Summer Dreams

(My brother Tim)

Visitng Uncle Joe's farm is a treasured childhood memory. The sights and smells were so different than those of home. Uncle Joe had a dairy farm in Caneadea, NY, close to the Genesee River. Sometimes we watched the milking machines pump milk as the cows stood in the stanchions. There were troughs that ran behind the cows to catch the waste (Be careful where you step!) and the smell of manure was heavy in the air. Once a cow delivered her calf during our visit. Uncle Joe had a milk house where he kept a big tank to hold the milk until a truck came to haul it away. Once they even gave me a drink. I recall kittens in the haymow and lots of hound dogs. I didn't like those dogs. On one occasion they had a dead critter and were tearing it to shreds. I was not impressed and kept my distance from those horrible canines. There must have been horses but they aren't clear in my memory. I do remember the chickens and how Sally Sue would call out "Here chick, chick! Here chick, chick!" as she spread grain in the driveway. They all came running and gobbled up the food as fast as they could.

One year there was a little lamb which was fed with a baby bottle. Boy, could that little lamb pull hard on that bottle. I had all I could do to hold on to it. Aunt Sharkey had a big old fashioned flower garden full of beautiful flowers and it seemed as though there was always a big pot of corn on the cob cooking on the stove. We would often stay until after supper and drive the two hours home in the dark. The car was warm and cozy, the drive long and we always fell asleep along the way. When we were small, Dad would carry us inside, plop us down in our beds and cover us up. Baths could wait until morning...