Family stories...

My Grandparents on my fathers side, raised seven children. four boys and three girls. The girls were the oldest, they came before the boys. Now my grandfather was a dairy farmer. He milked a number of cows twice a day, 365 days a year. Rain or shine, sleet, snow and sub zero temperatures. What little spending money the family had came from selling milk. They grew their own food, vegetables to meat. My dad was born in 1931, and he cannot remember much of the Great Depression, as a matter of fact my aunts and uncles didn't have much to say about it, they got by just like always. Other than spending money being a little hard to come by it was hard to tell there was anything wrong if you was a kid.

Grandpa took a lot of pride in his milk, his cows always tested high in butter fat, which is a scale used to determine the quality of the milk a cow produces. he had some pretty strict rules, cows were to be milked twice a day, 12 hours apart. He started milking at about 4 am. My uncles were taught to milk as soon as they could make a good fist. The dairy was a family operation. Cows were cleaned, equipment was kept spotless and cows were "babied" to a degree to keep them healthy. They were not to be bothered in the pasture, the dogs were not allowed to chase them, varmints were closely watched for and any issues with the fence was addressed as soon as it was found. Grandpa's rules were for the protection of the family and strictly enforced.

Now along comes my Dad and his brother Oscar. Between the two of them my grandmother had to have her hands full. Dad worked as hard as the rest of them and he played just as hard. One of the favorite pass times in those days was riding cows. Dad and Oscar would catch a cow or two laying down in the shade of an old hedge apple tree, crawl up on the blind side of the cows, climb into that tree, scoot out on a branch, then drop down on the unsuspecting cow and off they would go. The ride would last as long as they could hold on. According to Dad, he would ride cows to school when they could catch them. On one particular day, My Grandparents were of to some meeting when Oscar and Dad decided that the time had come to ride cows. Throwing Grandpas rules to the wind they spotted two old cows laying under the tree. Slowly they crawled through the grass until they could ease their way up into the tree. Slowly they crawled out on the limb and at the given signal dropped down on the backs of these two sleeping cows and off they went.
Now I had the chance to ride a cow one time in my life, I quickly found there was nothing to hold on to. The cow I rode didn't buck per say, it ran. They run fast. So the best you can do is kind of lay down and put your arms around their necks and hold on.

Them two cows took off like the devil himself had grabbed their tails and up towards the barn they went. My Dad and Oscar holding on for dear life. The cows reached the barn and began to circle it at a dead run. My uncle Oscar, began to slip to the inside. Each turn around a corner found him a little more off center. Oscar had his tongue stuck between his teeth and the corners of his mouth were turned up in a great smile when the cow cut real close to a corner and the side of the barn caught Oscar full in the face, he stopped right there, Dad says he kinda hung there for a second with his face plastered to the barn then he fell. Dad claims he bailed of his cow and ran to help Oscar. Oscar had almost bite his tongue in two pieces, his eye was swelling shut and there was a cut on his forehead. Dad says he was helping him up when he heard Grandpa and Grandma coming back. Oscar got to his feet and Dad dragged and carried him to the back of the house where Grandma was getting out of the wagon. Dad said he got real excited and told them that Oscar had been walking the orchard gate, slipped and fell off. Oscar looked at him like Dad was an angel from heaven. After all you could not get a strapping for falling off the orchard gate, you could get a good one for riding dairy cows.

I was there the day my dad and Oscar told my Grandma the truth. She just kind of smiled and said she knew it all the time and so did grandpa. Boy were they surprised to think that for all those years they had pulled one off. Goes to show that mamas always know.......