It Never Fails

It Never Fails

 

Want to get rid of stuff in a hurray? Have a yard sale. Things will disappear faster than you can keep track of what you have. For every year that I have had a yard sale, items have walked off and out of the yard and never paid for. Wonder if I have the word sucker written on my forehead or something. It's not like if will break me, it's the audacity of some people who can't be honest at a nickel and dime yard sale.

 

Like, maybe they are poor and they can't afford a few cents? Or maybe they are just naturally light fingered? I really don't know. I have just finished sorting and repacking the items from my yard sale and found that a small box of greeting cards had disappeared and I know I did not sell them. These greeting cards ranged from the 1800's to early 1900. I have the pictures of those cards as I had scanned them for some reason on my computer. I certainly hope that person has a guilt complex every time they sell at least one of them, especially on line, I will be watching for them.

 

The Elgin and Area Lions had also planned a BBQ for the same weekend but when it was so miserable, the yard sale and the BBQ were cancelled. It all took place the following weekend and turned out to be a great day. Except for the person who was light fingered. I wonder if they thought it would not go unnoticed? Got news for them.

 

 

            

            I would defy anyone to try and learn to skate on an old pair of hockey skates that were too big for your feet. Since that was all we had to wear, even though those were old second hand skates, we succeeded in learning to skate in them.     

            Just past the barn was a slough that froze over every winter, and made a perfect spot for skating, or rather to learn to skate. Off we went wobbling our way through the barn yard and out into the pasture to the wonderful frozen patch of ice that was waiting for us. Or rather, for my siblings.  With a few swipes of the shovels that we had brought with us, a fair size patch of ice was cleared off.

            I hated the skates I had to use, maybe that was why I couldn't seem to stand up in them, never mind skating a few feet. I had a terrible time trying to keep my balance.I did keep trying, year and year until one day, when my older sister and I went to skate in the ditch across the road. When a dry year happens and there has been no water in the slough that we usually skating in the ditch was just fine, there was lots of ice and I sat on the shoulder and contemplated the fact that I could not seem to get the idea of keeping my balance while I skated.

            While thinking that, and deciding that I was going to go home, because I couldn't skate, I got up on my feet and skated across the ditch to the road. It wasn't until I had got to the other side that I realized what I had done. It's funny how our minds work.

            That Christmas, I got a brand new pair of skates, not the figure skates I wanted, but skates. At first, I was disappointed, but in time, I understood that I could never have  used figure skates with the picks. Years later, I bought a pair of skates with the picks, well those picks got to me every time and I found myself lying on the ice wondering why I put myself through it. Live and Learn. 

Those Were the days Among Many

`           We had to take turns doing the barn chores and looking after the chickens. Right after we got home from school, we had to put chop and hay in the mangers for the cattle, the pigs and fowl.  The horses, Dad looked after when he got home with them. He was always afraid that the horses were too big for us to look after. Those big gentle giants, were always eager to go, eager to please and ate a lot of food. Then over to the hen house, pick the nest of eggs and put them in to a pail or whatever we had in our hands to carry them. There was a certain way to get an egg while the hen was sitting on it. If you put your hand in from behind, you had to do it slowly, that old hen never blinked an eye. Try it from the front and your hand would be right smartly tattooed by her beak. The other thing you had to watch for was the old rooster, especially if the hen was nesting. He didn’t like anyone entering into his territory. Once the eggs were picked, then the pigs had to be fed, and they also got chop and at times grain and fresh water.

It was with fascination that I sat at my fathers knees and watched him strip the fur off the animals he had caught. With each animal that he worked on, he taught me more and more about how to take and preserve the fur from the animals.  To him those furs were money and there were certain ways to strip the furs off.

It was also with equal fascination that I watched him as he fixed the tires for the cars and equally with our bikes. It seemed that he could do anything he turned his mind to. I helped him load the manure boat and haul the manure away every day. Never ever would he let a day go buy that the animals stalls were cleaned of old manure and replaced with fresh fragrant straw. Rarely was hay used for bedding purpose, just straw and I learned how to do that also.

            I can remember the time Dad had decided to feed the pigs fish. He could scoop up the fish for free, pay not a cent for them. This was when there had been when the fish at Ninette were dying by the hundreds. Free food for the pigs. Right!!! Have you ever eaten pork meat that tasted like fish? Remember, there were two whole pigs that were slaughtered that fall, and we ended up eating, fishy meat. I’ll tell you, Dad never did that again.

It was such fun when the pigs or the cattle got “out”, that meant that the garden could get raided or the animals would end up on the road that ran past our yard. You can just forget about trying to make a pig go where you want it to go. Such nice language could be heard as we dashed about here and there after those four legged critters. It’s more cantankerous than a teenager when you try to make it do what you want. It takes three people to corral those pigs, but I have done it alone, after much fuss and bother. Now cattle on the other hand, are easier to drive. Those days when it was my turn to go and get the cows for milking, I had to walk a few miles. This I didn’t mind, far better than doing chores or house work.

I would find a pole or a straight stick from somewhere, call to the dog and off we went. Sometimes, I even went barefoot, through pastures and fields. I would stop along the way, to admire the flowers, to watch a gopher, to see if I could find a Killdeer nest. I would watch the flock of swans not far from me, or the geese and ducks as they landed on the field. It was nothing to see a garter snake slither past with the dog chasing it. He must have had a dislike for the snakes. . One must have bit him at one time or another Sometimes I could see a skunk or two in the distance, or a mole. At times, the hardest part of getting the cattle was trying to get them to come out of the slough they were standing it. Couldn’t blame them though, it must have been nice and cool standing belly deep in water. They seemed to know why I was there, and they slowly and reluctantly herded themselves towards the barn, a mile or so in the distance. I never rushed them, if I got back to soon, I would have to help finish the chores or go into the house to do housework which I hated with a passion.

Now, I was never the best milker. My mother was, she could milk three cows to my one and then she would have to “finish it” as she put it, to make sure that all the milk had been stripped from the udder of my cow. That was fine with me; I would then amble over to the separator and help it along as pail after pail of milk was strained through into the big bowl. It soon separated the milk and the cream, but Mother sure made sure that she got every drop of cream from the milk. She had the screw down so tight on it so that it would separate most or all of the cream.  The skim milk in the stores, tasted better than the skim milk that she put through that separator. I did not, however, like warm milk straight from the cow. I liked my milk cold and still do, although every once in a while I do heat up milk with some vanilla and sugar for a treat. Whole milk, even the 3% that is suppose to be called whole milk today, wasn’t too rich for me to drink. Now I find it far too rich to drink. Talking about milk and cream, we used to make our own butter and since Mom and I were the only ones that liked the buttermilk, we would have lots to enjoy. I still like buttermilk, but it sure tastes different to what I grew up with.

When we saw the churn sitting on the table, we tried to see how fast we could disappear out of the house. Never always worked though, I sometimes wondered if my mother had eyes on the back of her head. She would usually catch one of us and she would always call us by name without even looking to see who it was. You should have heard us moan and groan. It seemed to take forever to make that butter and as one had to turn the handle to make the paddle go; it became awful tiring turning it for what seemed like hours on end. But in the end, we had the sweetest butter you ever tasted. Then Mother would put it in a strainer and strained the entire liquid out and then put it in a butter box and form a brick. Some times she would mix butter and margarine and I wasn’t crazy on the taste.

            I used to love annoying the animals and my parents had no love lost on me when I did annoy them. Any treatment I got from the animals, my mother thought I well deserved, but heck, it was fun doing it!! The building in what my dad called his machine shop or tractor shed as it was called more often than not was just low enough for us to scramble up on the roof. It was easy to do so on this building as it was still made of the logs and mud. Every so often dad would stuff mud into the cracks, when it rained the ground was mud.  Anyway, getting off the track here, I hated the old gander that roamed freely where ever he wanted in the barn yard. I think he knew I didn’t care for him, as he would hiss at me when I got too close to him and his ladies. I would get pissed off with him, and hiss and honk right back and then I had to run and climb onto the tractor roof to escape him. After called for mom to come and help me, she would chase away the gander and then gave me a tongue lashing for disturbing the gander and her. 

I’d also do the same to the mean old rooster ever once in a while. It sure was fun while it lasted. Once in a while the Billy goat that mom had would chase us up to the roof top. There was no way any of us would come down until mom came and tied him up somewhere far away. The nanny was okay and it was funny watching how mother milked her. She milked that goat from behind. I often wondered what mom did with the milk, I never did find out.

            That’s all for tonight, couldn’t sleep so thought I would put it on paper before my mind forgot what it was I was thinking about. What do you remember growing up? I would love to hear from you.

 

 

Go Figure This.

Racoons and Roundworms

I wrote this piece for the Brandon Sun in 1999, and have been asked from time to time to repeat it.




Racoons may be cute and cuddly but they could be carrying a deadly roundworm inside of themselves. The large common roundworm, (baylisascaris procyonis) lives in the intestines of many of these animals.



Studies in the United States have shown that from 70% to 80% of the racoons checked were infected with this roundworm. The eggs form these roundworms are found in the feces of the racoon. It takes about thirty days for the eggs to develop into larvae. The young raccoon has probably become infected at an early age through their mothers body, or from the local environment of the den. The roundworm also uses intermediate hosts in their life cycle. Some of the common carriers include mice, squirrels, rabbits and birds; however, any mammal or bird can be a host carrier. When the racoon eat these infected hosts, they can also become infected by this secondary pathway.



The adult worms, about 6 - 8 inches long and 3/8 inch thick, are tan in colour, cylindrical and tapered at both ends. Infected animals are normal in appearance and show no signs of infection until a short period of time has passed.



When the eggs hatch inside the host animal the larvae penetrate the intestines and migrate through the liver and lungs. From the lungs, they migrate to other parts of the body, especially to the head, neck and brain. This will cause liver and lung damage and the cause of central nervous system disease because of the damage caused to the brain and the spinal cord.



After a period of time, the animals may have a tilted head or slight stumbling when they walk as the nervous system is affected. As the disease progresses, the animal may circle, roll, keep falling over and lie on its sides and paddle with its feet. The animal eventually will lie down and stay lying down, become comatose and finally death.



Most animals develop nervous abnormalities within one to three weeks of ingestions of the eggs. The length of time it takes of the death of the animal to occur depends on the amount of eggs ingested.



The disease is diagnosed with a microscopic examination at autopsy. The larvae or lesions are usually found in the brain, eyes and other tissues.



It will cause death in humans. Documented cases of severe organ damage, eye disease and debilitating central nervous system disease have occurred. It is difficult to diagnose in a living animal. A person or animal that shows signs of eye or central nervous system disease and has a history of association with a pet or wild racoons or a suspected contaminated area could have been in direct contact to this roundworm. An article from the Department of Paediatrics SUNY Health Science Centre at Syracuse reported that a thirteen month old child did survive his infection. The disease, however, cannot be cured and the child continues to have severe neurological complications.

There are no drugs known to kill the migrating larvae or the adult. There is little which can be done to reverse the damage caused by the larvae. Treatment is mainly supportive and designed to decrease inflammatory reactions.



The racoon can contaminate an area very rapidly. The animal will shed about 19850 eggs per gram of feces, but it is known for the count to be as high as 100.000 eggs per gram of feces. An average amount of feces is about 100 grams.



The roundworm eggs are some of the most resistant parasite eggs known. They can survive formaldehyde or hydrochloric acid solutions. Freezing detergents, disinfectants and dyeing do not affect them and they can survive for years even in adverse conditions. Heat seems to be the only thing that will kill these eggs. Autoclaving, flaming the area with gas or a propane torch will do the trick. Large areas of contamination such as soil, concrete, etc. are best decontaminated by torching. Contaminated star, hay, etc. should be carefully removed and burned. Special protection, such as disposable gloves and masks should be worn to prevent self infection. This is important in dry and dusty areas where dry feces may be stirred up and inhaled.



If there are any animals living with the proximity of where a racoon has been then these animals should be considered as possible victims of roundworm. These animals need to be watched carefully to see if they will develop any of the symptoms for the roundworm infection. If a human has been in contact with racoo9ns or their feces, they should consult with their doctor. It is not a well known disease and the doctor may not be aware of it. An expert in parasitic disease should be consulted for clinical problems and the symptoms investigated.



There is no real effective treatment so prevention is paramount to this disease.





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Racoons and Roundworm Disease

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.