I recently came across a site on facebook called Kansas Old and Interesting Places. Being from Kansas I find the history fascinating. So I joined the group. While perusing last night on the site, I came across a picture of a big white house located in Toronto. I started thinking about when Duane and I were first married, before we had any kids and I remembered that we had lived in Toronto for a few weeks. History lesson coming up here.
I was 19 and Duane was 21 when we married. He and 2 of his brothers were in the business of trimming trees. Now in this day and age they would be respectable and probably have an office some where, but back in those days, the car and the pickup were the office, warehouse, job site, and bookkeeping. The first year we were married we lived in 14 different cities around the state. We would locate to a town, sell our service, and when all the trees were trimmed we would move on to greener pastures. It was honest work and Duane was a very good tree trimmer. It kind of sucked not to have any real roots, but we were in love. What more can I say?
Back to Toronto. We pulled into Toronto and immediately went fishing. First we rented a room at the local hotel. It had a big room with a couch and bed and a stove to cook on in the other room. Arrangements were made with the owners that I would clean the halls and the bathroom in lieu of the $5 a week rent. I would go to the local grocery and purchase food for the day, cook it and have supper ready when Duane and the brothers came home. Now, suffice it to say, that one of the prerequisites of being a tree trimmer was you must be a good beer drinker. The day always ended up in the bar. I did not drink at the time, nor do I now, but he and his brothers drank enough for me.
I remember this song, (click on the blue letters to open the link. Ski King ) Seems this happened either at Toronto Lake or the Fall River Reservoir.
Toronto Lake was some good fishing, for sure. On one day I was instructed to cook up a pot of beans and the boys would bring home some corn. Sounded good to me, so I cooked the beans and later that evening they came in with a peck or so of corn. Well, unbeknownst to this ignorant little girl from the big city, it was field corn. So I shucked a few ears and threw them in the bean pot. After due time Duane pronounced it ready. Hmmm. That stuff was very hard. So we cooked it longer. It got harder. We cut it off the cob and boiled it some more. Now let this be a lesson to all of you, field corn is a whole different ball game then the sweet corn I was used to. For our supper we ate beans and corn, but the corn was picked out and tossed in the trash.
To end this tale of woe, Yates Center was nearby and I had not been feeling well. Duane took me to the doctor, dropped me off and went to the pool hall. The doctor examined me and pronounced that I was pregnant. OMG! Where is the hospital where I will have the baby? He looked at me like I may have just fell off the turnip truck and said "Around these parts folks has their babies to home."
And that ended our life in Toronto. I am a city girl at heart and there was no way in hell I was going to have my baby "to home." Hutchinson would become my home for the duration of my pregnancy. I had a mother there and she had running water and all that stuff!
But I do have my memories of Ski King and I have yet to figure out how all this connects. If you do, please share with me!
I was 19 and Duane was 21 when we married. He and 2 of his brothers were in the business of trimming trees. Now in this day and age they would be respectable and probably have an office some where, but back in those days, the car and the pickup were the office, warehouse, job site, and bookkeeping. The first year we were married we lived in 14 different cities around the state. We would locate to a town, sell our service, and when all the trees were trimmed we would move on to greener pastures. It was honest work and Duane was a very good tree trimmer. It kind of sucked not to have any real roots, but we were in love. What more can I say?
Back to Toronto. We pulled into Toronto and immediately went fishing. First we rented a room at the local hotel. It had a big room with a couch and bed and a stove to cook on in the other room. Arrangements were made with the owners that I would clean the halls and the bathroom in lieu of the $5 a week rent. I would go to the local grocery and purchase food for the day, cook it and have supper ready when Duane and the brothers came home. Now, suffice it to say, that one of the prerequisites of being a tree trimmer was you must be a good beer drinker. The day always ended up in the bar. I did not drink at the time, nor do I now, but he and his brothers drank enough for me.
I remember this song, (click on the blue letters to open the link. Ski King ) Seems this happened either at Toronto Lake or the Fall River Reservoir.
Toronto Lake was some good fishing, for sure. On one day I was instructed to cook up a pot of beans and the boys would bring home some corn. Sounded good to me, so I cooked the beans and later that evening they came in with a peck or so of corn. Well, unbeknownst to this ignorant little girl from the big city, it was field corn. So I shucked a few ears and threw them in the bean pot. After due time Duane pronounced it ready. Hmmm. That stuff was very hard. So we cooked it longer. It got harder. We cut it off the cob and boiled it some more. Now let this be a lesson to all of you, field corn is a whole different ball game then the sweet corn I was used to. For our supper we ate beans and corn, but the corn was picked out and tossed in the trash.
To end this tale of woe, Yates Center was nearby and I had not been feeling well. Duane took me to the doctor, dropped me off and went to the pool hall. The doctor examined me and pronounced that I was pregnant. OMG! Where is the hospital where I will have the baby? He looked at me like I may have just fell off the turnip truck and said "Around these parts folks has their babies to home."
And that ended our life in Toronto. I am a city girl at heart and there was no way in hell I was going to have my baby "to home." Hutchinson would become my home for the duration of my pregnancy. I had a mother there and she had running water and all that stuff!
But I do have my memories of Ski King and I have yet to figure out how all this connects. If you do, please share with me!
