"A" indicates the area where my brothers Billy, Johnny, and I used to play in the stream.  We would dam it up and create what seemed to be HUGE reservoirs that would eventually overflow and take all the earth we'd laboriously shoveled into the small ravine down the stream to create much silt downstream.  Grandpa would reprimand us repeatedly to stop shoveling away the valuable topsoil that he needed for his crops and to prevent erosion.  However, I think we were still making the dams clear up until Grandpa sold the farm. AGAINST MY EMOTIONAL APPEALS TO THE CONTRARY.  I believe I was about six or eight.

"B" indicates an area where there used to be a shed along the back fence.  Everything behind the shed was land where Grandpa would grow Oats and Hay.  I think he may have grown Wheat occasionally too.  I just remember walking through the field coming down to see Grandma and Grandpa from the house on an adjacent piece of land to the North, where we lived until it burned down.  I believe I was in the 1st or second grade.  I don't think I ever knew what the shed was for, except that I think it may have been part of the pens where Grandma and Grandpa used to raise Pigs.

"C" indicates the area where Grandpa used to keep the biggest bull I think I've EVER seen.  Well, at least to a five or six year old boy it SEEMED to be HUGE!  I remember the terror I used to feel when I would creep up to the bull's pen and it would charge toward me!  I also remember warnings from Grandpa that if the bull wished to, it could go right through the barbed-wire fence that imprisoned it.  I always tried to be certain that I had an avenue of escape whenever I would take the .22 caliber rifle out to the forested area which lay beyond the bull pen.

I can probably relate hundreds of other memories of this VERY SPECIAL place in my life.  I will NEVER forget this farm, nor will I EVER quit grieving the infamous day when my Granddad sold the farm and moved to a small house just outside of White Salmon, on the road between the Skyline Hospital my Dad helped to clear the land and build the access road for and White Salmon.  I have no more family residing in White Salmon now that my Aunt Alice Beaudry has passed on.

Yes, this is the old "Homestead" where I spent so many glorious hours of my youth exploring!  The house and outbuildings were built by my Grandfather, Guy William Needham.  The original property owned by my Grandfather was over 600 acres.  The house had a large veranda type porch that extended nearly the length of the house.  You could sit on the porch and enjoy a magnificent view of Mt. Hood and the Hood River Valley!  One of the MOST delightful characteristics of the farm was the fact that there was snow EVERY Winter!  However, my Dad did NOT share my enthusiasm for the snow!

Behind the house is a cherry tree that had the most delicious Queen Anne cherries that my Grandmother would frequently make into canned cherries and cherry pies.  Behind the Cherry tree, including the area occupied by the children's play area, was my Grandmother's garden.  She grew her own vegetables, including the delicious Lemon Cucumbers (I'd go out and eat them right off the vines) and miniature Red Potatoes.  She also grew what I remember to be "Ground Cherries" and made them into the most delicious preserves I have EVER tasted!  Totally self-reliant, she would can all the excess produce that was not immediately consumed.  She would also make her own butter from fresh milk, and occasionally let me help her churn the buttermilk into butter.  Frankly, most people these days don't even know what REAL butter tastes like.  I didn't particularly care for the fresh milk when I was a boy...I'd always put sugar into it so it tasted more palatable to me.