Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 264
Growing up and living on a farm for most of my life, I’ve learned to have hope. I was raised with hope. A farmer and his wife are the eternal optimists most of the time. They work and prepare the farmland, plant the seed, and trust and have hope rains will come. They hope a damaging storm won’t come along and destroy all they worked hard for. When there is a drought during the hot summer months and the pasture grasses are about used up, and the ponds are drying up, hope still remains that soon the rains will arrive. I know that sometimes farmer...
The Christmas Spirit continued as Sunday found a friend and myself were seated in the balcony of a beautifully restored theater building preparing to complete another of my “bucket list” selections. I was prepared to witness a live production of The Nutcracker Ballet. From my childhood days in Stockton, Kan., my mother seemed to want me to experience all musical interests, to see what could become a good fit. My parents started me taking piano lessons at age 5 with Mrs. Pauley as my first piano teacher. At age 6, I was enrolled in a dance cla...
For some reason I had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. Maybe it was because of the unusual warmer temperatures, as the temperatures lately have climbed into the 50s, 60s and even into the 70s. There was also going to be the lack of some of the family’s presence during the holidays that usually comes, and of course there is the COVID virus still making the rounds and it doesn’t seem to give up. Shopping for presents is getting harder for me to do, as those all-day shopping trips I took years back tire me out more tha...
We lost a great Kansan and American yesterday, Senator Bob Dole. Born in Russell, Kan., Dole was six years old when the stock market crashed and he grew up in the depression years. In his book, One Soldier’s Story, he told about those hard times when his mother sold sewing machines to help make ends meet and his father was a dedicated employee who only missed one day of work in more than 40 years. In Dole’s younger years in Russell, he worked as a newspaper delivery boy and later was a “soda jerk” at the local drug store. He knew what it was...
Happy Thanksgiving! Though we should be thankful for what we have been given year around, this is a special time of the year set for us to be giving thanks. Somewhere along the way, it wasn’t just enough to give thanks on this special day, it became a time to eat all the wonderful foods that through the years has become associated with Thanksgiving. On social media a person can find all kinds of ways to incorporate a Thanksgiving food item into recipes such as whipped cranberry salad, cranberry and orange salad, Cranberry Jell-O Supreme. R...
Monday was one of those beautiful fall days in the country. These kinds of days are becoming rare so we best enjoy them while they last. The recent freeze has caused leaves to fall from most of the trees. But some leaves are being stubborn, and just like me, don’t want to see fall come to an end. Today is one of those blessed times that rewards those who are rural dwellers. As I’ve shared before, there are pluses and minuses for living in the wide open spaces. Living almost 20 miles from a grocery store can be challenging but we learn when a t...
This week is a special patriotic week for me as it is every year. November 10 is the birthday of the United States Marine Corps and this year it is their 246th birthday. As I’ve shared many times in Country Roads, my father went into the service during WWII. He signed up for the Navy and was later transferred to serve as a Marine medic corpsman. He was a true Marine and was proud of it. The Second Continental Congress passed a resolution establishing two battalions of Continental Marines on Nov. 10, 1775. Years later, my son would also serve i...
One room schoolhouses are hard to find as most have deteriorated through the years by weather and abandonment. These one room schoolhouses dotted the country side, and were only a few miles apart, when farms were much smaller. Farm families needed schooling for their children. Without modern transportation, the schoolhouses were walking distance. District No. 39, West Walnut, stubbornly remains standing a few miles south of Northbranch. This school district was organized in 1872, in the wee...
Within the past few weeks my hometown area lost three women who were considered to be roll models for many my age as we were growing up. Those in the older generation sometimes don’t realize how much influence they can be for the younger generation. One of these women was never afraid to show her strong faith in God and her strong love for her husband. She also had a love for her husband’s family as they all lived in the same rural area and were all attached in the family’s farming operations. She and her sister-in-laws and her husba...
It’s the sign of the times. Some of the sayings and words we used years ago might get a blank look if used today. Here are a few of those back-in-time sayings and words that have given way to the modern times. The word “baloney” or “hogwash” were used to describe something thought to be false or misspoken. Today some like to say it’s “fake news.” What was once thought of as being an “icebox” is now a refrigerator. A “pocket book” is now a purse. Going “courting” is now a couple going out on a date. Years ago a person was thought to be a...
Babies are a sure sign of positivity and gives one a deep hearted good feeling about the future. I received such a feeling when I got to hold my great-great niece recently. My great niece and her husband live a distance away so we don’t get to see them often but whenever they come this way to make a family visit, I hopefully get to see them and their dear baby. The first time getting to hold her was when she was only a month old. On this visit she is now five-months-old. With a green and gold polka dotted dress on, little white socks with gold...
House designers these days say having a “mud room” in the house is a must. On a farm, what some today would term as being a “mud room” could be called a “catch all room” and to all farmwives, it is a must have room. It is entered when a family member comes inside the house. At the farm home where I grew up, my parents didn’t have a catch all room. Instead we had a screened in back porch which served as one. As in most farmhouses, the most used entrance led into the kitchen so the screened in porch was where we would place our overshoes, wi...
It’s getting to the end of the camping season and that saddens me. I know not everyone feels the same as I do about time at the lakes with a camper trailer. Years ago, when our sons were young, my husband and I thought we needed to get away from the farming duties and our outside jobs for a day or two. Quality time with our boys was important to us. We came up with the idea of purchasing a camper trailer and going to some place for time together. With the closest lake only a few miles away from our farm, we knew chores could still be done if n...
Gale Jeffery, rural Burr Oak, has found a unique ironclad hobby featuring agricultural history. Six years ago this cow-calf operator and semi retired farmer started making shelves and tables as a place to display his hunted mounts. As people saw Jeffery's creations, his hobby began to grow. Now it keeps him occupied in his spare time. His tables, shelves and stools are unique because they are made out of cast iron, incorporating mostly old antique farm items. Since Jeffery is a farmer-rancher,...
The country roads are busy this week with the fall harvest in full swing but they are also scenic. The fall colors are appearing. Travelers can take time to enjoy the rural fall happenings. Some of the early leafing trees are beginning to show some colors here and there. Some of the cottonwoods are even losing their leaves. The draws in the pastures are featuring colorful wildflowers and plumes of the tall native grasses. Bright yellows can be seen in the Goldenrods, the Fringeleaf Tuckseed, and the thick Maximillian Sunflowers. Blue and...
Do you have your “Bucket List” written down and starting to cross things off of it? For those who haven’t heard of what a Bucket List is, it’s a list visiting places, doing things and seeing sights a person wants to do or see before they leave this ole world behind. Sounds a little morbid but facing the facts, the appointed time will come, sometimes sooner than later. When I first heard the term Bucket List, it was when my husband and I attended the 2007 movie so named. It starred two seasoned actors, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The sto...
September 11, brings mixed feelings to mind of horror, shock, sorrow, disbelief and even vengeance. It’s hard to believe it was 20 years ago the tragic attacks happened that destroyed the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York, part of the Pentagon on the outskirts of our Nation’s Capitol, and later the crash of an airplane as heroic passengers were overtaking the hijackers. Those who remember that day will never forget it. Even though we in the Midwest were thousands of miles away, we felt the pain and horror as we knew our bel...
My container garden is overflowing! When deciding to downsize my vegetable garden this year, I imagined my produce would certainly be limited but not so. My farmer husband came up with the idea of using livestock “licking tubs” this year as garden containers, so four tubs were found. He drilled holes in the bottom of the tubs. They were filled with a combination of field soil and garden soil. Deciding what to plant in my limited container garden was hard. It was decided to only plant our favorites and what we would use the most. I was cer...
Visits to my farm usually takes me through my hometown and out west over the White Rock Creek Bridge. As the high school football season begins, the drive brings back a lot of memories. After I cross the White Rock Creek bridge, I see what once was the high school football field where I attended many football games. It looks nothing like it once did. The tall scoreboard is missing, the goal posts are no longer in place and the bleachers along with the speaker’s stand were removed years ago. The well tended grass that was mowed for the games a...
For the past two weeks, students have been returning to their classrooms and getting acquainted with their teacher or teachers. Recently a post on social media asked people to name their kindergarten or first grade teachers. I’m sure they were great teachers but I can’t remember their names. When my parents decided to move back to the farm in Jewell County, I attended a one- room country school, Oak Creek. I remember most of those great teachers including Jeaniece (Morris) Montgomery who helped me so much as I came from a class of 60, to the...
Losing something becomes more common the older a person gets. Losing one’s cell phone or reading glasses becomes a weekly or sometimes daily happening. It’s getting to where I would like to drop the word “losing,” and start using the word “misplaced.” Eventually the item which mysteriously disappeared turns up. It may be found within minutes, hours, days or even longer. Sometimes finding the lost humbles one’s self, like locating the glasses on top of your head. There are those times when the worst happens, like the panicky time when a child...
Monday afternoon the temperature gauge inched up towards the high 90s with predictions of reaching up into the 100s. Guess we could say it’s a typical Kansas-Nebraska August day for sure. It was so hot an egg could be fried on the sidewalk. It was as hot as a pistol! It was as hot as a fire cracker! It was roasting hot! I’m sure there are many more sayings that relate to a hot day. A radio announcer suggested with the swimming pools closing with the beginning of school, it would be a good day to hit the pool. I remember as a youth going to the...
This spring and summer, people in America are ready to burst out, make a break for it and get away. Much like a caged bird, Americans were confined long enough following the COVID-19 scare and lockdown, and are ready to get out of the cage. When trying to make reservations at hotels while forming trip plans, it seemed rooms were all booked for months ahead and the prices had risen. If a person was looking to purchase recreational vehicles they were selling like hot cakes. If a person was fortunate enough to have or purchase a camper, making res...
A question asked on social media yesterday, was “ What is a word you most associate with your mother?” It didn’t take me long to come up with my word associated with my mother. It would be “Horses”! She grew up with horses. Her father, Henry Heskett, was a true cowboy of the western plains of Kansas. He broke horses, was a horse trader, and liked to ride them. When my parents, sister and I, moved off the farm near Burr Oak to Stockton,Kan., the “horse fever” really hit Mother. Dad must have eventually caught it as he too became active in the...
Things change and I certainly realize this the older I get. The last several wedding ceremonies I have been attended have been held outdoors at what is called a chosen “Venue” which officially is termed as “the place where something happens, especially an organized event.” Popular venues for weddings include a barn not far from the Schlaefli Farm and along the shore line of a lake, on a rolling prairie hill and on a grassy golf course. More than 50 years ago, in what some would term as being “too many years ago,” the wedding ceremony was almost...
