Uncle Vernon’s Story (part 14)

Before we left Selma’s place electricity was installed in the house, but when we got to the next place (Stressnor – the 7^th place) we were again without electricity until after WWII, about the spring of 1948. In the summer of 1941, Daddy and I cut logs on the Hemeyer place. The idea was that we cut enough logs (lumber) to make two silos, one for us and one for uncle Henry. We built Uncle Henry’s silo, but didn’t have enough lumber left to build another one, so we were without a silo for several years. We built a silo at Schubert also and tore it down and took the lumber along to Selma’s place, but never got around to reassembling it.

The silo we later built on the Stroessnor place was much larger, 28 ft tall. Beatrice and I both helped build that one. I had corn out on Selma’s place, Uncle Henry’s place, and also on the Uncle George Miller place, plus 17 acres on the Stressnor place that we took care of. That marked the end of my formal education. I was 15 that fall and they had a birthday party for me.

Margie was more fortunate than I. she got to finish high school at Eugene. The war with Europe and Japan started that fall. It became hard to get gas to market products in Jefferson City like we did at Schubert, so we sold our milk in the bulk to the Kraft cheese factory in Eldon.

Daddy read some article about genetic engineering done in Germany for the purpose of producing female offspring and I on occasion had to go to the drug store in Jefferson City to purchase this product. One time they asked me what it was being used for and of course I couldn’t tell them. The purpose was to produce heifer calves instead of bull calves. Normally they are more male calves than female calves, so I think it may have worked.