Today I spent some time with
crowbar and sledge hammer in hand, demolishing a small shed on our acreage,
Grouses’ Grail. Doing that got me thinking of the past and a story for telling.
I’m calling it, “The Great Demolition Caper” and it will be my #FlashbackFriday
contribution.
The story, dating back to the early 1960's, involves my late,
great, big brother, (Ralph) Garry and his cousin. Randy. It’s about them
looking for something to do while my cousin was down on the farm; this and a
small lean-to shed on which they set their sights.
Tacked onto the shady side of another
old building in the farmyard, the lean-to had fell out of use. It had once served
an important role in the storage and cooling of cream-filled cans before
shipping them on the railhead at Pasqua, Saskatchewan, Canada. Inset in the shed’s
concrete floor was a 45-gallon drum. This acted as a casing and it was into the
well which it created that cream cans were deposited.
The rickety old lean-to didn’t
look like much to anyone never mind a couple of pre-teen boys with hammers and
crowbars in hand, just itching to dismantle something, anything! Well, the long
and short of it was, the shed came down with much fanfare on their part. It was
nothing but a pile of rubble by the time our Dad got home. I recall a sense of
excitement, pride and accomplishment (no maybe it was just apprehension) on their
part as it was related to him.
Now, I was just a wee lad back
then. As such, I wasn’t privy to all the conversation back and forth on their
little escapade. But I did get the impression my Dad thought the lean-to still
had some more years left in it! I don’t recall who ended up with the cleanup
task afterwards, hauling wreckage away and filling in the hole in the ground
where once the cream cans cooled.
I do recall, in decades to
follow, it being a topic of conversation and mirth at family gatherings,
especially ones bringing these cousins together. The Great Demolition Caper!
#FlashbackFriday
