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Fun On The Farm In the summer on the farm we three girls were amused by things we made for ourselves. We became very good at manufacturing our own doll carts from small wooden boxes and wheels sawen from round poles. Considering bent nails, sore teeth when the hammer made an unexpected upward swing and sore hands when it was dropped, our carts were perhaps not too cheap other than in money, but they were sturdy enough to take the bumps and stumps on the rough ground and the dolls were perfectly satisfied. Sometimes we worked for days making houses in the bush from small brush and trees set tepee fashion. Boxes were chairs and old oilcloth covers were fashionable. We always found time for these projects though we had regular chores to do first. we often found pieces of bone games which the Indians had used many years ago during there playtime. We made up our own stories of those days, charging out of the brush once with such a whoop and holler that older sister walking home was scared into a panic. We had a wonderful creek and an old wooden boat to shove around. This old boat served as an alter for me at times when I was in a mood to preach, and wonderful and load were the sermons as I floated downstream. But my preaching didn't do all it should for me. One day I drifted in sight of my sister who was sitting on a log bridge which spanned the creek. She was sitting on one of the sharp cross poles which jutted a little beyond the bridge and was idly dangling her feet in the water. Guiding the boat up to and under her, I debated on whether to allow her to get into it. However, when she was half in and half out I change my mind and poled the boat away. Unfortunately, she was to far off of the bridge to get back on and caught her slacks on the point of the log. As I watched curiously, her trousers gave way and she went face first into the creek. I poled away hastily. In the winter, the creek served as a skating rink and a swimming hole combined. We always insisted against mother's orders that the ice was firm enough, and naturally, it wasn't. We fell in and dragged ourselves out, wet and muddy. The first one in, however, was protected by the other two as we made our way swiftly to the barn to hide away until her clothes were exchanged and the wet ones hung out to dry without mother's knowledge or so we thought. We would clear the snow from quite a good patch of the creek where it was the widest. We kept the snow off for a long time each winter. we did not have hills near our home but were often lucky enough to hitch the sled behind a calf and go for a merry and speedy ride that ended usually on or in the wood pile. The wood for burning and tubs of snow were loaded on the toboggan and drawn to the house. The tubs of snow had to be packed firmly and unloaded into the big tanks kept in the house which were full of snow water for both home use and in case of fire. These were just part of our chores. We did have skis and a unpredictable horse. The length and ease of a run the skier would have depended on what scores the rider had to settle with the horse. Sometimes the ride was very short and merry with a long trek home on foot. When we had the toboggan instead of skis the journey would start happily enough with the rider lying flat on his stomach. The picture was apt to change as snow was kicked, by the horse, into the face of the rider who became blinded. Gradually the snow piled up in a choking pyramid until all that could be seen was a huge snow ball covering a small girl, desperately hanging on, blinded, choked and quite furious. But it was all in a day's sport. Our hay stacks used to be also covered in snow and one time my sister took the skis to the top of the gradual incline where the hay had been taken for feed, and commenced to ski down. The hill was not as easy as it looked, however, and she landed in a tangle of skis and feet, much the worse for wear but still in one piece. She also attempted once to take an old cow hide up onto the roof of a low machine shop, sit on the hide and slide down the roof. Though the building was low, the drop was not and somehow the hide took off in one direction and she in the other, and it was a little while before she knew what had happened though wasn't really hurt. These little incidents however didn't put a stop to any fun. In an attempt to amuse a small nephew staying with us I climbed on a low roof when the snow was melting and freezing. Great icicles hung off the roof and melted in the huge drift of snow under it, but I managed to crawl quite a ways up and then slid down, gaining more and more speed until I hit the end of the roof and out into space and onto the drift. However the drift was very hard with ice and scarcely broke when I landed, for a minute it was a question of who would break first. However, I got through and kept going until there was one great hole and one little me in the middle. So our days past happily and we were never bored although we had neither radio, electricity or running water in the house. Kay Twelve kilometers east of McLennen there is a small community named after Kay. It is called Kathleen, Alberta. |