<Begin Segment 28>

AI: So now as time went on, what kind of work was your father doing?

RT: Well, we worked in the beets.

AI: You continued on?

RT: Fall and spring. And the wintertime, he took care of... he was hired as, I think, for sheep, to take care of the sheep. That's feeding them. And I'm sure there was a great number, and so it was a full-time job. So he did have that job to feed us through the winter. And of course, we went in the fall, and my parents are good gardeners, but you don't have a garden when you get there in September. So I know that first winter was, not that we went hungry or anything because they're very resourceful people, but we had to eat some things that we had never eaten before, like rutabagas. We had never known rutabagas and they even tried to make tsukemono out of rutabagas. It wasn't very successful, but yeah, we got introduced to rutabagas and the reason being, of course, that they're quite cheap. Yeah.

So, but as long as we had rice, I guess they thought we could make it through the winter, but I think it was very hard for my mother especially, because she was scrubbing, cleaning and have to wash clothes in the washtub all by hand on the scrub board, and hang it out to freeze. It would dry, but it would be frozen. Oh, yeah.

And it was cold. That winter was very cold. I remember that one day, one morning, I think we were going to get a ride to school from the Blatters. I think we, that's how we got to school, but I know it was 50 (degrees) below, and we were standing out there and that's when the snow makes a sound. It makes a very creaky sound, it's so cold. Yeah. But she tried to keep the house clean, and it was cold enough that we would wake up every morning with this layer of ice all the way around the bedroom because, of course, we were all exuding our, our moisture and it would freeze on the walls, but, oh, we kept warm. Yeah, we made it.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.