One summer evening Daddy announced that it was time that I learn how to milk the cow. It always looked easy when ever I watched Mom or Daddy milk our little Jersey and I looked forward to being able to milk her on my own.
I brought the cow in from her pasture and carefully measured her usual amount of grain into her little trough. After washing her udder with warm soapy water I was ready to start milking. I set the pail on the floor and held it with my knees to keep it from tipping over if Pansy should happen to bump it. Daddy showed me the correct way to squeeze so that a nice stream of milk shot into the pail. I tried it but the stream of milk I got wasn't very impressive. I kept on trying. The pail gradually filled up but my arms ached so badly I could hardly keep on.
Pansy had finished eating her grain and was getting impatient to go back out to her pasture. Daddy finally offered to finish milking her and I was happy to hand the pail and milk stool over to him. The next evening I tried again, and Daddy again had to finish milking her.
After several weeks with Daddy always finishing the milking I finally succeeded in doing it by myself. I was so happy about that, that after I had given the cats their bowlful of fresh milk I sent the pail into the house with one of my brothers while I borrowed a pocket knife from John and climbing up to a beam I carefully carved the words, "I milked Pansy all by myself." I then added the date in hopes that sometime once I was old I could show it to my children if I ever had any.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Ice Cube
We are in the process of getting ready to move so life has been extra busy. Most days that isn't a problem since our schedule seems to be working out nicely even if it means less time spent blogging. So far this week though my plans all disappeared soon after they were made. No amount of trying to get back on track seems to work.
This forenoon I started hearing this horrible noise, I went to investigate thinking there might be something wrong with our dryer or one of the space heaters. Those all seemed to be working just fine and the noise kept growing louder and I discovered its coming from the refrigerator. I went to open the freezer compartment and the door was frozen shut. After yanking on it vigorously it finally opened and the sight that met my eyes was not pleasant!
Evidently the ice-maker which we haven't used for several years finally decided it wants to contribute to the running of our household and proceeded to make ice. But instead of making many useful little cubes it only made one gigantic one and froze all the food inside of it. It then added a few icicles for a spooky touch.
It then decided to try to dispense some crushed ice and ground furiously but even with all it's efforts the chunk of ice was too much for even it and the harder it tried the more noise it made. I tried in vain to shut it off but it continued in a fit of rebellion with even more noise. After several hours it finally got tired and shut off on it's own. I sat down weakly, feeling totally spent from the hours of noise I had endured.
Once my husband comes home tonight I'll ask him to pry the enormous cube out and try to separate the food. I'm hoping I won't have to thaw all of it because having a barbecue for the whole neighborhood had not been on my schedule.
This forenoon I started hearing this horrible noise, I went to investigate thinking there might be something wrong with our dryer or one of the space heaters. Those all seemed to be working just fine and the noise kept growing louder and I discovered its coming from the refrigerator. I went to open the freezer compartment and the door was frozen shut. After yanking on it vigorously it finally opened and the sight that met my eyes was not pleasant!
Evidently the ice-maker which we haven't used for several years finally decided it wants to contribute to the running of our household and proceeded to make ice. But instead of making many useful little cubes it only made one gigantic one and froze all the food inside of it. It then added a few icicles for a spooky touch.
Once my husband comes home tonight I'll ask him to pry the enormous cube out and try to separate the food. I'm hoping I won't have to thaw all of it because having a barbecue for the whole neighborhood had not been on my schedule.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
In Which I Learn .....
Ever since Mom had a Country Air story published in the Pennsylvania Farmer magazine we looked forward to reading that section even more. One day when we came home from school we noticed that the latest issue had arrived. We hurried to change our clothes and then settled down to read it.
This time it was about a man that had a bull that he couldn't fatten, so he finally fed it a lot of bran and then just before it was time to take him to the sale-barn he let him drink water, the bull of-course bloated up and he got a nice price for him. The new owner was disappointed when a few hours later his nice bull was very skinny again. For some reason this story and the way it was written really amused us and I tucked it away in my memory for future reference.
Several months later Mom's brother David and his wife Barbara came to visit us one Sunday afternoon. They had been married for almost a year, and I always enjoyed having Barbara around. She was so pretty, her laughter so musical, and she always made sure to visit with me personally. She was fast becoming one of my favorite aunts.
Today how ever I noticed that she no longer looked as slender as she used to. She was still fun to be around though and the afternoon was passing by with everyone visiting pleasantly, when all of a sudden I blurted out. "It looks like Uncle David fed bran to Barbara." The conversation stopped as Barbara turned bright pink and Mom looked absolutely horrified. Daddy quickly started talking about something else and Mom asked me to come help her mix up a fresh batch of lemonade.
When we were by ourselves she explained that David and Barbara would soon have a baby and that is the reason why Barbara looks that way. I felt mortified that I had opened my big mouth, and was sure I couldn't go back to where everyone else was visiting and face Barbara after I had been so rude. Mom told me to help serve the lemonade, as I handed the glass to Barbara I was relieved to note that she didn't seem upset with me as she smiled her usual bright smile as she thanked me.
I was quiet for the rest of the afternoon as I mulled over the many questions I had to ask Mom once I got an opportunity.
This time it was about a man that had a bull that he couldn't fatten, so he finally fed it a lot of bran and then just before it was time to take him to the sale-barn he let him drink water, the bull of-course bloated up and he got a nice price for him. The new owner was disappointed when a few hours later his nice bull was very skinny again. For some reason this story and the way it was written really amused us and I tucked it away in my memory for future reference.
Several months later Mom's brother David and his wife Barbara came to visit us one Sunday afternoon. They had been married for almost a year, and I always enjoyed having Barbara around. She was so pretty, her laughter so musical, and she always made sure to visit with me personally. She was fast becoming one of my favorite aunts.
Today how ever I noticed that she no longer looked as slender as she used to. She was still fun to be around though and the afternoon was passing by with everyone visiting pleasantly, when all of a sudden I blurted out. "It looks like Uncle David fed bran to Barbara." The conversation stopped as Barbara turned bright pink and Mom looked absolutely horrified. Daddy quickly started talking about something else and Mom asked me to come help her mix up a fresh batch of lemonade.
When we were by ourselves she explained that David and Barbara would soon have a baby and that is the reason why Barbara looks that way. I felt mortified that I had opened my big mouth, and was sure I couldn't go back to where everyone else was visiting and face Barbara after I had been so rude. Mom told me to help serve the lemonade, as I handed the glass to Barbara I was relieved to note that she didn't seem upset with me as she smiled her usual bright smile as she thanked me.
I was quiet for the rest of the afternoon as I mulled over the many questions I had to ask Mom once I got an opportunity.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
School Hike
Every spring, a few weeks before school was dismissed for summer vacation the teacher would pick a day for our annual hike and picnic in the woods.
Right after our usual scripture reading and songs we would all grab our lunches boxes and head down the hill behind the school house, across the creek and into the woods. There was a perfect spot in the woods where a creek ran through, there was a nice pond surrounded by lots of hemlock trees and mountain laurel bushes were scattered throughout the woods. Once we arrived at this spot we would stash our lunch boxes under a tree and start playing games. Some of our favorites were Hide and Seek, and a pioneer game we invented.
There were so many great places to hide. The big mountain laurels were excellent since they were filled with glossy leaves which made hiding under them perfect. Once we got tired of that we would go hunting for the little red berries that were almost tasteless, but quite edible. We girls would gather as many as we could while the boys tried to build a bridge over the creek and catch minnows in it's shallow waters.
It was so much fun playing, that the day never seemed to last long enough, we would head home tired but happy. The following day we used to have to write a report about our hike which wasn't nearly as fun but worth the effort since it was a required part of taking the hike which was one of the highlights of every school year.
Right after our usual scripture reading and songs we would all grab our lunches boxes and head down the hill behind the school house, across the creek and into the woods. There was a perfect spot in the woods where a creek ran through, there was a nice pond surrounded by lots of hemlock trees and mountain laurel bushes were scattered throughout the woods. Once we arrived at this spot we would stash our lunch boxes under a tree and start playing games. Some of our favorites were Hide and Seek, and a pioneer game we invented.
There were so many great places to hide. The big mountain laurels were excellent since they were filled with glossy leaves which made hiding under them perfect. Once we got tired of that we would go hunting for the little red berries that were almost tasteless, but quite edible. We girls would gather as many as we could while the boys tried to build a bridge over the creek and catch minnows in it's shallow waters.
It was so much fun playing, that the day never seemed to last long enough, we would head home tired but happy. The following day we used to have to write a report about our hike which wasn't nearly as fun but worth the effort since it was a required part of taking the hike which was one of the highlights of every school year.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Camping in the Barn
In one of our school reading books there was a story about several children who slept in a barn on fresh hay during the summer. It was something that I found very intriguing and wished that I could sleep in our barn too.
We talked about it to Mom and Daddy. They seemed a little amused that we would rather sleep in the barn than in our nice comfortable beds, but they agreed that we could on Saturday night before our in-between Sunday. That way we could sleep as long as we wanted to.
For the rest of the week we looked forward to Saturday night and once it finally arrived we headed to the barn before our usual bedtime. Daddy went with us and spread out several buggy blankets on the hay. Mom brought out a few old quilts and pillows and after they said goodnight we settled down in our little nests. We talked for a little while and then lay there listening to the sleepy goodnight clucks from the hens, the goats were laying in there pen and were chewing their cud, their sharp little teeth sounded quite noisy as darkness started to envelope us and we could see stars through the cracks in the barn wall.
Our cats couldn't understand why we didn't want to play with them and they continually walked over our blankets and rubbed against our faces, they finally gave up and went to do what ever farm cats do during the night. As we nestled under our blankets we soon fell asleep only to be awakened a little later to a loud thump and a high pitched terrified scream. We all sat up, John had a flashlight and we all looked trying to see where the noise had come from. The light fell on one of our cats, and we watched horrified as it played and teased a terrified little mouse that kept screaming. I couldn't stand watching it and lay down and pulled the covers up over my head to try and block out the noise. A little later it was quiet and then the sounds of a cat eating the mouse started which wasn't much better.
We finally drifted off to sleep again but awoke later in the night. The barn that had soaked up the warmth from a pleasant summer day had changed as the cold mountain night air seeped in through the cracks. We got up and added all our blankets to one nest and all lay shivering in it until the first streaks of a sunrise stole across the sky.
We hurried back to the house, but didn't really know what to do with ourselves since Mom and Daddy were still sleeping. Once they got up they asked how our night was and we told them about everything. I helped Mom fix breakfast while John, David, and Mahlon went to the barn with Daddy to do the chores and bring all our blankets in. At breakfast Daddy asked if we want to sleep in the barn again in two weeks, but we all assured him that our beds really were the best place to sleep.
We talked about it to Mom and Daddy. They seemed a little amused that we would rather sleep in the barn than in our nice comfortable beds, but they agreed that we could on Saturday night before our in-between Sunday. That way we could sleep as long as we wanted to.
For the rest of the week we looked forward to Saturday night and once it finally arrived we headed to the barn before our usual bedtime. Daddy went with us and spread out several buggy blankets on the hay. Mom brought out a few old quilts and pillows and after they said goodnight we settled down in our little nests. We talked for a little while and then lay there listening to the sleepy goodnight clucks from the hens, the goats were laying in there pen and were chewing their cud, their sharp little teeth sounded quite noisy as darkness started to envelope us and we could see stars through the cracks in the barn wall.
Our cats couldn't understand why we didn't want to play with them and they continually walked over our blankets and rubbed against our faces, they finally gave up and went to do what ever farm cats do during the night. As we nestled under our blankets we soon fell asleep only to be awakened a little later to a loud thump and a high pitched terrified scream. We all sat up, John had a flashlight and we all looked trying to see where the noise had come from. The light fell on one of our cats, and we watched horrified as it played and teased a terrified little mouse that kept screaming. I couldn't stand watching it and lay down and pulled the covers up over my head to try and block out the noise. A little later it was quiet and then the sounds of a cat eating the mouse started which wasn't much better.
We finally drifted off to sleep again but awoke later in the night. The barn that had soaked up the warmth from a pleasant summer day had changed as the cold mountain night air seeped in through the cracks. We got up and added all our blankets to one nest and all lay shivering in it until the first streaks of a sunrise stole across the sky.
We hurried back to the house, but didn't really know what to do with ourselves since Mom and Daddy were still sleeping. Once they got up they asked how our night was and we told them about everything. I helped Mom fix breakfast while John, David, and Mahlon went to the barn with Daddy to do the chores and bring all our blankets in. At breakfast Daddy asked if we want to sleep in the barn again in two weeks, but we all assured him that our beds really were the best place to sleep.
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