CARMEN LEE--LIFE IS NOT A VACATION, IT IS A JOURNEY

Day 90, "Every picture has a story"

Corn was the last and most fun crop to harvest.  No dust, cool days, and it was fun to see the cows forage in the field for dropped corn cobs after harvest.  The bottom picture is of a corn field that has been planted by checking.  I do not know how many times Dad did that but I know he planted that way at least once.  It was a beautiful sight when done right.  WHY?  Well when you planted corn by checking it you could cultivate three different ways.  You could go up and down, cross ways and at a 90 degree angle.  It would be so much fun to have a picture from the air but I have not been able to find one.  We used our wagon to pull behind the corn picker which was mounted on the "M" tractor.  We would then pull the wagon home and load the corn into the corn crib.  The corn crib was built on long rows of cement that were probably about 2/3 feet tall.  The structure itself was slated so air would keep the corn dry or dry it out.  Of course today corn is shelled and then if the moisture is too high it is put in a bin that blows air through it.  I guess way way back then we certainly did things, in today's terms, the old fashion way but it worked.  We would then shell the corn and sell it with the corn cobs used for fuel in Mom's cook stove.  

I do not know when the top picture was taken but "for sure" it was in the early 50s.  I can tell because of my age but also there are electrical poles and I know REA came in after the 40s.  I do remember it was a BIG thing when we got a yard light installed in our yard.  

How was checking done?  There was a barb wire that was attached to the planter and the wire stretched from one end of the field to the other.  As the barbs passed through a device on the planter a kernel of corn was put in the ground.  So as Dad drove from one end of the field to the other the barbs would trip, trip, trip and put the corn in perfect rows.  

I am guessing Dad did not check plant his corn very many times.  I remember one year put put pumpkin seeds and squash seeds in the corn planter.  Fall came around and we picked pumpkins and squash out of the corn field.  I do think we actually ate field corn before sweet corn came on the scene.  When I think about and write about our farming methods I stop and think about how much farming has changed.  I say that but really I think Dad's way of doing things back then were perhaps a bit old fashion even for that time.

I have to think of something to do that can change my life.  Last night I was done done at 8:30 and went to bed BUT then guess what?  I was up at 4:20.  Not what I would like.

Here we are starting another January week.  Important items on the schedule is first, Terry has an appointment to find out what her MRI showed.  That happens on Wednesday AM.  As for me I play a tennis match Tuesday on a 70+ team and then my own team plays on Wednesday.  We have our first villa pool party Thursday and we will be doing one of our turkeys for that.  We need to see if it has to be brought out today for thawing.  It has been in the fridge since Friday but at 20 pounds it may need to sit out for some time to get the thawing going.

3 years and gone

I had no idea that over the next 9 years I would spend the equivalent of one and a half years of 40  hour work weeks on this BIG yellow and that did not include sporting trips up to 100 miles away!

It was September 4th of 1956.  It had been a long fun summer and I did not want to see it end for many reasons.  The most important was today was the coming of the big yellow bus.  Way back in May, the 24th to be sure, we said good-bye to Wood Lake School.  The day would forever be in my memory.  We had arrived at school a bit early as there was so much excitement in the air.  Joan, Dave and I had almost run the mile and a half to school that morning.  School was over for the summer and NO work today.  After some fun games at school we would walk to Lake Tewaukon for our end of the school year picnic.  I knew Mom would be bringing potato salad and I had in my mind that I HAD to get food before it was gone!  Dave and I had biked up to the lake the night before to scout out where we could set up the ball field as the teacher had promised we could play a ball game.  We had decided that the ball field should be to the east as you came into the picnic area of the lake.  There was a hill but we could deal with that.  I even thought that maybe if I hit a ball over the hill it would roll and roll and I could round the bases for a home run.
BUT all that had happened months ago.  Today the dreaded BIG YELLOW bus was going to be coming from Ricky's place north of our farm.  Dad had said it would pick us up about 7:10 and then it was going to be a long long trip to Cayuga School that I knew nothing about.  For the last 3 years I had 1classmate and just last year, 1955/56 there had been 12 kids in school for the 8 grades.  Dad said it just was too expensive to have a school with so few kids.  I could not understand that but I knew my life, as I had known it, was forever changed.  At 7:00 Mom saw us out the door to walk the 90 yards to the road where we stood my the mailbox that had this sign on top, "LAWRENCE H LEE. For sure we knew where we came from but where we were going and what would it be like we knew not.  About the time we got to the mailbox we could see through the trees a cloud of dust on the road, it had to be big yellow.  The dust settled as it stopped to pick up Ricky and then here it came, down the road, over the bridge and pulled up to us with a screeching stop.  Ray, I found out his name later, opened the door and invited us into a whole new world.  Dave and I made sure we sat together and right behind Ricky.  I guess familiarity was comfort.  I turned my head towards our house as we descended our hill going south and thought, "I really want to walk to school again".  I then thought never again will I kick stones or throw them or try to catch a snake on my way to school.
As we approached Cayuga about an hour and a half later: A whole new story for another day!