August 19, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960

Sunday, August 19, 1956 - "Went to the Stock Car Races at fair grounds. Had pop corn and candy. Mom and Leslie stayed home." Yep, I'm in the diaries again. How well I remember the noise and excitement of those stock car races - and the danger of sitting in the old grandstand.
Dad was a big race fan. If we went to the State Fair, it had to be on the day they had stock car races. I can also remember driving to Bedford and Afton, Iowa and to Hopkins, Missouri to watch stock car races.

Monday, August 19, 1957 - "Had trouble taking cow (Dumbo) to bull." In the front of one of the diaries are these words: "The Mind - is a wonderful machine. It needs but be just refreshed and incidents can again be revived in their former clarity. A Line - Each Day, whether it be of the weather or of more important substances, will in time to come bring back those vague memories, worth remembering, to almost actual reality." How true! I actually remember the trouble we had getting Dumbo down the road to the pasture where the bull was. She was so obstinate. There was a reason we called her Dumbo.
To finish that day's entry: "Went to Creston. Got a clipboard and necklace and earring set (gold). Reichardt's were up." I was getting ready to begin my freshman year of high school; had to have a new clipboard for that! It was white with gray and pink - made to look like marble. I loved it.

Tuesday, August 19, 1958 - "Up at 6:30. Got breakfast. Mom and I picked beans. Got two buckets. Put them in freezer. Ron went to Clarinda about entering college.

Went to town this afternoon. Wore my new can can. (I don't record what skirt I wore it under. I had just gotten it two days before from one of the mail order catalogs. You can't even imagine how much I loved that melon colored petticoat.) "Went up to Grandma's (Lynam). Dad mowed hay. Took books back. Went down to Grandma's (Ridnour) to get some clothes I left. Grandma said a boy (she doesn't know who) called Monday night to see if I was still there. I wonder who?? K.B.?? Maybe."

(The previous Friday night, I had gone to the Guss Sunday School skating party with Aunt Lois and my cousins. I had skated with a couple boys from their SS class - Kenny Bailey and Carroll Stamps. They asked me to sit with them at the cafe across the street after the party. Had fun talking with them. They wanted me to ride home with them, but I didn't. I was only fifteen and not allowed to date yet. They were 16. Kenny was killed in a car accident three years later. It was one of those news stories you hear: "Young man from New Market killed in accident" - your mind immediately goes to the one young man you know from New Market - and then his name is announced. Is that premonition? Or just coincidence?)

By this time in my diaries, I had begun ending each post with "Tonight's Song" The song for that night was "Fever" by Peggy Lee.

Wednesday, August 19, 1959 - "Got up at 8:30. Mom got me up because the Avon Lady was here. I ordered a new compact and some Forever Spring Sachet and Talcum.

Mom took Leslie out to the hospital to see Dr. Croxdale this morning. No diagnosis. (He had been running a fever for three days.) I ironed all morning. Helped get dinner. Ron and I went down to Grandpa's (Ridnour) after dinner to help hay. I drove the tractor on one load and drove the pickup all the time. (To pull the hay up into the haymow.) Jan was there. We had fun making faces at Lloyd. (Cousins)

Lloyd, Esther, Russ, Shirley and Janiece (Travis) were here tonight. I took a shower. Washed supper dishes. Tonight's Song: Half Breed (Most likely Marvin Rainwater's version.)

Friday, August 19, 1960 - "Got up at 8:20. I cleaned up the front room. Washed dinner dishes. Mom and Dad sorted hogs. Sold around 50 head. Only got $16. something. Prices have fallen something awful.

The telephone guy put the dial on our phone today. (I think our first dial phone was a wall mounted black one. Eventually, we had a desk model. Our number was 2-3088.)

I milked Coco, Dumbo and Sylvia tonite. Daddy helped Hadley's do their and Arthur's chores. Keith is down in the back. (Kapple's were probably on vacation.) It started raining all of a sudden early this afternoon. Rained off and on till this evening. Took a shower. Sent a letter this morning. Took the band off one of my skirts and made it smaller. Read some before sleep. Didn't write to Kenny (Botkin). (He was at six-month National Guard training camp in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.) Tonight's Song: Cool Water. It was very cool. (I assume I meant the rain. Most likely Frankie Laine's version.)

Five year's of August 19's - typical teenage life on the farm - so uneventful I recorded the time I got up and whether or not I did the dishes that day and which cows I milked. But at least I wrote something. And now, fifty-some years later, I can look back and remember the melon-colored can can, the crush I had on a boy I only saw a few times, the thrill of the stock car races and songs which were popular at the time.

"Now you listened to my story

Here's the point that I have made

Chicks were born to give you fever

Whether Fahrenheit or centigrade

They give you fever when you kiss them

Fever if you live and learn....

What a lovely way to burn."