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| HOME NEWSLETTERS HUNTER EDUCATION OLD MISSOURI HILLBILLY SITE |
VOLUMES 239 & 240 -------- MAY/JUNE 2022
SHOOTIN', HUNTIN', AND RELOADIN' WITH THE OL' MISSOURI HILLBILLY |
| Uploaded: July 24, 2022 May and June brought a few things that had been postponed by the lingering effects of COVID. Examples included the cancellation of our High School Alumni Banquets in 2020 and 2021 back in Eagleville, Missouri. Those events have been held on the Saturday before Mother's Day since the inception of the consolidated North Harrison School District in the 1950's. Even with the consolidation of three small town schools, the enrollment is so small that all living Alumni can be accommodated in one event. Ann and I have not attended the Banquets too often, since we have lived so far away for many years. As 1960 graduates, we did attend our 50th class reunion in 2010, and were looking forward to our 60th in 2020, which of course didn't happen. The Banquet was rejuvenated this year and we decided to brave the 3,200 mile round trip. The evening of May 7th found us in the North Harrison High School Gymnasium, along with a a small group of maybe 100-150 others for the festivities. There were 30 in Ann's and my graduating class and only four members were in attendance. (I think we calculated that 8 of our class members are deceased) Even though my three siblings and Ann's sister graduated from North Harrison, the only family members there were my brother Ed and wife Nancy. Ann and I were on a tight schedule because of commitments back home, so we didn't linger and headed back home on May 8th. We did take a few hours on the 7th, before getting ready for the Banquet, to drive around the country, looking at places we lived and other sights we remembered. My, how things change in something over 75 years! Here are some cell phone photos of things we remembered.  On the far horizon lies the village of Hatfield, Missouri where I grew up.
 This
is the spot from which the above picture was taken. This was
grazing land back in the day, but is now a preserve where a rare
population of endangered prairie chickens lives among many other
species of wildlife.
 This
is the remains of a Pentecostal church that was next door to the house
where I spent most of my childhood years. Our house, no longer
there, stood just a few yards from the windows you can see. As
I've written before in these pages, we kids used to sit outside on the
root cellar mound and observe the church activities on warm summer
evenings.
 This
is the house, across the highway from the church, where my family moved
about the time I was off to college and then marriage. Most of
the residences in town are occupied, but all the businesses and public
facilities are gone.
 The
general store which was owned and operated by my Grandfather Jake
Parman. This would have been back in the 20's or 30's when my Dad
was growing up. The upper floor was living quarters for some of
the family, including my parents when I was a baby. The store was
owned and operated by several others over the years but has been vacant
for many years now.
 This
is bit more recent structure that was another general store originally
built and operated by my brother Ed and brother-in-law Don Kabel.
Ed and Nancy would later take over the operation with Nancy being
Postmaster in the Post Office inside the store. This store has
also been closed for many years.
 Prior
to this structure a Bank stood on this site. Architecture was much
like the older store building pictured above left. The Bank was gone
and the building became a Post Office long before my earliest
recollections. The building pictured here replaced the Post
Office and was built around the original Bank vault. Post Office in
the right (east) end and various uses for the west side. At one
point my sister Carol had a beauty shop in there and somewhere in the history, Dad had a
cabinet shop.
So there was our look back at some memories of my hometown. The trip back home would have been pretty uneventful, except for some wind, rain, hail, and snow as we traversed Wyoming! The wind rocked the GMC Yukon around pretty good even though it is a relatively heavy vehicle, built on a pickup truck frame. Sure glad I wasn't pulling our travel trailer in those conditions. Soon after our return home those other 'commitments' began taking hold. Golf being one of those duties! Ann plays on Tuesday mornings with 3 friends, and again on Wednesdays in her Ladies' 9 hole league at Trailhead in Liberty Lake. I play 18 holes with friends at The Links Golf Club in Post Falls, ID on Tuesday mornings. We celebrated Rick's Birthday on Memorial Day, May 30th. His actual birthday is May 31st, but he was working that day. The original plan was a weenie roast and eat outside, but unsettled weather prompted a switch to indoors, with cooking the hot dogs on the grill under the deck. Whoops, another change. The sun came out in the PM, so I started a fire in the outdoor fireplace and Rick and I roasted the dogs over red fir wood coals. We still ate in the house as it remained a bit chilly.  The outdoor fireplace where Rick and I roasted the hotdogs.
 Rick and Sara with appetizers prior to dinner and opening the loot.
 There always has to be a gag-gift! In this case a little cactus plant.
 Here are the dogs fresh from the fire!
 Blowing out the big 59 candles after dinner.
Other chores awaiting us; We also had oil changes due in Ann's Ford Edge, the Yukon, and a 'fire hazard' recall of the engine block heater cord on the GMC truck! As most of us have found, post COVID pandemic, any one of those activities will pretty much kill an entire day. In between some of these activities Ann found time to do some 'flower gardening'. She always gets potted plants from Rick for Mother's Day, and haunts the outdoor plant displays at Home Depot and Walmart for other choices. In addition to her other plants one lone wild strawberry showed up in the dirt alongside the stone steps up to the patio. When it didn't appear to be bearing any fruit, Ann's creativity kicked into gear. Little Heifer has been somewhat of a 'rock collector' for a long while now. Odd shaped stones continue to appear in the car or pickup or when she empties her pockets after we have been out and about. Lately she has taken up painting on her rocks. After she collected some shaped a bit like strawberries, you can guess what happened next!  Do not attempt to bite into one of these little ripe beauties!
After our return home my duties at the Elks Lodge picked up as well. As Chairman of the Board of Directors, one duty included attending the Washington State Elks Summer Convention in Pasco, WA, which began on June 15th. I talked Ann in to going with me, thinking she could enjoy the warm weather, sit around the pool, and relax as I attended the official sessions and workshops. Pasco is normally warmer and has more sunshine than we do at home, but not this year! It was chilly and rainy most every day, and the scheduled outdoor bar-b-que was even moved inoors because of the cold and wind! I had also paid a few bucks extra for a Premium King room, which is billed as having a couch and comfy sitting area, thinking this would also be a pleasant retreat for Ann. Well, it was a King room alright, but the 'comfy' furniture in the sitting area was missing! The only chairs in the room were an office arm chair for the desk and a straight chair with a wooden seat that would put callouses on one of those 'blue butted baboons' at the zoo! Of course, the hotel was full because of the Convention, so no alternative was available. A visit with the General Manager netted us one more office arm chair so no one had to sit on the 'torture chair' at least! All in all, I may be paying for enticing Ann along on that trip for weeks to come! As I reported in the last issue, we are having issues with the logging company owner about their responsibilities with the cleanup and burning of the slash after the logging was completed. Both Ann and I have had 'words' with the owner about their lack of expedience in getting those things done and getting out of here! Little Heifer and I have about concluded that we probably won't see much action from the loggers since the logging revenue dried up, but they have promised to come back and clean up and burn the remaining slash this fall. We'll see! Turning to a subject that hopefully will be helpful around the ranch, we invested in a Mini Excavator to extract some stumps in the aftermath of our logging project! So, a new John Deere 26G is now included in our equipment inventory. As I found when I began shopping for the excavator, they are very scarce on dealer lots in this area. The one we ended up with had to be trucked in from California! While the stump grinder that I have previously written about has done a good job of getting stumps down to ground level and below around the house and yard, we want to get them dug up and buried along our side of the private lane out to the County road, so I can grade and mow the roadside with the tractor. While I haven't done an actual count, there are a LOT of stumps that need removal along the road, and I've gotten a decent start on the project. Some of the stumps I'm working on are in the 16 to 24 inch diameter range, and those root systems are a bit much for the little 3 point backhoe that fits on the L3240 Kubota compact tractor. (By the way, that backhoe is now for sale if you know anyone who might be interested.) Here are some pictures that Ann took with her phone on delivery of the new excavator by Reese Dickinson from Pape' Machinery in Spokane.  Here's the little 'digger' ready to unload in our driveway.
 Reese Dickinson on the other side of the machine giving me initial orientation on the location of controls, gauges, etc.
We'll have more on how the little excavator works as I learn the ropes and hopefully become more proficient as an operator. As you can see, I'm writing this in late July, so we are well past the traditional Independence Day celebrations that were finally resumed in earnest this year after a couple of years of truncated activities due to the pandemic. As usual, Little Heifer and I pretty much stick close to home during most of these activities. We can see the fireworks on the big screen TV and even hear many of the louder 'BOOMS' from area shows right here in the living room or bedroom. As patriotic Americans, we do appreciate and celebrate our Nation and its independence, but wish there was not so much controversy and division in and among our country's leaders and citizens. This Fourth of July struck a particularly poignant note with me, as it is the 100th anniversary of our Dad's birth on July 4th 1922! Dad was a U. S. Navy veteran, serving most of his active duty on the aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain during WWII. Dad was taken from us much too early by a heart attack in September 1974, at age 52. This month's hillbilly wisdom comes from a different twist on some old sayings from a book Ann has recently read: (The book is Titans by Leila Meacham) "There's more than one way to pry a boot off a stubborn foot" and "Worrying is like pole vaulting over mouse turds" Well, it's time to shut down here, so. . . . . 'Til next time, Keep 'em shootin' straight, shoot 'em often, and above all, BE SAFE!!! THE OL' HILLBILLY Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved |