pages 248-249

Pages 248-249

                When Jim and I sat down to eat we gave God the credit for all the blessing we had received and asking his guidance for another day.  We the began to partake of the food which was more palatable than the cold sandwiches we had eaten on the return home.

                Jim sat in his comfortable chair in the living room.  The wind grew stronger with a fierceness.  It howled around the corners of the house.  I could hear my wash tubs and other things being blown around like scraps of paper.  Finally I heard them go rolling down the hill along with other loose objects.  Jim lit the lantern and went to get them not wanting them to be swept away should a heavy rain come up.  I followed to help, but it was tough going back up the hill in the face of the wind for it hadn’t slackened one bit.  For it seemed even harder as we set the tubs and buckets in the kitchen.

                As we retired the wind had calmed enough that we were soon lulled to sleep.  Sleeping soundly until the sun came peeping over the mountain peaks, high above our folks place.

                With the dawn we arose to a bright new day for the wind had disappeared as it came to no one knew where, but it was gone and a lovely day was in the making.

                Jim thought it a good time to work a little more on some fence he had been wanting to fix.  So after breakfast he gathered the needed equipment together, put them in the wagon and drove away, leaving little Jackie saddled and bridled and tied to the hitch rack.

                I hurried with my work and as I did so put on a kettle of fudge to boil  When the housework was finished the fudge was ready.  I took it and was soon in the saddle and Jackie’s tiny feet digging into the soft earth as we went down the hill and along Shirley Creek.  I was taking the long way to the bench, the road up along our west line.

                The saucy magpies were there to catcall in their magpie fashion in almost a taunting manner.  Jackie’s little sure feet and slow easy way of moving couldn’t have been improved on.  Even the saucy chipmunks chattered, sitting up on their hind legs momentarily, dashed back in their hillside homes as we rode by.

                We were now on the climb by the west fence and here a few yards up.  Jim had tied the team and was setting post to put on an extra wire for five wires was a must in this country.

                Each landowner was supposed to protect his grain crops with fences or take the consequences.  Some were too poor so got the ground ready, then planted and waited to fence when they could.  We were told wire pliers were most generally found in a saddle pockets , when one was riding the ranges and sometimes you would find a heard of cattle had been grazing on your grain, especially if one moved to a nearby town about fifty miles away for the winter and when returning to their ranches for spring work.

                Jackie, seeing the team, stopped dead in his tracks.,   Lifting his tail and head let out a extra loud bray that shook the saddle, including me.  With it, Jim hearing the bray, let out a holler, tossing his hat up and waved us on.  Jackie stepped cautiously, but faster.  I sometimes felt Jackie almost had human brains in his head, because of the keenness of his ability to act and do things.  Next to Beauty I thought him the nicest animal we had on the whole three hundred and twenty acres.

                Billy fortune, Beauty’s colt was a very nice well-bred animal.  His body and legs showing distinctly the markings of the racing blood in his veins.  On seeing us he and his mother came dashing across the field.

                Jim helped me to dismount and I stood for some moments viewing the country side from all directions.  Much higher than the small valley below, gave one an opportunity to view our neighbors homes and ranches across and around from us and several homes in the canyon above our home from here we could see other folks doing things around their places.

                Jim reached for the sack I was still holding tight in my hand.,  I had been awe-struck by the scenery and neglected to tell him what I had brought.  Peeking in the sack he said, “Just what I was wanting, candy for energy,” and put his arm around me drawing me close.  We stood thus eating until it was gone.

                I then said,  “A lunch is in the saddle pockets,”  Sandwiches in one and a couple of applejacks in the other.  Apple Jacks were made by rolling a rounding pie crust, fill one half of it with your fruit, then fold, pressing the edges together firmly.  Fry or bake in the oven.  It makes half of a pie that can be carried without the fruit and juices running all over and is very good.

                I helped Jim awhile with the fencing and after an hour or so he assisted me in the saddle, saying I should go home and rest awhile.

                Jackie and I were making the trip back along the west fence.  He was just as surefooted and careful as coming up.  When we arrived home I gave him hay with a pat on the neck.  I loosened the girth but did not attempt to lift the saddle off.  I carried several armfuls of wood in, filling the empty box by the kitchen range.  Next I fed and picked up the  eggs from the chicken house and built up the fires for the day was waning  and a cloudy like dampness seemed to be drifting though the valley.

                It was not long though until I heard the rattle of the wagon and little Jackie’s bray that gave warning someone was approaching.  Opening the door he stopped the team, calling to me to take some things into the house, things he didn’t like left out in the weather.