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First Job of Bob - Dairy Farm - Part V - The garden; the buildings; the barn; the house; the rhubarb
This entry was posted on 5/19/2010 1:35 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
The Spring of the year has brought back memories of my mom's large garden. It was tucked between two large sheds and south of the old apple orchard. There was grape vines, strawberries, raspberries, asparagus, and of course...rhubarb. I was never a fan of rhubarb, but it is a Wisconsin thing for sure. There was often a rhubarb pie sitting on the kitchen counter. Also, asparagus is rather hard to get growing and then keep growing. Many people would peruse the road sides at times in the summer hunting for wild asparagus. Keeping it in a garden plot is quite another story.
At times of the year my mom would prepare the various produce in what we called "putting-up" the product, or "canning." Some people call it "preserves." At any rate, at times the kitchen smelled and looked like a production facility. In the end, there would be jars of grape jelly, grape juice, rhubarb, and asparagus,
There was a pear tree around to the east side of the large old apple orchard. We did not have time to care for either presentation. I do remember the pear tree was prolific and pears dropped from the tree in the fall coated the ground all around it. We all thought the pears produced from that particular tree were a bit hard in texture.
There was a gaggle of buildings on our farm. There was a huge barn. It had the consummate gambrel barn roof (change in slope part way up the roof). Three lightning rods with stained glass balls topped off the peak of the roof at equal intervals. When I was young they built a pole barn at a right angle off the north end of the barn. It was then we verified the legend that the original barn burnt down about the turn of the century a decade before my grandfather bought the place. We found melted glass and pieces of old foundation buried at the end of the barn. What we found indicated the original barn was mammoth, going 50 feet further than the already giant existing structure.
The barn was accompanied by three upright silos. The original one was brick with a tin roof. The three were equally spaced along the length of the barn like sentinels.
The house was also huge. Those old farm houses reflected eras when farm families had lots of kids. Rooms were added from time to time. It seems odd now after living in such small houses over the years, I was an only child in my era at the farm. There was at least five extra rooms we did not use much in that old house. One walk-in closet I used back then would be considered a room now in the neo-suburb culture of today.
There were always signs of what used to be on an old farmstead. There was a large pig shed. I remember it was built like a fortress. Perhaps it had extra support because pigs have a reputation for wrecking things. There was an old wood corn crib. There was also several small chicken houses. We did not have chickens and pigs by the time I came on the scene. The buildings found other uses. One old chicken house I made into a small work shop. There was an old house adjacent to our house that Dad and my uncle used for a proper work shop. We called it "the shop." It had tools and parts tucked in corners, Thomas Edison would have been impressed with.
As a kid, and being an only child I remember putting two structures to good use practicing football and baseball. The silo to the south end of the barn was perfect to throw a hardball at and have it bolt back at me like a rocket. I learned to catch a fastball off that silo. One of the sheds by the garden had a roof angled perfect to throw a football at. Hitting the roof just right propelled the ball back at me like a down-and-out pass.
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan
Marine Sergeant Andy A. Stevens, 29, of Tomah, Wisconsin, was one of 10 Marines who died Thursday, December 1, 2005, from an improvised explosive device (homemade bomb - IED) outside Fallujah, Iraq. The Marines were inside an abandoned flour factory being used as a patrol base when the IED detonated. All 10 Marines were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Twentynine Palms, California. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, their unit was attached to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force. Sergeant Stevens was a "scout sniper" and was on foot patrol at the time of the incident. Stevens was assigned to a Regimental Combat Team when they were attacked at the mill in a village just outside Fallujah in the al Anbar province. The unit was helping secure the region with counterinsurgency operations throughout Fallujah and the surrounding area before the December 15 Iraqi elections. The unit also took gunfire along with the bomb blast. It was later determined the explosive device was made of four large artillery shells. Stevens joined the Marines in 1995, after graduating from Tomah High School. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted Andy was a pole vaulter on his high school track team. According to the 1995 Tomah school yearbook, Stevens also participated in football, basketball, and concert choir in high school. At the time of his death Sergeant Stevens was survived by his father, Al Stevens; mother, Kaye Olson; and, sister, Amy Pelle. Marine Sergeant Andy Stevens was the 51st Wisconsin military service person killed in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
96,098 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,477 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,402 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1056 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
317 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
689 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
31,810 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
5,831 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
102 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
18 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
142 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.
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