Stay or Move?

The year was 1950. I was seven years old. Hard times fell on the farm. After five years of tough times dad was between a rock and a hard place. With the cost of supplies rising that were needed to continue the farming operation dad tried to purchase the farm from the landlord. The landlord quoted dad a price he could not afford and thus began the shift in thinking about what dad was going to do. He opted to move to town, Oak Grove, and he didn't know what he was going to do. Grandmother Walraven, dads mother, gave him a small lot to build a house on for the family. Dad had never built a house but he thought he would give it a try.

The house was small. Back then they called it a "cracker box." I don't remember the dimensions but it was really small. The bathroom was so small you could wash your face in the sink while sitting on the pot! There was just enough room in the bedrooms (2) to walk around the bed. The kitchen was unbelievably small. The front room, as we called it, was the largest room in the house. I would guess it was about 10 feet by 12 feet. But the house was our home and we loved it.

While dad was building the house someone stopped by and asked him if he would build them a house. And since he had no prospects of doing anything else, he said that he would. That job led him to another building job and then another and then another. Soon after Grayum Building Company was born and the stage was set for dad to be a small-time builder in and around Oak Grove.

One interesting note about when we were packing up to leave the farm and move to town. My dad told my brother to not forget the plane that was in the barn. Well, I went nuts when I heard that we had a plane in the barn. I had never seen an airplane in the barn and I had played all over every square inch of that barn. I immediately ran to the barn ahead of my brother to see if I could find the plane. When I told my brother I had never seen an airplane in the barn and I didn't even know we had an airplane, he began to laugh hilariously. He took me to the workbench and showed me a tool used to plane smooth edges on a board. A plane. Not an airplane like I had thought.

I was almost eight years old when we moved to town.

A new saga began and the story continues.

Go Fish !

My first time fishing was in Sni creek, bordering the western part of the farm. My mothers nephew, Ed Lawson, took me. He was about 16 or 17 years old. He was visiting us during the summer and decided he wanted to go fishing. He rigged up a cane pole and we headed out for the quarter mile hike to the creek. We caught some grasshoppers along the way to use for bait.

It seemed like a long time passed but he finally caught a fish, a ten inch long catfish. I had caught nothing ... nada ... zilch-o! I was really excited that he'd caught a fish and I wanted to clean it, take it back to the house and eat it.

He didn't want to do that and instead proposed that we cut the fish up and use it for bait ! I was very opposed to the idea but my opposition was over-ruled. I said we could walk back through the hay field and catch some more grasshoppers but he said the "cut bait" would work better and that we would catch a whole bunch more fish.

Well ... the "cut bait" didn't work and we didn't catch any more fish the rest of the afternoon. I was crushed. My first fishing trip and I was going home empty handed!

But that's the way it goes. Sometimes you just "go fish" and at other times you "catch." I would rather go "catching" than just "fishing" any day.

Camel Cigarettes

I remember harvest times on the farm were good times. Harvesting was hard work and I mostly watched because I was too little to be of much help. There are two primary times for "putting up" hay. One in late spring and one in late summer. Once the hay is cut, it has to lay for a few hours, and then be baled before the evening dew sets in. So, depending on how large the field is, it can run into late night before you are done hauling in the hay and getting it in the barn.

I remember on one occasion dad had several men come over to the farm and help him put up the hay. They came to our house around noon and immediately went to work doing whatever it was that they did. I remember being down in the hay field with them and dad called to me to come over to where he was. He told me to go to the house and get him a pack of cigarettes. He smoked Camels and I thought the camel on the front of the pack was pretty cool. I went to the house and told mom that dad needed a pack of cigarettes, so she gave me a pack to take to him. I took them to him and gave them to him.

Then I got a bright idea !

I thought that I'd like a cigarette for me to smoke. I couldn't go to dad and ask for one because, of course, he wouldn't give me one. So I went back to the house in a little while and told mom that dad needed another pack of cigarettes. She questioned me rather thoroughly but finally gave me another pack. So now I was set.

Well, I didn't have anything to light the cigarettes with so I just pretended to smoke them. It was pretty cool smoking (or at least pretending to smoke) like all the other big men on the hay crew.

After the hay was cut and left to dry for awhile in the field, all the men went to the house for a meal before they began to bale and haul in the hay. Before we sat down at the table mom asked dad why he needed another pack of cigarettes since she had already sent one to him via me. He asked her what did she mean? And she told him about me coming to the house for a second pack. He said he didn't send me for a second pack. Well, I was in trouble.

My punishment for lying and making up such a story was that I didn't get to set at the dinner table with all of the big tough hay haulers. I had to sit in the corner of the kitchen and look at the wall and eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. They all had roast beef.

As I remember, that was my first time trying to smoke.

Little Lamb

The first pet I ever had was a lamb named Duz. He was named after a popular laundry detergent at the time. His wool was as white as freshly laundered bed sheets ... and that was the theme of the laundry detergent.

I don't remember where we got him and I don't know that I ever even knew where he came from. But we got him when he was just a baby. I do remember being told that his mother sheep had died and dad brought him home from one of our neighbors. I had to feed him warm milk from a glass bottle with a rubber nipple. I remember how cute he looked when he was "nursing." Slobbers included!

As he grew he became more frisky with every passing day. And of course he was puttin' on the pounds. As lambs, sheep, and goats will do, he began to "butt" me with his head and anyone else that looked like a good target. When I would ride an old beat-up-hand-me-down tricycle he began to "butt" me off and turn me over. Well as he grew larger the "butts" became harder and harder and more severe. One day he "butted" me really hard and then began to maul me and dad had to come to my rescue. I remember at the supper table that night mom and dad talking about what to do with the lamb, now grown into a sheep. Dad told mom and me that he thought he would just take Duz to town. Well, little did I know at the time what that meant.

I thought taking Duz to town was a great idea. Then he could run all around town up and down the streets playing with the dogs and cats and anything else that was interested. I wanted to go with dad when he "took him to town," but dad said no ... he had to do this by himself.

For a short time after dad took the lamb away and we went to town, I would want dad to drive around and see if we could find Duz. That happened a couple of times and I soon forgot about him.

Well, as time passed, I later learned that when a farmer talks about taking something "to town," it didn't mean what I thought it meant. When a farmer talks about taking something "to town," he is referring to either a grain elevator, if it is a crop, or he is referring to taking livestock to the slaughter house.

"Oh my," I thought, when I learned what the real meaning was when dad said, "I think I'll just take him to town."

(I have a picture of me feeding Duz with a bottle and if I can find it I will try to put it by this post.)