CHICKEN SURGERY

Saturday, January 31, 2009

The above title should arouse some curiosity. It is so brief it might more accurately meet the definition of an anecdote rather than a story. In any case the event took place in the life of a pioneer couple. It was told by Mary Day (husband Frank) at our Cherry Hill 5th Ward social August 17, 1991. The following account was related by her parents, Brother and Sister Elbert Brown, and happened shortly after their marriage which was somewhere around the year 1910:Sister Day's maternal grandfather had given her parents a cow name Daisy and 12 chickens for a wedding present. They packed their belongings in a wagon and with their milk cow, and chickens drove to Hatch, a town located in a Sagebrush valley in Idaho. Mary said she couldn't find it on the map, but it was near Bancroft. Their farm was infested with gophers. The County (or some agency) paid a bounty for each gopher tail, which they collected in a match box. One way of eradicating the rodents was to use poison wheat. One Sunday they came home from church to find their chickens deathly ill from eating the wheat. Being very resourceful people and needing every chicken, they proceeded to perform a surgical procedure on each chicken which consisted of cutting the "crop" open, removing the poison wheat, washing the crop out thoroughly with soap and water - - then sewing it back up with needle and thread. They considered their efforts a huge success as they lost only two of the chickens.

NOTE: Just a few comments on "chicken or bird physiology" from Dr. Parker. As you know, chickens have no teeth. The grain or whatever they eat goes from their esophagus to the "crop," which is called by some, their "doggy bag," where it's temporarily stored. From there it goes to the gizzard (which you might call their teeth), where the food is ground up by bits of small gravel they must eat to aid digestion. If you've ever helped cut up a chicken, pheasant or whatever and have saved the gizzard to eat you'll find it has a very tough lining that you peel off and throw away. Without the tough lining in the gizzard the grinding process would destroy it. So, fortunately when Brother and Sister Day got home the poison wheat was still in the "crop," and they were able to clean it out. I might add that gophers were a real pest on our farm and hard to get rid of. The worst thing they did was to make irrigating harder by tunneling underground, thus diverting the water so it wouldn't run down the rows to the end of the field.


January 31, 2009
Grandpa Parker

Lindsay's VW Wreck

About 6:00 AM on the morning of July 1, 1974 Lindsay was on his way to work at the Church Welfare Farm near Elberta, Utah when he went to sleep at the wheel and rolled our '67 VW.

Although it came to rest on the wheels, it was totalled. It occured at a turn near a R.Rd crossing about 2 miles East of the small town of Goshen. Fortunately a woman came by shortly after the crash. She saw no one as she passed but happened to look in her rear view mirror and saw him standing up. She returned and at this point I will need to firm up some details. Either she took him to the Payson Hospital or called an ambulance to come and get him. In either case Mom and I went to the hospital and observed the doctors as they dug the gravel out of his body and gave him further treatment. He had a skull fracture and broken jaw which they wired shut. For several weeks he lived on juices or malts which resulted in dental cavities. Had Mom and I been aware of Water Piks I'm sure we could have spared him the cavities. Sorry Lindsay.

I took the picture of the VW at a Santaquin wrecking yard where it had been taken. Ron Dennis, a Mechanic in our Ward gave me a couple of hundred $$ as I recall for the engine.

P. S. If anyone who reads this has corrections or additions to add let me know.

Parker's Summer Trip to Yellowstone Park

During a Summer in about 1965 .when we were living in Nephi Doris and I took the family on a trip to Yellowstone Park in our 1953 CHEV Station Wagon pictured here. (Rodger is by the car) All went except Starr who was still a baby. Ione Sperry, the Bishop's wife cared for her while we were gone. We rented a small cabin there so we didn't have to worry about the bear bothering us in a Tent. It was a scenic and enjoyable trip - -many different species of wild animals, geysers, beautiful water falls, rivers, evergreen forests, etc. Yellowstone is one of the world's wonderlands. It was established in 1872 and was the first national park in the world. Yellowstone lies on a plateau about 8,000 ft. above sea level. Can't recall who it was but, one of the kids was fishing from a bridge and dropped their pole in the river that runs through the Park.


All good things must come to an end. We packed up and headed for home. As I recall, we made a stop for something when we were still in the Park. It was in a wooded area. When we were ready to resume travel, I started the car but when I put my foot on the Clutch pedal to put it in gear there was no connection. In checking underneath I could see that a bolt connecting the pedal mechanism to the shifter had fallen out. We were miles from any garage so we were "between a rock and a hard place." However, Kimball and Marcia came to our rescue. Unbeknowns to us they had gone out in the forest and offered a prayer and came back with a wire coat hanger they had found. As the saying goes, "A little child shall lead them." They saved the day because in just a few minutes I was able to reconnect the Clutch and we were on our way and returned home with no more incidents.
P. S. Lindsay said it was his pole that was dropped in the river. All efforts to get it were in vain.

January 12, 2009


FSP

Sarah Sweat Lindsay - - Pioneer Mother

I've been going through Doris' family historys she's compiled in 3 ring-binders. They are very interesting and inspiring. Her mother and mine were two great "pioneer" women as they raised their families under the most trying conditions. One example of her her mother's great spiritual faith and fortitude happened in 1911 when her husband Bennett was called on a mission. She was expecting so he asked to wait until after the baby was born - -then they were surprised with twins which they name Louis and Louie. They already had a little girl named Ethel which made 3 babies. He then considered whether or not he should go with her additional responsibility. She never wavered in her faith and encouraged him to go. He was gone for 26 months. Imagine the hardships with no electricity, no washing machines, cows to milk, and animals to care for !

Attached is an old black and white photo with Sarah Lindsay and the three children.

FSP - - January 10, 2009