Reminisce 1

Before I started school we, my mom and I, lived in a "little" house on the farm with my grandparents, who lived in the "big" house a few hundred yards from us, so when my mom went to work, I skipped over to grama's house in the summer and in the winter mom drove me over cuz it was too cold. We had no running water in our house just a well out side and an outhouse out back. Thank Heaven for gramas!

I remember grama and grapa used to billet some of the men from the "home" in Weyburn. The "home" housed men and others, I suppose, who had mental problems, back in those days there were three classes of people that lived there; imbeciles, morons and idiots. But really from what I can remember those men were not like that at all. In fact there was one man there who I called "Ookie". Mr. Dulock. I adored him! When he smoked he would blow the perfect "O" rings. He always made me giggle. I remember him being the hardest worker there and he lived with us for years. There was nothing wrong with him, nothing. I also remember Lloyd. He wasn't a very nice man at all, he would always try to take me for a walk but my dog Jeffy would always stand in between us and bark and bark and bark until he got someones attention. Lloyd didn't stay with us for very long. I don't remember much of him...guess that is a good thing.

Looking back at all those men that grama and grapa took in, and there were many that came and went over the years, they really just had minor mental issues. I think about the "now" and they were normal to some of the people today!!! Yikes!

My grama used to raise Dalmations. Duke and Dutchie were the "parents". Those puppies were so cute. Jeffy was a dalmation too, but we could not sell him because he had a huge black spot over his hip. He wasn't considered a Dalmation because of it, so we kept him and I loved him just the same. We would always walk down the lane and back together and I always hung onto his ear.

I started riding at age 4 on a Shetland Pony. Her name was Goldie and I loved her dearly. She was never bossy, but when she was done with me on her back she would either walk under a tree limb and knock me ass over tea kettle off, or in the winter, ride into a huge snow bank and get stuck, then I would holler until someone came to our rescue, which my Uncles would haul me out first then grab Goldie, one at the front and one at the back and lift her out. Then I would get hell for taking her there.

Bet Goldie laughed all the way to the barn!!