GREEN

DOWN MEMORY LANE

GREEN

BY R. AUBREY LA FOY

       Green is the “hip” word today, meaning we should do all what we can to save the environment. I take offence to the implication that older generations contributed to the contamination of our world today. The suggestions, by some, are that we did little to help save the environment are far from the truth. While, in fact, we were not a wasteful generation but did many things that saved material, time and energy.

The other day an e-mail came through lamenting the use of “throw-away-plastic water bottles. It has always amazed me to see young people tilting a bottle of water when they are standing next to a water facet. Why in heavens name would you pay money to get water in a bottle from who knows where to drink? When I was a youth we got our milk, pop and beer in glass bottles that we returned to the store. Milk bottles were washed, sterilized and refilled at the creamery. I recall Mother doing the same with the glass milk bottles, giving me a dime and trotting over to the neighbor who kept his cow back of his house in a barn to pick up a quart of milk. Money was hard to come by in those days and many times we walked the road ditches and picked up discarded pop and beer bottles, taking them to the store and receiving a penny or so for each. When I was a kid an old fellow from Arnolds Park walked the road to Milford and back each day carrying a gunny sack to put discarded glass bottles. I asked my Dad about him and Dad told me that was about the only income the old fellow had. Good thing we lived in a tourist area

In 1940 several of us pooled our money a purchased a Model T Ford. We spent a great deal of time getting it to run and after several attempts made it go. Only one of us had a driver’s license so he was our driver. The Model T had a top and side curtains but most of the time we drove it with the top down. None of us had much money so one afternoon we all piled into the Model T and drove to Estherville. A real adventure as it is over 20 miles. We started in Milford, took Highway 71 to Spirit Lake and then Highway 9 to Estherville. Jim drove the car and the rest of us ran alongside and searched the ditches for pop and beer bottles. If we got tired, we rode a bit, rested and jumped out to look in the ditches. It was surprising how many bottles we found and upon reaching Estherville turned them in at a grocery store. Forget how much we got but know it was more than enough to resupply our car with gas. We even had enough after that to reward ourselves with a hamburger and malt. It was fun and the ride back was delightful just reclining and letting Jim do all the work. Today the kids can find pop cans the same way but the returns are not nearly as much. We recycled our bottles and we didn’t have the green thing in those days.

Several years ago our local YMCA in Spirit Lake built a wonderful facility. We built one here in Leisure World also for people to exercise and keep in shape. In my folk’s days they didn’t have an escalator in many stores and office building let alone an elevator. They walked to the meat market, school, bank, dry cleaners, and post office. During the Depression years our one car was jacked up on blocks during the winter in the garage and we walked to everything. School was five blocks away.  Downtown Milford was three blocks and church was four blocks from our house. We shoveled snow with our scoop shovels and mowed the lawn with a hand pushed mower and got all the exercise we needed.

We had one radio in our house and to really save one windup clock in the kitchen. The radio was a big Atwater-Kent that picked up about six radio stations not 150 like our TVs do today. About 4:00 p.m. my sister and my favorite programs started on the radio. We listened to Sky Harbor, Jack Armstrong, I Love a Mystery, Little Orphan Annie, Renfrew of the Mounties and a few others. In the evening we had all the great radio shows like Jack Benny, Gildersleeve, Fibber McGee and Molly, Amos and Andy and the Lux Theatre. We really saved on electricity and gas and for refreshments Dad would make a dishpan full of popcorn. When we wanted water it came out of the tap and put it in a glass not a plastic bottle like today. We were green in those days already.

Mother did have an electric clothes washer but put the damp clothes on a clothesline in the backyard. Diapers were washed, hung out to dry and not bought at the store and disposed of in the land fill. In those days we used solar power long before the new meaning came around that we use today. In those days most of the boys had only one or two pairs of pants-one for everyday and one for church and when if they tore or ripped Mother would put on a new patch. Today I cringe when I observe young people wearing jeans that are ripped and torn and pay through the nose to look scuffy. Think how much we saved in those days but the pants were always clean. Many nights after I had gone to bed Mother would wash my pants and hang them over the register to dry so I could wear them to school.

Several years ago I was cleaning out my parents home and opening a drawer found a Parker’s Lifetime fountain pen. In those days we refilled the pens and didn’t throw them away when they went dry, like today. It is almost impossible to find refills anymore for pens-want a waster. I recall that when I first started to teach in 1950 somebody had given me a fountain pen for graduation which I used at school. There was no law or rule that I know of but men teachers were supposed to wear white shirts, necktie and a suit. The fountain pens were not always perfect and many times they would leak and stain the white shirt. What a mess but we had our wives bleach the shirts and refilled the fountain pen. When I first started to teach I really saved on clothing as I had only two suits that I wore on alternate days. I’ll bet the kids got tired of those two suits but we had many neckties to seek some variation. When school was out practically all the students walked home, rode their bikes or rode a school bus and didn’t turn their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.

I recall getting invited to spend the weekend at a schoolmate’s home on a farm. We had electricity in our home in town but as I recall most rooms had one electric light bulb hanging from the ceiling and very few outlets like today with multiple outlets. We didn’t use or waste much electricity. My visit to my friend’s farm was a real awakening as they had no electricity. When it became dark out came the lanterns. We stumbled around in the dark to milk the cows, ate supper and even did some school work with only a feeble lantern for light. It wasn’t until REA came around in the 1940s that my farm friends had electricity but they sure didn’t use much energy as we do today in our homes and on the farms.

Unfortunately I have read many articles that lament how wasteful older generations were because we didn’t have the “green” things we have today. Horsefeathers! I think we had lots of savings and the present generations could learn from us old geezers. I do know that many of the unemployed today have had to cut back. Maybe they could or should read about us and how we lived in the 1930s.

SPRING

MEMORY LANE

SPRING

BY R. AUBREY LA FOY

“Spring is sprung, the grass is green, it’s time to get the blankets clean.” So went the popular ditty when I was a youth.  Lots of things happened in the spring like a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts that the girls have been thinking of all winter.  Teaching young people was always a thrill especially in the spring of the year.  Love would blossom right before your eyes and it gave one acknowledgement that the human race had not really changed.  Trying to teach about the American Revolution was a lost cause when the love bug bit.  Students could care less about George Washington or the Battle of Bunker Hill but if you could find a historical incident of George Washington dancing with Martha maybe, just maybe you could get their attention about history.

Does anyone still do spring-cleaning? Many of you can remember mother really going all out with cleaning up the house after a long cold winter. Spring-cleaning was a tradition and religiously followed by grandmother and mother.  Most of the homes were heated by wood or coal stoves and with the house being shut up all winter that old coal dust and smoke would penetrate and get into everything.  In many houses all of the curtains came down, washed by had and stretched to dry on a wooden frame known as a curtain dryer. Drapes were dry-cleaned in white gasoline and hung up to dry.  This operation was done outside as a safety precaution. We always had a can of that gas on the back porch that mother used to dry-clean other apparel.

The other day we were at an antique shop and one of the items for sale was a rug beater. People of our generation know what one looks like but kids today wouldn’t have the slightest hint of what that goofy looking apparatus was intended for.  Many of you can recall pulling up the living room rug, taking it outside to hang on the clothesline and beating the dirt and dust out of it.  The beating of rugs was great practice for baseball batting but it was hard work.  No matter how hard or how long you beat the rug it never was enough for mother.

Mother always wore an apron and had her hair tied up with a dishtowel that hung down her back. When she got that garb on we knew that springhouse cleaning was for real. It was an all day or two affair and meals were pretty skimpy.  I recall that one spring we had several painters come into the house and after my parents had washed down the wall they painted the dining and living rooms. It took them several days to do the job and I recall the smell of fresh paint and turpentine really smelled up the house.  That paint job was great because it hadn’t been redone in all the years we lived there which were something like 40 years. The paint in those days was nothing like our water base paint of today in drying time, odor and ease of cleaning brushes.

 Robins arriving signaled the advent of spring and even if they have to dodge snow we knew it would not be long before the temperatures would be warmer.  With their arrival and seeing one we would recall and do the traditional good luck ritual. Wipe your right thumb across the palm of your left hand and doubling up your right hand strike the left palm. Do this routine three times and it was suppose to bring you good luck. In the early spring mayflowers came out on the pastures west of our community and we would go and pick a bouquet for mother.  She was always so thrilled to get them and put them in a vase to set on the kitchen table. One of the best things about spring was that you could shed your overshoes, winter coat, mittens, cap with earflaps and feel 20 pounds lighter.

We really knew that spring had arrived when recess time came and we could play marbles.  Sometimes it was a bit of a chore to find a dry spot but the south side of our school building afforded a great location. We would draw a three foot round circle in the dirt and then go back a number of yards and scratch a “lag line.” Lag up to the circle and then get our your favorite shooter. Some fellows had a great way of pushing the shooter with their thumb and other used a knuckle flip.  I could never master that knuckle flip but managed to knock a number of marbles out of the pot so kept pretty even. But marbles and spring went together. Another place we played marbles was in the center of the street.  The streets were graveled and the center seemed to dry out early. Nobody bothered us or told us to get off the street nor did we worry much about traffic, there wasn’t any.  If a vehicle did come it gave us the courtesy of driving as far to one side as afforded so as not to stop our great marble game.  Many of you can remember the embarrassment of accidentally spilling all of your marbles in the schoolroom.  That little commotion really interrupted the class schedule as well as getting the teacher mad at you.

Another sure sign of spring was the return of flies. Our farm friends had cows, pigs and chickens that helped the fly population but we city folk were not exempt.  Many of our neighbors raised chickens and ducks and within one block of our home. There were also several cows quartered nearby.  Flies are equal-opportunity pests and early on we heard “Don’t open the screen door!” Flies could form a solid mat on the screen door, as they wanted to get into the house, so one had to be constantly on guard to keep out the unwelcome guests. One of our defense weapons was ribbon of sticky paper that uncoiled from little green tubes, which were hung from the ceiling. A thumbtack was even provided. The long sticky strips hung from the ceilings of butcher shops, ice cream parlors, drugstores and grocery stores as well as in our houses. Flies that were seeking you out would bump into the strips and get caught. Another seeker of flies was a large sheet of sticky paper placed where flies would land. The fly would land on the paper and stay. It also caught cats and little children.  If you anchored your fingers on those sheets it was a mess to extract them and usually the paper could find your other hand and chin before you escaped. I recall a gag that Red Skeleton did trying to get untangled from those sheets of sticky flypaper.  It was hilarious. Other weapons in an attempt to rid the farms, animals and homes from flies were fly spray and fly “guns.”

Animals really suffered in the warm months with those flies.  Horses seemed to attract flies and the owners put on fly covers on their backs and even a sort of round screen attachment on the horse’s mouth and nose to keep the flies off.  Cows were forever swishing their tails and I have from good authority (Connie) that while milking a cow the tail is not a soft touch when twirled in your direction across the face. She told me it stings getting smacked with a cow’s tail plus the tail is not the cleanest part of the cow.

 Spring is a rebirth of life and a time for planting. Gardens are planted and seeds sprout and grow in spring.  A sure sign of spring was seeing the farmers in their fields preparing the ground and planting the seeds.  Watching mother and father robin build a nest is awe-inspiring.  Each flight by one of the robins with bits of straw and paper will eventually form into a nest.  Many times we have observed one of them sitting on the eggs and knowing full well that spring has arrived. The buds come out on the trees, weeds grow and the grass needs mowing are all signs of spring.  It is a great time to be alive and it renews our spirits to the wonders of nature.

Learning

The weather here in AZ is just right now. Everybody asks, "When are you going back?" We don't know as we both have appointments at Mayo this week, I for a check up and Connie for a sleep disorder. Probably the middle of May. Our golf leagues start at 7:00 am next week.
This month I learned two very important things:
                1. The male connection for electricity has a larger prong on the left side. Wow! and here i had been just inserting the plug and saying I have 50 % to 50 % chance of getting it wrong or right.I used to say if it connected it would be a great day and if not right, well.
                 2. Ladies wouldn't know but I learned last week that many men's urinals have a button on the top to flush. Wow! and here I thought all along that gravity would do the job..
   Several years ago Connie and I were up at Las Vegas and went into Caesars Palace restroom. I almost died laughing as there was some old geezer sitting on one of the urinals. Why there I never knew but several young fellows were really having a laugh at the old fellows expense. 

Duck or Eagle

This was a new one on me.  I'd never seen it and liked it.  I thought you might, too.  
 

 

Ducks Quack - Eagles Soar   This puts "life, living, and leading" in a whole new light--" No one can make you serve customers well....that's because great service is a choice. Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point. He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing  Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for  Harvey . He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.' Taken aback,  Harvey read the card. It said: Wally's  Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.... This blew  Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.' My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.' Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice..' Almost stuttering,  Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.' Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and  USA   Today..' As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.' And as if that weren't enough, Wally told  Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised  Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if  Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts... 'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?' Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always.  In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do.  Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself.. He said, 'Stop complaining!  Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.' 'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally. 'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.' 'I take it that has paid off for you,'  Harvey   said. 'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action. Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting. Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. How about us?  Smile, and the whole world smiles with you.... The ball is in our hands! A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up... let us do good to all people. Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar.  Have a nice day, unless you already have other plans.         SORROW looks back, WORRY looks around, and FAITH looks UP...   "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain." Have a sparkling day

 

OKOBOJI SWINGERS

Sunday we had several of the Okoboji Swingers here at our house in Leisure World. It was a great day and great time. Had lots of catching up and talking. We also invited our very dear friends and neighbors from the townhouse on Emerald Hills-Jim and Marline Avery. They area all "snowbirds" living the great life in Arizona.  The weather was great and they all sat around on our west patio. Fun!

Photo Contest

Castle in Ireland

Window Box in Ireland

Entrance to Horse farm in Ireland

Bathtub outside of Antique Shop-Cottonwood, AZ

Canal in Ireland-Honorable Mention Ribbon

Depot at Perkinsville-Verde Canyon RR

Hello,This week our Art Group held and art show. Many enter photos and paintings. Part of the show is photography and the photos are judged. Every year think I should enter some of  our photos so this year took the plunge. Going to an Estate Sale purchased six or more frames. We have hundreds of photos so picked out six and ran them through Print Shop and placed them in the frames. Many of the participants buy beautiful frames and get the frame shops to matte their photos. I put borders on mine using Print Shop 23.  Not knowing what to expect I entered six and hung them for the judges. One of my photos did win an "Honorable Mention" which pleased us. Looking at the photos that received blue ribbons it appeared the judges like animals and birds but we were happy. Have a little better idea of what to place in next year. This is just one of the "perks" living in Leisure World.

WRONG FUNERAL

THIS WAS TOO GOOD NOT TO PASS ALONG.  Many years ago my grandmother, Georgia Holcomb, (96) passed away and  six of her grandsons carried the coffin including myself. Grandma Holcomb always had a tinkle in her eye and ready comment for all occasions. As we were carrying her from the church one of the grandsons said, "I'll bet Grandma will have something to say about this being carried by six young men." None of us could keep a straight face and people probably wondered about us smiling and chuckling as we carried Grandma to her grave.   THE WRONG FUNERAL God doesn't make mistakes. He puts us where we are to be. They say there are no mistakes, for everything there is a purpose.  Makes you think... Enjoy! We'll never know where our paths will take us! **AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ**  This is really beautiful.. . Consumed by my loss, I didn't notice the hardness of the pew where I sat. I was at the funeral of my dearest friend - my mother. She finally had lost her long battle with cancer. The hurt was so intense; I found it hard to breathe at times. Always supportive, Mother clapped loudest at my school plays, held box of tissues while listening to my first heartbreak, comforted me at my father's death, encouraged me in college, and prayed for me my entire life.  When mother's illness was diagnosed, my sister had a new baby and my brother had recently married his childhood sweetheart, so it fell on me, the 27-year-old middle child without entanglements, to take care of her.  I counted it an honor.  'What now, Lord?'  I asked sitting in church. My life stretched out before me as an empty abyss. My brother sat stoically with his face toward the cross while clutching his wife's hand.  My sister sat slumped against her husband's shoulder, his arms around her as she cradled their child...  All so deeply grieving, no one noticed I sat alone. My place had been with our mother, preparing her meals, helping her walk, taking her to the doctor, seeing to her medication, reading the Bible together.   Now she was with the Lord.  My work was finished, and I was alone.  I heard a door open and slam shut at the back of the church.  Quick footsteps hurried along the carpeted floor.... An exasperated young man looked around briefly and then sat next to me.  He folded his hands and placed them on his lap. His eyes were brimming with tears.  He began to sniffle. 'I'm late,' he explained, though no explanation was necessary.  After several eulogies, he leaned over and commented, 'Why do they keep calling Mary by the name of ' Margaret?''  'Because, that was her name, Margaret.  Never Mary, no one called her 'Mary,'' I whispered.  I wondered why this person couldn't have sat on the other side of the church.  He interrupted my grieving with his tears and fidgeting. Who was this stranger anyway? 'No, that isn't correct,' he insisted, as several people glanced over at us whispering, 'Her name is Mary, Mary Peters.'  'That isn't who this is.'  'Isn't this the Lutheran church?'  'No, the Lutheran church is across the street.'  'Oh.'  'I believe you're at the wrong funeral, Sir.'  The solemnest of the occasion mixed with the realization of the man's mistake bubbled up inside me and came out as laughter.  I cupped my hands over my face, hoping it would be interpreted as sobs. The creaking pew gave me away.  Sharp looks from other mourners only made the situation seem more hilarious.  I peeked at the bewildered, misguided man seated beside me.  He was laughing; too, as he glanced around, deciding it was too late for an uneventful exit.  I imagined Mother laughing.  At the final 'Amen,' we darted out a door and into the parking lot.  'I do believe we'll be the talk of the town,' he smiled.  He said his name was Rick and since he had missed his aunt's funeral, asked me out for a cup of coffee. That afternoon began a lifelong journey for me with this man who attended the wrong funeral, but was in the right place.  A year after our meeting, we were married at a country church where he was the assistant pastor.  This time we both arrived at the same church, right on time... In my time of sorrow, God gave me laughter.  In place of loneliness, God gave me love.   This past June, we celebrated our twenty-second wedding anniversary.  Whenever anyone asks us how we met, Rick tells them, 'Her mother and my Aunt Mary introduced us, and it's truly a match made in heaven.' If you Love God, and are not ashamed of all the marvelous things he has done for you, send this on to others. REMEMBER, God doesn't make mistakes. He puts us where we are to be.