Goldfoot Farm
Sun., July 26, 1925
It's Sunday and the day has been ours--except for morning and evening chores, and a runaway calf, almost as hard to catch as a greased pig.
The first thing we did on our own was to take a bath in a nearby stream. It was certainly great to wash in something larger than a basin, even though we could only splash in a shallow pool.
Ma and Pa Goldfoot are very particular about Robert's washing his face and hands, but I bet, during the week we've been here, not one of the three has washed any further. Every bit of water has to be lugged in and, after use, lugged out again and thrown away. To complicate matters, there are two kinds of water, pump water for drinking and cooking, and brook water for washing and cleaning. The pump is 100 feet from the house and the brook as many yards. Robert keeps two big milk cans filled with brook water and brings in a pail from the pump when he thinks of it. I never ask him to get water, because he has so much else to do. Besides helping with the milking, haying and churning, his particular job is feeding the livestock, consisting of four horses, hundred of chickens, eight pigs, twenty cows, one bull, twelve calves, six cats and a dog. The cats are the favorites of the establishment and have to be fed hot potatoes, mashed up in either gravy or warm milk. No cold dried up stuff for them!
After our baths we visited the Adirondack Light and Power steam plant on the Mohawk River, and experimental station for G.E. Not only is it kept in applepie condition but is decorated with potted palms; swallows fly among the high steel rafters. A grating in the floor permits one to observe masses of gayly painted pipes of all sizes, resembling a tangle of huge angleworms, and to follow the course of each pipe by means of its identifying color. The boiler room is a good place to keep cool on a summer's day, for no heat is wasted. Bill absorbed much interesting information.
The Mohawk River is used here as a barge canal and we enjoyed watching a good-sized launch go through the nearby lock.
At Amsterdam we felt in such holiday spirits that we hunted for something reckless to do to celebrate, but nothing better turned up than gorging ourselves on three ice?cream sodas apiece?disgusting!
The low rolling hills in this section are covered with cultivated fields and trim prosperous-looking farm houses. Driving home the long way around, under a flaming sunset sky, we reached here just in time for milking.
Our first week as farm hands has ended.