A LUCKY BREAK

       When I was grocery shopping Tues. I saw a couple of little kids that reminded me of my brother and I. My brother and I were Irish twins. We were born less than a year apart...eleven months and two weeks. 

      When we were about three and four we were sent to our paternal grandparents for a few days. I have no idea why were were sent to the grandparents or  how long we stayed.  Our paternal grandparents were quite old. At that time we were the only grandsons they had. We were like the little guy in the cartoon where a dotted line shows where he went. We were fast. We went all over the yard. We went through the barn and chicken house. We climbed over the woodpile. We ran through Grandma's garden. We were on the go all day. 

     There was one rule and that was we must not cross the road. Across the road was a gravel pit and it was like a big sandbox. We sneaked across the road a few times but were never caught. Sooner or later we were caught. Grandpa came out to the road to call us. He had a big tree branch. The big tree branch meant one thing and that was that we would get a "lickin" . We couldn't believe that our loving Grandpa would give us a "lickin". We took the smallest steps we could and as slow as we could to come up to Grandpa. 

    When we got up to him he took us to the steps at the house. We sat down and he used the tree branch to make whistles for us. We were amazed at the whistles and went over the yard again with the whistles.

    Grandpa was 70  when I was born so old for a grandpa. A three and four year old must have been a challenge for  them. We didn't know that Grandpa didn't speak English. He talked to us in German and we didn't know the difference.

    So keeping with the luck theme, we were lucky we didn't get punishment but got unique  a toy.  

       This photo of my grandparents is about 1947. 

MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS

       My maternal grandparents were born in the 1880's and raised in the south of England. Grandma made some income by sewing and grandpa was a butcher , not the kind of butchers we have today. At that time there was no refrigeration. Grandpa went from farm to farm and butchered for farmers. This job was neither lucrative nor steady. Then a depression hit in England and they were very poor.

     A church group in Canada agreed to sponsor them to emigrate to Canada. They were set up as market gardeners but this was a poor choice of business. Grandpa loved gardening but it was not enough to keep the wolf from the door. 

    During the second world war he was a janitor on an air force training base. After that he drove a delivery truck for a bakery.

    In the late 40's they moved to the west coast where Grandpa again found employment as a janitor. He worked well into his 70's. He said when he got tired he sat in the bath room for a break. 

    Grandma told us that when she was a girl they talked about flying but it was imaginary. She never thought she'd see airplanes . She was able to fly on a jet back to England to visit relatives . 

    After Grandpa retired they would spend part of their summer on our farm. Here grandpa could garden to his heart's content as there was a large garden on the farm. He liked nothing better than to bring in fresh produce. Mom would tell Grandpa what she wanted and grandpa would harvest it. He was a handyman. One summer he painted the barn. He was not allowed to climb the ladder so the higher parts of the barn weren't painted. Dad had about 300 laying hens and grandpa loved looking after the chickens. One day grandpa didn't show up for lunch. A discussion was had and they thought he was gathering eggs just before lunch. They checked the chicken house but the door was fastened from the outside. Finally they heard Grandpa yelling. His grandson had seen the chicken house door not latched so he latched the door and that's how grandpa was locked in the chicken house and didn't make it in the house for lunch. His grandson received some teasing.

     When they were coming back to the prairies for parts of the summer, I was away and missed spending time with them. I had regrets but I was not living at home anymore . 

    It's hard to believe the many hardships this couple faced in their life. Their grandchildren certainly benefited from their hard work. 

     This photo was taken in the early 70's shortly before Grandma passed away. 

GRANDPA'S CHRISTMAS PRESENT.

       Since I'm on the topic of Christmas presents and traditions, here's one more. 

       My paternal Grandfather lived in the small village 5 miles from our farm. We liked our Grandpa. There were times that he stayed at our place. 

My paternal grandparents about 1947

       Grandma had died recently so we had a Christmas present for Grandpa. The  three of us four to seven year olds ran up to his house to give him his present. We expected that he would put his present some place and open it at Christmas. No! What did he do? He opened the present right in front of us! We were appalled and went home and told our mother as she had knitted him a pair of wool mitts. 

      So that was Grandpa's tradition for Christmas presents. 

     Grandpa was a Central European peasant. His family were farmers in the Ukraine. They came to Canada in the early 1900's as there was not any more land for them in Europe. They came to Canada in the early 1900's and homesteaded in Saskatchewan. Their traditional Christmas was only religious.

      There are many unique ways to mark Christmas. 

      Do you have some unique traditions?

THE EDUCATION OF A PRAIRIE BOY PART II

     When I did my first prairie boy post I thought I had said everything. When I contemplated the post and looked at your comments I knew I had something else to say. 

     There was more education before starting my education in an institution. 

     In my preschool years I had contact with grandparents. Yes, all of you grandparents know how much you influence and teach your grandkids. My paternal grandparents lived about 8 or nine miles from us. We visited then about 6 or 7 times a year. 8 or 9 miles in the early 40's was a long trip for us. With horses we could not make the trip both ways. Okay, my paternal grandparents were German immigrants who came from Russia. Apparently they spoke very little English but that didn't matter to a little boy who didn't speak German. We chattered to each other all day to the extent that I had to be told later in life that they didn't talk English. Grandma was a great story teller and told stories of wolves and foxes that chased people. The people always got away in her stories. So we were exposed to a different culture. I remember staying with Grandma a few times. The food was different. They were independent for almost everything. They produced most of their own food and it was different. They received support from the Mennonites in Manitoba , Canada when they first came here.   

     My maternal grandparents were English and came here for the same reason as the paternal grandparent...economics. The maternal grandparent could not make a living in England. My grandfather was a butcher and went to farms when they wanted something butchered. My maternal grandparents lived about 500 miles away so we saw them only once a year. I remember visiting them twice. They lived in a town of 10000 and I thought it as a city. This was a huge place with all kinds of shops. These grandparents were supported by the church for a few years until they became established. So my Grandparents were like most grandparents and taught their grandkids about a different way of life. They also urged us to practice good behavior. 

      Children learn from other children. We had children living close to our farm so played with other kids all the time. Kids have to play with others to learn how to get along. Sometimes kids have a very effective way of getting their point across...they sometimes use hitting. 

     Many of the things you learn as a preschooler pop up later in your life to add meaning to what is going on. The stories my parents and grandparents told made things have more sense as life went on. I was my grandparents first grandson so there was a special photo . My paternal grandparents in front of their retirement home. My maternal grandparents are on the left. I'm on the far right .
  

PUT SOME DETAILS IN YOUR WRITING.

    Kids are notorious for not having much detail in their writing. So instead of harping at them I would show them a piece of my writing and ask them what else they would like to know about it. They all had an opportunity to ask something and I could say "Well, that's a good idea " or "Why didn't I think of that?"

     So here's a piece I wrote and what the kids asked. I can't find where I rewrote this so the lesson ended here.

   When my brother Myrven and I were very young, possibly 4 or 5 , we went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa for a few days. in the summer.We were both terribly active little boys We were into everything. We ran through all parts of the house. We went through all the buildings in the farmyard.  We went over all the farm machinery and moved all parts that would move. We ran over Grandpa's wood pile and that was really a no no as Grandpa's woodpile was piled very neatly with not one stick of wood out of place.

    Here we are at about the age in the writing.

    Of course, we tended to get very dirty after a day of these activities and were always totally exhausted at night and went to sleep instantly.
      One day we saw Grandpa calling us and he had a rather large new tree branch in his hand. We were both totally terrified as our father would often find a switch from a tree branch to give us a spanking. We also couldn't believe that our extremely nice Grandpa would ever give us a spanking. We slowly walked over to Grandpa. Grandpa wasn't mad. He sat us down and stated to cut up the branches with his knife. Grandpa made two whistles from the tree branch and as you guessed it two little boys were absolutely thrilled with whistles created from a tree branch
     Now I wonder if Grandpa knew what was going through our minds as he called us?

     Grandma and Grandpa a couple of years after we visited them

   Now here are the questions
    Kyle_ liked the ending
    Brock - Where farm?
    Jer - Is Grandpa living?
    Jag_ Tell more on family
    Jas-   Details about making whistle
    Randie- Dirt- lecture
    Jeff- Grandpa's name
    Brett - describe farmyard
    Luke- Animals
    Curtis- How got to the farm?
    Billy - Explain excitement

   So since the kids go t to ask questions , my readers can ask questions. It will be interesting to see the differences.