Driving Dad's Old Truck

I don't know what the year was for this truck, perhaps if Ron was still alive he would have known. I just know that it was old.

It badly needed repairs. The floor gear shift every so often would stick and to get it out of gear one had to open the hood and manually move the linkage to take it out of gear. Now you had to stand at a certain place while you are performing this. You did not want to be standing any place else, it would have been disastrous. Remember you are moving the linkage around on the gear shift, and if you had forgotten to shut the truck off before you did this, you just might not know where you're going to end up.      

The truck didn't look quit like this one, it was a dull red and battered up, but it was within this year range. Not only was the gear shift constantly sticking at the most unopportunistic time, the windshield wipers never worked. Not as long as I drove that red truck.

My Mom would send me to get the mail. The nearest post office to our home was in Wood Bay, a small hamlet with a small store, post office and an elevator. That's it, oh yes, there was the post masters house and I also think there was a house for the guy at the elevator also. Somewhere in all these books I have there is some information about Wood Bay. 

I would start by checking to see if the gear shift would decide to work that day. If it did I was in luck. After checking that out, I would get into the cab, depress the clutch and turn the key. That is after making sure the truck is not in gear. It's not unusual for the truck to start running away because one forgot to check. Okay, now you turn the key on and press the starter with your foot. Yup it's on the floor, a metal thing a m-jig that sits about (1 ½) one inches tall and about one inch wide. There was also a similar metal thing on the floor to change the lights from bright to dim; you had to make sure you didn’t get them mixed up.

The engine is turning over, it’s got an old battery also; and after a few hisses and burps and farts, it starts. Believe it or not, it did run smoothly. Dad may not have kept the body of that old truck fixed but he did believe in trying to keep the motors running half decently.  Okay, ready to go, Push the clutch to the floor, and then put the truck in gear, slowly let the clutch out. I said slowly, because if you didn’t do that the truck would stall. Cranky old thing. Once you have the truck starting off smoothly, completely let the clutch out slowly until it is all the way out. Now your in business you might think. NO, you’re not finished yet. Remember this is a floor stick shift and it is not really at all like the newer vehicles that have a floor stick shift. I have driven both.

There is a first second, third and drive and when you start out it’s in first. Now is when that old truck is going to behave or not. The question is can I get it out of first or will it stick again. Okay, so it behaved this time, you press the gas petal and let the truck reach a certain speed before shifting it into second, the same with third and when you finally put it into the driving gear, make sure it’s not the reverse one you put it into.  Third gear was found up and to the left, second gear was to the up and to the right, drive was found lower and to the right and reverse was lower and to the left. And then to top things off, every so often the gears would decide they wouldn’t work and you had to be careful when you put it back into gear. Maybe if you’re lucky and with only a small bit of grinding and clashing of gears you can get the gear shift going again the way it should be going.

If everything goes well and you start down that earthen track to the post office, you pray that it won’t stall and that it wouldn’t rain. An old wiper was kept on the dash in case that happened as you would then have to manually reach around outside and use the wiper to take a swish at the windshield.  Nine times out of ten, I would make it safely there and back.

After I married and moved away from home, we borrowed the truck to haul water, as there was no running water at that time in Elgin. By this time the tires were also going for broke and we didn’t have the money to buy any for that dear old truck. Just think about the weight of a 500 gallon water tank in the back of that truck alone would be lowering the tires, but add to that a full tank of water and you had fun, especially when one tire decides to go completely flat. Ron started to invest in some good used tires and that helped quite a bit in getting water. Eventually Dad wanted his truck back, and we struggled on with paying someone to haul water for us. We didn’t drink that water; we hauled pails of water from the church that was just across the street.

To get back to this truck of my Father’s truck. He drove it for this and that around the farm for quite a few years after that. It just wouldn’t quit it was a tough old truck. To top it off, he eventually sold and made some money on it. How can you beat that.

Often at times, I sit and think about that truck, how it drove, where I went in it, (Mom and Dad wouldn’t let us drive the car.) to get the mail, maybe some groceries, and just about every Saturday, I would head out in the truck to do some housecleaning for someone.  That little old red half ton does have many memories attached to it.

                              

               

                  

   

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

DID YOU KNOW???

Elgin is widely known as the town that had a feast of geese when a flock of them dropped from the sky. Now there is nothing magical about it.

Graham Robertson who was a one time resident recalls eating one of those birds. As the story goes it happened in April 22 of 1932 or 1933, depending on who story it is had a flock of lesser Snow Geese and some Blue Geese flying over head at about 11:20 a.m.

As it so happened there was a severe thunderstorm over head at the same time the geese were flying. There were 52 of the geese instantly killed with an electrical storm, thereby raining geese down on the inhabitants of Elgin. Just think of all the goose grease there was.

A good portion of the flock fell to the ground, but some regained consciousness and flew off but in the end there were 52 geese lying dead on the street ready for the picking. Some had exploded from the shock and others had their insides broken and some were not. 

There had been a high temperature the day before and on April 22 low strato-cumulus clouds merging to nimbus were recorded and local electrical disturbances occurred throughout the west 

The RCMP declared that some of the geese were fit to eat and were distributed amongst the poor. All except one, and I wonder where that went.

Preparing Your Income Tax

Need A Hand To Prepare Your Tax Return?

This information comes from the Federal tax web site.

If you are unable to prepare your income tax and benefit return yourself, the CVITP may be able to help you.  The CVITP assists eligible taxpayers who have low income, and simple non-complex tax situations.

Eligibility Criteria

These maximum income levels should serve as a guideline only.

Taxpayer status                                  Family Income
Single                                                    up to $25,000
Couple                                                  up to $35,000
One Adult with child                           up to $30,000

Volunteers for the CVITP DO NOT prepare tax returns for complex situations. Eligible taxpayers normally served by the CVITP include:

• Aboriginal people
• Low-income individuals and social assistance recipients
• Newcomers to Canada
• Seniors
• Students

Check out http://www.cra-arc-gc.ca/ for further information on this.

How to Evict a Cat

It all began one fall day while I was away from home. I usually leave a window open a bit so that my cat can escape if she needs to. However, it also let's others in.

At first there were only subtle signs but as the days went bye those signs began to get more and more. There was no way that my cat could eat as much food as what was disappearing from her dish. I had a strange animal in the house. How do I get this animal out of my house. I crossed my fingers and hoped that it was a stray cat and not any other animal. In time this proved correct.

I have a dilemma, How do I go about getting this animal from the basement. The basement door is also the pantry door and this is situated directly behind the bedroom and beside the living room. I had to figure out how to do this without scaring the cat so it won't come up out of the basement while I was there.

Okay, I put my thinking cap on, there are a few things I could try. The first one was to hide behind the cellar or pantry door. After a few nights of standing as still as I possibly could I crossed that off the list. The cat, by this time I knew for certain it was a cat, would sit at the top of the stairs but come no further and if I moved, down it would go. There were lots of nooks and crannies to hide in. The basement was not the full size of the house so it could slip into the farthest reaches of under the house.

Next I thought of starving it, but then it would stink up the whole house, no that was no good. Maybe a few pellets from the pellet gun would scare it, nope it didn't. Time for the big guns so to speak. I went in search of one of those animal cages that you use to catch animals in. It however, smelled of skunk. In went the food and water and periodically I would set it in different places to try and entice the cat. It was smart, I need to tell you that. Either it knew it was a trap or it didn't like the skunk smell. It may have entered the cage, signs of the food had been eaten. Good grief, it knew enough not to step on the plate to spring the door down encaging it.

I'm not through yet. My cat, called Chrissy, had her food sitting beside the washing machine which was not that far from the pantry door. I moved her food and water to the furthest reach of the house that I could find. I started waiting up at night, but that slippery little devil outwitted me everytime. Finally one night I managed to tiptoe out from the bedroom to catch it at the food dish. That cat litterly flew across the living room into the kitchen and down the steps to the basement before I could even get to the kitchen door. I guess I moved to slow. After a few tries of this I lay in bed and thought and thought to myself that that cat was not going to get the best of me. 

It dawned on me one night that if I drilled a hole in the bedroom wall I could probably put a string through it and tie it to the cellar door. Good try so far. After finding a way to make the hole and get the string through the hole, I discovered that cellar door would not close tight unless I really pushed it. Hmm, now what? Okay that can be fixed, all I had to do was to trim a little off the bottom of door and that is what I did.  Now the door closed quietly and softly.  With all the lights off in the house I couldn't see when the cat came up so I started leaving night lights on and moved the food to an area where I could see it from my bed.

No cat was going to out wit me. After waiting a short time, there it was, sneaking up to the food dish. As quietly and as gently as I could I pulled on the cord to shut the cellar door. It now had no escape route. It naturally tried to get into the basement and with that avenue shut off it then tore through the house to end up under the bed. I opened both the doors to the outside and after a few swats with the broom, out the door it escaped. I guess Chrissy will now have to take her chances being cooped up indoors.

Anyone want to help clean up the mess in the basement?

Join Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know that some of you are reading my blogs, but you are not joining in by commenting or asking me questions about what I have written, please do so. I would love to read your comments. This way you could also tell me about what you would like to know.

October

I can't say that I have any favourite halloweens. Mother used to take us into town to gather our treats, but it was never exciting. We didn't have any costumes as such, we dressed with whatever we could find. I usually went into the ragbag as Mother called it and found something to wear. We were never allowed to go with anyone else while growing up, so I found myself not wanting to go with friends as I got older. It seemed like to much energy to move things around from where they were.  I always thought to myself, " Can the person we are doing this to able to put things back to the way they were?". In most cases the answer was "no". It became less and less "fun" as the years went past.

Another Year

The end of June is the end term of positions held by our Lions Club. I have ended up being Secretary for the club. In addition to that I am still Zone 8 Chair as well as the Constitution and Bylaws for the District.  A full schedule ahead of me. I now need to decide on when I am going to have three zone meetings and I need to visit 8 clubs, as that is part of the requirement for being zone chair.

Don't mistake this as me complaining, I am not. It is keeping me busy as I still have depressed periods, although they are less as time goes on. I decided the other day, that I had to find an insurance company to insure the mortgage on the house. By next January when I turn 70, I will have no insurance. Ron could not get insurance to cover the house mortgage as he had too many illness's to get any, so that left me to pay the mortgage. I am researching insurance agencies. The insurance company that covers loans and mortgages cuts insurance off at 70. Technically it's age 65 and I did raise heck over it because it's considered age discrimination. i am sure they know that too, but I didn't have the money to pursue it.

I have over the last how many years been bugging MTS about getting DSL here in Elgin. It's been to no avail. There is only dial up available from MTS. My house is surrounded by trees and other companies that I have approached have told me they could not get a signal because of the trees. Here's my bitch. If Bell can  come in and give me cable then why can the other companies not do so. What I have ended up doing was cancelling my dial up and eventually, will also cancel the other line I have in the house. I was given a laptop for Christmas and wanted access to the Internet with it, so I went to the wireless stick. I was only getting one bar on that. Okay, it sort of worked, but not good enough.  I was told I needed a booster, so I went and got one, to the tune of around $400.00 by the time I paid tax and such. Now the wireless stick works hot damn. The one thing my youngest  son warned me about was that I only had a limited number of megabits available for that.

I have been trying to figure out how long can stay on the Internet and still stay under their limited amount. I phoned MTS up and even they couldn't answer that. We are surrounded here by DSL but none here. When I phoned them up to complain once again, I was told it would cost a lot of money to hook us up. I told them that it was costing me a lot of unnecessary money by not hooking us up.  We can't seem to win. I think they would lose a  cash cow from this area if they did put DSL in. Right now they are losing money because everyone here is switching to other companies to get some better service for the Internet. 'nough said.

It's been a great summer, sort of,in between my depressed spells. Regardless, time and life carries on and so must I. I took a short trip down to De Smet this summer with my sister and her husband. It was enjoyable except for the back seats in Bob's new truck. That is another story.

Take care everyone untill we talk again.