Saturday, March 21, 2009

Steve and the Delights of the Barnyard Cats

Brig was probably almost two when this picture was taken. The cat (name, please?) had kittens, and Steve helped Brig locate them. There is a series of these pictures, and you can't tell it in this one, but Brig is wearing Steve's old red sweater. Steve reminded me of these pictures - taken during a stay at Penrose. (Don't you love how handsome Steve is in these - and his cowboy hat to boot.)

20 comments:

Judy said...

And we pass "it" on to the next unsuspecting generation. Steve, with no younger siblings, could still influence nieces and nephews. Very cute.

Ann said...

Now that is what I call a really nice hat. I never had one of those until Judy and I "hoed" beets for Burchell one week.

Judy said...

What happened to your hat, Ann? Mine was gone by the next time I came home. Is that the one that Steve is wearing? Did we make enough to pay Dad back for the new hoes, hat and gloves?

Ann said...

Steve took mine, as well?
No.

Elizabeth said...

Did you really last a week at hoeing beets? Surely that hat was all Steve's?

Judy said...

Of course we lasted a whole week. What do you think we were? Weaklings? Too hot...too tired....too dry....too quiet...too much...too long....too many weeds....to many beets!

Ann said...

Did we really last a whole week hoeing beets? Of course - not. Judy lasted longer than I did. She tried to keep me going, but I was quite resistant to the idea. Besides, the summer was hotter that year, the weeds were meaner, Mother was gone to Laramie and Dad needed us at home, to bake the bread, do the dishes, wash the milkers, keep track of Steve, etc.

Judy said...

I thought that was why Dad sent us to the beet field, so he didn't have to keep an eye on us!

Dwight said...

Mercy

Steve Blood said...

MY HAT

Judy said...

NO.......I think you borrowed it from me.

Dwight said...

Liz and I hoed beets all summer. The rest of you are a bunch of wimps. Why were you so privileged? We rose to the occasion and did our duty. No wonder the younger generation was soft. A sad thing.

Judy said...

OR.....were we smarter?

Steve Blood said...

MY HAT purchased at JC Penney's MY MONEY MY HAT

Ann said...

I think it is important to remember that by the time we were old enough to work in the fields, Dad wasn't growing sugar beets. We had to go hunting for a field of beets to hoe. Money was certainly the enticement - but----. However, another reallllly important thing to remember is that I washed the milkers for three years (not an easy job, by the way - just ask me about the ugly salamander that slithered out from under the milk tank that Mother scooped up and kept in a terrarium in her classroom for years)and Judy took care of the house and did alot of cooking because Mother was teaching. In other words I am quite resistant to being called wimps.

Ann said...

And, just so Steve doesn't think I forgot, he milked the cows along with Dad - and there were a lot of cows to milk, not just one or two like there were back when Dwight helped milk a cow.

Elizabeth said...

Okay, we need a lot of correction on these entries, as follows:
1. Dwight and I thinned (with a short-handled hoe) and hoed beets, as well as beans - long rows, hard work.
2. Since I was the official cow herder, both on the spring ditchbanks, and to and from the pasture at the head of the fields, there was a pretty large herd to milk by hand - but not as many as the milking machines could handle.
3. We all worked hard, but it is a fact that the younger family (Judy, Ann, and Steve) had a little easier time of it than we did. After all, forced air heating, running water, etc. certainly made for a life of ease, didn't it??????
3. Must be time for another picture - help, anyone???

Ann said...

Not!

Ann said...

And that covers #1, 2, 3, &3 - the "Not" response!

Elizabeth said...

Thanks for not commenting about the fact that there were two #3 in my previous comment. That was just to confuse everyone. "Not"?