A day to talk about sister Joan

Day 181, Every picture has a story"

Sister Joan is one strong woman.  I had to put 2 pictures as one is from her schools days when she was maybe a bit shy and quiet.  Well I am not sure she was ever quiet and shy but maybe.  The other picture is a "history picture" of how she could take charge and do pretty much anything she put her mind to.  As one can see she matured into this really interesting gal!  I remember:

• The night Joan, Dave and I were home alone.  Mom and Dad had probably gone to camera club.  We saw this car coming slowly from the south and it looked like it may turn into our farm.  We turned the lights off in the house and stood near the window to see what would happen.  It did NOT come in and we were so relieved.
• Joan was pretty darn crafty in some ways.  It was again, maybe more than once, that we were home and Joan decided we needed to do dishes for Mom.  She would wash and Dave and I would wipe the dishes dry.  Dave and I protested but she insisted we should do the dishes ( course she was right).  I think Dave and I wanted to pile the dirty dishes on the counter and then play ping pong!  Joan said it would be a game and each dish had a point value as we dried it.  You can guess, when all the dishes were finished Dave and I were tied with the same number of points.  Of course Joan kept track of the points without telling us!!!
• Joan was the very first homecoming queen of Sargent Central.  I should not say this but you would never know by the way she drives that mower!
• Joan was a great architect when it came to stacking hay.  She and Dave would be in the stack and I would be driving the Ford all over the field.
• Joan would NOT put up with guff.  I wore an over coat and hat that a salesman left at her house after Joan got rid of him.  I THINK she told him she did not have it when he called to say he forgot his coat and hat.  I wore it to every basketball game my senior year.
• She had several jobs when they lived in Fargo.  I think I have the story correct that when she worked at Osco Drug she chased a person out of the store who had stolen something.  The person probably never met Joan again but if he had it would have been known that you do not fool with Joan.  
• Joan had a bout with polo when she was young.  She came through it with flying colors but I do believe she suffered from it later in life.
• Joan has quads for great grandchildren and they are so so lucky to have her.
• Joan lives in Utah now with hubby Ron.  I think they have moved into the house that they may have forever.  However I suspect she and Ron are rearranging the furniture maybe every month!
• Joan, like the rest of my siblings, is certainly a special person in so so many ways.

As I sit at the computer this last Sunday of April I smile and remember:

The days of Wood Lake School

I went to Wood Lake School first-third grade.  We had one room for the 8 grades.  I do not know how the teacher taught ALL grades but she did.  The last year the school was open there were 12 students. The last day of Wood Lake School, May 25, 1956, Ms Corehouse had us all go to her home in Genseso and we had a party.  Little did I realize that the party was one last memory for rural school and the next fall the BIG yellow bus would transport me to a new world so to speak.  The day before, May 24th, we had walked the 2 miles to lake Tawaukon for an end of the school year picnic.  Today it is the Tawaukon National Wildlife Refuge with a VERY different focus than it had in 1956.  Some say it is progress and others say it is out with the past and in with the new as new certainly has to be the better-right?  To this day I am certain I hit a homerun in our ball game but then after 63 years can one really be certain?

Some of the very vivid memories are:

• the great swing set, the teeter totter and the merry-go-round
• the noon lunches where we had "lunch from home" along with government canned peaches
• the well that we could pump up fresh cool water to enjoy after a game of tag
• the "her" and "his" out houses (used all winter long)
• the ceramic water jug we used for water during the day
• the space north of the school that we used for a ball field
• the 100's of times I had to write my name as punishment (if I had to write it a 100 times i would write it 200 or 300 times and hand in the first 100.  The next time I had to do it I would day dream for a while and then hand in my name written 100 times)  To this day I believe that is the reason my hand writing is so so bad.  BUT now when I sign my book the signature looks like that of an important person!
• the spelling book that I had for 3 years
• the pictures of president Washington and Lincoln 
• the green cards above the chalk board showing good penmanship
• the entire south side of the school was windows that were good for day dreaming when one was supposed to be studying
• walking home from school most days
• walking to school most days
• walking past Aunt Bertie and Uncle Obert's farm twice a day
• hanging our wet clothes near the stove after we played during noon hour
• walking past George's farm twice a day
• trying to hit pasture posts with stones on our walk home
• looking forward to Mom's treats on days she had made a cake the day before--we knew there would be saltine crackers with cake frosting in, just like a small sandwich
• stopping at the bridge south of our farm when the spring water was running and seeing fish
• everyone trying to be quiet while we played ball during recess so the teacher would kind of forget to call us in (really, I think it worked)
• To end this, Wood Lake School really seemed like more of a social time than an educational time BUT I know that one could research the kids who went to school there and find out that most of them did very well in the world.  Might it have been the farm culture and family life more than the educational part?

I have enjoyed my eggs with olives and ham mixed in along with my FP so I am good for today.