Mom and her cooking

Although she suffered with depression, my mother had a strange sense of humor. I get the idea that if YouTube were around back then, she would be posting stuff she did to my brother and me and sending it to Jimmy Kimmel.

One time, the whole family was at Grandma Bend's. This particular day, Grandma Bend was at work. Mom made lunch for all of us. The main course was meat. I'm pretty certain it was pork and there was pepper on it. It was very good. Both Loyd and I complimented her on the food.

My mother then said, "Yes, I got the meat from that box over there." On the counter was a box with a drawing of two dogs on it. Inside the box were fake hamburger patties that were meant for the dog. That was dog food.

I said, "Mom, you're kidding, right?"

"No, that's where I got the meat."

"Mom, do you know that's dog food?"

"No, it's not. It's meat. It says nowhere on the box that this is dog food."

"But there are two dogs on the box!"

"But they're salivating. That means it's really good meat!"

I started calling her on it. "Mom, I don't think it's possible to get this kind of meat out of those patties."

"Well, I did! I cooked it, and that's how it came out!"

Loyd and I stopped eating. We probably didn't eat more than 1/4 of our meat. Later, Grandma Bend came home for lunch. Mom served the meat to her. Loyd and I went up to Dad and said, "Dad! She's making her eat the dog food!" He said, "The two of you just shut up about that!"

Mom never admitted that she was kidding around. Dad never said anything, either, except to hush us when Grandma Bend was eating.

Years later, Mom would complain that Loyd and I never seemed to like her cooking.