Rosemary Mathews
I don't remember any leisure time with my family at the Olsen home in Paradise. My Dad worked so hard during the summer. The only thing I remember him doing was reading around the kitchen table occasionally when it was dark and he couldn't work any more. In the winter he read quite a bit, always magazines which were about farming. He also worked on paying bills. Every night, rain or shine, he watched TV at 10 pm when the news came on. He was especially interested in the weather. He listened to the Farming and Livestock reports on the radio station KVNU and to Paul Harvey's "and now the rest of the Story'' at noon while eating his meat and potatoes (That was dinner on the farm.) He would turn off the radio once the news was over. Arlynn would like to listen to music. He had no interest whatsoever in listening to pop music.
We did occasionally visit long lost relatives who lived in Cache Valley. I would go along with my parents and be soooo bored. But I never complained. I wish so much that I could remember the people we visited. I only had one gramma and we did visit her. I think my Dad tried to visit his Olsen and Oldham Uncles and Aunts. They were always older and seemed lonely. My Dad had a tender heart that way.
I only remember taking one vacation with my family. We went to California. Dixie, Alyce, Lloyd, and the Welches--Harry and Viola. We went to Knox Berry Farm (Disneyland wasn't around then). We stayed with the Mildren and Vernal Norman family in Orange County. I remember the long drive and falling asleep on the shoulder of one of the Welches. There were 6 of us. It was crowded for such a long trip. On the way back we stayed at a motel in Vegas. No freeway at the time. Sometimes I think it may have been on the old Boulder Highway that still exists in Vegas. We travel it occasionally when we are at Becky's house in Henderson. Dad and Mom traveled a bit during the winter. They enjoyed the Farm Bureau Conventions. Alyce and Lloyd traveled to Florida and Cuba to a Farm Bureau Convention in 1956. My Mom was struggling with the first signs of cancer. She didn't know what it was at the time. She died the next May 7, 1957. Lloyd and Arlynn attended Farm Bureau Conventions during their years together.
Chores I didn't like
I had a lot of chores. Especially after Mother died. I worked some in the house in 1957, but mostly I helped my Dad outside. I did a variety of things, like moving sprinkling pipes, driving the truck while hay was hauled, mowing the lawn, cleaning eggs, rolling hay bales, etc. I learned to drive a jeep when I was about 11. That made up for some of the work I had to do. I also had a horse, Dixie, which I loved to ride. I found comfort in that horse, even though she bit me once and stepped on my foot another time. I suppose the chores I disliked the most were (1) shoveling wheat and barley from the back of our large hay truck into the large container that held the end of the auger. The auger would then carry the grain up into the silos or grain bins. That work was so itchy, dirty and hot. The grain heads would fasten to my clothes and I would be miserable. (2) moving the sprinkling pipes was a big job. I think Daddy moved them in the morning and it was my job to move them in the evening. Dad would use a tool and grab the sprinkling pipe in the middle to move it to its new location in the field. I would have to take one end and then the other. The problem was when the field had already been harvested, left in the field were sharp, stick-like projections that would scratch and dig into my ankles. That was pretty miserable. (3)cleaning eggs was no fun. I wacked an egg or too and it went mushy in my hand and ran to the floor. One time I found it was easier to simply pull the loose rug over it than to clean the egg up. (Sorry, Grandma Dunn.) Dad always gathered the eggs. I was afraid the chickens would peck me.
No comments:
Post a Comment