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Pa was 45 when I was born so I didn't really realize it but he was more like a grandfather than a dad to me. He was from the old school, I never sat on his lap or remember him hugging me. Once in a great while he would pat me on the head in a way that I knew he loved me.
He always wore a hat and smelled of tobacco and leather. He wore a leather coat when he went to town. I spent Saturday afternoon shining his shoes for that quarter to spend on Saturday night when we went into town.
He graduated from High School. On the day he enlisted for the army peace was declared and all those guys standing in the line were told to go home. He went to Minneapolis to Barber School. While there, his father died so he came back home to help his mother with the farm. He loved farming but his father wanted him to have another trade besides farming. He ended up farming and cutting everyone's hair in the community for free. My brothers never saw the inside of a barber shop till they left home.
Pa was very short only 5 feet 5 and I think that was stretching it. He was a short tempered man also. When he asked you to do something you didn't ask why you just did as he asked and as soon as you could do it. I only remember one spanking in my whole life.
I and my cousin Freddie were in the downstairs bedroom where we found jumping off the top of the headboard onto the bed was pretty fun until my feet went through the window at the foot of the bed. He came flying into the bedroom and there were two of the most scared 5 year olds in the county. I received a proper spanking when the company left. I deserved it too as I had been told not to jump on the bed, but with a sidekick I seemed to forget the rules, for the time being.
Pa loved the Forth of July the most he always bought a lot of fireworks and we got to watch him shoot them off. The roman candles were the best. We weren't allowed to shoot any till we could manage a firecracker under a tin can and then run like crazy. The weekend of the Forth was the weekend of the huge Rodeo at the Crystal Springs Ranch in Clearlake, So. Dak. We never missed going. It was about 48 miles to the rodeo and it seemed like a real vacation. Ma made sandwiches and brought drinks in fruit jars and sometimes we got to have some cotton candy. One day at the rodeo I had been given a dollar bill to spend and I carried it in my pocket. Ma gave me a candy bar and I crunched the wrapper in one hand and as I walked by the pen containing the huge Brahma Bulls I tossed the wrapper, I thought, into the bull pen. I looked at the wrapper and "Oh My Goodness it was the dollar bill instead". I looked at Ma and she looked into the pen at the dollar laying on the ground. I noticed the bulls were way over on the other side of the pen so I figured it was safe to sneak under the wire and grab the money. I took a deep breath and very quietly slipped under the fence. I grabbed the money and with my heart pounding in my chest I dove under the fence. Once on the other side of the fence I felt pretty brave and Ma never said a word but I know she was glad that a dollar meant that much to me. Guess she figured I would always take care of my money.
The rodeo is where I gained my love for horses. I loved to see the cowboys ride and rope and the girls ride around the barrels. I wished someday to have a wonderful fast horse of my own.
This is Pa and my little brother Lyle. Taken in 1946.
I did one day manage to get that horse, I spoke of earlier... that story to come.
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