Country Roads Take Me Home

 My Karissa is writing a fourth grade report. It has to be about something from our great state of Utah.  Her teacher requested that she write about the place that I grew up because it is unique. Follow the photos to see just how unique it is.

I grew up on a cattle ranch. We had 1,000 acres under irriagation and about 30,000+ acres range land for cattle. We had 700 head of cattle.  We also had some horses, chickens, pigs and sheep.  All this, of course, equalled A LOT of work. The ranch is no longer ours, but I took photos of it.  This photo is a picture of wheel lines disassembled for the winter. Wind and snow wreak havoc on wheel lines. It is best to store them along a fence or something.

Looking north on the ranch I grew up on.

The center of the ranch. Corrals and windmill!!  The home I grew up in was demolished by the new owners--kind of made me sad. I LOVE this windmill.

This home is located about 3 miles north of our ranch. It was built by my great-grandfather. It housed 11 children, a post office and many visitors and guests. It was built in the late 1800's.

This is the first schoolhouse built in Grouse Creek. My grandmother was the first and only teacher there.  She had 14 students. 

Grouse Creek, Utah settled in 1875.

When I was a child, this was the post office. It is used as a bunkhouse now for a family who visits in the summer. The mailboxes were so cool. They were opened with a combination dial. I loved opening our mailbox.

The only store. It has managed to stay open off and on for many years.

I attended this school house. It had grades K-4 in one room and grades 5-10 in another room.  I had 2 teachers. I recall playing jacks, marbles, jumprope, kickball, fox and geese, hide and seek and tag.  I had a wonderful school experience here.  I learned to use a typewriter, sing songs, tap dance, read, spell and be a good friend and person. I finished my high school years living with my aunt and uncle in Idaho.

A visit to the cemetary.The headstone of my great-grandfather and great-grandmother. They were such strong people. My greatgrandmother had 14 children. Three died within a week of each other of diptheria. Her first husband left her and then my greatgrandfather married her. They had 9 children together. She was blind in her right eye from an accident in infancy. I wish I could have known her. I also wish she had kept a journal. How wonderful it would be to read about her life---joys and sorrows, good and bad days. 

My plug for journal writing--DO IT!!

My aunt died of pneumonia at the age of 10.   How does a mother go on after a child dies so young? My grandmother was another strong woman. I didn't ever ask her how she felt about that. I wish I would have.

My school teacher for grades K-4.  She is now in her 90's. Quite an amazing woman.

Endless dirt roads. Dusty, windy, full of potholes and like a washboard. On dry days, the dust remained unsettled. 

The swather(on the right) is like one I drove in my teenage years. We had 2 of them. My Dad drove one following behind me, I drove the other. In my mind that meant getting twice the work done. However, I think my Dad spent most of his time unclogging my swather and making sure I drove straight so the cut windrows of hay looked nice. Whether twice the work was done or not though, work was done and the value of work was taught.  I love to work. It is satisifying. It makes life meaningful. It is good for the soul.

The LDS church. The only church in Grouse Creek. The flagpole was positioned

by my youngest brother for his Eagle Scout project.

Only about 50 people live in Grouse Creek now. It is so hard to make a living off the land.  Most of the homes that were filled and alive when I was a child are only used on weekends or in the summer for vacations and get-aways from the hectic life of a busy, city world. 

It was good to go "home".  It is so important that we uncover our roots.  I appreciate my heritage and ancestors.  It's amazing how decisions of our ancestors effect our lives today. It gives me the desire to make good choices so that lives of my posterity will be blessed and happy. 

"You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl."

Be Nice to People.

Julie