A blast from the past...45 years ago.
Yesterday would have been my Father In law's birthday.
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This was his last birthday on earth, he died a couple of weeks later from complications after a simple surgery...they called it multi system failure...he was 80 years old.
In the photo Far Guy, Marvin and Jen....three generations. As I recall we had angel food cake with berries to celebrate. Marvin was a wonderful man who we still miss very much.
Far Side
Paige, Cole and their dog Rosie came to help Spring House Clean Upstairs. They are good workers! Much was accomplished in an afternoon. Cole took care of a few things outside, we are very appreciative of their help.
Upstairs the windows still need to be washed and the sheets and blankets on the beds need to be washed too...but I can work at that one project at a time.
We have a busy week coming up...three doctors appointments. One for me on Tuesday( hopefully it won't be a winter storm that day) and two on Thursday and Friday for Far Guy. We also have to "people" a bit on Monday.
Here is a photo of Paige in October of 2000. The occasion was her Great Grandparents Y. 50th wedding anniversary.
Well... we can say goodbye to the long month of March after today.
Supper was homemade pizza.
Far SideWe should be all moved back in the woods by the time you read this.
Far Guy needs to be at a different Infusion Center. The Infusion he has been getting doesn't allow him to get completely over the exacerbation he has been dealing with. The proper infusion is available at our local small hospital infusion center...but not at the fancy big hospital ( they say it is a shortage or a distribution problem).
We will have to travel back and forth to a few medical appointments for the next couple of weeks.
Looking back on some old photos, this one made me smile.
A Winter in the 1960's must have had a fair amount of snow. I recall that some times riding the school bus that the snow banks were almost as tall as the telephone poles in the ditch....the old fashioned T poles that were probably only about 12 maybe 15 feet tall, remember all the glass insulators lined up on top of the pole?
Snow removal equipment was not like it is today. Heck for that matter School Busses weren't either they were cold. You had to scrape the frost off the window to see out or get real close to the window and blow on it. No one ever took off their hats or coats on the bus.
I believe this photo was taken on the gravel road just North of the farm I grew up on. I will guess that the photo was taken in the Spring as there is some water on the road. My Mom is driving and that is my other baby brother standing up in the front seat. My Dad must have taken the photograph. The car is a 1962 or 1964 Chevy.
Far Side
My Dad died a year ago today on his Father's birthday, my Grandfather was 87years old when he died, my Dad was 96 years old when he died. Dad outlived all of his siblings. Wilbert was 77, Hugo 73, Jalmer 42, Ervin 59, Oscar 56, Arthur 23, Adolf 76, George 74, Einard 6 months old, Marie 82, Andrew 67, Arnold 59 and Anna 85. Yes it was a family of 14 children. Other than World War II and an infant death they all died of heart attacks or cancer except for Uncle Adolf he died of undiagnosed Celiac Disease. My Dad was a cancer survivor...he survived it for 37 years...he also had Celiac Disease....but Dad died from late stage dementia and a form of blood cancer.
No one else in Dad's family had dementia...but then no one lived as long as Dad. Dementia is a slow death that is incredibly hard on everyone.
My Dad is on the far left in the double breasted suit. This photo was taken in June of 1953 when my Grandmother died of a massive heart attack at the age of 64. Everyone is present except for Arthur who died in WWII and Einard who died as a baby. My Aunt Senia is in this photo in the white suit...she was married to my Uncle Wilbert.
I have many good memories of my Dad, those are the times I choose to recall when I miss him.
Far Side
It has turned cool here, it rained a bit late Thursday. It was frosty in the early morning Friday. I did not get up in time to see the frost but Far Guy assured me it was there.
We are finished with woodcarved Christmas Ornaments! Yeah us! I have a few that I will give away here on the blog. Please share something to be entered...how about sharing what your favorite Christmas Movie or Program was/is.
My favorite movie is A Christmas Story...where Ralphie almost shot his eye out! Share your favorite to be entered in the ornament giveaway. I will mail to the United States and Canada...so enter away until Monday night when I will draw some winners.
Here is a snowy old photo...that looks like my Dad and I think that is his car on the left...looks like he had a bunch of snow to shovel...and they had a really long drive way too! Photo taken at my paternal grandparents farm.
Far Side
The old cars are the best cars. Remember when the new models came out and you could tell the Fords from the Buicks from Chevrolet?
Then there were the oddball cars… Edsel, Packard, Nash Ramblers, Studebacker, Hudson…and of course Desoto.
The pastel colored car…this one was Mint Green…although Far Guy called it Willow Green.
Last winter we found a drawing that someone did and it made us both chuckle. Oh the “stuff” we keep!
1959 Desoto Stationwagon with pushbutton drive and an add on air conditioner that sat on the floor in the middle of the front seat. No sitting next to a beau unless you wanted to put your feet up on that air conditioner unit.
Far Guy shared this story with the carving group last week
“It was winter, we were bored. Barry and someone else got on the roof of the old Desoto, I headed out to the old fairgrounds and sped around the track, sliding around the corners. Cruised Main and then out to Crocus…got out and no one was on top of the car. I wondered what the heck, where did they fall off at? They could have been way back at the fairgrounds. I turned around to go and find them and here they came walking down the road apparently a low branch knocked them off. There were other people on top of that car but the only one I can recall is Barry. I was not all alone in the car either, someone was with me…but who?”
I asked him who drew the picture. He says “Mark.” Could be it is not signed …
This is a photo from 1960. I was there when it was taken, because I am in the photo..ha! This is a good example of a photo that you can date within a few months. I was not sure when this photo was taken..but here is the journey I followed with this photo.
I look somewhere between 8 and 10 years old..my baby brother would be 5 to 7 ( he is three years younger than me.) The little guy in front is the clue. How old do you think he is?
Well let’s see..we live in Minnesota..it is obviously a summer photo. 1959 or 1960 or 1961 are the only choices on this one.
My cousin Kevin was born in August of 1958, his Father died(in September of 1959)when he was just a year old. After his Fathers death, Kevin spent a fair amount of time at our house..my baby brother and I loved him just like a little brother.
At first glance you may think that this is my Mother and me and my two brothers..not so..my other baby brother is in this photo but you cannot see him. My Mother is pregnant in this photo..and we did not know back then if we were getting a brother or a sister. My baby brother and I wanted a another brother..probably because we loved Kevin so much. My other baby brother was born in October of 1960.
Therefore the little boy in front (Kevin) is two, I am eight ( almost nine and headed into fourth grade and puberty) and my baby brother would have been six and on his way to first grade ..he has some fancy high top tennis shoes..I remember how excited he was to get them.
Would you look at that scarf I am wearing..and that fashionista belt..it was one of those wide elastic belts all the rage back then..it was all about the belt closure..all pretty with pearls or gold thingy's that interlocked for the closure. I had three of these belts..one was black one was white and one was pink.
This photo was taken at our farm on the west side of the house, you can see the big picture window, the bathroom window ( we got a real bathroom INSIDE the house the year before) and the sewing room window..my room was on this side of the house too, we are standing just to the west of that window.
You can see what a process it is to date photos, it is much easier if someone marks them with names and the date. This one was easy because I remember that time in my life when the photo was taken. Fifty years sure went fast, luckily I can still recall a few of the details to date some of these old photos:)
When I was little May first was one of my favorite days. Here in Minnesota, we celebrated the first day of May by making small baskets, and filling them with goodies. The baskets went into a cake pan and then we hopped into the car and delivered them. We delivered them to old ladies and children, you drove into their yard, ran from the car to the house as fast as your little legs would carry you, knocked on the door and then left the May Basket on the door knob. Then you ran back to the car, if they came out of the door before you made it safely back to the car... you ran willy nilly all over their yard..so that they couldn't catch you and kiss you. Once all your deliveries were made, you hurried home to watch for cars to come down your drive..and for kids to coming running up to your door. So you could chase them around your yard.
