Tid BitsAt one time Thunder Creek had its own Post Office operated by Mr. T. J. Puffer from Jan. 1, 1901 till his death in 1912. His son Fred Puffer took over till 1915. The Post Office was in the Puffer home or, should I say, on the Puffer home as it was like a small porch built over the west door with pigeon hole boxes built around the walls to hold mail. No place can I find where Audrey Post Office got its name but inquiring, I am told Mrs. Puffer's name was Audrey and it is surmised that it was named after Mrs. Audrey Puffer. Mail was twice a week brought out from Carievale by team and buggy or cutter. An old saying goes mail always goes through. Mother told of once it did not go through. Howard Hubbard was working for Puffers. this day he was to go to Carievale for the mail. The hired girl - Mae Brawn - went along, supposedly to do shopping. They did not come home that day. When they came next day, they were man and wife. They got married and stayed overnight in town. A few people in the district bear special mention. First was a bachelor, Tommy Waldon, who during the Flu in 1918 went from farm to farm doing chores for people who were sick and could not go outside to do them. Tommy never took the Flu. Just before the epidemic Flu struck, Mother had made a dozen or more fruit cakes for soldiers overseas. Tommy came once a day - fed and watered about 100 head of cattle and also horses. He milked the cows. When he brought the milk to the house, he never came in. Mother gave him a big hunk of fruit cake and a bowl of milk which he ate outside. Another bachelor we called "Old Man Simpson" who lived a mile west of home. It was hard to realize that at one time he was on the school board and considered a good cook. He was one of the first homesteaders coming in 1885. He built a sod shack. About 1905 he built a second sod shack closer to the creek and lived there till 1938. He became a real hermit. Of later years he burned nothing but straw in his old cook stove. He had a wooden barrel which he carried on his back held by straps over his shoulder. Out he would trudge in the middle of winter to the straw stack maybe a half mile away and bring back his barrel of straw to burn. Later years he ate only oatmeal. He put some water in an old frying pan and set it on the stove, threw in some oatmeal and stated stirring and eating. By the time he had finished eating, the oatmeal would be getting cooked. He slept on a pile of straw in the corner. None of this was necessary as he was well off financially. On Christmas morning Mrs. Harry Taylor packed a Christmas dinner for the old gent. About ten to 12 noon, Herbie Taylor would go by our place on horse back to deliver the dinner to Mr. Simpson. He always got one good meal a year. In 1938 he fell on the stove and got badly burned. Geo Taylor,neighbour folk, took him home, cleaned him up and nursed him back to health. He went back to Scotland and lived a respectable life his last few years. Some district women who need special mention are Mrs. Southcomb, one of the first homesteaders' wives, who was referred to as the best cook in the district. Thresher men always looked forward to a special meal at Southcombs at threshing time. One roast duck (wild duck), dressing and all was served on a plate with all the trimmings. There would be 12 to 15 men to feed on the outfit. Another lady we must not forget was Mrs. Muldoon. She made the biggest and most scrumptious cream puffs one ever ate. Imagine how she felt when at a pie social in the school she had graced the top of Violet's pie with two cream puffs. The auctioneer (Uncle Geo, I think) let one fall off while auctioneering the pie - the cream puff went rolling down the aisle. At present time the Thunder Creek district is almost non existent as far as community functions or events are concerned. There are 9 occupied residences now in 1978 - 2 bachelor residences, 1 elderly couple, 1 couple whose children are growing up, leaving 5 families with children of school age. It seems I might have been carried away once I started this write up. I never thought of writing this much yet there is still lots more a person could tell. Not many months ago Carol (Wruth) Harder said to me, "You folks (meaning the Wruths) must have been well off when you were kids." I said, "Good heavens, no. We were hard up." "But," she said, "you always tell of the things you did and the places you went." That put me to thinking that one does not always have to have money to be well off. I think we, the Wruth family, should consider ourselves really well off, being raised in the wonderful home we had and also living in as good a district as Thunder Creek.
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