Goldfield.
At Goldfield, they dropped off the motor home, then went to the
hospital to see Lucas. The older folks stayed a while trying to talk
to Lucas, but he seemed to have a bad time trying to talk and kept
drifting off to sleep. They
found out they could take him back to the farm the next day, so they
went out to the farm, leaving Linc, who wanted to stay with his
Grandfather.
A while after the folks left, Lucas motioned for Linc to come closer
. Said he didn't want any one to know he could talk ok. To many
asking him what happened. Linc went an sat next to him, and said, "
You old fake, what did happen?" Lucas went on to tell Linc, "I'm in
deep trouble Boy, don't know how I will be able to get out of this
one." "I killed a man." "What ?!" Linc said. Lucas went on to tell
him how last week, Dan Young came to Goldfield. Found out I had built
a cabin at the mine, and moved in. Came to the farm and wanted Lucas
to come out to the mine and see what he was up to. Lucas went there
and found Dan had twenty pounds of small gold he had stolen at places
where he had worked, and now he wanted to pretend it all came from the
Lucky Day mine little bit at a time so no one would get suspicious.
When told there was no way that was going to happen, they got in a
fight there in the mine, when Lucas hit Dan in the head with a shovel.
"Killed him deader than a doornail" said Lucas. "I guess I panicked.
I came back to the farm to get some dynamite to blow the mine with him
in it, but woke up here in the hospital. Now I don't know what to do.
I don't want the rest of the family to find out. One good thing,
Janet isn't here to see my down fall." Linc was dumbfounded. He told
Lucas not to panic anymore. To calm down, and when they all got back
out to the farm he would take care of it. Yes, somehow, one way or
another he would take care of it. Not to worry any more, because he
would do anything for Lucas.
Back at the farm, Linc got some dynamite and drove on back out to the
mine. Found out that Dan was very much alive and had been placing his
stolen gold in to small bags, that he thought to pawn off as Lucky
Day mine gold. Linc told Dan that he was trespassing, and wanted him
out of the place posthaste, or he was call in the cops. He told Dan
that he was the owner and that there was no Lucky Day mine claim any
more. Linc told him to hit the road right now. Dan Sad, This wasn't
the end of it. He was going to the cops and tell how Lucas had almost
killed him, and left him for dead. He would have him arrested for
attempted murder. Linc told him to go ahead if he could explain what
he was doing trespassing and with stolen gold. While Dan was clearing
out his stuff, Linc went to the mine, and blew it shut. He waited
till Dan was gone for a couple of hours before he went back to the
farm. He went in and whispered to Lucas, "you didn't kill him. He
was in the cabin and I ran him out of town. I'll tell you all about
it later tonight after everyone has gone to bed." Lucas heaved a big
sigh of relief, squeezed Linc's hand and smiled a great big smile.
Later that evening, Linc went on to tell Lucas how he had found Dan
at the cabin and confronted him about being a trespasser. since he now
owned the farm called Windy Acres. Told him the mine was not a valid
claim any longer. It was homestead now. How he told him to get out or
he would call the cops. He told Lucas about the threat of going to the
cops himself and having Lucas arrested for attempted murder. Lucas
frowned at this but Linc said not to worry. He wouldn't be able to
explain the rest to the cops, so he left, and Linc told Lucas he blew
the mine so Dan couldn't come back and try to use it ever again. Lucas
said, "I knew I could rely on you Boy. I just knew it."
Now that all the worries about what led up to the stroke had passed,
Lucas's health had greatly improved. After a few more days the family
decide to go back to their respective homes, but Linc wanted to spend
more time with his Grandfather.
Lucas now was able to get around much better, and he was getting
cabin fever. Linc decided to take him up to the cabin. They drove up
to the mine. At least Dan Young was not there. They went into the
cabin but left the door open so it could air out. Linc started a fire
in the small cook stove, put the dish pan on it and poured what water
was left in it then went to the creek to fill the bucket. Lucas
walked around the cabin and picked up things Dan had left and put
them in a garbage bag then went outside to sit in the sun. Back in the
cabin, Linc put water in the teakettle to heat. Looked like every
dish in the place was dirty so Linc got them all washed up, then put
on a pot of coffee. While it was perking he went around the cabin
picking up all the cans Dan had used as ash trays and all the rest of
the garbage he could find, then swept the place out. Took the rugs
out and shook them and put them on the woodpile in the sunlight to air
out.
He poured out a couple cups of coffee and went out to sit in the sun
with Lucas.. As they drank their coffee, they reminisced about all
the good times they had spent here when Linc was visiting. The rest
of the family were not as enthusiastic about the cabin and the mine.
They sat there and had a second cup of coffee then Linc washed the
cups and coffeepot. Rolled up the mattresses on the bunks. Put the
pillows back in the trunk they kept them and the bedding in. Put all
the dirty bedding in garbage bags and replaced the rugs. Lucas had to
go back and look around the cabin. He then closed the door with a
deep sigh and patted it. He said to Linc, "You know I hate to think
that this may be the last time I am able to come back here. I love
this old place". Linc hugged him and patted him on the back and said,
" I'm planning on sticking around here for a while. I can bring you
up here every day if you want". This brought a smile to the old mans
face as they loaded the bags in the truck getting ready to go back to
the farm.
Back at the farm Linc gave the bags with the laundry to Trudy. Told
her there was no hurry, jut keep the stuff separate from the other
bedding.
Lucas was getting stronger as the days passed. They drove over to the
Bar- B ranch for a visit and to see how things were going. Everyone
was glad to see him and asked a lot of questions. The Manager said
he was about to send Axel the quarterly ranch report.
On the way back to the farm they stopped in at the local restaurant
for a bite to eat and saw the sheriff, Tom Hays there having lunch.
Tom came over to there table and said to Lucas, "I hear you are a
killer, or a would be killer anyway. A guy that was in town a while
back told everybody down at Rusty's Bar, that you were. Said that
you tried to kill him, and left him for dead. Told me the same thing
when I had to lock him up for being drunk and disorderly. Declined to
press charges when he sobered up the next day, so I figured there had
to be nothing to it then. But hey! You are looking good since I saw
you up at the Hospital after they took you in". Most of the patrons
in the place knew Lucas and had to come, sit a bit and talk. Lucas
introduced Linc to the few who didn't know him. Some said they would
come to visit at the farm now that they knew he was up and about.
A week later a couple of ladies from the church came for a visit.
Brought cookies. Trudy provided coffee, and Linc stole away as fast
as he could.
He planned to explore back up at the mine without Lucas.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Monday, March 30, 2020
Memory.
From the ties that bind.
Utah memories.
There was an old family friend who wanted to start up a business along
side the highway, and across the road from our house.This was on the
other side of the irrigation canal, that was above our house too. Our
house that sat down below the irrigation canal. He had recently bought
a piece of property up there.
The highway from Ogden to Salt Lake, and up the Weber Canyon to
Wyoming, went past our house on the right side. A ways past our house
is where it forked, George Kendall had a store and gas station in
between the forks.
Well the family friend who's name was Danzik, wanted to have a cafe in
an old streetcar that he had hauled in to the new property he had
bought. The wheels and axels had been taken off and it had been set
on a foundation.
Then the highway department got a wild hair up their butt and decided
to cut my Grandparents pasture in half and move the highway up in back
of the houses, cutting thru the hillside and destroying the pasture in
the process. That cut off access to the new property with the old
streetcar.
Danzik abandoned the streetcar idea of the diner, and the streecar
was left to disintegrate by its self.
Anyway, years later, he put a new store and gas station on the new
road to Wyoming, just up from the end of my Grandparents upper
pasture. He also raised turkeys on a part of it. He had a big pen
with a couple of black bear cubs, named Barney and Buster as a tourist
attraction.
The old highway was still being used because it went on to Salt lake.
They even left the fork that went to Woming open. Why the new highway
was made was still a wonder. It served no real purpose. It screwed
Danzik and my Grandparents royally as they lost pasture due to
eminent domain. There was no way and no gates to get over the new
highway even if they could have used the upper portion as pasture.
Danzik let us kids have access to the old streetcar for a playhouse.
My Uncle Heward put up a swing in the part where the engineer used to
sit, since the whole streetcar had been gutted. Then he got a plank
left over from the making of the foundation and fixed it onto one of
the axels with the wheels still on it, for a teeter totter. We made
it a sort of home away from home. We hauled in furniture and lots of
other stuff we found in the dump, to fix it up. That ole red flyer
wagon got big time use there for sure. With lunches form home and
apples from an old tree down the irrigation ditch a ways, it was a
great place to play. We even let Max Kendell come and play with us.
Never his Sister Zelda. Max brought lots of sneaked goodies with him
when he came.
Utah memories.
There was an old family friend who wanted to start up a business along
side the highway, and across the road from our house.This was on the
other side of the irrigation canal, that was above our house too. Our
house that sat down below the irrigation canal. He had recently bought
a piece of property up there.
The highway from Ogden to Salt Lake, and up the Weber Canyon to
Wyoming, went past our house on the right side. A ways past our house
is where it forked, George Kendall had a store and gas station in
between the forks.
Well the family friend who's name was Danzik, wanted to have a cafe in
an old streetcar that he had hauled in to the new property he had
bought. The wheels and axels had been taken off and it had been set
on a foundation.
Then the highway department got a wild hair up their butt and decided
to cut my Grandparents pasture in half and move the highway up in back
of the houses, cutting thru the hillside and destroying the pasture in
the process. That cut off access to the new property with the old
streetcar.
Danzik abandoned the streetcar idea of the diner, and the streecar
was left to disintegrate by its self.
Anyway, years later, he put a new store and gas station on the new
road to Wyoming, just up from the end of my Grandparents upper
pasture. He also raised turkeys on a part of it. He had a big pen
with a couple of black bear cubs, named Barney and Buster as a tourist
attraction.
The old highway was still being used because it went on to Salt lake.
They even left the fork that went to Woming open. Why the new highway
was made was still a wonder. It served no real purpose. It screwed
Danzik and my Grandparents royally as they lost pasture due to
eminent domain. There was no way and no gates to get over the new
highway even if they could have used the upper portion as pasture.
Danzik let us kids have access to the old streetcar for a playhouse.
My Uncle Heward put up a swing in the part where the engineer used to
sit, since the whole streetcar had been gutted. Then he got a plank
left over from the making of the foundation and fixed it onto one of
the axels with the wheels still on it, for a teeter totter. We made
it a sort of home away from home. We hauled in furniture and lots of
other stuff we found in the dump, to fix it up. That ole red flyer
wagon got big time use there for sure. With lunches form home and
apples from an old tree down the irrigation ditch a ways, it was a
great place to play. We even let Max Kendell come and play with us.
Never his Sister Zelda. Max brought lots of sneaked goodies with him
when he came.
Friday, March 27, 2020
News from Utah.
As the entered the hotel the desk clerk handed them the telegrams.
Linc's father opened the one from Matilda first. It read, Come
home soonest. Your Father has had stroke. M. H.
He then opened the one from his Brother Axel that read, Return to
Utah ASAP. Dad has suffered a stroke. Axel.
In their room, Thomas called the airlines to get passage ASAP and Linc
started to pack up their belongings. They were fortunate to get a
flight back to the US within the next two hours, so they headed to the
airport.
Six hours later after a couple of plane trades and delays, they
landed at the Salt Lake airport where they were met by Matilda, and
boarded a plane for Las Vegas where they were met by Uncle Axel.
This was Linc's, Father's, Brother. James Axel Hanks who was Married
to Fannie Booth. They didn't have any children. He took them back to
his mini ranch he called "El Gato Grande". The Big Cat, because of
the huge stuffed cougar in the den. It was in the house when He
bought it The last owner killed the cat when it tried to get in his
chicken house. After he died, his wife didn't want the thing so she
left it in the house. Axel decided to keep it and named the place
after it. Linc thought it was cool. Both Axel and Fannie were
lawyers.
It was too late to start the drive to Grandfather Hanks ranch so they
spent the night here with Axel and Fannie.
Thomas and Axel had two sisters, Edith Anne, second born who was
married to a Baptist preacher name of Jacob Jones. And third born
Agnes Louise, Married to a contractor Name of Fred Annis. Thomas
was the youngest of the family.
The Father of the family was James Lucas Hanks Married to Janet
Bertrum. James Lucas Hanks, was born in Salt City Utah to Ramond
Eli Hanks and Elizabeth Sims.
As a young man of twenty he met a fellow, name of Dan Young, who was
a prospector and wanted someone to partner with him in a venture
over in Nevada. They went over and did some prospecting around
Manhattan and other places, including Goldfield Nevada. They found
a creek outside of Goldfield that did have a bit of gold and filed a
claim. Later, they found a small vein and filed a hard rock claim,
they Called the Lucky Day Mine.. They weren't getting a lot of gold
but the new mine was promising. Dan just wasn't satisfied and wanted
to strike out for Alaska. James declined, saying he wanted to stick
around and maybe buy some land and build a cabin, since they were
living in a tent.
Dan took off and went on up to Alaska. Even though his name was still
on the claim.
Up to this time, they had milled the ore out by hand in a tiny hand
mill. James was lucky a few times and hit a rich pocket. He bought a
larger hand mill, and built a small cabin on the claim. After a few
more real nice pockets, he started buying up as much land as he could
around the claim, till he had acquired two hundred acres. This by
converting the mining claim to a homestead claim. Not a large ranch by
any means but good enough to raise a family on. He had met a girl on a
ranch near him and these thoughts filled his mind. Janet Bertrum was
her name . She was the only child of a wealthy rancher, but she did
take a shine to him. Met her at a church social. Her Dad may have
looked down his nose at Lucas, but had to admit he was a hard worker.
The two lovebirds had been seeing each other for about three months
when her Parents were killed in a head on collision with a drunk
driver. Janet couldn't begin to run the ranch so the two got married.
The Bertrum ranch, called the Bar-B, had a ranch manager and a crew of
8 to run it, so the newlyweds lived at James ranch he called, "Windy
Acres", out highway 96 near the town of Goldfield. They built a
large four bedroom house on it at the mouth of the canyon where the
mine was located. The wind blew up the canyon in the morning, and down
it in the evening. Hot a hard wind, but enough for James to call his
ranch Windy Acres. The place was more farm than ranch. Had a dozen
cows, a few pigs, some chickens, lots of fruit and nut trees plus a
huge garden. Janet learned to can the produce and meats. They raised
the four children on it.
Axel said he wasn't cut out to be a farmer, and went to college to
become a lawyer.
Edith went to school back east and said she would never go back to Nevada.
Agnes met her husband when he came to Goldfield to do a job, and they
were now living in New Zealand.
When Thomas went to school; in Provo He met, and married, Matilda.
They stayed there to work and raise a family, But Linc was their only
child.
Lucas and Janet were the only family left on the farm. Linc dearly
loved the place and had since he spent one summer there when he was
nine, and again when he was thirteen years old. His folks always
managed to spend at least a week there every other year. He and his
Grandfather always went and stayed a day or so at the mine.
After the children left and Lucas and Janet grew older, they hired a
couple to live with them and help them. Couple named John and Trudy.
Janet had passed away two years ago and so this visit was an extremely
sad one. After Janet died, Axel, at the request of Lucas, put the
farm in Linc's name with himself having life estate. The old Bertram
ranch put in trust for the rest of the family.
Linc worshiped Lucas, and never grew tired of listening to the tales
of his ancestors, and tales of prospecting. This is probably one of
the reasons he went to school to be a geologist in the first place.
After spending the night at Axels place, the family all piled into
Axels motor home, with his jeep hooked behind, and drove on over to
Goldfield.
To be continued.
As the entered the hotel the desk clerk handed them the telegrams.
Linc's father opened the one from Matilda first. It read, Come
home soonest. Your Father has had stroke. M. H.
He then opened the one from his Brother Axel that read, Return to
Utah ASAP. Dad has suffered a stroke. Axel.
In their room, Thomas called the airlines to get passage ASAP and Linc
started to pack up their belongings. They were fortunate to get a
flight back to the US within the next two hours, so they headed to the
airport.
Six hours later after a couple of plane trades and delays, they
landed at the Salt Lake airport where they were met by Matilda, and
boarded a plane for Las Vegas where they were met by Uncle Axel.
This was Linc's, Father's, Brother. James Axel Hanks who was Married
to Fannie Booth. They didn't have any children. He took them back to
his mini ranch he called "El Gato Grande". The Big Cat, because of
the huge stuffed cougar in the den. It was in the house when He
bought it The last owner killed the cat when it tried to get in his
chicken house. After he died, his wife didn't want the thing so she
left it in the house. Axel decided to keep it and named the place
after it. Linc thought it was cool. Both Axel and Fannie were
lawyers.
It was too late to start the drive to Grandfather Hanks ranch so they
spent the night here with Axel and Fannie.
Thomas and Axel had two sisters, Edith Anne, second born who was
married to a Baptist preacher name of Jacob Jones. And third born
Agnes Louise, Married to a contractor Name of Fred Annis. Thomas
was the youngest of the family.
The Father of the family was James Lucas Hanks Married to Janet
Bertrum. James Lucas Hanks, was born in Salt City Utah to Ramond
Eli Hanks and Elizabeth Sims.
As a young man of twenty he met a fellow, name of Dan Young, who was
a prospector and wanted someone to partner with him in a venture
over in Nevada. They went over and did some prospecting around
Manhattan and other places, including Goldfield Nevada. They found
a creek outside of Goldfield that did have a bit of gold and filed a
claim. Later, they found a small vein and filed a hard rock claim,
they Called the Lucky Day Mine.. They weren't getting a lot of gold
but the new mine was promising. Dan just wasn't satisfied and wanted
to strike out for Alaska. James declined, saying he wanted to stick
around and maybe buy some land and build a cabin, since they were
living in a tent.
Dan took off and went on up to Alaska. Even though his name was still
on the claim.
Up to this time, they had milled the ore out by hand in a tiny hand
mill. James was lucky a few times and hit a rich pocket. He bought a
larger hand mill, and built a small cabin on the claim. After a few
more real nice pockets, he started buying up as much land as he could
around the claim, till he had acquired two hundred acres. This by
converting the mining claim to a homestead claim. Not a large ranch by
any means but good enough to raise a family on. He had met a girl on a
ranch near him and these thoughts filled his mind. Janet Bertrum was
her name . She was the only child of a wealthy rancher, but she did
take a shine to him. Met her at a church social. Her Dad may have
looked down his nose at Lucas, but had to admit he was a hard worker.
The two lovebirds had been seeing each other for about three months
when her Parents were killed in a head on collision with a drunk
driver. Janet couldn't begin to run the ranch so the two got married.
The Bertrum ranch, called the Bar-B, had a ranch manager and a crew of
8 to run it, so the newlyweds lived at James ranch he called, "Windy
Acres", out highway 96 near the town of Goldfield. They built a
large four bedroom house on it at the mouth of the canyon where the
mine was located. The wind blew up the canyon in the morning, and down
it in the evening. Hot a hard wind, but enough for James to call his
ranch Windy Acres. The place was more farm than ranch. Had a dozen
cows, a few pigs, some chickens, lots of fruit and nut trees plus a
huge garden. Janet learned to can the produce and meats. They raised
the four children on it.
Axel said he wasn't cut out to be a farmer, and went to college to
become a lawyer.
Edith went to school back east and said she would never go back to Nevada.
Agnes met her husband when he came to Goldfield to do a job, and they
were now living in New Zealand.
When Thomas went to school; in Provo He met, and married, Matilda.
They stayed there to work and raise a family, But Linc was their only
child.
Lucas and Janet were the only family left on the farm. Linc dearly
loved the place and had since he spent one summer there when he was
nine, and again when he was thirteen years old. His folks always
managed to spend at least a week there every other year. He and his
Grandfather always went and stayed a day or so at the mine.
After the children left and Lucas and Janet grew older, they hired a
couple to live with them and help them. Couple named John and Trudy.
Janet had passed away two years ago and so this visit was an extremely
sad one. After Janet died, Axel, at the request of Lucas, put the
farm in Linc's name with himself having life estate. The old Bertram
ranch put in trust for the rest of the family.
Linc worshiped Lucas, and never grew tired of listening to the tales
of his ancestors, and tales of prospecting. This is probably one of
the reasons he went to school to be a geologist in the first place.
After spending the night at Axels place, the family all piled into
Axels motor home, with his jeep hooked behind, and drove on over to
Goldfield.
To be continued.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Eden.
I remember when we were kids we used to up to Aunt Freda and Uncle
Lawerence's farm in Eden for a week or so in the summer. They always
raised a huge garden. My Uncle was a farmer after the war. The farm
was only 40 acres but they seemed to always make it work out for them
until the late 50's.
They had two big draft horses , a couple of milk cows, pigs, chickens
and a beef animal.
I got to drive the horse team when they gathered hay, or at least I
thought I did. I had the reins, but Uncle Lawerence gave the verbal
commands to the horses and they listened to him, and paid no attention
to me. Weldon, Fred and I were just on the hay wagon to tromp the hay
down as the horses pulled the wagon along and Uncle Lawerence, and a
helper, forked the hay up onto it.
Back at the barn, the hay was hoisted up to the hay loft with a big
claw that hung from the loft beam at the top of the barn. The claw was
attached with a rope to a pully from the beam that extended from the
loft door. The other end was attached to the horse collar and the
claw was lowered to the hay wagon, clawed up a big batch of hay and
closed together when the horse pulled the rope out, making the claw
with hay go up and into the loft door. Some times I rode the horse,
there again thinking I was doing all the work and sometimes I was in
the barn tromping down the hay a helper was taking from the claw and
forking into place in the loft. Uncle Lawrence opperated the claw rope
that made it grab the hay.
The draft horses were very smart animals. I used to ride it quite a
bit when it was doing chores. My Aunt Freda would send us out to the
mail box at the end of the road, about a quarter mile from the house.
We would go out there, get the mail and the horse would always go back
to the house, no matter how much I would try to make her go over to
the neighbors house to play with a girl who lived there. It listened
to my Aunt when it took us down to the creek to swim. It go there and
nowhere else. If you didn't tie her up good. she would go home and
leave you down at the creek, and you would have to walk home. No fun
if you are barefoot. Hay stubble hurts your feet.
When it was time to go home, we would pick gunny sacks of corn, boxes
of tomatoes. boxes of green beans, and gunny sacks of potatoes and
carrots. This stuff was taken back to Grandmas house where all of the
families pitched in to prepare it and can it up. We had a garden,
but it was very small compare to what was grown up at the Eden farm.
Home garden was mainly for use as ir was ready to eat. In the summer
and fall the fruit was done the same way. Harvested, prepared and
canned by the whole family. In those days the vegtables and tomatoes
were canned in cans. The cans were canned with a machine that closed
them up itght. All of us kids got to turn the handle of the canner
after an adult put the lids on them. One got the cans in a big box
from Sear's . Fruit was mainly put into jars. Sometimes apple butter
was put into cans as well."
I remember when we were kids we used to up to Aunt Freda and Uncle
Lawerence's farm in Eden for a week or so in the summer. They always
raised a huge garden. My Uncle was a farmer after the war. The farm
was only 40 acres but they seemed to always make it work out for them
until the late 50's.
They had two big draft horses , a couple of milk cows, pigs, chickens
and a beef animal.
I got to drive the horse team when they gathered hay, or at least I
thought I did. I had the reins, but Uncle Lawerence gave the verbal
commands to the horses and they listened to him, and paid no attention
to me. Weldon, Fred and I were just on the hay wagon to tromp the hay
down as the horses pulled the wagon along and Uncle Lawerence, and a
helper, forked the hay up onto it.
Back at the barn, the hay was hoisted up to the hay loft with a big
claw that hung from the loft beam at the top of the barn. The claw was
attached with a rope to a pully from the beam that extended from the
loft door. The other end was attached to the horse collar and the
claw was lowered to the hay wagon, clawed up a big batch of hay and
closed together when the horse pulled the rope out, making the claw
with hay go up and into the loft door. Some times I rode the horse,
there again thinking I was doing all the work and sometimes I was in
the barn tromping down the hay a helper was taking from the claw and
forking into place in the loft. Uncle Lawrence opperated the claw rope
that made it grab the hay.
The draft horses were very smart animals. I used to ride it quite a
bit when it was doing chores. My Aunt Freda would send us out to the
mail box at the end of the road, about a quarter mile from the house.
We would go out there, get the mail and the horse would always go back
to the house, no matter how much I would try to make her go over to
the neighbors house to play with a girl who lived there. It listened
to my Aunt when it took us down to the creek to swim. It go there and
nowhere else. If you didn't tie her up good. she would go home and
leave you down at the creek, and you would have to walk home. No fun
if you are barefoot. Hay stubble hurts your feet.
When it was time to go home, we would pick gunny sacks of corn, boxes
of tomatoes. boxes of green beans, and gunny sacks of potatoes and
carrots. This stuff was taken back to Grandmas house where all of the
families pitched in to prepare it and can it up. We had a garden,
but it was very small compare to what was grown up at the Eden farm.
Home garden was mainly for use as ir was ready to eat. In the summer
and fall the fruit was done the same way. Harvested, prepared and
canned by the whole family. In those days the vegtables and tomatoes
were canned in cans. The cans were canned with a machine that closed
them up itght. All of us kids got to turn the handle of the canner
after an adult put the lids on them. One got the cans in a big box
from Sear's . Fruit was mainly put into jars. Sometimes apple butter
was put into cans as well."
Sunday, March 22, 2020
One for the birds.
I remember one day when Grandpa Sharp was out cutting hay with a
scyth, He came back to the house for lunch. He wasn't wearing his hat,
he was carrying it I wondered why and ran up to see why. In it he had
over a dozen pheasant eggs. He had cut the head off the mother when
he swung the scyth over her nest there in the hay. Grandpa never saw
her until after he had done it. Grandpa put the eggs under an old
biddy hen that was always trying to hatch out the new layed eggs. A
week or so later they hatched out. All the babies followed the mother
hen just like they were chickens. They never knew the difference.
After a while Grandpa cut the feathers off one of their wings so they
couldn't fly out of the chicken run. In the fall when they were
grown, My Uncles killed them and Grandma canned them up.
scyth, He came back to the house for lunch. He wasn't wearing his hat,
he was carrying it I wondered why and ran up to see why. In it he had
over a dozen pheasant eggs. He had cut the head off the mother when
he swung the scyth over her nest there in the hay. Grandpa never saw
her until after he had done it. Grandpa put the eggs under an old
biddy hen that was always trying to hatch out the new layed eggs. A
week or so later they hatched out. All the babies followed the mother
hen just like they were chickens. They never knew the difference.
After a while Grandpa cut the feathers off one of their wings so they
couldn't fly out of the chicken run. In the fall when they were
grown, My Uncles killed them and Grandma canned them up.
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Egypt
As linc went back through the portal, he saw that his Father and the
teams were gathered around a portable table talking and looking at
some maps.
Linc talked to the time masters and filled them in on what went on in Pangea.
Linc looked around him, and saw the teams and his Father didn't seem
to see him and the time Masters. Until now he hadn't given any
thought as to how the time Masters were able to travel back and forth
in time. It finally dawned on him that they were doing this in the
fourth dimension. If so, how did they lose the power to do it ? Now
he could see how Bernard was able to pass thru the portal and get
things and be able to return, because he was going back in time, and
coming out of the portal in the same time he left. Linc could now
understand why he could see the time Masters and the others couldn't.
Now he could reason how he could be back in time for a long time and
gone from the present time, only minutes. He wanted to question them
about it but no time to now. They said something about the teams
going to Egypt, since some new burial vaults had been found. Said
Linc could access some portals there in Egypt while he was there. The
time master said he would keep in touch with him where ever he went.
His Father called to him, and explained how the team was going to go
to Egypt and join a different team to open and explore some new tombs.
They were in a place called, Saggara. A town south of Cairo. One
tomb was for a fifth dynasty noble.
Saggara was crowded when they got there. Good thing the Egyptian
team had foreseen this and had got them fairly good accommodations.
The news had spread like wildfire and there were teams from all over
the world, wanting to be in on the big opening to the public. The team
would be heading out into the countryside early the next morning so
while his Father met with some of the other teams, Linc went out into
the streets to have a look around. He browsed an old antique shop.
In it he found an old paint kit. Was like nothing he had ever seen
before. Still quite messy with old paint, but for some reason he was
drawn to it, and went up to purchase it. He asked the store keeper if
he knew anything about it. The only thing he could tell Linc, was
that he bought it off an old man who said he found it out in the
desert a long time ago, and it had been sitting around in the shop for
years. Linc paid the guy then left the shop. On the way back to the
hotel, he sat down on a bench and looked at the paint kit in the
brighter light here outside. On the side of it, in very faint
letters, he could read Ruben J. Hanks. "Well I'll be damned" he
exclaimed. This is hard to believe Linc thought. Of all places to
find something that had once belonged to a Hanks. Back at the hotel,
he talked with an antiquities expert on the Egyptian team. Asked if
he had ever heard of Ruben Hanks, and the man said, funny you should
ask that, because he had just recently heard that he was captured by
pirates and sold as a slave to an Egyptian tomb maker back in the 25th
century BEC, because he was an artist. It was said he became a tomb
painter. It would have been strange for a non native Egyptian to do
this, if so he must have been very good at the task.
At The Site of the Tombs
There was quite a crowd way out here in the middle of nowhere.
Everyone was milling around, waiting for the dignitaries to have
their speeches before the press. They explained how the tombs were
four thousand years old.
In the meantime Linc wandered around getting the feel of things. The
heavy equipment used in the excavation of a lot of the sand that had
drifted over the tombs since they were covered up, was parked off to
the side of the road coming into the site. Linc wandered over that
way. As he went around a backhoe, he saw a blue glow of a portal
against the side of an old small broken down pyramid. He approached
it then stepped through. He found himself in a long underground
tunnel, that had various offshoots. Looking in some of them he could
see that they were going to be burial spots for some very elite
people. In one he found an old man who was almost as startled to see
him as he was to see the old man in there. The old man asked," Did
you bring back me paint kit? You know I don't ave a lot of time to
get this ere tomb painted". Hey! The old man spoke to him in English.
Linc told the old man he didn't know a thing about his paint kit, and
asked him who he was. " My name is Ruben Anks. And I'm a trying to
get this ere tomb painted as soon as I can cause ole man Khuwy ain't
gittin any younger., an I ain't been able to find any blue or green
pigment that don't fade out almost before it dries down ere". Linc
could see that Ruben had outlined everything with a black paint and
filled in with white, brown, yellow red, and a rusty color. The very
pale blue's and green's hardly showed up. He asked Ruben how the
paint was made and Ruben told him it was made with ground up
minerals, mixed with egg whites. Linc thought a bit then asked Ruben
if there was a copper mine around. Ruben said, " yer wastin yer time
ere, cause I already asked about at", What Ruben had done so far was
fantastic, and Linc wanted to help him. Linc saw that there was
cups on the sarcophagus that contained black, white and red paint.
He could see the old guy needed cups for the other colors he was
using. He could help him out if he could find the minerals he needed
and more cups for the paints. He started to leave, then looked
around. The tomb was L shaped. Linc went around the corner of the
tomb, and saw a blue glow. He walked up to it and muttered to
himself, wonder where this goes. He stepped inside and came out in a
huge abandoned copper mine. The time master knew just where he had
to go. There was an old assay office that wasn't locked, where Linc
was able to get an old blasting cap box. He took it out to the mine
and collected all the minerals he needed. Back in the assay office he
found a mortar and pestle, and crushed and ground the minerals. He
then ran them through a screen then put the powered azurite,
malachite and turquoise into some big old acid jars. He collected a
bunch of old crucibles that lay on the floor, put everything back into
the box He went back out to the portal and back to Ruben. He showed
him the jars and asked him to show him how they were mixed. Ruben
couldn't believe his eyes. Here were the very vibrant colors he
desperately needed to finish up in this particular tomb.
He put the crucibles on the sarcophagus, poured the pigments and egg
whites and mixed the colors up. After painting, they dried a glowing
bright blues and green, that didn't fade. Ruben gave many thanks.
Linc watched him paint for a while, then asked why did he paint these
different figures like this. Ruben told him he had a script to
follow. Said most of the stuff he had to paint never even happened
but the script was to make Khuwy look good. Make him look like a
powerful person that did a lot of good. Linc thought they even had
hypocrites way back then too.
Back out side again, the dignitaries let the men pull back the stones
that covered the doorway to the tunnel. The teams all went to the
farthest tomb which was the one of Khuwy. Linc was amazed at what
Ruben had painted since he was there. He looked all around while the
dignitary explained the paintings prior the removal of the offerings
and lid being removed from the sarcophagus. The teams all admired
and exclaimed over the offering in the tomb before they were removed.
The dignitary was at a loss to explain how the modern, big acid jars,
crucibles, and blasting cap box was in the tomb. Linc has to smile to
himself, because he knew but wouldn't explain either. He looked where
Ruben had signed his name in a border. Part of the plaster had fallen
off because it had been too wet when the tomb was sealed, and it read,
ben ank. That was all that was left. Linc wondered what ever became of
Ruben Hanks. Since he was a slave, was he ever given his freedom for
painting the tombs? Did he end up alone here in Egypt, or did he get a
family at some time? A lot of questions he had no answer to, but he
was happy to have helped him get the pigments he needed.
The lid to the sarcophagus was removed and set aside. The coffin was
quite ornate. It was said Khuwh was someone who ruled for some forty
years. Also rumored to be related to the Pharaoh Djedhare Isasi. The
coffin was to be removed at a later time, and the teams moved on to
another tomb. After it was explored, the dignitary called it a day and
the teams went back out of the tunnel. Linc and his Father went back
to the Hotel, where two telegrams awaited them.
Saturday, March 14, 2020
A Wyoming brain echo.
In Wyoming
I started school in the second grade in Wyoming. It was a one room
schoolhouse. Had a big pot belly stove at the back of the room with a
rail fence around it to keep kids from bumping into it. At that time
there were only eighteen kids going to school. There were just two of
us in the second grade. And there was one girl in the twelveth grade.
There was a boy who was in the eleventh grade. Usually by the time
the boys sixteen or so, they were working in the mines. His folks
were not a mine family, but were farmers. He rode a horse to school,
that was staked out in a pasture behind the school. There were very
few homes with running water and modern bathrooms in this town of
Blazon, Wyoming, and the school house was no exception. We had two
outhouses out back. One for boys and one for girls. My teacher was
named Mrs. Woods. When she found out I was hard of hearing, she
decided the whole school needed to learn lip reading. That's how I
learned to do it. So did the rest of the kids. She used to read to
us a half hour before school let out every day, from some of the best
books. Some times our mothers would bring our younger siblings down
to hear the stories.
After the snow fell that winter, the boy with the horse brought a
toboggan to school with him and would give some of us a ride on it
during recess, and after we ate lunch. One day when there were five
of us on it the kid took us down along side the drainage ditch from
the mine. It had concrete sides that sloped up and was over eight
feet deep. The toboggan slid over the side of the ditch and all five
of us slid off the toboggan, down the slope into the drainage ditch.
There was only a few inches of muddy water in it, thank God, but the
sides were too steep and slick fo us to climb out. They had to get
some men from the mine to bring a ladder to get us out. My snowsuit
was wet and a bit muddy. Mom had made my snowsuit out of a big old
black wool overcoat someone had given to her. When I took it off and
hung it on the rail by the stove to dry, it made the whole room smell
like a wet dog.
My Uncle Phillip came up visit us and was staying with us while he was
trying to get work at one of the coal mines in the area. One day when
the folks went into town and left Uncle Phillip to baby-sit Weldon,
Fred and I, we were all wrestling around on the bed. We all three
piled on top of him then he pretended he was dead. We really thought
we did kill him and Weldon went bawling over to the neighbors house
and confessed. The neighbor lady came running over and saw he was
only faking and she grabbed the broom and whacked him a good one for
scaring us like that.
One day mom was fixing supper and sent Dad to get a bucket of water
from the town pump. While there, he met another miner friend getting
water. He invited Dad over for a wee glass of home made wine. A
couple of hours later he came home with just a few drops of water in
the bucket. Told us all how walked the power line wires home and
fell off and spilled the water. Mom was really pissed at him because
she had to go out in the dark to the pump and get water because we all
wanted a drink.
Dad was laid off at the mine because he was getting too much coal dust
in his lungs, so we went back to Uintah. Mom was pregnant with
Suzanne at that time, and Dad couldn't find work in Utah, so he went
to Nevada , to look for work.
I started school in the second grade in Wyoming. It was a one room
schoolhouse. Had a big pot belly stove at the back of the room with a
rail fence around it to keep kids from bumping into it. At that time
there were only eighteen kids going to school. There were just two of
us in the second grade. And there was one girl in the twelveth grade.
There was a boy who was in the eleventh grade. Usually by the time
the boys sixteen or so, they were working in the mines. His folks
were not a mine family, but were farmers. He rode a horse to school,
that was staked out in a pasture behind the school. There were very
few homes with running water and modern bathrooms in this town of
Blazon, Wyoming, and the school house was no exception. We had two
outhouses out back. One for boys and one for girls. My teacher was
named Mrs. Woods. When she found out I was hard of hearing, she
decided the whole school needed to learn lip reading. That's how I
learned to do it. So did the rest of the kids. She used to read to
us a half hour before school let out every day, from some of the best
books. Some times our mothers would bring our younger siblings down
to hear the stories.
After the snow fell that winter, the boy with the horse brought a
toboggan to school with him and would give some of us a ride on it
during recess, and after we ate lunch. One day when there were five
of us on it the kid took us down along side the drainage ditch from
the mine. It had concrete sides that sloped up and was over eight
feet deep. The toboggan slid over the side of the ditch and all five
of us slid off the toboggan, down the slope into the drainage ditch.
There was only a few inches of muddy water in it, thank God, but the
sides were too steep and slick fo us to climb out. They had to get
some men from the mine to bring a ladder to get us out. My snowsuit
was wet and a bit muddy. Mom had made my snowsuit out of a big old
black wool overcoat someone had given to her. When I took it off and
hung it on the rail by the stove to dry, it made the whole room smell
like a wet dog.
My Uncle Phillip came up visit us and was staying with us while he was
trying to get work at one of the coal mines in the area. One day when
the folks went into town and left Uncle Phillip to baby-sit Weldon,
Fred and I, we were all wrestling around on the bed. We all three
piled on top of him then he pretended he was dead. We really thought
we did kill him and Weldon went bawling over to the neighbors house
and confessed. The neighbor lady came running over and saw he was
only faking and she grabbed the broom and whacked him a good one for
scaring us like that.
One day mom was fixing supper and sent Dad to get a bucket of water
from the town pump. While there, he met another miner friend getting
water. He invited Dad over for a wee glass of home made wine. A
couple of hours later he came home with just a few drops of water in
the bucket. Told us all how walked the power line wires home and
fell off and spilled the water. Mom was really pissed at him because
she had to go out in the dark to the pump and get water because we all
wanted a drink.
Dad was laid off at the mine because he was getting too much coal dust
in his lungs, so we went back to Uintah. Mom was pregnant with
Suzanne at that time, and Dad couldn't find work in Utah, so he went
to Nevada , to look for work.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
And the story goes.
Back in England
As linc went back through the portal, he saw that his Father and the
teams were gathered around a portable table talking and looking at
some maps.
Linc talked to the time masters and filled them in on what went on in Pangea.
Linc looked around him, and saw the teams and his Father didn't seem
to see him and the time Masters. Until now he hadn't given any
thought as to how the time Masters were able to travel back and forth
in time. It finally dawned on him that they were doing this in the
fourth dimension. If so, how did they lose the power to do it ? Now
he could see how Bernard was able to pass thru the portal and get
things and be able to return, because he was going back in time, and
coming out of the portal in the same time he left. Linc could now
understand why he could see the time Masters and the others couldn't.
Now he could reason how he could be back in time for a long time and
gone from the present time, only minutes. He wanted to question them
about it but no time to now. They said something about the teams
going to Egypt, since some new burial vaults had been found. Said
Linc could access some portals there in Egypt while he was there. The
time master said he would keep in touch with him where ever he went.
His Father called to him, and explained how the team was going to go
to Egypt and join a different team to open and explore some new tombs.
They were in a place called, Saggara. A town south of Cairo. One
tomb was for a fifth dynasty noble.
Saggara was crowded when they got there. Good thing the Egyptian
team had foreseen this and had got them fairly good accommodations.
The news had spread like wildfire and there were teams from all over
the world, wanting to be in on the big opening to the public. The team
would be heading out into the countryside early the next morning so
while his Father met with some of the other teams, Linc went out into
the streets to have a look around. He browsed an old antique shop.
In it he found an old paint kit. Was like nothing he had ever seen
before. Still quite messy with old paint, but for some reason he was
drawn to it, and went up to purchase it. He asked the store keeper if
he knew anything about it. The only thing he could tell Linc, was
that he bought it off an old man who said he found it out in the
desert a long time ago, and it had been sitting around in the shop for
years. Linc paid the guy then left the shop. On the way back to the
hotel, he sat down on a bench and looked at the paint kit in the
brighter light here outside. On the side of it, in very faint
letters, he could read Ruben J. Hanks. "Well I'll be damned" he
exclaimed. This is hard to believe Linc thought. Of all places to
find something that had once belonged to a Hanks. Back at the hotel,
he talked with an antiquities expert on the Egyptian team. Asked if
he had ever heard of Ruben Hanks, and the man said, funny you should
ask that, because he had just recently heard that he was captured by
pirates and sold as a slave to an Egyptian tomb maker back in the 25th
century BEC, because he was an artist. It was said he became a tomb
painter. It would have been strange for a non native Egyptian to do
this, if so he must have been very good at the task.
As linc went back through the portal, he saw that his Father and the
teams were gathered around a portable table talking and looking at
some maps.
Linc talked to the time masters and filled them in on what went on in Pangea.
Linc looked around him, and saw the teams and his Father didn't seem
to see him and the time Masters. Until now he hadn't given any
thought as to how the time Masters were able to travel back and forth
in time. It finally dawned on him that they were doing this in the
fourth dimension. If so, how did they lose the power to do it ? Now
he could see how Bernard was able to pass thru the portal and get
things and be able to return, because he was going back in time, and
coming out of the portal in the same time he left. Linc could now
understand why he could see the time Masters and the others couldn't.
Now he could reason how he could be back in time for a long time and
gone from the present time, only minutes. He wanted to question them
about it but no time to now. They said something about the teams
going to Egypt, since some new burial vaults had been found. Said
Linc could access some portals there in Egypt while he was there. The
time master said he would keep in touch with him where ever he went.
His Father called to him, and explained how the team was going to go
to Egypt and join a different team to open and explore some new tombs.
They were in a place called, Saggara. A town south of Cairo. One
tomb was for a fifth dynasty noble.
Saggara was crowded when they got there. Good thing the Egyptian
team had foreseen this and had got them fairly good accommodations.
The news had spread like wildfire and there were teams from all over
the world, wanting to be in on the big opening to the public. The team
would be heading out into the countryside early the next morning so
while his Father met with some of the other teams, Linc went out into
the streets to have a look around. He browsed an old antique shop.
In it he found an old paint kit. Was like nothing he had ever seen
before. Still quite messy with old paint, but for some reason he was
drawn to it, and went up to purchase it. He asked the store keeper if
he knew anything about it. The only thing he could tell Linc, was
that he bought it off an old man who said he found it out in the
desert a long time ago, and it had been sitting around in the shop for
years. Linc paid the guy then left the shop. On the way back to the
hotel, he sat down on a bench and looked at the paint kit in the
brighter light here outside. On the side of it, in very faint
letters, he could read Ruben J. Hanks. "Well I'll be damned" he
exclaimed. This is hard to believe Linc thought. Of all places to
find something that had once belonged to a Hanks. Back at the hotel,
he talked with an antiquities expert on the Egyptian team. Asked if
he had ever heard of Ruben Hanks, and the man said, funny you should
ask that, because he had just recently heard that he was captured by
pirates and sold as a slave to an Egyptian tomb maker back in the 25th
century BEC, because he was an artist. It was said he became a tomb
painter. It would have been strange for a non native Egyptian to do
this, if so he must have been very good at the task.
Monday, March 9, 2020
Money
Our country is the greatist:
It flows with milk and honey.
I find it flows much smoother:
If you're burfened with some money.
Love of money is incentive:
Yes the very best indeed.
If you're rich it's called incentive:
If you're poor, they call it greed.
It flows with milk and honey.
I find it flows much smoother:
If you're burfened with some money.
Love of money is incentive:
Yes the very best indeed.
If you're rich it's called incentive:
If you're poor, they call it greed.
Sunday, March 8, 2020
The first grade.
I went to the first grade in Uintah, in a two room schoolhouse that
had a gym. I remember the first grade room had a big wooden sandbox
that was metal lined so the sand could be dampened. It was up on legs,
and I could barely reach in it to make mounds and stuff. Boys got the
cars most of the time. We got to play in the sandbox in the winter at
recess time because it was too much of a hassel to get snowsuits and
boots on to go outside. I started school when I was five years old,
but I could read, count to a hundred and say the alphabet forward and
backwards, because my Uncle Heward who was only seven years older than
me taught me all of it. We used to take the wagon and go down to the
dump. Mainly to get pop and beer bottles, but since Heward was an
avid reader, we also brought back every book we could find, A lot of
old school books sometimes. One time we found so many books, we had
to take a couple boxes and hide them in some bushes because there were
too many to bring home at one time in the wagon. We had to make three
trips to get them all. The whole family were readers. Dad didn't
read, but Mom read to him and the rest of us. Dad liked the books by
James Oliver Curwood and James B. Hendrix. Grandparents had a huge
bookcase, filled with books Heward and I collected, for the most part.
As I grew up and could read just about anything, I used to grab a book
and head out to a big hammock that my uncles put up in the trees in
front of Grandparents house. My folks never censered any of the books
I read. They figured if I could read it and understand what I read
then why bother. If i didn't understand, then there was always some
one around to explain. I got bullied a lot by Zelda Kendell and her
friends when I was in the first grade. She and her friends took my
gloves away one day in the winter and threw them in the irrigation
ditch. Good thing there was only a bit of water in it from snow melt.
I got all muddy and wet getting my gloves back and the teacher wanted
to know what happened. When I told her, she was mad as all get out.
Wrote notes home to all the girls parents. Needless to say they all
got in trouble and I got called every name in the book, but at least
they didn't touch me or my things for a few years. But thats another
story.
had a gym. I remember the first grade room had a big wooden sandbox
that was metal lined so the sand could be dampened. It was up on legs,
and I could barely reach in it to make mounds and stuff. Boys got the
cars most of the time. We got to play in the sandbox in the winter at
recess time because it was too much of a hassel to get snowsuits and
boots on to go outside. I started school when I was five years old,
but I could read, count to a hundred and say the alphabet forward and
backwards, because my Uncle Heward who was only seven years older than
me taught me all of it. We used to take the wagon and go down to the
dump. Mainly to get pop and beer bottles, but since Heward was an
avid reader, we also brought back every book we could find, A lot of
old school books sometimes. One time we found so many books, we had
to take a couple boxes and hide them in some bushes because there were
too many to bring home at one time in the wagon. We had to make three
trips to get them all. The whole family were readers. Dad didn't
read, but Mom read to him and the rest of us. Dad liked the books by
James Oliver Curwood and James B. Hendrix. Grandparents had a huge
bookcase, filled with books Heward and I collected, for the most part.
As I grew up and could read just about anything, I used to grab a book
and head out to a big hammock that my uncles put up in the trees in
front of Grandparents house. My folks never censered any of the books
I read. They figured if I could read it and understand what I read
then why bother. If i didn't understand, then there was always some
one around to explain. I got bullied a lot by Zelda Kendell and her
friends when I was in the first grade. She and her friends took my
gloves away one day in the winter and threw them in the irrigation
ditch. Good thing there was only a bit of water in it from snow melt.
I got all muddy and wet getting my gloves back and the teacher wanted
to know what happened. When I told her, she was mad as all get out.
Wrote notes home to all the girls parents. Needless to say they all
got in trouble and I got called every name in the book, but at least
they didn't touch me or my things for a few years. But thats another
story.
Saturday, March 7, 2020
A picture memory.
stuff my Aunt Freda sent to me before she died. Most of the pictures
were of the family.
I know Mom had a lot of pictures of when we were kids. They had to be
in the photo album that came up missing. I wanted to get copies of
them, but when we got back from AZ, the album was gone.
I had a photo album I left in Utah when I came back up to Washington,
but Robert would not give me any of my things I left. Well shoot, and
be damned.
Friday, March 6, 2020
About Bernard Hanks.
The Next Morning
Linc couldn't help it, he had to laugh at Bernard's dilemma. Bernard
said, "It be funny now, but it weren't when it appened" He went on to
tell Linc how he made a bamboo hut, soaked with the woman in the hot
spring after he cut off most of her long hair, and scrubbed her good
before he took her back to the new hut. He told Linc how he urged the
natives to improve their surroundings Told about all the other
portals he went through, to do as the time masters wanted and to find
lots of new things the village could use. About adventures with the
bee hives, ants, termites and the inevitable cockroaches. The birds
like Kiwis he found, captured and brought back to the village. The
cages they made to keep them in so they would reproduce.
Bernard said that he decided to go back through the main portal and
get some things since the woman he called Portia was going to have a
baby.
He took a few of the diamonds and went to an old family friend who
bought them right off. Rented a truck and bought a garden cart.
And all the equipment they needed to dig up and plant into garden as
well as all the seeds, couple hundred pounds of potatoes, some to
plant. He bought crosscut saws, regular saws, hammers, nails, brace
and bits, screws, an adz and a plane. All the things they would need
to build things with. Books of DIY plans, big pots and pans of cast
iron. Metal plates, and silverware, cooking utensils, a keg of salt
and big containers of various spices. He brought diapers and baby
blankets as well as 60 good heavy wool blankets
They needed a good big first aid kit, And lots of soap, brushes and
combs. He thought of a lots of other things too, then brought it all
down through t portal to the beach. Took the garden cart, filled it
up and took it to the village. Then he had the rest brought down by
the village men.
They cut trees and made the clearing much larger. Dug up the garden
spot and planted. Made tables, benches and other furniture. Made
the loom and got fibers from some old dead hemp stalks that he found
that had exploded, and figured out how to make them into cloth on the
loom He had bought scissors, thread and needles so they could make
the robes they wore.
Bernard told him he went back through the portal and got Fruit trees,
young goats, sheep, a couple dozen baby chicks, rabbits, Wire and a
big ball of heavy twine to make cages with. He had made up his mind
that he would remain here in this time and place.
They had spent most of the day talking. Linc had to laugh at some of
the tales that Bernard told, but he had to give him a lot of credit
for his fortitude. He was a great human being. Linc wondered what he
would have done in the same situation.
There seemed to be a lot of activity at one of the huts. Women going
in and out and quite a bit of moaning and groaning going on. Several
times Bernard left him and went in there too. Linc wandered around
the village, and marveled at all the work that had been done to make
it so livable. All at once he heard a few muffled screams. Back in
the village he asked Bernard what was going on. Bernard told him
That the woman was having a baby, and just like always, if the Hanks
baby was a boy, it died at birth and the mother had a terrible time
giving birth. The screams were getting louder now and Linc could
stand it no longer. He went into the hut and saw immediately what was
wrong. The child was coming breach. He shooed all the women away and
turned the baby as best he could. Good thing the child was small.
He had to almost pull the baby out. It was blue as can be and Linc
wiped its face, places his mouth over the babies face and blew into
it's mouth , He did this a couple of times then it started to howl.
The women started to jabber and point. There was another baby, and it
came head first, but it too, wouldn't breath and Linc had to perform
CPR on it as well. The women took the babies out to clean, and dress
them. Bernard looked at Linc and said, " Gor, what a mess you are".
Linc looked at his sweatshirt and saw what he meant. He took it off,
the Bernard told him to follow and they went to the hot spring. The
spring was all rocked in and was divided into two parts. One deep and
the other shallow. Bernard took off his robe and motioned Linc to get
undressed then the got in the hot spring to soak a bit Bernard said
that one of the women would wash his clothes. In the meantime he
could wear one of his robes.
Bernard was silent for a bit, then said he was very grateful the boys
were alive. Told Linc how he had two other boys. Their remains, down
in the burial cave, already and was very fortunate to have these two
alive, thanks to Linc. "A burial cave". Linc asked? Bernard went
on to tell Linc about the caves. How the old woman told him how , she
and ten others left the Mother cave, walked for days, and came to
this place. The old woman told him that some very large people with
white skin, came to the Mother cave and made the dark skin people
slaves. She said, she and the others slipped away one night and came
here and found the caves. The lived in the caves for a year or so
like the people did in the Mother cave, but these caves were smaller
and darker, so gradually the lived more outside than in. The old
woman told him how two of the men went back to the Mother cave after
they had lived in these caves about three years. The said it was no
longer there. They could see the mountains where the caves were but
now they were barely visible on the distant horizon, and there was now
an ocean between them. None of them could understand how that could
happen. Bernard was at a lost at how to explain plate tectonics to her
so he had to let it drop, with a shrug.
Layer in the day Bernard brought an old battered suitcase out of his
hut. He kept all the DYI books in it as well as a bunch of notebooks.
He took one out and told Linc this one is where he kept records of
names and so forth. Told Linc he was going to name the boys after
him. The eldest he said will be called, Lincoln Bernard Hanks and
the other Joseph Allen Hanks. Linc was feeling very humble at this
gesture and very much surprised.
Since there was little else he could do or find out here he figured
he may as well go back through the portal and tell the times masters
all that had happened, and what he found out. But before he left,
Bernard gave him the rest of the diamonds he had. He knew he would
never have a use for them anymore and they might come in handy for
Linc before he was done with the task the time masters gave him.
To be continued.
Linc couldn't help it, he had to laugh at Bernard's dilemma. Bernard
said, "It be funny now, but it weren't when it appened" He went on to
tell Linc how he made a bamboo hut, soaked with the woman in the hot
spring after he cut off most of her long hair, and scrubbed her good
before he took her back to the new hut. He told Linc how he urged the
natives to improve their surroundings Told about all the other
portals he went through, to do as the time masters wanted and to find
lots of new things the village could use. About adventures with the
bee hives, ants, termites and the inevitable cockroaches. The birds
like Kiwis he found, captured and brought back to the village. The
cages they made to keep them in so they would reproduce.
Bernard said that he decided to go back through the main portal and
get some things since the woman he called Portia was going to have a
baby.
He took a few of the diamonds and went to an old family friend who
bought them right off. Rented a truck and bought a garden cart.
And all the equipment they needed to dig up and plant into garden as
well as all the seeds, couple hundred pounds of potatoes, some to
plant. He bought crosscut saws, regular saws, hammers, nails, brace
and bits, screws, an adz and a plane. All the things they would need
to build things with. Books of DIY plans, big pots and pans of cast
iron. Metal plates, and silverware, cooking utensils, a keg of salt
and big containers of various spices. He brought diapers and baby
blankets as well as 60 good heavy wool blankets
They needed a good big first aid kit, And lots of soap, brushes and
combs. He thought of a lots of other things too, then brought it all
down through t portal to the beach. Took the garden cart, filled it
up and took it to the village. Then he had the rest brought down by
the village men.
They cut trees and made the clearing much larger. Dug up the garden
spot and planted. Made tables, benches and other furniture. Made
the loom and got fibers from some old dead hemp stalks that he found
that had exploded, and figured out how to make them into cloth on the
loom He had bought scissors, thread and needles so they could make
the robes they wore.
Bernard told him he went back through the portal and got Fruit trees,
young goats, sheep, a couple dozen baby chicks, rabbits, Wire and a
big ball of heavy twine to make cages with. He had made up his mind
that he would remain here in this time and place.
They had spent most of the day talking. Linc had to laugh at some of
the tales that Bernard told, but he had to give him a lot of credit
for his fortitude. He was a great human being. Linc wondered what he
would have done in the same situation.
There seemed to be a lot of activity at one of the huts. Women going
in and out and quite a bit of moaning and groaning going on. Several
times Bernard left him and went in there too. Linc wandered around
the village, and marveled at all the work that had been done to make
it so livable. All at once he heard a few muffled screams. Back in
the village he asked Bernard what was going on. Bernard told him
That the woman was having a baby, and just like always, if the Hanks
baby was a boy, it died at birth and the mother had a terrible time
giving birth. The screams were getting louder now and Linc could
stand it no longer. He went into the hut and saw immediately what was
wrong. The child was coming breach. He shooed all the women away and
turned the baby as best he could. Good thing the child was small.
He had to almost pull the baby out. It was blue as can be and Linc
wiped its face, places his mouth over the babies face and blew into
it's mouth , He did this a couple of times then it started to howl.
The women started to jabber and point. There was another baby, and it
came head first, but it too, wouldn't breath and Linc had to perform
CPR on it as well. The women took the babies out to clean, and dress
them. Bernard looked at Linc and said, " Gor, what a mess you are".
Linc looked at his sweatshirt and saw what he meant. He took it off,
the Bernard told him to follow and they went to the hot spring. The
spring was all rocked in and was divided into two parts. One deep and
the other shallow. Bernard took off his robe and motioned Linc to get
undressed then the got in the hot spring to soak a bit Bernard said
that one of the women would wash his clothes. In the meantime he
could wear one of his robes.
Bernard was silent for a bit, then said he was very grateful the boys
were alive. Told Linc how he had two other boys. Their remains, down
in the burial cave, already and was very fortunate to have these two
alive, thanks to Linc. "A burial cave". Linc asked? Bernard went
on to tell Linc about the caves. How the old woman told him how , she
and ten others left the Mother cave, walked for days, and came to
this place. The old woman told him that some very large people with
white skin, came to the Mother cave and made the dark skin people
slaves. She said, she and the others slipped away one night and came
here and found the caves. The lived in the caves for a year or so
like the people did in the Mother cave, but these caves were smaller
and darker, so gradually the lived more outside than in. The old
woman told him how two of the men went back to the Mother cave after
they had lived in these caves about three years. The said it was no
longer there. They could see the mountains where the caves were but
now they were barely visible on the distant horizon, and there was now
an ocean between them. None of them could understand how that could
happen. Bernard was at a lost at how to explain plate tectonics to her
so he had to let it drop, with a shrug.
Layer in the day Bernard brought an old battered suitcase out of his
hut. He kept all the DYI books in it as well as a bunch of notebooks.
He took one out and told Linc this one is where he kept records of
names and so forth. Told Linc he was going to name the boys after
him. The eldest he said will be called, Lincoln Bernard Hanks and
the other Joseph Allen Hanks. Linc was feeling very humble at this
gesture and very much surprised.
Since there was little else he could do or find out here he figured
he may as well go back through the portal and tell the times masters
all that had happened, and what he found out. But before he left,
Bernard gave him the rest of the diamonds he had. He knew he would
never have a use for them anymore and they might come in handy for
Linc before he was done with the task the time masters gave him.
To be continued.
Thursday, March 5, 2020
A Utah brain echo.
At one time my Uncle Heward was going to build a house in the upper
pasture of my Grandparents farm. His wife Alice vetoed it after he
had already had the hole for the basement dug. Weldon and I diverted
water from the irrigation ditch to fill the hole so we could go
swimming in it. Worked great until I dived too deep one day and
skinned my forehead and ellbows. Trouble is, the water would get
dirty after all of us kids were swimming in it a while. But we liked
it better than the ditch because it was deeper. A couple of years
later Grandpa filled it in .
pasture of my Grandparents farm. His wife Alice vetoed it after he
had already had the hole for the basement dug. Weldon and I diverted
water from the irrigation ditch to fill the hole so we could go
swimming in it. Worked great until I dived too deep one day and
skinned my forehead and ellbows. Trouble is, the water would get
dirty after all of us kids were swimming in it a while. But we liked
it better than the ditch because it was deeper. A couple of years
later Grandpa filled it in .
More brain echos.
Memories in Uintah.
When we were kids in Uintah Utah, I, Weldon and Fred would take the
wagon and walk along side the mile and a half , three way intersection
, and pick up all the pop and beer bottles we could find and turn them
in at the store across the highway from our house. Then we would
spend all the money we got on goodies inside the store. One time on
one of our walks we found an oil stained twenty dollar bill, and gave
it to Mom. She thought the colors were a bit bright and took it to
the bank to make sure it was good. It wasn't and the damn FBI hounded
the whole family for the next twenty years, thinking we all might have
been counterfitters.
When we were kids in Uintah Utah, I, Weldon and Fred would take the
wagon and walk along side the mile and a half , three way intersection
, and pick up all the pop and beer bottles we could find and turn them
in at the store across the highway from our house. Then we would
spend all the money we got on goodies inside the store. One time on
one of our walks we found an oil stained twenty dollar bill, and gave
it to Mom. She thought the colors were a bit bright and took it to
the bank to make sure it was good. It wasn't and the damn FBI hounded
the whole family for the next twenty years, thinking we all might have
been counterfitters.
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
The Ties That Bind.
Another memory
How many of you remember Grandma Sharp? If you do, remember her in
Utah, you should remember she was a care giver. She had a woman come
to live at their place there in Uintah. The woman,s family wanted
her out of their sight because she had cerebal palsey, so she was
brought out to Grandma's place along with her fold up wheelchair and a
beautiful player piano. I loved to play that thing. Dad used to take
her and I to town with him when he went to work, then pick us up
after. She always walked behind her wheel chair, going down the
streets She couldn't walk flatfooted, but on her tip toes. We would
go to the movies, do some shopping and get some thing to eat while
sitting at the park. Her Name was Marie Terburggen. She wrote the
most beautiful poetry. She was the one who got me to writing it too.
When I left Utah and came up to Washington with Bob and each of us
one suitcase, I never figured I would never get the notebook I had all
my poems in. Robert refused to give me anything I left behind. I
remember a couple is all. Oh well!, like the lawyer that told me to
take Bob and leave the state because posession is 9 tenths of the law,
and in Utah the womans's right's were the last tenth. And so it
goes.
How many of you remember Grandma Sharp? If you do, remember her in
Utah, you should remember she was a care giver. She had a woman come
to live at their place there in Uintah. The woman,s family wanted
her out of their sight because she had cerebal palsey, so she was
brought out to Grandma's place along with her fold up wheelchair and a
beautiful player piano. I loved to play that thing. Dad used to take
her and I to town with him when he went to work, then pick us up
after. She always walked behind her wheel chair, going down the
streets She couldn't walk flatfooted, but on her tip toes. We would
go to the movies, do some shopping and get some thing to eat while
sitting at the park. Her Name was Marie Terburggen. She wrote the
most beautiful poetry. She was the one who got me to writing it too.
When I left Utah and came up to Washington with Bob and each of us
one suitcase, I never figured I would never get the notebook I had all
my poems in. Robert refused to give me anything I left behind. I
remember a couple is all. Oh well!, like the lawyer that told me to
take Bob and leave the state because posession is 9 tenths of the law,
and in Utah the womans's right's were the last tenth. And so it
goes.
The ties that Bind.
THE TIES THAT BIND
This is the story of my life. What I've been told and what I remember.
The story cannot be told without relating to whom you are born, hence
the family ties.
My life string started many years ago. My immediate family tree,
starts with my Grandparents on my Mothers side. My Grandfather, Jesse
Esrum Sharp, who was born in Joseph City, Arizona and My Grandmother,
Russeletta Heward who was born in Pine, Arizona. On my Fathers side
we could only guess, as I found out just a few years ago that all
these years he had lied about his Parents. I remembered he said his
Mother was Viola Boggs, and he said he had a best friend called Fred
Boyce. One day while surfing the internet, I decided to look up the
names on a genealogy web site. and found out his Mother was Married
to George Boyce. In the census, I found out Dad was named Fred Boyce.
Born in West Virginia.. My Mother is Leah ( Sharp) .She was born in
Woodruff, Arizona. And since my Father said he was William Melvon
Prescott., This is the name he used on my birth certificate. Really
makes no difference now anyway. I was born on October 31st, 1933 and
my Dad wanted me called Virginia since it was close to where he came
from. So there I was. A baby girl named Virginia Prescott.
My Father said he was born to a coal miner, but his Dad really was a
farmer. Dad left home as a teen and joined the marines. After he got
out he hopped a freight train and headed out west to go gold mining in
California He had a partner at a claim on the feather River in
California, and while there he met another miner called A.D.
Burroughs. State built a dam on the river that flooded all the mining
activity. Dad hopped a freight and eventually ended up in Ogden,
Utah.
I don't know how many of you know how my Parents met. Well I was told
it was like this.
My Grandfather was working in an ice-plant when my Father started
working there. Well you all know how Daddy could talk. He could
almost charm the feathers off a duck. Grandpa took a liking to him and
invited him home for a home-cooked meal. At that time Dad said he was
living in a hobo jungle, so a good meal sounded great to him.
Dad liked my Grandparents. He liked the food and he really liked my
Mom so he hung around Ogden, even though he had been thinking about
going to Alaska.
Now to quote a bible phrase," it came to pass," on the 3rd day of the
3rd month of the 33rd year my folks got hitched, and moved into the
attic at Grandma's and Grandpa's place. Then you guessed it, On
October 31st , 1933 I spooked the whole family and popped out into
this world.
Now here I am, thrust out into the cold cruel world. Since I can
remember none of this I have to rely on what my parents related to me.
I was told I was a sickly brat and caught the scarlet fever when only
3 months old. Too bad because it screwed up some of my hearing. More
was screwed up later when I had the measles. Dad kept in contact wit
A.D., and when I was 6 month old, A.D. asked Dad to go with him to
Gibbonsville, Idaho where he said he had found gold a few years
before. A.D. had spent some of his younger days in Idaho. Lived foe a
time in Wallace Idaho.
Mom said I was walking at 9 months and started talking by the time I
was a year old.
Must be so because Mom said Dad's mining partner A.D. Burroughs used
to set me on his lap and talk to me like I was an adult. A.D. had a
Scottish terrier with a very original name of Scottie. A.D. had made
me a high chair out of saplings and on my first birthday I was said to
have leaned down from my nice new highchair and said here Scottie and
gave him my birthday cake. Mom had put it on the high chair tray for
me to admire. Damn I was a clever kid. Mom said A.D. beat the dog to
the cake and picked it up off the floor and declared it still fit for
all to eat. This being the depression, cake ingredients were not to be
taken lightly. Besides A.D. favored prune cake very highly. Almost as
much as the apricot cakes Mom used to make with the dried apricots
from the government handout of foodstuffs. Mom said the got dried
milk, apples, and beans as well.
Up to now I have kept this in chronological order, but from now on I
might jump around a bit. After all, 86 years is a lot of memories.
This is the story of my life. What I've been told and what I remember.
The story cannot be told without relating to whom you are born, hence
the family ties.
My life string started many years ago. My immediate family tree,
starts with my Grandparents on my Mothers side. My Grandfather, Jesse
Esrum Sharp, who was born in Joseph City, Arizona and My Grandmother,
Russeletta Heward who was born in Pine, Arizona. On my Fathers side
we could only guess, as I found out just a few years ago that all
these years he had lied about his Parents. I remembered he said his
Mother was Viola Boggs, and he said he had a best friend called Fred
Boyce. One day while surfing the internet, I decided to look up the
names on a genealogy web site. and found out his Mother was Married
to George Boyce. In the census, I found out Dad was named Fred Boyce.
Born in West Virginia.. My Mother is Leah ( Sharp) .She was born in
Woodruff, Arizona. And since my Father said he was William Melvon
Prescott., This is the name he used on my birth certificate. Really
makes no difference now anyway. I was born on October 31st, 1933 and
my Dad wanted me called Virginia since it was close to where he came
from. So there I was. A baby girl named Virginia Prescott.
My Father said he was born to a coal miner, but his Dad really was a
farmer. Dad left home as a teen and joined the marines. After he got
out he hopped a freight train and headed out west to go gold mining in
California He had a partner at a claim on the feather River in
California, and while there he met another miner called A.D.
Burroughs. State built a dam on the river that flooded all the mining
activity. Dad hopped a freight and eventually ended up in Ogden,
Utah.
I don't know how many of you know how my Parents met. Well I was told
it was like this.
My Grandfather was working in an ice-plant when my Father started
working there. Well you all know how Daddy could talk. He could
almost charm the feathers off a duck. Grandpa took a liking to him and
invited him home for a home-cooked meal. At that time Dad said he was
living in a hobo jungle, so a good meal sounded great to him.
Dad liked my Grandparents. He liked the food and he really liked my
Mom so he hung around Ogden, even though he had been thinking about
going to Alaska.
Now to quote a bible phrase," it came to pass," on the 3rd day of the
3rd month of the 33rd year my folks got hitched, and moved into the
attic at Grandma's and Grandpa's place. Then you guessed it, On
October 31st , 1933 I spooked the whole family and popped out into
this world.
Now here I am, thrust out into the cold cruel world. Since I can
remember none of this I have to rely on what my parents related to me.
I was told I was a sickly brat and caught the scarlet fever when only
3 months old. Too bad because it screwed up some of my hearing. More
was screwed up later when I had the measles. Dad kept in contact wit
A.D., and when I was 6 month old, A.D. asked Dad to go with him to
Gibbonsville, Idaho where he said he had found gold a few years
before. A.D. had spent some of his younger days in Idaho. Lived foe a
time in Wallace Idaho.
Mom said I was walking at 9 months and started talking by the time I
was a year old.
Must be so because Mom said Dad's mining partner A.D. Burroughs used
to set me on his lap and talk to me like I was an adult. A.D. had a
Scottish terrier with a very original name of Scottie. A.D. had made
me a high chair out of saplings and on my first birthday I was said to
have leaned down from my nice new highchair and said here Scottie and
gave him my birthday cake. Mom had put it on the high chair tray for
me to admire. Damn I was a clever kid. Mom said A.D. beat the dog to
the cake and picked it up off the floor and declared it still fit for
all to eat. This being the depression, cake ingredients were not to be
taken lightly. Besides A.D. favored prune cake very highly. Almost as
much as the apricot cakes Mom used to make with the dried apricots
from the government handout of foodstuffs. Mom said the got dried
milk, apples, and beans as well.
Up to now I have kept this in chronological order, but from now on I
might jump around a bit. After all, 86 years is a lot of memories.
Monday, March 2, 2020
A poem
Education.
There's nothing like a wedding
to make a feller learn.
At first he think's she's his'n
but soon finds out, he's her'n.
So if you want to marry
well let me tell you what.
Keep your eyes wide open
And keep your damn mouth shut.
There's nothing like a wedding
to make a feller learn.
At first he think's she's his'n
but soon finds out, he's her'n.
So if you want to marry
well let me tell you what.
Keep your eyes wide open
And keep your damn mouth shut.
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