Autobiography of Wilbur R. Thatcher (My Dad) - Installment 6 of 10
This week's blog is installment 6 of 10 of my Dad's Autobiography about growing up in Wayne County Iowa.
Loy McMurray & neighbors helped with the crop work while Carl was sick.
We always had a radio. I enjoyed the Air Adventures of Jimmy Allen & Jack Armstrong the all American Boy & many other programs. I always had a pony to ride & enjoyed hunting & fishing. I went to South Salem Grade School & one morning I checked the traps before going to school & I got sprayed by a skunk. I wasn’t very popular with the teacher when I showed up. Since I had perfect attendance record I wouldn’t go home.
During the depression there was a CCC Camp where MFA formerly Middlebrook Grain Storage is now they planted trees around Corydon Lake park & other areas plus a lot of other manual labor in return for housing & food. Times were tough.
We always butchered our own livestock for meat. The hog lard was made in to lye soap for laundry. Home cured hams, the rest of the meat was cooked & canned for future use. During the drought we couldn’t afford to use meat so we ate corn mash & molasses. Sure got tired of it.
The state of Iowa started a Bovis disease testing program. The best cows tested positive & were taken to slaughter. This seemed a bit strange.
