A Bald Eagle and A Barn.

  Just after crossing Plum Creek, of Little House on the Prairie fame, on highway 14, just west of Walnut Grove, MN. I saw a mature Bald Eagle feasting on a road killed deer. (How do I know it was mature you ask?  He acted mature. :) )   Spotting eagles is now rather common thanks to Rachel Carson, her book Silent Spring and the efforts of other conservationists.  The banning of DDT was an important step in bringing eagles back from possible extinction.
   DDT...as yes I remember.  Dad used it to spray flies in our old barn.  The barn was old by the time I was born.  Built by my grandfather, Lars, we used daily.  It was constructed with a hay mow in the middle, the floor of which was the ground.  On either side of the haw mow were sections, the south side for horses and the north for cattle.
   The south side had 6? (or 8?)double horse stalls and two singles. At the west end was an oats bin for feeding the horses. By the time I came along dad's herd of horses had been pared down to one team, Bill and Daisy. With only two horses the space was divided with a wall making about a one third two thirds division.  During blizzards the cattle that normally stayed outside were let into the larger side of the horse barn.
   The other side of was turned over to the chickens.  There was a small chicken coop attached to the south wall of the barn but using the horse barn gave them much better space.
   The north section of the barn was built for cattle.  Four stalls held the eight cows we milked...by hand.  There were stalls and pens for the calves that were pail fed and a separator room. The cream separator separated the cream from the mild via centrifugal force. We were quite proud of our electric separator made by International Harvester Co., because most of our neighbors had to crank the machine by hand.  We used the milk and sold most of the cream.
   In the summer flies were a scourge.   Dad had a pail of dry DDT that he would mix with water for his hand sprayer.  The sprayer had a round tank that held the spray and a round tube with a plunger similar to a bicycle tire pump.  Pump the plunger and a spray mist would emerge similar to an aerosol can today.  This kept the flies to a tolerable level.
   The DDT was a very fine grayish green powder with a very fine texture. I remember playing with my bare hands in the DDT powder because I liked the texture in fact, were you to hand me some now I think I'd still recognize the feel.  Not the best children's toy...but what did we know... and I did just have my 75th birthday!

Mending Day

   It was during one of my regular volunteer stints at Noble Academy, the Hmong Charter School, when I noticed the fifth grader's knee patches.  I was working one on one with her on a reading assignment when  I glanced down and noticed her black slacks had knee patches...not the fancy ones that come ready made on slacks but "my mom did them" kind.   The school uniform is a school shirt and black slacks for both boys and girls.  97% of the students at school are from families below the poverty level and having patched slacks would not open her to any ridicule from her classmates.  I was happy to see such frugality in our throw away society.
  It reminded me of all the mending my mother did.  Her week was very organized and I'm not positive that I've got it in proper order but it went something like this.  Monday was clothes washing day, on Tuesday she did the mending, on Wednesday the ironing, Thursday was for cleaning the house and Friday was baking day....or was Friday cleaning and Saturday for baking?   I am I missing a regular item?
   She baked almost all of our bread but we thought it was a treat when we could have store bought bread for toast. Of course there was also all the canning, gardening, cooking, cream separator washing and other duties in caring for four children.

Stories From A Life #8

     My school life began when I was five; fall birthday and no kindergarten and of course I walked a mile each way to school and back...but that's another story. Sometime during WW II I and my school mates were drafted into the war effort.  I can't pin down the exact year but it was '43, '44 or '45 meaning that I was in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade and Ruth Quail was our teacher.
     We were excused from school after lunch and driven to a large dry slough on Helmer Quail's land...Helmer was Ruth's father.  They lived about a mile and a half south of the school.  There we were given burlap gunny sacks and set to  picking milkweed pods.  "Why milkweed pods?" you may ask.  The milkweed seeds and the gossamer to which they were attached were used as filling for life vests used on navy ships.
  I often think about that beautiful fall afternoon of picking milkweed pods when I drive by that slough.  The slough is drained and farmed now.  There are no more milkweeds growing there providing homes for Monarch Butterflies and life vests no longer use their seeds.

This Modern World In Which We Live.

   Some years ago, 10-15?, I bought a cheap electric watch, a Casio, for which I paid ca. $10. I'll explain why I bought it a bit later.  This watch continues to operate well and has several features; an alarm (which I can barely hear :) ), a stopwatch, an option to keep time in two different time zones and a choice of either a 12 or 24 hour reading of the time. It's operated well even though I also use it when I'm farming.
   Twice I've had to replace the band and now, needing another new band, I went in search of one.  An internet search led me to Target Stores.  Visiting a local Target a clerk pointed me toward a display and said "good luck".  The display only had bands for Timex watches none of which would work for my Casio.
   However, I noticed a new Casio watch like mine for $19.99.  Because my last band a few years ago cost $10.00 I decided to just buy the new watch and put the old on the shelf until I might stumble on a band and then I'll have two Casio watches I can wear.  Interesting world!
   But then why did I buy a Casio in the first place when I have a Rolex?   The Curmudgeonette and I walked into a Boston Market restaurant one day and the guy behind the counter looked at my watch and said "That's a stainless steel Rolex worth six thousand dollars."  I replied "Yes, and I'd like two pieces of chicken please."
   Actually I was quite taken aback.  Of course I knew it was a Rolex but I had no idea of it's value.  I bought it in 1962 when our ship, The USS Princeton, LPH 5, (the 2nd Princeton built after the first Princeton was sunk by the Japanese in WW II, it had been converted from fixed wing aircraft to carry helicopters thus LHP or Landing Pad Helicopter) visited Hong Kong.
   When I got liberty in Hong Kong I went ashore to go watch shopping and bought the Rolex.  I'd been saving my money to buy a good watch knowing that we'd be visiting Hong Kong known as place to do serious shopping.  It cost me $100. which seemed like quite a bit because my monthly salary was $140. but I wanted a good watch.
   When I came back aboard ship one of the Marines, Cpl.  Derscavage was his name, who knew I was going watch shopping asked if I'd bought one.  When I said "Yes" he asked what kind.  "Rolex" I said.  He replied "Rolex? Rolex? Why didn't you buy a good one, like Bulova or something?"
   So that's the story of  my Rolex which I wore for about 40 years and which now resides in safe storage and how I came to own two Casios.

New Post Coming Soon

My fan club, both of them, have been asking when I was going to blog again.  Answer:  soon!