At the time we moved into the house, it was great fun to run through all the rooms and to slide down the banister. We had numerous places to play. The only thing I didn't like about it was there were so many rock corrals and all of the sunny part of the day you could see snakes crawling between the rocks. There was a little waterfall and the snakes would come down to the wasterfall and crawl onto the bank and crawl up the trunks of the trees. I was teriffied of the snakes, but that didn't keep us from having a good time. We were told that my dad would turn the pigs out to roam the fields and they killed many of the snakes. So we were somewhat used to seeing them and if they stayed far enough away from us we were not afraid.
My dad needed a lot of help with this place and soon he had a group of men working for him we really enjoyed. I had never seen people like this. They had dark of skin, beautiful white teeth, curly hair and were always singing and always happy. They were called Baskos. Later, I learned they were Basque people. They are also sheep herders. They lived in tents around the perimeter of the farm or ranch. Some of them worked in the fields and some who worked with the horses did none of the farming. We loved to hear them sing in the evenings and they were so friendly.
They would gfet up early in the morning to do the work and my mother would fix them one big meal, either breakfast or lunch. We didn't always have the table full, but it was most of the time. I remember the table was as bigh as the table in the Lord's Supper painting. I remember how hard it was for me. i would stand on a stool and help my mother stir the batter for cakes or pancakes and help prepare things for the men. At the same time, I was still the one responsible for my sisters and brothers, to see that they were dressed and behaved. I felt that it was natural that i should have this burden of caring for my sisters and brothers.
I guess the biggest responsibility I ever had was when my mother had the next boy whose name was Val. He was born with eczema. My mother told me that he cried from the time he was born until he was five years old. So between tasks I would always have to be rocking Val and putting him tyo sleep. One of the jobs I did was to rock and take care of him while the family ate their meals and then I would eat my meal later. I took so much care of Val that he became like my own child or my own doll. When I see him to this day, I can't believe that I took care of him because at the time I was so young. As he grew older he didn't cry so much, but as an infant he took a lot of care.
Val was the cause of the only punishment my father ever gave me. My father was gentle with the girls. Although he might give the boys a regular whipping, he would not hit the girls. But this particular day, as I was rocking my brother, my dad came into the room, and while putting on his gear to go out with the horses again, he said to me, "You're rocking that baby too hard." "No, I am not," I replied. "You're going to tip that rocker over; you're going to hurt yourself," he warned me. "No, I am not," I maintained. "You're going to hurt him and yourself." he warned. "No, I'm not," I said. BANG! I went over backward and stunned myself when I hit my head, but I was holding the baby so carefully that it didn't hurt him and he didn't even cry. But the shock of my father taking his long gloves with fringe on the end ot it and beating me with his glove was something I have never forgotten as long as I live. That is the only time I ever remember him punishing me.
My father akways called me his little lady, saying, "You're my little lady and you take care of things for me." He always respected my seriousness. I would rather have been like my sisters: giggling, carefree and careless, without needing to take responsibility, but the way dad treated me made me think I was special.
We had many enterprises of this farm that made a big impression on me. We had so many cows that one of the jobs my brother and I would get occasionally was to sit on a high fence, open the gate, and let one cow at a time into the milking area. Because I was trusted to do this I did it, but I was a terrified of cows as most people would be of a lion. Cows always made a lot of noise at milking time. I don't know how long I did this, but I was terrified every time that I sat on that fence and opened the gate to let the cows through.
