Friday, August 27, 2010
Hay making time
It was in the middle of the summer, during the haying season.And I just loved to watch the hay wagons in the field as the horses pulled the wagon along the hay windrows, The loose hay from the windrows went up the loader and dropped on the wagon while father arranged the hay on the wagon. When the load was full, He would bring the load up to the barn and with many a whoo, gittup,gee,(right turn) haw (left turn) back up easy now, He got the horses to park underneath the gable roof overhang where the ridge track would take the hay up into the barn. I watched Father and Grandpa take the big fork and stab it into the stake of hay on the wagon.. The fork was fastened to a long rope that went up to the ridge track through a pulley and then down to a horse. And another man made the horse walk, and that would haul the forkful of hay up into the barn and it would drop down in a big pile to be used in the winter . Load after load went into the barn.And I wondered where all that hay was going,so once the last load was done for the day I made my way over to the outside barn door and peeked in, Too afraid to go in with such a big pile in there.I was more of a timid nature and if someone told me to stay away till they are done, I stayed away big time,I was even afraid of going up into the hay loft for fear of falling down the hay hole, Where we'd throw the hay down to the cows,But one day our cousins were there and they had no fear of the hay loft and soon I overcame my own fears and joined in the fun of playing hide-n-seek,And before I knew it I got to close to that hole and stepped on that loose hay ,And fell down that hole landed on my back right smack in front of the bull tied up at the stanchion, scared him that time ,and scrambled away from him as fast as I could and ran for the house just a bawling with the rest all behind me, Mom made me lay down to keep watch over me, I lay there with my eyes closed trying to sleep then I heard Mom and Dad come very quietly to check on me, I heard them say is she still breathing, do you think shes OK yes shes sleeping we'll see how she feels once she wakes up, That attention was very fun,I did fall asleep then and woke up just fine. much to the relief of my parents.
Monday, August 2, 2010
The old home place
This is the story of Emma, an Amish girl born in 1974. I was 3years old and lived in the small house built onto my grandparents house,on a dairy farm with my parents Enos and Nancy Lee. I had a older brother Edwin, and two big sisters Amanda,and Laura, then little brother Mahlon, and baby sister Fannie.
My Grandparents names were Mahlon an Emma Sommers with aunt Amanda still living at home. Grandpa had a woodworking shop,And I just loved to go out and watch him the smell of sawdust reminds me of him to this day. but because of the danger of the wood saw he always had me sitting at a safe distant to watch.
And chore time was a highlight too as Aunt Amanda would laugh,and sing along,and taught me how to skip and we just had a grand time out in the barn,where the cows were milked by hand,its was a wonderful fun place to be.all the chores was done by hand, so there was plenty of time to hear all the morning sounds.
The times have changed a lot in my thirty some years.Many modern things that we have today were not available. And the Amish especially avoided these things. the house my parents lived in had no sofa, recliners carpeting, or coffee table. it had no pictures on the wall or light switches. The only furniture was a kitchen table with chairs and a wooden bench without a back.and a cabinet where the flour and sugar was stored in the top three doors along with the other spices,the baking pans were kept in the bottom doors then it had a granite counter top that you could pull out, where many pie crusts have been rolled out and bread dough was mixed together.the wall would of had a calender and a wall clock. The kitchen had a upright free standing cabinet with a recessed counter lined with stainless steel sheet metal called a dry sink, because it had no drain. A person had to dip the dish water out.the water came from a stainless steel bucket that was filled from a hand pump outside the house. None of the rooms had any but the most essential furniture.And there was no bathroom.The much trod path to the out house was laid with gravel to keep from wearing a rut in the dirt. No soft bathroom tissue either;(except for when church was held at our house.) the Sears and Roebuck catalog had to suffice, but as a little girl it was a lot of fun to sit there looking at those beautiful dolls and dishes,was a good spot to hang out in, when it was time to do the dishes, there was just nothing like desperately needing to go at that time,Mom used to call it the dish washing trots.But one time I went out there and a big black snake was hiding in there ,and I ran for Daddy to come and kill it, and ever since that day I check every corner to make sure it safe to go in. But to this day the out house is a great place to relax, probably because its far enough away you don't hear much else thats going on. neither can anyone hear me.
My Grandparents names were Mahlon an Emma Sommers with aunt Amanda still living at home. Grandpa had a woodworking shop,And I just loved to go out and watch him the smell of sawdust reminds me of him to this day. but because of the danger of the wood saw he always had me sitting at a safe distant to watch.
And chore time was a highlight too as Aunt Amanda would laugh,and sing along,and taught me how to skip and we just had a grand time out in the barn,where the cows were milked by hand,its was a wonderful fun place to be.all the chores was done by hand, so there was plenty of time to hear all the morning sounds.
The times have changed a lot in my thirty some years.Many modern things that we have today were not available. And the Amish especially avoided these things. the house my parents lived in had no sofa, recliners carpeting, or coffee table. it had no pictures on the wall or light switches. The only furniture was a kitchen table with chairs and a wooden bench without a back.and a cabinet where the flour and sugar was stored in the top three doors along with the other spices,the baking pans were kept in the bottom doors then it had a granite counter top that you could pull out, where many pie crusts have been rolled out and bread dough was mixed together.the wall would of had a calender and a wall clock. The kitchen had a upright free standing cabinet with a recessed counter lined with stainless steel sheet metal called a dry sink, because it had no drain. A person had to dip the dish water out.the water came from a stainless steel bucket that was filled from a hand pump outside the house. None of the rooms had any but the most essential furniture.And there was no bathroom.The much trod path to the out house was laid with gravel to keep from wearing a rut in the dirt. No soft bathroom tissue either;(except for when church was held at our house.) the Sears and Roebuck catalog had to suffice, but as a little girl it was a lot of fun to sit there looking at those beautiful dolls and dishes,was a good spot to hang out in, when it was time to do the dishes, there was just nothing like desperately needing to go at that time,Mom used to call it the dish washing trots.But one time I went out there and a big black snake was hiding in there ,and I ran for Daddy to come and kill it, and ever since that day I check every corner to make sure it safe to go in. But to this day the out house is a great place to relax, probably because its far enough away you don't hear much else thats going on. neither can anyone hear me.
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