Of course we have to start with Grandpa Krist. By the way I named our only son after him. My memories of him, are that of a person in complete control, not necessarily hard but very stern. Somewhat like Garrison Keeler describes as the bachelor Norwegian farmers. I have no memory of sitting on his lap, even as a five year old. The only scolding I recall was when I shot a sparrow, with my Red Ryder, single shot BB gun. I never did that again, the only time I remember his holding my hand, was leading me across the yard, from the kitchen porch, toward the grainer, to give me the scolding. I do remember him sitting on a straight wooden chair, almost every lunch hour and reading from his bible...sometimes nodding off for a cat nap. I have a vivid memory of his Saturday night , almost ritual, when it was time to pay the hired man, if there was one, and dispense some money to Louie or your Dad, as this was the time to go to town. It seemed like he would draw it out as long as possible, the men standing around, all cleaned up, shuffling their feet, waiting for the money. I believe the hired man and Louie got $ 5.00 a week, I have no idea what any others got. When I would ride either to the farm or to town with him, I was always in the back seat, and I always wanted to be on the passenger side.....You see Grandpa chewed Copenhagen snuff, he would turn to spit out the window, not leaning very far out and sometimes, if you sitting behind him, you had to duck or get splattered. I don't remember the make of the old car he had, but later he had a 1937 Plymouth 4-door, I have pictures of it. This was the car, with a radio, and when something special like a Joe Lewis heavy weight fight was on, in the summer we would all stand around that car, to listen. In the winter, and something special was on they took the battery out of the car and connected it to the radio in the living room.. At this time in my life Grandpa was my "Dad", and I have nothing but great thoughts and memories of those years.
I had to back up to here and add another left over, in my life, that goes back to Grandpa. Coffee was always served with a cup and saucer. It was boiled coffee, made in a large porcelain pot. For a fresh pot, she would just add more coffee and some egg shells, to settle the grounds. Grandpa would pour his coffee into the saucer and gently blow on it, to cool it, then slurp it into his mouth........To this day, when something is ready to proceed or to be used, I catch myself saying....well, it's saucered and blowed, then someone will look at me, with a strange look and ask.......What is that!!
How does one even begin to write about Grandma Alma? So I start with the memory of her being the first one up every morning, getting the wood stove fire going, the big porcelain coffee pot brewing, and every one else slowly coming down to a, by now warm kitchen. Every one milked, except Grandma, my first job was turning the crank on the cream separator. I never did learn to milk very good. Her only modern appliance was a gas engine, Maytag wash machine, with wringer. It stood out on the utility porch, the last time I was at the farm, that porch and the full length front porch were both gone. In my first email I told you about her making hot chocolate and toast in the oven,her playing her guitar and signing, mostly hymns, but it was very special. She had beautiful hair, but she always wore it in a bun and when she dressed up to go to town or church, she always wore a hot. It is funny the way certain thoughts come to mind. I have a vivid picture of her, out in the chicken yard, when the pullets were big enough, walking slowly thru the flock, looking for lame ones. When she found one, she would grab it by the neck, a couple of quick twists, and it ended up in her folded up apron. By some magic they would end up on the table, either for lunch or dinner, that day, remember no refrigerator. An aside here, during this time, there was a rather large ice house still standing, it was west of the kitchen. Back to Grandma. .....it seemed she was always working at something, cooking, cleaning, sewing, knitting, ironing (flat irons were heated on the top of the wood stove), The smell of baking bread would mean that Betty Lou and I would need to churn some fresh butter, the other job Betty Lou and I did together was to gather the eggs and clean them and place in 30 dozen crates to take to town.
