So I was watching television tonight and I flashed on this....

I rarely watch television, but tonight after Jeopardy! was over I found myself watching one of those mindless sitcoms.  I do not remember what it was and I am sure it had nothing to do with my mind wandering back to Plevna, Kansas.  I went to live with my grandma Haas and Great Grandma Hatfield when I was 15 years old.  Grandma Haas had suffered a stroke at some point in time and was not able to get around very well.  She was only 72 at the time (as I recall).  Great Grandma was 99 and taking care of her.  It was getting to be a strain on her and I was young so I could be of some use to them.  It was a learning experience for the three of us. 

First thing I learned was that Great Grandma had been married 3 times or almost 3 times.  The first husband was Frank Miller.  He was father to her three children; Louis, Mabel and Josie.  Josie was my Grandma.  After he passed she married a man whose last name was Hatfield.  He had a son named Steven who had a wife named Bertie and a stepson and step daughter.  When he died Steven remained devoted to Great Grandma who he called mother.  When Great Grandma was 75 years old she became engaged to another man whose name I do not recall.  Sadly , he croaked before they could get the knot tied and Great Grandma just gave it up.  Said she had buried enough men and would not bury another one.  She then sold her house on the Main Street of Plevna, Kansas and moved in with Grandma.  Grandma had been widowed several years before.

In typical fashion they became quite adept at surviving alone.  By the time I arrived on the scene they were very ensconced in routine.  The table was set at night before bed.  We each had a plate, fork, knife, coffee cup, and half an orange.  This was covered with a cloth.  The coffee pot was a drip-a-lator which was filled with water ,  coffee grounds placed in the middle part, and the unit set on a pilot light on the stove.  The egg poacher was filled with water and set on the other pilot light.  The toaster was set on a back burner.  I should note here that toasters in that time period were used over a burner, not like today when they pop right up.  Had to be careful or you could char the bread very easily.  The next morning the coffee pot was pulled forward and the burner lit.  Same with the egg poacher.  Bread was put in the toaster and that burner lit.  In less than 7 minutes, during which time we ate our half an orange, breakfast was ready.  One slice of toast, one poached egg, and a cup of coffee with heavy cream.  Course there was home made jelly or jam and bread and butter pickles.  And don't forget the freshly churned butter.

After breakfast I was allowed to pile the dishes in the dish pan and cover them with a tea towel because I had to hurry off to school.  The way the dishes were done was this; When I got home from school, I would put the tea kettle on and heat water which I poured in the dish pan.  Then I refilled the tea kettle to heat the water to rinse them.  No hot water heater in this house.  Oh, and yes, we had an "out house" for our personal use.  Uncle Ray had installed a "commode" for Grandma's use, but we did not want to take the chance of wearing it out so we did our business outside.  Kind of nice one with a concrete floor and all.  When I came home at noon for lunch Great Grandma always had a sandwich waiting for me.  She also had the market report on the radio.  Not that we farmed, but old habits die hard.  Those dishes went in the pan with the breakfast dishes.

After dishes were done it was time to water plants and such.  We did not listen to the radio at night.  One of us would read from the Bible while the other 2 crocheted.  I learned the fine art of handiwork from my Great Grandmother.  She was one of the most beautiful women I have ever known.  I mean inside.  She was a very regal woman and she seemed very tall to me, but course I was only 5 feet so every body seemed tall.  Grandma and Aunt Mabel had married brothers.  Josie married Frank Haas and he was my Grandpa.  Aunt Mabel married his brother Gottlieb Haas.  Uncle Louis had cast eyes on the sister, Lena Haas, but Great Grandma put her foot down on that one.  So Uncle Lou married Aunt Eva  and Aunt Lena was a spinster her whole life.  But she was a fun old gal.  She was the one that kept a horse tank full of water for us to play in on hot days and took us to the stock pond seining for minnows with our skirts.  She died when she was 100 years old.  Haas  and Gagnebein blood is strong genes.  My Grandma was 73 when she died and that was so sad because she was so young.  Great Grandma Hatfield was 104.  Uncle Goll was 98.  Uncle Ray was 96. I am not sure, but there may be some of them still alive.  They just seem to live forever.

But what I was thinking of tonight was the piece of furniture that was behind the stove.  It was not a couch.  It was like a couch except it was oak and very dark brown leather.  It was not for comfort.  It was functional.  So was the library table.  And the Hoosier in the kitchen.  It held sugar, flour, had a top that pulled out and you could stand right there in one place and make a pie.  Now I have oak cupboards and shelves that slide out.  I have two freezers.  I have hot and cold running water.  I have all the conveniences that these two women did not even know existed.  It was a two story house.  The 2 Grandma's slept in the front bedroom.  I slept on the couch.  There were two bedrooms upstairs, but they were afraid to have me away from them.  Some times I resented that cause that was one lumpy damn couch.  But looking back, and believe me, hindsight is always clearer then fore sight, I was the most blessed 15 year old girl on the face of this earth, because those two women loved me.  They taught me needlework that has won me many ribbons at the State Fairs.  And they taught me that life goes on without a television, or radio, or trash novels.  The one book we do need is the Bible and I never touch my Bible without thinking of the two women in my life who instilled in me my love for the Book.  One was the Matriarch and the other the sweetest little lady I have ever known.  And in the picture there Great Grandma is holding Grandma up to have her picture taken.  that is something the women in my family have always done, been there to hold each other up.  I sure hope I do not disappoint my kids and sisters.  I am going to try not to.  

It is me and my momma!!

Do you see those 2 youngsters up there?  The one on the left is me and the one on the right is my momma.  Course I am a lot younger there and from the way I am propped up on the pillows I appear to be about 7 or 8 months old.  But just look at that smile!  I was pretty happy about something.  Probably had just been fed and was nice and dry! This picture is in a silver frame that is absolutely beautiful so I am sure my momma loved me when she stuck me in there all those years ago.

Now take a look at momma!  I bet she is about 4 or 5.  Got her a puppy and is one happy little girl!  I think she might be setting on the porch of whatever general store they lived close to. I imagine it was in Plevna or perhaps Abbyville.  I do love those leggings and boots!  Wish I could get me a pair of them right now!!

I have a picture in my store on eBay of a girl herding a flock of geese and I swear it could be my mother.  Has the same leggings and boots, but has a head scarf on her head.  Remember those?  Well, most of you probably don't!

So I am going to take these two pictures out of the bottom of that box and put them here on the computer desk so I can just glance over there and remember my roots.  That way when I get to thinking I am nobody important I can remember that it was women like my momma and her momma and grandmother that made this country what it is today.  I still got those same genes pulsing through my body and through my children's blood.

So I will go out singing

"I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers to big to ignore!"

Josie Haas, beloved grandmother..........

My grandmother had the sweetest smile and the prettiest eyes.  When she smiled it was like every angel in Heaven was shining in her eyes.  They were the kindest eyes and when she looked at me and smiled it was like she looked deep into my soul and would always know what was there and it would always be good and kind because that is what she saw.  Oh, if I could have spent my lifetime in the shadow of that woman, so much would have been so different! I would never have had an impure thought or wanted anything but to go straight to Heaven and live there for eternity with my sweet, sweet grandma, Josie Haas.  How do I explain what happened next? 

How do I explain coming home that January day to find that Uncle Goll and Aunt Mabel had come and I did not live there anymore.  My great grandma Hatfield was being whisked off to Coldwater, Kansas, Grandma was in the Broadacre Nursing Home, and I now lived in Nickerson, Kansas.  Aunt Lola and Uncle Alvin would  "dispose of the property" because Grandma had fallen to yet another stroke.  How quickly my life had changed.  How completely and utterly devastating life can be for a 15 year old girl.

There was no time for the goodbyes we always need to say.  Grandma Hatfield patted me on the head, Aunt Mabel smiled at me and Aunt Lola looked at me with her blank stare.  Mother took my little box of clothes to the car and that chapter of my life was over.  No more Dean and Dale, or Janet, or Miss Ghormely.  Slam, finis, and so long Plevna, Kansas.  Two weeks later my little grandma with the very sweet smile was buried in a grave beside her dear husband.

It was several years later that Grandma Hatfield was buried at the age of 104 in Abbyville, Kansas.  Many years later, when my own dear mother went to her heavenly reward, my sister handed me a kind of long white box and explained that it should be mine because I was the only one who had any idea what it contained.  Inside, nestled on white tissue paper was a golden braid of hair.  It was the braid that was cut from my grandma's head the night they took her to the nursing home.  It would have been too much work to take care of her hair, so they just cut it off and gave it to mother.

All the grandma's and grandpa's, aunts and uncles and most of the cousins are gone now.  All the mothers and fathers, one of the sister's and the only brother I ever had are gone.  They are slowly taking their places in my memory bank, but the one who shall always remain at the pinnacle is my dear sweet grandma, Josie Haas.

School starts at Plevna, Kansas and I am there!

Catty cornered from Grandma's house lived the Smith family.  I do not know how many girls there were in that family, I just know there were a lot of them.  I remember Mr. Smith had one brown eye and one blue eye.  I also remember they had a television set.  I could go over and visit them, but I could not set in the room where the television was and I could not look at it when I walked past.  I was very good and did as I was told.  I did not look at that television except once just to see what it was.

I wish I had pictures, but I do not.  If I did they would be black and white snap shots and they would be fuzzy.  But true to my word school did start the next week and I was there!  I started my Freshman year at Plevna High School  I was in heaven.  I do not know why.  The whole High School was 40 kids.  The first crack out of the box, I was picked to be in the Junior Play!

Now in tiny schools like this, things like that happen.  The Juniors had picked the play they wanted to do and there were not enough Juniors to fill the roles, so since I was a hick and used the word "ain't" a lot and this play was about hillbilly's, I got elected.  I was rather impressed that I was in the Junior Play, but I was scared to death.  See,this is how that worked.  I could read all I wanted as long as I was reading the Bible.  No books, no book reports, no reading play books, only the Bible.  So memorizing my lines was a real challenge.  Somehow I did get them learned and the play went off without a hitch so I was happy about that.  It even helped my English grade.


 The box lunch social was another small town tradition. We all had to bring a box with something to eat in it and then each one was auctioned off.  The buyer ate the lunch with whoever made the lunch.  We all lived in mortal terror that no one would buy ours.  Mine was bought by the coach of the basket ball team, so I was good to go.

But horror of all horrors for my first year of high school was Home Economics.  My teacher was (I forgot her name!) my mother's Nemesis from her high school days.  I flat out flunked cooking!  Not a bad grade, a fail grade.  A big fat "F".  All that woman had to do was glare at me and my knees turned to jelly. A quivering mass of jello, I tell you.  I would love to know the history of those two women, but it was enough to know that they did not like each other in the least.

Small towns are really an experience in and unto themselves.  The whole high school went carolling for Christmas.  One of the teachers made hot cocoa in the gymnasium.  Somebody brought us an apple.  Togetherness in a small town! 

Tomorrow I will tell you how my Freshman year ended, but I am too tired tonight to do it justice.  Just show up tomorrow and I will fill you in on that.

High School at Plevna, Kansas with Grandma and Great Grandma!

Well, there is nothing more scary in the whole world of young people than the day they leave the secure little nest of Elementary School and venture onto the high school campus.  True it is only 7 blocks away and it is the same kids you have gone to school with all your life, but none-the-less, it was a real heart stopper for me.

I did not start High School in my Beloved Nickerson, I started in Plevna, Kansas.  The entire city population was 112.  There were outlying farms, but I lived in the city proper with Grandma Haas, age 71 and Great Grandma Hatfield, age 98.  Grandma was rather crippled up from a stroke and Great Grandma took care of her.  My job was to help.

Now, I don't know if you ever lived with 2 very old ladies when you were a delicate flower of 15, but there is a lot of adjusting that needs to be done and guess who is going to do it!  First was the sleeping arrangements.  They had a bedroom with a big bed. That was theirs.  Upstairs were 2 bedrooms with beds and all, but I could not sleep up there because I would be too far away and something might happen and what if some one came in and kidnapped me?  So I slept in the downstairs living room on the couch right by the front door, which was never locked.  Ok, Grandma's!

Next I must learn to crochet.  They had a radio, a big wooden thing with a round top.  That was for listening to the stock market and futures reports at noon.  For no other reason was it ever turned on.  It goes without saying that there was no television, so crochet it should be.  With my little hook and size 10 crochet thread I very quickly learned to make a "chain".  That was good enough for me, but not the grandma's. 

After my first chain was about 10 feet long I say the wisdom of learning other stitches.  I was taught the sc (single crochet, dc (double crochet), hdc (half double crochet), tr (treble crochet), dtr (double treble crochet), and then I was on my way.  Soon I had a round crocheted thingy to which I added chains and made loops.  At the end I crocheted around the outside with green thread and that was it.  I had made my first Pineapple Doily! Great Grandma then boiled sugar and water and put the doily in there.  It was then set to dry and the ruffle shaped.  It was a work of art and my first endeavor in the fine art of needlework.

Plevna had a bank, filling station, phone company, post office, mechanic, the school, and a General Store.  Hinshaw's General Store  was the hub of the metropolis, needless to say.  When Grandma sent me to the store she sent me with a handkerchief with the money tied in the corner.  After all it was almost a full block! It was always just the right amount.  I would walk in, tell Mr. or Mrs. Hinshaw that Grandma Hatfield had sent me, hand him the hanky and wait.  He would retrieve what ever it was, untie the hanky, take the money and had me the hanky and the item.  I was then trusted to walk home with both.

There was lots of stuff in that store. Light farm  equipment like rakes, shovels, towels, a few pairs of overalls, socks, beans and crackers in a barrel, and of course groceries.  I went one time with Aunt Mabel and she bought a towel for me to do textile painting on for momma for Christmas.  It had laid on the shelf so long it had lines that never came out, but it was new and it was for momma.  As I recall Aunt Mabel helped me paint a beautiful Iris.  Another form of needlework or crafts or something.

The most important part about the Hinshaws was their grandsons!  They were my age and they were twins and I would go to school with them when school started.  Dale was very light complected, with red hair and freckles and a little on the pudgy side.  Dean was  small and wiry, and darker complected with dark brown hair, very thin.  If you met them you would never dream they were related in any way.  First lesson on twins.  Also my first childhood crush, but I won't tell you which one it was! It actually lasted way over a week into the school year.

The highlight of the summer was when momma sent 2 friends of the family to pick me up and take me back to Nickerson for a few days before school started.  They roared into town on their Triumph Motorcycles and I was in Heaven!  I loved those bikes and the thought of the 20 mile trip to Nickerson was enough to make me walk on cloud 9 for weeks after.  There is just nothing like a Triumph.  Harley's are great and I love the rumble of the motor, which I understand is patented, and I own Harley stock today, but a Triumph was the sign of the times.  It symbolized youth, and freedom, and the open road.  Ah, I digress.

Next week I could start school!  And that will be tomorrow, so see you then. Be sure that my short time at Plevna High School is not at all what one would expect.  So see you then cause you are going to learn about my roots.