In 1928, following several productive years, a new house was started for the Tatros on the west quarter of section 17, township 43, range 14, west of the 3rd meridian, close to the highway and railway that paralleled it and convenient  for the children to walk to the Brada school. To make it possible for the family to move in before winter it was made without a foundation but with good materials. They moved in in the fall with the intention of finishing building the next year.

Now is the time when Harry’s memories begin to be made. He remembers the move to the new house. That story is told in the June 14, 2020 post THE MOVE TO THE NEW HOUSE AND MAKING A NEW FRIEND 1928. From the new home the older children could travel a good road to attend Brada School, less than two miles west. But the site was without a well and adequate shelter for farm animals. Water had to be hauled from the Strachan’s and horses to haul it were kept there. This made necessary many trips on foot between the two establishments  and dictated a constant shortage of the essential element: not a happy situation for housewife with a large family. Providing another essential supply, fuel for the wood burning stoves, for both kitchen ranges and heaters at both homes, was another activity that took up most of the winter working hours for Lynn. When there was a “hired man” staying on after harvest, some help was available in piling up a supply. There was little wood available short of the North Saskatchewan River hills, two or three miles away and getting there entailed an all day trip during the short winter days.”

Dad says “Getting wood fuel for heat for the house and cooking was always such a big job in the winter. There was never enough it seemed. We had to haul it from a distance and the source of the wood was across the North Saskatchewan River. We would hitch up a team of 2 horses to a bobsleigh. A bobsleigh had two wooden front runners with a metal strip along the runner and 2 back runners. The front runners turned like wheels would on a wagon. Sometimes we would cut and add a post at each corner when we got to the bush and the load would be chained or roped to the sleigh. You could also add a box to on top of the sleigh to haul other loads like grain or hay.

We had to get them ready for the all-day trip across the river which was a trip of about 2 miles. We first had to get the horses from “ the grandparents” place. It started in the dark in the morning and we had to hurry back before the evening dark. It was not too bad in the warmer weather but it was sometimes 40 below. Of course, the colder it was the more wood you burned and the more we had to haul. Sometimes even if it was cold you had to make the trip; you had to have wood. Sometimes Bud helped, I guess but it was the times with me and my Dad that I remember. We would take our lunch along. Sandwiches with homemade bread and whatever was there, maybe egg, maybe peanut butter and jam. Maybe meat if that’s what was there. We carried sheaves of oats or grain to feed the horses. First thing we did when we got across the river was to unhook the team and put down feed for them. Then we started cutting down trees with the axes. You would chop down trees, trim off the branches and get them ready to load. Then we would stop for lunch, first making a campfire. Hopefully the sandwiches weren’t frozen, if they were you would make a forked stick and warm them up over the campfire. We had to watch that the whisky jacks didn’t steal them out of your hand. Those birds were really bold and if they had a chance would steal a bite or even the whole sandwich they would. Sometimes there might have been a squirrel around but they weren’t as bad as the whisky jacks for stealing.

After lunch we would load the sleigh. A four foot high load on the bobsleigh was a good load, not too much for the horses. The bigger end of each log was placed at the front of the sleigh with the lighter smaller end at the back. One time, we each had our own team so we could bring back two loads at the same time. I had a very docile team that I thought were trustworthy and didn’t bother to tether them. We had left the teams some distance away in the bush. While we were eating lunch we heard a great rattle and ruckus in the bush. My team were young and frisky and had decided to run away. There was nothing we could do about it so we went ahead and loaded both sleighs. Then at least we would take Dad’s sleigh back. We left with Dad’s load and went down to the river to cross back across and there was my team just standing in the bright winter sun. I took the team back to my sleigh and hooked them up. I got them back to the house long after Dad. That only happened once.

As I said it could be very cold on days we had to go for wood. Dad always wore low rubber slip on boots over socks inside high felt boots that came up almost to his knees. That day I wore moccasins with two pairs of socks inside. It was colder than I figured and my feet got very cold. I complained to Dad. Even when I ran behind my load my feet were going to freeze. He had us stop and we exchanged footwear. I remember how nice and warm l my feet felt and he never said if his feet were cold in my moccasins.

Dad was always happy with 2 loads of wood on hand. I always wanted a big pile. Two loads would last maybe two weeks but of course it depended on how cold it was. If it got down to 40 below you burned a lot more than when it was nicer. We didn’t have a good weather forecast so you never knew how long what was on hand would last. After a day away you might come home in a snowstorm or you might get to the river and find it flooded. In that case you couldn’t cross; you never knew if there was ice under that water or not. If you did take a chance, you trusted the horses to know if there was ice and not go where there wasn’t. You just never knew, the weather could change just like it does now. I got back to the barn once and my hands were so cold that I had no strength to unhitch the horses. I can’t remember how I finally got the hitch undone but I know I finally did it because you couldn’t leave the horses hitched up. They weren’t always “good old days”.