Random Recollections IX

10/21/08

IX

My dad always liked the Thompson relatives who mostly lived in and around Albert Lea, but he especially enjoyed contact with his mother’s people who had moved from Albert Lea to Rockford, Iowa and later on, after his mother died, to the Muscatine, Iowa area. His uncle, Earl, lived in Des Moines and was always a welcome guest whenever he would visit. He was a brakeman on the Rock Island Railroad and my dad had always wanted to work on the railroad rather than be a farmer.
After Grandpa Thompson died in 1941 my dad applied to the railroad, but was told he was too old (52). I’m sure he felt good about the fact that he stayed on the farm and helped his dad as he was asked to do, but he never got to do the work he wanted so much to do. He learned to be a good farmer; he was especially good at predicting the weather which is an important aspect of growing and harvesting crops. He was very good to his animals and used work horses until the late 1930’s when he purchased a tractor for field work.

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I plan to do a whole blog on my grandfather's relationship with his animals. It was amazing to me, but probably seemed normal to other farmers. I was fascinated by his tractor, too. It was so very loud--no mufflers on tractors--and open to everything. Often he would invite a grandchild or two to stand by him as he sat on the seat and drove out to the fields. It was exciting, but did not feel safe to me. I know now that it was not at all safe and I would not allow my children to do it, if they had had the opportunity. Still, I survived, didn't I?

Random Recollections VIII

The only time I remember being baby-sat was when I was about ten years old and Mom and Dad were taking a trip to Muscatine, Iowa. It may have been that they were going for a funeral or maybe just a visit with Dad’s mother’s relatives. They sent me across the road to stay with Edmund and Sylvia Nelson and their daughter Ruth. Edmund was one of my mother’s brothers. My brother Bob and some of my cousins called Edmund, “The Bear.” He was not very approachable to say the least. Sylvia was a lovely lady and I knew Ruth from going to school with her even though she was four years older than I. I remember being a little undecided about whether or not I like staying with them for several days and especially the several nights.

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I need to do more research about that branch of the family in Muscatine. I did not know about them before. There is so much I do not know!

Random Recollections VII

I do not know why we went to Mason City, Iowa, but Mom and Dad and I drove down there one sunny day. I either sat on my mother’s lap or on the seat between Mom and Dad. We came to an intersection where, for some reason, Dad couldn’t stop in time and we rear-ended the car in front of us. My head went into the windshield and I got a small cut on the top of my head. I still have a bald spot (scar) on my head where the hair has not grown since the accident!

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I always wondered how she got that little scar. It did not show much, but once in a while her hair blew around enough or something and I knew it was there.

Random Recollections VI

10/01/08

I’m not sure of the season, but I came down with scarlet fever which at that time meant I had to be quarantined, so Dad, Bob and Bill went to stay with Grandpa and Aunty Mabel across the garden and Mom and I had to stay in the little house alone for the six weeks of quarantine.
Everything I played with or used during that time had to be thoroughly disinfected or burned. I had paper workbooks from school that I enjoyed using while we were quarantined and my mother simply defied the rules and did not burn one of them. It was not like her to break the rules, but she knew the book was important to me so she saved it and it is still in my possession!

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I am not sure where to look for that book, but I hope we come across it when we sort the rest of her stuff. Do you know how scarlet fever is spread? I don't, but maybe I will research it. I wonder whether that quarantine was effective.