World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
We built a dam in the creek to make a place for our Saturday night
bath and it was about two feet deep with a nice smooth rock bottom. We
had an overflow in the dam to raise or lower the level by inserting or
removing planks. We took the planks out during the spring floods. The
level area between the creek and the road was large enough so we could
have softball games and park cars there.
In those days we often hunted squirrels as I have mentioned. There
were many pure black squirrels then and we would hunt for them just
because they were different. One place up on top of the hill there
were fox squirrels but we never killed one of them. Fox squirrels are
much larger than gray squirrels and they have a long bushy tail like a
fox. We could see them in the woods but were never able to get close
to one. Most of them were up on top of the hill on posted property
belonging to the Sanetarium in Clifton Springs. It was called the
Sanetarium Farm and they raised farm and dairy products for use at
Clifton. It seemed strange that they would have a farm so far away.
You can check the map for the location of some of the places I write
about. We were told about a spring on the Lower Egypt Valley Road
where we could get water that was really pure. Just down the bank at
the side of the road there was a pool of clear water about three feet
across with the water bubbling out of the rocks at the bottom of it.
This water was so cold that it didn't even freeze in the winter time
and on the hottest summer day it was so cold that you couldn't hold
your hand under it. Eventually, Stuart Caves of Caves Lumber Company
in Holcomb, built a lovely summer home on the lot including the
spring, but they always allowed people to get water there.
There was an intersection in the road just down from the cabin with a
telephone pole. We made arrow signs with cities and mileage painted on
them and nailed them to the pole. They pointed towards Honeoye,
Naples, Rochester and Canandaigua. They were still there for years
after the camp was sold. Several times Clarence and I walked home to
Canandaigua just to see how long it would take us. It was about 15
miles distance and we always made it in about four hours and fifteen
minutes. One time when it was snowing I was wearing a heavy pair of
overshoes and about halfway home they got too heavy for me, so I took
them off and hid them under a large rock beside the road. The next
time we went to camp I picked them up.
We had a black and white cow hide for a rug in the cabin. Across the
road and up on the hill was a berry patch and in the spring there
would be berry pickers up there, when they looked our way, I would put
the cow hide over me and chase Clarence around the yard. They were
just far enough away that it may have looked real to them. At least
they used to stand there watching us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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