My Grandfather - Part I

Today I'm going to write a little about my Grandfather. I was named after both of my grandfathers but I did not know my grandfather on my fathers side as he died before I was born. However, I idolized my grandfather on my mothers side and he taught me some very strong lessons.

Frederick Augustus Harms. What a dynamic name, and that was my grandfather. But, since everyone called him Fred, my parents decided to name me Fred, instead of Frederick.

Frederick Augustus Harms, my grandfather
Some people say I resemble him and it really makes me proud when they do.

Although he and my grandmother lived in Sacramento for a number of years (that' where my mother was raised), his roots were in Santa Paula. As I mentioned in a previous post he owned a citrus ranch east of Santa Paula. The ranch was his parents and then of course it became his upon their deaths. There were two houses on the ranch, one next to highway 126 with about a 2 acre culvert prior to some railroad tracks, and the other on the other side of the tracks. The larger home was were my great grandparents lived, on the other side of the tracks. Most of the ranch was planted in citrus but it did have a barn, where a cow was kept and other critters. And, a Mexican family leased a couple of acres from my family and they had pigs. So, we were never in want of fresh milk, eggs, vegetables, and pork. There is nothing better then fresh buttermilk drunk right after the butter was churned. And playing in the hayloft was really great fun.

I will tell you one story about my relationship with my grandfather today, and more tomorrow. I learned to drive on the ranch as I needed to be able to work and help out. I was quite young when I first drove and it was an old flatbed Ford truck. I could barely reach the pedals, but my grandfather expected me to pull my weight. I also drove tractors and this story relates to an incident that happened while I was cultivating using a small tractor. I wasn't paying attention when I got to the end of a row of tress, and I ran over some young trees, killing them, the year before they would start producing. Since the tractor used tracks, in order to turn you had to stop one track to go in that direction. When I ran over the first tree, I couldn't turn the tractor so I ran over 4 more. I had to tell my grandfather what I had done and that was no easy task. I was sure he was going to really be angry, but he said, things like that happen. However, he also said it was my responsibility to make it right, so to that end, I would have to work all summer for free in order to compensate for the loss. I was thankful he didn't yell at me but I was devastated I would be working all summer for free. Little did I know, he kept track of my hours and watched how I reacted to the punishment and then put the money I earned in an account for me. He gave me the money a couple of years later after he was sure I learned a valuable lesson, which I had. As you can tell, he was a very thoughtful and caring man.

Another story tomorrow.