Part 11 (2/2)

Despite all the work, we boys had some time off for fun and adventure There were times after rains when it was too wet to plow But then there ht have to build fence or s that kept bobbing up to be done If and e got all those things done, and then if it was still too wet to plow or hoe weeds, then we had some time off for ourselves Also on Saturday afternoons we took ti which just had to be done

We always had Sundays off for rest and play, but never for work of any kind, that is, hich was of anycows and feeding the livestock The question of work came up one Sunday afternoon e put soo watch an airplane at Laarded as play since it involved only recreation and had nothing to do hich could in any way produce anything of value Sunday was a day for going to church, resting, visiting friends, playing ga

Now, if we boys wanted to go out into the pasture and kill a snake or tith sticks, that was okay And if we could get a rabbit without a gun, that was all right too But, no guns on Sundays When a rabbit ran into a prairie dog hole, we could twist him out with a barbed wire That was okay on Sunday

We would run a barbed wire down into the hole and twist it bymore than the wire itself bent in the shape of a small crank As the wire revolved over and over down in the hole, it would get the barbs entangled in the rabbit's fur and we could pull hi”

The idea of sin being connected with shooting a gun on Sunday had probably been handed down froa, therefore it ork, and as not to be done on Sunday

Despite the dry weather that seemed to threaten our very existence, we used water froarden was like an oasis in a dust bowl And then, one day we received a bit of news that was like an oasis of good news in our desert of bad news

Uncle Robert got word to us that Old Scotch had returned ho the car ready immediately and went after him I think maybe Joel ith Papa

A fa on the Exuht be our dog, but he was not sure He said it looked as though the dog had traveled a long, long way The first thing Old Scotch did was lie down in the yard and rest Then he chased all the chickens out of the yard as he had done many times before Next he went into the house and slowly looked through all the roo no one he knew, he went back out into the yard to rest again

Then Mr Bristow phoned Robert Johnson to see if heRobert drove over in his Buick Old Scotch met him way down the road and leaped for joy beside the car all the way back to the house He had finally found new hope The Buick h Robert was not hohbor

When Robert got out of his car, Old Scotch leaped up into the front seat, sat down and put his paws on the steering wheel

When Robert saw him do that, he turned to Mr Bristow and said, ”That's their dog all right”

We had no telephone on our farm on the plains And ere ten ot word to us about Old Scotch, but Papa lost no ti hiht the dog home he was covered with lice, there were sores on his body, some of his beautiful coat had fallen away and his feet were sore froht, was poor and half starved

We believe that soon Gypsies cahbors had a low opinion of thes we ever saw

Anyere lad to have Old Scotch back with us and we soon had hi as ever And he was right there with us all the rest of his life

Now that we had our dog back ho the realities of dry weather and sandstorms One day there came a sandstorm from the southwest, as usual We had many sandstorms but this one was not just one of the ordinary ones This was an extra special-the granddaddy of all sandstorot so dark in the schoolhouse we couldn't see to read We could only sit and talk or play games You could clean the dust from the top of your desk, and two er in the new dust

When school was out at four o'clock in the afternoon, it was so dark the teacher was afraid some of us couldn't make it home She held us there until our parents ca Everyone drove with their lights on, not to see the road but to see each other

We couldn't see the sunset-couldn't even see where the sun was supposed to set We didn't believe there were any clouds, only sand and dust But we really couldn't tell Anyway, dark caht there was so much sand and dust in the air in our kitchen that we ate supper with the tablecloth still spread over the table, over the food, and over the plates ere eating out of We held the cloth up with one hand to shelter our plates while we reached under the cloth with the other hand to bring food fro the afternoon, sand blinded the rabbits and they couldn't find their way to their burrows Jackrabbits don't usually burrow, but cottontails always do when they need shelter This time it was different They needed shelter but couldn't find it This time they all sat behind bushes with their tails turned to the wind and sand

For hours the sand didn't let up About ten o'clock that night the wind shi+fted around to the west, a little while later, to the north, and then to the northeast It still didn't slow up Each tied directions, it stirred up more sand

As the wind shi+fted, so did the rabbits Theybehind the bushes from the sand, and with their tails still ard

When the wind caan to snow The teht and many rabbits froze to death and were buried under the snow

For a week or two after that stor they were already dead They were still sitting under bushes and looking very much like live rabbits We continued to shoot dead rabbits until they were all eaten by coyotes and buzzards