Interviewer: Like four posts. Speaker: Yeah, they were built with panels and wire. But they- there should be- some of the people call them a patent fence. Yeah. Interviewer: I've heard that- that name. ... Somebody told me that it was because they were sort of special fences- ... That different people had- ... Um, found out how to build.

Interviewer: And sometimes they named them after the- the man who- Speaker: Yes. Interviewer: Whose special kind of fence that was. Speaker: Oh, they were- they were rails and pickets. They used some f-- wire with them. Interviewer: To keep them in place? Speaker: But they- when they, ah- when they used a, ah- nothing but a- the old zig-zag fence, well they just, ah- it was just rails and it took a- an awful lot of rails ...

Speaker: Oh, some- some parts that's about all they'll have, is- barbed wire. Interviewer: Mm-hm. A lot easier to put that up. Speaker: Oh my, yes. You can string around the- the- drive in pickets and string it around quick. Interviewer: Not nearly as much hard work as the- (laughs) Speaker: No. Interviewer: As the log. Speaker: Uh-huh. Interviewer: The rail fences.

A straight log fence, if there were anything you'd have to have put pickets in. Or the logs would blow off.

Interviewer: Was it, ah- did you have a- a good ride going to town on the sleigh? Speaker: Oh yes. Interviewer: Was it, ah, was it smooth? Speaker: Oh yes, ah, well, unless there's pitchholes. Interviewer: Were- were there- was it- were there pitchholes there? Speaker: Pitchholes, I do remember in there from, ah, the eighth-line, there was an awful winter for snow.

Interviewer: What did you- what did- kind of road was it? What was it? Speaker: Oh, old road in the wintertime with maybe snow this high. Interviewer: Uh-huh. Speaker: Full of pitchholes between drifts. Mm, boys, they got what they called a ah- a frame sleigh with long runners. They were desperate. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: They come up over that and then whap down into it. It just- they had two seats in them. Usually there- four or five people going in it. Just pitch you right off the back seat (laughs). Interviewer: So you called them pitchholes.

In that part, and then this part of the stove was here and this part here we, and up the stairs and then the- on this side of it there was a- a potato-bin. We'd come down the stairs and we'd go into the potato-bin and ah this part of it was clear. We'd go down in the cellar and do our homework there on Satur-- on- at nights. 'Cause it was nice and warm in the cellar with the stove.

Interviewer: And what would be stored in the cellar? Speaker: Well we had uh- we had our potatoes and we had a potato bin like in the fall, we put the potatoes in the potato bin then we got boxes with the sand in and- and we would bury her in the sand, we'd put a layer of the carrots and a layer of sand, a layer of carrots, layer of sand and the same with the beets-

Pretty near all these old men were fond of buttermilk.

But it's pretty near all in pieces now. Kids went in and just smashed it.

No, no. Oh no, they'd- you'd ah- you'd go to Carleton-Place, you'd get damn pretty near anything in Carleton-Place do-you-see, if you wanted.

And the- it was a general-store, you-know they kept pretty near everything. Y-- you get pretty near anything you wanted there.

He's a spiteful bugger. You do anything on him you pretty near have to kill him or he can do something on you.

About ah well I was hm- pretty near four-year-old.

I didn't see that, but ah, Mother used to talk about her- my grandmother, and they hadn't a well dug, and my grandmother used to come to a spring and that was pretty near across a hundred acres, and they said she could take a pail of water in each hand and balance one on her head and walk up those fences and down, so she'd have water enough and not make too many trips.

They, ah- they did have stump pullers, at one time, but, ah, they were only good for a small stump, a great big tree, they just had to build a fire around it and burn and after it got pretty well burnt then they could go at it and chop it up and- and-

... he made a- a good salary yet the season for his work was short. Like, he didn't work from November 'til maybe in March. He'd, ah- December and January and February- ... Pretty well are, you-know, no work because- ... In those days they couldn't lay a brick in the wintertime, not like it is now because-

I think we had better crops in. I know years ago, dad was putting in a crop he'd have it pretty well started by now you-know? ... But now you can't get on the land until May sometimes.

We worked ahead, and coming on pretty well in the evening. And, ah, I took an idea of me own. He was black as- his face was black, you-know, and all (inc), looked terrible.

(laughs) Well now... ah they- they count nine months you-see and quite often they go a week maybe over their time, sometimes two. And we have to be ready for them if they're going to come in around a h-- you know pretty well.