"Life on the Farm: Part Six--the end"

Playing tennis or basketball on the dirt “court” was a great teacher in patience.

The value of learning to work on the farm is priceless.

Having a Mom who praised us for work that wasn’t done to her standards takes on new meaning as I have children of my own.

Standing out silently holding the bag of nails, trying to stand just so in the sun, while Dad built the fence brings new understanding as fathers endure “help” from their kids on projects.

After working with dad when his patience was being tried you were left to contemplate whether the sentence, "Son of a" had an ending or if that was it.

Romping through hills playing cowboys and Indians and making forts are treasured memories.

You didn’t need a horse to ride one. All you needed was a big mailbox, oil tank, saddle on a sawhorse, or fence, etc.

If you could lift the wheel barrow more than an inch off the ground, it wasn't full enough.

The art of hauling wood had some very important rules:
- The fewer trips you took, the better.
- If you could see over top of wheel barrow, it wasn’t stacked high enough.
- If you felt wheel barrow start to tip over, don’t try and stop it, but throw it over as hard as you could and use some of that “sailor” language.

The little, manure stream in front of the house in neighbor’s field makes a great substitute font for practicing being baptized, over and over and over again.

Dad really was not proud of you for starting the tractor all by yourself in the barn with the door closed.

A 5 yr old in a mailbox is much scarier than a 3 year old.

When you played baseball with a tennis ball it really went much further, but whoever hit it had to retrieve it out the neighbor’s pasture with the bulls in it.

Well, that is all folks. I hope you enjoyed although I'm afraid a lot of this is, "you had to be there to appreciate" but my sister's and I had a great time coming up with this and then sending it to my poor mother........she really will have many mansions in heaven.........her just surviving raising us made sure of that. We love you mum and dad. Thank you for raising us ladies on the farm. If I could ever change anything in my circumstances today......it would be to give my children what my parents gave to me.