June 13 1895

Far Guy’s Paternal Grandmother Tracie would have been 121 today.

Some entries from the Farm Diaries.

June 13 1924 Friday Plowed Big party on Thresa  disced harrowed Maleta here (Tracie would have been 29 years old)

June 13  1923 Wednesday Thresas birthday 28 years Dads here had old hen, grubed some folks went to Robinsons

June 13  1922 Tuesday Worked on porch ( Maybe the porch was part of her gift?)

June 13 1921 Monday  To PR took veal Thresa and kids went

June  13 1920  Sunday  Home Thresa went to church

June 13 1919  Friday  Took cream Esessor? here cultivated corn  (Assessor??) The next Sunday they had many visitors.  June 15  Sunday  Aunt Amelias folks McLaughlin Frank Wilsons and Da and Ma here.
June 13  1918 Thursday To PR Ronald to DR. (Park Rapids to Doctor)

June 13 1916  Tuesday Helped Dow log Japs Glens here in eve

From Grandma’s Diaries before she was married.

June 13 1913 Ironed in the morn.  Eva went home.  My birthday got a watch and a centerpiece.  To bed at 8.      This was her 18th Birthday.

Tracie and Emma

June 13 1912:  Fred went fishing.  Emma and I down to Aleck’s.  Hazel and Leslie came home with us.  My birthday the kids tried to have a surprise party on me.  It rained.  There were sixteen here had a fine time. Got some nice presents. To bed at 8??or 3?? (Grandma always looked forward to her birthday and having a house full at the farm on the Sunday nearest her birthday! )  In 1912 Grandma was 17.
June 13, 1979



Marvin  (her son) most likely too this polaroid photo and gave it to her…she wrote “The old gal on her 84th birthday.”

She would die just a few months shy of her 88th birthday in 1983.

She was a wonderful lady. I miss her every day.

One of her favorite sayings was “Don’t that beat all.”

Fowl

We ran an errand and were entertained by the neighbors Guinea Fowl. They were languishing by the edge of the road so Chance got a good look at them.  They talked to him and he talked right back to them.

Pretty little tick and bug eaters.

I think these are called Helmeted Guinea Fowl. It has a “thingy” on his/her head.

We had a long discussion “Would Chance eat baby fowl?  Would they imprint on him and follow him around?  Would it give him a job? They would eat ticks and bugs.  We have an old wagon on a lawn mower chassis…could it be a movable coop?”

My Maternal Grandfather had Guineafowl, they followed him around and talked to him as he did his chores…I can still see him walking from the hen house to the grainery and then the pump house with the Guineas following him.

Wistful Wednesday: Out Standing in the Corn Field

We have an old photo of Far Guy’s Grandpa Curtis standing in his corn field.  He was about six feet tall.

It must have been taken about this time of year….probably about 1940 give or take a few years. 

Last night we went over to my cousin Todd’s place to get a photograph on that same farm in a corn field. 

August 25, 2015

Far Guy is about 5 feet 9 inches tall so the corn is fairly tall this year.

This is the view across the road from the old farm.

CRP land with the Smoky Hills in the distance.

120 years ago

Far Guy’s Paternal Grandmother was born June 13, 1895.   That was 120 years ago.  When I was transcribing her diaries and Grandpa’s Farm Diaries I would watch for those entries.

June 13 1912:  Fred went fishing.  Emma and I down to Aleck’s.  Hazel and Leslie came home with us.  My birthday the kids tried to have a surprise party on me.  It rained.  There were sixteen here had a fine time. Got some nice presents. To bed at 8??or 3??

( Grandma always looked forward to her birthday and having a house full at the farm on the Sunday nearest her birthday! )  In 1912 Grandma was 17.

 

June 13 1913: Ironed in the morn.  Eva went home.  My birthday got a watch and a centerpiece.  To bed at 8.      This was her 18th Birthday.

June 13 1916 Tuesday Helped Dow log Japs Glens here in eve ( Grandpa shorthand= He helped Glen Dow log, Jasper and family and Glen Dow and family came over in the evening.

June 14 1916  Wednesday Made garden fence planted pumpkins  ??

This would have been her 21st birthday…since Grandpa didn’t even mention her birthday perhaps the garden fence and planting pumpkins ( or whatever) was part of his gift to her.

June 13 1918  Thursday To PR Ronald to DR. ( To Park Rapids Ronald to Doctor.)

June 13 1919  Friday  Took cream Esessor? here cultivated corn  (Assessor??)

June 14  1919 Saturday  Plowed spuds

June 15 1919   Sunday  Aunt Amelias folks McLaughlin Frank Wilsons and Da and Ma here

Later in the month he dug her some moccasin flowers.  June 22  Sunday  Home rained got Mocisins

June 13 1920   Sunday  Home Thresa went to church ( A few days prior to this Marvin age 6 came down with measles.)

June 13 1921  Monday  To PR took veal Thresa and kids went

I still have 8 years of Grandpa’s Farm Diaries to decipher…it is a work in progress.  Pretty soon I will have to put it on my bucket list…you know things you want to do before you kick the bucket.

Grandma at the farm with her Dahlias in the 1940’s.

Those Moccasin flowers that they dug back in 1919 eventually ended up on the north side of the house near the back door…sometime a flower or two made it to the kitchen table displayed in a bud vase.  They would have had many places there on the farm near the river where the Moccasin flowers grew naturally.

Grandma died in 1983, she was 87 years 10 months and 13 days old…she escaped the home…and went straight to a big old party in heaven…and if birthdays are celebrated there today must be one big celebration!

Wistful Wednesday: Roots Part Ten

My paternal grandmother was beautiful.

This is one of the early photos I have of her that was  probably taken in Michigan …before she joined her parents in Minnesota.  My Dad said that she used to travel back to Michigan to visit her friends every so often.  She was 21 when she left Michigan.

This is a photo taken about the time they got married.  August 2, 1911. Grandma was 22 years old.  Grandpa was 20 although he would be 21 in December.

This photo was probably taken about 1950.  Note that my Grandpa dropped his hat and set the cream can down for the photo.  I wonder if those are some of Grandma’s Hollyhocks in the background…they were her favorite flower.

This is me with my grandparents.  This photo is probably from 1952. 

Sadly Grandma would die on June 18, 1953.  I was only 21 months old.  So I have no real memories of her…only a feeling that we had a wonderful connection.  She was born January 5, 1889 and died of a massive heart attack on June 18, 1953.  She was 64 years 5 months and 13 days old. 

Grandma was mother to 14 children ( 12 sons and 2 daughters). One died in infancy he (Einerd E.) was six months old in 1925.  She suffered the loss of a son (Arthur) in World War II  in 1944, he would be buried in a Italy at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno Italy.  I wonder how traumatic that was for her?  She was a midwife.  Men would come and get her in the horse and buggy to help with the birthing of their babies.  Sometimes that was sad for her also, my Dad says that if a baby was born dead or died shortly after birth that she would cry for days.  She was a good cook.  She ran her household like a General runs an army, all those boys had jobs and they did them without question. She smoked a pipe every evening and she loved Hollyhocks.

Doo Doo Doo Lookin’ Out My Back Door

Recently we went over to the Far Guy’s Grandparents old farm to take some photos.

As I walked in back of the house I noticed that someone a long time ago  planted a little Cedar seedling in a metal tire rim.

I asked Uncle Archie about it.

He said “ My Mother planted that after they filled in the old outhouse hole.”

“I have tried to plant other Cedars since then, non of them seem to want to grow like that one my Mother planted!”

As we walked back to the vehicle Far Guy said  “I remember it being in line with the back door.  I thought it was closer to the house.”

So I took a photo:)

Wistful Wednesday: German Cats and Dogs

My maternal Grandmother liked cats and dogs.  She had a way with animals.  I could never understand how she taught her critters to understand German. 

As a young person I found foreign languages just that F.O.R.E.I.G.N.  My Mother spoke German and my Father spoke Finn..and I spoke English.  I think my parents preferred it that way..Dad would talk to his brothers in Finn and Mom would talk to her sisters in German..I recall my Mother saying that she felt left out of the Finn conversation..well join the group. I felt left out of all the conversations.  I think maybe they did it on purpose so that little ears would not hear adult “stuff.”

Back to Grandma and her German understanding cats and dogs. Grandma always had some kind of wiener dog..a Dachshund..low to the ground with toe nails that would click all the way across the linoleum that covered the kitchen floor. Their names were always similar too..Doxie and Dixie and Trixie..or some such name that is buried so far back in my head that it won’t come out when I want it too.  Grandma would tell that dog to sit, roll over or dance and twirl in German and the little fat elongated dog would do whatever Grandma said. Then Grandma would give the dog a treat..my Grandma was an excellent cook.. no doubt the dog liked her cooking too! 

These are Grandmas Cats..sitting on the front step..waiting..waiting for Grandpa to come out carrying the slop pail..or waiting for him to go and milk.

Those cats had a perfectly warm barn to go to..yet here they were huddled on the steps.  I noticed that someone brought Grandma a wooden ski decoration and a festive wreath, I wonder why one ski was stained and one was natural looking?  I will guess that this photo was taken some time in the 1970’s around Christmas time.

In later years I would attend a dog obedience class with a Police Officer and his K9 partner.  He spoke to his dog in a foreign language and with hand signals..it was then I understood.  My Grandmother didn’t want just anyone ordering her animals around.

We have a winner of the snow stick contest..the snow left March 13 at about 3:30PM.  Chance will reveal the winners and the prizes tomorrow:)

Wistful Wednesday: Early 1900’s

My Mothers Father ( My Grandfather) Albert had an older brother.  His name was Freddie.

Freddie (left) was born in 1901 and Albert (right) in 1903. This photo was most likely taken in 1905 or 1906.

In this photo Freddie was breeched but my Grandfather was not.   Breeching is when a boy child got his first pair of pants..or breeches..I say britches.  Most boys were breeched around the age of five.  Britches had difficult openings (buttons) so a small boy would have to become really good with buttons so he wouldn’t have any potty accidents.

My Grandfather was wearing a skirt.  Skirts and dresses were very acceptable “childrens” clothing back then..dresses were not male or female..they were simply children's clothing.  Dresses were very practical for children because it was much easier to change their diapers. Clothing closures were either buttons or pins.  Brothers and sisters often wore the same dresses as hand me downs. Sometimes boys wore more chunky belts and trims..they often had long locks of hair that were cut when they made the transition from babyhood to boyhood.  To make that transition you had to be able to do the buttons in your britches.

Here they are both breeched and wearing knee pants and socks that went up past their knees.

This is the last photo that we have of Freddie. He died September 29, 1911 from Scarlet Fever.  My Grandfather either survived the fever or didn’t get it…he became the oldest living child and I am sure he missed his older brother very much.

Freddie Drewes

Born Nov 27, 1901

Died September 29, 1911

“Dearest loved one we have laid thee in the peaceful graves embrace, but thy memory shall be cherished till we see thy heavenly face.”

My Grandfather remained an only child for over a year.  In October of 1912 he welcomed his baby brother Walter.

I was curious to find out how many children died of Scarlet Fever.  It seems between 7 and 10 percent of all the cases ended in death.  Somewhere between 300 and 500 people per 100,000 got it..once you had it you were immune.  It was very contagious.  It is the same germ family that we are familiar with today as Strep Throat:(

Wistful Wednesday: Sixty Years Later

This is a photo taken at my Maternal Grandparents farm.  This photo was taken about sixty years ago in 1949 or 1950.  Left to right are: A neighbor lady and her child, my Aunt Marion, Uncle Al with his hand on his chin, Aunt Toots, unknown little girl, and standing in the background one of my other uncles..Delbert, Dennis or Butch..he is too far away to identify. 

I always thought my Grandparents driveway made a circle behind the house..in this photo it is quite obviously that at one time the driveway was in front of the house and you entered directly into what I would call the dining room.  Later a porch must have been added to the front..that is where they kept the two deep freezers full of wonderful food, and the Christmas tree at Christmas time..and a rocking chair with a magazine rack.  A Cuckoo Clock from Germany hung high on the wall..the little dancers would pop out of their doors on the hour and on the half hour.  A row of windows lined the porch.  There was a funny little window high on the wall in the kitchen that looked into this porch..I am not sure what the function of that window was..a pass through..or maybe my Grandmother wanted a pretty stained glass window there to look at while she sat at the kitchen table.  She sat some of her favorite knick knacks on the ledge of that window.

My Grandfather had a garden back to the east of the old chicken coop where the soil was rich and black..he grew everything there.  If you could grow it, he did, and my Grandmother canned and froze all the produce.

The other day we drove by.  Grandpas Alfalfa field is now a garden.

The new occupants are Amish and they have a produce stand and bakery, but it is not open on Sunday.  We will try to go back another day.  My Grandpa would have been happy to see that someone is gardening properly again.

 The only things that are the same is the old garage which is not visible in these photos..the machine shed on the right and the Oak trees out front.  Everything else has changed:)

Clandestine Shenanigans

Yesterday I had to laugh out loud at the clandestine bakery shenanigans going on at my Grandparents D old farm.Of course I know some of the history...

My Grandparents were married in 1927. My Grandfather was 23 and my Grandmother was 15. My Grandmother had holes in the soles of her shoes the size of fifty cent pieces that day. My Grandmothers Mother had died from a fall down the stairs when she was pregnant, my Grandma was just fifteen months old. She went to live with her fathers sisters family. She lived with them working in the fields and helping to care for babies until she married my Grandfather. She had a very tough life..without a real Mom..always being sent around the family to stay with who ever needed her help the most.

My Grandparents had a number of children in quick succession. A boy in 1928, my Mother in 1929, two more little girls in 1931, and 1933.

In 1934 and 1935, farming was tough with dry years and bad crops. My Grandfather found a way to earn some extra money...MOONSHINE..they built a still in the woods and made their own whiskey. On Saturday nights the customers would show up, my Grandfather would go into the other room and come out with a paper bag. Far Guy's Father was just one of those customers ( He told me on many an occasion "Your Grandpa made REALLY good whiskey.") Apparently it was a booming business, rumor has it that the Moonshine made it all the way from Grandpa's backwoods to Chicago.

Then things turned sour. My Grandmothers Father had remarried. He ordered a mail order bride. The mail order bride blew the whistle and turned in my Grandfather, Grandmother(her step daughter), two of her other new step children and a few neighbors. No one liked her. I have heard her refered to as "That evil woman."

The Dry Agents came and went into the woods behind the barn and brought everything up to the garage. There they cut the copper into small pieces and smashed everything else. The Dry Agents went into the pig barn where the mash was, they poured it out on the ground and the pigs all got drunk. My Mother recalls the pigs and how funny they acted. Only the barrels of mash were put on my Grandparents record, not the whiskey. They had to go to Fergus Falls everyday for two weeks as a part of their sentence.

So to me, a clandestine bakery seems rather fitting on their old farm..:)

The Moonshine Garage

Grandmas Fridge

My Grandma D's fridge was always full. It held a wondrous assortment of food. Your senses were immediately assaulted by what was inside. Jars of pickles (several kinds) candied crab apples, pickled beets, rhubarb sauce, or cherry sauce. Jars with brilliant mouthwatering contents. Then there were the glass covered "refrigerator dishes" .. I always looked for the jello! Then the "hats" no one but Grandma knew what lurked under them. Do you remember the elastic edged plastic washable hats in pink, blue, green that stretched to cover leftovers? They were like shower caps..but for food. I am not sure how well they worked, but they made for a fine fridge adventure, covering delicious foods with their puffiness. "What's under here Grandma?" She always knew. I always looked for the sauerkraut.

I would set the lunch table for three, Grandpa, Grandma and me. I loved visiting them all by myself. Grandpa would take his place at his end of the red and white checked oilcloth, Grandma sat on one side of him, me on the other. Their plastic cool whip bowl filled with their pills sat in the center of the table. As I went about setting the table I would pause and give Grandpa a quick hug and a kiss on the head. He loved me unconditionally, I was perfect. I would sometimes say "You think I am perfect..right Grandpa?" He would always say 'Ya, Ya and smile." During lunch they would talk about their visitors and how fishing had been, they loved going fishing. Sometimes Grandpa would talk about the old days, then he would dab at his eyes with the red handkerchief that he kept in his pocket. I wish I could remember all of the old stories he told me. We would enjoy our lunch together, have coffee and raid the pantry for some bars, Lemon Bars were my favorite, I think they were Grandmas too because she baked them a lot.

After lunch Grandpa would get out his papers and his tobacco and roll a cigarette. After he had smoked his cigarette he would doze in his chair. I would clean up the kitchen and do the dishes and then sit a bit with Grandma talking about whatever was on her mind. Her favorite subjects were food and recipes. She would always ask "When are you coming again?" I would answer "When I can Grandma." She would reply "I know you are busy..why don't you come on Sunday?" My reply was always the same, "Cause the house is full every Sunday and I love having you and Grandpa all to myself! "

I was lucky, I was their first Grandchild, in fact they became parents to twins two months after I was born. So I have an Uncle and Aunt that are younger than me. When my Mother came home from the hospital with me, my Father was in Korea, so it was my Grandparents home that was my first home for a little while. I was pretty spoiled. Their house was full of children, all of whom took their turns with the spoiling.

I visited with my Grandparents a lot when we lived at the lake. It was only a twenty minute drive to their house. I am thankful for every time I was able to visit with them and to explore their fridge for lunch, and to feel their unconditional love wrap around me like a warm quilt on a cold day:)

Wistful Wednesday: A Country Lane

A familiar lane from my childhood, leaving my Grandparents D's home. We visited them every Sunday just like clockwork. Holidays and Sundays after church were a time for family. Traditions from long ago..:)

Hard Times

What goes up..must come down. I am hearing lots of doom and gloom. No one is jumping out of the windows of the NYSE.... yet.

It seems plain and simple to me... America's mortgages have out grown their crops. Until everyone begins to live within their means we will remain in a financial crisis.

My Grandparents were poor, it must have made a great impact on them. They used to call it "dirt poor" without even the dirt. There were times when they were hungry, times were lean. I cannot even begin to imagine, boiling up chicken bones and flavoring the water to feed to my children.

In their later years their two deep freezers were full, in the cellar the canning jars were all lined up with the summer and fall harvest. There were cows in the barn, chickens in the coop and a few hogs rooting around in the hog pen. The stairway to upstairs where 11 children had slept was cluttered on the far side of the steps with containers of Coffee. The pantry was full of sugar, flower, and all things to bake with. One time I was sent to the pantry for powdered sugar..there were many bags to choose from. Grandma was a food hoarder, being without food during the great depression must have left such an impression on her that she collected food. Being hungry with many mouths to feed will do that to you.

My Grandfather was a math whiz, he could add long columns of figures in his head, never using scraps of Grandmas paper to add or subtract. He sat with the checkbook and would do all the math in his head, I found this simply amazing. No newfangled calculators for him..you see he had a perfectly good calculator in his head and he used it.

Perhaps he could have been a banker, instead he was a farmer.

The demise of the family farms years ago is where the root of our financial woes stem from. When they should have been given a hand up, they had to sell out, or move out. There were no bailouts for them. We were on the wrong track then, and we are on the wrong track now. America can only be as strong as it's people, we had strong hard working dusk til dawn small family farmers.. and we put them on a train to nowhere. I am always deeply saddened when I travel the area and remember the farmers and their productive farms now deserted, in effect they were all small businesses, ready willing and able to put food on the table:)

Old Photographs Part III

Recently I ran on to this photograph. It was taken in 1920 or 1921. It shows a rare look into the farm life of people that we loved. Far Guys Grandparents H. his Father and his Uncle Ron. The picture is taken in a field at "The Farm" just two miles from where we live now.

I believe that these are corn shocks in the field. They would have been cut by hand with a corn knife or a corn hook. The cut off stalks were bundled together. The bundles were then stacked upright with their bottoms fanned out. This group of bundles was then called a corn shock. The shocks stayed in the field until early winter then the farmer would go back and hand husk the corn. The corn cobs were stored in a corn crib, until it was shelled, ground into feed or fed whole to livestock. Sometimes the husks were saved, the inner husks after they were moistened could be torn into strips and braided or woven into mats, baskets or dolls. You could even fill a large tick with the husks and have yourself a corn husk filled bed.

What I love about this photograph, Grandma took off her bonnet, Grandpa had not shaved in days, the biggest little boy looks like he had been working hard, and the littlest boy looks mischievous. I also wonder..who took the photograph..I can only speculate that it was family...possibly family that helped in the corn field:)

A Chicken Coop

We had a number of old buildings on our farm. We had an old chicken coop and a little brooder house. The brooder house was a place where the cute little fluffy yellow chicks went to stay warm and dry under the lights until the weather warmed up enough for them to be outside. We used to clean out the brooder house and use it as a playhouse after the chicks were outside.

The laying hens were in the chicken coop, it was a small building with laying boxes on the walls and ramps that made their way up to the boxes. The ramps were made out of lumber, and each ramp had small lengths of wood tacked horizontally onto the surface, so the chickens wouldn't slip. These ramps were brushed off with a wire brush occasionally, sometimes we would take them out and hose them off in the summertime. Our chicken coop had a fenced yard, there were little doors that we opened in the morning and closed at night, little chicken sized doors. The chickens could come and go as they pleased during the day. I hated cleaning out the water thingy...it was a strange two part galvanized waterer one part fit over the part with the water in it, you had to carry it outside and clean it all out because chickens are messy and then fill it with water. My Mom was in charge of feeding them.

I was in charge of gathering eggs, you had to be quick..and learn not to hesitate or they would peck you in the arm. One small hesitation and those hens would nail ya. I helped with the cleaning of the eggs, we used soft white rags made out of diapers to wash them. It was a job that you wanted to stay on top of, because the longer that chicken poop stayed on the eggs the harder you had to scrub...and if you scrubbed too hard..you broke the doggone egg. We put the eggs in a funny colored purple tray, I think it held about 36 eggs.

We sold eggs to the neighbors. I do not remember exactly how much they were for a dozen, (35 cents a dozen rings a bell.) The little old ladies would drive into the yard, hop out of the car with their egg cartons in their hand, we would fill them up, collect the money and carry the eggs to their car. It was on one of these days back in about 1965 that I first met Far Guys Grandparents H. I grew up kitty corner from his Grandparents A. so I had known them forever. Grandpa H. always drove Grandma H. and she always wore a dress. Grandpa H. never got out of the car.

My Grandparents D (My Moms parents) had a real egg operation going on at their place, I can still see my Grandfather, dressed in his bib overhauls with his blue and white train engineers cap on, sitting on the enclosed porch in a chair, washing eggs and putting them into crates, often times I would help him. He would tell me stories, some I remember... some I wish I had written down.

Our chickens weren't the fancy kind, they were just plain old white chickens. Some of them laid brown eggs..my favorite. What I didn't like about chickens...you had to constantly watch where you walked, especially in the summertime when I was barefooted.

The first time I sent Far Guy to the chicken coop to get the eggs, he got them just fine, and reported back to me that he had picked up all the eggs. I had to laugh at him, and explained to the "City Boy" that it was called "Gathering." He replied "Whatever you call it, It is done."

Who was the first person to say "See that chicken... I am gonna eat the next thing that comes out of it's butt?" :)