Thank you Dick for giving me the dubious honor of being named the “Pinball Wizard”.  Unfortunately. I painfully found out that these pinball skills are not that effective to beat a casino slot machine.

Now about the snow planes: They were not only for fun and games.  During the winter of 49 my parents went to Dunseith.  I think for a grocery run or something similar.  But my brother, DuWayne, and myself were left on the farm.  He would have been about ten years old and I, six.  Anyway, a real ND blizzard blew up and my parents were stuck in town.  This was before we had electricity or a phone on the farm.  We did have cattle of course and DuWayne and I were left with the watering and feeding.  We ran out of hay in the barn after a few days and ended up carrying grain several hundred yards (it seemed like a mile) through deep snow to keep them nourished.  We had a set of snow ski to use or it would have been near impossible.  Of course to water the cattle, we had to break the ice in the tank and manually pump (not fun!) the well.  Now all was not pain and suffering.  DuWayne, during a stretch of boredom, thought up a new game.  Take the shotgun with two shells and go back in the trees and see how many sparrows you could come back with.  Again I can’t remember if the shotgun was a 16 or 12 gage.  But I do recall being knocked on my butt in the snow and the sore shoulder this six year old got from this new game.  I quit after on go around.

The blizzard blew for a couple days but then it cleared up but all the roads were impassable.  I believe it was after about five days we heard a distant roar.  It turned out to be a snow plane with our Dad, Adam, on board with some groceries.  I can’t remember whose snow plane it was (I think it was Dale Gottbreitt’s) but I was sure happy to see it.  Also, I can’t remember if our Mother, Charlotte, was along or if she came later.  I do recall that the US Army came to our rescue by pushing snow out from around the barn and the haystacks whereas we could harness old Chubb and Nancy and haul in some hay.  What a winter!  Sure glad I’m in Tucson, AZ during the winters when I think back on those good old days.

Well, this story has gotten long enough.  Just want to say “Hi” to the rest of the survivors.

Dwight AKA “Pinball Wizard”

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Gary and Friends

The picture of Pam Fassett’s birthday party reminded me of a few years
later when I was at Mark Anderson’s in the back of the Gamble store. He
had the neatest toy I had ever seen up until then. It was a complete
Standard gas station with pumps and all the stuff you would have seen in
a real station. It had two garage stalls and real windows and doors. It
was made from tin, as plastic was not the norm yet. I remember playing
all afternoon with this little station and thinking it was more fun than
anything I had ever played with. I hated to go home that day! It’s funny
how these old pictures can trigger the memory to remember things from
over 50 years ago! Thanks Crystal and Gary!!

Dick