Saga of the Sanpitch Volume 13, 1981 - Sanpete County

We had trees by our granary where the birds would
sing
We had Blue Birds and Robins and Meadow Larks
too
They each had a song they were singing to you
The Meadow Lark said "Utah is a pretty little place"
The Robin said "I like this space"
The Blue Bird sang "Happiness dear"
The Black Bird said "Spring, Spring, Spring is here".
And Spring was here for sure we knew
The wind, then rain, then skies of blue
The snow was melting with mud everywhere
The smell of growing was in the air
Little rivers of water ran down our lane
All this made the Duck Spring pasture green again.
When the sun came out and would dry one spot
Out would come stilts, and Ginnie and marbles the
lot
All nine of us kids would really plot
Because games at our house were seldom bought
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We'd play kick the can and run sheep run
We'd really make that ole place hum.
We'd work hard our family of nine
We were up long before the sun would shine
We picked up rocks on the dry farm so
The binder could harvest and the grain could grow
I plowed that ground with horses four
All alone on that dry farm in days of yore.
Old Alice and Doak and Florie and Don
The slightest noise and Boy! they were gone
The run aways I couldn't count
But that didn't stop us we grabbed the chance to
mount.
I remember this one time we were hauling hay
My brother Perry who liked to play
Threw a turkey wing and it hit the rack
The horses jumped and I fell flat
When they heard the sound of that loud crack
Away they went bumping over the furrows
I was bouncing around like a head of long curls
75
I'd get up and fall down trying to get to the reins
You'll never know all the aches and pains
They ran till they came to a gate that was closed
I sat there trying to get composed
My Dad ran up half scared to death
He started to laugh but was out of breath
I was mad and crying it wasn't funny
But I soon melted down cause he called me his
honey.
One other time I remember well
For my Mother for a minute it was a living hell
We were loading sugar beets the last of the day
Dad had two span of horses to pull it away
The lead span was fastened with a big long chain
So we could take them off when they got to the
lane.
My Dad called out "Come on Doak"
And you know what, that darn chain broke
Away they went an came right around
Where we had all gathered an started to clown
We all scattered, but Mother ran to grab Evaneal
Ole Florie hit her and she really keeled
The horses four and the double tree
Went right over the top of that baby wee
They kept right on going across the farm
We couldn't believe they had done us no harm.
We'd ride like the wind on a clear summer day
Too short was the noon hour we had to tromp hay
Our lunch hour was spent mostly with a nap or a
swim
Sometimes I'd get in trouble clear up to my chin
We'd rob bird nests, an fight an kill rattlesnakes
We'd read and embroider and dream of dates
I'd build mud houses and dress angle worms too
There were various things this family would do.
The farm had some sheds, a tin granary and all
We even had a silo tall
A house, one room, with a well so deep
Our dad would pump water for all his sheep.
My dad had a shop where time I liked to spend
I'd take all his nails and flatten the end