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Run
Sheep Run
Many an evening in the summer time all the neighborhood young people would get together and play "Run Sheep Run". Of course I was the youngest. But it was a lot of fun. Always the last one chosen. A couple of the boys would be captains and they chose who they wanted on their side. One group would go off and try to hide the other group had to find them. Bronsema’s yard was the home base. But the group who hid would often try & get closer to home base. The group who came in last would be the losers. We would run thru the farms along the river, imagine we would run about 5 miles an evening. (does anyone remember playing this game in Lynden, or being taught how to play it by Grandma?) Kicking Cow One time at milking time, I had milked the cow I was suppose to milk, I went to the Bronsemas. I went to the barn and there Bill was milking his cow so I took a bucket and was going to help him. I sat at the opposite side of the cow, so you can guess what happened that cow started to kick and I ran out of there, went home. I never did find out what Bill’s dad said to him. I was scared. (can anyone elaborate on the cow bucket kicking story and explain what about this scared Grandma?) California In the spring of 1926 Marie Vande Kamp and I decided to go to California. My cousin Mae Erkes and Marie Van Diest were already there. Our first stop was Modesto, my mother's cousin lived there. Then we went on to Santa Ana where Mae & Marie were. We got work there doing house work but we had a good time. Then Marie & I went back to Modesto and we got work candling eggs. Marie soon left for Iowa & S. Dakota where she met her husband. I stayed in Modesto, had to earn enuf money to get home. While there I made friends, attended a Baptist Church and had many nice times. Was anxious to go home so went home. (a description of the means of travel to California, back in 1926, would have been interesting) Egg Candling I worked as an egg candler. Starting wage was $15 a week, then after a certain time got $16.50 a week, then $18 a week. That was the highest. I gave my mother all my checks until I was 21 then I gave her $10 a week and saved the rest. All the girls who worked gave their money to their parents. Unheard of now. (no comment) House Moving Day After a big flood our house had to be moved in a hurry. The river was taking the land in big chunks. The moving was interesting to me a youngster of about 7. Was a little different than they do now. It was moved over logs that they lined up. The house was raised with large jacks and skids put under the house, then it was lowered onto the logs. A team of horses pulled the house and it rolled over the logs. Then more logs were added and the house was finally moved to its new location. Every thing stayed in the house, even my mother. It did not take the river long to take all the place where the house stood. Later wing dams were built to prevent the cutting away of the land, they are still there. I remember walking up the river seeing Dan Smith’s chicken house, half of it hanging over the river. It went down the river. A bridge also went down the river. (Does anyone have photos of house moving day?) The Log Jam Down the river a block or two a log jam formed, Bill Bronsema and I had so much fun running over the logs, it was dangerous. If either of us had slipped off a log I don’t think we could have been able to get out. It was all water under the logs, probably would of hit our heads on the logs. Manys the times I would just look across the river, that river meant something to me. (When grandma was in her last few hours, before the final dose of morphine from which she never woke up, she talked about the log jam briefly and then she kept calling out for "Bill" until the end, about once every 8 or 10 minutes. At the time I thought it was odd that she wasn't calling out Grandpa's name, but Bill was from much earlier in her childhood and maybe that's where her mind had gone - or she was imagining that he'd fallen through the logs as she'd always feared would happen when she reflected on the story...)
The Pig & I We had a large Fruit orchard, my father build a board fence around it and put the pigs in there. There was one red gravenstein apple tree, the apples were so good I would climb over the fence and get an apple, but one of the pigs did not like me, he always came after me so I ran back to fence, got over it before Mr. Pig got me. One time I ventured to far in and here came Mr. Pig, I knew I could not make the fence so I climbed on the Pig’s sty, it did not smell to good up there. There I sat and finally Mr. Pig wandered away, then I made for fence. Out of the corner of his eye he must of seen me, for here he came but I made for the fence and we glared at each other. Thus ends these recollections from Grandma Slotemaker, with a pig in a sty. These recollections are an interesting reflection on another time, a simpler time...for another look at the world of Grandma Slotemaker be sure to read Grandma's Interview...
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