The Lamb Funeral Home and Orson Wells!!

Now, you might wonder what those 2 have in common, but just bear with me. Back in Nickerson, Kansas where I grew up, there were few opportuities for employment. The main one  for me,was babysitting. Mr. and Mrs. Lamb owned the funeral home and had (I think) 6 kids. At the time I was probably 14 or so. I realize I could research and find the exact date, but will not do that and will rely on your memory.

The appointed night came and Mr. Lamb picked me up and took me to their dwelling place which just happened to be over the funeral home. There also just happened to be a body laying in state there. As a matter of course, he gave me a brief tour, which included showing me the casket room! Are you getting the picture yet? You will.

Before they left they turned on the television, which was the first one I had ever seen. The kiddies were soon settled in their wee little beds. They were all redheads and the youngest was about 6 months and the oldest probably 5. They were so cute!

Anyway, with the kiddies in bed, bedtime story read, I tidied the kitchen and set down on the couch to watch this television! Do you remember when the Orson Welles (I think) movie came out named War of the Worlds and caused a panic all over the United States for it's opening? The announcer came on and made the announcement that the world was ending and then the electricity went off! The phone rang and I picked it up to hear the man who was tending the body tell his wife that he would be right home since there was no electric here.

What kind of shape do you think I was in when I put down that phone? Here I was alone with 5 kids, no electric, a bunch of coffins in the next room, and a dead body down stairs!  I was pretty sure if the world was ending that I had a problem!!

I went in to set with the kids in their final hours, but they were sound asleep and had no idea what they were in for here! Need I paint the vivid picture of that night? The groveling and begging God to save me and such. I bet the lights were out for about 30 minutes, but that was the longest 30 minutes of my life. I have never been as happy to see anyone in my entire life as I was to see those people come home.

It is strange that something that was so traumatic on me as that night can now be something that is so funny today. I ran into the Lamb's in South Fork 20 or so years ago and we got quite the chuckle out of that night.
I guess the way to face your biggest fear is to remember that someday you will look back on this and laugh!

Have a good one!

Snowing again!! I must be hungering for the sun!

Hey! I see a Robin out there in the snow storm! What is he thinking? I sort of feel that perhaps I am getting a mixed message.It snowed yesterday and is snowing this morning. According to the Indian Lore, we only need 18 more snows to end the season. Course everyone is wanting Spring. Apparently so is the Robin Red Breast!

One thing nice about snow is that I can go out to the duck pond and see what kind of critters have been visiting during the night. I know there is a skunk and something with little paws. I think that is probably a fox. I am sure I will need to do some work on the fence before spring actually arrives.

Had a great email from a guy I went to school with in Nickerson, Kansas. He had been sent my blog about Nickerson. He is younger, but of course everyone is younger that me. He is actually the cousin to the "Beth" that got me in trouble with the popcorn ball in fourth grade. Small world, huh?

 I actually joined one of those Classmates things once and paid for a whole year. This one did not work quite like I thought it should. Every time I would see the name of someone I remembered, I would click on it and they wanted me to contact them and get them to sign up with them!  Well, excuse me, if I knew how to contact them I would not have paid you to tell me where all my dear friends are today!

I also signed up for a Find People Fast, although I do not remember just what the name of the company was. I think that cost $29.95 for the year, but every time I found some one, I needed to pay $2.95 for the address and phone number. For only $39.95 I could look at their criminal record.  Bet some of those kids I went to school with would freak out if I showed up with my mohawk! Bet they would be looking for my criminal record! This is where I put in LOL, which means laugh out loud!

Ok, we now have a real crisis! I can not find the spell checker! Just go with the phonics thing! Since I can not use any big words, I guess I will sign off for today. Got to go do my Brain Gym exercise, if I can find the book!

At Grandma's house we are!

This is the view from Grandma's deck! We went up to Rye yesterday to see Grandma. Actually she is Tim's Grandma, and no relation to me. When you reach the age of 95, which she will do in a couple weeks, you become Grandma to everyone under the age of 70. I still qualify! She is the sweetest and most alert lady I have met and a miracle for 95. She had a stress fracture in her pelvis and after 3 days it bed it had begun to "knit". Not me man!  If I am correct this is the view looking East.

This is kind of Southwest. All my directions are subject to being discredited and corrected. The only place I know my directions is Hutchinson, Kansas. I was not born with that little honing device for North that most people have.

This is the view looking West. East and West are both fairly steep dropoffs. North and South are a little more gradual. Actually, to my way of thinking, they are all steep and they are all dropoffs. You must remember I am from Kansas and my husband always referred to me as a "Flatlander" because I never knew if I was going uphill or downhill.

And here is the approach to the house. Do you see how it kind of sets there on the crest of the hill? This is like dying and going to heaven. I have a better view of the house, but for brevity's sake, I will not post it today. I will just throw it on someday.

 

I took these pictures with my cheap little camera, but am giving serious thought to some Amazon sent me literature on yesterday. I am trying to get a hold of someone who knows dates and place, but I think this house was located in Rye and was moved up the mountaing by Grandma. Well, she is the one who did the buying of the land, and hiring and honchoing the movers. She did a great job!

Gotta get busy. Today I am babysitting the great , great grandson of this lady. Five generations and there is one branch that has six generations! Have a good one.

The Llama might be getting ready to be sheared, or not!

The Llama's over in the field are getting very hairy! I'm thinking it might be getting close to shearing time, but think about that! It is just now the first week in February and some of our biggest snows are ahead of us. I remember one May we got 18 inches on like the 4th and then 4 days later we got 14 inches. Course it was warm enough between them to melt or we would still be digging out.
The point here is this: I would hate to have someone rip my fur coat off and leave me outside this time of year. It is still freezing at night and the daytime temperature hasn't had me breaking a sweat yet! Any way, I have one friend who makes her sheep wear coats to keep the fleece cleaner. I think that might be a good idea, but the fellows/girls in the field don't look all that bad. Well, yeh, they have longer legs than a sheep! DUH!!
Seeing them makes me remember, I bought some dyed wool from Joanne Caldwell and I need to get it washed and dried. If it was just a matter of throwing it in the washer that would be simple. Ever throw wool in the washer? This is loose fleece so I expect it would wind up a very tight ball. I know how to do this, I think.
I need to fill something with cool water and add Dawn dishwashing soap to it. Then very gently work it around and then drain it and rinse it. I need to do that several times until the rinse water is clear. Then I have to lay it out to dry. Then I will need to hand card it. That is work!! Then I need to spin it on the spinning wheel.  All this is assuming it has not got moths in it while waiting for me.
Hey, you spinners out there! If this is not how to do it, you better get ahold of me because I will be doing this surely in the next few years.
You know, I go back and read my posts and have I ever finished one that matches my title with the title? Seems I am a clear definition of the saying "Her mind has taken a turn!" My mind is probably what is known as a Whirling Dervish!
But you gotta' love me!!

Klear Nearly Day or Near Klearly or something like that.

I forgot to tell you, Nickerson, Kansas also has a special day in the summer which is called Klear Nearly or Near Klearly or something along that line. If anyone out there remembers, give me a shout out because otherwise I will need to go research it and I have the little baby today and do not have time for that.
When I have the little baby, I have to be alert. If I am not alert the dogs will lick him and he feels  neglected if I wander off from him. Babies need lots of care. They are also very messy, especially the bottom half!

Welcome me to Amazon.com!

Ok, I just signed up with amazon.com so I have a link to their sight. Now I have to find out how this works. May not be something I want to keep, but then again it might be. I buy a lot of books from Amazon and was surprised to find that they have lots of other things including groceries. Especially the gluten free stuff.

I think I told you the other day about the Brain Gym book I bought from there and use here at home for myself and my sister. So anyway, I just wanted to see how this little widget works. If you don't like it let me know. I sure don't want to clutter up my site with stuff we don't need.

Nickerson, Kansas Elementary School, 1945-1953

This may take more than one posting. I woke up this morning thinking about grade school. When I can not fall asleep at night, one of my favorite things is to remember the one mile walk to and from school. I picture the houses and try to remember the names of the people who lived in them. It usually works if I follow it with the Lord's Prayer.

What I woke up remembering this morning was the music room. At least what passed for the music room before they moved in a small school building and set it on the corner and that was the music room. This room was on the second story. Cultural Department.

The windows in the whole school were huge, very tall. Every window in the school was covered with heavy blackout curtains that were fastened to the sides. This was in case the Japanese were to fly over here and end up in the center of the United States in a town named Nickerson, Kansas, population 1,100, we could close them and no light would get out so they would not bomb that building. Homeland Security!

Once a month, we were all called to the central hallway, which doubled as a lunch room and given a glass of orange juice. There was a small room off the first grade classroom that doubled as a sick room. Health Department!

I think that was so we would not get Rickets, or something like that. Our meals were cooked in the kitchen by Mrs. Ritchie. Her husband was the Janitor. He committed suicide shortly after the 8th grade, or so we heard. Probably about the 4th grade one of the boys in our town was killed in the war and the whole school went to the train station to meet the coffin. All I remember is looking up his marker in the cemetary and it says "He sleeps in Iwo Jima."

Also in fourth grade, a classmate named Beth (You know who you are!) brought a popcorn ball to school and dropped it in the stool in the bathroom and blamed it on me! Said I grabbed it away and threw it in there! If I had touched it I would have eaten it! Mrs. Howe was very upset with me and wrote on my report card, "Louella teases the other kids on the playground." So much for the Justice Department!

Fifth grade I had a poem published in the Jack and Jill(?) magazine. Other highlights: Last day of school in 8th grade, the band played outside and a bird pooped on Gay Withrow's cap. Mother had cancer and the church ladies sewed all us kids clothes for school except Jake who only wore overalls anyway. Mother recuperated and lived to be 80 years old. Miss Barkis, the music teacher, married the principals son, David Houston. Miss Donnough, the first grade teacher, married someone. Mrs. Howe, the fourth grade teacher got a thorn in her intestine and nearly died.

Oh, for the days of trivial nonesense!! And to think I have remembered some of this stuff for 63 years!!!

School days, school days, dear old golden rule days!

Reading and writing and 'rithmetic,

taught to the tune of a hickory stick!