Fun on the Farm in Canada

The Fishing Trip, Mom and Ron with their Pike
Laura Thelin,Beverley,and Dad Swimming in the Old Man River
Beverley and Ron sledding
Ron,Dennis Tolley,Jay and Dennis on Peggy
Ron, Dennis and Julie with the 4-Calves
What did we do for fun on the Farm, I dug deep into my memory banks for this blog. We didn't have an I Pod, Video Game, DVD, Video, Computer or even ONE Television set.

The only thing we had, was a battery operated Radio and an upright Piano. My brother Ron and I took Piano lessons once a week, during lunch time we walked downtown to the piano teacher's home for our piano lessons. Her name was Mrs.Christian, and later I had Mr. Henry for my teacher. The lessons cost $1.50 for 1/2 hour. I took six years of Piano Lessons, and two years of theory, my brother took two years of lessons. When I was about 16, I received a Piano Accordion for Christmas which I learned to play pretty good.

Mother played the piano by ear, she never had a lesson. she was very good. She loved to sing and had a beautiful soprano voice. Dad played the mouth organ. Later my brother Jay learned to play the mouth organ. I always wanted to play the Saxophone,I thought, it was so beautiful,the sounds it made.

Some of the children's games we played were, Mister, May I ? Red Light, Green Light, and Red Rover, Red Rover, Anti I Over. We played Marbles in the dirt, and Hopscotch, in the dirt, with a piece of glass. We played Tag, and Hide and Go Seek in the tall Canadian grass in our yard. We used the wide blades of grass to make whistles. Our Dad made wonderful whistles, out of willow trees, which grew along the river. Later my brother Jay, made a business making and selling these same whistles.

Ocasionally we go to the Movies at the Theatre in Ft. Macleod. It was a treat for us. The old movies were wonderful, lots of musicals with dancing and singing in them. Chocolate bars were five cents, and popcorn five cents. Cost of a movie ticket was 25 cents. On Farmers Holiday,once a year,the farm kids, got a day off from school so we went to the movies.

One day before Christmas our family was returning home from getting the Groceries from Lethbridge, when we opened the door, we saw Santa sitting on our kitchen table. He had on Dad's gum boots, and a Santa Clause suit stuffed with newspapers. Mom was so upset because she thought, we wouldn't believe in Santa anymore. We found out later Aunt Nora, had been there and pulled this trick on us. She had found the Santa Suit in a bag, that someone had dropped off, for the Santa for the Primary Christmas Party. Mother was the Primary President.

On year for Christmas my younger brothers, Jay and Dennis received a set of Bow and Arrows each for Christmas. Once outside looking for something, to practise on, they saw one of our many Turkeys, we raised. These were the lucky ones who hadn't been eaten for Christmas Dinner. So Dennis shot his arrow and it struck the poor Turkey right through his head and he dropped over dead. He and Jay were scared what would their Dad think now, they had killed one of his Turkeys. So they both proceeded to try and cover it up, by stomping on it, in a my mud puddle. But this didn't work very well, because the turkey, kept sticking its wing up in the air.
They never told Dad until his 80 th birthday. Dad said" I wondered what had killed that turkey?" We raised 1000 turkeys on our farm, they were free range.

We all worked together planting our big garden each year, we planted all kinds of vegetables and even Popcorn, which we popped in the winter. We would weed, water, and harvest it. We planted lots of Idaho Potatoes which we sold to the restaurants for french fries in the town of Ft. Macleod.

During harvest time in the fall the whole family, would go the wheat fields and work together,and stook the bundles of grain, that was tied with twine. This helped the wheat, weather against rain and snow. We stood the bundles up in a A formation. My younger brothers had fun teasing and chasing my little sister, who was about 4 years old with baby mice, which they found under the grain bundles. She would run and scream in fear or delight, I am not sure. She is not scared of mice today. Ron said" He drove the tractor around the fields, when he was eight years old, and Dad would come and help him turn the corners. I drove the tractor around the fields, when I was twelve years old to help Dad.

We had a couple of riding horses, one was named Old Grey and the other Peggy.I don't remember riding them much.Dad put them on the Indian Reserve to have better grass to eat. Well, we didn't see them again, Dad, said " the Indians stole them.

When our relatives came to visit from Calgary with their family quite often we didn't have a bed for them. So my Mother would put the parents in my bedroom the only one we had in our home. The children would all sleep on a quilt under the kitchen table, with another quilt on top of them. There were about eight of us under the table,all in a row. It was fun of course we talked all night. You know how Josie loves to talk.

We picked lots of wild berries in the summer. They were Saskatoons,which we bottled for winter. Saskatoon pie was the best. Gooseberries, Chokecherries,to make Pancake Syrup. One Summer we were all berry picking by the Old Man River at Ft. Macleod, when a Rattler reared up at me, ready to strike, my Dad heard it and saw it, he was about 30 feet from me. He picked up a rock and threw it at the Snake and he saved my life. I was grateful for him.

In the winter, we went sledding down the big snow drifts, behind our home. We had snow ball fights, with each other and built snowmen. It was very cold. I always wanted to learn to ski but we were too poor to afford ski's.Later we got a toboggan.
We made Homemade Ice Cream in the Winter and Summer usually on a Sunday afternoon when everyone was home. Our family favorite was Maple Walnut.

In the Winter it was sometimes too cold to play outside, so we spent our time listening to the stories, Mother read to us while we were all huddled her and around the big wood stove. We would all put our feet in the oven to keep us warm.

Jay and Dennis made a Skating and Hockey rink by the house, they used the windmill to pump the water on the ground. They used the family dog named Bullet to be their Goalie. He was retriever and they used a ball to play hockey with instead of a puck. Bullet would jump and catch the ball for them. They trained Bullet to stay at the goalie net, then he would catch the ball. He was the best goalie. Bullet was also the back catcher during their baseball games, they played. They loved him and I'm sure Bullet enjoyed the fun too.

Before Christmas my Dad would go to the Mountains in B.C. and cut a truck load of Christmas trees for Ron and I to sell to make out Christmas money.
We sold them for $2.00-$5.00 in our yard, to the neighbors. Later Jay made fancy Candles which he sold for $5.00 each for Christmas money too.

During the spring thaw the ditches would fill up to the top with water. I remember Ron and I built rafts out of any wood we could find. We rafted down the over flowing ditches, using a long stick to navigate us.

I had a girls bike to ride and would often ride it up to the Cemetery.
My brother Jay said" when I left, all that he had, was a girls bike to ride.
Ron said" He had a boys bike to ride."
One of our favorite things to do was slide down, the slanted tin roof, of the barn,landing in the pile of soft hay.One day I did this and I knew I would get the strap for doing it, so I was prepared, I put a tin pie plate in the back of my jeans and when Mom gave it to me, I didn't even cry. The boys would crawl through the tunnels in the hay the pigs had made, but they wouldn't let their little sister follow them.

During the summer hot days we used the water hole for the cows to drink from, to swim in. It was green and slimy.The cows used it as a bathroom too. I would never swim in that water hole. My brothers did. Dennis said" That was probably why he developed Hepatitis C later. It was amazing that they didn't get Polio from it too.We also swam in the Old Man River, in the swimming hole.

My Mom and Dad loved to fish, they used long bamboo poles. On time Mom and my brother Ron, were fishing in the Old Man River, they both caught huge Pike. Ron's was 43" long and Mom's was 45" long. A time to remember, I never fished, I was the babysitter for the younger ones. I still want to learn, how to fish, if my husband would teach me.

Dad wanted the boys to raise 4-H calves to take to the Fair one summer. They were to feed them, brush them, teach them to lead. They didn't win anything at the Fair. The calves weren't fat enough.But it taught responsibity.But they didn't become farmers.