One VERY cold morning

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

One winter quarter when I was in college, a class was postponed until spring  quarter, so I postponed the other two not-very important classes and stumbled into a job up near Green River, Wyoming.  Another fellow and I were to go out to a very remote area and take care of 14 head of cattle and four horses.  It seemed that that they had to be abandoned when a vicious storm came in suddenly, but the owner wanted someone to go in and take care of them until he could go get them, and offered $500.00 a month.  For reference, five years later I was teaching a 6th grade class in Brigham City, Utah for $310.10 a month.

 

We were given the use of three large mules to get us in there......and off we went.

 

What we found was a two buildings made of native logs in a half mile squarish hollow in a pine forest.  They had sod roofs covered in loose dirt and caulked with cut sod.  The larger building would handle the animals and enough wood to last out the year, and had a small forge to keep the critters from freezing and a hand pump for water enough for both buildings.

 

The smaller building was only about 8' x 12' with two crude beds situated so they formed a right angle so the were feet first into a corner with a tiny little wood stove.  Two flour sacks stuffed with straw served as pillows and there were few dozen wool blankets on a shelf by the table.  There was a 30"x 30" table and two chairs.  There was sufficient food to last us a couple of months and plenty of wood, some enameled old-fashioned dinner and cook ware, and a couple of oil lanterns and some candles.  A pair of wood buckets full of water were near the stove  

 

I have never been so cold in my life.  They told us later that the temperature dropped to 60 degrees below zero on the second night, but warmed up ro 45 below after that.  It was so so cold it just hurt to be alive

 

Anyway, the third day we woke up got a fire going and I went out to check the animals and get the little forge fired up while he got breakfast together.  I came back in and the stove was getting warmer and a cast iron skillet was getting hot  The kid said, "Tom, do you have any idea what these are?"

 

He held out his hand and showed me eight or nine little marble-sized glass balls, hazy brownish-gray and solid with a very high gloss surface.

 

I asked where he got them and a said he found them in his bed.  The frying pan was warming nicely so I suggested he put a couple on the stove to thaw out.  He put three in the pan and they sagged a bit and then went "PTHHTTT".

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

OK, that's cold.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I don't believe no one thought a frozen fart was funny.  When I told some guys at a breakfast about it they almost all busted a gut laughing.

 

I guess none of you have a sense of humor.

[Eyesa Horg]

On 9/28/2025 at 1:18 PM, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

PTHHTTT

Needed at least one R in there!

[Subdeacon Joe]

59 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I don't believe no one thought a frozen fart was funny.  When I told some guys at a breakfast about it they almost all busted a gut laughing.

 

I guess none of you have a sense of humor.

 

Hey! So. I'm "Nobody" now?About an hour after you posted it i hit the Laugh reaction. 

[Eyesa Horg]

I laughed at the story in general .

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

18 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

Hey! So. I'm "Nobody" now?About an hour after you posted it i hit the Laugh reaction. 

What is a laugh reaction and how do  Ifind it?

[Subdeacon Joe]

9 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

What is a laugh reaction and how do  Ifind it?

 

Look to the lower right:

 

Click on it and  you get:

 

 

Pick the one you want. (sorry, I got lazy in my editing of the screen shots. I should have taken out the bottom half.Z)

Edited September 30, 2025 by Subdeacon Joe

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Well, I'll be dipped.  I never knew that was there.  Thanks a couple of times, Joe....and the rest of you  folks, too.

 

One is never too old to learn something new.  How long I'll remember it is another thing altogether.

Edited September 30, 2025 by Forty Rod SASS 3935

[Subdeacon Joe]

9 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

Well, I'll be dipped.  I never knew that was there.  Thanks a couple of times, Joe....and the rest of you  folks, too.

 

One is never too old to learn something new.  How long I'll remember it is another thing altogether.

 

Remember what? 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Perzackly!

[Cactus Jack Calder]

On 9/29/2025 at 2:14 PM, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I don't believe no one thought a frozen fart was funny.  When I told some guys at a breakfast about it they almost all busted a gut laughing.

 

I guess none of you have a sense of humor.

Never, ever tell an Englishman a joke on Saturday night!!

He will laugh in Church on Sunday.

So said my Dad when ever he told me one of his lame “Dad Jokes” and I didn’t get it.

 

CJ

[Sedalia Dave]

On 9/28/2025 at 12:18 PM, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

One winter quarter when I was in college, a class was postponed until spring  quarter, so I postponed the other two not-very important classes and stumbled into a job up near Green River, Wyoming.  Another fellow and I were to go out to a very remote area and take care of 14 head of cattle and four horses.  It seemed that that they had to be abandoned when a vicious storm came in suddenly, but the owner wanted someone to go in and take care of them until he could go get them, and offered $500.00 a month.  For reference, five years later I was teaching a 6th grade class in Brigham City, Utah for $310.10 a month.

 

We were given the use of three large mules to get us in there......and off we went.

 

What we found was a two buildings made of native logs in a half mile squarish hollow in a pine forest.  They had sod roofs covered in loose dirt and caulked with cut sod.  The larger building would handle the animals and enough wood to last out the year, and had a small forge to keep the critters from freezing and a hand pump for water enough for both buildings.

 

The smaller building was only about 8' x 12' with two crude beds situated so they formed a right angle so the were feet first into a corner with a tiny little wood stove.  Two flour sacks stuffed with straw served as pillows and there were few dozen wool blankets on a shelf by the table.  There was a 30"x 30" table and two chairs.  There was sufficient food to last us a couple of months and plenty of wood, some enameled old-fashioned dinner and cook ware, and a couple of oil lanterns and some candles.  A pair of wood buckets full of water were near the stove  

 

I have never been so cold in my life.  They told us later that the temperature dropped to 60 degrees below zero on the second night, but warmed up ro 45 below after that.  It was so so cold it just hurt to be alive

 

Anyway, the third day we woke up got a fire going and I went out to check the animals and get the little forge fired up while he got breakfast together.  I came back in and the stove was getting warmer and a cast iron skillet was getting hot  The kid said, "Tom, do you have any idea what these are?"

 

He held out his hand and showed me eight or nine little marble-sized glass balls, hazy brownish-gray and solid with a very high gloss surface.

 

I asked where he got them and a said he found them in his bed.  The frying pan was warming nicely so I suggested he put a couple on the stove to thaw out.  He put three in the pan and they sagged a bit and then went "PTHHTTT".