YOUTUBE qH8ktZP1wtI
I started with hand milking when I was six years old because we didn't have milk and machines. Then my dad was an original dairy gold member over a hundred years ago. Well, about 103 years ago. Cause we, they just had their hundredth anniversary here a while back and I went to it and those days we had 10 gallon milk cans. And we put the milk in there and the milk truck came around and picked him up. And then later on, they started using a milk tanks and the tanker would come around and pick up the milk. When I was farming, living with my parents, I never went to belly. Ella time, I went to Bellingham was not a date to go to a movie or something like that, because if I needed anything in Bellingham, I'd tell my focus. Ain't went everywhere. To do their grocery shopping now, I guess. And his first vacation was our honeymoon in 12 years. Yes. And of course I went to Linden quite often because that's where all the farm equipment was like farmer's equipment and so on. And by the way, we've been married 55. It'll be 56 in July, two months. Yeah, she was in Bellingham when we met. Yeah. Like I say, I went there every Saturday night. I'd milk a little bit early, so I could, so I could get down there and so on. And sometimes depending on who was there, you could dance every dance and other times, very, not so many here I am with as, as a, as a city girl. And now I'm on a farm and there's, um, we're in the halfway mark at the half mile and there's a house at each end of the mile. And that's it. That's the only neighbors. I'm Beth Elizabeth Aarons. And I'm 85 years old. I live on the Erikson Goshen road. Yes. And I'm Edmund Spencer errands go by my middle name and all the men in my family went by. Our middle name is for some reason. I don't know why, but anyway, and, uh, I'm 88 and, uh, live on the property. I was born on different part of it, but, uh, but I'm still, I haven't gotten very far only moved once and I was just around the corner. Yup. One of my neighbors. He had a smaller dairy herd, but he had chickens. So lakes that thing, I had 30 when I quit in 65. And that was fairly typical in those days, you know, there was a few little bigger ones and smaller ones. I would not enjoy daring today, the way, the way it has gone. But in those days we all work together. Backside rubbish in the neighborhood here owned our silo felling equipment together, like a cooperative that the chopper and the blower and the two wagons. And we feel work for each other, feeling each other's silos. A lot of people have moved into the area and we don't, we don't know them at all. I used to know everybody and it's interesting. They don't people nowadays don't socialize as they use. When we had the, um, the honey business, um, and the little shop out in, out in front of the, uh, the house, there was a lot of bottling that had to be done and labeling and so on. So that's how, that's how all three of the kids, um, worked and earned some money during, during summer. Well, all, all year, all year. Yeah. All three of our children have great work in. They do whatever it takes to get a job done. And it pays off our youngest son now is a contractor back in Missouri. He's booked up for two or three months because of what he does. They word gets around. The oldest is Cathy, um, daughter. And she is, uh, she is 15. Anyway, she was born in 66 and 1966. She keeps everybody in line. Let, let me just put it that way at the big sporting goods. Yeah. Yep. And she, um, she's, she's the one, uh, in the service center. Uh, she's a supervisor now. Um, and then our oldest son is. 18 months younger and his, he has Phil and he is incredible. Um, right now he, he and well, he and a friend two years ago started a company and named it revolve solutions. And he is the lab person who is working on a artificial mitral valve, um, to be put in. Noninvasive. So through the artery, when I was 40 years old, I had just turned 40 that I was diagnosed with Ms. And, um, it came and went at intervals, uh, for several years. And. There was a couple of years when there was nothing wrong. Um, and then I would wake up, uh, on a different morning and one foot would be cold and one foot would be very hot landing on the bare floor. And I would, oh, here we go again. And for ladies and within one month, Who didn't know each other all said, you need to go talk to Sid Baron. And the first two or three, I said, oh, no way, no way. He's just too, too big. He started XL Pacific construction and K L Y N radio, the fourth one. I said, you know, Lord, thank you. Trying to get me. Someone is trying to tell me. Yep. So that's what got me in to see you said, yeah, he had Ms. He gave me an extremely good counsel, um, an hour and a half on the first phone call. Um, he helped me more than any doctor. Yeah. He was more helpful than three doctors, three years. Oh yeah. And he put me into, onto, uh, Dr. Swain. So I went down and visited. I got an appointment, went down to Portland, um, got going on the diet. And in seven years I was out of the wheelchair and off the cane. And back to walking through all that, this guy was my big supporter. Well, Dr. Schwenk told her when she went down on her first. I don't expect any results for five years, you didn't get this way overnight. Well, she went on, the diet was strict with it. Didn't get any worse. She was happy with that. And then down the road, she realized she could do some things she had not been able to do before. And that was what, 6, 6, 6 and a half years, six and a half seven. And from then on, she just improved until she doesn't need a wheelchair anymore. That's through all of this. He never, ever, um, he never put his foot down and said, you can't drive your knee. You're not able, I w I drove entirely, um, the whole time because I could lift a leg into the car, you know, and I could, but I couldn't manage. The brake pedal. So my left foot did the brake and my right foot did the gas. And that's how I still do couple of those. And I liked that word. Um, well I think I'm, I'm the volatile one and he is the calm one. Um, I can, um, I can melt down very easily and, and fly off the handle a little bit more. But, but you know, you, you can't have an argument when there's nobody to argue with. We've never had an argument. We've had our disagreements, but not really an argument. Like a lot of couples do. No, no. Okay. At one point and they, they, the kids can attest to this. I got so irritated at him that I threw a fork, Adam, down the, down to the, down to the other end of the table. He'd act I'm a bit of a workaholic actually, because that's the way I grew up. When I was kids, like I say, I started to milking cows by hand when I was six years old, my sister and I, my, I have a sister two years younger than me. We had to work in those day. We had to work in the garden and, and, and it was our job to fill the wood box underneath the kitchen sink for the wood cook stove. Every night we had the packet packet, my dad was splintered. Then we would call it in. We just, we just learned to work because it was necessary in those days. I said I've had Lockheed's for 86, my 88 years. I split my wood with a mall and a wedge. I don't use one of these hydraulic deals cause that's what I grew up with. And so, uh, and I don't, I can't do what I used to do. Um, you know, but, uh, I'm still very, and I shouldn't have to be working at my age, but due to some bad decisions, like the mortgage type thing I need to. Well, I'm thankful. I'm able to, the one thing that I missed was, um, was dancing. When I, when I got Ms. There was no way, and I, I can get out on a dance floor now, but nothing that is fast, not like we used mine where my feet just don't work at the line. Vouch. No. I did the, uh, emergency, um, um, pacemaker, um, the end of March. And, uh, so I'm six weeks into healing, so that's good. So it, within that six weeks, I've had my two COVID shots. And so with all the fatigue that goes along with the shots, um, I'm gradually getting back up onto my feet and I think attitude, um, plays a huge part. Oh yes. Yeah. God has been very good to us. Really? Yes. Many blessings. Yeah. Many blessings.