Since everyone is so busy posting family keepsakes on here, I thought I'd post one of the few that I have. Dad probably carried this pocket knife every day of his life. The bone handle is worn down to a smooth surface, and the metal plate is almost worn off. I was witness countless times to one of the main uses of this knife, which was kept to a razor-sharp edge, when Dad performed numerous operations on young male pigs and calves, so to speak, and one monumental operation on my 700 pound Duroc Jersey Boar which won the grand champion ribbon at the Wyoming State Fair but which soon met his inglorious fate in the sausage grinder. One time while Grandpa Wasden was about to perform this operation, after studying the young pig for awhile, he announced, "aha, a seedless grape!" Sorry if this makes anyone squeamish, but such was and is life on the farm and we never thought anything about the necessary routines of farm chores.
2 comments:
One of the knives I was given, I gave to my son Nathan. It has been a prized possession for him, and on a trip to Washington D.C., he packed it in his suitcase, but put it in his pocket as he went sight seeing around the capital. Because of security issues at several of the monuments, Nate would have to find places outside the monuments to tuck the knife while he visited the monuments. So Dad's knife has seen Washington D.C. in a rather unique way.
Dwight, did you ever use the knife during your farming years? Dad must have just done what needed to be done. Sort of like Mother laying a chicken across the chopping block and whacking off their head with the ax. A knife is always a good keepsake.
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