Things Forgotten and a Visit Remembered by Loretta

[Editor's note: This story by Loretta]

I remember the vacations that we took, they weren’t like the ones people take today. Ours consisted of visiting relatives that mom or dad hadn’t seen in a while.

One of our trips was to my dad's cousin's farm in Valley, Nebraska. John and his sister Bertha had a 165 acre farm. They had no electricity and I’m not sure about running water in the house, it was definitely outdoor plumbing. They also had a root cellar, where their fruits and vegetables were kept and smoked Hams were hung from support beams. When John would go shopping he always bought cases of 7up soda in the bottle .

When we arrived they always offered coffee for our parents and we got the soda pop. While they caught up on the latest gossip we were allowed to ride his horses. He had large Draft horses and if you’re a child your legs only went across the back of the horse; not down the sides. The house was on a high hill, higher than the barn, so we rode up and down the hill. I could make it down , but not up; I fell off every time. I think that’s when I learned to cuss.

In those days, John only used the horse and plow to farm. It wasn’t till later, his other sister Lillian and her family talked him into a tractor. His nephews and niece helped him with the farm. I used to set and listen to their conversations. I remember John telling dad about digging a hole and burying his model T truck. Years later some man from Texas offered him enough money for it and it was dug up and sold. At night time, we had to come in and John let us play his 1929 Victor phonograph. He had a whole collection of the latest songs for that time.

When you came to visit you always knew the drive way to his house . He had the biggest mail box in the county and the longest driveway It seemed like for ever . It was like going down into a valley, and on muddy days you wondered if you’d get back to the street.

After leaving there we stopped at his sister Lillian’s house. She also lived on a farm with 5 kids to help with the farming. Her house had more modern conveniences . We’d always stayed at one of their homes for the night before heading back.

For us, it was a real treat to be able to go to another state have so much fun and not get into trouble, and believe it or not: no T.V.! In those day, we only radio to listen to but a lot of out door games got played.

I was talking to my brother about our trips and he reminded me about harvest time it coincided with some of our visits. Dad would help with the harvest and it was fun watching them fill the silos of corn . They had co-ops that moved from one farm to the next, harvesting the crops.

Its funny when you reminisce about growing up and all the things you‘d forgotten.