“Our Home Town” From Vickie Metcalfe (70): 

Gary,

You’re site has many folks fondly remembering, thinking and
then communicating  their remembrances and commenting on the
perceptions of others.
Gary, Today, I believe, not just communication…but one the
greatest gifts of your site is the evoking  and re-awakening of
wonderful remembrances for the times gone by, drawing on the
commonalities of all  of us who read and share the love of our
“Hometown” and the fondness of our hometown cohorts.

This morning after reading, I was bombarded with feelings;
Aye. The nostalgic warm cozy ones for yesteryear’s, peaceful
order of chore time in the gentle country barn as I  read Dicks and
Tim Martinson stories. Then,viewed the sweet,  brotherly love of “Age
of Innocence” , of Tim and Terry Martinson (Tim’s 1950′s picture ).
While, remembering,  “The smell of the sweet hay, the warmth
of the cow’s flank when resting  my head  there, as  milked swished
into the pail while gripping the smooth teats, the dark, fluid gentle
eyes of a cow,looking well pleased chewing her cud, the mewing of
cats looking for a stream of milk to catch,while the old dog lapped
up milk, and a hen squawking to let you know she laid an egg,and the
team of horses chomping on oats. While the thoughts reflected  on
are; just being in the contentment of the present.

Then, I read on and thought of the perceptions of others….
Of downtown  Dunseith through the eyes of adventurous teens
on Saturday nights……..
Of those sharing the pain with the loss of integral family
members.  And others asking for prayers for those who are ill and
medical care.
To “Hello Viet Nam”, through the eyes of an Ackworth country
boy and  a Bottineau city boy.
Then ” Hello Viet Nam Again”… years later……………..
Thank you all for  your stories shared  through words and pictures.

Gary, Many people passing through Dunseith may think its
?…But,  Thanks to cyber-space, your site has helped to revive, our
hometown community.
Did you ever imagine years ago while in Viet Nam, you’d be
writing around the world to  your hometown folks through cy-ber space?

Later. Vickie

Vickie, This cyber space technology sure does bring a lot of folks together from around the world.  With us the neat part about it is that we all share these neat messages, together, at the same time, in mass communication around the globe.  From here in the PI, I feel well connected to the states, thanks to you guys.  Gary

“More Farm Life” From Dale Pritchard (63): 

Gary,

According to my Dad, we had the only cows in the country he knew of who
could read.  We had a couple of my neices and nephews (non-farm types)
who stayed with us a few days once.  My Dad had a small board with each
cow’s name on it above their stantion in the barn.  My Dad was in the
barn with these other kids when the dog brought the cows around the back
side and herded them in.  He greeted each cow by name and told it to
take it’s place, which it did.  The kids were really amazed and always
wanted to see that again each time they came back.  On the other side of
the barn were pens for the calves depending on their size.  Sometimes
they would make a mistake and go in the wrong pen.  My Dad said the
calves were still learning how to read so they didn’t have name tags
yet.  It wasn’t often that he came up with something off the wall like
that but when he did, it got remembered.

Tim Martinson mentioned putting hay in the haymow.  We initially used
horses to pull the hay from the hayrack to the haymow.  It went up and
in and one of us tripped the lock so it fell where it was needed.  In
later years, My Dad bought an old truck which he wanted for the
rear-end.  He put this rear-end on wheels of it’s own and hooked the
shift lever in there somehow.  This thing ran off the tractor’s power
take-off.  Put it in a forward gear to pull the hay up and in the barn
and put it in reverse to rewind the cable.  It worked fantastic for
pulling people out of ditches also.

Gary, you might remember what we called the “Bug?”  That was the result
of another project of his.  The “Bug” came from another old truck that
he stripped down, put a seat on it facing the rear dual wheels, and had
rear wheel steering with what was originally the front wheels.  That
project’s only purpose was to bull rake hay to bring back to where we
stacking it.  With a heavy load in the bull rake, the rear wheel
steering worked a lot better.  The second best part about that thing was
when we were stacking hay away from home.  We usually drove it to and
from the field because there was room for all of us and it was a little
faster than the tractor, but not much.  Rear wheel steering and speed
just don’t go together.  This was when Hiway 43 was still gravel.  Cars
from out of state would meet us, stop and turn around so they could pass
us, then wait for us to go by again so they could see again what they
thought they saw.  I can still visualize them talking later about seeing
Ma and Pa Kettle with their car.

My Dad was a self-taught welder and could make almost anything once he
decided it was possible.  He also welded broken parts for many of the
neighbors for a number of years.

Dale Pritchard

Dale, How well I remember your dad being the inventor that he was and also being the neighborhood welder.  He was a very smart man with a ton of common sense.  Your dad could weld anything regardless of the difficulty or the metal and his welds held. When ever a piece of machinery broke down my dad was down to see your dad to get it welded.  Your dad would stop whatever he was doing, even if he was out in the hay field.  He would go home and weld what ever my dad had that needed to be welded. I remember your dad had a portable welding machine too that he would take to jobs that could not be delivered to your house.  I also remember that backward running bull rake that your dad made.  I remember you guys haying Esther Tangen’s, now the Pladson, meadow using that machine.  I remember you guys going to and from the hay fields, on the main roads, with that backward running machine too.  It was a very unique invention of your dad’s.  Gary