"Why that is certainly kind of Addy. You be sure to tell her thank you from the Redmonds now."
"Yes, Miss...Clara." Well, she wasn't a teacher or anything, and she'd given her permission to just call her 'Clara', so now he'd just have to get used to dropping the 'miss'.
"There actually is a black bread. I had some once in Pennsylvania, a woman from Russia made it. But sounds like that is not what Addy made. Oh well, we all have our strongpoints and weaknesses no doubt, Addy more than makes up for her lack of culinary skills," Clara explained.
"And cooking surely isn't for Miz Addy," Weedy chuckled. And Clara was right, people were better at some things and not so better at others, and that was what made people work.
"Cul narry?" Wyatt raised one eyebrow, her sister always used fancy words he didn't understand.
"Cooking...baking skills," the girl clarified.
Glancing at Wyatt, Weedy shrugged. Why not just say 'cooking' if that was what you meant? But there were plenty of adults who used bigger words than they had to, but at least for Clara, he didn't think it was to show how smart she was.
Wyatt nodded, "Yeah, right. Anyhow, Weedy, should we go do some stuff?"
"Yes! That's why I'm here. I've never been on a farm, I want to see everything!" And he reckoned there was a lot to see, even if Wyatt didn't think so.
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Yes! That's why I'm here. I've never been on a farm, I want to see everything!"
"Well then, we'll be back later, Clara. In time for lunch," Wyatt then led his friend outside.
"I reckon we could start with the barn. It ain't a big one but we keep our plow horse in there and we also got a milk cow, Bessie, but she is eatin' grass right now in pasture," the boy started talking about the animals and did not stop until he had also covered the chickens in the coop too.
"We got another horse too for riding but Pa took it. He should be back for lunch too," he explained.
Weedy was impressed with the cow, although there were chickens in town, and of course, he'd lived in the Millegan Stage barn with Miz Addy off and on for a while, and it was much bigger than the one here. Still, it was fun to see what a regular farm barn was like, and to actually see hens sitting on their eggs.
"Can you milk the cow?" he asked, peering through the fence at the beast, "I've never seen that done, is it hard?" It actually seemed a little yucky to touch cows' teats, and he wondered if they were slimy, which would make it all the better!
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Weedy was thrilled about Bessie the milk cow, which kind of amazed Wyatt being a farm boy. To him it was just a cow. But an important one to the family.
"Can you milk the cow?" he asked, peering through the fence at the beast, "I've never seen that done, is it hard?"
"Oh of course we can milk it...........oh you mean me myself? Sure I can, I have to do it sometimes but all of us can milk her," Wyatt answered.
"It's not really hard, nope. Once you get the hang of it. Besides cows like being milked. If you didn't milk'em, the cow gets really upset...well unless a calf drinks it. But we don't have any calves. "
"They get mad?" Weedy couldn't imagine a cow being mad about anything, much the less why they'd get upset because they didn't get milked, but what did he know?
"Yeah, show me what to do, then I can try." Addy had always encouraged him to try new things and learn what he could, so he may as well give it a go. "Does she have a name? Can I pet her?" After all, if he was going to be milking her, he probably should be able to pet her, right?
"Well, not mad exactly. More like upset. They're holding in a lot of milk in those udders," Wyatt tried to explain.
"Yeah, show me what to do, then I can try," Weedy seemed eager, "Does she have a name? Can I pet her?"
"Alright we can do that. There's a pail in the barn," Wyatt started that direction, "Her name is Bess or Bessie. Clara said it is short for Elizabeth. Who cares, right?"
They entered the barn, "You can pet her. She don't bite. Just never stand directly behind a cow. They can kick but also, they sometimes just lift their tails and out comes all that....well, you know...cow shit."
He could use that word now because neither Clara nor his father were in earshot.
Weedy laughed and nodded. "Same with horses, too, gotta watch their tails!" Fortunately, Weedy had never been pooped on, but there had been some close calls! "Miz Addy says with hoses, you either stay right up behind them or way back, so if they do kick, it's not so bad."
But, of course, it was best just to stay clear of the backside at all! So, Weedy went up to the front, where he stroked the cow's nose. "Hello, I'm Weedy, and we're going to milk you, so don't get mad, all right?"
Sure, she didn't understand what he was saying, but she'd understand the tone. He glanced at Wyatt. "How much milk does she have? Does she have it every day?" Like, how long did it take to fill up again?
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"She's right, I know about horses. Pa said he saw a man get kicked in the head once by one and he lost his eye, yuck!" Wyatt declared, boys his age loved that gory stuff though least in their imaginations.
Wyatt was bemused to watch the other boy introduce himself to the cow, "Don't expect Bess to answer ya."
"How much milk does she have? Does she have it every day?" Like, how long did it take to fill up again?"
Gee, the boy sure had enough questions. Wyatt now pulled up a small stool and a bucket then made his way toward the back flank.
"A lot. And yep, every day. If they don't make milk they're pretty well useless and we'd probably just have to butcher her and eat her," he answered as best he could.
"Alright, I will do it first, you watch me, then you can try, it's not that hard," Wyatt explained as he plopped down on the stool.
"I know she won't answer." Weedy rolled his eyes, then grinned, moving up behind Wyatt to get a good view of what was being done. And Wyatt was a good teacher, explaining what he was doing so that when it was Weedy's turn to try, he actually did a pretty decent job of it.
With the bucket reasonably filled and the cow reasonably emptied, Weedy looked at his friend. "That's better than mucking stalls, that's certain! I don't know what's worse, chores or homework. But we're going to have fun, right?" Of course, to the boy who lived in town, just about anything out in the country would be fun!
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Weedy turned out to be a good learner, Wyatt didn't even have to say much in the way of pointers as the other boy did a nice job of hitting and filling the bucket. He was also jubilant.
"That's better than mucking stalls, that's certain! I don't know what's worse, chores or homework. But we're going to have fun, right?"
"Homework!" Wyatt had a ready answer to that one, "especially arithmetic."
Next he showed the boy the chicken coop, "We let run free for awhile when we first got here and bought 'em but then a fox or weasel or somethin' started stealing and killin' em. So we had to make a fence. We like fresh eggs, how do you n' Addy eat yours?