The Life and Times of Thomas Mitchell.

Let my introduce myself, my name is Thomas Mitchell.
I was born in a hospital located in Englhart Ont.
The town were my parents lived Tomstown, didn't have a Hospital, so they went on a trip.
By the time they got back, I was left handed and a day late. 29th of Feb.
They called me Tommy for short, that's 5ft5 on one side, 5ft4 on the other, and getten shorter.

When I was about 3 or 4 yrs old, we moved to a farm on the other side of Englehart, to a smaller than Tomstown place called Krugerdorf.

Didn't like it very well, milking the cows by hand". Then off to school I would go. Had to be there by 8am. I can remember my mother, brother, sister and I had to milk 18 cows in the morning, then milk them again when we got home at night. After doing our chores like "shoveling manure" feeding pigs, horses, cows, chickens,splitting wood for the night, looking after the garden when needed, about once a week.

Not my favorite things to do, but then when you live in a place called Krugredorf, where I did. There wasn't that much to do.

The one good thing about it, we always had milk, vegetables and meat on the table.

Some times when there was a big snow fall, and the plow hadn't been through in a couple days, I would ride on the back of our neighbors farm tractor with a deck built on the hydraulic arms, not covered, just a deck to site on, we were usually facing backwards. These people lived a mile farther up the road.

High school students got on the bus at the three way corner by the public school.
They still had 8 miles or so to go yet. The high school was in Englehart.

The most students I can remember going to our little public school at one time was 22.
And with only (1) one teacher for the 8 grades, yes 8, "well". (grade 2 tout grade 1)
maybe that's why I failed grade two? Grade three wasn't all that smart!

Harvest time was the best part of farming I thought, had to work hard, but then when didn't ya.

Let me explain something to you, before I carry on.
As I said, I'm from Northern Ont., a place called "Krugerdorf" yah right!
Krugerdorf, a railway stop about 8 miles from

Engelhart which is about 36 miles south of Kirklandlake Ont....better known as the Mile Of GOLD.
And about the same distance North of NewLiskard Ont..
I throw that in just so you would know were I'm speaking about. Just in case you don't find Krugerdorf on your map.

Thomas Mitchell
click to enlarge

OK! back to the harvest,

The farms were comprised of English,
French,German,Polish,etc. ect..
A well mixed bunch of hard working Canadians farmers trying to make a living in NORTHERN Ont..
Trust my when I say, that's not an easy chore to do.
Back in those days we went from farm to farm, helping each other, (i know that may sound strange, but we did help each other with-out pay) and at the end of the day, "usually an hour or so past dark" because the dew would set-in, CAME the good part of farming!
you know it, supper time.

Imagine coming to a table that has been prepare by 2 or more different nationalities?
example;(French,English)next time (Polish,French)or(Swedish,German)etc.
Explanation!
The farm we were working at, plus the next neighbor would prepare food for their family and the working crew that consists of me, Thomas Mitchell and 10-15 other men."our neighbors"!

Each time we would move to the next farm, the cuisine would change.
Same foods, just prepared different ways, different styles and flavors. And usualy cooked on a wood stove. (not electric)

Only part of farming I really enjoyed.

I think I had better explain something, when I was growing up, we, the youngsters as they would call us boys, had to work at a early age.
This is no fib, my father would put me on the seat of the tractor, put it in gear and away I'd go, stearing the tractor around the fields, while they loaded the trailers with stooks of grain. or hay.
If they needed to stop, my dad, or one of the other adults would come and stop the tractor. You could say that we sort of grew into driving.
Then before you know it, we grow out of the seat and onto the grown to load that trailer. So the fun was gone out of that too!

Suddenly I Got Wondering Fever.

So, at 15 I hit the road to find my calling!

For some strange reason I liked working.
I tried all kinds of work, railway-man, miner, diamond-drill operator, Army-5 yrs - 4yr in Germany "good times", Raise-bore operator both surface and underground, I've painted houses, high rises, radio-towers, bridges, inside distillery tanks, etc. etc..
Construction work, well, lets shorten it up a little and say, all kinds of construction. Operating all kinds of equipment.

I started as a excavator operator, building subdivisions, roads etc. in 1994 for

Bob Mitchell Excavating Ltd.
in a small town called Fernie B.C.

I really enjoy running excavators and hate to blow my own horn but I'm pretty good at it. I only have one problem, I run (JD controls).

UP-date!

Life moves on and in 2005 Thomas Mitchell moved to Calgary AB.

I'm still in Calgary, and still working construction. (operating)
I now work for Calgary's Under-ground Specialists,
Cannex Contracting 2000 INC, another excellent company to work for.
YES
I have change to (universal controls).
OK, that's my off-line life, that I'm going to write about right now,but stay tuned I will be adding things.

Thomas Mitchell Goes On-Line .
5PP-WVZ Affiliate Combo!

My Video Display!

Well thats about it.
Just your average person trying to have a little more than the O.A.P. (old age pension) to look forward to!

P.S.
I have to use my name Thomas Mitchell often for SE purposes.
I think it took more than a few words to tell you about Thomas Mitchell.
But then Krugerdorf was a long long time ago. A-lot of distance was put between here and there.