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went to camp out at the beach for a week. These were always fun filled joyous times when we could see a lot of Dad; watch him as a camper, fisherman or clam digger; watch him handle a small boat and ply the oars as we traveled lake or bay and have him always ready to answer our questions about thin outdoor life. I recall that one time I asked him to tell me how big a boat had to be to go out into the ocean. He answered, "It is not the size of a boat that matters as much as the one who is sailing it".

He then elaborated on how a good sailor could handle a small craft in the rough-ocean waters or a poor sailor might not handle a larger vessel in the same waters. This was representative of his general attitude for being on top or in command of a situation, whatever it might be.

Chester and Ida Davis bought property in the area of Lents which was an out of Portland suburb in 1911. They wanted to live suburban lives just as many folks do today. It was only a few years afterward that the City of Portland took their property into the town by annexation. Dad got salvage building material such as windows from an old Lents School and wood flooring from an old Multnomah County Courthouse and proceeded to build the family home. This house was located at 10111 SE 57th Avenue, which is now called Reedway. It still may be found at that place today, with certain modifications. It is in the left of the picture and Grandmother Burch's home was at the right. Our family lived there from the time of construction until my mother died in the late l94Os and we did a lot of living in this place all nine of us plus a few dogs and cats. The family also owned a cow, which we could tether out on the vacant fields in the vicinity of our home and she supplied us with lots of milk. She also was the supplier of much of the fertilizer that my mother scooped up and put on our garden. We had a few chickens most of the time that kept us supplied with eggs. In addition to this we had a number of fruit trees including cherry, apple, pear and peach-plum; an English Walnut tree and a grape arbor which gave us fruit and shade; a good garden of choice vegetables for our table and flowers to decorate our home. All in all, we were quite well supplied with our bounty from this land and the ability of our mother to preserve and can the surplus. It was a good life.

In the mid-1920s period, Chester and Ida began to think about buying a small piece of acreage so that they could do a little farming. They wanted to have more garden and raise some poultry. After looking around for awhile, they found a small parcel of slightly more than four acres, which seemed just right and they bought it. By this time the family had reduced to four since most of my sisters and brothers had married. There was just my brother Gilbert and I living with our parents. We all got busy, clearing the land and building a house on this little farm. Progress was rapid since everyone was eager and Dad had a good deal of free time in the day to devote to building.

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