Ready for Spring

I would like to tell you that this was taken in our backyard this afternoon but it wasn't. It was taken back near the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. some years ago during Cherry Blossom time. It's pictures like this that refresh our memories and help us through the chilly, cloudy days like we had today. It is forecast to get warmer for the weekend and we are ready for it.

Family Love

This picture exemplifies how my siblings and I grew up poor but had very rich childhoods. We knew we were “short of cash”. On more than one occasion, my older sister and I took Mother’s keepsake 1887 quarter along to Church activities to spend if necessary. Her father had given it to her since it bore the year of his birth. The generosity of fellow members enabled us to keep it and I still have it to this day. Though being “poor”, we never went hungry, always had clean clothes (hand-me-downs), clean sheets on the bed, a big level yard for playing ball and a nearby creek where we would wade in the summer and  skate in the winter. We grew up with ponies and even beyond what this picture shows, an abundance of LOVE.

Front Porches & Memories

There is a lot to be said for front porches. They can be a vital component in making a house a home. This front porch was just the right height for setting on to open the mail, or for a million other uses. I remember setting on this front porch with Dad and Uncle Clarence as we were preparing to move to Washington, D. C. Uncle Clarence told me that Nebraska roots gave anyone an advantage in D.C. and that I should do well. It seems that things could be said out on the porch that wouldn’t have been proper in the house. Yet, it demanded more dignified language than the barnyard. I suspect many a maiden received a good-night kiss on a front porch, maybe even this porch and I’m thinking about my little sister. We visited this old porch yesterday as part of our tour. But like memories that fade with time, old porches need to be refurbished and refreshed. Occasionally they even need to be rebuilt and  embellished.  

Windmill & Brothers

Jerry, Don, Cindy, Chad, Tanya, Cody and Carly drove up this morning in MaryBeth’s van and I met them out at the old Vrana farm north of Garland. There is no one living in the double-wide house that sets to the west of where our house was. The only remaining landmarks are a walnut tree, elm tree and the old windmill. The creek has been straightened, the old channel filled and much of the wood lot reshaped and now farmed. Other channel work has resulted in the lowering of the creek bed several feet. It is difficult to reconcile the current setting with what we knew 60 years ago. Jerry was pleased to get back out there and show grandchildren Cody and Carly where he was born 74+ years ago. The kids got down to the creek and were about as fascinated with it as all of us were years ago.  It was flowing a nice stream of about 2 cfs this morning. We then drove up the Ridge Road, toured Garland, and, saw the farm pond where Jerry told of having submerged a boat which he suspects is still there. We went past the “Blue Ridge Farm” that Elaine and I owned at one time and stopped at the place where the folks moved when Jerry and Janice were between their sophomore and junior years in High School. The old house is in sad condition so after taking some pictures, came on in to Seward. Elaine and Julie had a good broasted chicken dinner ready which we all enjoyed. But enjoyed even more, the stories told and the memories rekindled. Jerry told of how he and Mother would butcher chickens and couldn’t keep up filling orders from people here in Seward. Don told of helping Dad take a triple level wagon box ricked full of wood to someone in Garland and getting only three dollars for it. Jerry said they got four dollars apiece for the dressed chickens. The value of a dollar changed quite a bit between the ‘30’s and the ‘50’s plus Mother was always a better sales person than Dad.  I won’t even mention Jerry’s story that involved a goat and Concordia girls dormitory. Many stories, great memories and after driving out past the family plots at the North Cemetery and other points of interest here in Seward, they headed back to Syracuse. It was a great visit.

The Brothers

We had a great family gathering at Syracuse this afternoon with my brother Jerry, his wife and several members of their family were here from Wisconsin. Jerry’s health is not good and wanted to get together with the family here in the area where we all originated. Their one daughter, Tanya drove back from Denver. Much of brother Don and Gladys’ family live in the Syracuse area and a shop building of a son-in-law made an excellent facility for such an event. There were over 50 of us that enjoyed the prime rib that Jerry’s brought down from Wisconsin. The family in Syracuse did a lot of work to make it all happen but it turned great and just what Jerry wanted.

The Old Vrana Farm

I'm posting the picture of me and the horses mainly to continue yesterday's discussion of the relationship of the barn and corncrib to the windmill at the old Vrana farm. The windmill doesn't show up very well but it is over the top of my head in the picture. I would guess this was taken in about 1941. The vegetation behind the horse is Gypsum weed which had large, trumpet shaped,white flowers with a very distinct odor and produced a round, stickery, seed pod. Also including the 1938 Air Photo that was used for the SCS farm plan. The gullies show up as do a couple white dots of old straw stacks.

The lower picture was taken in the late '50s with the windmill showing behind the steel bin. The upper picture was taken in 2009 from about the same direction but closer to the windmill. The large steel bins on the upper picture were added during the interim.

Elaine and I have continued our tradition on her September 3 birthday of driving out past the farms where each of us were raised. The houses have long since been removed and few of the other buildings remain but we have landmarks. The windmill towers at both places are still standing with the wheel and tower both in a state of disrepair, but they mark a spot which we must wrestle with to fit with our memory. At Elaine’s place the barn and corncrib are still there but much closer to the road than they once were. All I have left in addition to the windmill is a walnut tree and possibly an elm tree. The walnut tree is not much larger than it was many years ago and is a lot closer to the windmill. Ours was a unique farmstead with buildings on both sides of a country dirt road. The house, wash house, garage, chicken houses, cob shed and toilet all sat on the north side of the road with the barns, grainy, corn crib, and hog sheds on the south side. Some years ago the owner changed the course of the creek that ran close to the cow barn. He did a lot of dirt moving in the old woodland, orchard, and carrels to enable much of it to be farmed. This along with the buildings being removed changed the whole perspective. The questionable elm tree was right south of the house and less than 10 feet high at the time the house was remodeled in 1950. I picked up the “remains” of one of the blades of the old windmill wheel and part of an old plow lay that were at the base of the windmill when we were out there last fall. They are being added to the rocks, pictures and mostly memories that help recall the difficult but happy days of youth.