Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Day 99, "Every picture has a story"
AND
It was early summer in 1957.  Joan, Dave, Helen and I had just finished our first year of school in Cayuga as Wood Lake rural school had closed after the 55/56 school year.  Helen had finished 1st grade, I 4th grade, Dave 7th and Joan 9th.  It had been a year of transition.  I am sure all of us had made new friends and perhaps had been involved in a better education than at Wood Lake but still the walking to school, the LONG noon hour and recesses had been missed.  Oh yes, also the drinks of water at the pump on the play ground.  But all that was history and now we were CITY educated!  
Dad had all the summer crops in the ground so now there were a couple of weeks that would be spent picking those darn rocks.  I still am convinced that just behind the growth of wheat, oats, barley and corn was the growth of rocks.  Really!  It seemed that we could pick ALL day for a couple of weeks before the crops came up and then the next year the field looked like we had never picked any.  Well today was an easy day.  Dad had ordered us to hook up the rock wagon to the Ford and work on Jim's land down south.  That was good for at least 2 reasons.  Jim's land did not have many rocks and it was about a mile south of our farm so it would not be easy for Mom or Dad to see how hard we were working.  I mean picking rocks was almost the worst job, just behind harvesting oats and barley with that itchy dust.  Dave and I decided we would easily make a day of it.  Jim's land was the nicest to work.  Dad had Dave go over the wheat field and oats field with the drag behind the Ford just the day before he planted.  That meant the soil was loose and fine.  So today we had a plan.  First it would be "water skiing" which meant one of use would drive the Ford and the other would hold on to the back of the rock wagon and skid on our bare feet.  That was so fun and the warm soil felt good on the bottom of our callus feet.  After we took time to enjoy that we would then drive around the entire acreage and pick rocks.  BUT of course there were be activities while we did that.  The smaller round rocks would be shot puts and we would be in the Olympics.  The smaller kind of flat ones would be the discus throw.  IF we found any large ones we could be weight lifters.  However the larger ones were probably buried under ground and we would not see them.  I did remember at least once in fall plowing the Ford tractor stopped on a dime from a below ground rock hitting the plow and yes my nose did hit the steering wheel which resulted in a bloody nose.  I remember telling Mom and Dad at the supper table and Mom felt bad but Dad did not think it was a big deal!  Dave and I figured that maybe we could get a load of rocks by noon.  That would be perfect because all the rocks had to be thrown in the rock pile back home and a load at noon would put us in time for dinner (lunch in today world)!!!!  After skiing and throwing we figured we had enough of a load on the rock wagon.  Both of us stood straight up and looked at our shadow and calculated that it was near noon.  We decided that we could drive home, have dinner, gas up and unload the rocks after that.  Maybe, just maybe, that could be called a day.  The last shot put was thrown into the wagon from at least 25 feet and we were on our way home.  We started from the south end of the grain field and as we headed north we came to Jim's prairie land where we would put up hay later and also Dad would harvest June grass.  We drove along the creek, next to George's land, for a short while and then hit the highway where Dave took a right over the bridge and then a left towards our farm.  As we approached our tree line on the right we ascended the slight hill but wait.  As I sat on the back of the wagon it stopped and Dave, on the Ford kept going up the hill.  We both got out to see what in the world had happened.  The pin holding the wagon hitch to the draw bar had snapped and there we were stranded with the rock wagon on the side of the road.  Dave, the idea guy, came up with a solution.  He got the vise grip out of the tool box by the gas tank and with all his might clamped it through the hitch and draw bar.  It worked!  In a short time we were home with the Ford parked by the gas pump and both of us in the house ready to enjoy homemade bread, eggs with cheese and fresh milk from the morning milking.  As I recall, the rocks did get unloaded  but then we called it a day as Dad had gone to town for something.  We would be sure to tell him that night that we felt ALL the rocks on Jim's land had been picked.  Of course we would say nothing about the shot puts, the discus throws and weight lifting.  Perhaps one could say what happens on Jim's land stays on Jim's land!

We have our second tennis league match today.  I have 6 guys who I consider to be the top players so a couple of us need to sit out each match.  I am sitting today along with Ken.  I have high hopes of taking at least 2 matches.  One win would be not so good while none would be very disappointing but three would be GREAT.  We will see.  Not sure how much I will enjoy the match sitting on the side lines but then I had to do that ALL last winter so it is not new to me.  

On the 70+ team I did not play yesterday but next week I will play court 2.  It is kind of nice to be on a team just as a member and not as the captain.  

The work continues on the roof.  The workers arrive about 9:00 but then they work until dark.  I called brother Dave last night and as I sat by the pool in almost darkness suddenly a worker started a blower on the roof to clear it off.  I had to move into the house so Dave could hear me on the phone.  

The FP is gone but really I did not need it as there is not tennis this morning!!!

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