Pond Sailing

The pond covers about two to two and a half acres after spring run-off and reduces to just a big mud hole in late summer. In a really hot spell it can dry right up. Fortunately for us as farmers, it was the only watering hole on the entire farm. This meant ALL the livestock came to drink every day. Since the pond is only about 200yds, down the hill from the farm buildings and house, you could sit in the kitchen, look out the window, and check all the farm fences! All you had to do was count the animals and if they were all there, you could be assured there was no hole in any fence.

Unfortunately, for the small boy, if the pond dried up it was always in August when there was no school. There was a well just at the edge of the pond with a wooden crib and a box-like cover on top. The well was only about 15 ft. deep and was equipped with a hinged door that opened to allow you to drop in a bucket on a rope and haul up water to fill the huge water-trough for the animals to drink from. This CHORE was added to the boy's list as he got older. It was important to have the trough filled every day before the animals arrived as you could not keep up filling as fast as they drank and the huge steers would become quite rough with each other and you if they were struggling to get water (another reason for the polling mentioned in an earlier blog).

The pond was adjascent to the concession road and on the other side of the road was a much larger swamp covering 25 to 30 acres. Wild ducks, muskrats and painted turtles lived in the swamp and/or the pond and frequently crossed the road with their babies trailing behind. If you spotted them starting across the road and ran down, the mother duck would give the signal for the baby ducklings to hide and she would fly away. The ducklings hid in the roadside grass and reeds and would NOT move until they got the all clear from their mom! They were very hard to locate, but if you could find one, you could actually reach down and pick it up. Mom would scold me for bothering them and tell me that the mother duck might abandon a duckling if she could smell human on it.

In the evenings during springtime, the air was filled with the peepers (small green leopard frogs)singing and the occassional GRUUMP of a bullfrog. On certian magical nights, just at dark, fireflies filled the air along the edges of the pond. It was mandatory for a small boy to catch a jarful to put on top of his dresser. We won't talk about the musquitoes, except to say if you watched the sky closely at dusk it was sometimes possible to see the bats swooping down to catch them and other insects.

From my room on the second floor, I could also see the pond and as spring approached I was planning this year's raft. I had built rafts before which I manouvered around the pond by way of a pole to push it. This year I was going to be more ambitious!

4 eight foot cedar fence posts for floats
8 four foot boards for decking
1 eight foot mast
1 six foot binder canvas for the SAIL
1 push pole
lots of nails.

I could obtain the fence posts easily from the pile that was always in reserve for farm fencing. There was still plenty of used lumber and nails left over from the old church dad built the house from. The problem would be the SAIL. I knew I would never be allowed to use a binder canvas, so the fact that I was building a sail boat would have to be kept secret.

Last year I had built a raft on the ground beside the pond and had great difficulty launching it through the mud on the shore. Because fall rains had filled the pond extraordinarily high, it's edge came right up to the 4x6ft top on the well. I decided to build early, right on the ice, using the well top as a dock. This worked well and construction was finished just as the ice started to melt. I could not figure out how to properly attach the mast in the center of the raft, so I spiked it to the bow. When the ice finally cleared, I tested my new vessel while it was still tied to the well and found it was a little bit tippy, but decided it would do.

Saturday was, in my estimation, a perfect day to sail! The breeze was already quite brisk, the ice was mostly gone and the sun was shining. Without mentioning a word to anyone, I got the key to the workshop and took the neatly rolled binder canvas that was stored safely away and headed for my adventure. I had driven a nail into the top of the mast so all that was necessary to hoist sail was to stand on top of the well and slip the center buckle on the canvas over the nail. The wooden slats attached to the canvas that moved the grain through the binder kept the canvas rigid. As soon as I stepped on the raft, the breeze picked up and I was thrilled at the free ride I was getting. About half-way across a strong gust hit the sail and the nose of the raft went under water! Forgetting how tippy it was I started forward to lower the sail. My weight coupled with the now strong wind caused the raft to tilt further and just keep going straight down. First thing I knew, I was head over heels in the water.Fortunately, it was only arm-pit deep because I had taken a good noseful going in. As I struggled toward shore one of my knee-high rubber boots stuck in the mud and came off. I kept going, but before I reached shore, I heard the old man yelling at me to turn right around and go get his binder canvas!

By the time I finally got out of the water, I was mud from head to toe, missing a boot and half frozen. When I got up to the house my mother met me at the door and said "I hope you don't think you are coming into my house like that young man!" She had her large rinse tub that was used with the wringer washer in her hand and ordered me out to the well in the back yard where she supervised while I pumped up a tubful of more cold water. By this time, my six girl cousins, who had just moved in across the road, were all out in their front yard laughing, jeering and having great fun at my expense. Mom then told me to get ALL my clothes off and get in the tub. The thought of disobeying crossed my mind but I could see she was really steamed and I immediately changed my mind. After I was cleaned off, I had to get out of the tub and rinse my muddy clothes before I was allowed in the house.

Once in the house, Mom softened her approach and poured me a good hot bath in our new bathroom where I stayed until I thawed out. Then I went to bed for the rest of the day.

It turned out I was none the worse for wear the next day (even got a new pair of boots)however that was the end of rafting that year.

Next- Daisy Lever Action


"Thank you very much"

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