Love - The Odessa Record "By Your Relative"

Hi, here I am again.

Continued from last week – the Kiesz Children….. Virgil remembers the following about living in the L-B-D: (10.) His dad had 14 horses; needed 12 of them when pulling heavy loads, deep plowing. His dad’s first tractor was a track-crawler type diesel. His dad’s first car, a used “rag top” Ford. Second car was a used “hard-top” with 4 doors, In 1934, the third car was a used Model-A-Ford/2 door and in 1939, it was his dad’s first “new” car - a Chevrolet with a small trunk attached at the rear. (11.) His dad’s first truck was a used 1935/36 International. (12.) His mother’s weekly schedule while living out at Batum was – Monday, washing clothes, Tuesday, ironing clothes, Wednesday, “mid-week” baking, Thursday and Friday, cleaning the “main” house, Saturday, “serious” baking, Sunday, church. (13.) Riding the school bus in the winter was scary because of snow. There were times when the wind and snow would cover the road by drifting and/or creating 4 and 5 foot drifts making the road disappear. Many times the bus driver couldn’t tell where the road was and would end up driving thru grain fields for 2-3 miles before getting back on the road. Also, there were times when the temperature would drop to 15-20 below zero. Yes, going to and from school in Odessa during the late 20s and the entire 30s was really something. (14.) That in the early 30s after a dust storm, the dust inside the farm house would be 2, 3 inches deep on the window sills. (15.) That in the 20s and early 30s during harvest, his dad using horses, operated the “small” combine which had a 12 foot header while his hired man was the sack sewer.

Next week’s article will continue on with some of the facts that Joyce remembers. Remember, she and her sister Marian were 10 +/- years younger than their brothers. What the sisters experienced with the same parents, on the same farm will be slightly different but there are similarities.

Until next time.

Your Relative, Spokane