Author Archive for Ruthie Douglas
Ruthie Douglas is originally from Springfield but has called Chester her home for 58 years, and has been writing the Chester Chatter column for more than 40 of those years. Ruthie is also a longtime volunteer throughout the community.
Chester Chatter: Memories in a junk drawer
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was time for fall cleaning at my house, especially the drawers and cupboards. But it was more of a treasure hunt since I found old Chester High School yearbooks. And with them were a photograph of the Future Farmers of America. Some of those boys were going […]
Chester Chatter: We honor our veterans
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC World War II had just ended when I started 1st grade. Teachers were hard to find. So older women and widows tried their best to help out. Some had retired and their children were grown. But now they found that the young people were much different than they […]
Chester Chatter: Trick or treaters are a real treat
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Rap rap rap on my big front door. Then a small voice saying “Trick or Treat.” My Halloween on Breezy Lane had started once again. My care-giver, who lives in the countryside and never sees trick or treaters, and I divided up the expense on all the candy […]
Chester Chatter: Putting our garden to bed
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was that time of year once again. My mother-in-law and I tended a very large vegetable garden and it was now time to put it to bed. The nights were cold, the days were sort of a bit chilly and frost was just around the corner. We […]
Chester Chatter: Summer falls into autumn
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Under the full Hunter’s Moon and with the help of a soft breeze, the autumn leaves are coming down. In our neighborhood when I was growing up, folks could rake their leaves into the curb and town trucks would come to pick them up. Or you could burn […]
Chester Chatter: A pantry filled with goodness
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Have you ever eaten a butternut? If you have, you will know what I am talking about. (Not the squash, but the white walnut tree.) Down the back road from our old farm house was the lane that went up to our night pasture that was lined with […]
Chester Chatter: Taking in the foliage along the Mohawk Trail
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing When my sister Marie and I were young, around this time of year, our father would announce that it was time to head over to the Mohawk Trail. It was a family tradition. We pointed the car west to Bennington, where we always stopped to see Maude, who was […]
Chester Chatter: Celebrating our new Public Safety Building
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester is a small town. But we are so lucky to have the public services that we have. We have our own police, ambulance and fire departments, and our own water and sewer in the downtown area. Last Sunday, we celebrated the brand new home for our police, […]
Chester Chatter: Silo’d in a difficult farm job
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The baled hay was all packed away in the barn loft, ready for winter. That meant that until the hay was all gone, the loft could not be used as a basketball court by Don and his pals. It also meant that it was time to cut the […]
Chester Chatter: Fall cleaning is for memories
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Fall has arrived. And it means I am doing my fall house cleaning. Somehow I skipped over spring cleaning and am going slow due to the fact that I am bumping into memories such as notes, photos, newspaper clippings and of course some pure junk. Here is my […]
Chester Chatter: Sunset at Windows on the World
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was a beautiful crystal clear summer morning. Birds were chirping. The sun shown bright and the river in front of my farmhouse flowed along slowly. I was some upset however since I was home sick and had lost a work day. I laid on my couch and […]
Chester Chatter: Yes, a dump brings people together
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC For some time Chester had a community landfill dump. It was located below our home on the Green Mountain Turnpike, the road that lead to Bartonsville. The landfill was large but became much smaller once the spring rains washed much of the rubbish downstream in the Williams River, […]
Chester Chatter: Remembering Irene on its 10th anniversary
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Rain, rain and more rain. In two days the rains had turned the yard around my house into a swamp. Water ran down the street, turning it into a river. It was late August 2011 and Hurricane Irene had turned into a tropical storm that blanketed the state. […]
Chester Chatter: Square dancing was not for me
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC On days of bad weather or during the winter months, gym classes were held inside. But what to do when you had boys’ and girls’ gym classes to deal with at the same time? The teachers decided to teach the young people square dancing. I was not very […]
Chester Chatter: State Fair fills the senses
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The first day of school in Chester used to start after the State Fair in Rutland was finished in September. Every farmers’ kids would be up there showing their livestock. In rural Vermont, most folks looked forward to the country fairs. Farm children often belonged to 4-H. Our […]
Chester Chatter: Taking the week off
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Editor’s Note: Ruthie is taking the week off. Her column will return Aug. 16.
Chester Chatter: Evenings on the front porch
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing Co. On warm, soft summer nights, many times I sat out on our big wide wraparound porch on our farmhouse. Our favorite spot was the front porch, which looked out over the river. Oftentimes before it got completely dark, we watched the deer head down to the river for […]
Chester Chatter: When simple entertainments were in the cards
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC In times gone by, folks living out on the dusty back roads had little time for enjoyment. When they did get a break, they often went a calling on their friends. Entertainment was very simple: a long walk, especially at night, catching fireflies in glass jars; riding bicycles […]
Chester Chatter: A night out at the Park Theater
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Sundays on the farm were Ma and Pop’s day off. It meant that Don and I had to step in to do all the chores, including the milking, by ourselves. We scurried through the jobs because Sundays were also Don and my time to go to the movies. […]
Chester Chatter: Once a farmer, always a farmer
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Small farm living was a good way of life. When Don and I were first married, we considered other ways that we might earn a living besides farming. But we went with farming on his parents family farm. Don, his brother George and their father bought the farm […]
