Wisconsin Five - Text
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Okay, I was (uh) born and raised in Wisconsin. I’ve lived on a farm nearly all my life.
(Um) I think the first three or four years I lived at the cheese factory. My dad made Swiss cheese. Those are some really good memories, because I remember (um) old enough to run down to where he’d be making the cheese. And then they would do something. They would plug the cheese, and they’d pull out this creamy, yummy Swiss cheese, and then (uh) they’d check the sample-- check that plug, and sometimes Dad would break it off and let us have some of it. And then they’d put the plug back in and then they’d cover with (uh)-- with like a wax. But that’s how they checked the cheese to see how it was (uh) aging.
(Uh) When I was about six years old, we-- my dad left the cheese factory, because of a back injury. And we star-- and he started farming. My-- I had a little brother that was one year old, and-- I loved to be outside all the time. And in fact, I would be-- I was probably a tom-boy. And I was with my dad all the time. And we-- I don’t remember it entirely, but (uh) I was taking my little brother down to the barn. And at that time we (uh)-- we had a bull. And he got out, and he chased us. And I-- got-- it was-- he chased after my little brother and I, when I was little. But he didn’t get us, and I must’a’ ran him up to the house.
And I remember another incidence, because bulls are something to be afraid of. W-- we would have to go bring the cows in, and my mom (uh) couldn’t drive a car but -- (laughs) and didn’t have a license, and... But she (uh) learned how to drive a truck, and we would go down to the field to bring the cows in, and this bull-- he would-- I still remember, us kids were in the back of the truck, and he chased us. And I can still remember him. We were all screaming, and he jumped-- he would (uh) get his knee up in the back of the truck. And he had (uh) this huge head. And he was snortin’ and, you know, trying to get us. And we were screaming, and Mom was driving as fast as she could go, and (laughs). That’s the two things I remember, back when I was-- when I was young.
One other thing too that was kinda fun: I wanted a horse so bad —I was just horse-crazy— that (uh) we would (um) train our calves to ride ’em. And my sister-- we would play for hours down in the barn, leading our calves, running ’em up and down the driveway, pretending they were horses. And when (laughs) my pet calf got big enough, I trained it so I could ride it. And, we would come home f-- We made little bridles out of twine. And we’d be riding’em-- Well, it was gentle and everything, but when the cows come home, they get kind of excited and spunky, and they come running down through the-- (laughs) through the (uh) pasture, and then they start bucking (laughs) and-- threw us off. So-- But it was fun, and it didn’t stop us. We did it again and again, but we’d get knocked off. And they don’t have the softest back to ride on either. If you look at a cow, they’ve got a bony back, so when they’re bucking, it doesn’t feel very good. (Laughs)