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Wrong car Scenario
Story posted by Dick Johnson (’68): Dunseith, ND
Gary and Friends,
This wrong car scenario is probably way more common than we may think. Years ago, my grandmother went shopping in Minot with her good friend Esther Evenson from Dunseith. They were diagonally parked on Main Street in Minot and walked up and down the stores checking things out. When they returned to the car, Esther couldn’t get her key to open the door. She hadn’t locked the car since she had it and thought maybe the lock didn’t work. Eventually, the went into a store and the people there called the cops to come uptown and open her door. As the cop was using a ‘slim jim’ to try to unlock the door, a guy walked up and asked what was going on? The cop got a funny look on his face and the fellow put his key in the door and opened it. About a block away sat Esther’s car. She felt terrible but everyone else had a good laugh.
As those who know me know, I drive all kinds and colors of vehicles that come through my hands as I buy and sell. Once just a few years ago, I was in the WalMart parking lot in Minot and was driving a white Chevy Cavalier four door. I came out with my stuff and jumped in and noticed someone had left a short stack of papers on the passenger seat.
I wondered who left these papers by mistake or if they were for me. I do lots of business with lots of guys in the Minot area both with old cars and music so that was my first thought–someone knew my car and just left the stuff for me. I picked up the papers and read the top sheet. It was divorce papers of people I had never heard of. Then it HIT ME LIKE A HAMMER! I was in the wrong car! I carefully got out and looked down the same row and there sat my identical car waiting right where I parked it. This car was not just close to being the same–it was exactly the same inside and out. After this little incident, I started to watch and noticed there are hundreds of white four door Cavaliers on the road so I guess it probably wasn’t really a senior moment although Mel and Larry will tell you differently, unless they aren’t true to form. Thanks Gary!
Dick
Posted by Neola Kofoid Garbe: Bottineau & Minot, ND
Posting of the day
Posted by Dick Johnson (’68): Dunseith, ND
A Unique take on the History of St Patrick’s Day
The reason the Irish celebrate St. Patrick’s Day is because this is when St. Patrick drove the Norwegians out of Ireland.
It seems that some centuries ago, many Norwegians came to Ireland to escape the bitterness of the Norwegian winter. Ireland was having a famine at the time, and food was scarce. The Norwegians were eating almost all the fish caught in the area, leaving the Irish with nothing to eat but potatoes. St. Patrick, taking matters into his own hands, as most Irishmen do, decided the Norwegians had to go. Secretly, he organized the Irish IRATRION (Irish Republican Army to Rid Ireland of Norwegians). Irish members of IRATRION passed a law in Ireland that prohibited merchants from selling ice boxes or ice to
the Norwegians, in hopes that their fish would spoil. This would force the Norwegians to flee to a colder climate where their fish would keep.
Well, the fish spoiled, all right, but the Norwegians, as every one knows today, thrive on spoiled fish. So, faced with failure, the desperate Irishmen sneaked into the Norwegian fish storage caves in the dead of night and sprinkled the rotten fish with lye, hoping to poison the Norwegian invaders. But, as everyone knows, the Norwegians thought this only added to
the flavor of the fish, and they liked it so much they decided to call it “lutefisk”, which is Norwegian for “luscious fish”.
Matters became even worse for the Irishmen when the Norwegians started taking over the Irish potato crop and making something called “lefse”. Poor St. Patrick was at his wit’s end, and finally on March 17th, he blew his top and told all the Norwegians to “GO TO HELL”. So they all got in their boats and emigrated to Minnesota or the Dakotas—- the only other paradise on earth where smelly fish, old potatoes and plenty of cold weather can be found in abundance.
And now you know the true story.
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Blog (268) posted on October 31, 2008
From Dick Johnson (68):
Gary and Friends,
With all the effort Neola Kofoid Garbe puts into this site, I thought
she might like to hear a little story about her dad, John Kofoid. My
dad, Don Johnson, had a 1957 International 3/4 Ton pickup he bought in
about 1960. We used it for farming and for travel to and from the farm.
One day it developed an engine miss. Dad and I checked out the miss and
found that one piston was blown and this was causing the problem. We
took it to John Kofoid and he pulled the engine apart and then called
Dad to come uptown to see the problem. I went along to see what John
found. The cylinder was scored (scratched up) badly and John said, “Don,
I can just bore one cylinder and put in a bigger piston”. I remember Dad
saying, “I didn’t think you could do that–just one, won’t it throw the
engine out of balance”? I will never forget how John stood up from under
the hood and looked at Dad, over the top of his glasses and said
bluntly, ” I—can do that”! Dad said, “OK John, do it”. The engine ran
like a new one for many years. He was what my dad called a real
mechanic, not a ‘parts changer’! Thanks Gary!
Dick
Reply from Neola Kofoid Garbe:
Hi Gary and Dale,
I’ll be happy to “fill you in” on Carol Berg. It might take me a few days to get back to you, as I’m selling caramels at a bazaar at Edgewood Vista (assisted living facility in Minot where my Mom lived for about 12 years.) tomorrow (Thursday). On Friday/Saturday, I’m selling caramels at a craft sale that’s being held in downtown Minot at Carnegie Center. I don’t know if you’ve heard of “The Caramel Lady”, or not, but that’s my nickname. My students gave me the name many years ago, so when I started selling caramels, it seemed a natural name to use. I need to be at Edgewood at 9:00 a.m., and I’m just finishing up with a few last minute caramels. Soooo, I will get back to you later. Thanks for asking about Carol
Neola
Reply from Dale Pritchard (63):
Gary,
I remember someone else commenting on the transition from a country
school to high school in town. I think the term “Culture Shock” sort of
fit at the time. Going from an entire school of 12 – 16 to an entire
class of 30 or more was rough for some of us for a while. But — We
survived and made a lot of good friends along the way too.
Dale
Folks, LaRose Kitterling (46) asked me several months ago how she could get some pictures to me so I could scan and send them out to you folks. I suggested that she call Jared Steele in Bottineau. He is the young man that works for Terry Moe that got married this past July to a girl living here in Cebu. She did get in contact with Jared and sent him 5 beautiful pictures of the classes from the 40’s. Jared arrived yesterday with those pictures. I’ll plan on sending one out each day. Gary
LaRose Kitterling”s (46) reply to Gary: mercerlk@westriv.com
Gary
Glad the pictures arrived- the operetta cast has pictures of many of the older Dunseith kids.
By committee I meant-it was an informal group- we were together for the Darrel and Dorothy Fasset anniversary and sat around the table trying to identify who was who- included in that group were Darrel and Dorothy, Lloyd and Theresa Awalt, Eleanor and Leonard Stickland, Wayne Molgard, Bill Hosmer with further help from Carol Watkins Carbonneau, Murl Hill , Marlene Molgard and Minnie Flynn- all senior citizens.. We had it put on poster paper and the operatta cast and the 1946 class were on display in the school library for the 2007 all school reunion.
I look forward to the daily messages – thank you
LaRose
Picture provided by LaRose Kitterling (46):
