Farm Homemaker’s First Aid
Wednesday, December 20th, 2006Just another day on the farm…….
There was an irrigation water supply ditch called The Big Ditch that ran through the farm near Hesper, MT where Jimmy and his family lived in the olden days. At it’s deepest point, the Big Ditch was approximately four to six feet deep. It was within walking distance of the house so at the end of warm summer days when they had been thrashing grain or puttin’ up hay, Daddy and some of his crew would go down to The Big Ditch to take a dunk in the water to wash off the dust and chaff. Occasionally, they’d take Jimmy along and toss him around in the water, which of course was too deep for him to stand up in. Jimmy couldn’t swim yet, but the way the men swirled him around between them, HE thought he could. At least he’d try to do the “dog paddle’ and/or a modified breast stroke. Jimmy accompanied the grain thrashing crew because he was kinda’, sorta’ part of the crew. They called him the “water monkey”. During the grain thrashing season, Jimmy, on his horse Barney, would ride out into the fields where the men were working. Carrying two canvas water bags on his horse, he’d give the crew drinks of cool, refreshing water. HIS was a very important job. He knew that, ’cause on those scorching hot summer days the men often told him so as they partook of this sweet nectar from heaven . Jimmy was six years old when he first started being the “water monkey'’. Those were fun times for Jimmy, especially swimmin’ in The Big Ditch.
However, when the family moved to the farm near Shiloh School, there was no Big Ditch anywhere close by. The closest irrigation ditch ran through the front yard, but it was just two feet wide and maybe one foot deep. The only swimming stroke a kid could do in that body of water was a “mud crawl”.
One hot summer Sunday afternoon Jimmy and little brother, Gerald; were doin’ the “mud crawl” in the little irrigation ditch when Jimmy’s knee came in contact with a broken bottle that was stuck in the bottom of the ditch. He ended up with a deep two inch laceration on his knee. It probably should have had a stitch or two, but no way was this kid goin’ to a doctor for something like that again. So, Mama pulled our her new First Aid Kit and she performed a Nancy Nurse repair job with the tools at hand. Did a pretty good job too, all things considered. I think the resulting scar on Jimmy’s knee finally disappeared after about fifteen years.
About a month after that little incident, some North Dakota relatives came a’ visitin’ and two cousins, Ruth and Raymond, stayed on the farm with Jimmy and his family for a couple weeks that summer. On a Sunday afternoon during that time, one of the young’uns noticed a swarm of bees had started hivin’ up on a low hangin’ tree branch ’bout 25 yards from the farm house. Jimmy decided that letting the bees homestead that close to the house was not such a good idea. So, he recruited Gerald, Ruth and Raymond to help him bombard the hive with rocks. Ruth and Raymond, who were four and two years older should have known better. But then they were from North Dakota, so go figure. Jimmy, the leader of this operation, of course was in front of the rest of his crew. He had bent over to gather up some more rocks and just as he raised up, Ruth cut loose with a pretty good sized rock and instead of hittin’ the bees, nailed Jimmy right smack dab in the back of his head. That kinda’ knocked Jimmy to his knees and put a very nasty and bloody hole in his noggin. All the screamin’ and hollerin’ that then commenced brought nancy nurse Mama to the battle zone post haste. Upon examinin’ the wound, she decided it very definitely needed stitches. HA….You think battle scarred Jimmy was goin’ to a doctor after his very recent encounter with a medical needle and thread on his arm and hand? No way! It would have taken at least ten strong men to drag him, fightin’ and screamin’ to a doctor’s office that day. So nancy nurse Mama did the best she could with her fancy new First Aid Kit. Her new trial and error method of practicing medicine got the bleedin’ stopped and the wound closed up okay. The wound did not become infected, but to this day,there is still a dent in the back of Jimmy’s head. When you see the ole geezer some day, and if you are interested, ask him if you can feel and/or see the dent he still has on his head. I wonder if any brains leaked out of that hole as a result of the battle with the bees.
With all the excitement I guess the bees decided they didn’t care for the rowdy neighborhood and took off for parts unknown. Or maybe, after everyone had gone back in the house, Daddy took a hot smokey torch and discouraged the swarm from wantin’ to settle on that tree branch. Hmmmmmm…………….I wonder?????? Why did they leave???? What do you think?
Papa (Jim Diede)