Speaker: And I remember one of the Bloomberg girls, ah- her mother made her a- a- you know the hoods on- on- hoodies now. But anyway, you made- you made these- they were hats that were separate. Well, there was a little peak on it and, ah, coming home from school she's- she was the youngest and she was kind of a- her sisters said she was a sissy.

Interviewer: Do you remember what you were- what your were- what you did when you saw the fire? Speaker: Hoofed up there in a hurry (laughs). Interviewer: (Laughs) I guess you'd have to carry water? I-mean did they- you have one of those…

Interviewer: How would you get to the- to the end of the road if the snow was deep? Gosh. Speaker: Well you hoofed it waded in the wooden skis. I skied quite a bit.

Um, because it was his friends, you-know he'd meet his friends you-know couple of times a week and then go for lessons, they had group lessons and ah their teacher from Halifax was just a- a hooj. She was the greatest person. And ah they were just loving her and- and taking lessons from her so- Ethan went the formal route with violin and we were going to- then Bernie came, he was born in nineteen-ninety-one and we were thinking what are we going to do with him.

Speaker: He never went to a doctor, he just put up with it I-guess. It wasn't like today. Interviewer: No, not at all. Speaker: No. And then you-know it used to be- the doctors used to come out with- on a- on a horse- with a horse and cutter (laughs).

Bury your loved ones there. The record will be there for a million years. But all this other horse-feathers, I wonder- ... What's going to happen. Again, Mister-Madison offered x-amount of feet for a very small- all he wanted was some plots. Didn't want- didn't want money, didn't need money. ... Just wanted plots.

Interviewer: And, ah, what sort of things did he sell in his store when he first set it up? Speaker: Oh, when he first started it was ah china toys, notions, patent medicines, tea, coffee- Speaker: Interviewer: Blankets. Speaker: Blank-- horse blankets and blankets, and- pails, all kinds of alumin-- granite and-things-of-that-type.

That's right, as well as, ah, doing retail business he did quite a wholesale business on laundry soaps, (laughs) patent medicines, toilet soaps, ah, teas, coffee, ah- and all, like, heavy work clothes, overalls, horse blankets, ah, hammocks, sealers. He used to bring sealers in by the carload, laundry soap in by the carload.

Interviewer: Did you put anything over yourself to keep warm? Speaker: Oh yes we had big buffalos, big, big buffalos, made of all the goat skins. Interviewer: Mm. Speaker: And that you-know. And then in the bottom of the sleigh we d-- we probably put a- an old quilt or one of the horse blankets, or-something like you-know.

Speaker: We'd be all nice and cuddly warm and you hear the horses going along and- and hear the sleigh bells ringing. It was- yeah cold but- but we were warm. Interviewer: What did- what did they wrap you in? Horse blankets or bear skins- Speaker: Yes, oh yeah, no horse blankets yeah horse- Interviewer: Somebody tells me the smell of a horse blanket is a real nice smell. Speaker: It is a nice smell. And- well it's got a real horsey smell. And of course horses smell anyway. And that's an-- thats an-- that's the thing. With the smell and with the- the sounds- oh wonderful, yes.

And um, one thing I do remember is if my dad happened to be home and- and it was a cold day or it was a stormy day, he'd come to school the horses and sleighs and pick us up and cover us up with horth- blankets- and horse blankets- Interviewer: Oh really? Speaker: Had a r-- a smell that you remember- not a bad smell but a smell that you remember you-know?

Speaker: And the horses were trotting down that highway, cold night. We were covered up in horse blankets and the chimes on the- I've never forgotten that. Interviewer: Wow, I got shivers when you said that. Speaker: Yeah, it was lovely.

Speaker: Yeah, it was lovely. Speaker 2: (inc) straw on the bottom of the sleigh and- and likely robs over us. Speaker: Dad had the horse blankets over us. Speaker: Mm-hm, yeah. Speaker: All covered up. But I can hear those chimes up (inc). Interviewer: Yeah, that's perfect for Christmas.

... the only time that things would be really dandy is when it was a really cold, cold day with a bad wind. My older brothers would probably hitch up the horses and give me a ride to- to school. So that's where I got initiated on how valuable a horse blanket was.

The record will be there for a million years. But all this other horse-feathers, I wonder-

...you-know we played horsing. The- the Williams' had a- you-know w-- Larry-Williams, he lived at- anyway, they lived in North-Cobalt and he got his cattle ah- or horses it was he got from out west and they come in a box cars and we lived right by the- w-- one side of the railroad track and the station's on the other side of it.

Interviewer: ...a lot of other generations here in Timmins did have this as well, but we used to say growing up um if we stepped in a puddle on accident and- and water just seeped right through our shoe and sock and our foot just got all wet, we would say that we got a- Speaker: Hot foot. Interviewer: A hot foot? Speaker: Yeah. Interviewer: You're no-- you know what? That's ah- you're not the first person to say that to me actually when I said that. I believe missus-Palizeri ah said hot foot as well.

Interviewer: That you'd step in a puddle and you'd say "I just got a hot foot"? Speaker: I got a hot foot, yeah. Interviewer: Wow, okay. I didn't even know that one at all.

Speaker: It's supposed to be a cold foot though (laughs). Interviewer: Right. Speaker: We say hot foot yeah, every time we get wet.

Speaker: Well I was there for two winters. Interviewer: Oh. Speaker: But ah on the second winter I graduated up to working in the saw mill. Interviewer: Wow. Speaker: Yeah. And ah what they called ah- they had a hot pond, that was water in a large pond- Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Outside of the mill. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: And they ah l-- logs would roll into that pond then you'd bring your lo-- the log over to what they called a jack ladder.