Wistful Wednesday: Unknown photo

 Mom and I found a photo...a very old Cabinet Card from the 1890's.   I know it is from the 90's because the edges of the card are scalloped. 

Someone was Confirmed....the book and the candle are clues.    If you think the head is too big for the body...you would be thinking the same thing as me.  It is an early photo shop attempt...the photographer probably took another photo of this person sitting down...and swapped heads.  ( Sounds barbaric...but if the person closed their eyes ...he could either fix them or do his version of photoshop)

Most young people got confirmed about age 14 or so... 

There are a few relatives in contention...My Great Grandmother Hattie  was born in 1878 In Palmer Germany.  She came to the United States in 1884 when she was 6 years old.  She would have been 14 in 1892. 

My Great Grandmother Amanda was born in 1876...she would have been 14 in 1890.

I am not sure which one it is.   It was found with the Amanda side of the family photos.  Is that a clue?  Might be...might not be.  

Another case of an unmarked photo.   I scanned it and gave it back to my Mother.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: School Days

 Far Guy and I were discussing elementary school days...he remembers his Kindergarten Teacher and his Sixth Grade Teacher...he could not come up with any of the other teachers names.   I asked why?  He said apparently they made no lasting impression on him.   He went to a large school were there were several sections of each grade.  He walked to school.

Second Grade 1957-58  Far Guy is in the back row third from right.

I went to a Grade One through Grade Four school in one building and Grade Five and Grade Six in another building.  Most of my teachers were neighbors.  I know all their names.  I do not recall the name of my Kindergarten Teacher in North Dakota...or my Third Grade teacher in Iowa...maybe they did not leave an impression on me...or perhaps it was because I was only in those classes about six weeks, before we went back home to the farm.  I rode the bus...getting on at 7:45 AM ...school must have started at 8:05 and ended at 3:25 so I was back off the bus at 3:40 in the afternoon.

I wonder do they still teach multiplication and division in Grade Three?  Once you "get" it...it was fun to do...it took me a bit to get it!  I recall thinking I would never pass Grade Three.

Far Guy had a few unusual happenings in grade school.  Somehow he pushed an eraser up his nose...he doesn't recall how they got it out....he does recall that the teacher looked disgusted.    One day he had a blister on his hand so he picked at it with his pencil...then when the red line started up his arm he kept making marks on his arm watching the progress...a classmate (Linda K) noticed and told the teacher...he said his parents were called and he was rushed to the doctor who explained how blood poisoning works.  I think he was a handful.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday : 1959 Desoto Explorer Station Wagon

 Far Guy's first Desoto was a nine passenger station wagon.  At the Drive In Movie Theater you could back it in...get out and fold up the seat and get in the back to watch the movie. 

I was along when the Highway Cop gave Far Guy a ticket for 92 mph...we were talking and driving along minding our own business...the local judge thought the car might have been doing 72.

I was also along the day her oil light came on and Far Guy was pretty bugged about that light being on...so I spit out my gum rolled it into a ball and stuck it in the round warning light...it did not make him feel  much better but at least he laughed.  I was just trying to be helpful! 

Now for the Explorer part. 

 A question from  a friend;

So this winter will you drive it or store it?

Far Guy's reply;

As I remember Desotos hate winter.  If they start they may just drive off on their own .... do you remember that?

A friend does have a good recall;

Yep was winter time colder then shit. I was driving my brother's red dodge cornet..  Heading down hwy 34 and saw the sea foam aircraft carrier parked in front of the citizen national bank with the motor running. One could do that back in the old days.

I thought i would just pull in behind and wait for you to come out. As I started to pull in The Desoto slowly drove off.  Thought shit I missed him then noted no one was in the car. I parked got out and ran after it thinking i would hop in and hit the brakes.

That thing went down to the alley way, made a left turn across the oncoming traffic lane and perfectly into the alley, went a few feet and stopped.

The part I don't remember is if I hopped in and hit the break or if it was locked and it stopped on it's own due to the deep snow and me hanging on to the door handle swearing.

Anyway ran back to the bank and you and your dad where sitting at a desk and I told you our car drove away.  You mumbled something about it sometimes slips out of park or something and went out to get it.  I would have been more freaked out but you seemed awful casual about it.

If that happened to me it would have run over a group of small school children or something on that order. 

Far Guys reply was: 

 You have a good memory.  One of the problems is there never was a "park" same with this one.  Emergency brake was  suppose to be the park brake and that only worked if it was adjusted right.  Cold as hell which I think made the fluid thicker and so despite it being in neutral it had enough to move the car.

Fun for me to hear this story as it was one I had not heard before...it truly was an Explorer! . 

1959 Desoto Explorer Station Wagon...Sea foam Green or Willow Green or Spring Green or Birdshit Green...photo taken about 1970.  Far Guy sold it in 1972 for $100  We are not sure of the purchase price when Far Guy's Dad bought it from Bob and Mary Harris in about  1966.

Far Side 

Wistful Wednesday:Old Tractor

Far Guy inherited his Paternal Grandmother's Garden Tractor. ( It was most likely purchased from Howard Sexton in an unknown to us year)  It is a 1941 Case VC.  Uncle Archie gave it to Far Guy with the understanding that we should try and pass it on to a relative.  We offered it to Cousin John a few years ago, he never came to get it.  Recently Far Guy talked with Cousin Jack and the tractor has found a home with Cousin Katie and her husband. 

We got the tractor in 1986 or 1987 when we moved to the resort.   It was a stump puller, wood hauler...when Far Guy was felling trees in the woods I would crouch down by the tires  in case a tree came the wrong way.  I learned to drive it...we drug the driveway with a bedspring to level out the road after a rain. We used it to put the fishing docks in and out of the lake...we had four docks that had to come out in the fall and into the lake in the spring.  We hooked up a screw type woodsplitter up to the back of the tractor and split mountains of wood.  It was a real work horse for us.  Far Guy and his Dad worked on restoring it, it gave them both something to tinker with.

We put it in storage for a few years and out it came to haul sand bags around after the Flood of 1997.   The trip to Harwood North Dakota was harrowing...we transported it on a car trailer and tied it down but it was still an accident waiting to happen that thankfully didn't happen.

Then it went back to storage...another 95 mile trailer ride that was exciting.

Finally Far Guy drove it up the road to where we live now.  It pulled stumps out, it has hauled firewood and brush.   Grandchildren sat on the seat and pretended to be farming. As I recall it was a really good babysitter for Adam!  I have a photo of Adam someplace...I could not find it.

2008 the Grandgirls;  Paige, Maddie and Savannah

Now it is time for it to go to a new home...after 34 years it is about time.  The original owners manual will accompany the tractor.
Here it is out in the yard ready to be loaded on a trailer.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: Farm Diaries

I finished with the Farm Diaries last night.   Cross that project off my list!  It has been a work in progress since February 22 2014 when I began with the Farm Diaries of the year 1916. 

So it took me 6 years and three days to get trough 13 years of diaries.  I have learned to "read grandpa" quite well.  He didn't have the best hand....it was a relief when Grandma wrote as her hand was better.  Far Guy would try to help me and read the entries...when you cannot "read grandpa" it become frustrating.

1929 is the last year of the diaries.  July and August of that year were quite happy and equally sad for them as they welcomed their fourth child and said goodbye to Louisa better known as Ma or Mama. (Tracie's Mother)

I found out many things I did not know.  A tornado went through in July of 1928, it took down a bunch of trees.  That was also the year that they moved into a garage while their new home was being built.

Grandpa was the Coroner and went to a neighbors death.  They noted many deaths, a drowning and deaths of Grandmas sister Lydia and of the death of Jerry a nephew, and a sad day when a baby died. 

Farm  House in 1917 it was torn down in 1928 and 1929.

The Farm House unknown year .. perhaps in the late 1930's

The Farm House in 1945. 

I am kinda sad to leave these diaries.. I am grateful to have the chance to have a peek into their lives for so many years.

July 1929

July 4 went to PR Dads + Ruberts there, went back to the fire works in PM
July 5 haying awful dry
July 6 Saturday Born to us Archie Blair at 9-30 Mrs Trankner here to work Margaret Chilton here over night
July 7 Sunday had lots of company to see new boy had a rain
July 8 Monday awful dry haying helped wash
July 9 Tuesday  same work
July 10 Tracie in bed Mrs Trankner went home Mother came
July 11 -July 13 no entry
July 14 Sunday Ruberts + Dads came down  Mama not well Baby awful cross
July 18 Thursday  awful hot  + dry  Mother + Dad came out Mother sick
July 19-20 no entry
July 21 Sunday went for a ride awful dry Mother Henderson here + Mother Stuve here sick
July 22 - 27 no entry
July 28 Sunday went to the Park Frances stayed with the folks

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: Christmas 1964

We received news last week that one of my cousins died.  She was 62 years old.  She stopped breathing due to a collapsed lung and was resuscitated but died a short time later.

This photo was taken Christmas Day 1964 in my maternal grandparents dining room. We always went to my maternal grandparents home on Christmas Day.  I had a whole bunch of cousins there.  I was the oldest.

The little gal with the brown hair looking at the envelopes with her head down in the center of the photo is my cousin that died.  She was one of the eight oldest cousins.  The oldest eight kinda all stuck together...they were the cousins that I knew best.

A few people in this photo are still alive but many have died. (Aunt Karen, Aunt Skip,  Grandpa Fideler, my Grandpa, Uncle Dennis, Uncle Ray and now Linda have passed on.)

My cousin Linda had a beautiful voice...she sang at my Grandparents funerals.  She was a happy, smiley person.  She loved horses, dogs and cats and her job as a Psychologist.  The last time I spoke with her by email was in August.  She didn't "do" facebook.  She was married but had no children.   She changed her name after her parents died.  She had a rough childhood...her parents were both alcoholics.  I like to think that some of her cousins were a good support system for her growing up.  We were there for her baptism, confirmation and graduation from High School and Sunday afternoons at our Grandparents.

Her funeral is in a suburb of Mpls/St Paul.  Too far to go in the winter.  It is hard when you are the oldest and those younger relatives than you start to die.

Romans 14:8  "If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord.  So whether we live or die we belong to the Lord."

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday : Family branch

We have many branches that make up our family tree.  I was able to do some research and discover a bit about my Great Great Grandmother on my Mothers paternal side of the family. I have her obituary from 1918. She and her husband were parents to eight children.

The short adventure that we took the other day was finding the cemetery where my Great Great Grandmother, Great Great Grandfather and some of their children are buried.

So far I can only push back in this branch to 1843 in Pomen or Pomerania Germany.  I do have some clues about earlier dates and people but they need more research.

Old photo of some of the eight children.

My Mother took this photo in 1949.  The occasion was someones funeral, Mom cannot recall who died.

Lena, Elsie, Grandma(Hatwig or Hadwig), Hattie, Bob 1949.

Lena was my Great Grandmother's sister, born in Kansas....she married twice once in 1907 and again in 1944. She lived out her life in Coleraine Minnesota.
Elsie was my Great Grandmothers twin sister ( can you imagine how rare it was in 1878 to have twins and both of them survived!) born in Stuttgart, Stradtkreis, Stuttgart, Baden - Wurttemberg Germany.  Elsie married John and they lived in Spruce Grove Township Minnesota.
Grandma...Hatwig...Hadwig...it is Hatwig on her grave marker.  Married my Great Grandfather Christian and they lived on a farm next to my maternal grandparents all their lives ( one of my cousins lives there now)
Hattie....Hattie is Bob's wife. They lived in Fullerton North Dakota.
Bob...or Robert my Great Grandmothers oldest brother.  Married to Hattie and lived in Fullerton North Dakota.

Other siblings were Otto, William(Wilhelm), Albert and Frank
The research continues.
Far Side

Wistful Wednesday : August 13

Far Guys Dad died in 1994 at the age of 80.

His birthday was August 13, 1914.  He would have been 105 years old yesterday.

Here is an old Photomat Photo of him.  I will guess this was taken about 1940.
I wonder who had it folded and tucked away?  Perhaps Far Guy's Mother.

He had a nice smile.  He was a nice gentleman.  He was a wise man, I often wish he was around so I could ask him a question or two...or three.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: 1992

In 1992 our oldest daughter became engaged.  She was a Student at the time attending Moorhead State University.  They would be engaged for two years or thereabouts when they got married in June of 1994.

I took this engagement photo of them in 1992 at the resort on Straight Lake.  They went to the same High School and didn't particularly care for each other...then they met up again in College.

They would have celebrated 25 years of marriage last month, instead they are getting a divorce. 

It takes two to make a marriage work.  I will venture to say that there are two sides to every story and they are both at fault.

We are sad for our granddaughters...but we are thankful that they are young adults and not small children.

In the "olden days" we would say that the children come from a broken home.
Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: Road work

In 1967 my cousin Dwight was just a little shaver.

He is the oldest son of my Uncle Dennis ( my Mom's brother) and Aunt Judy.  He now runs his Dad and Mothers construction company.   He got the contract to build our new road.

One day we stopped to say Hi and  Dwight came over for a hug.  That is his Cat to the left...no one touches his Cat.

The road is coming along, the old highway was built on black dirt...so there has been quite a bit of excavation to renew the base .
We have a new corner now.

Our old corner on the left the new corner on the right.

We add a few extra minutes onto our drive to town and our vehicle is dusty most of the time.   But progress is being made on the road.  The ditches are deeper than they were before and the highway up higher so the snow should blow off the road instead of collect in drifts.
Hopefully the road will be paved before winter.  After all the dirt work is done a paving company will come in and blacktop the road.
Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: Easter

Here is a polaroid photo of our niece Bethany in 1986.

A big rabbit, Bethany with an Easter purse and Baby Snuffer.

Since this is a Polaroid and was in Far Guy's parents photo album I am certain Far Guy's Dad took the photo.

Baby Snuffer was our Snuffer's puppy.  Snuffer had a rendevous in Florida when we were stationed there...she had four puppies, Fatty, Blackie, Brownie and Flowie (Trica named them...she was just shy of 2 years old)  Far Guy and I are pretty sure that it was Blackie that became Baby Snuffer and went to live a good long life in Indiana with Far Guy's sister and family.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday : 1961

I found this old photo from 1961

I was ten years old. 

That is most likely my birthday cake.  My baby brother would have been seven and my other baby brother almost one.

This photo was taken in the first remodeled kitchen at the farm.

My mother made my baby brothers shirt and that bib overhauls my other baby brother is wearing.
She sewed the curtains too they were a pale yellow with a brown design. 

Note the days of the week flour sack embroidered towels hanging next to the old rotary dial wall phone...with a short cord...it was beige.

The plaster of paris fruit hung in the old kitchen too...and must have been a favorite of my Moms since it appears in the new kitchen.  The new kitchen had birch cupboards with stainless steel hardware...and a double sink.  The linoleum on the floor was a medium green color...it was a tiny hex pattern...I scrubbed it many times.
Far Side

Wistful Wednesday : 1796

On October 8 1796 one of Far Guy's relatives was in trouble.

At our Quarter-Seffions on Thurfday, Daniel Abbott of Little Addington was indicted for a mifdemeaner, in engroffing and getting into his hands, by buying of Richard Wightman, fifty quarters of wheat with the intent to fell the fame again; and being found guilty, was fined in the penalty of five pounds. 

engroffing =  Taking over (I think)
fifty quarters of wheat = I believe 1 quarter is 8 bushels so 400 bushels
in 1796 it would take one acre of land to produce 15 -30 bushels of wheat.  A man would need 12 bushels a year just to make his bread for the year.

So this was a considerable amount of wheat.   The penalty was 5 pounds I have no idea what that would have been in dollars in 1796.

Anyways...this is Far Guy's GGGG Grandfather on his mothers paternal side of the family.  Daniel Abbott was born in 1747 in England and he died Feb 3 1833 he would have been 86 years old.  He died in Great Addington, Northamptonshire England.

In 1796 when this took place he would have been 49 years old.
Interesting bit of family history...there is possibly more to this story.
Far Side

Wistful Wednesday:Tall friend

Growing up in a rural community and attending grade school in a nearby bump in the road I knew many different kids.  All those kids are now in their late 60’s. Jobs and different life paths can take you away from your roots. 

Grade school classes had about twenty students each. Everyone went to Release Time Class on Wednesday throughout the school year.  We walked as a group to Dorothy’s home.  In her basement we heard Bible Stories and prayed together. 

Dorothy’s oldest son was a year older than me.  He was tall, always the tallest in his class. I recall one day in line at the water fountain when the Principal came out of his room with his yard stick with the red bow and began to whack him on the back.  His back must have been covered in marks, besides that I was inline at that fountain and didn’t see any behavior that warranted a beating.  I lost all respect for the principal that day. 

It couldn’t have been easy for my friend being so tall and uncoordinated.  In high school he became a basketball player, not the star of the team but a good team player.

Many years later  we would live just down the street from my tall friend and his wife, our children would play together.  I was day care for their two daughters for a time.  Now those little girls are all grown up with children of their own.  Lately they have had to make very hard health decisions for their tall Dad. 

Just before he got real ill and entered the hospital he sent me a music video CCR’s  Have you ever seen the rain

I pray the last part of his journey is peaceful.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: Happy Boys

The twins use to live next door. They were almost the same age as Chance.  At first hey were afraid of him and would scream bloody murder when their Mom pushed them over in the stroller.  Chance was confused as he loved all kids.  He didn’t like children crying…he was raised on a farm with lots of small children….I think maybe the Mom there raised her voice when children were crying..so crying children made Chance nervous.

As the twins grew older they began to throw the ball for Chance and eventually out grew their fear of dogs. Their Grandfather would hold the twins in his lap and then let them throw the ball. Now they have two dogs in their family!

Everyone looks so happy in this photo.  I can almost hear Gavin giggling.  Chance loved these boys very much and they loved him too. Chance tried to kidnap Jordan once or twice.

I think most everyone that met Chance loved him very much. We still miss him…everyday.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: What we pass along

Far Guy got the results of his DNA story.

England, Wales and Northwestern Europe 69 %

Germanic Europe 17 % ( Northwest Germany)

Norway 6 %

France 4 %

Ireland and Scotland 4 %

Northwestern Europe covers a large area: Ireland, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Northern Germany, Luxembourg, Northern France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, South Germany and Switzerland.  Some of these peoples were Celtic and some were Vikings.

The Vikings part is a bit interesting.  There is a Genetic connection to Far Guy.  The Vikings were eating raw fish and sometimes the fish had worms that would make you ill.  Over the years their bodies adapted and they developed a mutated gene…that gene is what causes Alpha One Antitrypsin Deficiency.   That is the good news/ bad news, you won’t get worms but your liver will not produce a protein to protect your lungs. 

Far Guy’s parents.  They were both carriers for the bad gene, one was an M (normal) and and S (deficient gene), the other was M (normal) and Z (deficient gene).  We do not know which is which.  ( If all relatives would take the free test we might be able to figure it out…as of yet few have been tested.)  Far Guy is a SZ (deficient), his sister is MM (normal) he got the bad genes and she got the good ones.   A child gets one gene from their father and one from their mother…the luck of the draw.  I am MM (Normal) so we knew right away that both of our daughters were carriers.  Only one of our Grandchildren is a carrier….four escaped and one did not.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday : January 1988

I found an old Polaroid in one of the photo albums.  It is dated January 1988. 

This was taken in Far Guy’s parents back yard.  The snow banks are as high as the clothesline.  Our daughters when they were little loved to play on the huge snow banks. They would run outside as we were getting ready to leave to play in the snow. They would get snow in their boots and then complain they were freezing cold.

Far Guy’s Dad took this photo because it is a Polaroid and his Mom labeled it with the month and the year.  They used to hire a local fellow to come in and push the snow around in their yard.

That clothesline was a hub of activity…it was there that Far Guy’s Mom put the harness on him and let him play outside when he was little…until he learned to unhook himself and go play at the neighbors… it was also where Muggy (a Chihuahua) got chained out, if you chain a dog to the clothes line they can run the length of it and bark!

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: 1949

This is a snapshot of my Mother in 1949.  There are very few photos of my grandparents barn, but there it is in the background.

Not sure where she was going, but she was wearing a coat, scarf, gloves, fancy hat that would never keep you warm and a pair of rubber overshoes.  Mom was 20 years old in 1949.  She may or may not have met my Father by the time this photo was taken. 
My Mom will be 90 years old later this year.
Far Side

Update:  The barn was built in 1943 or 1944 by Fred Schmaltz and my Grandfather Albert.  Before this barn there was another barn just east of this one that held 18 milk cows and 4 horses.
My Uncle Alfred was saving up to buy the cupola on top of the barn, he was killed in a car accident in 1947 and after that my Grandparents bought the cupola.

My Mom says, we always wore hats to church so that is probably where I was going.

Wistful Wednesday: Meeting Little Elvis

In mid January 2010 Andy bought a Sheltie puppy.  His name was Elvis…Far Guy and I call him Little Elvis.  Chance met Little Elvis for the first time up in Bemidji at Trica and Dicks house in town…Jen, Andy and the boys were visiting for the day.

He was little.  Chance was a tad worried about his tail.

Miss Miney, Little Elvis and Chance.  That is Adam in the background.

Paige, Adam and Noah Jan 2010.

Miss Miney and Little Elvis January 2019.   Elvis is nine years old now.

They are happy to see us when they come to visit.  I wonder if they miss Chance as much as we do.  I wonder if they distrust us because Chance is not here…do they wonder what we did with him…or do they just know.  Jen says they just know.

Do we plan to get another dog?  Not yet, neither of us are ready.  For now we will love our daughters dogs and the neighbor dogs and that is good enough for now.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: Passionfruit

I discovered a fruit in Hawaii that I enjoyed very much. ( I thought I had died and gone to fruit heaven!)  We stopped at a thrift shop and right next door thay had a fruit stand.  The fellow there sliced open a yellow passionfruit and gave us a sample.  I was sold, I bought some fruits and a jar of golden jam.  Andy enjoyed it …the rest of the group made funny faces.
I will describe the taste as a cross between rhubarb and a tart pineapple.  The Internet describes the flavor as musky, guava like, sub acid to acid.   Well I have never tasted guava so I cannot compare.
I slathered that golden jam on my toast every morning…it was not toast with jam it was jam with toast.
Here is a look at the fruit.

The yellow outer skin is sliced open to reveal a white pith and those glorious seeds.   The small black seeds are wrapped in a orange juicy membrane…you just take a spoon and eat them.  If you look under my plate you can see the jelly jar almost empty.
Passionfruits can be yellow or purple….the only ones I ate were the yellow ones.
Have you ever tasted passionfruit?