Floyd Morehouse March 1920

In the year of his 21st birthday, Floyd Morehouse (my grandfather) kept a written log of his daily activities. My intent is to post them here through the year.

For previous posts, see:

January
February


During February, he told us about being hurt by a bull, sick with the flu, lots of hard work, and his girlfriend was headed to the hospital. He apparently overlooked the significance of the League of Women Voters being founded on February 14. Let's see what happened during March.


1 Drew 3 load manure cleaned spring, brought load wood sawed wood.
2 went to Elmira, up to hospital to see Clarice
went up to uncle Lorans at night, papa got coal
went to mozark (sic) at night.
3 went down town with Leslie, forenoon, up to hospital in afternoon. My folks done chores went over to willies
4 went over to will Teans in forenoon, over to hospital in afternooon. My folks done chores went over to willies
5 went over to hospital in afternoon.
6 Started home at 7 oclock arived knoxville 8.40 oclock.
7 Came up to Clems, then on up home, my folks came down there after me.
8 Cleaned and pressed clothes, done chores.
9 went to town, done chores.
10 Drew four load hay from lower barn, honey and black cow freshened.
11 Done chores, sharpened 60 fence posts. Three year old freshened.
12 went after water, brought shovelplow home
Tightened steering rods to car. Skinned calf.
13 Snowed all day, we done chores and rested.
14 Sunday rested forenoon went down to Clems p.M.
15 cut wood, went after water skinned calf
papa was sick. Stomach trouble. Warm today.
16 went down to Elmira, brought Clarice to knoxville.
17 Stayed at Aunt Minnies half day
came home in afternoon. Sent milk first mess.
18 Sharpened 45 fence posts, done chores.
19 went to knoxville, done chores
20 went to town with calves, I stayed home with sorethroat.
21 Sunday I stayed in all day with Sore throat.
My folks done chores. Pete was up, got 1 bushel potatoes.
22 I went over to willies, put up bob sleds.
23 Drew 10 load manure, raised stove, put blocks under.
24 Drew 6 load manure, took wires from fence
strung fenceposts, cleaned woodshed and celler.
25 I went to town worked in house
papa took wire off set posts.
mama had sore throat.
26 worked at car. Worked in house. Sold Dallas Button 26 bu oats $1.25 $32.50 credit
27 I worked in house, cut wood, drove fenceposts
papa went to town, mama had sore throat Aunt Ella and Lena were over.
28 Mama was sick with quinsy, went to Austinburg after Cora Jordan didn't get her.
Johney Meades got 1/2 bushel potatoes.
29 Mama was worse in morning, Aunt Ella came over, had Dr. Harris lansed throat which eased it.
Drew two load manure, cut wood, fixed fence, took Aunt Ella home.
30 Drew 8 load manure, 1 of wood. Mama was better
Margret was over, took her home at night.
31 went to Troupsburg to see Dr. Harris, went with car.
Drew two load manure one of knots, brought up drag sowed garden patch to oats.

Summer Lacrosse

photo by Laurie Reed


Having "put on the full armor" of the regional Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) lacrosse team, Jeff and his select group of all stars from Central New York competed in their first tournament the weekend of June 13. Practice is held every Sunday night in Rochester with three more tournaments to go.

Oh, and outdoor box lacrosse twice a week.

In a more recent development, Jeff tried out for and was selected for the Section IV Nike Team. It's a replacement to the Empire Games that was cancelled by the State due to budget problems. Practices are in Binghamton for now and the tournament is July 25th.

Marauding Bears

A bear ripped four of my nest boxes from their posts, broke them apart, and feasted on the contents. Nature can be cruel.

Moses Smote the Rock

With 5" of rain in the last two weeks, 3" in a little over a day, my farming efforts have pretty much come to a halt. Water was flowing through the rock dam behind the house from places I have never seen it flow from. And in biblical proportions. I do believe this end was where the mill race was located headed to the old saw mill.

With all the water, I have increased the engineering need for a sluice pipe over the creek on the road to the pond from 24", to 48"! Maybe a timber bridge will have to do.

Small Fry Baby Spawn

Thousands of them! The largemouth bass in the pond spawned for the first time this year (2 years old). This picture captures the daddy bass protecting his fry. Kind of appropriate for right after Father's Day. Actually, he's protecting them by driving off their mother and all her sisters who are trying to eat his children. So vigilant is his guard, daddies often have little time to feed themselves and sometimes martyr themselves for the sake of their children. As for the female behavior of eating their own young, Jann says it must be the inborn knowledge that their fry may someday become teenagers.

Ashless Forests

Nope. This isn't a kite that got caught in the tree. It's an emerald ash borer trap.

The NY Department of Environmental Conservation stopped by a couple of weeks ago and asked permission to place a trap. As it turned out, it was Joel Fisk who I worked with one summer at Camp Oswegotchie back in the college years. But that's another story.

The ash borer has decimated the ash trees in other States and efforts are being made to control it by removing ash trees for a number of miles around any infestation. It had not yet reached NY but has made its damaging presence known in PA and the Province of Ontario. The traps are designed to alert us when it has arrived in NY.

Sadly, this week it was announced that an infestation as been discovered in Cattaraugus County, just a 100 miles west of Biscuit Hollow.

Spelunking Anyone?

When I was growing up, Dad told us about a cave on the hills between us and Knoxville. He would describe it, but then caution there were too many rattlesnakes to risk taking us there or going inside. It was also a long walk. He told us that he and a buddy, Leslie Edgecomb, had made a detailed map of the inside of the cave. Thanks to Nick Morehouse who scanned a copy of the map that they made back in 1944.


I haven't had a chance to explore the cave. I had never been there. In fact, from the map, I only knew it was in Moffett Hollow. So a little sleuthing with a topo map, an exploratory ATV ride, a lucky run in with a group that had just left from exploring the cave, and I was there!
For those who want to find there way there, here's a map providing the coordinates (click to enlarge). The directions are from the state line on Hillbilly Lane, off Morehouse Road.

Maybe the next entry about the cave will have pictures of the inside. Maybe. I hate bats....

This Weekend's Wildlife

Bonnie, Aaren and her daughter Kylie, and Tristin were in Biscuit Hollow this weekend. But they weren't wild. Just busy attending Bonnie's granddaughter Jessica's graduation, riding 4-wheelers, sitting by the fire, and enjoying a few visitors.

We were lucky to watch this bear wander in the field behind the house for 20 minutes or so. And we had many other bear sightings throughout the weekend, including several sightings of a bear with two very small cubs down the road from the house.

We saw many fawns, including this fawn that was spotted across the road from the house on Sunday afternoon and was content to wait there for the day for it's mother's return.

This fawn was much smaller than the one I took pictures of the previous weekend.

Kylie wasn't big on marshmellows, but she enjoyed the chocolate.

And displayed a real sense of humor.

Pat and Butch, Tom and Jennifer, Doris, Mike, and Nick also visited this weekend.

Fawn

2009 Varsity Lacrosse Season

Jeff (#22) and the Corning West varsity lacrosse team had a winning season, finishing 11 - 8, but lost in the first game of the sectionals.

Jeff was one of the top scorers on the team and in the section.

I video taped all the games so didn't get a chance to shoot any action photos. These photos are courtesy of the Corning Leader sports department.

Jeff starts practice on Sunday in Rochester for the Regional Fellowship of Christian Athletes Gold team and will play in 4 tournaments in the Northeast for them this summer. He also has one tournament with the highschool team and a lacrosse camp in Massachusetts. College coaches will be watching and the recruiting process has begun. My hope is that he lands a big scholarship at a college not too far away. His hope is to just be able to play on a college team and as far away as possible.