Keith
Twas May Day, and I sneaked across the street without the “furry boys” with gernaniums in hand, and knocked at the door of my neighbors.
Wes and Ovidia were just setting up to the kitchen table, for their afternoon coffee, and we enjoyed a little visit. They had received a c.d. from their daughter Karen, last week which Wes is enjoying very much. It was a Rita Baker Langer recording entitled, “RITA’S FAVORITES”. Ovidia was marveling at the rich clarity of Rita’s voice, her timing and self accompaniment. This c.d. has Wes enjoying singing along.
Rita’s music brought to my mind, Hazel Dickens, the West Virginia country blue-grass singer who passed away recently featured on National Public Radio last week. Music historians liken her music to music of the last century, rich, mellow and influential to other musicians.
Wes and Ovidia also were gifted 3 other c.d.s by the Langer’s.
Then, Wes recalled his friend Orvin Hagen visiting and the yodeling in their youth. And treating him again to a yodel last summer.
Wes once worked for the A. Houle’s at Lord’s Lake. During fall threshing both he and his friend Orvin brought teams. He and Orvin one night made a nice bed in the Houle haymow. They went to sleep. They were rudely awakened early in the morning when the pigeons came home to roost, the birds proceeded to wake Orvin and Wes with dropping___!. Wes said he wasn’t to pleased with this kind of “wake up call”, but his good friend Orvin laughed and laughed. Finally got Wes joining in the laughter!
Once long ago, at a Christmas program at a little rural church, everyone from miles around brought their teams and sleighs. Orvin brought his mother in a sleigh. Everyone put their teams in the barn. At the program, Wes played the mouth organ. When the program was over, all the fellows went to hitch up their sleighs. Orvin brought his nice black team out and hitched it to the sleigh. He went in to get his mother. When he came out___gone__. His team had already taken off for home without them. Orvin,wasn’t too pleased, it wasn’t a laughing matter. But in the spirit of Christmas, someone else took he and Mrs. Hagen home. No it wasn’t Santa.
As Wes and I were visiting, and he recalled Moses (Moise) DesJarlais who worked for his father (Peter I ) sharpening posts and fencing. He said Moise(Moses) would pitch a tent in the Schneider pasture when he came to fence. He said, Mrs. DesJarlais, a woman of husky build, would weave grass baskets for his mother, Mrs. Schneider. Wes said the baskets were perfect for his job of fetching eggs. Wes would like to know if anyone recalls the Moise (Moses) DesJarlais’.
Well, evening is pushing near, yesterday’s big snow is melting and it looks to be a beautiful spring night below the foot of the Turtles. Vickie
Today we had a late spring blizzard that dumped some snow and
brought cold temperatures to the hills—18 degrees this morning. By
mid day it was back up to around 40 and the next two days are going to
warm to 65. Good old ND. Freeze the bums out! I had an old picture of a
similar storm from back in the late 40s that I thought would be
appropriate to post after such a comparable storm. I remember hearing
about a snow storm from the old timers who said it was in the first week
of June and I think they said 1947, but I can’t remember the year for
sure. Mom took several pictures like the one I’m posting so it must have
been an unusual event, like late spring. The cars pictured are a ’40
Ford and a ’46-’47 Buick. The question I want to ask is if any of our
readers can ID the business shown in the picture. I barely remember this
business and the building was gone by the mid 50s. I do remember that
the front of the building was painted black in the last years it was
there. I will post a couple more pictures in the next few days and then
I KNOW some of the readers will remember for sure. I can say that if you
were born any later than the early 50s, you would not have ever seen
this building as another business was built and operating on this
location by the mid 50s. This time I won’t answer the question until
others have sent their thoughts. Thanks Gary!
Dick
Slim says, ‘I feel just like a newborn baby.’
‘Really!? Like a newborn baby!?’
‘Yep. No hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet my pants.’
The two gentlemen were talking, and one said, ‘Last night we went out to a new restaurant and it was really great.. I would recommend it very highly.’
The other man said, ‘What is the name of the restaurant?’
The first man thought and thought and finally said, ‘What is the name of that flower you give to someone you love?
You know…. The one that’s red and has thorns.’
‘Do you mean a rose?’
‘Yes, that’s the one,’ replied the man. He then turned towards the kitchen and yelled, ‘Rose, what’s the name of that restaurant we went to last night?’