Page 68 - Firehouse Pond

My mother named all the dairy cows. She could call out their names as they

came into the milking barn. We had to keep good records of how much milk
each cow gave each day. I remember that the metal milk cans were very
heavy.

A typical day for me would include bringing in vegetables from the garden,
helping grandpa stack firewood, collecting eggs, and going down the lane to
collect the mail each afternoon.

All our store-bought goods came from a country store. We could call the
store on the party-line, (manual crank phone), to place orders. We could also

order from the Sears Roebuck or Montgomery Ward Catalogs. The mailman
would deliver right to us in a few days. It wasn’t often that we went to town
to the general store. But it was always an adventure when we did.

The town was small, and the people were mostly hard-working farmers. My
grandfather and father would get into some interesting conversations. I’m not

all that sure I was supposed to be hearing all that was being said or the words
that were being used.

We had several dogs; I don’t remember ever having cats on the farm. But

that can’t be right. Grandma had an old red tabby cat that liked to sleep under
their potbelly stove in the house in Charleston. Surely, that cat came with us
to Steelville.

One old dog was particularly special. He was blind in one eye and walked
with one hind leg dragging. Don’t know why I can’t recall that dog’s name.
He was a big dog and was reddish in color. He was my grandfather’s

favorite. That dog was smart and would bark to warn us of someone coming
up the lane or stray animals in the yard.