Will July 4 Fire Go Down to the Wire?
Will July 4 Fire Go Down to the Wire?
By Orv Alveshere
THREE-STORY BUILDING BUILT TO THEIR SPECS IN 1912
A homesteading couple had built a farm...
YOUNG WHIPPERSNAPPER IN A HORSE RACE
YOUNG WHIPPERSNAPPER IN A HORSE RACE
By Orv Alveshere
FASTEST HORSE OUT OF A TURN
Ev'ry rodeo's racing course
Was won by G's fast sorrel horse.
Those dusty race...
Making Wooden Christmas Toys
I’M CALLED A WHAT?
Some of the fondest memories and joys Are of constructing wooden Christmas toys. “Open Your Heart” programs, I remember, Sponsored year after year in...
The Ballad of the Billfold
by Orv Alveshere
CELEBRATING THEIR FIRST CHRISTMAS EVE
A couple was married in ’34;
The Depression made ranching very poor.
At Christmas they drew other family names;
That custom...
FIRST GRADE ANTICIPATION AND EXPECTATIONS
FIRST GRADE ANTICIPATION AND EXPECTATIONS
By Orv Alveshere
GREAT DEPRESSION AND DUSTY ‘30’S HEATS UP
On a very dry August day the scorching harvest sun bore down...
DROVE TRUCK HOME ALONE, ONCE
-By Orv Alveshere-
Five-Year-Old at Mid-America, at Mid-CenturyA rural Dakota farmer bought a small John Deere combine; Paid a bundle of cash for that early functional...
QUIRKY, MOM’S PETULANT PET GOAT
-By Orv Alveshere-family's long train ride to coastal town Wilmington *Gramp's heart trouble Gram raised Mom and girlsGramps pulled Mom from ocean by hair...
HISTORY LIVED AND SPOKEN HERE
-By Orv Alveshere-
COVERED WAGON TRACKS IN THE SANDS OF TIME, 1895
“Horses and covered wagon brought me here,” the octogenarian said.
Determined, he staked a...
MARCH WHITE-OUT SNOWSTORM…SCHOOL’S DISMISSED
--by Orv Alveshere--ED LOST SIGHT OF HIS HOUSE, BUT NOT HIS GOALEd came to third grade in a one-room school…on his skis.He bundled in...
Halloween Pranks and Cranks
-By Orv Alveshere-
TRICK OR TREAT HOLIDAY WITH HOBGOBLINS
Halloween has always been eagerly awaited by gals and guys.
Costumes and masks have been sought, wanting to...
RURAL YOUTH MADE SUMMER PLANS
-By Orv Alveshere-ENAMORING EVENTS AND PERHAPS SOME TEARSOn the last day at small country schools there was a celebrationBuzzing with laughter. Most would return....
SOME HORSE DAYS SURPASS OTHERS
-By Orv Alveshere-A Beautiful Horse and Children's DayA bustling 1800’s cowtown had been lovingly restored.Now a summer highlight, they won 2007 Visitor’s Choice Award.Nestled...
AIRBORNE WHEN WE HIT THE HAY
By Orv Alveshere
FALLING BEHIND IN HAY WORK
Gramps said decades ago, horse-drawn hay rakes gave drivers a horse-tail view.
A 1 person job. When using tractors,...
THRESHING MEMORIES: WORKING AND SOCIALIZING
By Orv Alveshere
THRESHING CREWS: HUMANS AND HORSESSome threshers might have been to the point of sleepwalkAs teams of horses pulled hayracks from shock...
UN-RODE RAGE
By Orv Alveshere
trailered from an auctiona stunning muscular overo...
Tribute to World War II Veterans
-By Orv Alveshere-
The Hired Man Wore Army Clothes The Olive-Green Undershirt“The war, the danger and fighting was getting old,”Were some of the Army stories our...
PLOWING WITH HORSES: TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
-By Orv Alveshere-
HARNESSED UP FOR OLD TIMES SAKEA Country Gentleman looked longingly at his newly purchased horse-drawn plow.He had practiced driving his team. He...
I Met the Boogie Woogie Man
-By Orv Alveshere-
A welcome school visitor on FridaysOnce there was a special piano stool,Years ago at our little country school.With various pretenders to the...
SHOCKING SHOCKING GRAIN BUNDLE TALE
SETTING GRAIN BUNDLES INTO SHOCKS-By Orv Alveshere-
Stand Up Comics Stand Up the Bundles
Ev'ry year there was a pressing 'people-power' need.
At harvest and shocking time the...
Operating a Harvest Grain Binder
Memories of harvesting grain with a horse drawn implement.
CATTLE DRIVE, HORSEBACK, 1928
-by Orv Alveshere-
WATCHING REAL LIFE, NOT MOVIESDad trained, drove and rode horses, and like movie stars, rode tall in the saddle.He told of long...
GET-UP-‘N-GO SKIERS WERE SO INCLINED
-by Orv Alveshere-
AWAITING HIGH SPIRITED DOWNHILL SKI PARTY GOERSThe torrid, dusty ‘30’s made hay and grain growing very poor.The spirits of country folk...
