Mom had never been out to Dad's farm. Dad had probably given her a fairly realistic description of the house conditions. Mom had rarely traveled out of her town Portage la Prairie Manitoba. The 500 mile train trip back to the farm was a major trip. Arrangements had been made for someone to meet the train and pick them up and take them to the farm.
Dad on his farm
Mom arrived with a few linens like sheets, blankets, towels and tea towels. She also had a set of cutlery that may have been silver. There was an old trunk in the house and it was probably used to bring all her worldly goods to the farm.
The house was not insulated and the wood had dried out so there was a crack or two in the walls. The house was banked up with straw to gain some warmth. There was no electricity. Light was by something called a coal oil lamp. A flame burned from a wick so there wasn't much light. They got used to working with such low light levels. There was no water! In the winter there was a large barrel beside the stove and they kept that full of snow. The snow slowly melted . When water was needed for washing you dipped out as much as you wanted. There was no washing machine. Clothes were washed by hand and hung on a clothes line outside. Now in winter the clothes froze rapidly. A few days later the clothes were brought in the house and hung on racks to complete drying.
Later on an old hand rocked washing machine was purchased but there wasn't any room in the house for it so it was only brought in on wash days. Later Dad set up an outdoor washing machine that could only be used in the summer. This machine was powered by a primitive one cylinder engine.
Now the town where Mom lived had some amenities. They had electricity and water. The places where she worked had some conveniences like clothes washers.
Mom's family about 1930. Mom is in the middle.
Mom had been on farms as her grandparents farmed and she spent part of the summer with her grandparents.
But to come out to Dad's place would have been a shock...culture shock. Dad had grown a garden the summer before and left his produce with a neighbor who kept them and so they didn't freeze . So he probably had a couple of bags of potatoes and vegetables.
Mom did have a cousin in the district who lived about 2 Km away. There were other people in the district who she had met.
Dad loved farm auction sales. Stuff that sold was usually old and in poor condition. That's how Dad got some farm machinery. He loved to buy "junk" boxes for 5 or 10 cents. You didn't really know what was in the box but there were usually things that could be used such as tools. Farming at that time was done by horse power so guess what? Dad got his horses on auction sales. They were usually very poor quality horses. I remember old Teddy who was a very dumb horse.
One time Dad bought a horse and then traded it before he went home for a very ancient Model T truck that had a cloth cab. It was the first vehicle he ever bought. The truck was used very little as they didn't have money for gas in the 30' and during the war there wasn't much gas for sale. Besides that the old truck wasn't very reliable.
Dad also bought a cow or two on auction sales. He ended up naming the cows after the people he bought them from . There was a cow named old Oscar.
However, they survived the winter of 1938.
Comments on my last post prompted me to add more information.
My Dad was somewhat inconsistent and complex. He was generous to a fault. He worked hard and lived frugally when he had to. He enjoyed life although he had very little.
When he bought things on auction sales they were for very little money for several reasons. He usually bought something that was old. He was quite happy to live with second hand items that had long since passed their prime. Since most people didn't have money to buy things the prices on auction sales were low.
So Dad provided for his family by working hard and doing with second hand items.
Mom and Dad were married in Feb. 1938 and the depression was still a big challenge. They came back to the farm in April 1938. They had $60.00. That had to do them until harvest time when they could sell some of their crop. Dad did get some work over the summer. Dad liked chocolate bars and candy. When they went to the village for groceries and mail they bought one chocolate bar and shared it on the way home. I can picture them riding home in their buggy with a shambling old horse pulling them while they enjoyed their chocolate bar. How do I know this? It was recorded in the account book!
The war came and candy and chocolate bars were no longer available. As soon as some candy became available after the war Dad bought it. He brought a bag of marshmallows home to give his little kids a treat. We'd never seen candy and didn't know what it was. We played with the marshmallows and rolled them on the floor. He was disappointed that we didn't eat the marshmallows and spoiled them so he couldn't eat them.
So depression life was a struggle but if you were willing to do with very little you could get by and be quite happy..
Well, my Dad would name a cow Oscar!
In the accounting book my Mom and dad used for their farm was a place for inventory. Mom listed the cattle - by name. So the names of six cows were listed. Small farmers with only a few cows gave the cows names.
So how come a cow gets named Oscar? That's the story.
My Dad started his farm in 1935. So most people know that this was in the depths of the depression. At the time many farmers were broke and had to sell and move somewhere else. There weren't big fancy moving vans. They had an auction sale and sold most of their belongings. These auction sales were not highly successful as very few people had any money to buy things.
This is where my Dad stepped in. Things sold very cheaply on these sales. Dad would buy things on these sales. No two chairs in Dad's house were the same. He bought them on auction sales for probably ten cents a chair! His dishes and pots and pans where the same. No set of dishes for him. Lots of cups and saucers but none of them matched.
Now back to the cow. He bought the odd cow on a sale. He would name the cow after the person who had the auction sale. So Oscar was a cow that he bought on Oscar's sale. He also had a Neufy, Lowdy, Strong and Burr...and maybe a few I've forgotten about.
He also had a horse called Teddy and a very ancient model T truck that he got by trading a cow?
So there's a story I found by looking in Mom and Dad's farm account book. By the way, I don't remember the cow called Oscar.
