Things I Remember Hearing About....

Without a doubt, the most influential thing I remember hearing about during the time I grew up was "The Great Depression". Not only did I hear about it, I lived with parents and grandparents who had survived it. And while we are experiencing trying economical times right now, they pale by comparison to what our parents went through during the '30's. There were no FDIC or unemployment compensation benefits.
I remember Doug's Grandpa Botkin saying they would have lost their farm SE of Prescott if he hadn't had a Banker's Life (now The Principal in DM) insurance policy he could borrow against to make his loan payments.
I remember my Mom's habit of saving everything because "you never know when you are going to need that". Instead of jeans with holes in the knees being a fashion statement, we wore jeans with patched knees. When a garment was finally worn out, Mom would save the zipper, buttons and any good material from it. The material would be incorporated into a patchwork quilt or joined with other bits to make an apron. (Her thrifty habits rubbed off on me. I became almost as much a 'saver' as she was.)
Shoes with holes in the sole were taken to Ashenfelter's Leather shop to be re-soled. If the heels were worn, they would be re-heeled or a metal plate might be nailed on the worn side to build it back up. (I remember having metal replacements put on high heels and how they tap, tap, tapped as I walked.)
I remember Dad talking about working for 50 cents a day picking corn for Ira Bosisto. I also remember Ira (we called him Irie) as an old man living with our neighbors, Glenn & Etha Shearburn. They did not have a phone so when he wanted to use a phone, he walked up to our place.
One night when Grandma Lynam was babysitting us we were sitting around the kitchen table playing games. The folks must have been out with Dean & Crystal Firkins because their son, Norman, was there with us. Ron & Normie were always picking on Betty and me. That night they were trying to scare us by telling ghost stories. I thought I heard something. When I looked up at the east door, there was an awful face looking in. I screamed...and screamed....and pointed.
Ira had opened the outside porch door and walked in. He hadn't knocked, or we hadn't heard him. Grandma opened the inside door. He asked to use the phone. I was embarrassed about screaming, but I had been REALLY scared - sure it was the boogeyman.
I remember hearing about The Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940. November 11 began with unseasonably high temperatures - 60 degrees. Kids were out of school for the holiday. Sportsmen were in marshes or on islands in the Mississippi River hunting ducks and geese. A strong wind came up driving waterfowl before it. Hunters didn't want to leave the sudden bounty. Rain began falling, quickly turning to sleet then blinding snow. More than 160 people lost their lives, many of them duck hunters. I don't know if anyone my folks knew died, but they did often talk about the Armistice Day Blizzard.
I also heard stories about the "winter of '36" - how cold and snowy it was; how many weeks they were snowed in, unable to go to town for supplies. The bad winter was followed by a dry and hot summer. I wonder if that is what is ahead for us this summer after our cold and snowy winter?