Norma A Boeckler

Those Days on the Farm Norma A Boeckler

Thoughts of the farm days always haunted my memory. I remember many chores were assigned to me at an early age. One job, was helping to care for the chickens. Feeding, watering and cleaning out their nesting boxes. The old straw had to be removed often and new straw replaced to keep a tidy clean nest for the hens to lay eggs. All those things were very important to raise healthy chickens. We had to carry food and water to them and gather eggs every day. Another important job was pumping water from a tall long handled iron pump into a large oval galvanized stock tank in the barnyard. Both cattle and horses drank from the same water tank. It took what seemed like hours to fill the tank to the full level. To help pass the time I would sing all my favorite western songs and taught myself to yodel. One of the old records I listened to for hours was yodeling by Elton Britt. He was the best! The pump in the barnyard was far away from the house and no one could hear me practice my yodeling and I wanted it to be a secret. Eventually my secret was found out when I yodeled with a western band in the neighborhood.