Cousins

Some of my cousins on my Dad's side of the family gathered yesterday for lunch. Seven showed up;  Geraldine, Hilda, Wilma, Georgianna, Evelyn and Chuckie.  It was a nice visit.  Better than visiting at a funeral....plus we were at the place that has the wonderful Sour Cream and Raisin Pie! 

I had a few old photos to share with the gals. 

This is an old photo from1994.  In the photo is Far Guy's Mother, me and my cousin Kathy.  That is Mary Ann's head of dark hair, she is a sister to several of my Aunts.  We gathered for a quilting bee to work on our 25th anniversary quilt.  Many of the relatives embroidered a quilt square and they were all included in two double quilts.  The photo was taken at my parents home on the lake downstairs in their large family room.

My cousin Kathy was missed yesterday....she always like the gatherings.  Perhaps the gathering she is having in heaven is much better!  In 30 years every one in the photo has died...except me. 

The quilts have never been used...they are like new.  

Far Side

Mother's Day

 I wonder how Mother's Day in heaven is?  

We  think of our Mother's on this day if they are alive or in heaven. 

Far Guy and his Mom, looks like she is making cookies.  I think perhaps he tested his Mother's mothering skills from time to time.  He looks to be about 8 years old in this photo. 

My Mother and I in March of 1952. I was 6 months old. I know I tested my Mother's mothering skills.  I was a stubborn, independent child who was a challenge for her. 

I wish all the Moms out there a Happy Mothers Day...even the dog and cat Moms! 

Far Side

Snow and Mother's Day

Yesterday it was cold enough to snow so it did.  At least it was some kind of moisture.

The flakes were large and wet.

A short time later the ground was white.  Good thing I got my snow boots out the day before because I had cold feet outside.

We made a trip over to the County Transfer Station (Garbage Dump).

The small grain fields showed green along with the snow.  By evening the snow had melted.

It was a good day for a movie and a nap.  We watched The Last Laugh...funny even if it was about the elderly.  I give it a 7 out of 10.  Some parts of it seemed disconnected like a writer was fired mid script. Far Guy woodcarved and I crocheted and we both made supper together...ham and cheese omelettes and fruit.

Yesterday was opening Fishing here in Minnesota.
Today is Mother's Day ...happy day to my Mom and all the Mothers out there.

1954 My Mom and me and my baby brother

1953 Far Guy and his Mom.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: Baking with Grandma

This is a old photo from June 1983

Trica went with her Grandparents to Indiana that summer to visit Jan, Ron and Bethany.

Trica would have been 11 years old that summer, Bethany (Far Guy’s sister’s daughter) would have been about 3 years old and Grandma (Far Guy’s Mom) would have been 69 years old.  It looks like they were going to bake a cake.  The photo was taken at the house in Clarksville Indiana.

Wistful Wednesday: Christmas 1969

Christmas Day in 1969.  Far Guy and I had been married five days.  We spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Far Guy’s family.

This is an old Polaroid photo taken by Far Guy’s Dad…he liked to take photographs.

In this photo we have Far Guy’s Mom, Far Guy’s sister Janice with Muggy, Far Guy and me.  Looks like we had a bunch of snow that year…as I recall it was a very cold that Christmas.  Note the flocked Christmas tree, Far Guy’s Mom wanted a white tree that year…something puzzling about this photo…the drapes to the East  (behind the couch) were hardly ever open. The photographer must have need more light.

When we visited the old house last summer I took a photo from just about the same spot.  I wonder where they will put the tree?  It was always in its place in front of that window for years and years.

Wistful Wednesday: Far Guy’s Birthday

Today is the day, 67 years ago Far Guy was born.  He was a “blue baby” now we know what that means.  It was the first sign  that he had Alpha One Antitrypsin Deficiency. Back then they didn’t know about such things and just called him a “blue baby.”

Far Guy and his sister in 1953

Don’t let the sweet smile fool you…he was a handful.  Typical boy into everything and had to try everything at least once or twice.  He often wishes that he had the Lionel train cars that were sacrificed for small explosions(Firecrackers) and those that were set on fire in the basement.

His Mom used to make him a birthday dinner, he always asked for shrimp, there was a french fryer in the basement  especially for french fries or shrimp. She would make him some kind of orange sherbet dessert…it was spread in a pan and put in the freezer until it was served…brownies with hard (boiled chocolate) frosting was another of her birthday specialties.

I asked him to do a photo shoot with Chance.

 

Stop petting the dog!

All together say awwwww

Happy Birthday to our best friend!

Midway Memories :1956-1960’s

I think he got his love of trains from the early carnival days.

1957  Far Guy standing on a junction box.  Note the name on the side of the train is Ogden. That is more than likely a ride boy talking to a gal in the ticket box.

Far Guy’s sister Janice washing windows in 1956.

Far Guy writes:

Set up day!  In the above photo my sister is washing the glass on the diggers. The glass was always washed with windex and old newspaper on set up day then they didn’t get washed again unless they were really dirty or some kid smeared his cotton candy all over it.  The prizes inside the digger laid on corn kernels.  The prizes and corn had all been removed prior to moving to the next spot so on set up day we put all the corn back in, cleaned the prizes and wiped down all the wood cabinets with Old English Red Oil.  The reason for the corn was simple it was a filler.  Remember these machines were first filled with candy.  The corn just brought the prizes up to the level where the shovel could close on them.  Some operators used rocks, but Dad liked corn he said it was lighter and easier on the tires.  A few years after this photo Dad developed a way to cover the corn and hold it in place while moving.  He had three bolts under the corn so on the last night instead of removing the corn you had to dig down, find the bolts, place a fiberboard plate over them and tighten them down with a wing nut.  It might have been easier than removing all that corn but you still had to dodge that darn 100 watt light bulb above the cab in the machine.  I usually burned my arm four or five times in the process.  Finally in the 1960’s, I convinced Dad that foam would work just as well and would be easier on the tires.  From then on the prizes stayed in the machines while moving, we covered them with plastic tucked in under the foam.  When we got to the next spot and had our location the digger trailer was leveled and then the plastic was removed and all the prizes put into place, the windows washed and everything wiped down with red oil.

Far Side Writes:

There are two kinds of joints.  Center joints (like the diggers) that can have customers on all sides and line joints that only have customers on the front side.   When you get to a new town your location would be marked with chalk on the street or a fairgrounds had a wooden stake.  You found your location and lined up your joint properly, leveled the joint and set up for business.  The Boss ( Carnival Owner) always did the locations…everyone would wait around for him to head out with his tape measure and bucket with chalk/stakes to lay out “the lot”…sometimes it seemed to take forever…and then there were good locations and bad locations…the bad ones were called Donikers.  A Doniker is carnie slang for toilet.

The damn Red Oil.  I hated that stuff…it smelled.  It collected dust…in later years only the dice and knives were oiled the rest of the prizes were cleaned with Windex.  Fairgrounds are very dusty places…and if there are races in the grandstand dust billowed over the fences.

Light Bulb burns.  It was hard not to swear it hurt so bad when your arm touched a light bulb.  You had to put your hand in the machine all the time to replace prizes.  Far Guy’s Mom had scars all up and down her arm.

Midway Memories: 1936 -1950

We have to lay down a timeline to follow this story.  Far Guy’s Dad Marvin graduated from High School in 1932.  He wanted to be a Lawyer. (He was a real good debater.)  Times were hard during the “dirty thirties.”  He didn’t see much hope for going to college.

I am not sure what he did in 1933.  Helped out on the farm making ends meet most likely.

1934 to 1936 found him in the Civilian Conservation Corps at Itasca State Park planting trees that are still around at the Headwaters and cutting trails for roads. He was also at the Hanna Ore Camp near Osage and Lovelis Lake near Itasca State Park in 1936.

From what I can piece together in 1937-1940 he worked for his Uncle Herman running one of the Erie Digger Joints in Nebraska and in states southward during the Fall.  He enjoyed Louisianna and would often talk about how whole towns would party when the shrimp boats would come in.  Far Guy says “ Dad talked of people singing Shrimp boats is a coming and of a shucked oyster soaking in a glass of whiskey and water..soaking up all the alcohol and of a tiny seahorse that was wrapped in a piece of cotton that someone traded him for a free game.”

This a photo of Marvin on top of Cotton Bales someplace in the south.

This photo was taken while he was working for Uncle Herman.

Marvin is on the right.  The fellow on the left is one of two people Marvin’s best friend Eugene Cowels or a fellow who was called Irish.  Far Guy says he thinks it is Irish. The Erie Diggers are still coin operated at this time.  I can see the coin slot just above the crank.  I believe the sign says “ The Erie Digger See it Work”  It might say 5 cents or 10 cents.

The coin slot can be seen in this photo of a small child.  No one is real certain who the child is.

On October 26 1940 Marvin would marry Evelyn.  We believe they traveled with a carnival the summer of 1941.  Evelyn had never been away from home, one day in Wisconsin she was so homesick that Marvin put her on a bus for home. 

From April 6 1942 to September 5 1945 Marvin and Evelyn lived in Omaha Nebraska at 1732 Van Camp Ave.  Marvin worked for The Glen L. Martin Company building B 26 Bombers during the war.

During their time in Omaha three children were born.  Twins: Phillip Leroy and Elizabeth Ann born and died September 23 1942.  Far Guy’s sister and only living sibling Janice Marie born May 29 1945.

After the war was over they purchased a home in Park Rapids Minnesota which would be their “home base” close to family.

During those years 1945 –1950.  Evelyn stayed home with Janice while she was really little. Marvin traveled with a carnival during the summer and fall.  He was with Home State Shows and Rocko Shows. In the late 1940’s Evelyn went out on the road with Marvin leaving Janice home with her grandparents for the summer because of the Polio outbreaks. Janice says “I was three or four years old.”

Far Guy would join the family in 1950.

Far Guy writes:

So far the photos have been of Herman Henderson’s Erie Diggers mounted on a trailer.

When my Dad started up on his own, he bought a few machines here and there.  These machines were grouped together and displayed on top of their shipping crates.  A wood 2 x 4 structure with a canvas top and sides was placed above the machines to help protect the machines from the elements.  In carnival lingo this was referred to as a “set joint”.  The shipping crates opened to the inside and the spare prizes (stock) was kept inside. An interesting note here; after I built the replicas of the shipping containers, I was wondering what to use as a door latch.  From somewhere in my memory I remembered a latch wasn’t used.  The door was simply kept closed with a screw.

An Original Erie Digger sitting on top of it’s shipping crate.

At the end of the spot (fair or celebration) the digger machines would be placed back into their shipping crates and along with the set joint placed into a box built on the back of an old Chevy 1 Ton Pickup. That box served as living quarters when the joint was set up.

Marvin and possibly a fellow named Dick. 

The Diggers were no longer coin operated at the time of this photo about 1953.  The “See it Work” signs are now hanging from the roof of the joint to make way for the people to put their dimes on top of the machines.  The machines are now trailer mounted, it is no longer a set joint.  There are fourteen machines on the trailer.  This many people watching the diggers work, in carnival lingo would be called a “tip.”  My Dad is very well dressed, as he wears a white shirt and a sport coat while he works.  This was Dad’s first big joint. 

Wistful Wednesday: 2004

In 2004 Far Guy’s Mom was 90 years old.  We had a small gathering at the Nursing Home for her birthday.  Far Guy and I got married on her birthday…what a gift.  I am certain that no one could ever meet her standards as a perfect wife for her son.

Uncle Willard, Aunt Louise and Evelyn.  Willard and Evelyn are brother and sister.

Far Guy, Evelyn and me.

Others guests were Jennifer and Adam.  Adam was a little guy back then.

In the background of this photo our dear friend Rhonda who had Multiple Sclerosis since the age of 25 is being wheeled back to her room in the corner.

A few days after these photos were taken Chance would pick Far Guy for his owner.  Evelyn was just thrilled with Chance. He would learn all about wheel chairs, walkers, automatic doors and cookies at the home.  Chance was a regular visitor at the home until Evelyn died early one morning in March of 2006.

Christmas in the Nursing Home was a little depressing, for as long as we could manage we brought her to our home and when that didn’t work we made a meal to take to the home to share…usually Salmon because that was one of her favorites.

Wistful Wednesday: Nunn’s Store

Years ago J.W. Nunn had a store in Ponsford Minnesota.

Far Guy’s Mom wrote “I remember the large J.W. Nunn store and my mother bringing several cases of eggs to the store every week to buy groceries.  Those were during my childhood years.  Also riding to Sunday School by horse and wagon to the Baptist Church in Ponsford.”

I think the Nunn store was on the North side of the street on the East side of town and it  opened in 1902.

Here is a very old photo that Jim Mack (J.W. Nunn’s grandson) shared with me. J. W. Nunn and an unknown child are in the photo.

Family Genealogy Info: Alfred and Elezebeth Nunn lived near William and Martha Abbott in Wellington County Eramosa Township Ontario Canada, they came together to the (Lake Eunice) Detroit Lakes area and then to Carsonville Township/Ponsford Minnesota around 1889.

Wistful Wednesday: Christmas 1975

In December of 1975 our daughters Trica (3 years 8 months old) and Jennifer (3 months old) at our home in Moorhead MN.  Thirty nine years ago.

We had a live tree…looks kinda like a Charlie Brown Tree.  I still have some of those ornaments!

We should get a photo of the baby alone.

Not such a good idea. Poor thing…cried and kicked so hard she blew a slipper….but her sister is still smiling.

Trica, Julie (my sister) and Jennifer.  Trica must be practicing her smile.

Far Guy’s sister Janice and Jennifer at Far Guy’s parents in Park Rapids Minnesota.

Far Guy and Jennifer

Far Guy’s Mom holding Jennifer.  In the background we have Baby Snuffer, my other baby brother Jody, Trica near Jody and brother in law Ron in the red pants.

Jan and Ron must have come up from Indiana for Christmas.  The tree was on the end table that year.  On the coffee table I see amongst other things a terrarium.  Far Guys Mom fussed and fretted with that terrarium…everything had to be just perfect…the layers of sand..the stuff inside…I don’t remember much of what was inside….but they were all the rage in 1975.  We still have that granny square afghan that is on the couch, it is upstairs and hangs on the quilt rack.

Far Guy’s Mom had that streak of grey/silver in her hair on purpose…the rest she colored but that front part was natural.  Not sure why..it must have been all the rage back then.

Happy Mother’s Day!

This is the card I sent my Mom on Mother’s Day.  This was taken around Mother’s Day in 1952.  Her first Mother’s Day 62 years ago.

My parents are on vacation hopefully the card will catch up with her.

This is Far Guy and his Mom in 1953.  She died in 2006 at the age of 92.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mom’s out there!

Wistful Wednesday: Farm House

It has been over a year now since the old farm house belonging to  Far Guy’s Maternal Grandparents was burned down.  It was a hazard. We were gone the weekend the Fire Department used it for a training exercise or we would have been there.

This is the newly built house before it was sided, it would get boards painted white just like the dormers and it would stay that color throughout the years.  Uncle Willard designed the house in a drafting class in high school.  The bump out with the windows was specially designed for Grandma Meade’s plants on the main level and in the basement there were shelves that she stored canning jars full of vegetables and fruits.

I have notes someplace of a conversation I had with Uncle Willard about the house and it’s construction.  I will find them someday…just not today…I looked.  I must have put them away real good.

I grew up catty corner from this farmstead.  Note the old house behind the new house.  I only remember that house as a fallen in heap.  Us kids were not supposed to play on or around it… “You will get nails in your feet or get hurt.”  Far Guy says “I can only remember when half of the old house was standing.”

Now both houses are only a distant memory.

November 2012

It is hard to watch these old houses and barns that were so familiar to me as a child disappear one by one.  Far Guy’s Cousin “Alaska Guy” says he will never drive down the highway past the old farm again, he cannot bear to see the house gone.

Times change, old buildings get older.  Empty buildings are vandalized….you can never really go home again except in your memories.

 

Wistful Wednesday: Christmas 1955

This photo was amongst the photos that Cousin Bonnie gave to Far Guy.  I have seen it before.

All of these sister in laws are gone..  Cancer..Alzheimer's..and old age claimed them all. 

Married to brothers..together for Christmas at the farm.

Far Guys Mom Evelyn is on the left, it would have been her 97th birthday yesterday.  In this photo she was 41 and the oldest. She wasn’t a very social person, everything was prim and proper..nothing was ever done on the spur of the moment.

Auntie Esther is next, she died last December.  She always called Far Guy and I “you kids.”  She was spontaneous..and during the summer at the lake she would almost always be found in her swimsuit.  She enjoyed the outdoors and embraced every activity from hunting to snowmobiling to fishing and of course golfing.

Jean..I won’t call her Aunt Jean..she was divorced from her husband a few years after this photo was taken. Far Guy said she was beautiful and had a mind of her own.  I never met her, she died of cancer.

Aunt Beryl, I have known her ever since I can remember. She had an infectious laugh.  My Mother was one of her best friends. I remember when her new house was built and the white crushed velvet furniture appeared in her living room..I wondered if anyone ever dared to sit on it…us kids always went to the basement!   She had Alzheimer's a number of years..she was gone..but her body wasn’t done living yet..Alzheimer's is a terrible affliction. 

I wonder sometimes how these women all got along.  I am certain there were some under currents..perhaps even some teeth gnashing.  They must have all gotten along for the sake of their husbands. I think it would have been interesting to have been a mouse in the corner sometimes:)