Winter at the Farm. Photo by Steve Apps.

            As 2021 limps its way into history, I look forward to opening the door to 2022.  With COVID continuing to menace almost everyone in one way or another, it’s difficult to look forward to another year without wondering “what next?”  Another version of the virus yet not seen? More cancelled events? Is there any hope?

            I remember the late 1940s and early 1950s, when Polio was rampant across the country. Wisconsin was especially hit hard. Thousands of young people suffered from the disease, many of them with paralyzed limbs, some of them confined to iron lungs that helped them breathe. A close neighbor boy died. I was one of them with Polio a paralyzed right leg, which prevented me from walking.  Which kept me home from school for several months.

            For me, a 12-year old at the time, it was a time of little hope.  A time of “why me?”  I will never forget my father’s words at the time, “Next year will be a better year.”  He said that to me often, as he helped me learn to walk once more. At the time, not only could I not walk, but I felt worthless. After several weeks of his therapy—mostly driving the tractor where I had to use my paralyzed leg to drive it—I could walk but with a limp. 

            It’s easy to feel hopeless today, as hospitals fill with COVID patients, and every newscast begins with dreaded stories about the virus swirling through our communities. My father’s words were words of hope, “Next Year will be a better year.”  One way to avoid the feeling of hopelessness is to think about the good things in life.  A beautiful winter day is one of good things.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Hope is powerful, never, ever leave it behind.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

  If you want to learn more about my Polio experience, see my book, Limping Through Life.  You can buy my books at your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering, or contact the librarian: barnard@wildroselibrary.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby, visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

 

 

 Photo by Steve Apps. Herman Apps with Tipup

When I was nine or ten years old, during Christmas break from school, we went ice fishing. Every day.  No matter if it was 10 degrees above zero or ten degrees below, we went ice fishing.  We would hurry up the morning barn chores, gather up the minnows Pa kept in the pump house, the tipups, ice strainer, and ice chisel.  And not to forget our lunch that Ma had prepared that she stuffed in a lunch pail along with a thermos of coffee.

We were off to Mt. Morris Lake, between Wild Rose and Wautoma, about a half hour drive in our 1936 Plymouth.  Arriving at the parking spot, we gathered up our equipment and trudged a half-mile or so through the cold and snow to the lake.  Once there, Pa decided where we should fish, meaning where we would cut holes through the ice with ice chisel—not an easy task.  By this time, the lake had ten or more inches of ice. We fished for northern pike and used tipups to try and catch them. (See photo for a tipup).

Once the holes were cut and the tipups were in place, we each could have two tipups, we returned to shore.  We started a little campfire, using cattail heads, and twigs and small branches that we gathered.  Soon the little fire was sending a lazy thread of smoke into the air as we sat around it warming ourselves, and watching the tipups for a flag to fly up meaning we had a bite. The Kolka boys and their dad might join us, Uncle Wilbur sometime did, as did the Nelson boys and others, too.

It was a time for story-telling—maybe better called truth stretching—as fishermen have a bad habit of catching more and larger fish in their stories than what really happened. It was a time that I have never forgotten.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Christmas break evokes ice fishing stories and wonderful memories.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

  You can buy my books at your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

 

 

Christmas Creativity

My mother-in-law, Ella Olson, was one of the most creative people I had ever met.  She and my father-in-law, Otto Olson, lived on a farm west of Westby.  She did all the work that farm women did, but she also found time to express her creativity.  Especially at Christmas time.  She had little Christmas displays all around their home.

My wife, Ruth, inherited a goodly measure of my mother-laws’ creativity. Our home, is decorated for fall, for thanksgiving, for winter, for spring, for summer.  But especially for Christmas.  Ruth has a collection of snowmen, from tiny little ones to big stuffed ones that she displays.  “Because I can keep the snowmen displayed well after Christmas,” she says.

Ruth’s collection of Santas is also quite remarkable—from tiny little ones only an inch or so tall, to those able to sit up in a chair.  And not to forget the Scandinavian gnomes.  Some so homely they are cute. Daughter Sue and daughter-in-law, Natasha help arrange the displays.

Her most special collection are angels, she inherited these from her mother and she has added to the collection as the years go by.  And the nativity scene collection is quite remarkable with wise men, angels and of course Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in a little straw manager.

The center piece of it all, is our home-grown Christmas tree, decorated with story-remembering ornaments.  Our Christmas tree is really a history tree, as Ruth lists the events of the past year in a little book made from match boxes that are hung on the tree each year.

Visiting our home before Christmas is an experience. For the family, memories come flooding back as the kids (they are far from kids) and grandkids visit each of the displays and talk about them.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Ruth’s creativity comes bubbling forth, especially at Christmas time.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

  You can buy my books at your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

 

 

Searching for the Perfect Christmas Tree

 .   

 Steve Apps Photo: Rob Zaleski and grandson, Zale.

It was a cool, clear, quiet Saturday morning at Roshara, our Waushara County Farm.  A hint of snow covered the grassy areas on the north side of the windbreak, but walking was easy. The subtle smell of pine was in the air.

It was the day of our annual Christmas tree hunt, and a hunt it always is as we have trees of many sizes and shapes, none of them sheared but all growing naturally.  The hunt is complicated by the fact that we have 60 acres of trees, about 40 of them pine and spruce and 60 of them hardwoods, with spruce found here and there among the maple and white oak trees.

Since we bought the farm in 1966, we have planted trees each year.  In the early years we planted a thousand or more trees each year, one year even 7,500.  Mostly we planted red pine, but also a few Norway spruce.  Naturally growing at the farm are white pine, seeded from a white pine windbreak the Coombes family planted in the 1930s.  Jack pine is native to the area, and we have a sprinkling of them here and there on the property.  And Scotch pine also grow naturally. Some consider them an invasive, weed tree, but they make a fine Christmas tree, Scotch Pine are relatively short needled and the needles stay put on the tree.

So, what kind of a tree for Christmas? The goal: A tree for Ruth and me, a tree for Steve and Natasha, a tree for Paul and Sue, and a tree for our friends Rob and Cindy Zaleski.

Earlier, I had selected a white pine about six feet tall, fully branched and quite beautiful.  So that was the first one cut.  After that, the crew was on its own as I had not tried to second guess what each family would like.

By noon, everyone had a tree of their choice.  Smiles all around as he sat down in the cabin for our noon lunch.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There is something special about selecting a Christmas tree among so many choices.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

  You can buy my books at your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

 

 

December Memories 

For me, December is a month of memories.  Christmas tops the list, of course, with its preparation, anticipation, and hope. But there are also many other memories as well.

December is the month when winter claims its place among the four seasons of the year, often showing us that it is the most important of all the seasons—with its cold and snow, and short, and often dark, dreary days.  But as a kid, I looked forward to the change.  Now the farm work turned from field work to never ending barn chores as the cows were now kept in the barn nearly all of the time.  They were let out each morning, and sometimes in the morning to drink at the stock tank in the barnyard.  A special wood burning tank heater kept the stock tank water from freezing.

At our one room country school, December an eighth grader was in charge of keeping the woodstove in back of the school room going and struggling to keep the school room warm enough for learning.   It was a time for snow forts and snowball fights.  Riding our sleds down the hill back of the school and playing snow games where during warmer seasons we played softball.

One special memory was of my Grandfather Witt, who lived on a farm a mile or so from ours.  One winter, he made me a pair of skis out of birch wood. He turned up the fronts of the skis by holding the wood over a steaming kettle.  The skis were six feet long, about four inches wide and had strips of harness leather across their middle where my boots would fit. They had no grooves in the bottom.  This meant it might be skiing downhill straight ahead, or I may be going sidewise.  Always an adventure with Grandpa’s skis.

And not to forget the beauty of poinsettias—Christmas always means poinsettias.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: December is for slowing down and remembering a bit about yesterday and what the month of December meant.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

  You can buy my books at your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.