Random thoughts from Dad & other miscellaneous

Random comments from Valdemar.  I must have been sitting with Dad and decided to write down some of what he was saying, I don’t remember when or where, and this is how Dad remembered it, so there’s that. I ran across these few notes in 2022. Wanda

Talking about our house on County Trunk N:

Using horses to farm, grew sweet corn for the cannery, field corn, oats and alfalfa, finally, poor soil.  Planted a nurse crop of alfalfa on top of the oats.  He says ‘by hand’ in this part.

Gulley:  Balsam Lake helped plant the pines for nothing.  Dad borrowed a single pass plow and county guy used an eye piece to keep a level line.

 Field lay out.

 

N                                                                                    S                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regarding buying the house:  An old bachelor lived there, Jens ?  Dad bought it from Christ Petersen for $3500, 80 acres & the house.  Dad borrowed the money from Dagmar.

Dad cut fence posts out of the swamp trees.  Some areas, steam would come up.  Dad cut a small tree and poked it into a hole and it disappeared.

Les Johansen had a saw mill.  Cut the trees in to fence posts.  Some was firewood but it was bad pitch.

The double barrel wood stove in the basement of the house was made by Dad.

When Ansgar had no job and Dad had no job, they cut fence posts for 50C each.  Voights owned Pomerleau’s, they were German.

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Yesterday I visited Luck for a couple of reasons.  I was meeting my cousin Sonja's husband Tom for lunch to discuss the philanthropic fund that he has established.  

Then I stopped by the cemetery.  The Sweet Woodruff that I planted near Grandpa & Grandma's grave is thriving.  The Red Verbena in the pot at Dad & Ev's bench is recovering from drought.

I stopped at the 'sitting place' near the church to fertilize the honeysuckle that was planted last year, pull a few weeds and took a minute to enjoy the peaceful grove on the church grounds.

Next I visited cousins Paul & Maggie who live on my Grandparent's old place. 

The long driveway into their house is a beautiful little rustic road, 

a favorite memory of the Johansen kids.

 We had a lovely afternoon of chatting, for hours, and since Paul is the cemetery sexton, I bought 2 cemetery plots, adjacent to the East of Dad & Ev.  

I ended the day with a beer or two with friend Bruce, sitting on lawn chairs just inside the garage doors, watching the neighborhood.

After an uneventful ride home, many deer sighted, none on the road, I noticed that the volunteer / squirrel planted giant sunflower had opened.  It's a beauty.

Nice gardening squirrels & chipmunks.

And this will no doubt be a popular stopping place for bees and eventually birds to eat the seeds.

Life is good.