Soulvoice Snippets
Schafer Creek -pg8

Hub and Me -Schafer Creek

We had cousins in Star and I loved to be with them when we visited there. I especially loved to play with Rosemary Lenaghen. She was Halsey's Daughter and an only child. She either read or her mother read to her, because we would play the most fascinating games devised by her.

Because of her ability to share the stories with me, I could visualize huge castles with dark corridors, heiresses with keys dangling from their belts. She choreographed our play on the lawn. There was a complete meeting of our minds as we reconstructed such tales. We escaped the most perilous situations, right in the grandparents back yard. After l discovered the world of books, l recognized some of the plots such as "The Enchanted Garden" etc. We replayed the plots in our imaginations. She must have been extra ordinarily gifted to make it come alive for me in that manner.

While we cousins explored in Grandmother Lenaghen's old shed house (called the green house), we came across a trunk of old cloths. Corsets, Black Skirts, Blouses and other articles that lent themselves to our skits. I do not recall the other cousins being involved with us in these reenactments.

I have special memories of the "Bachmann Cousins". They were grandmother Lenaghen's favorites and I always thought it was because they lived so close. Mary Lou and Hazel Irene would take me between them and with my toes just skimming the ground we would run. We flew between their house and grandmother Lenaghen's in this manner. I loved it. We were always a little in awe at Uncle Arthur Bachmann's. He always looked fierce and spoke so forbiddingly.

The world at their house was of 7 toed cats (a genetic mutation), sour dough pan cakes and pork chops. There always seemed to be an abundance of them. I recall they raised their own pork, and so the reason why they ate more Pork. We cousins raided their hen house and traded the eggs for treats at the little store on the corner. Candy "Guess Whats", with the favor inside, was our favorite.

The fresh vegetables in their garden supported our constant raiding and we loved to swim together in the irrigation ditch which wound it's way through town. Aunt Tressie worked as a practical Nurse in Boise and so Arthur watched the family. They were on their own most of the time.

While in the first grade in Star, I remember dancing a special Maypole dance at school. I had a lead role in the school play. I could do cart wheels which l had learned from cousins The play needed a clown who could cartwheel and I won the part. The week of the play found me in bed with the flu. I went and did the play, even though I'd been in bed all day. With all the exertion, my nose started bleeding afterwards. It bled so bad they had to apply pressure to stop it, They placed a crust of bread in the front of my mouth behind the lip against the gum, and a dime in the roof of my mouth. It did eventually stop.

Hubert and l had spent a large portion of our preschool, first and second grades with the grandparents in Star. After Jack's birth, Mom's health was bad. Her heart was one problem. Another time they had rushed her to the hospital in Emmett, and just in time with a severe hemorrhage. They had packed her inside with gauze to stop it. She was in and out of the hospital with repeated operations in those years. I spent a lot of my time with Dorothy and Kirby Kindall and they were like my second parents. I loved them dearly .

I guess by now you have guessed I was at home in a male atmosphere. I poked into the shop where the mechanics equipment was. I loved to spend time in the Blacksmith Shop with Granddad. We children played there much of the time.

Hanging on the back wall, hanging on some spikes, was a cross cut saw, formerly used to saw down timber. It was sharpened to perfection. Someone was chasing me and as l ran by it, l tripped. The force threw me against the wall and the saw came down on top of me. It nicked the front of my head. As a head wound will , blood flew wildly. By the time grandfather gathered me up to assess the damage, he was certain, l was mortally wounded. Luck had saved the day and it was only a nick after all .

Dad, a magician with his hands had made Mom a cedar chest trunk. He had fitted small pieces of cedar in a mosaic style. The pattern was intricate and beautiful. Mom and Dad had stored the trunk, packed with wedding presents back there against the back wall. On one disastrous occasion a horse got away from grandfather and wildly trying to escape had sat on it's honchos right on top of the trunk. Many precious things were crunched.

When I was in the second grade the parents sold the sawmill at Schafer Creek and Dad went to work helping Harris brothers construct the Mill Site on the Island In Boise.As I recall, the Boiler from Schafer Creek was the Boiler that Dad incorporated into the New Mill called Harris Bros. We now moved to the valley. So...begins my school years tale. (To be Continued)

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