Second to last Sunday in February

Day 122, "Every picture has a story"

The story is this:

My grandpa Lee had two sons, Lawrence and Halvor.  According to Dad grandpa promised each of them something if they did not smoke or drink until they were 21.  Dad was born in 1911 so that means he turned 21 on October 29th of 1932.  The choice was $100 or a gold watch.  Now just to be sure about the money $100 in 1932 would be the same as $1688 today!  Dad choose the watch.  He said Halvor choose the money but of course I am not sure about that.  So Dad got a Bulova 14K watch with his initials engraved on the back.  As one can see it says Lawrence Henry Lee.  I do not know how many times Dad tried to wear the watch but he said his body would magnetize the watch and it would stop working.  So it remained in his top dresser drawer.  I do not know how it survived the fire but my guess is he was able to dash in the house and retrieve it before the house burned to the ground.  So about 1986 or so the watch came to me.  It was not working and it had no band.  I took it into a place that fixes watches and $250 later I had a working watch.  It now stays in my wooden box here in Naples and then in my wooden box, the one from my grandma, on the dresser in St. Paul.  Once in a while I will wind it and wear it as Terry and I go out.  When I had it repaired the guy said that in watches like that a mark is made each time it is opened.  He was amazed that there were only 2 marks in it when he opened it.  Just for info I asked a jeweler in St. Paul, who deals in old jewelry, what price he would put on it if he were to sell it.  This was a few years ago and he said he would give me $600 for it.  Of course it is not going anyplace but it was interesting.

Terry and I went to our book lecture yesterday.  It was probably the best of the season.  The author was there and she was so so entertaining.  Like I said yesterday we will go to a play this afternoon and continue my steps up the ladder of culture.

AND

The year was 1957.  It was late July and so far we had experienced a wet warm summer.  The crops were looking very good according to Dad and he and Mom had high hopes that August harvest would bring in money that had been so short for so long.  Mind you Dad had still managed to purchase film and was taking pictures.  He still spent late nights sitting on the stairs loading 3006 ammo but those things were in the category of essentials as Mom and Dad earned some money with his photography and the venison in the fall was a staple on our table.  BUT still there were so many things Mom could use and needed but the funds were just not there.  One thing that did bring in money all summer long was the cows.  We milked six cows morning and night and every week we were able to bring in a five gallon can of cream to Benny Flash and that gave us some income.  Mom had mentioned that she even had $5 for a foot massage in Lidgerwood the week before.  Mom did not get those very often but she did so enjoy when she could get a foot massage.  To this day I do not know why that was so enjoyable for her but then I have never had a foot massage!  It was the last Saturday in July, the 27th, and Mom and Dad were somewhere taking wedding pictures.  Dad had left word that the gutter, behind where the cows stood, needed to be cleaned but that was a quick job and Dave and I had most of the day to ourselves.  There had been a blackbird outing where we shot 2 for the cats.  There had been a journey down to the creek and then to the bend just below the shop.  We had found a couple of dead fish but that was it.  We found a new gohper hole near the barn yard fence but it was just too far down to the water hole in the creek to bother trying to drown them out.  So here it was 6:00 PM and time, well actually past time,  to get the cows for milking.  One could guess that they just happened to be way south near the bridge.  Well that was fine because it meant we needed to get them and on the way was a sharp bend in the creek about half way down and there on the bank facing south was SNAKE ROCK.  There was a nest of snakes under that rock and most of the time a person could sneak up and see them sunning themselves on the rock.  If one was fast enough you could grab them by the tail before they slithered under the rock again.    This day there was no luck as it must have been too late in the day as the sun was already casting shadows through the corn stalks to the west.  As we hurried past snake rock and headed south we we called to Betsy and Lumpy and sure enough they looked up and then, as if by magic, they headed in our direction along with all the milk cows.  It did not take long to put them in the stanchions and get the milking done.  By the time the milk was separated and put away it was supper time so 5 eggs were put in the boiling water and then there was a feast of boiled eggs with mustard and Mom's homemade bread.  The end of a fun day.