Cecile's Blogs

2024-10-24T11:02:00.000-05:00

SO DISSAPONTING

I am going to cry, well not really, I would really love to have people make comments on what I have written. This tells me how they have related to what I have written. Is it of interest? Does it give enough information? What part of my blogging appealed to you?

Would be great for any kind of comments or even a story of your own (with permission to have it written as well).

I apologize for not writing as often as I should.

Just this past month, my middle child was in a serious accident and did not live. I had him for 60 years to live and love him, others have not. It is difficult for them in his death. I grieve for the fact that they had not the advantage that I had in loving him. He will always be missed by everyone including his children.

Today, October 24, I have finally finished writing my Cookbook called, "Sauces, Dressings, Gravies and Dips.". Hopefully it will soon be out in Kindle.

2024-10-24T10:31:00.002-05:00

A DREAM THAT SEEMED REAL.

I dream a lot and some dreams I remember and others I know I dreamed but can’t remember what it was about. Some are bad but others over time have become hilarious.

One such dream was while I was working at the local hotel. It had nothing to do with the customers, it was actually about one of the other waitresses that I worked with. To this day I don’t understand why it was her I picked on for this.

I also still don’t understand why I picked on her children either. In a type of fog I dreamt that her children were picking on mine and making all our lives just terrible. It seemed I could not find a way to settle the fighting that went on between them.

I was becoming very frustrated when out of the side of my vision and the surrounding fog I could see their mother coming forward striding out of the fog. By this time I felt consumed by anger, why are her children antagonizing my children? Not waiting to find out the answer, I was determined to teach this mother a lesson in caring for her children. I could feel my fingers bunched into a fist and my determination rising. Bringing my fist back behind me, I was prepared to use it somehow. When she came closer, I brought my fist forward and swung as hard as I could.

Wait a minute! My punch felt a bit to hard and heavy to be a dream. I must have hit something with my fist. I woke up!!! To my astonishment, I had punched my husband in the face and he was sitting on the other side of the queen sized bed. Oh no I thought, is that what I hit? Apparently I had, he was holding the side of his face with the most astonished look on his face. He apparently was in the process of touching me, when I lashed out with my fist.

It was very difficult not to burst out laughing with the look on his face. I explained what was happening when he asked me what the heck I was doing. He struggled not to smile about it. I know I hurt him, but I was so relieved to know that he found the hilarious side of my dream when I explained what happened. He told me that he would make sure that when he touch ed me while I was sleeping that it wasn't a light touch.

FAMILY GET TOGETHERS

2023-08-07T08:35:00.000-05:00

Throughout the years from 1970 to 1990's, most family gatherings took place at our home. That's not saying that we didn't gather at other family homes. During the early years Christmas was spent at both our parents. The children were young and went everywhere we went. At that time, we lived in Winnipeg and that necessitated that Christmas day was spent split between the two families. Dinner was spent at one place and supper was at the other. On Christmas day it was a guarantee that we would all be stuffed with food and loaded down with gifts. Every one received a gift that was there that day.

Every so often, gatherings would take place at Yvonne and Bob's home. Bob would get out his barbeque and in the middle of winter, start the barbeque up, even if it snowing outside. One year Bob gave Yvonne a picture window. He fired up the chain saw and began cutting an area on the south wall of the house. I have never known anyone to put in a window this way. It was probably a mild winter as the south side of the house had this big hole in it. We couldn't believe what was happening. Next thing we knew there were the men lifting into place this big picture window. I always remember that day, food, family and friends and memories. The tables were always piled high with food and at times we would all bring a dish of some kind to help out. Meals were rarely a sit down at Yvonne and
Bobs place, there were never enough chairs to go around, so we sat wherever we found a place to sit.

Easter was usually at our place, one year all the brothers and sisters gathered together. We had a big house and somehow found a way to sit everyone at the tables. This one year the men began to play cards, an usual event that happened at a gathering, and a drink or two on the table beside them.

I was doing the dishes and had placed the meat carving board, with those spikes on it, on a chair until I could get around to clean it and had shoved the chair under the table. Ron came out to the kitchen to refresh his drink and before I could say anything pulled the chair from the table and sat down on top of the meat cutting board. A new dance was invented as he sprang up two feet off that chair and danced, skipped and hopped around the kitchen holding his rear with one hand. A new vocabulary was also developed that day. Today I laugh my self silly over it. I couldn't laugh then or he would have conked me over the head with something as he certainly did not find it funny.

We played a lot of card games, mostly poker and a game I forget the name for. We laid three cards face down on the table. Well now if I haven't done gone forgot how it was played. If we happened to meet during the summer, everyone vacated the house to the outside. Later, we had family and friends gatherings and potlucks and barbeques.

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2022-11-18T21:35:00.002-06:00

My Mother by Yvonne Cnudde (Ballegeer)

MOTHER or Mom as we called her, was a simple person whose life was dedicated to hard work and a matter of fact approach to life. She said what she thought and the world could take it or leave it.

Mom was the most independent person I have ever met. She asked for nothing that she could not accomplish herself.

Mom was also very stubborn and determined. While she was in the hospital she suffered a stroke which left her right side weak and I would find her trying to pull herself up to the rails of her bed. When asked what she was ding she said that she would not get stronger unless she worked at it. Many times she would ask to sit in a chair to “help her gain s strength” even though she was very weak and tired; she amazed the Doctor and those that cares for her with her ability to fight back when everyone else had given up hope for her recovery. Mother never gave up hope and she was determined that she was going to get better. She never lacked in hope and determination.

One dream she had was to have her oldest child graduate from high school. No one in her family had ever done so and I was the oldest. She fought tooth and nail to see that I got the five miles into town so I could complete the three years I needed so that o could complete grade 12. Then she made a trip into Winnipeg to buy the most wonderful gown so I could be like the other girls when I graduated. Talk about pressure. I did not dare fail

Sometime during these high school years Mom went out and found herself a job in the kitchen at Pilot Mound hospital. This was so that we kids cold have some of things in life that she thought we should have. Very little of her salary went towards giving herself any of these nice things. Beside her job she milked cows, raised chickens, baked all the family bread, did all the other baking needed, and canned and froze things to use during the winter to feed the family. She grew raspberries, strawberries, plums and apples for sale as well as for our own use. she grew a huge garden and kept a shiny clean household with none of the modern conveniences that we have today. We kids were expected to help of course and no arguments would save us from our chores. Her example taught us that hard work and tenacity was the only acceptable way of life.

During this time she also knitted sweaters, mitts and socks for the family. Found time to do her fancy work which was embroidery work and crocheting doilies. She crocheted many countless small pieces for fed spread and a number of table sized pieces.

She spent countless hours at the sewing marching making lovely quilts which she shared with us and others. Mom also made her own clothes, many of which were made out of something that had been given to her.

One day she announced that she was going to sell Tupperware. For many years she was the Tupperware Lade that did house parties far and wide. People to this day will tell me they knew my mother because she sold them Tupperware. She was very dedicated to the product as here home was very well stocked with it. She also sold Regal and bought things for the home with her earnings.

Then she discovered Bingo. She was an extremely lucky bingo player and on occasions won quite large sums of money. How she loved her bingo buddies and remained friends with them right up to her death. She asked many times for Edith and yogi as they were her close neighbours and accompanied her to her bingo genomes. Often giving her rides and even caring for her as her health declined.

Another activity my mother loved was travelling. She developed a taste for it accompanying my oldres5t brother Arthur and his wife Linda on many trips to Florida, Las Vegas and many other places. She also visited Vancouver and Oregon with my daughter Tammy and me. Later she began to take bus tours. Her sister Bert and Mom travelled all over North America. They enjoyed their trips together and came home with lots of pictures and adventures to talk about.

She kept close ties with her four sisters, three of which are now deceased. Her youngest sister Rose was very faithful, visiting her frequently and spending time with her. Rose and Elton spent many hours at the hospital in her last days showing love and support.

Mom had tragedies in her life time. Our life was divided into two parts, before the fire and after the fire. On Nov 14^th 1946 the farm home burned to the ground. She discovered (actually Cecile smelled smoke and called her mother) the fire raging at its fullest as we were all still sleeping very early that morning. She single handily saved me and my sister Cecile from the flames then returned into the house to save my youngest sister Aline. One that stuck in my mind was that she also got blankets and threw them out so that we would not be cold. My two older brothers Rene and Eugene were sleeping upstairs. She called and called to wake them for there was no way she could get to them. Rene jumped out of the second story window but Eugene never made it out. Rene died the next day from extensive burns. Mom was very badly burned about her face and arms and upper back. She spent many weeks in the hospital fighting for her own life as medicine was not up to today’s standards.

She refused plastic surgery as there was no money available. Later in her life she had to have surgery on some of the scars as they were restricting movement6 of her arms. The funny thing about her scars is that I never noticed them when I looked at her. During her hospital stay in the last two and a half months I realized that a lot of her scars had faded. Mother mourned the loss of her two oldest sons the rest of her life. even in the last few weeks she suffered terrible nightmares all dealing with fire. She told me of the many days that she was afraid to sleep because of her dreams. They were very real to her.

At one point I accused her of “not liking my husband Bob”. She had always felt that I had married too young, before I could have a career. She looked at me, nailing me with those expressive eyes and stated “Hun He was always to goof for you”. As usual she was probably right. The last word she said to me before she lapsed t into a coma was “Bob”.

One night just shortly before she lost her ability to express herself, I was saying good n night to her and she waved her hand for me to come closer. I bent over her and she put her arm around my nick and pulled me down close and kissed me on the cheek. She had never been a kissy huggy type of mother and that action left me in tears.

She showed a fantastic sense of humour also. She adored her doctor, Doctor Desmond. He would come to see her every morning and have a little chat with her. One day after his visit the nurses were teasing her and told her to ask Doctor Desmond for a kiss when he came the next day. When he arrived the next morning she did ask him for a kiss, not for herself but for hew daughters as she said no one wanted to kiss an old lady. This was done with a twinkle in her eye.

Another hilarious incident was over a bottle of beer. Mother decided one Sunday that she wanted a bottle of beer. Now I have never known her to drink even one bottle of beer. She even said she would not come to my wedding if alcohol was served. Ho9w ever this Sunday afternoon she wanted a beer. My sister and I told that we could not get her a beer as it was Sunday and the bar was closed. She talked and talked about the beer so I finally told my sister to call my husband Bob and to get him to bring mom a beer. An hour later Bob arrives with her beer, she was so happy that he drove all the way from Holland to bring her a beer. A little while later as I was giving her a drink of juice and she motioned to me to come closer. She whispered in my ear “you didn’t put beer in it did you? I can’t drink it if you did as I am not used to beer.” She then decided that she would share the beer with Doctor Desmond the next morning. Mom never did drink her beer but she brought lots of smiles to peoples faces because of her beer.

Mother did have a close friend and confidant. If any of you noticed, there is picture here of a cat. “Stupid” has kept her company for many years. The cats name has made many people wonder who she was speaking to when she talked to Stupid. Just after she got this cat it stayed out over night and froze its ears and tail. She told the cat it was stupid for staying out in the cold and the name stuck. When she became ill and had to be hospitalized, she missed Stupid greatly.

Mom loved her “Kids” as it wasn’t easy for her to express it and it wasn’t easy for her to praise us for she felt is we did well in something it was only what she expected. If we did not do well she still supported us as much as she could, often at great sacrifice to herself. I hope everyone appreciates the sacrifices she had done.

As I said earlier Mother marched to her own drummer. She helped me realize that this was an OK thing to do. She was a strong determined woman who lived her life the best she knew how and that it wasn’t anyone’s right to tell her any different.

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2022-05-02T06:33:00.001-05:00

An extraordinary Thanksgiving

It was 1962 and October 15, Thanksgiving around 3:00 AM in the morning when the pains started, I nudged my husband and told him I had to go to the hospital. It was -50 outside and no vehicles were running, not even the taxies. Finally the Thompson propane gas truck started and off we went to the hospital.

I was settled in the maternity ward and my husband sat with me until it was time for him to go to work. I breathed a sigh of relief when he left and got down to business. The labour pains began to be much closer, I told the nurse that the baby was coming. She exclaimed that it couldn't be as a first baby was never fast. I told her this one was but she still didn't believe me. She left prepared to wait for the major event to happen and went to phone for the Dr. Well, it happened. I let out a screech and she came tearing back. She told me to be quiet as I could be heard all over the hospital. I told her again, the baby is coming, and she still wouldn't believe me until I insisted she check. "Good Grief" she exclaimed "the baby has crowned" and went tearing out of the room.

I was in full labour I had tried to tell the nurse but she just wouldn't listen. In what I would say was 'in a twinkling of an eye' she was back with another nurse and a gurney. We need to get you to the labour room right away she said. I worked my way on to the gurney and when I was 'sort of' on it, she began to wheel me to the labour room. I shuffled myself onto the delivery table and managed to get one leg onto the stirrups and had no sooner got the other leg in position when I felt the baby coming. 'Its coming' and I don't know if I screeched it or screamed it. The nurse took one look and exclaimed 'Oh my Gosh' and had to grab for the baby, it was coming and fast. Between the two nurses, they delivered our daughter. She had beat the Dr. to being delivered.

The bill was eventually given to us. A grand total of $75.00.

We named her after her aunt that had so tragically died when she was sixteen years of age. It wasn't until she was four years of age that it was discovered she was deaf. Profoundly deaf they said. This was something that a person always thought to themselves that “ it will never happen to us”. Well it did happen, and now what are we suppose to do?

We explored the options as we heard about them. With help from organizations and family and friends, we moved into Winnipeg and our daughter eventually had her grade nine and went on to college. Today she is married and has three grown children and three granddaughters. Life does go on regardless of our difficulties. They can be overcome.

2020-11-24T05:09:00.004-06:00

HORSERADISH

I never knew that horseradish was one of my father's favorite dishes until he came to visit us one day.

I used to grow my own horseradish as it had a more distinct flavour to it. This day I had dug up a fair amount and had spent an hour cleaning and grinding it. Every few seconds I would have to wait until my vision cleared because the vapour from the horseradish was very strong as it was being ground. I imagine I sure looked funny, was probably a good thing there was no one there at the time. I finished my chore and put it in jars, capped them and cleaned the area up.

By this time it was supper time and I had to get the meal ready. Since I had the horseradish, I roasted beef to go with it. I included the usual items, such as potatoes, vegetables, whatever else they wanted and dessert.

My father was in seventh heaven by the look on his face. He dug in and loaded his plate up including the horseradish. "Good" he exclaimed. "Horseradish". We passed the dish to him and he proceeded to use a tablespoon to spoon it out onto his plate. Before I could say to him that I had just crushed and that it was pure, he shoved a loaded tablespoon of it into his mouth. All of our mouths dropped open and then he said, "Lord that was good".

THE HEN HOUSE

2019-12-04T10:08:00.002-06:00

The first hen house my parents had was a small shed which I hated. That was because it always seemed to be the one I would have to go and clean it out. Every Saturday, never failed. I cringed and between the chicken shit smell and those tiny red mites, I shuddered, and cursed the occasional "chicken hawk". I worked as fast as I could to get out of there.
Dad then renovated the log building that was in the barn yard and put the chickens in there. He built a long box from one end of the building to the other
end of the building and put in dividers. There the hens settled in quite contentedly and laid their eggs. This was fine for a few years until the weasel dug its way into the hen house and raised pandemonium.
The night the weasel raised havoc, my younger sister, Aline and I were at home alone. Mom and Dad had gone somewhere, can't remember where now. I heard the chickens raise a raucous. The only thing that I could think of that would bother the hens in the hen house was an animal of some sort that had gotten into the hen house. I ran out of the house and across the yard to where the hen house was and opened the door. As I looked inside I saw the weasel, it looked at me and I looked at it and I screamed at it. Somewhere along the way I had picked up a stick of some kind, can't think what it was anymore. Chickens squawked, the weasel snarled, I was screaming at it and with all the commotion, it took off at a fast pace back through the hole it had made.
I looked around to see what damage this creature had done. I knew that weasels sucked the blood from animals like a vampire. There the chickens lay, dead and I don't remember how many there was now. I ran back up to the house, grabbed the sleigh went back to the hen house, loaded the sleigh with as many chickens as I could and took them back to the house. Next I grabbed the wheel barrel and away I went, filled it up and back to the house. Can't remember how many were left yet to get.
I found one of the tubs mom used put it on the stove burners and filled it with water and let it come to steaming hot. Dunking in the chickens, one at a time, I began to strip off the feathers. These chickens were our winter meat, no darn weasel was going to take that away from me. I had stripped about ten of the birds, no insides were taken out as of yet, when my parents walked in the door. After a short period of shock, they let me explain what happened and took over that daunting job of cleaning all those chickens.
Soon after that event, my father built a new building for them, but it didn't seem to keep them any safer. I was the one that usually picked the eggs at choring time and every so often see mice or rats and at different occasions muskrats. I was more afraid of it than I was of the weasel. Muscrats are terribly vicious when cornered. One time, a wild cat had climbed up into the rafters and it took dad a couple of days to get rid of it, really can't remember now how he did it, but probably shot it. No peace for the farmer its said.

Never Without

2019-06-20T10:22:00.000-05:00

My family never did without while growing up. Although we were poor money wise, we were well taken care off.

I had mentioned before in another post about living on the farm. This time I am going to talk about my siblings and I. We had a roof over our heads, and although it didn't have a main heating system, the only time we felt cold was when we jumped out of bed in those wintery shivering mornings. It sure woke us up in a hurray, but it also made us reluctant to climb out of our warm beds. We survived, we learned to dress warm whether we were outside, inside, in bed or even in the car.

Our house was heated with a heater in the living room and the wood stove in the kitchen. To this date, I still feel that warmth that is heated by wood is the warmest heat found. It's far better than oil, coal or even electric heating and I have had all four types of heating in my life time. Okay so electric heating is more constant, but it's still does not have that warm, comfortable, comforting heat that comes from using wood.

Food, a daily need was plentiful. Mother had huge gardens, the garden (called the far garden) usually contained the potatoes and some perennial vegetables mother had. Vegetables such as asparagus, that real hot white radish (don't know the name for it) and a fruit tree or two. In the middle garden were the strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, plum and apple and crab-apple trees. The front garden or the one nearest the house, held all kinds of other vegetables. Mother used the soapy wash water for the cutworms in the garden along with the ashes from the stove. I learned how to grow vegetables and other things from her.

Every fall as the vegetables ripened, it took the whole family to harvest. Huge boxes, baskets and containers were used to gather the food. The children were then had the chore of shelling the mega amount of peas that were canned, taking ends off from the assortment of beans that were picked and then snapping them in pieces. Cleaning the assortment of berries that were gathered along with the Saskatoon's, pincherries, plums, chokecherries, strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, crab-apples and any other fruit that mother may have planted that year. The canned fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, lined the shelves in the basement.
Along with this, we enjoyed all kinds of fruit such as peaches, apricots, pears, and the different types of jam made were very varied.

When the wild berries were ripe, the whole family, except the small children, picked wild fruit. As the younger one grew up, they too had to go 'picking' fruit. With a syrup or peanut butter pail hanging from a belt we challenged each other to see who could pick the most berries. As usual though we also stuffed ourselves silly with all that sweet free fruit. We concluded that if we had to pick, then we would enjoy the fruit as well.

Now one must remember that when your in the bush picking fruit or whatever it was that mother was after, you had to watch where you went.
The terrain was not smooth, there was dips and dives. You could end up in a pool of water, in amongst some ant hills or maybe you ended up near a hornets nest. Don't think that one should be able to see where they are going in a bush, it's not that easy. We had to always call out to each other to make sure we had a sense of direction, it can get real easy to be turned around in a bushy area.

With all of the fruit and vegetables around us we never went hungry. Ate more fruit then than I do now.

Disconcerted

2019-05-14T20:48:00.001-05:00

It has been 8 and 1/2 years now and I still miss that old fart, yup, called him that while he was alive too. Although I miss him, I have for the first time, real freedom to do what I want. The freedom of not having to look after someone or something, except the property and at times, yes indeed, it does get lonely.

I do find, however, that the majority of my days are full and every days is passing faster than I care for. Since my health has taken a plunge, it seems to take forever for my health to recover and strange as it may seem, when one area goes haywire the rest of the body says "Hey let me join in. I feel left out". Right and I have no say in the matter it seems.

My last Dr. appointment kind of left me stunned. A possibility of colon cancer. He wants me to have another colon test. How many of those things does it take I wonder. Really though, they must get tired of looking at my bottom.

I was reading one of Erma Bombeck's books and it was absolutely hysterical, how I wish I could write like she does. It's a book worth reading as it brought back so many memories and I was able to link to most of what was wrote. That book I am sure I will read more than once.

Right now (aside from all those tests I am being put through,) I am going to concentrate on the yard sale coming up on May 18. Then I have to dig up the flower bed, it has sure been abused these last couple years with me being not able to care for it.

One of my grandkids was here recently it was such a comfort. they couldn't do enough for me. Such differences in each family unit. I now have six grandsons, (only two are able to carry on the McMurray line), one granddaughter, three great granddaughtes and two great grandsons. The only ones I have not seen except for a couple of pictures is from my granddaughter. Well time will tell, She keeps saying she is coming for a visit but no show as of yet. Regardless I still love them ALL, that will never change.

2018-08-24T17:43:00.002-05:00

LEARNING THE LESSONS OF NATURE

My Dad had a ¼ section near the Swan Lake Valley, at least that is what I call it.

He rented this section as it had a wooded area and space for growing grain. Every so often Mom would load us up and away we go to the ¼ section, which Dad called it the Stewarts quarter.

Dad let both cattle and horses road the quarter section and rounded them up when he needed to. From this quarter section he cut his own wood that kept us during the cold winters. I would see him coming down the road with the horses or his tractor pulling his load of cut trees. These would be stacked at the back fence in the barn yard for the wood to cure.

In the fall the load that he had brought in from the past years or years would be cut into logs small enough to fit into the cook stove or heater.

At times as Mom or I would drive down the hill at the quarter to find where Dad was we had to drive over ground that had developed small gullies from running water, and at times we would have to walk to where Dad was. This particular day, Dad was very upset.

The mare that was living on the quarter section had stumbled into a quagmire or a plot of quick sand, at least that was what Dad called it. It was in the swampy part of the land. We couldn’t figure out how come she ended in there but Dad didn’t want to lose her as she was the only mare he had. We tried everything we could think of and finally we had to get the truck to drag her out. There was no way we could get the truck close enough to help the mare. Dad told mom and I to leave and when he told us that, I knew he was going to shoot her.

It did bother me for quite a while, but being raised on the farm soon taught all of us children that it was a lesson of nature. Some animals lived and some would die. Through out the years from being on the farm, you soon learn the facts of life and those many many lessons of nature.

2018-08-24T14:45:00.001-05:00

OLD GREY MARE SHE AIN’T WHAT SHE USED TO BE

Yes, there was indeed such an animal, I rode her to school and back. I was quite young, in my early years, as my legs were spread wide over the back of the horse poking out of each side of her back. I can remember saying to my older sister that the horse was too wide, my legs couldn’t go over her sides.

The buggy was the common way of travelling to school each day and there was a shed in which the horse could be put into. Hay was packed into the back of the buggy for her and at lunch and recess time, one of us would go and give her the hay. It usually wound up that my sister would do it as she was the oldest.

When the buggy decided to have a hissy fit, we would continue our way home or to school on the back of the horse. I usually hung on with my little fists wrapped around the mare’s mane or harness, which ever was handy. Horses may be great to look at, but to ride, I don’t know, it might take a lot to get me up there again. Scared the crap out of me at the time.

When she died, Dad then took us to school each day, but then there were many days when we had to walk home. I actually enjoyed those two miles we walked, unless a skunk was sighted. I always enjoyed the nature that surrounded me as we walked.

The young colt that roamed the pasture had never been trained, for some reason Dad would never let us near it to tame it, especially when it was a baby. Never did figure that out.

We never did walk in the winter though, Dad would take us to school in a closed in sleigh, and he would sometimes put hot bricks in it for our feet, but sometimes not. He would sit inside and manage the horses from there as the front had a big opening in it. Dad would always come and get us in the wagon that had sleighs on it. In the spring those would come off and wheels put on. As the years went past I never did see the closed in sleigh that we used to have. Wonder where that landed up.

I guess those years when I had to walk a lot more, for school, to get the cattle, to help with chores my weight stayed good, but alas through these later years, that has changed. No more said.

2018-08-17T15:37:00.002-05:00

PEEPING TOMS (ohhhhh Yeah!!!)

I can laugh at the incidents now, in fact, it’s a matter of both seriousness as well as funny years later. I was aware of these kind of people through the social gossip but never had a personal experience of it until I moved to Killarny.

During the winter when the snow has a crunchy crust on the top of it, you can hear footsteps as people walked through the snow. One evening, after I had put our daughter to bed, I felt tired and decided to get ready for bed myself. After washing my face and hands I went to the bedroom and started to take of my blouse. I could hear footsteps crunching the snow outside, but the house was not that far from the sidewalk or the street so I didn’t pay anymore attention to it until: the crunchy footsteps seemed to be coming towards the house. Darn it, I wanted to go to bed and rest, I was not looking for a guest. I then realized the footsteps were not going to the door.

I was going to look out the window when I was met by a pair of male eyes. Oh Yes, I could see it was a male. I won’t say here what I called him, but you could hear him leaving faster than when he came. The shocked look on his face made me wish I had a camera.

We moved to Winnipeg to let our daughter go to a special deaf school and we moved into the downstairs of a house. The dining room was our bed room and it had a large window towards the back of the house.

I put the three children down to sleep and Ron and I prepared to go to bed. I pulled down the blind on the window but did not realize it didn’t go all the way down. We got ready to climb into bed when Ron decided to get lovey dovey. It was great until I happened to glance at the window. There I saw a pair of eyes and the top part of someone’s head. I told Ron we had someone peeping in the window. ‘What should we do he asked?’ ‘Let’s give him as show he won’t forget.’ I said. I slowly got out of bed and put on my housecoat and casually went to the kids room to see if they were sleeping and okay. Silently I went to the back door and quietly opened it and peeked around the corner. There he stood, still looking in the window. ‘Did you get a good enough look? Was that what you wanted?’ I said to him. Have you ever seen someone take a running leap and bound over a 7 or 8 foot fence in one or two bounds with such a scared look on his face was more than enough to scare the shit out of him. I wonder if he ever done it again.

The last and third time was when we had moved to a street just off of Wellington. It was a duplex and our landlady lived next door. Groaaaaaaaaaaaaaan. Yea it was a problem at times. Anyway, my sister in law and a friend had come over to help me take a dress in as it was too big and I wanted to keep the dress. Here again, it had a large picture window in the dining room. I had my sewing machine set up in there and the three of us were busy working on the dress. As I was trying on the dress I happened to look up and saw a guy looking in the window. I was so pissed off the only thing I could think of was “You son of a bitch’. I ran to the window and watched him jump over the 8 foot fence the next door neighbour had erected.

I almost killed my self laughing just to see how fast he disappeared and over that high fence. I may have been angry at the times of the peeping toms but as I look back, I chuckle as I think to myself at how stupid they were and how dangerous it could have been.

Having a Yard or Garage Sale

2017-12-13T13:22:00.001-06:00

HAVING A GARAGE SALE

Be aware of market prices. An item that is in excellent shape may go for half the price of the original price but the price will slide down the scale as the items condition deteriorates. Just the fact that it may be old or vintage, does not mean that it should be sold for more money. Check the market to find out at what price an item is being sold at, if customers are not buying then you know to lower the price for your item even if it is only a couple of dollars.

First you need to decide where and when your are going to have the yard sale, whether it is in the yard or in the garage or maybe both. Check on when you should place your ads for the yard sale. You don’t want to pay for an ad that comes out after the sale is over. Use, on line ads, face book, e-line (such as e-souris, e-elgin, e-brandon and other such sites as well as newspapers, posters, word of mouth and where ever else you can place your advertising. Use road signs with arrows pointing out where the sale is and balloons at the drive way as well.

When you have your yard sale is also crucial. On a weekend, a long weekend, during the week and what day (s) of the month will you have it. Saturday is usually the best, but don't eliminate Sunday. Having it in conjunction with other yard sales or events will help enhance the amount that you will sell. Most of the items sold will be in the morning and slowing down to a dribble after lunch. Usually by around three in the afternoon, no customers are coming.

What are you selling? In your ad mention that you have books, vintage items, new items, or mention something that will help to attract attention. Plus sized clothing is another item that draws a customer. The more items you have the more you will sell, not everyone is looking for the same thing. If it is possible make sure the items are clean, if there is flaw in the item, make a sign and put it on the item to let the customer know that it needs a part and be prepared to sell it for less.

If the tables are set up horizontal to the street instead of vertical, they can see there may be interesting items they might like to visit the sale to check it out. That said make sure there is room for them to walk between the tables.

Children should be welcome at the yard sale, have a box with free items for them to take with them. Children brings their parents and the parent might see items they want or need.

There are some people who don’t like to haggle, so keep the prices fair. If there are those that want to haggle, then use the bargaining to sell the item. Use the sandwich idea for final price. Top Price – selling price – lowest price.

BEWARE of those with light fingers. I have not had a yard sale where something has disappeared when packing up. Those are the people that want you to sell your items for pennies if they could. Keep the more expensive items close to where you have your table with your cash book and cash box, this way you can keep an eye on the items. Make sure you have enough change, bags to carry things and newspaper to wrap.

Most of all, prepare to have a busy and rewarding day. Use a guest book to keep track of where customers come from. It is surprising from where they come.

My Ghost Story from 1958

2017-12-13T13:16:00.003-06:00

REAL GHOST STORY from 1958

It was a foggy fall evening. I don’t remember the date or even what the month was that it happened in. The fog rolled and swayed and danced except for a small area where the yard light glowed emitting a clear small area surrounding it.

I was sitting on my bed looking out the window at times as I read my book. It was evening as I mentioned, chores had been completed, supper was over, dishes washed and everything put away. Milking was finished, separator cleaned and readied for the next morning.

Homework still needed to be done, but a few minutes were taken to relax. I loved to read, still do in fact, and my mother noticing that and had given me permission to order books from the Provincial Library and I indulged myself to my hearts content with books from there. I glanced up from time to time to look at the view outside my window and became enthralled with what I saw walking in the yard.

From out of the fog, beneath the yard light a man appeared. The fog had melted away from around him as he walked. It was what he was wearing that I became fascinated with and intrigued me. Who was he? His line of traveling was directly towards the corner of the house. Everything was perfectly clear about him, except his face, I could not make out who he was. Was he coming to visit?

As he passed from my site I set my book down and went to the kitchen where my mother and the rest of my siblings were. I would have thought he would have been knocking on our door by now. I scuttled across the kitchen floor to the west window where I peered out to see if I could see who was walking around in the fog at this time of the day. I couldn’t see anyone outside the window.

Mother asked me what I was doing so I told her what I saw and asked her why she hadn’t answered the door. My mother asked me what the matter was as I was looking at the door and I guess I had a funny look on my face. I told her about the man that I had seen. Her reaction surprised me as she ordered we children to stay in doors don’t answer the door and stay away from the windows. It wasn’t until years later that I had a glimpse of why she reacted the way she did as I had often wondered why she did react that way. She never had before.

Swiftly she put on her coat and left the house taking something with her, (I don’t remember now what it was she took with her). A few minutes later she came back into the house and asked if I was sure I saw someone. “Yes” I replied, he was coming towards the house, it looked almost as if he was going to towards the corner of the house. Mother told me there was no one out there, but she locked down the house anyway until Dad came home. Eerie.

I went back to the bedroom and picked up my homework and tried to get involved with it, but my mind kept going back to the figure I had seem. He was an engineer, from his cap to his shoes. His hat and coveralls were stripped like engineers used to wear. He was carrying an old fashioned lantern in one hand and in the other his lunch box. The black metal shone when the yard light reflected on it. He had on black work boots that also shone as he walked. He strode with a stride that told me that he knew where he was going and needed to get there by such a time. Here I must explain that the railroad was a mile south of our farm and he was heading north so he wasn’t going to work, or was he?

He stood at an average height and I wondered if he knew I was watching him, as he glanced my way a few seconds and then continued on his way. He looked like he was either heading for the house or to just simply go past it.

It was when my mother came back into the house to tell us there was no one there when I realized I had seen a ghost from the past. He had just simply disappeared into the fog when he came close to the house.

Mother never did explain why she was so nervous that night.

2016-02-01T15:35:00.000-06:00

Another year and I made it to another birthday It makes me think back to years gone by when I thought that the years went by so slow. I think back in particular the day I started smoking. Don't remember where I got the cigarettes even. I sat on my bed with the window open thinking that I would let the smoke whirl out the small holes at the bottom of the storm windows.

When my Dad had built the extension he put two windows in on the same corner of the room. My bed was positioned under the windows. A perfect place I thought as I fanned the smoke out those holes not realizing that smoke would cling to my clothing and hair.

The thoughts of youth. Of course my mother knew, " Were you smoking?" How I thought I would get away with it. So simple. HA! Mother's knew. From then on I smoked until thirty three years later when I quit along with Ron. Cigarettes at that time were five dollars a pack.

There was a sort of freedom in quitting, a freedom I had not noticed before I quit. I did not have to make sure I had enough money to buy cigarettes, that I had enough cigarettes when I traveled. Could I buy Canadian cigarettes in the USA when we travelled down there. I noticed after awhile that when I stood beside anyone else that smoke, they stunk of cigarette smoke. (I learned there was no such word as litterly).

I never realized how the smoke affected all of my surroundings from coating the walls, windows and everything in the house, including all of us breathing the second hand smoke. We had moved into a smaller house and in the process of getting it ready to move, I had to deal with layers of smoke as the previous owner was a smoker. On a built in cabinet in the bedroom, I finally had to wallpaper over the glass doors as the smoke stain could not be removed. Each window I washed took a clean pail of water to remove the brown stain from smoke. Imagine having to clean the whole house when wherever I looked was brown from smoking.

A few years later Ron had purchased a Dodge camper van. It was left to me to clean and make it ready for camping. It took me four pails of water just to clean the ceiling of the inside of that van, never mind the walls and the cupboard, inside and out. Yuck, how could I have smoked at one time and not realize what it was doing to my surroundings. Hindsight I guess.

Its been twenty two years since I quit and have never regretted it. I don't have any extra money and wonder how in the world I ever found the money to sustain my habit. Probably never really know. Looking back I suppose my family had to do without things as between Ron and I we were smoking three packs a day. Ron smoked two and I smoked one, but as it later shows I was more addicted to smoking than Ron was or he was more able to handle it than I. I tried many things to quit until one day I saw an ad on quitting smoking. It was done with laser and it said there was a sale on, half price. My Doctor had told me I had to quit but while Ron still smoked I was not about to quit with someone else still smoking in the house. Ron agreed and with a hundred dollars in our pocket and two cigarettes left, we smoked the cigarettes and then had the laser treatment.

The laser of course is only a crutch, just like the acupunctures, hypnotize, patches, gum and other ways of trying to quit. We walked out of that clinic and never looked back. The only time I did try to have a cigarette was when my father died. I took one puff and puked my guts out. Never again.

It still wasn't easy in the first couple of years, to have a smoke with our coffee, to tell ourselves to stay away from areas where there would be a lot of smokers was difficult. But as time went on, it became easier. A trick we used, was to drink something when we had a yen to have a smoke. Usually by the time we took a deep breath the urge was gone.

Other things may get us in the end, but no more smoking. The freedom is unbelievable.

It Never Fails

2015-07-09T16:23:00.001-05:00

It Never Fails

Want to get rid of stuff in a hurray? Have a yard sale. Things will disappear faster than you can keep track of what you have. For every year that I have had a yard sale, items have walked off and out of the yard and never paid for. Wonder if I have the word sucker written on my forehead or something. It's not like if will break me, it's the audacity of some people who can't be honest at a nickel and dime yard sale.

Like, maybe they are poor and they can't afford a few cents? Or maybe they are just naturally light fingered? I really don't know. I have just finished sorting and repacking the items from my yard sale and found that a small box of greeting cards had disappeared and I know I did not sell them. These greeting cards ranged from the 1800's to early 1900. I have the pictures of those cards as I had scanned them for some reason on my computer. I certainly hope that person has a guilt complex every time they sell at least one of them, especially on line, I will be watching for them.

The Elgin and Area Lions had also planned a BBQ for the same weekend but when it was so miserable, the yard sale and the BBQ were cancelled. It all took place the following weekend and turned out to be a great day. Except for the person who was light fingered. I wonder if they thought it would not go unnoticed? Got news for them.

2014-12-10T19:55:00.002-06:00

I would defy anyone to try and learn to skate on an old pair of hockey skates that were too big for your feet. Since that was all we had to wear, even though those were old second hand skates, we succeeded in learning to skate in them.

Just past the barn was a slough that froze over every winter, and made a perfect spot for skating, or rather to learn to skate. Off we went wobbling our way through the barn yard and out into the pasture to the wonderful frozen patch of ice that was waiting for us. Or rather, for my siblings. With a few swipes of the shovels that we had brought with us, a fair size patch of ice was cleared off.

I hated the skates I had to use, maybe that was why I couldn't seem to stand up in them, never mind skating a few feet. I had a terrible time trying to keep my balance.I did keep trying, year and year until one day, when my older sister and I went to skate in the ditch across the road. When a dry year happens and there has been no water in the slough that we usually skating in the ditch was just fine, there was lots of ice and I sat on the shoulder and contemplated the fact that I could not seem to get the idea of keeping my balance while I skated.

While thinking that, and deciding that I was going to go home, because I couldn't skate, I got up on my feet and skated across the ditch to the road. It wasn't until I had got to the other side that I realized what I had done. It's funny how our minds work.

That Christmas, I got a brand new pair of skates, not the figure skates I wanted, but skates. At first, I was disappointed, but in time, I understood that I could never have used figure skates with the picks. Years later, I bought a pair of skates with the picks, well those picks got to me every time and I found myself lying on the ice wondering why I put myself through it. Live and Learn.

2013-01-13T09:52:00.000-06:00

Those Were the days Among Many

` We had to take turns doing the barn chores and looking after the chickens. Right after we got home from school, we had to put chop and hay in the mangers for the cattle, the pigs and fowl. The horses, Dad looked after when he got home with them. He was always afraid that the horses were too big for us to look after. Those big gentle giants, were always eager to go, eager to please and ate a lot of food. Then over to the hen house, pick the nest of eggs and put them in to a pail or whatever we had in our hands to carry them. There was a certain way to get an egg while the hen was sitting on it. If you put your hand in from behind, you had to do it slowly, that old hen never blinked an eye. Try it from the front and your hand would be right smartly tattooed by her beak. The other thing you had to watch for was the old rooster, especially if the hen was nesting. He didn’t like anyone entering into his territory. Once the eggs were picked, then the pigs had to be fed, and they also got chop and at times grain and fresh water.

It was with fascination that I sat at my fathers knees and watched him strip the fur off the animals he had caught. With each animal that he worked on, he taught me more and more about how to take and preserve the fur from the animals. To him those furs were money and there were certain ways to strip the furs off.

It was also with equal fascination that I watched him as he fixed the tires for the cars and equally with our bikes. It seemed that he could do anything he turned his mind to. I helped him load the manure boat and haul the manure away every day. Never ever would he let a day go buy that the animals stalls were cleaned of old manure and replaced with fresh fragrant straw. Rarely was hay used for bedding purpose, just straw and I learned how to do that also.

I can remember the time Dad had decided to feed the pigs fish. He could scoop up the fish for free, pay not a cent for them. This was when there had been when the fish at Ninette were dying by the hundreds. Free food for the pigs. Right!!! Have you ever eaten pork meat that tasted like fish? Remember, there were two whole pigs that were slaughtered that fall, and we ended up eating, fishy meat. I’ll tell you, Dad never did that again.

It was such fun when the pigs or the cattle got “out”, that meant that the garden could get raided or the animals would end up on the road that ran past our yard. You can just forget about trying to make a pig go where you want it to go. Such nice language could be heard as we dashed about here and there after those four legged critters. It’s more cantankerous than a teenager when you try to make it do what you want. It takes three people to corral those pigs, but I have done it alone, after much fuss and bother. Now cattle on the other hand, are easier to drive. Those days when it was my turn to go and get the cows for milking, I had to walk a few miles. This I didn’t mind, far better than doing chores or house work.

I would find a pole or a straight stick from somewhere, call to the dog and off we went. Sometimes, I even went barefoot, through pastures and fields. I would stop along the way, to admire the flowers, to watch a gopher, to see if I could find a Killdeer nest. I would watch the flock of swans not far from me, or the geese and ducks as they landed on the field. It was nothing to see a garter snake slither past with the dog chasing it. He must have had a dislike for the snakes. . One must have bit him at one time or another Sometimes I could see a skunk or two in the distance, or a mole. At times, the hardest part of getting the cattle was trying to get them to come out of the slough they were standing it. Couldn’t blame them though, it must have been nice and cool standing belly deep in water. They seemed to know why I was there, and they slowly and reluctantly herded themselves towards the barn, a mile or so in the distance. I never rushed them, if I got back to soon, I would have to help finish the chores or go into the house to do housework which I hated with a passion.

Now, I was never the best milker. My mother was, she could milk three cows to my one and then she would have to “finish it” as she put it, to make sure that all the milk had been stripped from the udder of my cow. That was fine with me; I would then amble over to the separator and help it along as pail after pail of milk was strained through into the big bowl. It soon separated the milk and the cream, but Mother sure made sure that she got every drop of cream from the milk. She had the screw down so tight on it so that it would separate most or all of the cream. The skim milk in the stores, tasted better than the skim milk that she put through that separator. I did not, however, like warm milk straight from the cow. I liked my milk cold and still do, although every once in a while I do heat up milk with some vanilla and sugar for a treat. Whole milk, even the 3% that is suppose to be called whole milk today, wasn’t too rich for me to drink. Now I find it far too rich to drink. Talking about milk and cream, we used to make our own butter and since Mom and I were the only ones that liked the buttermilk, we would have lots to enjoy. I still like buttermilk, but it sure tastes different to what I grew up with.

When we saw the churn sitting on the table, we tried to see how fast we could disappear out of the house. Never always worked though, I sometimes wondered if my mother had eyes on the back of her head. She would usually catch one of us and she would always call us by name without even looking to see who it was. You should have heard us moan and groan. It seemed to take forever to make that butter and as one had to turn the handle to make the paddle go; it became awful tiring turning it for what seemed like hours on end. But in the end, we had the sweetest butter you ever tasted. Then Mother would put it in a strainer and strained the entire liquid out and then put it in a butter box and form a brick. Some times she would mix butter and margarine and I wasn’t crazy on the taste.

I used to love annoying the animals and my parents had no love lost on me when I did annoy them. Any treatment I got from the animals, my mother thought I well deserved, but heck, it was fun doing it!! The building in what my dad called his machine shop or tractor shed as it was called more often than not was just low enough for us to scramble up on the roof. It was easy to do so on this building as it was still made of the logs and mud. Every so often dad would stuff mud into the cracks, when it rained the ground was mud. Anyway, getting off the track here, I hated the old gander that roamed freely where ever he wanted in the barn yard. I think he knew I didn’t care for him, as he would hiss at me when I got too close to him and his ladies. I would get pissed off with him, and hiss and honk right back and then I had to run and climb onto the tractor roof to escape him. After called for mom to come and help me, she would chase away the gander and then gave me a tongue lashing for disturbing the gander and her.

I’d also do the same to the mean old rooster ever once in a while. It sure was fun while it lasted. Once in a while the Billy goat that mom had would chase us up to the roof top. There was no way any of us would come down until mom came and tied him up somewhere far away. The nanny was okay and it was funny watching how mother milked her. She milked that goat from behind. I often wondered what mom did with the milk, I never did find out.

That’s all for tonight, couldn’t sleep so thought I would put it on paper before my mind forgot what it was I was thinking about. What do you remember growing up? I would love to hear from you.

Go Figure This.

2012-09-16T11:13:00.002-05:00

Racoons and Roundworms

2012-09-11T12:07:00.000-05:00

I wrote this piece for the Brandon Sun in 1999, and have been asked from time to time to repeat it.

Racoons may be cute and cuddly but they could be carrying a deadly roundworm inside of themselves. The large common roundworm, (baylisascaris procyonis) lives in the intestines of many of these animals.

Studies in the United States have shown that from 70% to 80% of the racoons checked were infected with this roundworm. The eggs form these roundworms are found in the feces of the racoon. It takes about thirty days for the eggs to develop into larvae. The young raccoon has probably become infected at an early age through their mothers body, or from the local environment of the den. The roundworm also uses intermediate hosts in their life cycle. Some of the common carriers include mice, squirrels, rabbits and birds; however, any mammal or bird can be a host carrier. When the racoon eat these infected hosts, they can also become infected by this secondary pathway.

The adult worms, about 6 - 8 inches long and 3/8 inch thick, are tan in colour, cylindrical and tapered at both ends. Infected animals are normal in appearance and show no signs of infection until a short period of time has passed.

When the eggs hatch inside the host animal the larvae penetrate the intestines and migrate through the liver and lungs. From the lungs, they migrate to other parts of the body, especially to the head, neck and brain. This will cause liver and lung damage and the cause of central nervous system disease because of the damage caused to the brain and the spinal cord.

After a period of time, the animals may have a tilted head or slight stumbling when they walk as the nervous system is affected. As the disease progresses, the animal may circle, roll, keep falling over and lie on its sides and paddle with its feet. The animal eventually will lie down and stay lying down, become comatose and finally death.

Most animals develop nervous abnormalities within one to three weeks of ingestions of the eggs. The length of time it takes of the death of the animal to occur depends on the amount of eggs ingested.

The disease is diagnosed with a microscopic examination at autopsy. The larvae or lesions are usually found in the brain, eyes and other tissues.

It will cause death in humans. Documented cases of severe organ damage, eye disease and debilitating central nervous system disease have occurred. It is difficult to diagnose in a living animal. A person or animal that shows signs of eye or central nervous system disease and has a history of association with a pet or wild racoons or a suspected contaminated area could have been in direct contact to this roundworm. An article from the Department of Paediatrics SUNY Health Science Centre at Syracuse reported that a thirteen month old child did survive his infection. The disease, however, cannot be cured and the child continues to have severe neurological complications.

There are no drugs known to kill the migrating larvae or the adult. There is little which can be done to reverse the damage caused by the larvae. Treatment is mainly supportive and designed to decrease inflammatory reactions.

The racoon can contaminate an area very rapidly. The animal will shed about 19850 eggs per gram of feces, but it is known for the count to be as high as 100.000 eggs per gram of feces. An average amount of feces is about 100 grams.

The roundworm eggs are some of the most resistant parasite eggs known. They can survive formaldehyde or hydrochloric acid solutions. Freezing detergents, disinfectants and dyeing do not affect them and they can survive for years even in adverse conditions. Heat seems to be the only thing that will kill these eggs. Autoclaving, flaming the area with gas or a propane torch will do the trick. Large areas of contamination such as soil, concrete, etc. are best decontaminated by torching. Contaminated star, hay, etc. should be carefully removed and burned. Special protection, such as disposable gloves and masks should be worn to prevent self infection. This is important in dry and dusty areas where dry feces may be stirred up and inhaled.

If there are any animals living with the proximity of where a racoon has been then these animals should be considered as possible victims of roundworm. These animals need to be watched carefully to see if they will develop any of the symptoms for the roundworm infection. If a human has been in contact with racoo9ns or their feces, they should consult with their doctor. It is not a well known disease and the doctor may not be aware of it. An expert in parasitic disease should be consulted for clinical problems and the symptoms investigated.

There is no real effective treatment so prevention is paramount to this disease.

n

Racoons and Roundworm Disease

2012-09-11T09:56:00.001-05:00

2012-07-22T11:49:00.001-05:00

Driving Dad's Old Truck

I don't know what the year was for this truck, perhaps if Ron was still alive he would have known. I just know that it was old.

It badly needed repairs. The floor gear shift every so often would stick and to get it out of gear one had to open the hood and manually move the linkage to take it out of gear. Now you had to stand at a certain place while you are performing this. You did not want to be standing any place else, it would have been disastrous. Remember you are moving the linkage around on the gear shift, and if you had forgotten to shut the truck off before you did this, you just might not know where you're going to end up.

The truck didn't look quit like this one, it was a dull red and battered up, but it was within this year range. Not only was the gear shift constantly sticking at the most unopportunistic time, the windshield wipers never worked. Not as long as I drove that red truck.

My Mom would send me to get the mail. The nearest post office to our home was in Wood Bay, a small hamlet with a small store, post office and an elevator. That's it, oh yes, there was the post masters house and I also think there was a house for the guy at the elevator also. Somewhere in all these books I have there is some information about Wood Bay.

I would start by checking to see if the gear shift would decide to work that day. If it did I was in luck. After checking that out, I would get into the cab, depress the clutch and turn the key. That is after making sure the truck is not in gear. It's not unusual for the truck to start running away because one forgot to check. Okay, now you turn the key on and press the starter with your foot. Yup it's on the floor, a metal thing a m-jig that sits about (1 ½) one inches tall and about one inch wide. There was also a similar metal thing on the floor to change the lights from bright to dim; you had to make sure you didn’t get them mixed up.

The engine is turning over, it’s got an old battery also; and after a few hisses and burps and farts, it starts. Believe it or not, it did run smoothly. Dad may not have kept the body of that old truck fixed but he did believe in trying to keep the motors running half decently. Okay, ready to go, Push the clutch to the floor, and then put the truck in gear, slowly let the clutch out. I said slowly, because if you didn’t do that the truck would stall. Cranky old thing. Once you have the truck starting off smoothly, completely let the clutch out slowly until it is all the way out. Now your in business you might think. NO, you’re not finished yet. Remember this is a floor stick shift and it is not really at all like the newer vehicles that have a floor stick shift. I have driven both.

There is a first second, third and drive and when you start out it’s in first. Now is when that old truck is going to behave or not. The question is can I get it out of first or will it stick again. Okay, so it behaved this time, you press the gas petal and let the truck reach a certain speed before shifting it into second, the same with third and when you finally put it into the driving gear, make sure it’s not the reverse one you put it into. Third gear was found up and to the left, second gear was to the up and to the right, drive was found lower and to the right and reverse was lower and to the left. And then to top things off, every so often the gears would decide they wouldn’t work and you had to be careful when you put it back into gear. Maybe if you’re lucky and with only a small bit of grinding and clashing of gears you can get the gear shift going again the way it should be going.

If everything goes well and you start down that earthen track to the post office, you pray that it won’t stall and that it wouldn’t rain. An old wiper was kept on the dash in case that happened as you would then have to manually reach around outside and use the wiper to take a swish at the windshield. Nine times out of ten, I would make it safely there and back.

After I married and moved away from home, we borrowed the truck to haul water, as there was no running water at that time in Elgin. By this time the tires were also going for broke and we didn’t have the money to buy any for that dear old truck. Just think about the weight of a 500 gallon water tank in the back of that truck alone would be lowering the tires, but add to that a full tank of water and you had fun, especially when one tire decides to go completely flat. Ron started to invest in some good used tires and that helped quite a bit in getting water. Eventually Dad wanted his truck back, and we struggled on with paying someone to haul water for us. We didn’t drink that water; we hauled pails of water from the church that was just across the street.

To get back to this truck of my Father’s truck. He drove it for this and that around the farm for quite a few years after that. It just wouldn’t quit it was a tough old truck. To top it off, he eventually sold and made some money on it. How can you beat that.

Often at times, I sit and think about that truck, how it drove, where I went in it, (Mom and Dad wouldn’t let us drive the car.) to get the mail, maybe some groceries, and just about every Saturday, I would head out in the truck to do some housecleaning for someone. That little old red half ton does have many memories attached to it.

2012-07-08T19:08:00.000-05:00

DID YOU KNOW???

Elgin is widely known as the town that had a feast of geese when a flock of them dropped from the sky. Now there is nothing magical about it.

Graham Robertson who was a one time resident recalls eating one of those birds. As the story goes it happened in April 22 of 1932 or 1933, depending on who story it is had a flock of lesser Snow Geese and some Blue Geese flying over head at about 11:20 a.m.

As it so happened there was a severe thunderstorm over head at the same time the geese were flying. There were 52 of the geese instantly killed with an electrical storm, thereby raining geese down on the inhabitants of Elgin. Just think of all the goose grease there was.

A good portion of the flock fell to the ground, but some regained consciousness and flew off but in the end there were 52 geese lying dead on the street ready for the picking. Some had exploded from the shock and others had their insides broken and some were not.

There had been a high temperature the day before and on April 22 low strato-cumulus clouds merging to nimbus were recorded and local electrical disturbances occurred throughout the west

The RCMP declared that some of the geese were fit to eat and were distributed amongst the poor. All except one, and I wonder where that went.

Preparing Your Income Tax

2012-01-23T08:54:00.000-06:00

Need A Hand To Prepare Your Tax Return?

This information comes from the Federal tax web site.

If you are unable to prepare your income tax and benefit return yourself, the CVITP may be able to help you. The CVITP assists eligible taxpayers who have low income, and simple non-complex tax situations.

Eligibility Criteria

These maximum income levels should serve as a guideline only.

Taxpayer status                                  Family Income
Single                                                    up to $25,000
Couple                                                  up to $35,000
One Adult with child                           up to $30,000

Volunteers for the CVITP DO NOT prepare tax returns for complex situations. Eligible taxpayers normally served by the CVITP include:

Aboriginal people
Low-income individuals and social assistance recipients
Newcomers to Canada
Seniors
Students

Check out http://www.cra-arc-gc.ca/ for further information on this.

How to Evict a Cat

2011-12-10T22:46:00.000-06:00

It all began one fall day while I was away from home. I usually leave a window open a bit so that my cat can escape if she needs to. However, it also let's others in.

At first there were only subtle signs but as the days went bye those signs began to get more and more. There was no way that my cat could eat as much food as what was disappearing from her dish. I had a strange animal in the house. How do I get this animal out of my house. I crossed my fingers and hoped that it was a stray cat and not any other animal. In time this proved correct.

I have a dilemma, How do I go about getting this animal from the basement. The basement door is also the pantry door and this is situated directly behind the bedroom and beside the living room. I had to figure out how to do this without scaring the cat so it won't come up out of the basement while I was there.

Okay, I put my thinking cap on, there are a few things I could try. The first one was to hide behind the cellar or pantry door. After a few nights of standing as still as I possibly could I crossed that off the list. The cat, by this time I knew for certain it was a cat, would sit at the top of the stairs but come no further and if I moved, down it would go. There were lots of nooks and crannies to hide in. The basement was not the full size of the house so it could slip into the farthest reaches of under the house.

Next I thought of starving it, but then it would stink up the whole house, no that was no good. Maybe a few pellets from the pellet gun would scare it, nope it didn't. Time for the big guns so to speak. I went in search of one of those animal cages that you use to catch animals in. It however, smelled of skunk. In went the food and water and periodically I would set it in different places to try and entice the cat. It was smart, I need to tell you that. Either it knew it was a trap or it didn't like the skunk smell. It may have entered the cage, signs of the food had been eaten. Good grief, it knew enough not to step on the plate to spring the door down encaging it.

I'm not through yet. My cat, called Chrissy, had her food sitting beside the washing machine which was not that far from the pantry door. I moved her food and water to the furthest reach of the house that I could find. I started waiting up at night, but that slippery little devil outwitted me everytime. Finally one night I managed to tiptoe out from the bedroom to catch it at the food dish. That cat litterly flew across the living room into the kitchen and down the steps to the basement before I could even get to the kitchen door. I guess I moved to slow. After a few tries of this I lay in bed and thought and thought to myself that that cat was not going to get the best of me.

It dawned on me one night that if I drilled a hole in the bedroom wall I could probably put a string through it and tie it to the cellar door. Good try so far. After finding a way to make the hole and get the string through the hole, I discovered that cellar door would not close tight unless I really pushed it. Hmm, now what? Okay that can be fixed, all I had to do was to trim a little off the bottom of door and that is what I did. Now the door closed quietly and softly. With all the lights off in the house I couldn't see when the cat came up so I started leaving night lights on and moved the food to an area where I could see it from my bed.

No cat was going to out wit me. After waiting a short time, there it was, sneaking up to the food dish. As quietly and as gently as I could I pulled on the cord to shut the cellar door. It now had no escape route. It naturally tried to get into the basement and with that avenue shut off it then tore through the house to end up under the bed. I opened both the doors to the outside and after a few swats with the broom, out the door it escaped. I guess Chrissy will now have to take her chances being cooped up indoors.

Anyone want to help clean up the mess in the basement?