my dad

[low_delta]

My dad was telling stories of his youth. I had heard about how he got a job on a Montana ranch, and the things he did that summer, and and the trials he went through. Tonight, I heard about his second summer going to the ranch.

He went to the ranch again, but it had rained for 30 days straight, and there was no work. Their veteran ranch hands were out of work, so they couldn't take him on. They said he should try for work out in Washington (he was from Indiana), so he went out there. Unfortunately, Boeing had just laid off a bunch of people, so any available jobs went to them - people with families. He applied for jobs at about 300 places. He finally went to Cincinnati (about 50 miles from home), and was hired at the first place he applied.

What did he say about that ranch... it was so big the north and south parts each had their own air strips. They had about 300 breeding mares, just to keep the ranch in horses.

Comments

[mummm.livejournal.com]

Interesting! Did he tell you the years that he did these things?

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

1961, I think.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

I would have guessed earlier. I don't know your age though.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

That would have put him at eighteen, and his first summer after starting art school.

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

I hope he's still planning on writing all this down. And in detail! I want to know when this happened, how he traveled from place to place, how he paid for it, and any stories along the way. He has so much to tell about his life.

[ranunculus.livejournal.com]

Get a recording device. Traditionally a tape recorder, but a camcorder would be better. Set it up and get him talking. Do it several times.
Check out: http://storycorps.org/about
This nation is loosing it's oral history.

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that link! I'm going to look at the library for their book Listening Is An Act Of Love. I'm currently proofreading my aunt's book about her childhood on the farm. It contains stories from all of her sisters and her brother. Were you on my Friends List when I was posting stories from my Uncle Russell?

[ranunculus.livejournal.com]

Yes I was. My start date was the Ides of April 2002. I think you had already started doing a few posts about him then, or were starting about then.

[emschin.livejournal.com]

How nice to see Russell's face looking out at me from your icon spot.

During the years that Russell was taking care of Mom in Minburn he'd turn on a tape recorder every time he went. I haven't listened to many of them. I should go thru them and especially keep those with good stories.

[ranunculus.livejournal.com]

Needing that many horses certainly does indicate they had a big spread. Do remember that in those days the average age of a horse was about 17. Useful working life perhaps 8 or 10 years at best. Today useful working life is close to double that, almost all of which is due to superior worm medicine, medicines that are now beginning not to work due to over use and resistant worms developing.