Speaker: Oh I really liked it. At that time, there were all nuns teaching us. Interviewer: Oh. Speaker: And ah, they were cross. They could give you the strap. When you got it, you deserved it but- Interviewer: Oh dear. Speaker: You got it pretty good. Interviewer: (Laughs) Did you ever get the strap yourself? Speaker: Lots of times. Everyday (laughs). Interviewer: Oh man. Speaker: I wasn't an easy patient. Yeah. Interviewer: What did- do you remember what you got the strap for? Speaker: You name it, I got it (laughs).

Speaker: And I had to- couple, one man teacher, which I hated. Interviewer: What did he do? Was he mean? Speaker: Well, every time I made a mistake, I'd get the strap. A spelling mistake, every spelling test, every s-- I got a s-- whack on my hands for every mistake I made. And he'd walk down the row watching (inc) and I'd be doing something- spelling something wrong and hit me over the head with a book or hit me with a ruler.

You-know you thought, "Mm, if I do that, I'm going to get in trouble at home, trouble with the teacher, go to the office and get the strap ... n-- I don't I'm going to do that."

Speaker: He had a different teacher. He had um, miss, what's her name? Anyway she's still alive and she was really cross and ah, he used to get the strap every once and a while.

Interviewer: Kick-the-can? Speaker: Yeah, it's like a tag game. Interviewer: Oh. Speaker: Yeah you play with a group of people and you have the can in the middle of yard and one person's it. And i-- and- when they tag you, you have to go to home base. But the c-- can is there. Somebody comes and kicks the can, everybody who's in home base gets free. Interviewer: (Laughs) Speaker: So we would play that a lot 'cause there was lots of kids in our neighbourhood.

The skunk sprayed the dog and the dog was all upset because the skunk had, you-know, had skunk smell all over it and it came into the shed with us and tried to get into bed with us 'cause it was all upset. So of course we had skunk smelly dog all over these sheets and blankets and my mother said she'll never forget the sight of us traipsing past the kitchen window, dragging our sheets and pillows and-everything, blankets, back into the house all wet now because it's been raining...

Interviewer: Really? Do you remember any big fights down there? Speaker: Not too many, the- then the- the- another thing there for a while- for- shortly after I got married. I-don't-know why my wife married me because I was an awful tramp. Interviewer: How did you get- how did you meet your wife? Speaker: You wouldn't believe that story.

Interviewer: And what would you do on your days off? Speaker: Rest. We just needed that day to rest. Was cold and it- it was hard, hard work. Tremendously hard work. Yeah. Interviewer: So in your down time you- did you read a book, what would you do? Speaker: (laughs) No I never read a book. Just l-- go to bed and sleep. Then get up and work.

Interviewer: Well thank you so much for sharing your history. Speaker: (laughs) No, that's what I say about it. I- I- I enjoyed living tremendously in my times. Oh, I l-- I had some wonderful, wonderful times in my life. But now I'm- I'm not having them wonderful times. Almost every day has got something that's- makes me- upsets me a little bit.

Interviewer: So what were your parents like? Interviewer 2: Yeah. Interviewer: Were they strict or were they lenient? Speaker: Oh, I wouldn't trade them for anything. Interviewer: Mm. Speaker: My mother was a tremendously good cook, she can really make an apple pie that, you-know the bottom wasn't soggy and there was enough cinnamon and apples weren't hard, like you-know. It was beautiful, anything she cooked ah it was great- and dad was ah sharp and on-the-ball.

A stradivarius is ah tremendously good violin, yeah.

Speaker: ... actually I think my favourite grade was grade-five, until I started teaching grade-seven and eight and then I- that's what I taught 'til I retired. Interviewer: Why did you like that (inc)? Speaker: Oh, well you could talk with them and discuss things and ah they were- they were tremendously interesting. They kept me thinking about things in different ways that I never thought about. Of course, I was an old fuddy-duddy by then and they were, ah, I really- I really enjoyed them.

I just wanted her to leave me alone type-thing. So ah, Shauna and I discussed it.

I-mean I still got to survive and this town just doesn't- you can't make enough money like for the work that you do type-thing.

He- you-know, anyone who had any sick animals or-whatever then started bringing them to the farm and he he sort-of was ah a- a bit of a a veterinarian practitioner-type-thing up in ah in Harley for a number of years as well.

For one of my favourite things, like a recent type-thing, um, Patrick-Greg, you-know?

'Cause- 'cause that was one of the step in type-things, right?

From the bank, took a package type-thing.

but a- but a- if you were going into like a- like an engineering type-thing-

Just on a contract, you-know-what-I-mean, type-thing.