Quotation for a day in March
"What a day this has been! Just a marvelous warm, sunny spring day to begin with, then payday to make it still happier and my first real work on the farm to top it off.
The expressman brought my 90 pounds of alfalfa seed this week from Henry in Cadiz. Half of it was lost for three days but came this morning. This evening at 5 o'clock after work, I loaded the alfalfa and the dogs in the car and drove to the farm. Two weeks ago I borrowed Will's hand seeder. Well I drove down into the soft bottoms and got stuck in the mud. Undaunted, I left the car in the mud, shouldered the half bushel of seed and seeder and went to the wheat patch which I'm seeding. First, I had some difficulty adjusting the seed feed, then the machinery got out of whack. Finally, after tinkering awhile, all was ship shape and the sower went forth to sow.
How lustily I did stride in the sweet, spring earth, walking for 1 and 1/2 hours after walking all day on the mail trip. However, the soft ground was pleasant walking after hitting the cement all day. Probably sowed three or more acres in a strong wind. I'll go over it again. I'm feeling fine and happy tonight.
Ritz jumped a rabbit in the center of the field and made a mighty pretty chase, gaining slowly on the bunny but not catching it."
D.C. Richards
(my Great Grandfather)
Journal
March 15, 1934
The expressman brought my 90 pounds of alfalfa seed this week from Henry in Cadiz. Half of it was lost for three days but came this morning. This evening at 5 o'clock after work, I loaded the alfalfa and the dogs in the car and drove to the farm. Two weeks ago I borrowed Will's hand seeder. Well I drove down into the soft bottoms and got stuck in the mud. Undaunted, I left the car in the mud, shouldered the half bushel of seed and seeder and went to the wheat patch which I'm seeding. First, I had some difficulty adjusting the seed feed, then the machinery got out of whack. Finally, after tinkering awhile, all was ship shape and the sower went forth to sow.
How lustily I did stride in the sweet, spring earth, walking for 1 and 1/2 hours after walking all day on the mail trip. However, the soft ground was pleasant walking after hitting the cement all day. Probably sowed three or more acres in a strong wind. I'll go over it again. I'm feeling fine and happy tonight.
Ritz jumped a rabbit in the center of the field and made a mighty pretty chase, gaining slowly on the bunny but not catching it."
D.C. Richards
(my Great Grandfather)
Journal
March 15, 1934
I envy you. I'd love to have some insight into my ancestors' thoughts and attitudes. Your grandfather seems like the kind of man we'd all like to know.
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I've salvaged several of his journals from a moldy trunk. I remember him as a very old man. He was a gardner who mostly slept in a hammock in his garden. He was a voracious reader, smoked a pipe (Prince Albert) and smiled a lot. I remember the smell of his house and I loved his garden which occupied his entire back yard and included grapes, cucumbers, tomatoes and flowers. My favorite story about him involves his daily swims in the Muskingum river. Well into his 80's, he would visit the river, strip off his clothes and dive into the river to cool off. The police finally asked my grandmother to have him stop because they received calls (most likely from envious onlookers). My mother says he was a happy man. I've decided to use his journal entries to supplement the site.
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