Friday, August 14, 1936

plesant all day Hot
I dusted off things and worked all forenoon and Harry and I went to town this afternoon and got our groceries and then went to Buttermilk Falls State Park* and went up the glen to Pinnacle Rock and across foot bridge and came back the other side-
Had a wonderfull time-
Iliff pressed hay for John Hill-
Geo. Rankin called this eve-

Pinnacle Rock postcard

*Buttermilk Fall State Park is part of the NY Stat Parks system. There are a few other waterfalls called "Buttermilk", this one is located on Buttermilk Creek in the Ithaca area at the tip of Cayuga Lake.

Thursday, August 13, 1936

plesant all day Hot
I made corn starch custard & chocolate bar cake and moppd Iliff's bedroom, dining room & kitchen-
Iliff threshed and pressed straw all day for Alvord Baker-
Harry split some more wood and went up to see them thresh after dinner-
Harry & I went to a show "The Devil meets a Lady."*
Iliff spent the eve with Mildred.

*I think Irene means the 1936 film starring Bette Davis, "Satan Met a Lady."

Wednesday, August 12, 1936

pleasant all day Hot
I roasted a ham and swept and tried to get some what cleaned out-
and had a nice visit with Harry between times-
He split up some wood for Iliff-
while Iliff helped Alvord Baker thresh and press straw-

Monday, August 3, 1936

Hot day-
Monday plesant all day
Aunty and I both washed curtains
Aunty for north room upstairs and I washed the three in pantry and the two pair in kitchen-
I made oat flake pudding* for dinner from the left over cooked oat flake-
put in an egg, sugar, and milk with vanilla-
It needed raisins, dates, or prunes or something else to give flavor
Mr. Bergdoff did not press hay-

Visitor list from Irene's diary

*At first I thought Irene wrote pudding instead of cookies, but as I read further... how ingenious! I think dates would be a good choice, though I make my oatmeal cookies with cherries, so that would be my choice.

Friday, July 31, 1936

plesant and cool
Cleaned my bedroom today
made cornstarch pudding and Aunty and I rode over to see Leroy Bower with Mr. Burgduff and truck driver to buy the ballance of old hay-
He bought all over the stable to press about Monday-
$10.00 per ton and pays for pressing-

A round bale of hay

Monday, July 27, 1936

Sprinkle of rain this early morning, clearing away and plesant all day, very warm-
All the baled hay drawed away today-
14 1/2 loads of it-
Aunty and I cleaned house all day-
Iliff called this evening-
He has let the grain seperator* go-
It was sold to Harold Reilman of Homer and he came for it today-


*I found an interesting article about thrashing. In it you can see an image of a steam grain seperator. I'm not sure if that is the type Iliff would have had.

Saturday, July 25, 1936

plesant all day
Made patty cakes today and got meals and washed dishes and took the tallys for 5 loads of hay
Susie Haring called also
Mrs. Nellie Smith Tuller of Minnesota called on Aunty this eve-
Floyd Fenner brought her over-


(I accidentally posted this a day early, I have fixed July 24, 1936 to reflect the actual diary entry. I apologize for the mix up.) 

Friday, July 24, 1936

plesant all day
rained all night
Rec'd letter from Christine telling the family expect to go to Michigan to see Winnie
start next Friday night the last day of July-
Iliff took me to Ithaca and I bought a pair of silk stockings-
Mr Palmer drawed 6 load of hay-
Chas' wife and baby was here this afternoon-
*Fay Smith & Floyd Fenner called



*This statement is written vertically along the left hand side of the diary entry. 

(I apologize! I originally posted the July 25, 1936 entry here. This is now the actual July 24, 1936 diary entry.)

Thursday, July 23, 1936

plesant & warm with a real shower all evening
Aunty and I have tried to work but had interuptions all day-
Bardo grocery, the meat cart and Charles came after a bag of wheat and the truck driver came for hay and I had to take tallys for Leroy-
I gathered string beans for dinner and cleaned doors in Mothers room
*Aunty Rec'd letter from Clara.



*This sentence runs vertically up the left hand side of the diary entry.

Saturday, June 6, 1936

plesant all day
Made oat flake cookies, & cake
Roasted beef, stewed rubarb & prunes-
Mopped & dusted the kitchen & woodhouse-
changed Mothers dress & apron & cap and combed her hair-
Very nervous, looking for Clara through the house all day-
Harry cleaned up Aunty's burdock patch in back yard and made her chicken-coop & cut grass to mulch around tomato plants-
*Mr & Mrs Warren Dean came to buy hay- $5.00 per ton^

Hay Prices- June 12014^

*This line was written up the outer, left-hand side of the entry.

^Current hay prices are quite a bit higher now, probably due to inflation. Bale Price Calculator

Thursday, May 7, 1936

plesant all day, warm
The hay pressers worked all day and took tractor home at night-
Charles' wife and Junior called and Elnora Evans and Dorothy Delano also-
I done part of the ironing and mended this afternoon-
It has been a very warm day
Mother did not like the ironing and wanted the coal^ fires all out and no wood-


^"coal" was added in after Irene wrote "fires" because it appears above like it was added for clarification due to having wood fires also.

Wednesday, May 6, 1936

plesant all day-
I done the washing and stewed prunes- and got the meals
The hay pressers* were here all day-
Mother did not make any objections whatever to doing the washing^-
She has been fine all day-

Hay derrick June 1936*

*Photo credit: Paradise Valley Folklife Project collection, 1978-1982 (AFC 1991/021), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

^Stop the press. Mother is doing chores!

Monday, May 4, 1936

plesant all day- Cooler
Harry dug up burdocks and straightened stone walks and took up Aunty's board walk and raked it over ready to sow grass seed-
Harry and I took eggs to town and got groceries and cashed my check-
He treated me to ice cream and candy and creampuffs-
Mother nervous
I bought 2 pr of cotton hose-
Harry went home
Hay pressers today^

Business Directory, Ithaca, NY 1936

 *I found an Ithaca/ Tompkins County Business Directory for 1936 online. I haven't had a chance to read through it in all its 107 page glory, but I will. Maybe I can figure out some of the places they may have gone to, like the grocer, & ice cream shop.

^This was written sideways up the left hand margin of the page.