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...
Grandma’s Pet Goat, Mr. Quirky!
PERTURBED BY A PET/NO HUMILITY & NO TRANQUILITY
I asked Mother, of all the farm animals she'd met
Could she describe one as her favorite pet?
She told of her...
Filling a Thirsty Steam Engine
-By Orv Alveshere-
The Threshing Crew's Steam EngineAt what age can a young lad join the threshing crew?Depended upon the age and how fast one...
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.
SIGHTLESS MAN TUNED OUR PIANO
-By Orv Alveshere-INTENTLY WATCHING A TALENTED PROFESSIONALWe’d unhitched horses. A car drove into our yard at noon.The driver asked us “If our piano was...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
UN-RODE RAGE
By Orv Alveshere
trailered from an auctiona stunning muscular overo...
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....
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...
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...
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...
IDEA OF SKUNKS NEXT DOOR STUNK IT’S NOT WHO, BUT WHAT YOU ‘NOSE’
IDEA OF SKUNKS NEXT DOOR STUNK;
IT'S NOT WHO, BUT WHAT YOU 'NOSE'
-By Orv Alveshere-
Faded red grainery ninety years old has tilted,
Harvest grain sold...