Boon Lake – Part 7

Boon Lake Township seemed to be a great fit.  It seemed like our forever home.

In the spring of 1967, I had a job opportunity.  Boon Lake Township needed a local assessor.  And . . . I was an assessor!  Dad was on the Boon Lake Township board and he came over to sell me on it.  I would be taking my directions from the county office in Olivia.  I would be responsible to contacting all land owners in the township via driving up to each farmstead.  At that time there was a Personal Property tax as well as Real Estate taxes.  There were forms that queried each land owner.  The questions asked pertained to the number of head of livestock, machinery and also some for household goods. 

For several months of work that included a vehicle to cover 36 sections, 640 acres each, that comprised Boon Lake Township, the pay was $200.00.  I jumped at it.  The work was in the spring of the year.  Orlin and I would hustle to get the morning chores done and then Carrie, in her plastic seat, and I hit the trails.  It wasn’t like the farmers were taken by surprise.  This yearly quest had been going on for years . . . it was just a new face with the old and usual riggers.  Carrie and I did a great job.  At the end of the work, I had $200.00 extra for groceries and we had enough Cheerios on the floor of the car to feed several orphans.  Looking back, that two month ditty turned into a profession that lasted me to the age of 65 when I retired as the Watonwan County Assessor.  Who would have guessed!

Thanksgiving of 1967 we had news for the families that we would be having a baby in 1968.  I felt physically great.  No morning sickness.  Chores was handled as usual.  The cows had produced calves in the late fall of 1967 and we had a few that Orlin could take to the sales barn in Hutchinson.  We fed back much of the oats, corn and hay crop from the growing season into our animals.  We had gotten better with the farrowing of pigs, saving each and every one of the wiggly pink ones.  We were getting the hang of this farming.  Dad always kidded Orlin that he was too thin.  It was actually all lean muscle mass.   

In the early days of 1968, with pride, we shipped a runt Holstein calf that had bulked up extremely well. Before Carrie was born, my teeth went seriously bad.  I gave birth to my first child with front teeth missing.  Dad had given us a runt of a calf to feed up and grow up.  That calf was earmarked to finish paying off the dentist.  The dentist in Buffalo Lake did a great job of fitting me with a full top plate of teeth.  We had been paying off a few dollars all along and sometimes got behind.  About the time the calf was going to market, the remaining balance on the dentist bill was turned over to a collection agency.  It was with pride and relief when we could get that cleared up.  Whew!

—– to be continued.

Today is April 7th and a great day.  I couldn’t resist going and doing a bit of raking.  If I made the piles, Dennis took the silage fork to beef up his burning ring.   I had noticed a huge amount of flies among some of the leaves.  It looked like there had been something wet put on the leaves.  Hmm.  With my neck brace on I had not looked up very high.  Dennis  realized that our huge Maple tree had a run of sap running down the huge trunk.  In all the years, we had never seen anything like it.   

Dennis has made a tuna hotdish for supper.  Sweet!