... everything had to be prepared well ahead of the- the seasons, you-know? Like, she did all the- the, ah- the canning of meat so that we had stuffs and meat- canned meat, pork or beef through the winter and of course she did a pile of, they called them in them days, preserves, which really meant everything from canning little carrots right up to raspberries, strawberries, all that kind of stuff. The basement in the house, of course, was never heat- heated and, ah, because there was a cistern there it kept a certain amount of dampness there.

Speaker: The ent-- the entertainment in those days were- I call it pretty gloom. All I can think of is, like, you-know, dad and mother give me permission to go to the, ah, theatre, ah, to see movies. They didn't- of course in them days there was no restricted movies. That wasn't even heard of.

Interviewer: So, political meetings? Speaker: Political stuff was- I would say was pretty well left out. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: 'Cause all through them days, the whole country was blue. Interviewer: Okay. (laughs) Speaker: It never changed. And, ah, in them days they didn't believe it could ever change or would ever change 'cause why? Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: You-know? So, that's just the way I grew up. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: That- that's the way it was and, ah, everybody- everybody agreed with the way the country should be run.

Speaker: And then I could go down to where the Waterses were and then they- of course they had some old thing they called a boat. It was really- looked like a raft to me. And we swam, you-know, and we fished. We did everything in them days. We'd haul home some kind of a fish and mother would take care of the rest of it.

Speaker: And, ah, as far as- now when you think about the fish that people are concerned about, ah, you-know, with, ah, these sores on their side and deformed and all around- I never heard of one until the last few years. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Back in them days when the creek just ran, nobody did no-- it was- the odd beaver dam showed up.

... the odd beaver dam showed up. The water used to pretty well pile up and then it would break- it would go around the corner of the beaver dam and then the beavers would be really busy and then somebody would trap the beaver and sell the pelt 'cause in them days they were worth something.

Speaker: It was- my- my dad had a lot of them, you-know? Um, a lot- a lot of words that he said, you-know, ah, were- were just different, you-know, just so much different. Interviewer: Like? Speaker: Ah- ah- they- they- they didn't really- in them days swearing was, you-know, almost about taboo in our family. My parents swore very li-- if they did it was a pretty rough day.

Speaker: Yeah we di-- didn't ever had duvets. We had, um, homemade wool blankets and that's what we had. And, ah, when we got sick there was no doctor. You had to, ah, suffer with- with whatever you had and, ah, very little Aspirin or-something-like-that. Them days everybody got an Aspirin but, um, you had to be pretty, pretty badly sick before you- you-know, medi-- medicine came.

Speaker: I'd make a hole in the- in the egg with a nail- Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: And then stir it in there and then drink the egg. Can you imagine? Interviewer: Raw egg? Speaker: Yes. Raw egg. (laughs) Oh yeah, a lot of people do- did that in them days, you-know? And, ah, I guess we probably watched somebody else doing it and that would be the reason we would do it.

Speaker: You went visiting a lot. That's- that's one thing that you did, ah, them days, you-know, you would visit. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: I remember our neighbour would come around and she had a son and almost every Sunday she'd be there or we'd be at her place, you-know?

Speaker: I got that raccoon anyway. Speaker: Oh gosh. (laughs) Speaker 2: But the bear was there before. And we missed him. Speaker: Yeah. So we played a lot of horseshoes them days too. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: You-know, where- where now kids don't want- don't know- even know what the horseshoes is, you-know?

But we couldn't get no cigarettes off the old man so we would make our own. And we would use, ah, an ordinary piece of paper that we could find, you-know? Them days paper was even hard to get, eh? So we would, ah, (clears throat) usually catalogue it. I go and I think of it now, my god that must have been horrible. Like the Sears catalogue or Eaton's catalogue, you-know?