Winter Memories

We here at Ruby Ellen are spending some of these early winter days reviewing our archives which include several video taped interviews with Rex and others as well as over 500 slide images of life on the farm. Right now we are transcribing over 200 hours of interviews with Rex, taken over three years.

Just today, we learned how they bent maple into the curved end of home made skis that Rex and others used to get the one+ mile to and from the Bingham School (now used as the town hall) during the winter months. Some kids used the staves from barrels as their skis. Just one ski, with a block of wood on it which you sat upon, was known as a ‘skipper’. Rex speaks of heading out to the hills surrounding the school during the lunch hour in winter to ski….and how there were hills to ski coming and going from Ruby Ellen to school each day.

He also says there was no such thing as a ‘snow day’;)

Stay warm everyone!