Shaun Newman Podcast - SNP Archives #13 - Eric & Leona Beamish

Episode Date: February 5, 2021

What gold was caught in this interview. Eric & Leona grew near Lloydminster all their lives. They tell stories of the spanish flu, listening to WWII updates on the radio, the advancement of farming equipment, advice from 63 years of marriage "grit your teeth and hang on" they also were involved in the agricultural exchange for 25+ years bringing kids from all over the world to live & work on their farm. Let me know what you think Text me! 587-217-8500

Hi, this is Braden Holby. Hey, this is Tanner, the Bulldozer Bozer. Hi, this is Brian Burke from Toronto, Ontario. This is Daryl Sutterin. Hello, everyone. I'm Carlyagro from SportsNet Central. This is Jay On Right. This is Quiddiquity coming to you from Tuffino, Saskatchew. Hey, everybody, my name is Theo Fleary.

This is Kelly Rudy. This is Corey Krause. This is Wade Redden. This is Jordan Tutu. My name is Jim Patterson. Hey, it's Ron McLean, Hockeynet in Canada, and Rogers' hometown hockey, and welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks.

Happy Friday. It's been a while since we've had a Friday archive episode, but we popped out an extra one this week. We had the boys on there Wednesday talking about the current issues, and it's just time sensitive. So I thought I would squeeze it in on Wednesday and get Eric and Leon out today. I know everybody's been waiting around for their SMP archive episode. These are becoming a fan favorite, these old stories from our community,

and I listen to it again today, and I tell you, there's a lot of gold in here. So before we get there, let's get to our episode sponsors today, Jen Gilbert and team over at Coldwell, Cityside Realty. They've served the community since 1976. That's over 40 years. They've served Louis Minster and in the surrounding area. They're passionate about our area,

and they pride themselves on giving back through volunteer opportunities and partnerships as often as they can. Jen in particular, you know, sat down with us. her and she got talking about being a part of the hundred women and if you don't know what that is you should look it up but essentially they meet roughly four times a year each woman donates a hundred dollars and then you know ten thousand dollars they donate to local charities and a tie coldwell banker in they even donated the Kleenex last time they met because the stories that they get told it you can imagine are a little raw and real she even chuckled about that but i thought that's pretty

cool and you're going to hear from leona beamish today on how things for women have changed even since she was born. And if that sounds like something, you know, all right, let's give her a call. Well, Coldwell Bankers, Cityside Realty, for everything in real estate. They know that home is truly where awesomeness happens. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Give them a call 780875-3343. HSI group. They're the local oil field burners and combustion experts that can help make sure you have a compliant system working for you. The team also offers security, surveillance, and automation products for residential, commercial livestock, and agricultural applications. And I don't know about everybody else. We've had a pretty nice winter. But in the last couple days here and moving

into the weekend, she's getting awfully frosty. And I'm thankful every time I come to the studio and just swipe my key and get in and don't got a fumble outside in the cold. They just, they make it easy, right? Like they really do. I mean, if you're worried about surveillance, my brother was asking me the other day, I think he was making a call over there, you know, like whether you're talking commercial, right? You need somebody you're out and about around the area and you want to be at home and be confident nothing's getting broken into. Give the guys a call. You got livestock. You know, you don't want to be out every two minutes checking. Give the boys a call, right? They got it for everything. They use technology to give you peace of mind so you can focus on the things that truly matter.

Stopping at a day, 3902, 502nd Street, or give Kimmer Brody a call at 306, 825, 6, 6,310. Keep a Concrete since 1979. year of the Eminton Oilers. Yes, the glorious Oilers. Kiva Concrete has firmly been a family owned and, I don't know why I said firmly, they've been a family owned and operated business. That is almost 42 years of business in the area and they offer all concrete services from residential, decorative, and commercial flatwork. I was looking last time at the countertops they'd done for the Elkridge Resort or, of course, the new patio they've done at Spiro's restaurant, which I mean, nobody's sitting on at this point.

But in the summertime, hopefully when things start to open up, we'll get to see some of that work. If you want to see more of what they're doing, hop on their Instagram page and just check out Keep a Concrete. They got all their latest projects, and it's pretty slick. Give Chris a call the day, 780875-7678. He's been on the podcast. He's an absolute beauty.

Three Trees Tap and Kitchen. They're in collaboration here coming this weekend. So actually, tomorrow night, if you listen to this Friday morning, they're working with the kinsmen and kinnets that are doing their telemarical steak night. The kinsman will be cooking steaks outside three trees, tap a kitchen. Amanda, they get a cold night. Sorry, boys. And three trees will be packaging the steaks with a salad, potato, and dessert.

The kinsman and kinnets will deliver the meals to your door. That is Saturday, February 6th, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets were $50 for steak dinners, $10 for kids' meals. I would say if you're listening to this and it's still Friday, even if it's Saturday, give them a call. For tickets, they call Lewis Stang, 306, 821, 7275,

or Darcy Wildman, 780, 871, 48818. Beel on the lookout for that, and if you're looking for a good meal, oh, well, three trees and the boys and girls, kinsmen and kinnets, they're going to fix you up and all the money going to a good cause. Finally, crude master transport since 2006.

Crude Master has been an integral part of our community. And I've seen it firsthand. You got to hear about it this week, crude. Heath was actually on the podcast Monday talking about his career and some of the things he's seen. He's just a guy when he speaks, you listen. And you want to find out a little bit more about Crude Master and how they got going. Go back to episode 148 and you'll hear all about the journey that Heath and his family have done with the trucking company.

I talk about Heath and Tracy all the time. the final fives we have usually at the end of the podcast. They continue to give to projects, whether we're talking this podcast, the Health Foundation Christmas gift of the health. They always put the community first, and here's to hope and everyone has a successful 2021. All right. If you're outside and you're looking at outdoor signage, take a look for the SMP billboard across from the UFA, and if you're like, ooh, that looks pretty dang good, which it does, give read and write a call. I suggest talking to Ms. Deanna Wants, Mrs. Deanna, don't know why I do that.

She's fantastic, she'll hook you up. And if she is listening right now, I'm still waiting on my cutout. We've got a cutout of me coming here at some point. I'm looking forward to that. Finally, Gertner Management is a Louis-Mister-based company specializing in all types of rental properties to help meet your needs, whether you're looking for small office or a 6,000 square foot commercial space. Give Mr. Wade Gartner a call 780808, 5025.

He houses the podcast, and he's been an exceptional landlord. word. If you're into any of these businesses, make sure you let them know you're listening. And I've heard about them. I know COVID restrictions are making a little bit difficult on us, but I'd appreciate it if you let them know, you know, you heard them. Without further ado, let's get on to the T-Barr 1 tale of the tape. Born and raised in between Marshall and Lashper in Saskatchewan, a nurse and a farmer, both proud community members. Both grew up going to one-room schoolhouses, banana belt, and Burke. And of course, they were rivals. They've been married for over 63 years and were a part of

the agricultural exchange for 25 plus years inviting kids from all over the world to come live and work on their farm. I'm talking about Eric and Leona Beamish. So buckle up. Here we go. Okay, well, it's June 28th, 2020. On behalf of Lloydminster Archives, I'm sitting with Eric and Leonia Beamish. And so we're just going to talk a little bit about your guys' lives growing up, being married, parents, volunteers, you name it. So why don't we start with where you guys are both originally from? Well, I was born in Lloydminster, raised on the farm about 15 miles straight east of Lloydminster, and spent pretty well the rest of my life there. And early days, I can remember who was very, very isolated.

We were quite quiet, not much traffic. Roads were terrible if anybody had a car. You've got to remember, I came along just at the start of the big depression, so things were pretty slow. I've traveled by horse, and... wagon or a cutter in the winter. So you got to know only a fairly small area of the people around you. Started school at Banana Belt. I think it was in the fall of 34. Or maybe that would be 35, I'm not sure on that. Anyway, took

by schooling there, up until grade 11 came, family moved up to Lloydminster, my mother and my three sisters and myself. And we all took our high school in Lloydminster. Now, when you talk about Banana Belt in the one-room schoolhouse, I assume. That was a one-room schoolhouse. At one time, there were 31 school. 31. And fortunately, we had quite an experienced teacher that first three years. And after that, very often the teachers we got, we had just come out of normal school. But we got a pretty good education considering.

And then came up to Lloyd Minster here and and I think I was lucky, Mr. Goebel, the principal of the school, the high school at that time, was very, very much a farm boy. He'd grown up on a farm in Ontario, I think, and he knew that we had some deficiencies in our education, and he made allowances for that. I really looked back on that man with a great deal of appreciation. I got to know several good friends in Lloydminster. Actually, the class I was in grade 11, I think there was about 25 students. I think five of them were boys.

By the time most of the young boys at my age got to grade 10, and they were off to the oil fields. It was just getting started then. So we were always outnumbered heavily by the girls in the class. And I looked on the girls. Well, I had three younger sisters, so I'd grown up with them, but the girls in high school were, I think, quite a bit older

in a lot of ways that I was. But I enjoyed my two years there. and after that I spent the following two winters at the School of Agriculture in Saskatoon. And from then on it was on to the farming and been farming ever since. Well, that was a lot. Well, why don't we catch, how about yourself, Leon, Catch us up to high school. Let's hear a little bit about where you grew up

and catch us up to high school. And then I'd like to pick apart a couple of things in there and just talk about some things back in the early years of your guys' childhood. Okay, well, I was raised on a farm between Lashburn and Marshall, actually four miles east of Marshall and went to Burke School, which when sports days came along or track and field,

we were in direct competition with Banana Belt. But we had the flatter schoolyard, so we made out better there. Anyway, went to school there for all my grades, or up to grade eight, and then you took grade nine and ten by correspondence. And then to finish high school, my dad bought me my first only bike, and I learned to bike and took road into Lashburn for grade 11 and 12, except in the winter when I would board in town. So you pedal bikeed to town and back. And how far override was that?

A little over five miles. One way. One way. Yeah. On the country road. and if it was a bit muddy, you followed the old gravel Jasper Highway, and it was hard peddling. But anyway, it was the way you got an education. I bet you were in fantastic shape.

I really was, because later I went in training as nurse, and I remember when I was having my first medical, the doctor said, where did you get those legs? And I said, pedaling a bike. So that was the story. Now, you both mentioned small, rural one-room schools and competing against each other. Track and field. Track and field.

Were those fun days back in the day where you like licking your chops, oh, there's those banana belt kits? Well, actually, there was four in the group. So it was Burke, banana belt, Lenwall, and Landrose. So Lenwall, you'll have heard. the name because that's up into your country. So who is the strong group?

What was the, who were the high-flying athletes? Actually, there was, well, the one I can simply remember was Battle in Woods, right? Who could, she could jump, high jump, like a, you couldn't believe, like a deer. If it had been nowadays, she'd have been Olympic material. You know, things like that. But you only had those track and field. There was nothing to progress any further. There was nowhere to go.

Even if you were the best in, you know, you came to that meet. There was nowhere to go after that. No. And then gradually they set up a superintendency meet, and I suppose, but by that time I wasn't around either. So it was after I was finished. The thing is you're talking about an area, an era that took in the end of the Depression and the Second World War. And things, just things quite really slowed down during the war years.

The young men were mostly gone. Places like Lashburn and Marshall had hockey teams that traveled around during those years. but it was horse and buggy travel, so they didn't go too far. And once the war came along, the young men just disappeared. What do you remember about the World War, World War II? You were both young kids at that point in time.

Well, we listened to the news pretty regularly. I had an uncle that was in the Air Force. And he didn't come back. And at a next door neighbor, he got killed in a training accident in England flying. And everything was sort of tied to the war effort. You didn't think about it because it was. That's the way the world was. And you were growing up and you lived your life.

just carried on. For me, it was, yeah, you listen to the radio. My father was from Denmark, and so he naturally was trying to always keep track of what little he could learn about what was going on with his family over there. But, and we learned about rationing, but not really, because we live on the farm. And to this day, I know my mom had coupon books for us, for what? Sugar and butter. But things that didn't really affect people on the farm. And so you just lived with it.

I think if the rationing hadn't come on, I'd have ended up in my 30s with complete false teeth because all the canning, especially fruit calming, was done with a lot of sugar in the 30s. I can definitely remember that. And yes, it sort of overshadowed everything until the end of the war. And even after.

Well, now, when you look back and you look at the things that went on in the 30s, they carried over that. And they were still doing the same things into the early 50s, and mid-50s, and then the world started to change, I think. My dad was in the Canadian Army just at the end of the First World War, and he was training in a camp in North Wales when the war ended. And he spent that winter of 19...

18 and 19 in that camp. And it was a cold, miserable place, and the flu epidemic came in there. And he said there was a month. He thinks he was on funeral parade every day. There was 80, I think just over 80 Canadians buried in a small Welsh cemetery there. Just from the flu?

from that Spanish flu. And so you get people like Eric, for instance, that can remember things like this, that we're looking at this COVID-19 and thinking, come on, think of what the Spanish flu killed. Yes, he said that men would be, you know, fine one day, feeling sick another day, and a day or two they were dead. It went so rapidly and there was no real treatment for it.

And the crowded conditions that they were in this camp because the men that were there originally were augmented with men brought back from France that were being prepared to come back to Canada. And so it was a miserable place to be and he never really forgot. that. He was fortunate. He came down with the flu towards the end of the epidemic and ended up with quite a serious hearing loss. It lasted the rest of his life. But otherwise, he was, I think he was quite happy to get back home. You wanted to go back to those one-room schools.

Those teachers handled every grade from grade one to grade eight, definitely. And then if you had the kids that were doing grade 9 and 10 by correspondence, she was there to help you out if you needed some help. They really worked. Cut from a different cloth. Well, I can't say cut from a different, but a totally different style of coping. How about discipline back then? Depended on the school. Eric? You got the strap once in a while. You know, it wasn't a huge problem really. And you knew that your parents, you get no sympathies from your parents if you got the strap. They say, well, next time you won't do that, for sure.

And, you know, I look back on the, both out at Banana Belt and even in Lloyd Minster, I was a little worried about coming to Lloyd Minster, and there'd be nothing but city kids in the class. And I think about half the grade 11 and 12 class I was in were from the farm. So it wasn't a big change. You both moved away from home for high school then, correct? You mentioned... No, I didn't move away.

In the wintertime, you... I boarded in town. Boarded in town. Yeah. How was... Did you live in... Lloyd? Yes, the first year we hired, we had two of, well it was Herds cabins.

There were cabins that you rented and we had two of them because they get us all in and we had a piano because my sisters were taking music lessons and so they would say it It was not great living, but I really enjoyed the people around us. We had really great neighbors. And as far as Manamel went, they were all, you know, we knew everybody. They were about the only people of any description. We knew. We had kids in the school, some of them.

Several of them were European origins and some of them I'm sure didn't probably speak much English until they came to school. But the teachers were understanding and there was never really any disciplinary problems at all. And we had, I think, about three of the older boys that, when I started school, about three of three of them, I think, ended up in the forces. But they all came back, so they were fairly fortunate that way. But we had another good friend. He was almost the next door neighbor. And he was killed in a training accident in England, in the Air Force.

And we had one boy who I think I saw him once or twice, but he was killed in the tank corps in Italy. And of course, you know, with the connections like that, you really followed the war pretty seriously. And we had several neighbors that were first World War veterans that had been in the trenches. They told the funny stories, but they never told what it was really like. Did you worry you were going to have to go? Because you would have been 16 when the war was ended, almost 17.

Yeah, it was 17 that fall that ended. By that time they weren't. But I was too small to lie about my age. didn't get in. Did you think about it? Did you have friends that did it? No, no. No, I, you know, farming then, by that time, I was driving a tractor, so it, you know, you didn't have much spare time in the summer. And in the winter, there was always jobs to be done and snow to moved and roads to plow if you had to. Well, the, each, and I think this is it,

each school district develops sort of its own personality with the different cultures of people that are in there. We always thought Banana Belt was a bit rough, Banana Burke was quiet. The only, in the 10 years I went to school, I only remember the strap being used once. and I can't remember the reason on what boy why he got it.

I can remember, and so when you started school, your little, a neighbor girl, taught me how to drive my horse and ride my horse because it was a three-mile ride to school. But the big boys always took care of the little kids, like we'd come into school, freezing cold. they would unhitch your horse and put your horse in the barn. And it just followed along.

And I think the only time that there was one time, we had marvelous snow tunnels and forts because it was winter with snow, and the boys went and blocked me up. I still have claustophobia. I came out of those tunnels and I just cleaned my way through those boys. then we all ended up in the school and they start to say she's been fighting and the teacher

said I was watching. She's okay. So I didn't get into trouble. But school was great because you're in grade one and you're listening, you're learning, but you're listening to stuff above you. And then when you're in grade two, you've already heard half of grade two, so you know it. So grade two becomes easy and on to grade three. And that's the way it goes. Yes, I sometimes think, you know, the kids today are missing out on some of that, catching up on, you know, getting to know something ahead of time, what was coming for the next year. and probably made it made it a little easier. We were fortunate.

The man who seemed to have been the secretary for the board for years and years was an educated man from England. And when the teacher, when they were getting a teacher, he would read the letters and he'd say, well, I think this is the one we should be getting. and we got some really exceptional teachers. Two of them that I can think of right now that the superintendent, we call them what,

the inspector, what did we call? The inspector. And brought two of them up to Lloyd. And they taught in Lloyd Minster after. Do either of you know why it was called Banana Belt? Yes. We had to look it up when we, did the reunion.

When a school was formed, they had to have a meeting finally to make, for the Department of Education, they needed a name. And so they had this list of names that everybody thought it should be called. And sort of facetiously, one of the men said,

well, it's warmer here, let's call it Panana Belt, but it was at the bottom of the list. And that's the one the Department of Education chose. Really? Really. And years later, okay, I did Environment Canada stuff for many years. It is. It's three degrees warmer in Banana Belt on the north side of the gully

than on the south side toward Lashburn. Really? Yes. Yeah, Burke was a... We were down in the colder. In the cold place. But anyway, this is what the weather records show. What did you guys want to do when you grew up?

When you were in high school or elementary school, like, did you have ideas of like, I want to go and do this or travel the world or anything like that? Was that even a thought? Well, mine's... Well, the first thought would be to finish school. Wouldn't you think, Eric? Pardon? Wouldn't you think? The first thought would have been just to finish school.

Well, yes. Well, by the time I was in high school, I'd pretty well decided that I was going to carry on farming. Because by the time I was, well, I think about 12, I was driving a tractor, and from then on, I didn't really think about much else. And I figured, well, I'd had an uncle before me that had gone through the School of Agriculture in Saskatoon, which was very similar, I think, to the one that was in... Vermilion?

Vermilion. except we had pretty much the same instructors as the degree students were getting. And so it was a good place to be and I really enjoyed the two winters I spent down there. The winters went by very quickly. And I always thought that they were two good winters. I don't know that I learned a great deal. to how to farm right at that stage but it made me think about the future

about the changes that were coming and to keep an eye on where things were progressing and what we should be thinking about so I think it was a couple of winters that were well spent looking back over the years and I met some friends

that I kept in touch with over the years. But right now, we've got down so I don't think there's more than about four or five of my class that I was in that are still around. Some of them were older than quite a bit older than I was, and some of them just disappeared with age. It happens. Do you guys ever think about that? Just friends and family and as time marches on? You think about it, and you just learn to accept that it happens,

and you know what it's going to happen to yourself. And once I got out of the school in the winter, the next winter I was learning to fly. My father had started flying about 40. I think it was and by the time I got to the stage where I was thinking seriously about it, he had an airplane. And so I went off to Saskatoon and got my flying license. So it kept me fairly busy. One thing and another, it was always some work to do around the aircraft because we did our own maintenance mostly.

And the farm was, it got a little bigger, and it just seemed like we just kept going. Me? Sure. Well, okay. So I'm going through public school, and all of a sudden, well, the attitude was that you were with some of the families was that, you were with some of the families, was that. You quit school at 16 and got a job. And I came home and I'm, or you got, you finished grade eight and you were out in the world. It would be the same for Eric.

But our parents, my father, I remember because I was the eldest, he lined our four kids up and announced it. No, there's no quitting school at 16. you will go on as far as I can afford to send you until you've got your high school. So that was your goal then to finish high school. And back then, for girls, there really wasn't much. You could be a secretary, a teacher, a nurse. That was it.

I chose nursing. There wasn't other options? No. there really was no other options or you could go and work as a sales clerk or something but not professional. Is that something that's been enjoyable to watch over time

as more opportunities come available? Oh, definitely, definitely. There are jobs coming up that you just cannot believe. Well, now, of course, there's ones that we didn't even know existed, but no. That's what all, so that was what we all became. If you went away, unless you were going to work in a store or something like that, that you didn't need any extra education.

You know, I don't think I've asked this question or variation. I never really thought about it before until you bring up women and only allowing them to work in certain occupations, or that's what it seemed like. That's all there was, yeah. Was there instances that you remember where being, a woman was difficult then? Not for me, because I'm sort of an independent type,

but no, I think, well, you see, what had come, during the war, so many of the women, well, I can't say for our total area, but the women that were able to get away and worked, and they learned to have a big job in Ontario, in the,

in the munitions plan, or whatever building stuff for the war. So they came back and now, I think there was a lot of unhappiness there because there was no positions open for the education and whatnot. And so they had to go back to be a housekeeper or get married and have kids. I think a lot dependent on your family what they wanted.

And I think we both came from families that education was extremely important. My father never had any education. They never went to school. And, you know, he... Because he came here when he was, what, grade 8 or grade 10? Or 8 or 10? 8. 8 years old.

I never went to school. He came over on the boat? They were, the barconists were, he wasn't barcony, he was. No, my grandfather had married in Scotland and had three children and decided that he had a fairly steady job, I think, there with the railway as a clerk. And, but he'd always, he'd come off a farm and he wanted to go back. to it and with all the talk about the bar colonists and the people emigrating, he decided he was going to come to Canada. So he came over in the fall of 193 to Winnipeg and worked there, got a place for the family and brought the family over in the spring of 194, spent two years in Winnipeg, and worked there, got a place for the family and brought the family over in the spring of 194, spent two years in Winnipeg, trying to raise enough money to come farming.

And then they came up here in the fall of 196, or the spring of 196, sorry. And we've been on the farm ever since. Why did they pick this area? Probably heard something or got some information while he was in Winnipeg. I don't think there was anything. any particular reason for picking this area, but it could be because of the Bar Colony and all

that publicity had got, it probably thought it might be a good place to try. And he may have had some connection with somebody in Winnipeg that had been here and would know something about the, there were the conditions that the land was like. So, I... Imagine coming to a place you've never seen before. Right? And it isn't Hawaii where it's nice and sunny. Like you're walking into nothing. Nothing.

And cold. And cold for like eight months of the year. But I think that two winters in Winnipeg would have got him ready for that. They had a pretty good idea what the weather was going to be like. But there was, yeah, when you think about it was awful. I don't think any of us now have the guts to go out and do it. Well, we've become soft. You know, you guys have seen enormous amounts of change in your lifetime.

You grew up with no power on the farm. No, definitely. You can talk about that. when power gets put in. Yeah. I assume that was quite the day. Well, I had already left home by the time. When you leave home to go to school,

do you leave to a place that has power now? Or were you still without power wherever you went to? Lashburn had its own power plant. Really? A big power plant for the building. What did it use to get power? Was it a big giant diesel generator? Yeah.

So when you went to Bored, you were quite happy about it then. Yeah, I had electricity. But we didn't have water. Yeah, there was water, but no sewer. What do you mean no sewer? You mean like you're using a bedpan? No, you used Or not a bedpan

Like an outhouse? Yeah Or one inside with a pail And the honey wagon Came around once a week And Collected it You mean you've never heard of the honey wagon?

The honey wagon? No, tell it with the honey wagon It's a big Big Tank The poor The man that has the job Comes in and gathers up

The toilet pails and takes them out. Dumbs them in. And where would the honey truck go? It wasn't trucked. It would be probably pulled by horses. Oh, man, that would be a tough job. And, yeah, I felt sorry for it.

We thought, oh, dear. No, and then he would, I guess he went out and spread it somewhere on the outskirts of the village. Do you remember your first day with electricity? Well, we had a little, I think about sometime probably about 48 to 49. We had a little 1,000-watt power plant. It would run the water pump and it would run the washing machine, not together, and it would run the lights in the house. and we had that until I think we got the power through about 55 I believe

that was when power came in about north from Lashburn yeah we had that little thing popping away in the basement you never noticed it you know it was running and most of the lights the main lights were fluorescent because they used so much less power how about farming

Farming, you would have seen a ginormous change. And, I mean, just look at today the technology you have out there roaming around. What do you remember the most of being kids and what you had to do to, you know, when the first giant tractor comes rolling by? You were probably drunk. Yes, as far back as I can remember, Well, my dad had a, they bought a little, what they called a Waterloo boy. It was the forerunner of the Model D John Deere.

And there's one in the museum here that looks like a big garden tractor. And they got that in, I think about 20 or 21, and a thrashing machine. And after that, the main farming gradually was done by tractors. Got the first rubber tire tractor, I think in, I think 1940, W6 International. We thought we had the new world by the tail. It had a road gear to go 14. miles an hour down the road.

Could it go that fast? Yeah. You didn't haul machinery that fast because the machinery was mostly on steel wheels. Of course well my father was a smaller farmer but

it was horses until I can remember his first tractor was a little Ford Ford tractor little gray one I remember and so it would be, now we're talking, this is the end of the war where there's no help. So you learned, my brother and I, who are the eldest, we learned to drive those tractors

on that harvest time, and whenever there was, because it was, my dad would be on the binder. We would, and dad said, we took turns, because you don't miss school. So I'd drive the tractor one day and Wayne would do it the next day. That's how it worked. Yeah, there was one fall when the crop was really down badly. It had quite a lot of oats. And I remember going home, I'd go home at noon from school and drive the tractor pulling this binder converted to a swather.

doing these down oats and it was a long, long time to get across the field. I think it was an eight-foot cut on that binder. It took a lot of days. But I didn't mind. But that was just the way it was. Once the war ended, then my dad generally had help through the summer. through the summer. And so I missed out on those kind of things.

I had to stay in school, which is probably a good thing. But I think both our families are very, very proactive about making sure we got as much education as we could. How about you two? When did you guys, I know you competed against each other and you looked down on the other district in the little schools. When did you actually start dating? I came back from working up in La Clebeish and started business college here because I wanted to get some more education

and happened to be going to a hockey game in Lashburn. To watch the... Lashburn, who probably Hillwond. Those dirty Hillman. So there you go. Yeah. So that was how we sort of remit. Well, the reason Eric even spoke to me was that my brother and I had gone and intermission.

We went out to buy a hamburger, and Wayne got his first and walked away, and I'm standing there. Wayne, I haven't had any money. No, I don't. I mean, hamburgers were only 15 cents, but we. I didn't have 15 cents. So he gentlemanly stepped up and said, I'll pay for it and paid for it.

So that was it. You smooth dog you. Hey? So I've been paying off that hamburger ever since. What did you guys use to do for dates? Where would you take or what would you do for an outing? Not much of anything.

Yeah. I think we learned square dancing. Square dancing. It's the only time we'd do. screw dancing old games whatever was going on yeah it's been because yeah because i was going well i don't know what we did summer would there just there wasn't that much stuff going on how about how about how did he propose did he did he propose i guess he did he did he did he did he did he even said you and I'll check with your father and I said my dad isn't making my

decisions so I didn't know or that well at that time how long did you guys date before you and before you got married oh only about what six or seven months eight months probably about eight months I don't know it was that standard for back then yeah the reason or was Was it just you knew? Well, I suppose. Yeah, because, well, he sort of delayed me because I wasn't planning on staying here in Lloyd.

I was just, I came home to take my business course and then I was off to the next place. So anyway, we started going out together and I just worked here instead. So that was it. You wanted to go to other places? Oh, I had a long list of things to do. Well, the nursing was going to take me. That was my, and that's what I stayed with. I kept my nursing going the whole time.

So, no. Eric's sister was getting married that summer, in the middle of all this, and so we were all, everything was all mixed up. It was, I think it was something to do. Everybody was getting married. What year did you guys get married? 57. So that puts you at...

63 years this year. This year. So what is the secret to 63 years of marriage? I don't know. Grit your teeth and hang on. You learn to keep quiet. What are some of your fondest memories? When you look back at 63 years of being married together, what are some of the things that stick out? of our boys.

And you just went on and enjoyed life. Just watch everything, watching the trees grow that you plant, and just living with nature around you and watching it. Did you guys build the house then? Yeah. Did you build it yourself or did you pay somebody to build? He built it.

He built the first one. And we built the second one. Like the first one is a small one considered these days. But anyway, and so then when the boys got bigger, our two boys, it was just a bit crowded. So then we built a new house in 76, and it was one of the Nelson packages, and so everybody builds it. And you felt like, oh, here is this beautiful house. Well, I remember when we were picking the plans, because Eric said, you have, I want this and this. and I want this and this.

So I'm looking at house plans. And at the end, I said, Eric, it's got a built-on garage. Neither one of us had requested a built-in garage. Never thought of having our car inside in a garage. So what did you think of that one? It was built. Oh, that was good.

We all did it. It was great. You just, you know, you grow up with some. I can remember before we had that house coming to work at the hospital so you'd go out, your car had been plugged in, yes, so it would start in the morning. And then if there'd been a storm overnight, you literally plowed your way to work. And I remember sometimes, once or twice, I came off shift at 3.30, and at 3.30, and I was and went to start the car and I couldn't start it.

So you call the service man, the garage man, and he came and he lifted the hood and the things packed with snow because I'd used that car as a snowplop to get into it. I mean, these are the things you did. Do you ever just stare at the generation and, like, my generation, and just everything right now and go, you guys are crazy? Well, you know, I don't, well, maybe Eric does. There are some things that go on, but I was glad to hear what you said you've done.

Hey, good for you. And these are different things that happened in the farming. 78 was the first year. Eric's father's getting older, we're needing help. There is no help available farm work. everybody that was working was in the oil patch. So we went on the agricultural exchange program, and we had exchanged young adult,

exchanged students from all over the world for the next 25 years. That was really a wonderful experience. There were times when you'd shake your head and wonder just what we were getting into, but it really broadens your outlook, on life, I'm telling you, when you get the kids from Australia or Denmark or England, and we still have good friends there that we hear from every Christmas.

And we look forward to their letters to see what they're doing. What some of the things have in 25 years of people come stay with you and work on the farm that you learned you say it broadens your horizons what were some of the things that surprised you about doing that uh i don't know surprised it's you learned to tolerate to be with well you learned there was other people that were different from you and so you you sort of had to they adapted to you you adapted to them uh and sometimes because what we started doing was every five years, we would go off to either Europe

and visit the families of the five that we'd had previously, and you'd get to some of the places, and you'd go, oh, now I know why they were like that. And so we had them from everywhere, as Eric said, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, England, Australia, New Zealand, Japan. The one from Japan, that was a bit of a shock. I let Leona tell that. She was, it was a private program, this international agriculture.

It was set up. And so it was not, the government had nothing to do with it, except to make sure we had all the right visas. But on the program, boys, women or men, 18 to 30, could come, to go pick a country to come to, and then they would send their resume would go in, and the office where the head office would say, well, that sounds like a good place, whether you want beef or whether you want grain farming,

or whether you want to be home management or aggrimix, which the girls meant you worked inside or outside. And so you'd get this resume from each one. Well, we'd, and now we're up to 91 when Eric's talking about this and the we got the resume of this girl from Japan who had been she would turned out she was around the worlder she was the first girl of Japan to do around the worlder which meant seven months in Australia and then seven months in Canada and so I read the resume and I read the resume and I said Oh, okay, yeah, sounds good, but oh dear, I'm going to have to have a stepstool in my kitchen because Japanese are very short.

So that year, when she finally arrived, I went to Saskatoon to pick her up from the plane and I never saw her come off the plane. And I thought, what am I going to do? This girl is vanished. And I looked over, but now the airport is empty. I look over toward the airport, and there's this dark girl. Oh, sorry. I'm moving things.

This dark girl at the carousel. So I walked over, carefully looked at the ground, and said, Keono? Yes, she said. And I looked at her, and I said, thank God. She was two inches taller than I was. In her resume, it said her basket, she had a basketball. Coach had written some letters about her, and I thought, yeah, yeah.

But she was. So I was this, and then my niece from here, who used to come out for university break and work at the farm, she was two inches taller than I. So it was the first time in my life I was the shortest person in my kitchen. That's it. Keono is one of the few that we have lost track with. I was over in Japan. I have met her family and everything else.

And everything was fine. And then all of a sudden, no... But I heard later that there had been a bad earthquake in that area. And I wonder. I wonder with the 25 years of doing it And if it isn't a specific type of temperament or person or something that allows them to be a part of that program and want to come experience farm life in a different country, I assume that there must be a joy to have in the house. It depends.

Some of them, I think their parents encouraged them to go because they couldn't get them to do anything at home. So send them overseas and learn to be what it's like to be in another country. What do you think, Eric? You know, there was the odd one that was a little different and maybe behave more like a Canadian. I can think of one that way. But on the whole, they were really good people to have around. Yeah.

They just, you didn't bother. to take them anywhere, you know, and they were quite happy to, they really wanted to get out and see the country as well. So, and it's the same when we, when we go back and they take us out, they know what we want to see. We don't want to see the middle of some city. They'll take us out in the country. See, the country is as they see it, and that they know we would enjoy visiting. Have you guys traveled quite a bit then? Yes.

Where all over, have you been to all these different countries where these people have come from? What has been maybe, first off, your favorite country that you went and visited? Well, I started, as I said, my father was from Denmark. So I automatically have a soft spot there because I've got family there too, and I've been there several times. So Denmark is the one that I like the best, but every country is different. Every country is, you can't pick, every time you come home from all these countries, you say, thank God I'm home in Canada, back in Canada again. We're the best place to be. Which brings me to politics.

You guys have been through so many different prime ministers and political landscapes. Is it something that you focused on, watched? Is there times when you can just look back and go, man, this was a tough time? This is a tough time or this is small compared to where we've been? Not for me. I just go along with my life. No, I worry about the way the country is going right now. The debt we're piling up.

The way I was raised, you know, if you had an extra dollar, you saved it. You didn't rush out and spend it. And the idea of just going more and more into debt, it bothers me a certain amount, but I know that it's not going to affect me. It's going to be affected the family. It follows me. And you can't really do much about it. about it, you know, this virus we're worried about now and it shut everything down.

It was really nice last night. We went out for supper, the first time, for the long time. Where did you go? Mr. Bills. What we've been doing through this mess is probably once a week. We just get in the car and we go exploring, local exploring. So we're seeing, oh, this is a school district that we've heard of. Oh, this is the condition of the old school? And, oh, yesterday, no, not yesterday. Yes, it was yesterday. Yesterday we did south and west of Lloydminster.

Okay. And just toured up and down the different road allowances. and saw things, you know, we didn't know there was this many hills out here or, oh, where did that big lake come from? And we'd see the names of people. And that's the disappointing now is no farm has a name on it anymore. So you just don't know anything. But no, and we've been doing that.

We were up into the, what did we go looking for? And the muddy road stopped us. Oh, where the Lashburn No, Hewitts Landing. Hewitts Landing. Yeah, we couldn't get there. All right, well, just before I sat and talked with George and Evelyn, Evelyn, man. And we got talking about Hewitt's Landing and them taking cattle across it back in the day when it was just a barge.

And what a sight that would have been. Yeah. But what you're talking about and taking those drives, as we do now with the kids. It's crazy. You can live in this area all your life and never travel down one road. And you go down that one road and you're like, man, it's kind of cool a little spot. Didn't know this was here.

And you can do that anywhere in this country. Right. Yeah. Oh, and it really is interesting. And then, well, of course, then you get these roads with going to just oil sites. But we can recognize those to stay off those. And I said I'm really good at U-turn, so That was the only one we really had to U-turned

Because Eric had the road figured out Well, it showed a road on the municipal map Right down to where we wanted to go And the last mile, I don't know, Somebody must have been dreaming when it goes up line No, I heard about Hewitt's landing all my life because

that was the place in the early days they brought lumber down and people went up there and caught it and some people came that way well as he was saying

man's brought their cattle across at Hewitzlanding or when then last a week ago we went to Pine Island at the

where the gully meets the North Saskatchewan River. We hadn't been there in years. And they've got a big plaque that tells the story of Pine Island. There was five different forts built on Pine Island in the 1700s. Some were abandoned, some were burned. You know, all that history around. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

It's, well, when you start doing these interviews for the archives or when I started doing the podcast, I mean, and just the amount of people that have stories to tell are endless. And you don't have to look that far in our community to find them. Yeah. What was the first car you ever had? Who was that blue and white, wasn't it? No, we had a little green, uh, green, uh,

Chevy two-door before that. Do you remember what it cost? It was probably about 23 or 2400. Then one of our trips, well, the only trip we took down east, we went down and drove a car back, picked it up in Oscewa. Okay, yeah. That was an interesting trip. We got a picture with our son.

and Paul Bunyan's blue ox in Minnesota. Well, there you are. You've got a two-year-old, and we flew down, and when we picked up a visited family and then picked up the car and headed home. So what do you do? You put a slab of plywood across the back seat, and it filled up.

and that's where he rode. No such thing as car seats or anything else. And all we had to do is make sure we stopped soon enough in the evening that we could get him his mashed potatoes to eat for some. It's pretty crazy now that kids pretty much have to sit in a car seat until... Oh, what is it? I'm going to butcher this. I want to say it's like 80 pounds until they're out.

out of a booster seat. It's unbelievable. Yeah. Well, Don's, the first car seat he had, was just a seat with a plastic seat with a bar across the front with hooks that just hooked over the back of the seat.

And he would ride in the front with me. Yeah. And that was how we did it. And then, oh, Neil was two years younger. He never actually had a much better car seat. But by that time, there was two boys, so they were put in the back. I was parenting.

It was good. It was good. And when you get to be teenagers and you've had all these exchange students with the problems that come up with them, I said those boys got through teenage without me even really feeling. noticing it. Because anything they thought of... It'd already been thought of. I don't know.

I already been done. What was one of the things you worried about with children? Or your kids getting older, maybe some of the things they'd be exposed to or situations they'd be put in. What was some of the things you worried about as parents? For me, it was mostly partying and drunk driving. because I worked in the emergency department

and it could be that because I'd come home and tell them those stories of what I was getting in that emergency department that we just never had that serious problem. They both went through that stage without any trouble. They both played hockey. They came and that, they came. into school here at the column. We were at the east end of the Lloydminster bus line. Where is?

The northwest end of the Mount Lashburn bus line. Yeah. Our son lives out there. Now he's taken over the farm in our house. Where they came to Lloyd, the boys came to Lloyd, his kids are going to Lashburn, or have been educated in Lashburn. This is how the school keeps changing. The other humorous thing that I wanted to tell you about, when this COVID thing hit, it's the first time Eric and I have ever been fired from a job or let go.

We were not allowed to do meals on wheels anymore. because we're too old. How do you feel about that? I think it's a joke, but anyway. Surely to goodness, where most of us are adults, and we can judge. And public health, really,

I don't know, public health went berserk. How so? With really the clown. All right, we grew up knowing that we, would have to have a disease of some kind. We lived through epidemics of measles and epidemics of mumps and epidemics.

I worked in the epidemic of polio before they established vaccine. And you kept on living. You just tried to avoid getting it the best way you could. And you lived with the results. And one of the things that really, I think, has been really cruel is when a senior was in a care home and is confined to a room. And confined for weeks on end. Now, the ones that are maybe starting to suffer a bit of dementia,

it's not going to get any better. It's going to be worse. It's like being in jail, I guess. Only I don't think they were even allowed out as much as if you were in jail. I've never experienced it. So, we'll see. Mother Nature seems to have different things to keep the populations of the world under control. That's what I say.

It's mother nature's population control. It's an awful way of saying it, but some of the countries, at one time with something like this, it would be thousands and thousands of people would die, and they couldn't do anything about it. Now we can more or less keep people living. You know, most of the deaths from this virus have been in old folks' homes, and people that were probably suffering other health problems. Well, the same thing happened with the flu.

You know, when you get the flu in the fall, it was the same thing. Older people that had any kind of problems were the ones that couldn't make it. And I guess you just have to live with it. Can I go back to when you asked about politics? Sure. Okay, I said that, no, I don't. I actually was the reeve of the RM of Wilton for six years. I was on council, 10 total.

First woman to do a thing like that in northwest Saskatchewan. I just want. So that's right down at the grassroots. So then you learn to work with the different political parties. What did that teach you? Just stick to your guns. And that it wasn't all that terrible working with a group of men. And you learned that your road, your road was not the most important thing

in the municipality or you started looking bigger and bigger and bigger and how it would affect the whole general public. I can remember being in here in Lloydminster having meeting with Bill McKnight, who was our MP on the Saskatchewan side, and they were discussing about putting Highway 16 through, or doing a bypass. Well, it was shot down by the businessmen of Lloydminster because they did not want to lose the off-the-highway business. And there was nothing I could say. I was only one person.

because the rural areas. We griped when we used to have to drive through Vegerville and Vermilion. And here, Lloydminster. So it's, they have not. And now the bypass for Lloydminster, if it ever,

ever gets done, we'll still be within Lloydminster. It won't be a way outside. Because what was, sort of planned was to cut off somewhere by the Blackfoot area and go south because you couldn't go north because of the sluws and whatnot and come out about the way scale north of Marshall. I don't know if it'll ever have. The land has been set aside or you know how do they put a they put something on some of the land so

that you can't sell the land without knowing that the in years to come. They could use it for a roadway. Yeah, that they can come in and take it. When you look at your guys' lives, what's one of the biggest accomplishments or sense of pride you have, something you've done?

Hmm. I suppose. I've kept my whole family as healthy as possible. We've raised two good boys. I have been content with my life. I've had probably the best of everything. I've never been threatened. I've never been starving.

I've never... Life has been good, and I'm happy with it. But as to, you know, and I've made it alive this far. I would just tell people, you know, I think I've lived through some of the best years that this country is going to see as far as I can see looking in the future,

it won't be as good as the years that we've just passed. So I've got to be happy with that and I'm healthy and I get out for a walk every day if I can manage it and play around the golf badly. And so I can't really

complain. You know, it's been compared to a lot of people, it's been a good life. We've accomplished a lot. The farm is going ahead. A lot bigger than I would ever expect it. So I'm quite content was what the life I've had. We talked about traveling.

I've been around the world, but, what, two years ago, we did Atlantic Canada and Newfoundland. Driver flew out there and then drove. No, we flew out and took a bus tours. Okay, yeah. Then you don't have to be worrying about a gas station and a hotel and whatnot, and just enjoy what's going along. And, like, we know so little about our fellow Canadians. But they think like the Western Canadians quite a lot, the same, totally different than from the middle of Ontario.

And then last year, we went to Churchill. Really? And see the polar bears. And did you see a polar bear? Oh, yeah. We saw some. We saw some. We saw some.

We got very close. But we learned. we learn so much and this is still in our country. Yeah. The trip to Churchill and this is again

it cost us as much in airfare to go to Churchill as it does to go overseas. Just because of how remote it is? It's just the lack. Well it's flying all in Canada. Canada, flying across Canada.

You can see why the people from Newfoundland don't, you know, they can't get back all that often. Yeah. It's a long way. It's a long way. It's a long, you know. Yeah. But you've flown over to Europe and all that sort of stuff.

And so. I've been all across Canada. I love Eastern Canada. It's beautiful. Yeah. But I think we can argue what you guys have been talking about is you can pick any spot in Canada. That's beautiful.

Yeah. There's uniqueness to it all. Yeah. You get the right day here in the fall, the leaves to your driver on 303 out along the gully there, and it's just as good a view along there as you find anywhere. No, we've really been in a very favorite spot. I don't think better words could be spoke. looking back over your lifetime, what was your favorite decade?

I think if you could go back to a decade and replay it or sit in on a conversation or where would you go in your lifetime? I think probably the 80s. Probably I enjoyed more than any time, really. And what about the 80s? I don't know. I think we had fairly decent crops. We had good help, and we seemed to have time.

You know, we weren't. I was going to say, for me, 75 to 85, those years. It's funny, those years come up an awful lot when I talk to people of your generation and a smidge younger than you is the 80s or in that time frame. Yeah. It's curious. Yeah. Whether we were mature enough that life seemed to be great, that we didn't have to worry about anything, I don't know.

But we were experiencing different things. That was those years. We were, our boys were growing up. We were. So they were getting established by that time? No, 75. Dawn's only 20 by that time. And then we had the exchange program, which was enlarging our whole world,

and we'd take off every five years and go to the different countries to visit. So we're learning more all the time. And it was good. I was on council and learning all about grassroots politics and all that sort of stuff. Did you guys take a trip every five? years is that when I heard there approximately yeah if he didn't go he didn't go till 85 and then after that most of these trips that she was going on took place in at harvest time no those were just around the world yeah I'm getting out of

here it's too busy no it was it's really something and you do appreciate where you live and you if you No, I cut you off there. No, go ahead. If you were going to impart some advice on your 20-year-old self, if you could go back and say, I've seen the future, what would you say next? Go for it. I wouldn't change it. Wouldn't change it? We've been through a pretty fortunate time, our lifetime, both of us.

Things were always improving. And I can't say we're too badly off right now. we've got a comfortable condo and friends there, provided the city gets done tearing up our road. What's the biggest change you two have seen in Lloyd Minster then? It would be the growth. Yeah. The growth.

And that's the joke that comes up as we're sitting around having coffee, saying to the rest of the people from Lloyd. that are in the condo. What was built? What used to be on that spot? And then the memories come up. And then, well, we haven't got Jim Hill anymore because Jim's not in Eric's coffee group

with this COVID thing. But his memories went back even more of Lloyd Minster's than what Eric's did, so we'd be saying. Jim was just a vocabulary. Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Westminster. You bring up a name and he could tell you who they were married to,

what families they had, the whole thing. Truly amazing. No, it's the, all the places we've been, I think we'd probably come, given the choice, we'd probably end up back here. The close one would be County Court in Ireland Where my grandfather came from Pretty special place

Well to me it was because We stayed in the house But he was probably born in And he got walked around up to the place Where they dug the Pete And No it has to say I think I could live there if I had enough money.

Don't go there looking for a job, though. And that is the thing, too. If you can go to, you can travel and look at things and whatnot. But when you've got family there, it makes it all more real, and they can remember things and tell you things, and you've learned all this history. and nuts. So if you were going to go somewhere tomorrow,

or tell me to go somewhere tomorrow, and all your travels, where would you tell me to go then? Well, you've been to Scandinavia, so I won't send you back there. I think the one that othered me the most was Vietnam. Bothered you? Because we had the history of the war and the civil war and all that,

and the stupendous history. history there. But it makes you open your eyes a little bit more about what's going on in the world. And you don't listen to the stuff you hear on the radio. Yeah, the media. There was this one place, what was it, in the killing fields where... That was in Cambodia. Oh, Cambodia.

I get all those Asian countries muddled. But, and there's actually... Centennial, what do you call, you know, a monument? Monument. The skulls, layers of the skulls of people. Are honest? Yes. I mean, I should be able to put up with things like that, but I said, Derek, no, this is too much.

This is too much. And then you go along and you listen to their story. and fighting, and you hear the stories mostly from America of what those young Americans were put through by sending over there to fight in the jungles and all that sort of stuff. It's a horrible sad, and yet those people are so kind and nice and whatnot.

Now, but they've been through Supreme Hill. Maybe I just haven't any guts, but as I said to Eric, I can't look at this, so I went and sat down. So you think that's something everybody should probably go and see? It should be, yeah. And that's Cambodia. Yeah. That wasn't the Americans there. That was Paul Botte, I think.

Yeah. It was a civil war almost, wasn't it, Eric? Yeah. You're going to remake the country, and everybody was going to go out in the fields and work in the rice fields, and if you didn't, you ended up in a,

you know, they had big pits there. There were these skulls that come out of. You got, when you died from starvation, they just throw you in there and covered you up. Oh, they lined them up and hit them on the back of the head with those steel things into the place. pit. Well, but Vietnam, we were

there, where the Americans were, where they were, we saw the tunnels that the Viet Cong lived in and under to escape in the jungles. It's indescribable.

And so you can see why it's been, we're so happy to live in Canada. Absolutely. I live here. Well, it's, you can see. Is there anything else that I've missed? I know, you can't squeeze in everything.

You can't squeeze in. Especially a lifetime of memories and stories and traveling and farming and children. And I feel bad. You know, I always try and get as much as I can because I, with the Lloydminster Archives, when I first started this, I found out my grandfather been recorded by them back in like 96 or something. that and none of the family now so as I listened to it I was like as I'm watching the minutes tick by I'm going like it doesn't go on and he doesn't get a part two or an hour or two like this is it and so it was very special and so when I

have people on I if there's something else we should talk about or there's something else I hopefully have been captured as much as I can possibly grab to those who ever listen to this this has been a very interesting You guys have traveled an awful lot, seen an awful lot. But I think every time we go up to Edmonton or come back, coming back especially, I think about my grandfather. When he came here in 1996, the first thing he did, he went up to Vagraville and bought two oxen and a cow.

Went on the train. The train had come in here before, so they was able to go up there, drove the two oxen and the cow back on foot to Lloydminster. And I think about all the miles and miles trying to get three animals down that road, do you wonder. I think a, what road? Yeah? Yeah, there'd be a muddy trail. There'd be a trail.

Yeah. And then you can drive that thing in a little over an hour. Yep, instead the crews and almost fall asleep and be in Lloyd, pretty much. And that's within, well, 100 years, less than 100 years probably. That happened. You wonder what another 100 years will bring us. Right. Well, I had a chance to ride Outrider on a wagon train from Saskatoon to Battleford.

and it was in the May of the year, well, there you are, riding along day by day. I was on horseback. I wasn't in the wagons. And, you know, the prairie chickens would fly off the edge of the road unless you were awake, your horse would have dumped you. And things like that. And I remember we got to Fort Battleford.

And one of the other women went by me, and she said, oh, there's flush toilets and showers. We could go and get cleaned because we'd been five, what was it? We were five or six days coming from Saskatoon to Battleford. Things that you never think of, but that was what she couldn't wait to get flush toilet. Yeah, flush a toilet. Flash a toilet. Yeah.

So you take advantage of what things come by you and say, let's try. Well, I really appreciate you guys coming in and sitting down. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you. So if you ever need another little spiel about something, I know who to call. You can ask us. You can ask us. Awesome. Well, thanks again, guys.

Okay. Well, thank you. Hey, folks. Thanks for joining us today. If you just stumbled on the show, please click subscribe. Then, scroll to the bottom, and rate and leave a review. I promise it helps. Remember, every Monday and Wednesday, we will have a new guest sitting down to share their story.

The Sean Newman podcast is available for free on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you get your podcast fix. Until next time. Hey, Keeners. I thought I'd give a shout out today to Walker Grassle. He sent me a message after Wednesday's episode. Hell of a show today. Wasn't sure what to expect, but was done.

definitely a good listen. I guess he's a little bit of a history lover like myself. Enjoyed talking about some different things in the world today. So I appreciate you. Wishing. I appreciate you listening, Walker. And to all you, the rest of you,

Keeners, get back to it. We only got a few more hours and then it's the weekend. It's going to be a cold one, but the weekend is upon us nonetheless. And if you're the champer, by all means, get your feet off the desk, go back to work, you're making us all look bad. All right, we'll see you guys Monday.