Blast from the past

 I was searching for on old recipe.  Funny thing I never found the recipe but I did find this. 

Some kind of game was played...not sure what...not sure who kept score but I came in last (4th) place. Paige and Maddie are just one point apart...Savannah was clearly the winner!

I like to play games...board games, card games if you name it I will play it!  Far Guy used to play Scrabble with me a long time ago. 

In the Winter Jen and Andy like to play games in the evening.  I think it is a great family activity! 

The old recipe remains someplace in oblivion...but the score card remains in one of my recipe boxes:)

On the back of this sheet of paper was hand written pattern for a floral frame that I wanted to make.

Yesterday our high was 72 F or 23 C eh. 

Supper was scrambled farm fresh brown eggs and an English muffin.

Far Side

Sticks and Stones

 There is a sculpture on Main Street in town that is named sticks and stones. 

A stick, some stones and a metal frame.   Who knew? 

I was reminded of the childhood saying "Sticks and stones will beak my bones but words will never hurt me."  Do you recall that one?  A children's rhyme from 1862.  

I do know that some words can hurt.  I was reminded one day by a very little girl who I had just scolded for doing something or another...as a tear rolled down her cheek she said "You hurt my feeling"  Yes not feelings ...just feeling...apparently one feeling. When you are little you can have just one feeling. 

Far Side

Bambi

We still have a Bambi eating acorns in our yard.

A very long time ago we took our oldest daughter Trica to the movie Bambi…she cried.  A few months later my Dad wanted to take my sister and Trica to a movie…Bambi was playing at the theater in town.  Of course Trica wanted to go…I reminded her that the movie had some sad parts….she said fine, I have already seen it and I promise not to cry.  Her Grandfather (my Dad) reported that during the sad part she began to cry…so she sat in his lap, hid her face in his shoulder and sobbed. 

Batty

One morning my other baby brother opened the large doors to his shop.  A bunch of bats flew out and one hit him in the nose and scratched him.

My other baby brother

After some discussion he was started on a series of rabies shots. He has one more shot to go in the series.  The shots are given in the upper arm.  He will be glad when he can put the shots behind him.

Years ago my parents had a fireplace without a screen on the chimney, the bats would come down and hang on the window of the fireplace…my brothers would get out the badminton rackets and slowly open the fireplace door to release the bats and they would swing at the bats flying around.  A great after church activity.

At our resort we watched the bats, they flew out at dusk and back in at sunrise, I would sit on the edge of the bed and watch them…they lived behind the chimney.  One year they decided to live between pieces of plastic that covered the door to nowhere…Far Guy collected a couple of bats in a peanut butter jar so the bats could go to school with one of our daughters.  As I recall…I startled them with a long handled tool and Far Guy captured a couple as they fell. (The door to nowhere was a door and a screen door about 10 feet off the ground with no steps outside the master bathroom…I put a nightstand in front of the door so it couldn’t be opened.)

When you are out on the lake at night the bats fly right over your heads.  Some tourists are unnerved with that activity. ( especially women who think that the bats will get tangled up in their hair)

We have a house that is made for bats because they eat so many bugs…skeeters are a delicacy for them.

Nowadays they say most all bats carry rabies…years ago we didn’t worry about it.

Midway Memories: Recollections

Ever been for a ride on an Zonkey? 

Far Guy met the Holter’s, they had a daughter named Gail and a son named Bobby.  They played fairs throughout the midwest so they would often end up on the same fairgrounds.  The kids were friends.

Far Guy says:

Gail had a pet kitten, it was a Cheetah.  One time she brought it by the joint when I was working and the kitten jumped from the ground to the top of the diggers and started to lick my face…the tongue of a Cheetah kitten is like 80 grit sandpaper.   Later that day she came over to the trailer when we were closed for supper.  She was sitting on the couch.  Dad told her “We have a wild animal too…locked up in the back bedroom.”  I asked her if he should let it out.  So here is this gal who works with elephants, ostriches, zonkeys and camels…jumping up on the couch when we left our Chihuahua out of the back bedroom.

During the grandstand show they would put a bridle and saddle on the zonkey, they would get a person from the crowd…usually a cowboy…to try to ride it and they would get bucked off.  Then they would call for a volunteer kid from the crowd and the announcer would tell the kid what to whisper in the zonkeys ear.  The kid would get on the zonkey and the zonkey would just stand there and do nothing.  The kid that always came out of the crowd??  That was Gail.  So anyways Gail was telling me that the Zonkey might let me ride him…no saddle …no bridle…I got on and bounced twice the last time I fell off the back end and took a hoof right to the chest.  I was lucky that the damn thing didn’t kill me.  Gail just laughed.”

I rode the elephant one time, the skin on an elephant is really loose and hairy…it has the toughest hair. 

They used to have ostrich races, they took people out of the grandstand and gave them jockey suits…they were supposed to steer the ostriches…a broom was used to turn them…blinding them on one side would make them turn the opposite direction.   The doggone ostriches would turn this way and that, people were falling off left and right…it was a fun show to watch.  It was Bobby’s job to round up the ostriches.

Gene Holter was originally from North Dakota.  The last Far Guy knew Gail had an animal sanctuary in California and Bobby was in auto parts. 

The reverse of the postcard.

The blind cowboy, he was genuinely blind, his wife helped him get around.  The horses would gallop past the grandstand turn around and gallop back all the while the blind cowboy stood on their backs.  Far Guy said he never met the guy but watched his show many times.

We have been carting around this over sized postcard for years…and here it sparked a couple of great recollections!

Celebrities he saw:  Gene Autry in West Union Iowa, Johnny Cash in West Union Iowa, The Lone Ranger in Preston Minnesota, Wanda Jackson in Nebraska someplace.   Gene Autry was supposed to sing Back In The Saddle on the Merry Go Round, but something happened and his agent wouldn’t let him.

35 cents

I might be the last of the big spenders. We attended an Estate Sale at Hazel’s old house.

I bought some Hazel’s to add to my Shiny Brite collection. 5 cents each

Two Shiny Brites.

One ornament marked West Germany.

It was a fun estate sale I got to visit with an old friend and met her husband.

These are a few of Hazel’s hankies that came home with me.  The two on the right still have their old labels and were made in Switzerland. 5 cents each and I bought four.

I did buy some other stuff…but they are gifts for other people so they don’t count.

I knew Hazel from the time they moved to Ponsford in the early 1950’s.  Ernie used to work for the County and Hazel worked at Ringer in town, they had three children and the middle child Janet and I were good friends. She was a year younger than me. We rode the same bus driven by Ivan until the route changed.  We went to the same church and were also in the same Confirmation Class.  I liked to visit on the nights that Hazel served flat bread and broasted chicken…she was a really good cook.  Hazel died this past winter she was 87 years old, I was unable to attend her funeral. It is hard to be in two places at the same time and sometimes you have to take care of those closest to you.

Drive In Theater

I think we are missing out now a days.  Remember the old Drive In Theaters?  The one in Park Rapids has given way to a housing development.

As teenagers It used to be great fun sneaking a bunch of kids in.  One time Far Guy and John were driving and Rhonda and I hid under a blanket on the floor of the back seat.  All of a sudden the guys took off hollering “You will never catch us” as the tires spun gravel into the air. WELL…the Drive In was closed and they were just fooling us. Rhonda and I laughed so hard we almost peed our pants.

There is a remnant of a Drive In Theater over at Wadena.

 

We stopped to take photos last summer.

The “Snack Shack/Projection Building/Bathroom” building could still be seen.

I recall as a youngster playing on the swings and teetertotters at some Drive Ins before the movie started and the bugs got bad.

Later as a young couple it was an affordable night out.  We would dress the girls in their pajamas and grab their pillows and blankets.  Taking a paper bag of popcorn from home and koolaid in a jar….a date night where we didn’t need a babysitter.

Wistful Wednesday : Christmas 1988

Oh lets go back 27 years.  Why not. December of 1988.

A polaroid taken by Far Guy’s Dad.

Back: Ronald, Bethany, Janice, Jennifer and me.

Far Guy, Trica with Baby Snuffer and Far Guy’s Mom.

Trica would have been 16 years old, Jennifer 13. Bethany would have been 7.

Far Guy only has one sister.   They had more siblings : twins, a brother and a sister that died shortly after birth of lung problems. ( In retrospect they probably had Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Defiency)

Here we are at the dinner table. White tablecloth pressed perfectly and the candles lit. The good China and the silverware was silver.  Most of the glasses are part of a set called Platinum Leaves or possibly Frosted Silver Leaves.

On the table: A beautiful lead glass dish that had three compartments dividing the pickles, green olives and black olives. Another plate with carrott sticks and celery with the valley filled with Cheese Whiz.  A fancy smancy mold that is probably cranberries and Jello. Also serving:  Homemade dinner rolls.  Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy.  The vegetable was most likely green bean cassarole.  Dessert would have been an assortment of homemade cookies and candy…possibly with some perfect pink or green Divinity.

Does anyone even made Divinity anymore? 

Wistful Wednesday: Grade School

The Grade School that I went to as a child was built and completed for the start of the 1957 school year when I was ready for First Grade…I was five when school started and turned six later that month….back then I think you had to be six years old by December 31st to go to school.

My parents had purchased a farm that was near a country school (Linnell School)…you could see it from our home. I would just have a short walk to school!

The building of the new school in Osage split the community…sometimes this split is still evident.  Some were in favor of a new school building and others thought the country school was good enough…and neither side spoke to the other side unless it was necessary.

Mrs. Pearl Sexton taught first grade, Mrs. Minnie Zauche taught second grade, Mrs. Lucille Stearns taught third grade, Mr. Oscar Vaadland taught fourth grade and was the principal.  He had a yard stick with a red bow on it and if you were misbehaving you got whacked with the stick.  The school nurse came out about once a week, not sure what she did other than keep track of who had their shots.  Each classroom had their own single bathroom and there were two other proper boys and girls bathrooms in the hallway.  Not sure why the classrooms were positioned as they were: 1st, 4th, 3rd and 2nd. There was a library room, an office, a milk room off the cafeteria ( it continually smelled like sour milk) a kitchen where Arvilla Nilson was the best school cook ever, and the cafeteria/gym.  Carl Nilson was the boiler operator, janitor and bus driver.

Everyone went outside after lunch.  In the winter we played king of the hill on the mountains of snow and in the spring and fall we would take turns swinging…there were maybe six swings and some monkey bars.

The last day of school we always had a whole school picnic with our parents invited and all kinds of fun games…sack and relay races.

I rode the bus to school, the bus driver was Ivan Siegford (he owned the hardware store in Ponsford and began his route with the Ritt’s girls over on Shell Lake.)  I got on the bus about 7:45 in the morning and got off at 3:45 in the afternoon.  For me it was not a long ride to school…about 7 miles. There were only a few stops after I got on. I loved a window seat on the bus so I could look out on the passing landscape and in the winter those frosty bus windows became a canvas for thumb print designs…and whatever else I could scratch into the frost.

I took this photo the other day…it is now apartments and is owned by one of my cousins.

I learned to read ( See Dick, see Jane!), spell, write in cursive, how to add, subtract, multiply and divide.  Division was the worst for me in third grade…until one day “it clicked.”  I can still smell the thick white paste in the big jars and I remember how everyone smelled the purple mimeographed paper before beginning our work.

Monday Report

I think I need another retreat already! 

The funeral for my Dad’s  cousin Shirley was on Monday morning.  Shirley was never married so many of the pews were empty.  Cousin Elmer gave a good sermon, followed by another preacher…it was a “twofer”..two sermons for one service.  The song books are really large and heavy…they have lots of songs to sing…many are translated from old Finnish songs.

The church is rural and holds many memories for me…Holy Roller Funerals with people wailing inconsolably and people jumping over caskets, funerals all in Finn and holding the songbook not knowing even one word. Trying to sing What a Friend We Have in Jesus in Finn.  The melody is the same.   Several of my uncles funerals were held at the church…and finally my grandfathers funeral. Many times it was a different kind of “twofer”  first a service in Finn and then a service in English.

Shirley was a very soft spoken shy lady.  She was my Aunt Lila’s room mate in the nursing home for many years. Shirley and my Dad were double cousins.  Shirley’s Mom and my Grandmother were sisters and Shirley’s Dad and my grandfather were brothers.  Shirley loved flowers and would visit the greenhouse with her sister every spring.  When Shirley was growing up she had a speech problem plus she was shy.  My Dad used to tell other kids that he was going to beat them up if they were mean to Shirley.  Shirley was a year younger than my Dad.  Shirley never learned how to drive yet she had a very successful career as a lab technician.  Cousin Elmer told how when she first retired they needed her back up at the laboratory in Bemidji…she didn’t drive so they sent a cab to pick her up…60 miles one way.

We skipped the cemetery and the funeral lunch…although it smelled really good!

We stopped by the house and got Chance and did our errands in town and went to wood carving.  Came home and washed my vehicle,  grabbed some supper and went back into town to the Historical Society Program that was all about Earl Fuller’s home movies of the 1940’s taken in Park Rapids.

Stick a fork in me I am done…I will stay home tomorrow..unless turning leaves are calling my name.

Near Wolf Lake MN September 29, 2014

Neighbors Then and Now

Last year after Christmas neighbor Edie gave me a special Shiny Brite ornament.

It had a bit of a story.  Carl (Edie’s husband) went to a neighbors(Norman and Minnie Zauche’s) auction sale and purchased some Christmas ornaments.  She asked me to write something about them.  Edie is originally from Park Rapids and all the information Carl could share was “Minnie was a teacher.”

Well I knew a tad more than that.  I called my Mother to fill in some blanks.   Some things she could remember and some things she couldn’t.

Carl and Edie’s sons got some of those auction sale Shiny Brites this past Christmas and some history as I recalled it and some facts which I researched online.

Minnie S. Flugner (Fliegner) Zauche was born in Idaho in 1906.  She lived in Wyoming and is found in the US Census as a boarder in 1930, more than likely a teacher.    She married Norman O Zauche on June 1, 1944 in Washington DC.  Norman was a Iowa boy that moved to Minnesota, Lake of the Woods County and is found there in the 1930 Census with his family.

They had one adopted daughter.  Becky Joan born in 1945.

Norman  was a Forest Ranger and he and Minnie made their home in the cabins at the Smoky Hills Ranger Station.  Later they built a new home on what was formerly Dezelle's Lake/Chilton's Lake,  which became known to neighborhood kids as Zauche's Lake ( Lady Slipper Bed and Breakfast is located there now.)

Mrs. Zauche was the second grade teacher at the Osage Elementary School.  Her first teaching  year there was 1958.  She was my second grade teacher that same year.    She was a wonderful teacher, patient and kind to all the students.  She would remain known to me as Mrs. Zauche all of her life.

 
Being a neighborhood kid with a bike, we were always welcome at the Zauche house.   Mrs. Zauche would go out on the small lake and holler "fishy fishy" and throw bread crumbs to the sunfish.  She always had cookies or something freshly baked for a treat for visitors.  She would often hold an impromptu class in her flower garden, telling me the name of all the flowers.  She and Norman had huge flower beds, most of which were landscaped and raised with really good dirt and edged with rock.  They grew dahlias, roses and many other perennials.  On the north east side of their property they had an orchard.  I often wonder how many of those trees have survived.   A small creek ran out of the small lake and through a culvert under their driveway, where the creek became swamp in the woods was where the Lady Slippers grew.   Norman would monitor the water levels flowing from Chilton Lake into Zauche's Lake, there was a ditch that connected the two lakes and there were wood boards that kept the water at whatever level he wanted it.  There was a very narrow path along the north side of Zauche's Lake that led to Chilton's Lake.

 
The Zauche's donated the land for the building of  St. Pauls Lutheran Church.  They are both buried in the cemetery there.

Norman and Minnie were well respected members of the community.  They went Square Dancing in Detroit Lakes.  Soon they began a square dancing club in Osage called The Friendly  Squares.  Norman did the calling.

Minnie was older than Norman but she would never reveal her age.  She was born in 1906 and he was born in 1913.

When Mrs. Zauche retired from teaching, the PTA had a going away party for her.  Each class she taught would present her with a rose.  I was last in line that day in the kitchen waiting to go into the gym to present her with a red rose and a hug.  She was a truly wonderful lady who touched many young lives.   I cannot remember what year that was...most likely 1970 or 1971.

 
In late 1974 and early 1975 Norman became very ill, he doctored in Fargo.   Minnie was very concerned, right after she learned he would be okay she died on February 20 1975, she was 69 years old.   Norman would follow her eleven months later, he died on January 12, 1976 at the age of 62.

I will always remember them fondly,
Connie    November 15, 2013

Their daughter Becky was one of my favorite babysitters.  I have lost touch with her, I heard through the grapevine that she was recovering from Breast Cancer…I cannot help but think of her and her parents this holiday season.

ABC- 123 and Redemption

A long time ago back about 1978 or 1979 our daughters Trica and Jennifer had birds. Parakeets or Budgies. The girls chose names for their birds.  Pansy was green with a yellow head she belonged to Trica.    ABC-123 was Jennifers..he was blue with a white head. 

One Sunday afternoon the girls asked to have their birds out..sure.. Jennifer wanted to hold ABC-I23 with her blankie because the bird had sharp claws.  A short time later there was a problem with ABC-123  he looked strangely asleep and stiff..poor ABC-123 was dead..he must have had a heart attack.

Poor Jennifer..she was only 3 or 4 years old.  It was very traumatic for her.

Last weekend one of the places I wanted to visit was Hawk Ridge in Duluth.  Sunday morning just before leaving town we headed up there.  There is a beautiful view of the city from the ridge.

Hawk Ridge is right on the path that the birds follow on their migration south.  If the wind is right the birds fly right by the ridge. 

Volunteers are on hand with binoculars and very available to answer questions.  Volunteer Margie brought out this Sharp-shinned Hawk.  They have several banding stations in the immediate area..where birds are lured in and caught, banded, weighed and sexed.  They bring birds up to the Hawk Ridge so that people can see them up close..and as a fundraiser they can be adopted.  This Sharp-shinned Hawk could be adopted and then released by the adoptee for a donation of $25.

Jen spoke up immediately.. “I will do it!”

Visions of ABC-123 and a little girl with tears in her eyes flashed quickly through my head…she is older now..certainly this bird won’t die.

The volunteer showed her how to hold the bird and it’s number was recorded.  They will send Jen a note if the bird goes through the banding station again.

Then it was time.  Time to release the bird.  1..2..3 and Jen opened her hand.

And her Mother the photographer extraordinaire got the shot!  I did it..I really really did it!  The bird swooped down and quickly did an upward loop and was on it’s way south!

Jen was pleased..it was quite an experience for her..redemption is sweet! :)

Wistful Wednesday: 1953

Well, you know not many people talk about it,  but everyone has to do it..sooner or later we were all potty trained. 

Apparently I undertook this training when I was eighteen months old in March of 1953.

My potty chair was in the kitchen..next to the door that went upstairs.  I seem to be quite proud of myself. No screaming, only a big smile!  My doll must have been keeping me company.

There were four doors off the big old farm kitchen. The first a door to the front porch, the second door to the living room where the rocking chair was and all the plants were on a stand in the east window and where the big old heat register was in the floor where I loved to sit and get warm. My tiny bedroom and my parents bedroom were both off of the living room in the old house.  The third was the door to upstairs. We never used upstairs..flies were in the tall windows and the shades were torn, the curtain rods were crooked and the curtains were threadbare and each room had different linoleum on the floor and a different wallpaper on the walls. The steps going up had been painted white and so was the railing upstairs.   My Grandpa and one of my Uncles slept up there one time during harvest..but other than that we didn’t use it..and we were not allowed up there to play either.  Finally the fourth door to the big old room where my Mother kept boxes of stuff and where clothes were kept, and sometimes where we took a bath in a metal tub if we didn’t go to sauna. It was always cold in that room. Later in 1959 or 1960 that room was remodeled to make a bathroom and a sewing room. 

The outhouse..was just that out..in the yard…it was a cold, cold place in the winter, and a smelly place in the summer, where flies would crawl on your bare butt if you sat too long.

Sometimes we had toilet paper..sometimes not. Peach papers were pure heaven and my favorite kind of papers.  Newspaper worked ok too..I didn’t like the catalogues…too slippery. We did not have a chamber pot or what my Mother called a “piss pot” in the house either…if we had to go..we went out to the outhouse. Oh, what a luxury it was to go to the bathroom at school, the only down side was that you couldn’t read in the bathroom at school. 

I still like to read in the bathroom. We have a whole basket full of reading material in our bathroom. I am a short sitter compared to my other baby brother who lives next door.  If he is in the bathroom..it could take him a whole hour..sometimes if we go to see him and he is in the bathroom we ask “How long has he been in there?”..so we know how long we will have to wait, or if we are better off coming back later.

I was nine years old before we got a bathroom indoors. To me an indoor bathroom is a luxury, I know not many people think of it that way anymore, but if you are part of the “outhouse generation” you will understand what I mean:) 

Below Zero

In Minnesota when it stops snowing and the skies clear you know that is is going to get cold.  Last night it was –6 below and than as the morning progressed it got colder instead of warmer at 8 AM it was –10F or –23C.

Once it gets below zero the number is not so important except to the locals..everyone wants to have the coldest temperature in the area.  I don’t know where they buy their thermometers at or where they get their glasses from..but it is not the same place I get mine.

Back in 1957 and 1958 when I was in first and second grade, I  walked to the end of the driveway to catch the school bus.  My Dad would walk with me in the winter.  He would carry what I have always called an Indian Blanket, a warm colorful blanket. I think that some mornings he carried me through the deep snow drifts so that I wouldn’t get all snowy and wet before school.  While we were waiting for the bus, he would wrap me inside the blanket and hold me close to shield me from the wind that came off the prairie.  Dad also shoveled that entire driveway by hand. The driveway was over 600 feet long ( Far Guy measured it on Google Earth.)

I recall some of the dirt roads in our area being just like tunnels when you drove through them in a car, you could only see forwards or backwards. They were one lane tunnels too..if you met another car someone was going to have to back up.

Along the road to Osage the snow drifts would be almost as high as the telephone poles..it was rumored that some of the kids would run up there along the drifts.  I remember scratching the frost off of the window in the bus with my fingernails, or just making fingerprints all in a circle to melt the frost or getting really close and breathing on the glass to unthaw it enough to see out..just to see how high the snow banks were.  I always wore my snow boots to school and I might have been wearing a dress but I still had my snow pants on underneath:) 

99 years ago

My maternal Grandmother was born on September 26, 1911.  Her father( Dietrich) was not a nice man and not much is known about her mother ( Amanda) as she died when Grandma was 15 months old, Amanda fell ( or was pushed) down the stairs while she was pregnant.  Making Dietrich a widower with four small children.  

Dietrich, Amanda, Bill and Henry in1905?

Dietrich and Amanda had four children, Bill ( always known as Uncle Bill), Henry, Gunvold and my maternal grandmother Elsie.

What to do..what to do..well..keep the boys and ship off the little girl to your sister.
  This  is my Grandmother..doncha just love the big old bow in her hair?  She is pictured with Grandma Anderson..Dietrichs sister.  I will guess that this photo was taken in about 1916 when my Grandmother was five years old.  I asked my Mother what Grandma Andersons first name was..she did not know..as she was always called Grandma Anderson.  On a side note..Grandma Anderson and her mother ( who would have been my Great-Great Grandmother) were the first two white women in Toad Lake Township, Becker County, Minnesota in 1888.

Elsie..my Grandmother when she was about 2 or 3 years old..1913 or 1914.

I wonder how my Grandmother felt..abandoned first by the death of her Mother and then by the choice her father made.  Then how do you accept the fact that your father was probably the cause of your mothers death?   How much did it effect the mothering she would do in subsequent years?

I will say that I think she was a much better Grandmother than a Mother.  I think that can be said of many women.  I am a much better Grandmother than a Mother, I have more time for one thing..time to play games and time to listen.
Grandma was just 40 in this photo..a very young Grandma..that would be me in the photo with her..I was the one that made her a Grandmother.  This photo was taken in the spring of 1952, I was born the previous fall, our birthdays are just 40 years and six days apart.

Some of my memories of her:
She spoke German to the cats and dogs and they understood her.  She had a deep love for animals…and me and my menagerie were always welcome inside the house to visit. Twice I took newborn litters of Shelties to visit, and more often than not..I had four Shelties with me.

She was a wonderful cook, my favorites were her Lemon Bars and new peas and potatoes in white sauce..oh and Russian Dill Pickles and rhubarb sauce.

She had a table on the south side of the kitchen that was filled with flowers, blooming African Violets and a plant that began growing in the corner and up the wall and over the top of the windows.  It was chopped down one year when my Mother painted the walls..but quickly grew back again.  Grandma could grow anything..she had flowers inside and flowers outside.

She was stoic when my Grandfather was moved to the Nursing home and she wanted to go with him.  She was strong when he died..and she followed him exactly 64 days later, almost a day for every year that they were married.  They were married for 68 years.  My Grandmother was 84 when she died..and I was 44.. I was blessed to have her in my life for so many years:) 

School Memories

I went to fifth and sixth grade in a small school house that was seven miles from the farm.  It had two large rooms. There were  cloak rooms on one end and bathrooms off of the other end, and a huge expanse of windows to the east or the west depending on if you were in the sixth grade or the fifth grade.

 

A kindly old lady ( Mrs. Zeller) was the fifth grade teacher, she had been teaching for years.   The sixth grade teacher was a shy young man (Mr. Cox) he was probably right out of college.

We walked from this school to the grade school everyday for gym and for lunch, it wasn’t far, less than a block away. There was a gymnasium in the basement of our building, but we were not allowed to use it. 

In my opinion the best thing about our school yard was the big old metal merry go round.

We would start with a child at each space and one in the middle, if you were in the middle you had to find a spot to hang on when your head started spinning and you were too dizzy to stand up.   The best runners would run as fast as they could around and around..then IF you were daring..and I was.. you would hop on and throw your legs over the bar and lock them in place and bend over backwards and feel the wind in your face. and watch the world go by upside down. We would play on this merry go round before and after school everyday rain, shine, snow, ice..Minnesota school kids are a hearty bunch or we used to be.  I did hear a rumor that the kids nowadays don’t like to wear snow boots to school.

I watched these children trying to get the hang of this old fashioned merry go round..it was fun to watch..no one was bending over backwards looking at the world upside down..but they were having a good time:)

Easter Bonnets

This photo was taken in 1982 in Park Rapids, Minnesota.  Someone who will remain nameless thought that her daughters should have bonnets for Easter to match their dresses.  One or two years of bonnets was all they would put up with.

This was taken at Far Guys Parents house..familiar things are there..the red flocked wallpaper on the accent wall..and the infamous red couch..the one that Far Guys Dad picked out because it was red and it was long enough for him to lay down and nap on.  It was also long enough for two little girls to sleep on..one at each end during the winter.  The heat was rarely on upstairs during the winter..when the girls got too big to sleep on the couch and their foot wars drove us all nuts..they moved to the spare bedroom and Far Guy and I moved to the ice box upstairs.

The off white drapes were custom made for the windows.  Off to the left you can see the glass blocks that were present on both sides of the picture window that framed the view of the highway.  Every evening after the dishes were done, Far Guys Mom would draw the drapes and sit in her chair, then she would get out her tooth pick.

Years later when we drive by the house in the evening..the occupants don't know the rules and you can see right into the living room.  The entire block has changed..a Casey's ( Gas Station and Convenience Store) are the neighbors..where it used to be Taskeys, Larsons and Andrews..the big trees are gone..they were removed when the highway became a four lane..I suppose that Far Guys parents old house will someday be gone too..but I have lots of old photos to remind me of what it used to look like.  I also have this old photo to remind me that the girls were beautiful in their bonnets:)

Ice Cream and Other Adventures

Jen , Andy and the boys came to visit.  Andy was attending a Firefighters Sectional School nearby.  He is also a volunteer Fireman.   Jen and the boys arrived.. I asked Adam  how the trip was with "Little Elvis"  he replied " Just fine, no peeing, pooping or puking along the way."  Now to an eight year old that is a very successful trip with a new puppy!

I was reminded of his mother and his aunt when they were little girls.  I believe that Trica started it, and her little sister picked it up ..if they were upset or angry they would say "Poopy, Potty PEE." in a sing song kind of way..that they would take turns repeating louder and louder until I would say "Enough girls."   They would still carry on in whispers each trying to get in the last word..then they would dissolve into a fit of giggles.  Now if they were teamed up..they could really shout the PEE part, if they got some of the neighborhood children involved in their "non dirty word" sing a thon..it could be quite embarrassing.  They finally outgrew it..at least I think they did.

Anyway we all went on a little "Grandma Adventure"  that I will tell you more about on Tuesday.  After that adventure we went to The Minnesoda Fountain and had treats.   Individuality was the word that comes to mind... Far Guy ordered a fountain Coke, the rest of us had Ice Cream..the flavors..White Cake and Ice Cream, Vanilla, Black Cherry and Chocolate, and Maple Nut were chosen.  Yup, you guessed I am the nutty one!

Noah asked me, "Grandma why do you always have that camera?"  I replied "So I will be ready anytime you do something wild and crazy! "  So he put ice cream on the end of his nose! :)

Teenage Hang Out

On Far Guys birthday we went out for breakfast..it is one of his favorite meals.  I had a Orthopedic appointment, I have escaped the surgeons knife this time, the exercises that I do for my shoulder really worked!!  I do them in both shoulders..I wouldn't want to be lopsided.  I can begin some of the Chuck Norris exercises on the total gym..not the fancy ones..I must still keep my elbows tucked in.   We did our errands and on the way out of town Far Guy said that it was too bad the bank ( it was a holiday) was closed (free coffee), I said, "What the hay it's your birthday..lets go to Schmiders for a coke!"  We have both given up sodas..we have them only occasionally..I was down to one a day..then I gave that one up too. Far Guy drinks coffee. I drink water.

Schmiders the old "hang out" on main street.  It was a soda/ice cream fountain.  Kids in high school went there for lunch of chips and a soda.  It was the place to meet after a game, after anything it was packed..there were so many kids in there it was hard to move.  They served Hot Dogs from one of those revolving spits up on one of the counters.  The chips hung from clips up on the wall.  You could get a malt, or a ice cream cone or a sundae.  You could get a fountain coke..flavored..cherry or vanilla or orange or lime.  You could get a lime phosphate..I never had one..but they looked interesting if you are partial to the green color.

 Otto was in charge, Donnie worked hard there..there was no swearing allowed, no fighting,..Otto would growl at you and kick you out if you caused a problem..they had pinball machines..and booths in the back...Far Guy and I used to play pinball there..if we could get the favorite machine away from Danny Hawks.  Otto also sold funny cards, magazines and tobacco products.  He had a successful business.  There were other hang outs..the pool hall, the pizza shop.and the Dixie..but Schmiders was the favorite of all the teens in town back in the sixties.

 I recall coke being 30 or 40 cents.. Far Guy says he can remember 25 cents. Now a days it is 1.75 for a medium... we had no problem placing our order for a regular coke and a cherry coke to go. There was no line of kids standing four and five deep to get to a stool next to the counter..there was only a group of silver hairs in the back that had pushed some tables together..it was the group of neighborhood women that get together every Monday and go to lunch.  Far Guy went to talk with them, I just sat on my stool and recalled how different this place used to be.  The cherry coke is still the same..and Far Guy declared the fountain coke his absolute favorite..but it just wasn't the same.  Forty years ago this place would have been bursting at the seams at 12:15 on a school day...main street America sure has changed. Schmiders is now known as The Minnesoda Fountain.  New name, new people, new customer base..same building..same coke..but just not the same old hang out:) 

Wistful Wednesday: 1952

This is Far Guy and Tiny, a Chihuahua. This photo was taken in 1952. Far Guys Dad loved dogs, I am not supposed to tell you that he used to put a cigarette in Tiny's mouth and then had him sit up.

 One time the entire family including Tiny were headed for Grand Forks, ND to visit relatives. They stopped at the farm to pick up something and while they were all in the house.. Tiny ate all of their freshly made turkey salad sandwiches...Far Guy says .."I was really disappointed, my Mom made some really great turkey salad sandwiches with celery in them and everything. Years later, my Dad would tell the story and laugh, but it wasn't very funny at the time."

Can you imagine this tiny little dog eating four turkey salad sandwitches..they were probably made with homemade bread too. Years ago that what the ladies used to do for long trips, they made sandwiches and cookies and put coffee in a thermos, and milk in a glass jar. There were very few fast food places, there were resturaunts..but they were expensive, so a good wife and mother would pack a lunch to be eaten along the way.


The fabric in these curtains and on this chair were pretty wild..but probably very fashionable for 1952:)