Work Day 2010

It has been a cold and wet spring. Mother Nature is just going to give in and let us have a real spring. Every once in a while she will throw in a teaser, one beautiful day. It just so happened that one of those days was our annual family work day on the farm. It couldn't have been any better. Sure made the work fun. With many hands, big and small, we be accomplished a lot. Lawns were mowed and raked, trees trimmed, ditches cleaned and burned, raspberries cleaned and weeded, trains riden, food eaten and the big project, putting a new roof on the cabin were all a success. The men got to show off their power tool skills, sniff the fumes from the chain saw, and show off how high they could run up the side of the cabin.

Gathering the perfect peice of wood for the fire. It's what we do, gather up stray twigs, raspberry canes, and other stuff, and at the end of the day we burn them. If the weather is good enough we roast hotdogs and marshmellows. It's the icing on the day.

Up to the forest is a swing, hung from one of the tall trees. It's the highlight of those (young and old children) who go up there, swinging high and low. B though it would be interesting to lick the pole. Luckily it was summer so his tongue didn't stick.

The chimney cap spends more time on the ground than on the chimney. Why? B was fascinated with it, we told him it was hat to protect his head when he rad into trees. He tried it out.

Definitely my favorite men on the job. S and P were pondering the next step of the roofing project.

Big kids use the swing up to the forest, little ones at the house.

N-N wanted to help. He latched on to some clippers that were almost bigger than him and tackled a bush. Needless to say, the bush got the better of him. He walked away leaving the clippers behind.

K & P taking a break.

Grandma watching the progress and making sure no one got hurt.

Loaded with tools and supplies, heading up to the forest

C takes a slide break

K is gloved and ready to work, obviously the gloves are a bit big but he didn't care. He was part of the crew.

They didn't fit R any better.

C and K peeking out from the caboose

Lunch break (Cindy Lee, it was delicious)

All aboard, the work is done and now the real fun begins.

Train rides for everyone

One of the highlights is the old tractor. Everyone likes to drive it. Only problems was it just wouldn't run properly. After some real frustrations, they put it away. The next day S put some gas in it and it ran like a charm. If only we had known that was it's problem.

W & M catching their ride

Off to the left you can see the flames of the bonfire. It doesn't take log for it to burn down to perfect coals.

It's always a lot of work, but when we work together it's almost fun.

The Beazer Cabin

From the age of 7 on I (RA) grew up 3 miles south of Beazerville. My memory is not that greatest, but I do recall a few that involve the Beazers.
I remember going to the house in the summer time to check out books. Phoebe had a small library, sort of a traveling library. I don't remember that it cost, just that we would go there. It was always interesting because she had a glass eye. It was tempting to stare and try to figure out which was real and which wasn't. It gave her a rather stern look.
Another memory was of course riding the train. At one time there were church budget fund raisers, cake walks, bazaars, auctions, all kinds of little things. When you needed a new church, which we desperately did at the time, most of the money had to be raised before you could even start. Every fourth of July and perhaps other times of the year, Irving would get the trains out and for 25 cents you could have a ride, with the money going to the building fund. It was usually the highlight of the day.
Another memory I have only sorta applies to the Beazers, but it goes with the pictures. There were about 8 girls in the ward around the same age. We loved to get together as a group and camp out. Sometimes we would go exploring after it got dark. (I suspect we were looking for little pranks to play). Back in those days it was safe for you to walk from one friends house to another after dark, which we did. We had heard about the Beazer cabin that Irving and one of his boys built, and some dared each other to actually go into the forest and see if it was really true, that they had one. You couldn't see it from the road. Alas, we were never brave enough on our night jaunts to actually do it. So until I married into the family it was just a wishful memory.

I thought I would take you on a tour of the mysterious cabin in the forest.

Here is the north side.

You will notice that it is three stories high, with the upper story really being only a small loft, perhaps room for one small bed or chair. Sadly the window is broken out so it would be a bit chilly to sleep there, not to mention all the scary night creatures it would let in. The second story has a small balcony. I think the door is nailed shut to keep people from going out there, as part of the railing is not in place.

The Front Door.

Sadly, another window is broken out, with a board nailed over it. If you know where to look, there is a wild animal door in the roof. Not in the original design, just something that developed with time.

The Interior

Notice the stylish brick floors, bench seating and hand pump for the well (it doesn't work so bring your own water). The wood stove works nicely once you clean out the dead birds, something the Scouts love to do. It doesn't heat as well as it should as there is no insulation, too many cracked windows and drafts coming in through holes in the log siding.

FYI: it was a family effort to cut and prepare the logs that hold it up. Many a summer weekend was spent in Island Park on the task.

You can't really tell, but there is a variety of roofing materials, colors, styles, etc that were protecting it. The family got together this last weekend and put a new tin roof on it.

It is a real luxury cabin with only the finest outhouse, complete with spiders and smell. (thanks C. for showing it off) Just don't forget to bring your own toilet paper.

Hopefully you enjoyed this tour of the palatial Beazer cabin.