Visit

 Had a quick visit with my other baby brother,  she who sees robins first, Katie, Aubrey, Brooke and Olivia.  They were in town for a basketball game, she who sees robins first had a bit of a cold so we met at  Cabelas by the fish tank where there was a bench.  Good to see everyone and wave at my sister in law! 

They all would have stayed with us but they did not want to chance getting Far Guy sick. 

I ran across this photo the other day.

My other baby brother, cousin Kevin and our Paternal Grandfather (Grandpa Sam)

I believe the photo was taken in the summer of 1961 as my other baby brother was born in October of 1960. 

My Grandpa Sam liked to visit, he would often show up at our home unannounced.   In this photo he is dressed for a weekday or a Saturday; long underwear, shirt, bib overalls, coat and his everyday hat.  The pink peppermints that he shared with children would have been in one pocket wrapped in a white handkerchief.  He wore long underwear year round to keep the heat in or out.  His Sunday clothing was different than everyday, on Sunday he wore dark pants and a white shirt and tie....he also saved his hearing aid batteries for use on Sunday so he could hear the sermon in Finn.  He chewed tobacco and could spit a long ways...which used to irritate his many daughter in laws and his two daughters.   Grandpa Sam was widowed when he was 63 years old ( Grandma Hilda was 64 years old when she died) ...he visited many different widows over his lonely years and finally married a nice lady who we called Grandma Annie, who he outlived by 10 years.  Grandpa Sam died when he was five days short of his 88th birthday back in 1978.  

I got to thinking about my Dad's brothers and sisters...how old were they when they died?

Wilbert 77, Hugo 73, Jalmer 42, Ervin 59, Oscar 56, Arthur 23, Adolf 76, George 74, Einard 6 months, My Dad Jake 96, Marie 82, Andrew 67, Arnold 59 and Anna 85.  They mostly died from cancer or heart attacks.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: Roots Part Eleven

My Grandfather ( My Dad’s Father) in the field on the farm where I grew up.

1952

I love this old photo…and this one too.

My Uncle Adolf and My Grandpa in 1952 enjoying lunch in the field.

In 1953 when my Grandmother died my Grandfather became a very eligible bachelor.  He dated a number of women.

He did not approve of face paint (lipstick or rouge), card games ( Checkers were okay but cards were the work of the devil), dancing or drinking.  Women were meant to stay in the home and take care of the children…if they got an education they should be nurses or teachers.

He would stop by our house during the week.  I always enjoyed his visits.  IF for some reason my brother or I were sent out of the house…his visit got us out of the dog house. He smelled like mothballs and wore long underwear year round, the underwear kept in  warmth in the winter and kept his body cool in the summer(evaporation).  Most of the time he wore suspenders.  Those mints I enjoyed were in his shirt pocket or the pocket of his coat.  He chewed and spit..he could spit farther than any person I knew and he had reasonably good aim.

He remarried, Grandma Annie…she died and he was told to move out.  He lived near Uncle Hugo’s on Shell Lake in a tiny house that was quickly built for him.  Then he made the rounds living with each of his children when he couldn’t live alone.  He stayed at my parents a month or so…we enjoyed all his stories.  The hemorrhoid story is a classic.  He said that he would slice open the hemorrhoids with a razor blade and then put iodine on them…he said “It only hurt for a bit.”  Grandpa had some false teeth but they made his mouth sore and he saved up his hearing aid batteries for church on Sunday. Eventually he ended up with Uncle George and Aunt Grace permanently until he fell.  He was in the nursing home for a short time and fell again and died.  He died on December 14 1978 just 4 days short of his 88th birthday. I missed him very much after he died.  He lived longer in years than all of his children so far.  This month my Dad will turn 88 and Aunt Anna will turn 79, they are the remnant.

 

Grandpa Sam with the sauna just down the hill at the farm

This photo is one of my favorites… cousin Geraldine shared it with me.  It is most likely the last photo taken of Grandpa.

Wistful Wednesday: Grandparents

I have two photos of me with my paternal grandparents.  This is one of them.

My Grandparents don’t look thrilled.  I am told that my Grandmother called me Connie Boy instead of Connie Joy.  My Grandmother died in 1953 of a massive heart attack. She was 64 years old.  Fourteen kids and being a farmers wife took it’s toll on her body.  I have  no real memories of her..just vague feelings that I associate with her..butter..that I hear she used to feed me from a spoon.

My Grandfather lived a good long life..he died  just short of his 88th birthday in 1978.  I have many memories of my grandfather..pink peppermints, long underwear all year round, white shirts on Sunday and the smell of moth balls that permeated his wool clothing.  Then he remarried…I cannot remember exactly when he married Grandma Annie..sometime in the early 1960’s..and he outlived her too. She died in 1968.

He visited many widow ladies in his quest for companionship. Not sure why he chose Annie other that she was a very kind lady and she spoke Finn. She had her own house..after her death he was told to move out.  So he built a small two room house at Uncle Hugo’s place on Shell Lake.  One Saturday at his lake place he was having a hard time hearing, I asked him why?  Turns out he was saving his hearing aid batteries for church on Sunday morning.  He was a kind man whom I enjoyed visiting with.

My Grandfather was old school..no dancing, no lipstick and no alcohol was allowed.  Spitting however was permissible. I think he chewed tobacco his entire life.  He thought that women should only go to school to be teachers..and if they were married ..well they should stay home have babies and take care of their husbands:)

Old Photograph Wednesday Part IV

Well I guess I am going to call Wednesdays, Old Photograph Wednesday, since it seems to be my theme on Wednesdays. Perhaps it could have a more glamorous title..but for the moment ..what that would be escapes me. Leave a comment if you have a catchy opinion! A reader left me a comment, asking if I remember the shocks of grain standing in the fields?
Yes, I do remember, all looking like little tee pees. This picture I have shared with you shows my Grandpa Y. with a pitchfork, out in a grain field, his work is behind him. He was a wonderful, dear man who I still miss to this day. My Mother took this picture in 1952, it was their first harvest of grain on their "own" farm, the farm where I grew up.



This picture is of my Grandpa and his son, my Uncle Adolf having lunch in the field. You can see the lunch bucket between them, my Mother used to make lunch..homemade bread and meat, some pickles, and cookies or cake that were all put inside a big cooking pot, covered with a dish towel and taken to the field. Coffee and milk went into glass jars and were wrapped in heavy towels. I loved lunching in the field as a small child it was the highlight of my day!


Grain was harvested with a Binder that cut and bound it into sheaves, many sheaves were then set on end to form a shock of grain. The grain shocks were left in the field to dry. Then the Threshing Crew or the as I like to call them the Thrashing Crew would come. There was lots of baking and cooking the day before, such excitement, then they would come one by one, all the farmers to help each other thrash the grain. It was a cooperative effort, farmers helping farmers. It was dirty hard work, the men would wash up outside and then come into the house for "Lunch" ... and what a lunch it was.. Mountains of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, garden vegetables, beans and carrots and of course fresh bread, and deserts the likes that only appeared once a year..pies, and cakes that a child with a sweet tooth would stare at in awe.

My Uncle Adolf was a frequent visitor at our home before he was married. He was a big guy, tall and strong. I was a very stubborn child and was prone to temper tantrums, I was into the stomping my feet as fast as they would go, alternating between screaming and holding my breath to get my way tantrums. Apparently it had been working, until the day my Uncle Adolf had his own tantrum, my Mother told me "He came into the kitchen while you were stomping your feet and screaming, and proceeded to stomp his feet so much that the whole floor shook, and that was the last of your temper tantrums." :)