Day 167, "Every picture has a story"
It was a Monday, August 12th of 1957. We were in full swing with harvest. The crops were going to be meager at best. This morning we had started harvest "down south". This was Uncle Jim's land and we had a yearly way of working it. There was the prairie land that we put up for hay. I have NO idea what Dad paid Jim for that. It was native land with prairie needles in and then there was the annual harvest of June grass. In addition to the hay we cultivated 90 acres each year. We would put oats on 1/3, wheat on 1/3 and summer farrow 1/3 each year. Today we had started harvest on the oats. Oh my that darn oats was always miserable to harvest as it made me itch from my big toe to the top of my head. As I said the harvest was not good this year. We had filled the truck and taken that home and tomorrow we would probably finish with Jim's share of the crop. We always took his share to the elevator in Geneseo. I was hoping that we could start on the wheat by Wednesday. That was always much nicer to harvest. BUT today we were finished as there was little or no wind and the damp air came in just before sunset. That meant end of harvest for the day. Dave and I hurried up stairs as fast as we could as we needed our swim trunks. As Dad would have a bit to eat and hit the bed we would gather a bar of Mom's homemade soap, each a wash cloth and then a towel. The bikes were parked in the shed so we hurried to get them. It was a dark ride to Lake Tewaukon. We knew there would be mosquitoes big time but the itch of the day was great enough that we would ignore that as we rode, hands free almost, towards the lake. I know the picture shows a boat ramp but in our day there was nothing like that. As we approached the lake we took the first drive towards the lake. It was narrow and by this time it was pretty dark but we knew it by heart so no problem. As we braked to a stop we almost flew off the bikes and charged into the water. Oh, we had better leave our towels by the bikes. The sun had set 20 minutes ago so it was difficult to see if the water near the shore was nice or was it covered with green? Even if that was the case it would be fine away from the shore. Between the darkness, the mosquitoes and the green water we spent little time there BUT we did get a bar of soap on most of our self and then dried off as we got out of the water. By the time we were finished, maybe 10 minutes, the darkness had covered the path down to the lake entirely but as I said no problem as we knew where the turns and where the rocks in the road were. By the time we arrived home Mom was in the kitchen keeping our supper warm and Dad was in bed with the door closed. HOW HE COULD SLEEP IN HIS ITCHINESS I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND but he did. After hard boiled eggs and Mom's homemade bread we headed upstairs to bed. Tomorrow would be another day and perhaps much of the same on the farm!
A beautiful day in Naples. I am guessing the temp hit mid 80s and bright sun shine all day. I had 7:30 tennis which today was great. At 11:30 I met Karl at the club to talk about the 2020 season. Never too soon, right? The club has changed a bit and the food is actually very good now. That has not always been the case. Actually the highlight of the day was getting a new strong 3.0 player for next year. Mike G is from Rhode Island and even at the age of maybe 75 he has great wheels on the court. When I asked him if he might be interested his instant answer was, "Yes". Great.
I did not eat breakfast this morning but then I think I have been eating too much so maybe it was a good thing. I have been working at staying up later so I don't get up so so early. Last night I went to bed at 11:30 and then actually got out of bed at 6:45. That is more like a normal person if I indeed want to be normal.
Given the time, PM, the FP is history by many hours. "For sure" it was good and I did take a mug to the court and finished it there.
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