My grandfather, Vincent, was a withdrawn person, caused perhaps by his long and rough life over the years he traveled from the U.S. east coast, to the west coast, the Yukon and eventually to Penticton, where he completed his life's story.

But then maybe he was just getting tired of people and young children asking stupid questions. He and his son, Sidney, taught me many things that I have remembered all my life. How to use a hand saw after it is properly sharpened. How two men on an eight or ten foot crosscut saw in big timer could quietly fall a good sized tree and buck it into proper lengths. Mind you those men had to be able to use a double bitted axe right or left handed, and this is something I have been able to do as well - use an axe or shovel equally well in both hands.

But Grandpa Vince was a tough old bird and always seemed to be working at something. There was always a couple of horses and a milk cow on the ranch which had to be fed, so he had his scythe and wetstone and hay fork with him when he went into the orchard, and at noon and supper time a great mound of hay with a set of legs headed into the barn.

We had a two storey barn built into the hillside so that you could enter top or bottom at ground level. The bottom was for the livestock and the top for storage, and harness and saddles, etc. There were stairs to go down to do the milking.

One end was for winter hay storage, and my friends and I used to jump into the hay from great heights at the risk of a piece of harness being applied to our backside if we were caught.

The roadway at the top side of the barn was the way down into the orchard and because the property was quite hilly we had some great sleigh riding down the twists and turns and often ended upset.

Right across from the barn was a roomy root cellar built into the bank, made of logs and covered with two or three feet of dirt. Only the front was made of wood, with two doors. One was the normal size and the other much larger to accommodate the cider press and the large wooden barrels for cider, which eventually turned to vinegar.

The cellar was heated by a wood and coal stove and properly banked would keep the place warm in the coldest weather. It housed all the tools and jars of preserves. There was a much smaller root cellar which stored the root crops, like potatoes, carrots, beets, etc.

This building was the gathering place for friends and neighbours and I have many fond memories of it.