Grandpa’s Memory Journal, Entry #6 – Rafting

(This entry was originally posted in Facebook in 2016)

I grew up in the heart of the prairies, but I was also fancied myself as a mariner!

This is a picture of my main raft that my grandfather built for me in the late 1950’s. This one was made from thick planks, probably 3×10 inches by 7 feet long.

I did most of my rafting during spring (although this is a summer picture) when the sloughs and ditches were full. My spring dress included a parka and rubber boots. A drowning waiting to happen! (Grandkids, use a PFD!, ”do as I say, not as I did!”)

This picture was at the slough about ¼ mile south of the farmstead on the west side of the road. I also had a fencepost raft on the little dugout just north of the buildings.

I would spend hours riding my raft. Exploring the length and breadth of the slough.  I once made a Trans-Atlantic telephone cable, by unravelling coils of wire from burned up rubber tires in the nearby farm dump and then attaching tin cans to each end. Sound seemed to be transmitted, as long as you shouted really loud and didn’t cover the ear that was not in the tin can! I also made submarines from rectangular 1-gallon maple syrup cans. I made another hole, in addition to the pour spout. I would attach a rubber hose to the spout and then let it sink when water came into the lower hole. Then, I would blow into the rubber hose, and my submarine would rise again!

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