My childhood memories can go back as far as 1947..The earliest one I have ( and which I cherish ) is the one about a kiddie cart built by my brother during that year... This 4 wheeler cart is a smaller version of the two wheeler native CARITON used by farmers in their daily trek to and from the rice fields during those early days..
This was was pulled by either a carabao or a cow. But the former was preferred because the latter has a very volatile temper. It could go beserk sometimes ( like that bull which gets agitated by a red cape ). But the carabao is so mild mannered that someone coined the phrase "patient as the carabao.." Carabao translated in Ilocano is NUANG, in Pangasinan is DUWEG. Funny thing is for a while, I thought DUWEG is a pig until I was corrected by my family members who were all fluent in speaking the Pangasinan dialect.
Anyway, let us go back to my little story..
The year was 1947. It was a very good year.It was 2 years after the end of World War II. I do not know when the Americans left Asingan but I remember faintly their camp in front of our house. This busy camp was occupying the western sector of the Catholic Church yard. So I would say that I still have faint memories of 1946 which you will know shortly.
The camp was so busy that I remember these armored vehicles noisily passing in front of our house. In one instance, I crossed the road to the other side as one vehicle passed by but there were still other ones behind. My Mom saw me from the window, she called me immediately and I got whacked in the behind for doing such a foolish thing which only young kids would do.**** Years later I would see these tank armored wheel chains decorating the pathways of the Asingan Independent church going to the priest's house. I wonder if Elmer would remember these quaint relics from the war.
Let us go back to what I did in 1947
I frequently rode on that cart with some other kids. I could not remember their names anymore, but for sure some of them were my two younger sisters.I must be 4 years old then. And there were only 4 or 5 who could ride in that cart.
This Kiddie cart was built by my brother Donato, who at that time was already fond of tinkering with mechanical things.. I believe the wheels are made from 4 rubber rimmed wheels, similar to the Radio Flyer cart popular in the US. Do you know what animal he used to pull it? It was a huge male goat!
I remember we would ride it a few times especially when the weather was so nice and balmy. But we did not go very far. Just around the block.
This block consisted of: the Phil. Independent Church situated beside the Sampaga's old residence ( now the Canadido residence ), then there was the Iglesia ni Kristo church at the corner which now is occupied by the house of the Ong family. Beside this church on the way going to Urdaneta was an orchard owned my dad. That orchard was bought by Mr. Cruz and is now the site of the business building put up by Dr. Bernard Cruz, a surgeon residing in New Jersey. This block consists further of the residences of the Santiago family, then the Navarro family.
After we passed the Navarro family residence, we would turn right to enter that small street which would go straight to the municipal cemetery. But our cart did not go that far. Our cart would turn right at a small nipa house which is just parallel west to our old Spanish type house facing the Roman Catholic church. We would enter the yard of this small nipa hut following a small pathway between SILAG plants and a big Lomboy tree. Then we reach the kiskisan owned by my grandmother when she was still alive. And we find ourselves back in our house again, thus completing the very short but exciting trip. We were the only kids then who owned a kiddie cart pulled by a goat!
When that big male goat died ( maybe it was butchered ) our kiddie cart rides ceased. That goat was the only one strong enough to pull that cart with us kids on it. My brod was always the driver because he owned the goat. When the goat was gone, the cart was used for other things and we never saw it again.
My brother, who built the kiddie cart by the way, grew up to be a very good auto mechanic. Up to now, at the age of 70, he is still fixing the cars of his friends here in Toronto---#
