My Tent-house & Franks' Horses

After a few months, I suppose it got tiring for my brother Frank and his wife Lyn to have me living with them. I did work and help Frank with various projects but I never paid any board. I lent Lyn my car a lot for her to go to work at the Bank but basically both Frank and I were unemployed.  He received unemployment insurance but I did not.  My money from Twin Bridges soon dwindled away.  Before it was totally gone it was decided that I would reside in a tent-house.
 We bought ship lap lumber and made a floor then four foot walls and erected a tent my brother had on top.  I think Frank was always happiest when he had a project going and I enjoyed it as everything was a learning process for sure.  We cut a hole in the tent and applied two layers of tin so I could have the smallest little airtight stove they ever made I think.  The site for this tiny "home in the woods" was only about 200 ft. from their house, but I thought it was great.  Like the" boll-weevil"  in the old song I had always been "lookin' for a home"!  There was only room for a bunk at one end and the stove at the other and there I was with my very first "home".
  After supper at the house I would take my lantern and walk over with Chubby and sleep in my little home.  We were content even though the mosquito's were all hatching like crazy.  Going out for a night-time pee was most dangerous and of course impossible not to collect several bites. Still Chubby and I were content enough with our lot.
   For some reason I decided to nail a wooden orange box on a tree for the resident squirrel that seemed to be my alarm clock every morning.  I would leave him small offerings and I think he enjoyed them.  One night not realising squirrels are a tad nocturnal I held the lantern up to see if he had eaten what I left him.  He was in there! He surprised and startled me so much I nearly dropped the lantern! I guess I had surprised him just as badly and I went into my little tent shaking my head and asking myself "Well, what were you thinking?"
   Riding the spare horse my brother had, could prove hazardous to your health.  The horse was a white one named Pronto.(In truth there are few truly white horses and most of them are considered grey-but to the novice they look white so what the heck?) this particular horse had been given to my brother when a woman noticed a bridle hanging in his truck from the gun rack. One should always be suspicious of "free". Pronto was a handful and could kick quicker than a mule but I don't remember him deliberately kicking a human unless of course you wanted to pick up his feet. He would not tolerate that and it was always a challenge for Frank to trim him and putting shoes on him was a definite day long challenge that included ropes and many mind challenges of how to get it done. I think in the end the horse just got tired??
  I rode this horse a lot but he certainly was not one you could ever relax on or enjoy.  If he decided he wasn't going to cooperate on a ride he would leap in the air and do these kangaroo jumps for some time down the road and the rider was headed for home whether they wanted to go or not!  He had done this many times and it made me go to my equipment I had gathered from being at Twin Bridges and I put a running martingale on him.  This seemed to work and give me some leverage and control over the horse
 and at least I wasn't taken home by him anymore.  I had used this piece of equipment when starting the young horses at Twin Bridges and it worked well on this older horse too.
  I entered Kaslo's small horse show with Pronto before I had started using the martingale  and had been taken home at a rapid pace. You could say "a ride of a lifetime".  I was not in a hurry to do this again when everyone decided to attend the Crawford Bay show.  Pronto was fast and if one could control that speed he would surely win some ribbons! IF one could control him!  We started nightly practise sessions and on one I decided I did not need to ride this horse or attend the damn show!  Pronto grew frustrated at turning barrels sharply and started rearing.  My brothers solution was to use a whip on him for it. I have never liked hitting a horse at all and through out the years there would be many times when I probably should have. At my brothers urging I did apply the whip but the horse continued to rear and actually lost his footing and sat down and I thought he was coming over
and departed in a hurry. I somersaulted and lost my glasses and the whip and I am sure with the sense of humour Frank had it looked funny.  He laughed until he almost wet himself!  I did not think it was funny and quit right there and said I wasn't riding that crazy horse again! As far as I was concerned that horse belonged in a can!
  Frank had two other horses at the time.  Big Red was Franks horse and he had acquired another horse as well, this was Bug. Again I think Frank was given this horse and he had been the spoiled baby of some woman that grew disenchanted with owning a horse and wanted out of the bargain.

  Around that time too, Frank decided we should make a chuckwagon and go in the parade.  Well its always a good idea to try these things first and we did.  His waggon wasn't much more than a tongue, a reach and four rubber tired wheels. Frank used this piece of machinery for hauling logs to the mill. We had a lot of fun figuring out how to make it into what looked like a chuckwagon.  It had several "bunks" that stuck up in the air and we thought we could put plastic water hose on the bunks to make "hoops" for the waggon.  As always the fun was in the planning.  We had things nearly together but had not applied the canvas tarp yet when we decided to give it  a whirl.  Down the road we went and I am afraid my memory does not serve me well here-I suspect I had the living beejasus scared out of me.  I don't know how my brother disappeared but he did and Bug was totally out of control and I suspect scared out of his mind as well!  Somehow, with all the bumping and rough road and in and out of the ditch, the reach that held the front wheels and back wheels together parted and I eventually ended up with Bug stopped and only the front half of the waggon and the front wheels with me!  Well once again when Frank finally arrived I thought he was going to give himself a hernia he laughed so much.   To this day Frank Laughs big and loud!  When I first arrived I knew my brother loved me and would never do me any harm but now I was starting to wonder.  These escapades were really hard on the heart at times and I have to admire the tolerance of my sister-in-law that would come home to tales of our ventures while she had been working. Probably she had lived with Frank long enough not to want to be part of them?  I was starting to think he was only keeping me around for daily entertainment?  It was probably well-worth feeding me for both of them??