At one time I lived in a rural area of Minnesota, five miles from the nearest paved road. We had a gravel road running by the front of our house, but after reaching blacktop five miles away it was still seven miles to town. Down the road was a recently abandoned farm. One spring day a man was there and he seemed to be living on the property. As neighbors gossip, it turns out the man, I will call him Mr. O’Malley, rented the property but not the house. It also appeared that Mr. O’Malley was living on the property.
As life goes it was not long before I ran into Mr. O’Malley myself. He was living on the property, and no, he did not have access to the house. He was living in a plywood ice fishing house roughly eight feet by ten feet by six feet which he had dragged on to the property. Mr. O’Malley also volunteered that he was a farmer and he was planting three acres of corn that spring. I wondered what he was planting on the rest of the acreage, but as Mr. O’Malley did not volunteer anything, I was not about to ask his business myself.
One summer day that year, our horses got out from their pasture. As I went looking for them I stopped by Mr. O’Malley’s place as he was our closest neighbor. I found Mr. O’Malley in his house which was now three ice fishing houses dragged together but not touching, held together by plastic sheeting. Mr. O’Malley told me he had not seen my horses. Mr. O’Malley also said he was not allowed to build any shelter, and if the ice houses were joined that would constitute a building, that is why there was plastic sheeting between them. It as all he needed, he said.
Mr. O’Malley asked if I was in a hurry and I said no, Mr. O’Malley might be a little touched but he did not seem a dangerous, and I was very curious about him. He showed me his corn crop. Mr. O’Malley had his three acres plowed and the corn was coming up just like every farm in the area. I asked Mr. O’Malley where his tractor was as there did not seem to be one around. Mr. O’Malley told me he did not have a tractor, he had a team of plough horses he used instead. The horses paid for themselves and did not usually break down, Mr. O’Malley had told me. This was 1974 and I never heard of anyone actually using horses to make a living other than than formal competitions.
Fall came along as it tends to do, and winter was approaching. Mr. O’Malley had been around now and then to our farm over the summer usually just to talk. Mr. O’Malley was a little odd, but a nice person, and a decent neighbor too. Of course there were stories told about him, gossip I suppose, they were pretty colorful too. People like Mr. O’Malley tend have colorful stories told about them, so I did not give them much credence. The funniest story I heard was in the fall. Mr. O’Malley supposedly had taken a few ears of his corn to the bank to get a loan. No one knew the outcome of his loan, but collective gossip thought the bank probably threw him out. Winter arrived, and along with it the well below zero temperatures that Minnesota is known for.
I was curious about how Mr. O’Malley was holding up and went by his place. He was not only surviving in his ice house home, he was thriving. There were chickens and goats, a dog, and a few other items around. Mr. O’Malley told me the bank had lent him money and he could now afford a tractor and attachments for next spring.
Mr. O’Malley lived there about five years and then disappeared. He never moved into the house but lived in his ice house home all that time. He was a good neighbor, he rarely asked for anything and if he did, it was something he could not do alone. I personally thought he was the oddest person I had ever met, but he did not let that get in his way. A team of horses, a few ears of corn, and gumption led Mr. O’Malley to a complete farm. Quite an accomplishment by anyones standards!
I believe we all have some Mr. O’Malley in us, have you found your Mr. O’Malley yet? If you have, have you let him out? You may be surprised by what happens in your life with Mr. O’Malley on your team!
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