My Book………………LILAGCS (11)

October 28, 2010

Growing Up In a Fire Station

As I reflect back at my days in the fire station, many wonderful times come to my mind. As I share these events with you, please keep in mind that it may sound like I am rambling. (and I am!)

(These are various events that I remember when living at the fire station)……..

The Easter chicks

I recall just before Easter one year, the local Animal feed store just about 3 blocks down the street was giving away FREE colored baby chicks for a Chick Feed promotion. My uncle Russell and my cousins ask me to go with them when they went in to purchase their chicken feed and to receive some baby chicks. I was so happy to be included. I got two chicks, as I recall, a red one and a blue one.

My three female cousins also each got three chicks each and my male cousin got three chicks also. With their 12 chicks they placed them in the brooder house at their farm.

I didn’t have the luxury of a farm, just the fire station and a large cardboard box. I placed my chicks in the box and placed the box in the backroom of the fire station back by the laundry area.

After about 2 months, as I remember, we made a trip to the farm to visit my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Russell and my four cousins. I was totally shocked when I saw the size and the growth of their chicks.

Mine were so much smaller, I told my dad, and I better bring my two chicks out to the farm so that they can grow faster. That is what I did. That was an interesting in animal husbandry.

The Family farm

 

My Uncle Russell and Aunt Ruth lived on the Logan Family Farm. It was an 80-acre small farm located just west of Spencer. I recall at a very early age going to the farm with Grandma and Grandpa Logan one time and when the sun began to go down, they brought out the gas lanterns (Like above). There was no REC (Rural Electric Cooperative) at that time. That farm was a real “playground” for me.

Logan family farm in background

 From Left to Right above …..Uncle Russell, Diane (behind) Sharon, Bob, My dad and Art Woolsteincroft

Pigs, Eggs and Cows

I use to love to go out to the farm and I especially loved to play with my cousin Diane. (Diane was 2 years younger than me) and we use to do some things that would get us into trouble with our parents.

I remember one time we went into the chicken house and gathered eggs. We then took the eggs and found a bunch of hogs in a pen wallowing around in the mud. We though it a lot of fun throwing the eggs at the hogs and watching the runny egg drip down the side of the pigs.

Well needless to say we were unable to sit down for a few minutes after our dad’s found out what we had done.

We also use to walk to the pasture to bring the cows back to the barn when it was time for them to be milked in the evening. Back then; there were no automatic electric milking machines.

It was all done by hand, and I mean laterally by hand. Uncle Russell or my older cousin Bob would use a stool that was in the shape of a “T” and sit on as they milked the cow. The warm milk was then poured into milk cans.

After the Milk cans were full the milk was then poured into something that was called a “separator” and it was used to separate the cream from the milk. Sometimes it didn’t do a real good job and there would be small chunks of solidified cream in the milk as I drank it…yuck! (I didn’t like that. Later I got so I really liked cream.