Life on the farm

Farm life was so different from what I had been used to prior to moving to Macleod. I enjoyed helping out though and learned how to run a hay rake and make a hay stack, round up the milk cows, and bring them in for milking. Feed the pigs and clean the hen house were also part of my new duties. What I didn't like was killing any animals, yet it was an important facet of farm life and had to be done. Leighton had no trouble in butchering pigs, sheep, calves, chickens etc. That was just part of being a farmer and had to be learned from an early age. Sometimes animals got sick and had to be disposed of. To my relief I was never asked to participate in these sad events.

Not long after arriving on the farm, I enrolled in the local high school, and was placed in the eleventh grade. The high school was about five miles from the farm. They had no school busses and nobody had time to give me a ride. Gas was rationed by the Government; however farmers were able to get a supply of gas to run their farm equipment. The only way the Government was able to control its use was by putting a color dye in the gas. Using it to run your car was forbidden. The Mounties had check points where they would siphon gas out of your tank to check its color. You had to pay a very heavy fine if they caught you. So I had no choice but ride the bicycle that Leighton loaned me. It was not fun in the rain, wind or cold.

I got pretty fed up with riding a bike every day. A lot of the students came to school on horseback. There were several horses available on the ranch but I didn't expect the Buckwell's to lend me a horse. I did a lot of riding and Leighton had taught me how to ride a Western saddle. I had taken riding lessons in Vancouver, along with my sister, but we used the English saddle that was very flat and had no horn.

I decided that I wanted my own horse. My mother gave me some money and I set out to buy a horse. Leighton and I saddled up and rode way out to the Indian Reservation. He thought that an Indian pony would be a good buy. Indian ponies are pretty rugged and almost as big as the ranch horses. When we got to the reservation the Indian agent said that Chief Big Swan had some horses he would sell. We located the Chief and we sat down to talk. Chief Big Swan knew Leighton. He had often hired some of the local Indians to help bring in the crops. It took a little bargaining with Chief Big Swan, but we finally settled on the price of twenty five dollars. I had my pick of several horses in the corral. With Leighton's help, I picked out a reddish brown Indian pony that looked about three years old. We put a bridle on him and led him back to the farm. I still had to buy a saddle, bridle etc.; in the meantime Leighton loaned me a saddle. From then on, whenever the weather was bad, I rode my horse to school.

At school I had been passed up to the 12^th grade, however, I was not too happy with my school. It seemed that everything they were teaching, I had already learned. I had discussed this with the school principal, who concluded that apparently the boarding school back in Vancouver was teaching far ahead of the Macleod local high school. It was a long way to get to school every day. I was riding a bike and on occasion was riding on horseback.

Winter was coming, and I didn't relish doing this in below zero weather. I spoke further with the principal to see if I could get a graduation certificate. He told me that this was impossible unless I finished the school year. He acknowledged that I was far ahead of the class; however, his hands were tied. He suggested that if I wanted to leave, I could. If I returned in the spring and took the exams he would do his best to provide me with a graduation certificate. But, it would be up to the Superintendent in Calgary. I decided to discuss this with the Buckwell's and my mother. I was not sure what I should do…