Part 27 (2/2)

Anita was big enough to keep a fire going and to keep branding irons hot and to hand theh to help drive the cattle into the stanchion, hand the vaccinating needles toin more cattle froh with I was big enough to catch the cattle in the stanchion, vaccinate in the shoulder with one needle, in the hip with another, brand a Lazy-J on the left hip, cut off their horns, and work the little bull calves

We never fooled around with a chute because we found that cattle were reluctant to enter a chute That would be too slow and too much work Instead, we used a stanchion that was installed perh for the largest bull to go through and it closed sh to hold the smallest calf And it wasn't all that expensive It probably cost me 1 for second-hand lumber and 50 cents for a rope to pull the top ends of the bars together

It was easy to get the cows to go through the stanchion since it forh it every day Most any cow or calf would be glad to go from one pen to another, especially if there were some cows in the other pen

The system was fast, and by far the easiest I have ever worked with We three did the 80 cattle onebut finished a little late for dinner We sat down to a one-o'clock meal instead of a twelve-o'clock meal

I mentioned before that we so to drive the car But later on, I build an iron ”basket” at the back bumper of the car to carry the front wheels of the tractor Then I could drive the car and trail the tractor and the binder, and Ima could stay home One patch of feed was 50 miles away in Kent County Where the road was so sandy that the car couldn't pull the tractor and binder, I would crank the tractor motor and let the tractor push, with no driver on it And we learned that low air pressure in the auto tires would allow it to go most anywhere in sand We parked that Buick on top of nearly every sand hill in Carriker's big sand field

When the binder needed a repair job underneath, we threw a chain over the top of the binder and hooked one end to the frame and the other end to the tractor Just a little pull with the tractor would roll the binder over for easy access to the underside

By the end of World War II, our old coal oil cookstove was pretty well rusted out and was looking like a reject fro better In fact, she knew exactly what that soe She and I went to Staet a butane tank and how ot this information from the appliance dealer He could sell us the butane and tank, but we ht have to wait a year for a pero to the ration board and find out Now, I knee couldn't get a permit from the Stamford board, because that was in Jones County and we lived in Fisher County

The ration board was only a short distance away, so I went over to ask a question or two But the wonored my questions and, very undiplomatically, ordered me to, ”Sit over at that table and fill out this form”

I filled out the form and presented it to the not-so-friendly woman She looked it over, mumbled a feords, which I couldn't understand, placed another paper beforeI ht have to wait for the lady to answer a simple question or two but by this time I was afraid to ask I sure didn't want to ht never answer n, I lost no ti and I didn't much care I only hoped that she would answerall the forning all the papers and gave theave me a certificate which would allow an appliance dealer to sellsubject to confinement in a Federal Penal Institution

I went back and showed the certificate to the appliance dealer, and he was really surprised as he asked, ”How did you get that? I have custo a year for one and are still waiting Solad to pay you 100 for it”

I told hiave it toout the forms I told the truth all the way One question I had to ansas, ”Where do you live?”

My ansas, ”On a farm near Hamlin”

If it had asked, ”In which county do you live?” I would still be waiting for the certificate The lady and Hamlin were both in Jones County I lived in Fisher County

CHAPTER 19

TOUR PIKE'S PEAK, MOVED TO ARKANSAS, WENT TO COLLEGE

As you know, Frank was the oldest in our fa up, he ay fro away froe awhile, I believe it was Denton State But he didn't go very long I didn't knohether he quit because of a lack of finances or because of a lack of interest and drive I was the only other one of us who ever left home to work or run around- except Joel He went as far as Staoods store And later, of course, he had his portable skating rink and he took it from here to there Then he settled doith it in Broood

My working away from home never amounted to much However, I wouldn't take a pretty penny for the educational benefits I gained fro around It increased ave s It e places

In fact, I thought so h travel that I wanted us to travel a lot with our children But ere poor and couldn't travel first class, which would have pleased solad to travel second class or third class rather than not travel at all As is evident, I have roughed it much of my life Later, when I wanted to travel with our kids, I would have gotten a lot of pleasure fro out, and visiting the wild So failure because some of the fahing they had to go through with at times

For instance, we drove up Pike's Peak once in our Dodge Co with the car It was built capable of traveling across the Sahara Desert trouble-free It was Army surplus, four-wheel drive and as solid as they co the Peak, but this one didn't, although it was in the heat of summer It had an army canvas top and curtains to match But since it was beautiful weather, we had the curtains packed away under the back seat And although it was summertime at the foot of the mountain, it was not sue from sunshi+ne to snow and from snow to sleet quicker than perhaps anywhere else in these United States And the sky can pour out the abundance of her elements faster than is sometimes enjoyable to those upon whom she so recently spread her sunshi+ne And that is just what she did to us that day Her elee sleet The sleet was sort of a cross between pure white sleet and large, soft hail

Now, the road up Pike's Peak is, for the encies And all this sleet and ice falling suddenly out of the sky did create an e place, I in a puddle of snow and sleet and ice that had fallen into the front seat and had worked its way down to the back side of her lap

When we found a little place to pull over and stop, we put up the curtains But Ier than I had hoped it would The truth is, she carried a large portion of it, as well as a little bit of das And there, we found the same type of slush curb to curb four inches deep