This is my husband and Mr. Ed Bruington on the old Thomas farm in Independence, Kansas. Ed purchased the Thomas farm from Randy's grandma back in 1966. He lived there for many years and farmed the property, but then moved into town and started leasing the farm out to renters. The renters usually aren't farmers, so the property has really gone downhill. We nearly died when we learned that Mr. Bruington had sold the farm to someone else just two weeks before our visit. There's no way we could have afforded to buy the property, but it would have been nice to dream about it for a while and approach other family members about the possibility of purchasing it again! Mr. Bruington only has one arm. Apparently he was involved in a farm injury many years ago. He was using a thrasher, I think that's what it's called (I don't know anything about farm equipment!). The thrasher got hung up with some debris and when Mr. Bruington tried to free that debris, the thrasher caught his arm. After yelling for help and realizing that no one would ever hear him and he would likely bleed to death, he took his pocket knife and cut his arm completely off at the elbow so he would be freed to seek help. OMG! Randy had heard stories about this accident, so when Mr. Bruington stepped out of his truck and only had one arm, we knew he was the man who had in fact purchased the farm back in 1966!
Here's a picture of the old outhouse on the Thomas farm! I'm sure there are some interesting stories about this, but you can just use your imagination! I'm sure the Thomas boys used it a time or two!
That long building you see in the back is the chicken coop! I couldn't believe how big it was. When Randy would talk about the chicken coop, I always thought it was small, but it's not. Randy said it had three long tiers of coops on both sides of the building. Can't you just imagine how nasty that coop would be sitting out in the Kansas heat? I wish we could have gone in there, but the grasses around it had grown up too high and we were worried about snakes and ticks! From the fence and going towards the chicken coop was the chicken yard. Randy remembers his grandma going out there and feeding all the chickens. Sometimes she would let him help. Now it's all covered over with weeds.
You'll get a kick out of this! We took our dog Otto on the trip to Kansas with us, which was fun in some respects and a nightmare in others! We visited a cemetery that had many members of the Thomas family buried back in the 1800s and early 1900s. Since dogs were not permitted in the cemetery, we had to leave Otto in the air-conditioned car while we got out to see the gravesites. It nearly drove him crazy not to be out there with us. All of a sudden we heard a "clunk," only to realize that while Otto was looking out the window at us, he stepped on the lock, locking us out of the car! Boy, he sure got us, didn't he? He was in the nicely air-conditioned car and we were locked out in the 107-degree-temps (heat index of 113)! That'll teach us to not include him anymore! Smart dog!
This is my husband and Mr. Ed Bruington on the old Thomas farm in Independence, Kansas. Ed purchased the Thomas farm from Randy's grandma back in 1966. He lived there for many years and farmed the property, but then moved into town and started leasing the farm out to renters. The renters usually aren't farmers, so the property has really gone downhill. We nearly died when we learned that Mr. Bruington had sold the farm to someone else just two weeks before our visit. There's no way we could have afforded to buy the property, but it would have been nice to dream about it for a while and approach other family members about the possibility of purchasing it again! Mr. Bruington only has one arm. Apparently he was involved in a farm injury many years ago. He was using a thrasher, I think that's what it's called (I don't know anything about farm equipment!). The thrasher got hung up with some debris and when Mr. Bruington tried to free that debris, the thrasher caught his arm. After yelling for help and realizing that no one would ever hear him and he would likely bleed to death, he took his pocket knife and cut his arm completely off at the elbow so he would be freed to seek help. OMG! Randy had heard stories about this accident, so when Mr. Bruington stepped out of his truck and only had one arm, we knew he was the man who had in fact purchased the farm back in 1966!
Here's a picture of the old outhouse on the Thomas farm! I'm sure there are some interesting stories about this, but you can just use your imagination! I'm sure the Thomas boys used it a time or two!
That long building you see in the back is the chicken coop! I couldn't believe how big it was. When Randy would talk about the chicken coop, I always thought it was small, but it's not. Randy said it had three long tiers of coops on both sides of the building. Can't you just imagine how nasty that coop would be sitting out in the Kansas heat? I wish we could have gone in there, but the grasses around it had grown up too high and we were worried about snakes and ticks! From the fence and going towards the chicken coop was the chicken yard. Randy remembers his grandma going out there and feeding all the chickens. Sometimes she would let him help. Now it's all covered over with weeds.
You'll get a kick out of this! We took our dog Otto on the trip to Kansas with us, which was fun in some respects and a nightmare in others! We visited a cemetery that had many members of the Thomas family buried back in the 1800s and early 1900s. Since dogs were not permitted in the cemetery, we had to leave Otto in the air-conditioned car while we got out to see the gravesites. It nearly drove him crazy not to be out there with us. All of a sudden we heard a "clunk," only to realize that while Otto was looking out the window at us, he stepped on the lock, locking us out of the car! Boy, he sure got us, didn't he? He was in the nicely air-conditioned car and we were locked out in the 107-degree-temps (heat index of 113)! That'll teach us to not include him anymore! Smart dog!
Okay, the next question is, how did you get back in the car if Otto locked it?
ReplyDeleteI had my keys in my fanny pack! THANK GOD! How would you like to get locked out in 107 degrees in a cemetery? Could have been a very unpleasant situation! We're still laughing about it!
ReplyDeleteThat was my next question, too. I was thinking your purse with keys was in the car. It was a real good thing you had them in your fanny pack! Otto is so cute. TFS that story.
ReplyDeletej
You have a fanny pack? = ^ ]
ReplyDeleteYou know, the little carry-alls that go around your waist? I think those are called fanny packs.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, you have a fanny pack?
ReplyDelete