Strong Will

It didn't pay to be Red in our family.

I'm not talking about the color of your hair.  I'm talking about your personality type.
 

Red Leader/Promoter Power wielders. The ability to move from point A to point B. Getting things done is what motivates and drives these people.   They bring great gifts and vision and leadership and generally are responsible, decisive, proactive and assertive.

Seek productivity

Want their own way

Workaholics

Like to be right

Want respect more than Love

Resist being forced to do something

Confident

Visionaries

Proactive

"Winning isn't everything...It's the only thing!"

There were more than just one Red in our family. The one closet to my age was my sweet sister Ruth. When I came to her with a problem she would figure it out and fix it. She new how to get things done.
 

Those first years at the ranch were hard on us all.

Jelene hurried and got married just so she could get out of there. Then Kay got married and left. The brothers were off working to pay for the ranch. Father was, God only knows where.  It left Mother 47,Janice, Helen 13, Ruth 10, Beth 9, me 7 and Donna 2, to run the ranch. There was a lot to do. Helen and Ruth milked the cows, Beth fed the horses and cows, Janice fed the pigs and did the 
washing, I fed the chickens, geese, and rabbits. Donna was learning to go potty.

After our chores and breakfast, Mother home schooled us. Recess was jumping roap with my best friends, my sisters, my only friends. After school work was done, it was time to hoe in the garden.  If you wanted to eat you had to work. Dinners were simple like baked squash, split pea soup, baked potatoes. Mother made cheese and butter from our cows milk. We always had home made bread. Bread became our happy food. Hot out of the oven with butter and honey. We could eat a whole loaf. We lived simple and we ate simple.

Father would come home. The quiet and peace turned into stress and fear.

We were instantly his worker bees. I tried hiding several times. I could get diarrhea the moment I saw his car coming up the road. That got me out of a lot of things.
 It never failed that something happen while he was away.  After dinner he would line us all up and ask who did it. If no one fessed up, he would start spanking us with what ever was handy.  His belt, or his boot or a board or a twig.  Then he would tell us to be quiet. If we didn't stop to his satisfaction he would hold our breath with his hand.  Helen Beth and I must have been pretty good at sucking in our sobs, but Ruth was not, or she mouth off at him.  He would grab her, put her body between his legs with one hand on the back of her head and the other hand over her mouth and face and hold her breath until we though he would kill her right before our eyes.  He would let go long enough to give her a short breath of air and then do it again.  She would finally give up the fight. This happened many times.  Ruth was very strong willed. She was a fighter. Father didn't like children that stood up to him.  We were to be seen and not heard. He had to make sure that we new he had control. Ruth pushed his buttons.  He had to break her so she new who was in charge. Who was boss. Who had the power.

We were always so glad when he would leave.
Lilly