Farm Work

April 1, 1935  I took Mary to Meade to work.  John worked on the fence.  The rest of us worked on the tank.  Mama and I prepared to wash. 

It was a day of work on the farm.  Cornelius took Mary to town to work, probably housekeeping or similar work for an “English” family, where she could earn some cash.  John worked on the fence, something that always needed to be fixed on the farm.  Wires came loose or broke, posts pulled over or broke off, braces need to be put in at the corners and gates, tumbleweeds needed to be cleaned out of the fence rows and burned, and dirt that had been piled up by the wind needed to be pushed away from the fence so that animals could not get out. 

The rest of the family worked on the water storage tank.  Because the Siemens depended on water pumped from the well by a windmill, the water supply was variable.  Since March 19, they had been working off and on laying a concrete foundation, building a stand about three feet high to raise it off the ground to increase the water pressure, and then erecting the metal tank on the stand.  The tank itself was about 12-15 feet tall.  After this, the Siemens never ran out of water due to calm days, but sometimes they had to ration it carefully at the end. 

Cornelius and Margaret also prepared to wash.  Wash day for nine people was a busy day, so they tried to do as much as possible the day before.  Probably they collected the wash and shredded the blocks of homemade lye soap, and maybe even filled the miagrope kettle with water.