THEY’RE BACK!: Red-winged blackbirds have returned! These birds
– even more than robins – are considered the harbingers of spring,
so we welcome their arrival.

Mary Lou Bernhard phoned Monday to report that six of these
birds were sighted in her mother’s yard in Westline. Her mother is
92-year-old Mildred Paul. Already, Mary Lou tells us, she has also
seen a couple robins this “spring.”

And, in another positive development, Alvin Van Horn of Austin
phoned Monday aftenoon to report a flock of about 200 geese heading
north.

Meanwhile over on the West Eldred Road, Dottie Trask tells us
she has about 30 golden kinglets and a host of sparrows. “The birds
are coming back,” she told us Friday – and gobbling up the food.
Her crew went through six cups of sunflowers seeds in nothing
flat.

So keep your eyes peeled for these beautiful visitors, and
refill those feeders.

BACK WHEN… : Frank Milks Jr. writes, “I don’t remember the old
ice house but my father Frank Milks Sr. and Harold Wolf bought the
old Swift and Co. building at 85 Elm St. They moved there from
Marion Avenue where Bradford Meat and Provisions was started.”

“I remember the rail siding beside the building. We used to get
frozen French fries by rail car back then.

“Also I remember the smell of ammonia which was used to
refrigerate the coolers and freezers.

“Back then, we had wooden racks and used wooden cutting blocks
(butcher blocks) and would spread sawdust on the floors.ðThere was
a gas pump there and I remember my father getting real angry
because my sister and I would pump our own gas and we used it a
lot. What were gas prices back then – about 30 cents a gallon?

“After they got federal inspection (USDA), the wooden racks,
etc. had to go andðthe building was no longer able to pass
inspection. They then bought the Walter Neely Ice Cream plant on
Davis Street and stayed there ’til the business closed.

NEW SUBJECT: Yvonne Cattoni writes, “As long as people are
asking questions on old places in Bradford, is there anyone still
out there who knows about the Nuesbaum Settlement that was out by
the Smith Farm? My grandparents settled out there for a while and I
believe there was a charcoal factory of some sort. What other
families were there?”