Memories of Spring Break

This is the time of the year for spring break.  When the schools and colleges shut their doors for a week so students and teachers can regroup after a long winter of classes and study.  A popular activity for college students is to trek off to a Florida beach for week of sun and fun away from the snow and cold. 

I remember so well my first year of college (1951-1952), and how I looked forward to spring break.  No going to Florida—I had neither interest nor the money to do that.  I looked forward to a week on the home farm.  I’ll fess up now—as many people who know me are aware;  My heart has always been in the country, and likely will always be.  I couldn’t wait for spring break, which in those days was mid-April.  I looked forward to hearing the meadowlarks and the mourning doves, and seeing bluebirds and robins. I couldn’t wait to smell newly turned soil, as this was the week when I crawled on our Farmall H tractor and disked and smooth dragged the fields prior to planting oats.

Today, I can still remember the cool mornings, after I helped my dad with the morning milking, ate a big breakfast, and then headed out to the shed for the tractor and a day of having the warm sun on my back while I drove up and back on the twenty-acre field that soon would be oats.   No sound of sirens, no traffic sounds.  Just the steady drone of the tractor.

After a week of “farming,” I was ready to return to the “big city” refreshed, and ready to endure several more weeks of classes and study before the semester ended, and I could return to the farm for the summer.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  Once a farm boy, always a farm boy.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

You can buy my books at your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering, or contact the librarian: barnard@wildroselibrary.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby, visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.  If you live in northcentral Wisconsin, stop at the Janke bookstore in Wausau (phone 715-845-9648).  They have a large selection of my books.