” I especially remember one Christmas Continue reading

  • The corset

    Mom has had trouble with her back for most of her life. So did Grandpa Nelson and many of her siblings. Grandpa Nelson used to go to Dr. Brown, his favorite “choir-practer,” as he called him. He enjoyed coming up with his own pronunciations, so he would sometimes announce he was going to the choir Continue reading

  • Update to Marie Lineberger’s memories of Alexis Baptist Church

    When I first put Mom’s memories of Alexis Baptist Church on Facebook, several people (me included) doubted her account of the men and women sitting on opposite sides of the church. I assumed it was a trick of her 93-year-old memory. While she does have occasional lapses of memory, this seemed to be the most Continue reading

  • How I Got my Gun

    As I mentioned before, Mom strongly opposed any of us boys having a BB gun. As the oldest, I was the first to ask for one, and I triggered the strongest reaction. Now this was when almost all men and boys in our circle were hunters. Mom’s brothers not only owned guns, but Uncle Ray Continue reading

  • BB gun

    I have to admit that the first time I saw “A Christmas Story,” my mouth dropped open. Ralphie wanted a Red Ryder BB gun, but his Mom objected, saying “you’ll shoot your eye out.” My Mom opposed my owning a BB gun for exactly the same reason. But in my case, Mom had facts on Continue reading

  • The Best Christmas Gift Ever

    For Ralphie in “A Christmas Story,” the Red Ryder Range Rover BB Gun with the compass in the stock was the best Christmas gift he ever received. For the record, I never received a BB gun of any type as a gift, and the only reason I ever owned one at all was a minor Continue reading