Here we are at the first Sunday of June, it is the 5th.

 TERRY

As I write it is 8:00 and Terry is reading the paper.  She is doing well and I would say we are fine.  So it is one day at a time and we will enjoy life as it comes.

The weather in Naples is pretty much amazing.  Yesterday at noon the sky began to clear as we we thankful for the rain, all 7 1/2".  By night fall if you would have just come to Naples you would have had NO idea of the rain we just had.  I think back on the farm and that much rain would have been felt for days and days but here it just kind of disappears!  So we had the first storm of the hurricane season and it was no big deal.  I wonder what #2 will  bring?

OK, I admit, I did NO work yesterday so the dining room table is still covered with papers that need attention and and kitchen is still kind of a mess.  BUT today is a new day and MAYBE things will change and then again maybe not!!!

I do have a HUGE load of clothes in the washer/dryer area that need attention so will try to take care of that but who knows what else I have to do!!!

Today I will go back many years in time.

The summer of 1959

    The summer of 1959 came and with it many changes came with it.  Dave, who was going to be a sophomore in HS flew the coup so to speak.  In the past I have said that I know Dad thought more of Dave than of me BUT still often they were like oil and water.  So I am guessing Ronald suggested Dave come to Kulm for the summer and work for a farmer there.  Of course with our farm work Dad did not need both Dave and I and it would give Dave a chance to earn some money.  So then the school year was over Dave left and with it created a BIG void in my life.  Don't get me wrong.  I understood why he left and did not blame him in any way but still I was facing a summer of uncertainty in many ways.  Some of the adjustments that I had to make were:

There would be no more playing around when the rocks were to be picked.  When Dave and I picked rocks we kind of made a game of it by seeing how far we could throw some of them.  By holding onto the back of the rock wagon and sliding our barefeet in the dirt as the other one of us drove the tractor.  At the rock pile seeing who could hit a certain rock with their throw and more and more things as well.

I meant the end of our summer ball games as we would often play ball against the corncrib.  It is hard to play a one man game of ball.  BUT I did end up playing against the south barn wall and that worked well. 

It meant that there would be NO chokecherry spitting contests during harvest as who wants to compete against one self?

It meant there would be no racing with the bikes up to the lake as who wants to race against oneself?

It meant I had to find something to do with my time as there was often down time on the farm and one did not want to sit around the house.  There was no TV and the daytime radio was not for me.

There were times when Dave and I were able to get Ricky, from a half mile north, to play ball but it seemed that did not work out now with just two of us.

In the rain filled days Dave and I would play the card game "Touring" or several of the other games we had in the house but a game of ONE did not work very well.

It also meant that I was the one to get the cows from the pasture and get the milking done.  I mean with Shorthorn cows that was not a big deal but somehow it was not nearly as much fun as with two people.  Well I should say milking was really NOT fun but with two it was not boring either.

So the summer came and of course as all kids would do I adjusted.  I found things to do like cleaning up the old hog barn.  Like making sure the grass was mowed.  Like creating my 90 yard golf course with the putting surface in the ditch by the mailbox.  What did I do for a putter?  I took a wood that was not usable oat 90 years and took it apart.  Then I drilled a hole in the top of the wood and put the shaft into it.  It was crude but workable.  Another store is in making it I had my hand on the top of the huge drill press and my hand slipped.  My thumb was in the way as the drill shot up and I ended up tying my thumb UP onto the bed rail to keep it up for the night.  Another story for sure.  A side note was when Dave gave me the guitar years later that he had made he said it was in part to make up for leaving me alone on the farm for those years when he worked near Kulm.  Little did he know that yes it was sometimes lonesome but I invented ways to keep busy and actually those were good years BUT of course they would have been more fun with Dave at home.  

So here it is 9:00 AM and I need to get onto something else so will close.  I would say that I am thankful for my growing up years but then of course thay always could have been better!!!