Winter On Its Way

Tuesday,November 23,1926: We washed and baked today. It was quite a nice day. Got a letter from Aunt Rachel. Uncle Thomas [Trudgian]* is very poorly. His blood pressure is 240.

Monday was cloudy with a light snow. We mended & etz. On Sunday it was very cold. That morning the windows were all frozen up. We had thought perhaps the Tippet family would be down but no. So that afternoon Dad, Ma & I walked up there. Then we came home in the beautiful moonlight. It had been a nice clear day & evening.

Saturday Dad, Len & Ruby went to town by car in the afternoon. They brought home a supply of eats. The roads were not so bad or good. They are the worst if you have to turn out of the road. Some sleighs going along now days.

Friday the sun had peeked out once. It was the first time for a week I guess. We washed and baked as usual we were always busy.

* Thomas and Rachel Trudgian were my great grandparents. They are buried in the Miner Cemetery with Lillian and her parents, as well as my great-great grandparents -Joseph and Mary [Pellymounter] Trudgian.

A Break in The Weather & Maybe The Fence

"Sat 9, 2009: All but Len went to town this afternoon .There were a great many cars going along this evening, in fact the road was busy all day.. Today was a nice warm day. Yesterday was another beautiful day. It was quite warm, but we didn’t get many potatoes dug today. Dad spent most of people’s time running after the cow & calves* etz. Len, Ruby & Dad hauled some hay this afternoon. We baked a cake, churned, and finished ironing.

Thursday was a most beautiful day. It was the first one we had had for a long, long while. I* would liked to have gone on a long ride somewhere but felt we could not afford the time. All but Dad dug potatoes a while Thursday forenoon. Our potatoes are very poor potatoes. It is very discouraging. In the afternoon Len went to town to try to have his car fixed. It wouldn’t run on the magnets. He took it up to Paul Stauss’* and he fixed it in a few minutes. Almira, Wesley & Eleanor Dittmar [cousins] came in the afternoon for some of our apples. After they had gone Uncle Joe Dittmar and his family called on their way home from Galena. Dad, Ma & I went up to Aunt Annie’s Thursday evening."

* Lillian loved cars. She spent hours of her life after that first car in 1917, fixing and grooming the family cars, as well as driving here and there. And, she was quite good at it! Rather unusual for a woman in those days.

* We can assume that, once again, the cows have gotten through the fence and run off. It wouldn’t be the first time. If the Trudgian cows weren’t in someone else’s pasture, then someone else’s cows were in the Trudgian’s pasture. Everyone knew whose animals were whose. Don’t ask me! I’ve never been a farm girl!

* Paul Stauss appears to be a man of all trades. In the first volume of Lillian’s Diaires he is always bringing parts in the Trudgian farm and helping to fix the radio, now he is fixing Len’s car. I think he is related to Leonard Stauss, Ruby’s husband. Perhaps he is a nephew.