Hauling Cattle

To sustain the farm my grandfather (Apa) drove a cattle truck. He was an independent driver but hauled for several different meat packers over the years.

My memory is not the keenest, but I will do my best. The most recent meat packer was Como's. A meat packer located in Cohoes NY. Near the end of his driving he was only driving a straight truck, or a short box truck and no longer the 18 wheeler.  And the trips as we called them, were all mostly local.

As I said my memory is blurry, but I think he had trips Tuesdays am, and evening, and Wednesdays and evenings. In the day time he would head up to Argyle NY and pick up mostly one load but sometimes two loads of calves from the auction house there. Then in the evening he would pick up one or several loads of cows. Wednesdays the same only he would go to Cambridge NY. It may have been the other way around.

He would drive the loads down to the Cohoes meat packers. There, they would be unloaded and processed. Mostly he did the unloading, but daytime, sometimes the workers there would help him out.

The times when we lived at the Manor, or summer time when we stayed there, we would almost always go with him. Even the night time trips when he would not get home till well after midnight. And when we were very young, we would sometimes ride in the back with the calves on the day trips. Never with the cows though, as they would have easily crushed us.

Riding with him was always a treat, and always something to look forward to. He would make it a point to stop at Stewart's a sandwich shop, and get us their brand of soda. We each had our own flavors. You would return four quart bottles and get four more for a buck. We did not get anything else in the store only the four soda bottles. And only every now and then would he indulge in one for himself.

Riding in the truck was always special, and it was mostly because he made it so. He would entertain us with songs and sayings. He had these old sogs he would bellow out as we drove. Sonamongrundy being a favorite.

There was also an 8 track player and there were several tapes. Mostly Hank Williams and country ones. But somewhere along the line a tap showed up of Arlo Guthrie. I don't know how it got in the truck, but I am sure it was not his idea. But one entire track or side, was Alice's Restaurant. We would listen to that over and over again. But as we grew to teens we listened more to the pop 40 on the radio station.

The day trips were very special also in that the guys working at the auction houses got to know us, and seemed to look forward to it when we kids arrived with Apa. They were always welcoming and willing to spend a moment to talk to us and see what we had been up to. We had pocket knives back then, they were popular, and they would ask us for them and sharpen them for us. It was important to keep a sharp pocket knife :-)

And the night trips were really great. We would arrive while the auctioneer was calling out the cattle or pigs, or sheep. Listening to his rattle was something. He would call so fast we had no idea what he was saying, but all the buyers sitting in the corral seemed to know. After a few moments of listening to that we would wander off around the barns and look at all the animals there. There would be huge hogs, sheep,a and cattle and Bulls. The big black Angus were a sight to behold.

Sometimes a bull would be in the pen with cows, and they would attempt to do what bulls do when penned with cows. We were quite fascinated by that. And sometimes we would go see the pens where the huge hogs were. We could not imagine hogs so big. There was always much to see.

After we loaded up the truck and headed home, most of time he would stop for a gallon of ice cream. So when we got home we would all sit around the kitchen table and have a bowl. His favorite seemed to be vanilla with canned peaches added. That was always a time to look forward to.

When we were very young he had larger trucks 18 wheelers, and his trips would be longer. He would travel as far as Canada and bring cattle back. Discarded around the farm were remnants of those trucks, several sat in bushes no longer usable. And we used them as play forts.

He also drove for some other packers, I know one was called Carrs, down in Albany. I do not know if he drove for Como, and Carr at the same time though. I was too young to know. But for Como, he also was paid extra if he drove what was called "the gut truck".

The gut truck was a small tanker truck. When the animals were processed, the fluids ran into a drain in the floor. Some soft tissue as well. The tank had to be emptied often, and that was the gut truck. He would hook up the hose, suck out the goo, and then off we went. We drove it to a few towns away, Scotia NY, and there was large pig farm.

He had to take care to open the gate and drive into the field, and then take care to stay up on the walkway on the side of the tank. You did not want to get down in with the pigs. They were quite anxious to get at the truck's contents, and I don't think they cared if you happened to be in the way!

After turning on the pressure then driving around the field to empty the tank, the pigs would go wild chasing the truck and fighting over any soft tissue. The noise was frightening and the smell was the worst thing I have ever experienced. We were not allowed to leave the cab or open the window. Well, opening the window was not an option, you wanted to do anything to get away from the smell.

Apa finally stopped driving after his final accident. It was in the early 80's I was off in Germany having joined the Army. But my two youngest brothers were with him when it happened. He was headed to Argyle, and the route took him up through Schylerville NY. A small town on the Hudson river far up north. He would cross the river and head up a pretty steep him to near where tthe fair grounds were. Washington County fair grounds I believe. Many time he pressed his luck running one fuel tank dry or close to dry. Then he would reach down between the door and his seat and move a lever to activate the second fuel tank.

Generally he timed this while he was crossing the bridge just before hitting the hill, as the hill would move the fuel and the engine would stop drawing from the low tank. Well, on this day we aren't sure, or I should say I am not sure. He either forgot, or something happened. The results were that when he got about halfway up the hill the engine shut off with no fuel.

Without any steering and very little brake power as the steering and brakes were power, they were very hard to control. So the truck started rolling backwards down the road. Unfortunately for him a car came up behind him and did not see the situation and would not move out of the way. So he tried to steer around it.

So there he is hanging out the door as he had to open his door and hang out while trying to steer backwards and rolling backwards down the hill. The situation was pretty grim. My two brothers the entire time are in the cab with him a bit scared as you may imagine. So he ended up crossing over to the other lane to avoid the car behind him, but could not get the truck back on the road.

It went off the road and down an embankment. It rolled over on the driver side while sliding down pressing him in the deep snow. The truck rolled over on the driver side ripping off the drivers door, and continued to slide down the embankment into a field.

My two brothers struggled to remain in the cab as they fell down to the drivers side. They watched as he disappeared under the truck and into the snow, and truck slide over him. He was gone and they had to figure out how to not to fall out as well.

A car was on a side and watched the situation unfold. He ran out and down to the truck. When he arrived the truck had stopped on its side, thankfully Apa was on his way to get cattle so there weren't any animals in the back. This man saw the two boys and no driver. So he took the two boys to his car. His did not use much common sense, or he was panicked who knows. But he drove off with the two boys assuming my grandfather was dead.

Someone called the police and when they arrived to the scene all they found was a truck on its side and empty. So they scrambled to find a driver. They eventually found him under the snow. as the truck slid completely over him pressing him into the snow thus saving his life. I small tree ran up into his back though.

So when they called my grandmother they told her he was in the hospital. So when my mother asked about the two boys, were they hurt, the police said there aren't any boys. Panic ensues and she tells them her two youngest boys were in the truck then they must be in the snow as well. Surely they did not walk away.

Finally after a few hours the man who picked them up and took them home decides to call the police. Or he called my mother I am not sure. But he only did so after several hours of complete panic had ensued. I cannot imagine what was in his head that he did not think to bring them to the police or call right away or wait at the scene. But the boys were uninjured and safe. Quite the ordeal for them as well, not knowing if Apa was dead or alive.

That was the end of his driving career. Without that income the farm simply deteriorated more and more. Less Caws, more dogs, and he was finally forced to sell the land. Today when I drive past and I see all those new houses on the land, I feel a deep lose.

My Uncle who lived in a part of the house with his family took it over after my grandparents passed, and well, he is letting it collapse. It is a tragedy to see it in such a state. An old Greek Revival with the columns, and the barns. I don't think a single barn stands today.

I always thought one day I would repair the house, bring it to its rightful condition, but it is not to be. I will have to live with the fond  memories only. But that's how life is, it moves on, with or without us.

Out of the way

Well I need to go ahead and get this out of the way.

Back in '76 I think it was when I was in seventh grade life took some crazy turns. The year started off normal enough, well as normal as life could be for us.  My memory is all I have from those times, and it seems as I age that memory gets sharp on certain things and seems to be dull on others. So knowing that then, this is how I see it.

We started school that year here in NY, and I think we lived near the Manor but not on it.  Our father took a job working on a  Dam out near Cincinnati Ohio. He went alone with the promise he would get a place and send for us. He changed those large tires on the construction equipment. So life was moving along and we did not hear from him regarding coming down there. I know there were many nights of hushed phone calls between he and my mom though.

School was broken up in four parts, after the first report card we were told finally we would be moving down to Ohio. My oldest brother David was already there I do not recall how he got there and all those details, but he was there ahead of us. I know because we grilled him about how television might be different there!I guess we thought TV would be all different somehow, but not really sure how.

When I told the School I was leaving they had us go though a process, and part of that was to report to the librarian and turn in our library card. It was beyond me at the time but she was a nice lady and followed students lives at School, or at least was in tune with them.  When I tried to turn in my card she said I should keep it as she was sure she would see me again. I assured her we would not be back, but she insisted I keep it anyway. it struck me as odd, because up to that point I never looked at the teachers or Faculty as people. She made me see that they were actually people!

So, we packed up in a U-Haul truck and headed southwest. It was a long nightmarish trip, and I do recall it not being very pleasant. However, our arrival was certainly to be remembered. Apparently my mom was assured we had a place to stay upon arrival. So the lesson there might be, define a place to stay involving five kids and two adults. Seems there might just be different interpretations about that. One interpretation is, a one room sleaze hotel! Yup, we arrived to this converted house hotel place, and it took my mom a bit to figure out we were in deed in the right place. But once she realized that we all were to squeeze into this one room apartment, well, we were all sent outside while there were some very loud words exchanged inside! Pretty typical so we knew go find something to do other than hover around.

My mom was very industrious I suppose is the word, and it did not take her long to find us a new place to stay. Well, when I say new I am in no means referring to the place itself.  The place was well out of town and it was in fact an old abandoned farm house, complete with old tobacco barns and outhouse! Yup, a working out house. That would be our bathroom now. To top it off there was a well nearby for our water.  First order of business was to gut the house. Having been abandoned for the last 50 or so years it was filthy. And seems some of the local teens liked to use it to store all their beer cans there, thousands of them.

So, a few days gutting and cleaning and we moved in. No electricity, no indoor plumbing, but it was ours. A place to call our own. As kids, it was a great place. Barns to play in, fields to run in, and creeks to build dams, it was near perfect. Of course a down side was having again to share a room with my brothers, that was never fun. Especially my oddest, he wanted the room to himself so did his best to make our lives miserable and try to take all the space for himself.

The place itself wasn't much, my mother was a farm girl so she knew how to make due. She set to getting the place usable, the kitchen did not have any appliances, no stove no fridge, nothing like that. The place did not have electricity so if there were appliances they weren't going to work. She had the foresight to bring an old cast iron stove with her, one of those really old cook stoves. That stove is now in my home waiting to be cleaned up and restored.

We went out in the woods and cut wood for the stove, so my mother could cook dinner and heat the house. There was an old bathtub out on a porch and she would heat water to take the chill out of the cold water for baths, using that stove as well.

The day's in Ohio were fun as 13 year old's, and we did make the best of them. But times were tough, and in the back of my mind I knew they were tough. We were short on food, I know a neighbor gave us chickens, some we kept for eggs, others we put in the pot for dinner. We had to prepare those chickens, and it was a gruesome process, but we needed to eat. We were familiar with the process of preparing our own food from The Manor. The best thing my mother cooked was corn bread in a cast iron pan in the cast iron oven. It was a great dish. Of course there were other favorite dishes. Some of the food was brought in from a food pantry, very large commercial cans of whatever was donated that day. Hit or miss I guess.

At one point we moved again, this time  to another town not far from the first. Another dilapidated farm house, and again no facilities. And of course yet another new school. We made the best of it. We went into the woods and cut wood for heat, and did what had to be done to make do. Moving schools was hard though, just when you got to know a few kids off we went.

Finally at some point my mother had had enough and we all packed into a U-Haul and headed back to NY. A trip for the century. My next older brother and I walked down the driveway, just getting home from school, and were rushed into the back of the U-Haul. That's right, we climbed up on all the stuff already packed in the truck, including the dogs, cats, and chickens!

That was the fourth quarter of school. And sure enough that old librarian was there to reprimand me for not having kept my library ID card. Secretly I really liked it that she cared. She was one of the first teachers I recall who truly seemed to care. I think she knew we had it bad, and I think she was trying to reach out. Of course I was so shielded and guarded I was not going to let her in.

The time in Ohio was also a time of respite. It was my sanctuary, my salvation. Though I am now an adult and have lived for a day or two, it is still a hard thing for me to say and write. But, just before we left for Ohio, there was a monster who took advantage of a naive lost boy.

He took things from me that I may never get back, trust, love, and safety. I did not know that men could use boys in such a way, I knew boys and girls had relations, and was unclear how those relations worked, but I knew what this man was doing was wrong. I knew he was taking something from me, but what I don't know was why and how I was unable to free myself. I was trapped somehow.

There was none I could trust to tell, and felt very alone and lost. He took advantage of that. He also pressed me to bring my younger brother who was a bit chubby and blond, and that really seemed to strike this monster. He would promise this and that and pressed really hard. None of promises mounted to anything though, and after time, I grew to know that. I was not about to drag my younger brother into this perverted situation. Until finally this monster started to make threats to my life and that of my family. He swore he would come after all of us and kill us in the night if I did not comply. He made it clear if I were to speak of this to anyone I would not live to see the next day. I believed him.

So, when my mom announced we were moving, it was a glorious day. And that we were moving right away was even better. I did not tell the monster and he would just have to deal the fact that one day I did not show up.  I do wish I was able to see his face when he learned we were gone. Ans today, to sit here any publicly type this, it is still a very very hard thing. Still an open wound.

So being back in NY brought on a whole new meaning. I loved Ohio, and wished we could have stayed there. I felt home there, I felt connected. Though we had nothing, we had each other. And without all the trappings of life I felt open and free. Sometimes I think I am still trying to get back to Ohio, to that place, to that safe place. Yes, The Manor was a safe place and our grandfather was a wonderful person. He always made us feel welcome and at home, never as though we were second best. And after we came back home, once or twice I made a very feeble attempt to tell my friend, my confidant, my grandfather. But I never could quite get it out. I though he would think less of me, he would think I was flawed and damaged. I could not allow that. Now looking back I know he would have been accepting and he would have still loved me just the same.

So we were back home. We made it through another round of madness that our father was famous for dragging us through. Now, to just kick back and wait for the next round that was sure to come. And they did. Over the years it was the same repeated again and again.