I have deep respect and undying admiration for the generation our parents represent. Our small farm begged constant repairs and maintenance, but only on rare occasions was an outsider called in for his expertise. In my growing years, the 1940's and 50's, I witnessed this first hand. Many people my age, I like to joke, were born with a wrench in one hand and a hammer in the other.
On more than one occasion when a tractor burned too much oil, we lifted its cylinder head and dropped the oil pan to overhaul the engine. Valves needed grinding, too, so someone took a quick three mile drive into Sheldon to deposit the engine head at the local mechanic shop where we usually got overnight service. After reassembling the engine again, we had endured only a few hours of tractor downtime.
In 1952 the REA line came through and an arc welder was purchased so that any metal breakage could be fixed right in our yard. A broken hammer handle got replaced with a homemade one hewn from a piece of oak with a drawknife. In the shop rivets, bolts, and nails stood ready for use in rusty tins and wooden bins. Scarcely a day passed when a hand didn't reach in to grab some of these fasteners to repair something.
Rolls of old telephone wire and baling wire served to make temporary fixes. A leak in a water pipe could be stopped with strips of old innertube we wound around the leak and then tightly bound with baler twine.
Large gardens, flocks of chickens, and milk cows supplied our table. Ma sewed patches on pants and darned socks. Cloth from flour sacks was put to good use when cut and sewn into garments.
Livestock needed lots of personal attention such as birthing, feeding, docking, castrating, dehorning, vaccinating, shearing, etc. Fences and pens needed building and repairing. Buildings required shingling and painting.
It was a different world. The home we built here in Mandan six years ago needed at least 14 different sub-contractors to complete it. Each group specialized. You used to hire a carpenter and he built it. I could go on and on regarding the present state of specialization. For instance who could repair a newer model car in his garage? Is a five year old wash machine worth fixing? Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I still preferred some of the old ways.
