As a “City Kid” visiting aunts and uncles on their farms was an “excursion.”

Visiting Uncle Paul and Aunt Edna meant getting up early, milking the cows, and coming in for a warm breakfast. I learned how to sit on a one-legged T stool, hold a milk bucket between my knees, and milk a cow. Once in a while you’d point a teat towards the barn cat and give a squeeze. In the afternoon we would climb the silo to see the world. I got to “dress” a calf with a curry brush and even show the calf in the Miami Fair.

Visiting Uncle George and Aunt Stella was work…putting up hay. Uncle George would cut and bale the hay. Alvin and his crew boosted the hay bales onto the wagon. I got to drive the tractor. At the barn, I’d help unload the hay. Once I quickly pulled back on the clutch on the JD and pulled a wheelie. On Friday the crew was ready to hit the town. We unloaded the wagon in 90 seconds. The crew went to town, I showed, and crashed.

Visiting Uncle Ed and Aunt Manda meant squirrel hunting. We would stop to visit, parking in their tear-drop drive. Then walk down the road to the gate to the 160. 160 acres was an immense wilderness. We walked until we reached “Indian Rock.” The place The Miami looked over the Marais des Cygnes. When we brought back squirrels, dad would skin them and Aunt Manda would fry them with fresh corn and potatoes from the cellar. Of course, we always left room for Bev to drive out in her Corvette.

— G. Minden —  (Ralph)