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Reminisces 2

Posted on August 5, 2015August 4, 2015

Recently we’ve just all gone separate ways, Brandon is often fixing fence on the mountain, or putting out salt and mineral.  Daniel is cutting hay.  Vernon is repairing things and trying to combine the oats with a too-old swather.  I’m trying to finish up painting my house.  I started it last summer, then somehow didn’t manage to do the hand painting around the soffits and windows.  Plus there’s the scraping and caulking and re-painting of windows to do still…

ugh.

Big Job and Not Much Fun.

Victoria and the boys are here, trying to get in some last bit of “country time” before school starts!  Which means I also have to go back to work soon.  I’m glad to have my job, but I haven’t gotten near enough done this summer.  How does that happen?

****

I’ll continue with Reminisces by James E. Greet (this is NOT a published book, just a folder of stories passed down)

“Dad took his team and log chain and dragged in a nice big flat stone to put in front of our cabin door.  No doubt that stone is still there.  Dad also took his team and wagon and went around to the canyon and cut lots of evergreen boughs to put on the roof of our cabin just before putting on the dirt.  Dad hauled the dirt just a stone’s throw from the cabin.  He remarked several times later that he had been really generous with the dirt.  It was a good job, for that roof stayed amazingly straight years after other similar roofs had fallen in.

Dad spaded up a garden spot about twenty foot square just behind the cabin for mom.  Dad built a stockade type of fence around it from native material.

Mom’s folks came by one day, and her father dug a little ditch to take water from the small brook that ran past the cabin to irrigate the garden.  Mom planted peas, lettuce, radishes, and such that would mature in a short time.

Dad brought up two milk cows from the ranch, so we could have milk and cream and cottage cheese.  To make it more like home, dad put  up our wall tent just across the brook, and put our small flock of chickens in there, so mom would have fresh eggs to use and also a young fryer now and then.

We enjoyed all the extras we had, although we didn’t have any modern conveniences.  Of course, mom had a wash board to do the family washing on, along with a couple of tubs and a boiler.  She didn’t need to be concerned about a physical fitness program, or reducing diets, or how to get a good night’s sleep!”

****

(Obviously, I should pitch my new washer and dryer and spend more time in my garden… NO, THANKS!)

 

 

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7 thoughts on “Reminisces 2”

  1. Marie says:
    August 6, 2015 at 5:23 PM

    Jamie was one of my favorite people when I was growing up. He always had a smile on his face and was such a good friend.

    Reply
  2. ginger says:
    August 6, 2015 at 6:28 AM

    Thanks for sharing. The memories are precious.

    Reply
  3. Marilyn says:
    August 6, 2015 at 6:08 AM

    THANK YOU for posting more of this wonderful old diary. It is very interesting, especially to learn that he put “evergreen boughs on the roof before the dirt” (red dirt, of course!). Certainly no physical fitness progam needed in those days. And I think you do plenty in one day!!

    Reply
  4. Della says:
    August 5, 2015 at 3:32 PM

    I really love glimpses into the past at how things were. My Mom has kept diaries from the time she and Dad got married over 60 years ago. I think they will provide a tremendous family history in time to come.

    Reply
  5. KJ says:
    August 5, 2015 at 1:16 PM

    Why not add some of this to the Ten Sleep Tribute? People crave it and it is SO fasinating.

    Reply
  6. Holly says:
    August 5, 2015 at 9:41 AM

    These remembrances are such a treasure for your family, and for those of us you share them with.

    Reply
  7. Irmgard says:
    August 5, 2015 at 8:53 AM

    *You* are perfectly entitled to say “NO THANKS” – after all, the poor woman with the “wash board to do the family(!!) washing on” didn’t turn in late at night, dead tired, and still had to draw up a fun and interesting blog post, complete with pictures and/or videos… Ha! 🙂 When it says “teams”, what do I have to imagine: two horses, mules, donkeys, steers? Do you know? I bet the “stockade type of fence” looked real nice. Anyway, chapeau to Mr. James E. Greet for his Reminisces, and to his descendants for treasuring it. Irreplaceable. And thanks to you for quoting from it!

    Reply

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Carol, Wyoming rancher

Since 2008, I’ve kept this photographic journal of life on our working Wyoming ranch.  I share ranch work, my family, crafts and DIY, my English Shepherds, Bravo and Indy, and a love for this land.  Enjoy this red dirt country!

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