Speaker: Yeah (laughs). And ah she d-- she really loves it there so, yeah. They- they like- they like to be out and hiking and tramping and camping, and fishing and- Interviewer: Mm-hm.

Actually yesterday I was d-- or they day before I was doing something, there was this big spider in the garden, I was afraid I would tramp on him, you-know or do- because he was right there I was surprised h-- I just pick him up with my gloved hand and threw him so he's away from me, so I won't tramp on him. You-know h-- I mean he'd eat all kinds of eggs of bad things, so let him be.

... the summer little tiny things, and you're working, and the- you dig them up because they're in the soil, you-know they're sleeping, and I just take it and I move it because you can't see it, it's brown, you can't see it and you tramp on it. I know once I tramped on one- I thought I was going to die too. Interviewer: Why would- why did you think you were going to die? Speaker: Well, I-mean, I felt so badly.

Interviewer: Did you ever see anybody get hurt with a rake? Speaker: No. Interviewer: No? Everybody was careful, I bet. Speaker: Yup. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: And then I got- before- before I was old enough to use that, when I was younger, I had to go out and tramp the hay down, because- got a bigger load. Interviewer: Yeah? Just with your feet? Speaker: Yeah, I'd just run around. Jumping. Interviewer: Yeah, that's fun. Oh, well, except if there were snakes in there.

Interviewer: Um, what did they thresh with, before the machines came on? Speaker: The tramper. Well, no, with the flail. Interviewer: Uh-huh. Speaker: That- the flail was- yeah, two sh-- one stick, and then a short piece of a stick tied to that, and you'd flail it. And then there was a tramper followed that. That would- run- ah, that was powered either by a- ah, an oxen or a horse. Or probably two. I've seen- I've seen them- seen them run with a horse and an oxen. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Or two horses, or two oxen would do it either. That was what they called the tramper.

They were decent men too, you didn't have to worry about- I remember Mother making meals and sitting them at our kitchen-table. Interviewer: My goodness. So they- they weren't people to be feared. Speaker: Yeah. You didn't fear them, no. But we used to call them "tramps" at that time. "Oh there's a tramp here." Yeah, yeah. Interviewer: Not "hobos."

Interviewer: Really? Do you remember any big fights down there? Speaker: Not too many, the- then the- the- another thing there for a while- for- shortly after I got married. I-don't-know why my wife married me because I was an awful tramp. Interviewer: How did you get- how did you meet your wife? Speaker: You wouldn't believe that story.

Speaker: Mom declared that they had marked our- because the train went right through our farm. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: And it had marked someway because we had a tramp everyday. Do you think that they- Interviewer: Yes, yes. Yes, they would have. Speaker: Ah, and some of them- ah, we enjoyed the tramps. Mom had to- she'd always get them something to eat but ah I could remember this one tramp coming and I don't know what made him think but he said ah, "Have you a fiddle?" So daddy said, "Yes." So he brought out the fiddle and he played, then daddy played, and then he played, then daddy played.

Another man that just retired from his own business outta (inc) his name is Alan-Hires, he worked in those early years for my father and I could go on-and-on. But these are people that we and the family are tremendously indebted to because they formed the team with our dad in those early and most difficult years.

It is used in cutting lathes, in saws, in surfacing any instrument used in road work where it comes into contact with cement, it is used now in medical operations for artificial pins is it in bones. But its uses have expanded tremendously. But going back to nineteen-twelve when it was discovered you see the war broke out a few years later and the stellite was used in the war armaments in the First World War and that ended in nineteen-eighteen.

Her- I think her third, or fourth year placement in eighty-nine. And she helped me out tremendously that year because she had finished her under-- she had finished her um third year, and can-- and had attended Centennial for two weeks doing her placement. And at that point, my mom had taken sick.

Interviewer: And what would you do on your days off? Speaker: Rest. We just needed that day to rest. Was cold and it- it was hard, hard work. Tremendously hard work. Yeah. Interviewer: So in your down time you- did you read a book, what would you do? Speaker: (laughs) No I never read a book. Just l-- go to bed and sleep. Then get up and work.

Interviewer: Well thank you so much for sharing your history. Speaker: (laughs) No, that's what I say about it. I- I- I enjoyed living tremendously in my times. Oh, I l-- I had some wonderful, wonderful times in my life. But now I'm- I'm not having them wonderful times. Almost every day has got something that's- makes me- upsets me a little bit.

Speaker: Take that red book there and- and ah, that's- that's w-- the year I graduated from- Interviewer: Oh my gosh. Speaker: (Laughs) And that's the school, eh? So you can see that it was a tremendously, but- Interviewer: Still up. Speaker: No it isn't- Interviewer: Oh no I-mean in that picture it's nice.

Interviewer: So what were your parents like? Interviewer 2: Yeah. Interviewer: Were they strict or were they lenient? Speaker: Oh, I wouldn't trade them for anything. Interviewer: Mm. Speaker: My mother was a tremendously good cook, she can really make an apple pie that, you-know the bottom wasn't soggy and there was enough cinnamon and apples weren't hard, like you-know. It was beautiful, anything she cooked ah it was great- and dad was ah sharp and on-the-ball.

A stradivarius is ah tremendously good violin, yeah.

Speaker: ... actually I think my favourite grade was grade-five, until I started teaching grade-seven and eight and then I- that's what I taught 'til I retired. Interviewer: Why did you like that (inc)? Speaker: Oh, well you could talk with them and discuss things and ah they were- they were tremendously interesting. They kept me thinking about things in different ways that I never thought about. Of course, I was an old fuddy-duddy by then and they were, ah, I really- I really enjoyed them.

Speaker: Small farmers have a tough time surviving. They're tearing out all the fence shows for big equipment. You can see that happening yourself. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: And ah- and the price of land has gone up tremendously. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: I would say right now in this area, an acre of land is probably worth what this whole farm was back in the thirties.

And, ah, that was our- three or four nights a week, we'd- four of us, we'd all get together and play- play bridge. That was- we had our own little bridge club. And we enjoyed that tremendously. And then- you-know, oh, go swimming in the summertime, at night, and- and go down to the beach ...

No, it didn't- didn't trip my trigger