| Title: | The flaming tent |
| Submitted By: | Scott Hottendorf |
| Well, most of you know how Ray, aka Grampa Pete, is always talking about how dumb people can be. This is a story that many of us know, but are more than willing to share with the family. Grampa was in the Air Force during the Korean war. He was stationed on an Army base in Korea, one of only 3 AF guys if I remember right. He was in the communications field. He was staying in an Army issued tent during the winter, so you know he was cold. He managed to get a gas heater to keep warm, but his "common sense" prevailed and he managed to not only burn down his tent, but the tree that was above it along with the comm lines that were in the tree! Grampa, here's your sign! | |
| Title: | Visits to the farm |
| Submitted By: | Kevin Dicks |
| I will always remember the visits to the farm, when all of the families got together. As kids, we learned how to pitch horseshoes, play several card games (the game depended on who was there), the proper way to get on Ol' Shorty, and how to pitch a bale of hay. We invented so many ways of having fun (most of them ending with a whoopin' from one uncle or another) that it is a real miracle some of us are even here to read these stories. But trade these ol' memories? Not for gold. Ya'll come on back to the farm. I'll put a rope on Ol' Shorty for ya. | |
| Title: | The car that went backwards |
| Submitted By: | Neva Dicks |
| This is the story of a car owned by Grampa (Paul) Dicks. The story goes that the car was a 1929 Oakland, at that time, a big, fancy car. But probably one they could afford. A forward gear went out on the car and it didn't have pulling power for going up hills. (And in those days, the hills were often bigger than they are now.) So to get up some of the hills, the car was turned around and driven up the hill backwards. Then turned around again when they got to the top of the hill and the journey was continued. I don't know how long they had the car. (And Papa is sometimes fuzzy about the details.) There were times when those old cars seemed to have a mind of their own. Wheels would come off and race the car for a little ways before the driver knew what had happened. Can you imagine a wheel running down the road beside a car? And in some cars, the battery was placed so low that if a rut was hit, the battery would come out or sometimes break. And the mud roads did not add to the comfort of a drive. In the rainy season, they were almost impassable and in the dry season, the ruts were so deep as to almost look like a canyon. And they didn't have maintainers come around every week or so, grading up the roads. Gravel roads were really quite an innovation. And BLACK TOP was THE epitome of a highway. But even those were not always without disasters. Ice and snow kept people off roads because they had no machines to spread sand and salt. And the mud tracked onto the blacktop made the roads so slick in the rain that it was dangerous to get on them. But the traffic was lighter. But they still had accidents with them. So those old cars were really icons of achievement. | |
| Title: | Dubbie in a snowbank |
| Submitted By: | Betty Dicks |
| In reading Neva's story about the backward car, I was reminded of one Lawrence likes to tell about his grandma Dubbie Banta-Ediths' mother. The year was 1939? and there had been a lot of snow , with roads drifted in bank to bank. As Neva pointed out there was no road maintenance, so cars were left out on the main road.(three quarters mile from the house.) Norma was in the hospital, having had surgery and Edith had been staying with her.Dad and Dubbie were on their way to Ray and Ediths' to be with the kids and help with household chores. They parked on the road and started walking to the house over the drifts up the hill past the schoolhouse where the kids were in attendance. Dubbie suddenly broke through the snow and found herself up to her armpits in the snowbank. Apparently her disposition was not improved by Grandads' laughter--and probably the kids too ,who came out to help extricate her. | |
| Title: | Betty and Rick in a snowstorm |
| Submitted By: | Rick Dicks |
| Aunt Betty's story about snow reminded me of the time she and I had our own snow adventure. The year was 1976, I think. I worked night shift that year at Iowa Public Service (remember them?). After a morning sleeping, I woke to one heck of a blizzard. Uncle Bub and Aunt Betty had a farm outside Sioux City. I learned that both of them were in town that day. Bub was driving a grader, clearing snow. Neither of them could get home to tend the animals. I had a Jeep, so I went in to town to get Betty. However, the roads were so bad that we could not drive to the farm. We parked at my house, and the two of us walked about three miles through the blizzard to get to the farm. The snow was already drifted so deep we sometimes had to leave the road and go through the fields. We finally got to the farm, and tended the animals. Betty fried up some pork chops, and boy did they taste great. It was now too late to go home, so it was decided I would stay the night. The next morning, the snow had drifted to the top of the front door. We had to dig ourselves out of the house. I ended up staying at the farm for three days. I would have been there even longer, but my brother Kevin was dispatching snowmobiles for rescue work, and I talked him into sending one for me so I could go to work. |
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