Spring Has Arrived- Mother Would Be Pleased-

A Beautiful Spring in Florence
A Practical Use for a Rare, Unique and Lasting Family Antique

I suppose that only Don and I might really appreciate this, but Dale Slyngstad, the current Matriarch of the James McGinnis abode of early Florence, Washington, so happily continuing the use of the land that Mother and her Uncles grew up on, has found a practical use for one lasting relic left on the land. A very unusual relic indeed.

It has been so heartening to view the current home and acreage through pictures Dale has generously shared with me via the internet. She is a very warm person with a loving respect of the property and she seems to have formed a definite attachment to it. Dale and her husband are good stewards of the land and house where we spent so many wonderful summers as we grew up. If Mother were alive, she would be overjoyed to see her old home today after the several years of abuse it went through from renters after Uncle John died in 1952. My viewing it today really reverses the sadness I always had that came from Dad having to eventually sell the farm. To see it go out of the family was so sad but now the feelings are mended. That means so much to me personally.

Knowing that not all the trees and out buildings survived, only the house in a restored and remodeled condition, it occurred to me that one item would have been difficult to discard or even destroy. That one item would be the old watering trough, built so sturdily of cast concrete. It served the family dairy cows so well, for so many years, especially through the warm and sometimes even hot summers. The small herd of maybe five to seven would gather around the trough and the nearby salt block during those hot days and stay for hours in the shade of the barn but a few feet away.

A casual inquiry to Dale this past February brought back a totally unexpected selection of photos of the trough and its current resting place. It was a pleasant surprise to find that it still exists. Most surprising though is the enterprising and clever way that the Slyngstads are utilizing it. So practical and very ornamental to say the least. What might be considered an ugly piece of concrete has been turned into an asset, something that most people might have considered a liability, something to destroy. It’s difficult to determine for certain but it does appear as if it was dragged a very short distance from its original position bringing it nearer to the house and apparently now a part of the back yard although it appears to be in its original east west orientation,

Tulips In Full Bloom

May 5, 2009

This really warms my heart to see this and I know that all those souls that lived on this land in the past are smiling as well.


The following photo shows the trough earlier this year. Dale really was so helpful in providing the pictures. The tree in the background made the most delicious pies and applesauce. It is a Transparent variety and I am really astonished that it still survives. It had to have been planted in our Grandmother’s time of her heavy cooking and baking days. I would bet it was planted in the early 1920’s if not before for in my memory of the mid to late 1940’s it was well established and always a heavy producer of fruit. I can smell the wonderful pies it made even today.

And yes, before City Water arrived, a hand pump and a wooden trough as demonstrated here by Uncle John.

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