From Here to the Road

Sep 12, 2024

When my parents built their new house in1960, it included a finished basement with bedrooms for us kids and a small windowless room that was designated as Dad’s office. In spite of it being furnished with a desk and cabinets, I don’t recall Dad ever going in there. Why would he? Not when there was a perfectly good kitchen table! In addition to the place of dining, that table was in constant use. Mom would use it for a variety of culinary activities: everything from her weekly bun making to the annual chicken butchering. The other end was Dad’s ersatz office. Here he would plan his activities, making lists (always on the backs of envelopes), do his book keeping, and organize the incoming mail. He had a peculiar filing system by which he had piles for different activities. The little table beside his chair would be the farm pile where he would keep various items such as bills, newsletters, etc. During the ten year period when he was a municipal councilor there was another “county” pile over on the kitchen counter. And over by the easy chair a few steps away would be a pile of farm newspapers and Alberta Report magazines. To an outsider Dad’s filing system may have looked a bit haphazard but to him it was the art of perfection. And look out to anyone who messed with it!   In spite of this, periodically when the piles would get too large mom would get after him and the hoard would be reduced somewhat, but never eliminated.

Coming back to bookkeeping… I don’t recall Dad ever using a proper account book or ledger to keep track of his farm income and expenses. Instead, he would scribble notes in his cheque book and then at tax time he would go through and transfer these to various lists (again on the backs of envelopes) to be summed up to pass on to the accountant. Dad wasn’t much of an early adopter of technology, however In the early 60’s he surprised us when he brought home an adding machine! This was long before the advent of electronic calculators: this machine was literally a one trick pony. All it did was add - no other operations! And even that was a rather plodding labor intensive process. The number would be entered, then as the crank on the side was pulled the number would be imprinted on a paper roll. The process was slow, noisy and there was no way to correct an error other than to start again. Dad used it for a year or two but as he didn’t trust it, would perform the same operations manually just to be sure. Eventually, when they became available, Dad switched over to an electronic calculator. But even then, he would always manually check the results!

The kitchen table also served another purpose. It was not uncommon that a neighbor, a friend or family would drop by, often unannounced, for a visit, a cup of coffee or a meal. Mom seemed to always have something to serve: her famous buns and homemade jam, perhaps a seed cookie or two and if a meal was required there always seemed to be something interesting and substantial in the fridge. It was at the table where Dad loved to “hold court”, discussing the latest farm news or political affairs. Dad was a bit of a raconteur, often with a story of a past event to tell. Mom and dad both had a good memory for dates. Dad’s stories would often begin with such phrases as “In the spring of ‘33…”, “In the fall of ‘69…”. Occasionally these dates might be disputed by mom. “No James, you bought that bull in March of ‘72, not April!”. When this happened, they would both stand their ground. I don’t recall either ever backing down over a disputed date! 

Dad had another peculiarity. If an estimate of length needed to be provided, dad had his own unit of measure. Instead of feet, yards, or (heaven forbid) meters, Dad would use “from here to the road”... I can still recall such conversations. Henry Penner might have inquired “How far did you have to bring that lame cow through the snow?” And Dad might have replied “As far as from here to the road”. It was a useful system as it could be multiplied “How much fence to fix?” might have received the reply of “Twice as far as from here to the road” or even fractionalized “half as far as here to road”. “From here to road” was Dad’s chosen unit for as long as I can remember. However, sadly the day came when it was retired. In 2002, suffering from failing health, mom and dad moved to a new home in Lacombe. Mom immediately took to her new home but it took a while for Dad to adapt. After living in the same location for close to 60 years it must have been an adjustment. Not only did he need to get used to a new routine and new neighbors but he had to come up with a whole new system of measurement!