... Of Surviving the Wilderness
As I mentioned before Paul was pretty easy going. Handing out punishment or discipline was not his strong suit. He normally left that up to Grandma. But there was one time –
One day Uncle Paul had to make a trip into Spirit River (small town 30 miles away) and he took Lin and I along.
At this time Nellie Singer ran a coffee shop in Gordondale. She had asked Paul to pick up some vanilla ice cream for her while he was in town.
While Paul was picking up some parts, he asked Lin and I to get the ice cream - which we were more than happy to do.
You must remember that in those days Ice Cream was a big treat and Paul had promised to take us to get some of that ice cream right after supper.
Although, we were not used to being left on our own in town we bravely, hand in hand, marched down the street to the store.
It didn’t make much sense to me but it was his tractor and I was willing to try anything about now, so I took my foot off the clutch. Lo and behold the tractor gave a lurch and slowed down
After Paul had climbed back onto the tractor and we had safely made the turn, Paul explained to me how the clutch worked and how to work the throttle and how to pump the brakes.
One more trip around the field to make sure I understood and Paul again got off the tractor and let me combine on my own.
What a boost in confidence that gave me. Although, I did notice he stayed a little closer for awhile. And what did I learn from this?
‘Learn to look ahead, expect the unexpected, learn as much as you can about what you are doing and - never push in the clutch when you are going down hill.”