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A Vermont Son

by Conrad J. Wells

283 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-1147; ISBN 1-55395-432-7; US$21.95, C$25.00, EUR17.86, £12.50

I was born and lived in Randolph VT. for years. I graduated from Lyndon Institute in Lyndon Center VT. This book descibes life in both places during the 1930's and 1940's.

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About the Book      About the Author      Sample Excerpts or Table of Contents     

About the Book This book describes my school years growing up in rural Vermont, inlcuding some of manyjobs, the many friends, acquaintances and employees I met during those years. It all guided me as I passed through the shcool years into adulthood.

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About the Author I am an unknown, I've never authored a book before - I'm also not a Nashville musician, an actor, nor a known TV personality. But, I was born and raised in a small Veront town and I've had fun going through my early years of life and met a lot of great people. If you would like to share a few instances, I welcome you to my lifestyle! It may be fun!

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Sample Excerpts or Table of Contents

Floyd Fuller

As 1942 rolled in, the springtime found me working on Floyd Fuller's farm. Floyd had a few hundred trees tapped for sap. He needed some help around the sugar house. He had two daughters, one a couple years older and one a few younger. The older one was Joyce and the younger one was Audrey. At fourteen, I didn't know anything about farming, about sugaring or much else, as far as that is concerned! His farm was about eight miles from Randolph Village so it was necessary to board and room on the farm.

This was in the spring. Cool nights and warm days in March makes the sap run. I don't profess to know much about "sugaring" as I write this, but I do know that buckets were hung on maple trees and ultimately the buckets fill with sap, which is 99% water. The weather determines how fast the sap flows. As the spouts are driven into a hole drilled in the trunk, shortly the sap drops from the spout into the bucket. This is where extra help was needed. Floyd had a team of horses which pulled a sled with a tank on it. The ground is partly bare and partially covered with splotches of snow. The sled will work well on either.

Remove the bucket and dump the contents into the "gathering tank". Many times you cannot dump each bucket into the tank because the trees are spread too thin. So in that case, I wore a Dutchmen's yoke. This was a carved wood frame you wore on your shoulders. Suspended from each end, near your shoulders, was a 5-gallon gathering pail. Kneel down, and set the pail(s) on the ground. Then dump the tree bucket(s) into the gathering pail. Let's see, 5 gallons of sap at 8 lbs/gallon times 2 gather pails = 80 pounds. This isn't too bad, but don't forget you're walking over uneven ground, and quite often when you walk over snow, you break through and, of course, the sap slops. Then, you're wearing wet clothes! Anyway at the end of the gathering run, you know you've done something! So now, the sap is dumped in the holding tank at the sugar house waiting its turn to be "let in" to the evaporator.

The evaporator is a metal pan with sides about 10 inches high and partitions inside. Underneath in a cast iron base is either a log fire or in some cases an oil burner. The cool sap comes in one trough and as it makes its way through the "trough" it becomes hot and finally boils. As the water boils out, the sap becomes thicker with less water. By the time it reaches the end of the last trough, it is well on its way to become maple syrup. The specific gravity is constantly read. When it's right (I forget the reading), the syrup is "drawn off". The color, density, etc. qualifies it to be a certain grade.

Once the boiling process starts, it makes sense to boil for hours, sometimes into the evening. On the farm with Floyd, the boiling was interrupted only for evening chores in the barn. It made for long days, especially if the "season" lent itself for large quantities of sap. After it was "drawn off", it was canned, sealed and label graded.

Nowadays, technology has lent a hand in more than one way, such as the collection of sap. Some hand gathering of sap is replaced by tubing, tying many trees into a "line" that ultimately ends at the sugar house holding tank. However the boiling process is still the same. Sugaring makes for a good supplement income to this farmer, but it is not a way to riches!

The barn chores were not that easy * if you weren't tugging on hay in the hay bay that refused to budge, you were tugging on silage in the silo that could be half frozen. And let's not forget cleaning the udders in preparation for the milking machines, or cleaning the gutters, because this farm wasn't large enough to have a gutter cleaner, that works at the touch of a "go" switch!

Milking at this time, on this farm, was done by machine. I "hung" the machines and started the process. Here, Surge milking machines were strapped on. Floyd "stripped" the cows after the machines were through. Each and every dairy farm in Vermont, around this time, was quite apt to have a sign on the barn or milk house advertising either Surge or DeLaval milkers.

Floyd had a sense of humor that really helped. And his wife was equally nice along with the two girls.

It was different getting up at 4:00 a.m. and one of the biggest ways it was different was getting out of bed. I slept off the kitchen (which was the only room heated except what would drift upstairs through floor registers). The bedroom at 4:00 a.m. was like an igloo! By 4 a.m. the six blankets had allowed the bed to contribute something to comfort!

However, one morning, Floyd came in, woke me up and said "put some pants and a shirt on and follow." In his older daughter's room was my pajamas hanging on a clothes tree!!!! To this day, I don't know how they got there * I think he took them off me while I'll was asleep! (Believe me, I used to sleep * you could drive a "Cat Diesel" through the bedroom and I would never know it!

One morning as I entered the barn more asleep, still, than awake, I met a sight that sure woke me up.

One cow was lying down and had a couple extra legs protruding!! Boy, this made me go in circles, big circles, little circles. What the Hell is going on?! Before I could get my head to operate correctly with my feet and legs, Floyd walked in. It didn't take him long to spring into action. "Grab those legs, Con, and pull!!"

Surely he was joking! Lets face it, I could have been eight miles away, at home, or anywhere, and then who would have "grabbed those legs and pulled?!"

Let me say here, that a Doctor, a Gynecologist, a Veterinarian, etc. was on my same list of undesired professions, as a ballet dancer.

Anyway, we got the calf out and Floyd was cleaning it up. If Floyd hadn't been around right then, I would probably have kicked it right in the ass, just for crawling up in there!

And with that, I went out in the barnyard and made a deposit which, would have been much more appropriate in a barf bag!

Interesting thing * after he stopped farming, had retired and moved to Randolph Center, he started "floating" horses teeth. Jumping way ahead, to the eighties now, this is something his father did and Floyd learned it. Horses teeth wear down with use and whatever else. And at some point in time they have pain, discomfort, etc. Floyd could put his hand in a horses mouth and determine what and where anything was wrong. At the same time coax the horse to be patient. He would then file the teeth and correct any problem and of course, dissipate the pain. He was written up in several magazines over the years, also, newspapers. He traveled over most of Vermont and still did this over the age of ninety

Freddie Knight

During the summer, a "crazy" guy by the name of Freddie Knight came looking for me. (Obviously, he found me!) Freddie was now a foreman for the Town of Randolph.

It seems a box car full of rock salt had arrived and he needed extra help unloading it. He estimated two maybe three days would be the right amount of time. So, terms were agreed upon and he and two or three others plus myself found the rail car. It was right near the freight house (and Main St. Crossing).

Freddie Knight was an employee at Claflin's Store. Now, he was working for the town of Randolph. (This was a different crew than the village of Randolph).

I had known Freddie for roughly six years. He was skinny as a hoe handle and should have been a clown. As we worked this guy could do stories, (funny stuff like Henny Youngman or more closely, he was a second Red Skelton). He could do the accents, the gestures, the facial expressions and work at the same time!!!

The salt came in a box car and was another "caper" like the molding sand with "Spot Cash"! So when the car was empty, some way I was paid, and the job vanished.

Periodically, I would see Freddie. Actually we were most apt to meet in the local grocery store * not supermarket * grocery store. We would stand in a sparse area and exchange a few "Did ya hear the one about."? Next thing you know, look around and six or eight people had gathered, and before long, most of them would be knee slappers!!

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