Day 33, "Every picture has a story"
There could be a book written about what this picture is. In April of 1978 I called in a complaint to the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper because our paper was being delivered any where from a mud puddle to on the roof. A couple of days later Craig, the paper supervisor, knocked on the door. His story was he just could not find good delivery people. Did we know of anyone who might want to deliver papers? There were about 45 morning papers and about 20 evening papers on Niles and Juno ave. We started delivering papers shortly after that and had 1, 2 or 3 routes continual until June of 2006. Our morning paper count ranged from 45-300 and several years after we started the route the evening paper was discontinued. It was a family affair for all those years but I would say in the end Gail and I ended up doing more work than the kids. The stories that came out of delivery are many and long. Some are funny, some are sad and some, to this day, make me angry! One elderly man who had a route once said, "I think we are delivering paper for almost nothing!" He may have been right but I do think the money that came in helped our family in many ways. In 1985 I asked the boys if they wanted us to buy a conversation van. IF they would take on another paper route we would buy a new van. Done deal!!! Do I think it was a good thing to do for so long? Perhaps we over did it a bit. The picture is of jackets that we got while doing the paper but there were other prizes as well. Rings, trophies, a computer were among the many things. As one can see we made good use of the jackets!!!
Yesterday was a "frustrating tennis" day. I spent time over at the courts but no play. A guy I had put in to play Monday told me he could not and a guy I had asked to play on the team Wednesday said he would not. So it was a "NOT" day as far as tennis! The bottom line is I am short one player for Wednesday and I have not a clue what I will do. I just do not want to give up a court but I may have to do that.
Sundays are often a time to sip coffee and reflect on Sundays of the past so here goes:
- Many November Sundays were spent on the west side of the barn roof looking for dust from Dad's car coming home from deer hunting. Of course that was before I could hunt.
- Summer Sundays were some of the loneliest Sundays. I wanted to do something but usually Dad was taking a nap and Mom was busy with something. So it was hitting golf balls or riding my bike up to the lake. I wanted Dad to hit baseballs to me but that seldom happened. We NEVER did field work or harvested on Sunday.
- Before Dave left for summer work in the kulm area it may have been a day when we put a piece of wood in the vise to make another hand gun. Then it could have been cops and robbers or the Lone Ranger and Indians fighting all over the farm!
- When Ronald or John were home it was up to the lake to water ski. Some of the best Sundays of the summer.
- Until I was a sophomore in high school we attended Bergen church and it was church and Sunday School every other Sunday. The pastor had 3 Churches so it was town and Bergen one Sunday and town and Palestine the next Sunday. Bergen and Palestine were in the country about 3 miles apart. One was Norwegian and one was Swedish! I am thinking they did not get along. If it was our Sunday for church and Sunday School I made sure I had memorized the verses we were asked as the boys HAD to beat the girls!
- Sunday dinner (noon) often consisted of fried egg sandwiches with Mom's homemade dill pickles!
- In the winter Sunday meant that maybe we could take the sled and go down the hill behind the 3-holer!
- Sundays in the spring meant maybe spending most of the day in the driveway. There was a dip in the driveway and water would always stand there. If the snow was melting I could spend the day digging tiny trails for the water to drain! There was a small ditch from the garden to the driveway so I could also get the garden drained as well!
- Some Sundays in the summer were spent with brother Dave and neighbor Ricky playing ball with the corn crib as the back stop.
- Sundays in the summer, it was a day to dig some worms, take my fishing tackle and walk across the creek and through Bert's pasture to the lake. It was there that, I think, I invented catch and release with the perch I would catch!
- Chuckie J. and I always sat together in church, that was after Dad thought I was old enough to not have to sit by him, so Sundays were a time to catch up on things as he went to Lidgerwood high school and I to Sargent Central. I am sure he and I also were the champs in Sunday School when the bible verses quiz came. Mom would say the verse like Romans 5:4 and usually Chuckie and I would get the answer first! We usually had about a dozen verses that we were asked to memorize.
- Summer of 1966 was an interesting one. That was the summer I was home and had my Harley Sprint cycle. I was GONE pretty much every Sunday. The exception was Father's Day when I gave the key to Dad as a present and we did not see him all day! Cycling Sundays were to the lakes or with Larry F., or to Cayuga and many other places. If we had church it would be after church but if it was a Sunday of no church it would be from mid morning to evening.
- Enough for now but I promise I could go on and on!
John, who lived next to us for several years, is picking us up at 10:40 today for brunch at his club. Their brunch is VERY good. So I am not eating breakfast this morning. I know it will be omelets, bagels with lox, fruit and the list goes on. We may have to start with a bloody Mary. We are looking forward to it.
However I had to have my FP this morning and am almost finished with it so will sign off.
No comments:
Post a Comment