... my memory of the first battery radio- ... We used to- used to listen to the hockey games on Saturday night, on the old radio. And we didn't get ah- we didn't have hydro on our farm until nineteen-forty. Ah up until then it was all coil-lamps and lanterns but we got- we got hydro in nineteen-forty and then, of course all these other things came along then but ah in the thirties it was pretty primitive living, you-know, it was- but you-know, I think we were probably a lot- a lot of times we were probably happier than- than we are now ...

We do have to say our- we lived on- it was just a small family farm. ... It did- it didn't have any hydro and it didn't have running water so you can imagine how big a treat ice cream would be (laughs).

Speaker 2: Yeah, she grew- she grew up here in Almonte. Speaker: So for her it was like going back in time because she lived in town, they had hydro and running water, and then she moved to the farm where there was- so it was- for her it was like going back in time and, ah, it must have been really difficult for her but-

... a- well of course, when I was- when I was young, we didn't have a- any hydro until nineteen-fifty, so I would be seven-years-old. So before that, you had the- the um, (inc) and the (inc) one that you pump up you-know and- and sitting in the kitchen table- ... And that was our light.

You had lots of help for the farm. But on the- on the- in the evenings, we would certainly go- the older ones would go to the barn and- and ah, help feed ah livestock and- and um, I can remember my dad milking the cows before we got hydro so there was a wire strung from one end of the barn to the other and he had a- just a coal-oil lantern that he would slide it on the wire behind the cows and- and then ah you-know, when he was milking ...

Interviewer: Wow. Wow. And again without electricity, doing everything-? Speaker: Yeah, we didn't have any power until I think we were- I think I was about twelve when we got the hydro.

... everything's got to be faster, everything's got to be electronic, everything's got to be computers and I-pods. Which is great until it doesn't work. Or it screws up. Or somebody shuts the hydro off. And then nobody knows how to think, 'cause the brains are in their hand, not in their head anymore. And their knowledge is in their hand, that's the other thing.

Not often, usually by the time you'd work from sun up to sun down at the farm, you didn't want to do, except go to bed. Yeah. When I was smaller, my ah, my aunt and uncle didn't have a hydro in the house, it was all coal oil lamps and you carried the water and-so-on and-so-forth so there was always chores to do besides the farm chores, it was house chores, as well so- you did that too, it was an old farmhouse, you did upkeep.

Speaker: W-- w-- what year did the Scotch- what- what year did the hydro go up to Scotch-Line, nineteen-forty-six? 'Cause I remember we had no hydro -

Speaker: I wasn't sure that they had hydro before she went out to the farm, did they really? Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure they did.

... my mother got sick and I went to the farm for the winter. So I went to a country school there. But not ah- I didn't have to (laughs) chop wood or carry water or anything-like-that. Ah I'm pretty sure they had hydro and (laughs).

B-- and she used to write and I often wondered why this candle was burning, because my grandparents had hydro. But she used sealing wax on her envelopes and she had a stamp which I don't know what became of it.

I have seen a lot of changes, yes. Yes. Yes. And I'm pretty-sure it was nineteen-forty-four when my parents got the electrical power- we call it hydro, but it is electrical power on the farm and, once-in-a-while we'll have a blackout but it's we're- we're- we're lucky, and the blackout is usually caused by a severe storm ...

And ah, so- you just- like, there was nothing wasted. There was nothing went- went into garbage or-anything. Ah- we used the newspapers to clean out the chimneys and the lamps, 'cause it was no hydro, and um…

She was- she was born and raised on a farm but ah, she was um- had a fear of large animals. ... Ah, she looked after the hens and ev-- with no hydro, we had a cream separator. I don't know whether you are familiar with that. ... Oh okay, well ah, my mother um, after we got three or four cows milked, she'd come to the barn and she would crank the- the separator.

Interviewer: So then you would have- you would have been too young to know Second-World-War. Speaker: I remember, yes, ah, you-know I quite reme-- I can remember we had no hydro over here ah, but we had a radio hooked up to a car battery, scratchy old sound and um, my ah, my parents would listen to the, ah, C-F-R-B was- was going then and ah, ten-to-twelve, the news came on ...

... ah, Katie was helping me sort- sort through some things and she stopped and looked at me, she- "You know dad, you've come a long way in life. Ah, you were born in a frame house with no hydro, no plumbing. Now you live by yourself in a house with three bathrooms." (Laughs) I don't know whether that's progress or not.

That was another aspect of life. We also, over here ah, no hydro and because of the river there was what they called the (inc) hole over here. We cut ice- ... And we had an icehouse and we had a ice box in the house.

Um. Well, we did not have hydro. We didn't have water. We had a well and, ah, you carried your water from the well with a bucket. You heated your water on a wood stove. And we had lots of food.

Speaker: And, you-know, they didn't get the- the hydro until after I was gone from home. And, ah, when I went back home and they've got hydro, they've got a bathroom now too. (laughs) Interviewer: But I guess in Almonte they already had that? Speaker: Oh yes, yes.