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

Day 119, "Every picture has a story"

Oh my goodness what a picture of so so many memories.  I do not know when Dad took this picture but I am guessing it was in the 70s.  Some notes about it:

• The small building was where Dad did his welding etc.  That came onto the farm maybe in the late 50s or early 60s.
• The Ford tractor, well one could write a book about it.  The mower attached to the drawbar did all the cutting of our hay.  The scoop attached to the drawbar was used for MANY things.  That was what I used to get sand from the lakeshore for my golf putting surface.  That is what we would scoop up manure and dump it on Mom's garden.  It pulled the swather which was used to cut all the grain.  When we dragged summer fallow fields we used the Ford.  It ALWAYS pulled the rock wagon.  We attached the rake behind it and made windrows in the hay field.  It was perhaps the most used items on the farm.  It also was used to haul Ronald to Geneseo in the snow storm so he could get to Lidgerwood for school.  
• The yard light was put in the early 50s.  It watched many a hide and seek games at night when Halvor's came over to visit.  The one night Joan, Dave and I were home when we saw a car slowly drive up the hill from the south.  We turned on the yard light and they slowly drove past.  Who knows, maybe they were looking for free gas.  WE were scared as we peeked out the window and watched the car go slowly to the north.  It also produced a wonder land kind of scene when it was turned on after a snowfall.
• The granary was, as one can see, one dilapidated building but was used for so many things.  Do you think it could have used a roof job?  As one entered the front door and went to your right that was where we would keep those little chicks when they were delivered.  If you went straight ahead after entering you would come to several 55 gallon barrels that contained fuel for our living room stove.  Way back in time you would have found coal that we burned in the kitchen cook stove.  The building sat on the ground and you could stoop down and look under the floor from front to back.  There was where feral cats would come at night looking for babies that they would kill.  It was in that setting that Dad was kind of at his best.  When we would hear the cat with its howl of some sort Dad would grab his deer rifle and head out in the dark.  When he located the stringer there the cat was in he would show a light and that would be the end of the feral cat.  I don't remember that happening a lot but I do remember it being kind of a scary thing.  I remember thinking Dad was so smart and so driven to take care of those wild feral cats.  
• Just behind the granary were the steel bins and then the chicken house.  To the left in the back was the corn crib. Beyond that was the fence and the cow pasture which went south to the road which went east and west.  On that road was a bridge which welcomed the creek to our farm.   Just north of our buildings was another bridge where the creek said good-bye to the farm.

We are enjoying rain today.  The courts are very wet and it looks like it will rain off and on until mid afternoon.  We have not postponed our match yet but I think it is only a matter of time before I call the other team.  Making up matches is not the most fun things as our courts are so busy and then players are not always available as well.  Regardless we will see what happens but my money is on "no tennis today".

It may be a great day for me to finish reading a book and then get some paper work done on 2018 taxes.  I already finished my FP but I just may put another pot on and relax for the day.