Not too long ago, my youngest grandson asked me if we had tv back when I was a kid. Well, yes we did, Devin, but not until I was ten and a half years old in 1954. Dad had obtained a console tv to "try out" for a week. At the same time an accordian salesman had been to our home. I really wanted the accordian - mostly because my best friend had one and was learning to play. Dad gave me the choice - tv or accordian? He must have known I would chose the tv; if I had chosen the accordian, it wouldn't have been fair to the rest of the family.
Until they bought the 'home 80' in 1964, my parents farmed 320 acres on shares with the landlord. Hade Hutchinson lived on the east side of Corning. He had a barn and pasture down by the Nodaway River and lots of horses. He was a horse man. His big thing was racing trotters during the county fair. He also sponsored horse shows at his own ring. I loved walking through his barn and looking at all the horses in their stalls; 'picking' "my horse" as my sister 'picked' hers.
Hade always made sure we had a horse at our farm. Granted, it wasn't a very good horse, but she was our horse. Queenie was a cross between a shetland pony and a taller horse; just about the right size for little girls to ride. The problem was, she didn't always want to be ridden. She would fight taking the bridle, even nipping at us. She was blind in one eye, so we always tried to approach her from that side. Mom said she had us "buffaloed" and we needed to let her know we were in charge. Easier said than done!
I remember having a saddle, but we almost always rode her bareback. Queenie was in the same pasture as the milk cows. We would take an ear of corn and the bridle, walk down the lane to the pasture, lure her with the corn, grab the halter, and, one time out of ten be successful in getting the bridle on, swinging up and riding her back to the barn as we herded up the milk cows.
When I was nine, Dad talked our neighbor into selling his buggy to us. Technically, I think it was a buckboard. It had one seat, a little storage space behind and a top which could be put up and down. Wow! It was alot more fun riding in the buggy behind the horse; riding in comfort and style! We soon learned how to harness Queenie ourselves so we could take off anytime.
I remember carrying water out to the men working in the hay field or cutting and shocking oats. It was always hot and humid and they were glad to see us with our cold water jugs. One old fellow teased us about bringing lemonade instead of water, so we called him 'lemonade'.
One day two older neighbor boys came to visit with my brother. They hooked up the buggy and went galloping down the road. We didn't see what happened, but they tipped the buggy over into the ditch. After that we no longer had a top on our buggy. They had broken it to pieces.
There was a big hill north of the other place which served as a wonderfully long sledding hill in the winter. Betty and I would take the buggy up there in the summer to watch the sun go down. We probably only did that two or three times, but that was enough for us to name it "Sunset Hill".
Oh, the good ole' horse and buggy days!
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