Speaker: Because she was a person that if you turned around a little bit your head you'd get a strap. Interviewer: Did you ever get the strap? Speaker: No, I didn't. Interviewer: No? No, you were careful. Did you see anybody else? Speaker: I was c-- eh? Interviewer: Did you see other people get the strap? Speaker: Oh-my-God, yes.

Speaker: I had- I struggled when I went to school because it was mostly Kashub. Then they- and the teachers were trying to teach us English and as soon as we'd get outside for recess it was always Kashub so we'd get the strap if we got caught. Interviewer: Oh, did you? Speaker: Yeah. If we got caught, we'd get the strap for speaking Kashub. I

Interviewer: Do you think teachers were stricter back then than they are now? Speaker: Well, yes, they were. Interviewer: What happened if you did something bad. Speaker: Got the strap. Interviewer: Did you ever get the strap? Speaker: Yeah. Interviewer: What did you do? Speaker: Pulled my hand away? Interviewer: Did that get you in even worse trouble? Speaker: Well, sort of.

Speaker: 'Cause before when you were raking the hay, well you'd rake the hay then you'd get the horses and big wagon, and lift it up on the wagon that hay, then somebody had to be on top and tramp it down, and just put some more on it, you tramped more and more, so you get more on, eh? Interviewer: Really? Whose job was that? Speaker: Well sometimes it was my job, to go on the wagon, eh? Interviewer: Yeah, and tramp down the hay.

Interviewer: Did anybody ever fall off the wagon? Speaker: I don't think so. Not that I know of. Interviewer: No? Speaker: Then when you'd go into the barn, then you'd have to take it off and tramp it in the barn, put it in the barn and tramp it down so you could get more hay too, eh? And what- now after we got the bailer, then we started bailing the hay, so that was a lot easier.

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.

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 ...

Interviewer: Yeah. And did you- when did you start fishing? Speaker: Um, with my father what we used to do is, we would start here in a small little boat 'cause we didn't have a whole lot of money and, ah, my dad would actually row us around the entire island and we would troll and, ah, I remember usually catching two or three fish by the time he rowed around the entire island.

Well just, what ordinary people fight about, you know, like, uh, what would they say, 'cause you didn't do something that you were supposed to do and they were trying to make you do it, you know, pass it on to somebody else, type-thing, that type-of-thing.

No, no I never was a person that got in trouble, I was very- I guess, what you want to call, shy and laid back type-thing.

Oh, no, sometimes there's two or three of them and they- sometimes they stay overnight or-whatever, thats years ago when they were younger but they've all grown, a lot of them have grown up, they're out now on their own type-thing, so- oh yeah, stay overnight, they used to have sleepovers, yup.

Sometimes on snow shoes. And we'd take readings with different types of computer type-things that assess what's happening underneath. We loved it.

And ah you have a great big boiler, probably like say three feet by eight feet long and you get two of them side by side and you boil- like boiler-A and boiler-B type-thing, so you boil it down so much- then boiler and then you start to moving it inside boiler B, and you boil it down there, and you keep boiling it down boiling it down, get all the water out of it, until you get the maple syrup con- like the sap concentration, the sugar.

Like, get-er-done? Means like, like, you can do it type-thing, like it's almost like encouragement.

Speaker: But you can see, I mean, I've sewn my own curtains, my own valences, yeah, yeah. Interviewer: Oh, wow, these are gorgeous. Speaker: And I've- and I loved to, ah- one of my projects now is finding old pieces of furniture and, ah, restoring it.

And, ah, in the front they had ah- benches all there, in a platf-- you-know, like a veranda, there?

Speaker: But, then, and I got older, then I n-- I went working for the hydro, ah, I went for the M-T-O, I was a wingman for a couple winters, you-know, part-time. Interviewer: What is, ah, sorry- Speaker: A wingman was, ah, at that time you had to have two in the truck when you were ploughing snow, the driver and then the guy operating the- the ploughs. I was in that ...