And it Happened in 1922

It is the last day of the month, it is time to review a year from the old papers.

JANUARY 1922
Rosewood News Mr. and Mrs. Benhard Ranum entertained 18 guests at a whist party. First prize went to Bennie Ranum which was a cockerel. Cards were played at four tables and lunch was served at midnight.


Married women may hold postal job.


Three year old swallows staple; is all right thus far. It is a fence staple. She is in the hospital

Three year old was playing with cellophane near the cook stove when it caught on fire causing her to be enveloped in flames. She died at the hospital

Moonshine was so strong it ate the varnish off the judge’s desk.

Rosewood News An old fashion surprise party was held for John Ranum’s. A set of silverware was left as a memento


Rosewood News There will be no bounty on gophers this year. The decision was made during the town election held at Busy Bee School

Rosewood News John Sagmoen as leased the front store room from Gullseth and began operation a confectionery and lunch room.

Rosewood News Mrs. Carl Bloom came home from the hospital in Warren on Monday after spending a month there following an operation.

Rosewood News Mr. and Mrs. Olaf Nordhagen and Gjermon pleasantly entertained guests at a dance and whist party.

Rosewood News Mrs. Hilda Hanson arrived Friday evening from Viking to visit her folks

Rosewood News Aged Mrs. Nordhagen is quite ill this week



Siri Nordhagen
Mrs. Siri Nordhagen was born in Trysil, Norway, July and July 20, 1842 and was a little over 80 years old. Death was caused directly by an attack of influenza and occurred at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Anton, Gullseth where she had spent the last months. She passed away peacefully on Monday, April 6. The deceased was married in Norway to John Nordhagen in 1866 and immigrated to America in 1881 located first near Fargo, where they spent the first three years, later coming to Norden township, Pennington county were they homesteaded the farm which has been the home of the family ever since. The husband died in 1893. Six children are left to mourn the death of a kind and loving mother. They are Gjermon and Olaf Nordhagen and Mrs. Anton Gullseth of Rosewood, Mrs. AB Remmem of Thief River Falls and Mrs. C Eggen and Mrs. L Eggen, both residents of Kelliher. Interment took place April 9 at Landstad cemetery. All the children were present at the funeral.

Rosewood News A surprise party was tendered Mrs. Carl Bloom at her home Saturday afternoon and a neat sum of money was left as a remembrance. The party was arranged mainly to show the sympathy and good will of the neighbors and friends following the lengthy illness and her confinement at the Warren hospital. The party was well attended and lunch was served.

Rosewood News John Sorenson has bought out the half share owned by LL Furan in the Rosewood garage and will in the future operate it on his own behalf.


Rosewood News The Rosewood News has been suspended for two weeks owing to the illness and quarantine of the writer. Any important events, however, will be published later.



Former resident of TRF found in back seat of car with woman friend, they died due to gas fumes.

Rosewood News Baseball team to be esttblished. A meeting was called at John Sagmoen’s residence to elect officers and a captain. A five acre tract of land east of town a half mile will be leased from Sagmoen.

Rosewood News Benhard Ranum is building a new poultry house for Hellerud. He is going to raise Plymouth Rocks.

Freight brake man on the Thief River Falls to Federal Dam run had his left arm crushed and sustained other injuries near the station at Plummer. He was taken to the Physicians hospital in this city where the arm was amputated at the shoulder.

Rosewood News William Sorenson, an energetic and capable young farmer died Sunday afternoon following six month’s illness from tuberculosis. He is buried at Rindal cemetery.

Rosewood News Baseball meeting postponed due to lack of attendance.


72 to graduate from Lincoln High School. Only one boy on the honor roll.

Rosewood News Rosebank and Busy Bee schools close for the summer.

Rosewood News There will be a good time at the Rosebank school Lunch will be sold to gather funds for baseball. There will be Victoria music. Everyone is invited.

Rosewood News Mrs. Carl Bloom and LaVerne came home after spending a couple of days with the SS Nordgaard family.

Rosewood News John Sorenson, garage owner was injured last Saturday evening while attempting to crank RF Overland car. He was taken to TRF for medical attention. The cords in his arm are severed and he is compelled to cancel all work for two weeks.

Rosewood News Gunmerius Setness, an old time Rosewood settler but for many years a resident of Canada, is dead at his home at that place.

Rosewood News Death of Enoch Nelson, One of Rosewood’s early settlers, a live wire and a person who has possibly done more than anyone else towards building up Rosewood, died in Warren on Thursday after a six month illness of stomach cancer. He had been taking medical aid at Williams Hospital in Minneapolis this winter and some over two months ago returned from there with hopes of recovery. However, within a few days he became ill again and an examination at Warren revealed that the disease had only been temporary checked. More operations were performed but were unsuccessful and for the last five weeks the pain at intervals were excruciating and his suffering a terror. Friends who visited him during this time were astonished at his bravery and patience. Nelson was born at Trysil Norway on December 10, 1864 and migrated to the United States coming first to Harwood where he spent two years, latter coming to this community which has since practically been his home excepting partial stays at Viking, where he was engaged in various business. He was married twice; Thea Mellem of this community survives along with five children, Nick Nelson of Big Timber, Montana, of the first marriage and Theodore, Myrtle, Carrie, and Eleanora, all residents of this place. Mr. Nelson was at his death 57 years and five months old. Undertaker Skalman of Warren had charge of the arrangements and the body was shipped here for burial at the Rindal cemetery, two miles north of town. Funeral services were head on Saturday afternoon from the Mission Church at Rosewood.

Owing to his sunny view of things, Nelson was generally well liked by all his fellowmen and within his family he was an ideal husband and father. He was by trade a carpenter and many a building and landmark will remain as a reminder of him.

Knight Avenue residents ask for pavement

Rosewood News State examinations will be given at Rosebank

Rosewood News Mrs. Johnny Ranum entertained the ladies aid.


Rosewood News The lively men of Rosewood met at the bank to discuss plans for the fourth of July. They plan street attractions during the day and a baseball game in the evening. The day promises to be successful.

Rosewood News The Rosewood baseball team won 14-9. Adolph Haugen could not pitch and the catcher broke his thumb.

Rosewood News A surprise party was held at the Mrs. Thea Nelson home last Sunday afternoon and despite all the disagreeable weather it was well attended. A cash gift of $60 dollars was given.

Rosewood News Swen Swenson came home last Saturday from a month’s tour to Seattle where he was looking for a place to move with his three girls. They will move in the future.

Rosewood News Assessor Olaf Opseth is assessing

Paving plans for Knight and Horace Ave abandoned.

William Herron, 70, falls off dray wagon and fractures skull. He had been a resident of TRF for 23 years.

Charlie Knox, for whom the Knox School is named, was married in Minneapolis. The old timers will recall his bride was a school teacher in this city when Knox was a resident here.

Rosewood News Budge Bulden and the rest of the carpenter crew for the Soo Line were hear last week to lay in new planks for the platform, re-roof part of the depot, and other general duties.


Rosewood News The east side resident along Main Street have decided to lay cement walks from the railroad property to the street going east and work will commence this week.

Rosewood News Two dentists representing the New York Dentist Co were in town to see if Rosewood should be put on the list to visit.

Rosewood News Big 4th planned. Senator Naplin to start out the party, followed by games. At 3p the Rosewood Tigers will meet the TRF Seconds and at the same time a four piece orchestra from TRF will play and dancing will be for afternoon and evening. There will be fireworks. Confection stands and shady resting places will be scattered through the village for the comfort of visitors.

Rosewood News Enroute home from Hazel, where they had spent a social day at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Sjorberg, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Bloom and son, Laverne, and Mr. Axel Bloom, last Sunday evening had the misfortune of driving off one front wheel on the latter’s Ford coupe when returning home. One of the members, young Laverne, was thrown violently against the wind shield and received a very nasty gash from his forehead to his lip,, necessitating his being taken to the TRF hospital were he was sewed up.


Rosewood News Otto Axelson is dead. Eight year old Otto who has been sick with a leaky heart for the last two years died Tuesday and was buried at Rindal on Wednesday afternoon.

Rosewood News Part of the Rindal Church as been repainted inside and a new rubber mat installed. Also, new carpet for the plat form.

Rosewood News Newell Anderson is enjoying visiting with his friends in Viking this week.

Rosewood News School district 134 known as the Pritchard School plans to build a new school house.

Rosewood News Rosebank has school elections. New blackboards will be installed as the other is in bad condition.

Rosewood News Garage man installs 500 gallon gas tanks

Rosewood News Benhard Ranum and Ted Thompson will build the new district 134 school house.

RN Olaf Opseth left last Wednesday to look for farm work for the fall.

RN Haying is in full blast


Rosewood News Mrs. Thea Nelson will have an operation

Durbin’s ashes at rest on Bottom of Lake Michigan. Recluse who lived in TRF for twenty years, wanted his ashes dumped in Lake Michigan. An instructor for the Ashburn field carried out his wishes.

Rosewood News Anton Gullseth is back in his old place behind the confectionary counter.

Rosewood News Emil Mellem, Mrs. Carl Bloom, Mrs. Peter Mellem and Mrs. Hilda Mellem motored to Strathcona last Saturday and from that place on Sunday in company with the Backlund family on a blue berry expedition.



Boys drink moon and say farmer sold it to them. The boys appeared at Lincoln High School on Friday while intoxicated and were placed in jail by the police.

Rosewood News Poultry Expert coming to speak. He will lecture on all the different breeds.

Loken store to relocate in Madison Wisconsin.



Man killed by lightening in house while reading paper. Bolt strikes Hans Hermanson while seated in his house, the worst storm in years. Pioneer Resident having resided in TRF for over twenty-two years. Funeral services conducted on Wednesday afternoon from Trinity Lutheran Church.

Han Hermanson, for many years a resident of this city, was instantly killed last Sunday about noon when struck by lightening as he sat reading his Sunday paper at his home west of the city, towards the fair grounds. The bolt which put Hermanson’s life to an end came down the chimney, passing thru the body into an iron bed upon which his feet were placed and out thru the opposite wall. Mrs. Hermanson, who was seated only a few feet from her husband when the bolt struck him, was so stunned that she remained in a daze the rest of the day. She is now reported to have recovered completely from the shock, although a little weakened. The bolt of lightening was so violent that the chimney wa s wrecked and bricks thrown a considerate distance away and several holes were burned in the wall.


“Mr. Hermanson had lived in this city about 22 years and had a large circle of friends who are greatly shocked to hear of his sudden and violent death. He was born in Christiana, Norway, November 9, 1856 and would have been 66 years of age on his next birthday. At the age of sixteen he came to this country and made Spring Grove his home until he moved to Hendrum, Minnesota in 1878 and a little later to Halstad, where he resided until he moved to TRF in 1901. In February 1882, he was married to Kjerstie Estensen, who survives him. In the early days Hermanson was employed at the saw mill but in the later years he was engaged as a mechanic at the Soo roundhouse. During the past four years he has been retired from active work. He was a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church.

Deceased is survived by his widow, two daughters and two sons.

Man Falls from Freight train and is killed. Accident occurred Monday between Rosewood and TRF .Frank Williams, an unknown transient, fell beneath the freight train number 58 on the Soo Line shortly after it pulled out of Rosewood Monday evening between the hours of six and seven and died at the hospital a short time later. The man, who appeared to be about 25 years of age, was beating his way and was riding on top of a car near the front end of the train when he fell off with the result that his body was all mangled by cars passing over it before the train could be stopped. He was seen, when falling by one of the train crew but there was no time to avert the accident. Williams left leg was cut off at the ankle, his right leg at the thing and his right arm was severed from the body at the shoulder. The severed limbs were connect with the body only by pieces of skin. He became unconscious at one from the shock and the loss of blood and although rushed to the hospital immediately, died about a half hour after being brought there.

In his pockets were found a membership card in the International Brotherhood of Steam Shovelers and Dredgeman, a few receipts, and $25.00. A broken bottle of lemon extract and the fact that the dead man smelled strongly of liquor indicates that he was intoxicated at the time of his fall.

No arrangements have been made pending finding his family.

Rosewood News Gullseth’s go to Kelliher to visit

Rosewood News Mr. and Mrs. Bloom attended the young people’s rally in TRF

Petition asks for new bridge at Third Street

Rosewood News Rosebank School is suspended this week, the teacher has poison ivy.

Rosewood News News is paid for at 10 cents a line


Hunter injured with gun accidentally discharged. His twelve gauge shotgun slipped off a log. He has shot in his chest above his heart but wound there is not serious. He will loose two fingers.

Rosewood News Auction of fancy articles and candy was held at the Rindal church.

Rosewood News Mr. and Mrs. Benhard Ranum and Stanley and Mrs. Ingrid Nordhagen motored to Thief River Falls on Thursday were Stanley was taken for medical attention

Rosewood News Twenty seven children enrolled at Rosebank. Harry Ranum has perfect attendance and has been advanced to sixth grade.

Young hunter found dead in Viking woods. Arthur Gustafson has wounds in back of head but foul play is not suspected.

Rosewood News A tooth brush drill was held at the Busy Bee School

Rosewood News Emil Hellquist’s car goes turtle up, fenders and the windshield badly damaged but Emil okay.



Family has sons with alligator skin
Two boys have Alligator skins. Have been under observation at University hospital

Z Sam’s family arrived in TRF Monday from Blackduck and will reside on the Dr. Kirby farm east of the city. Mr. Sam having rented the place. Two of the Sam’s children, boys aged about 5 and 13 have a peculiar affection being covered since birth with skin like that of an alligator. The bodies of the boys are almost entirely covered with scales and present a horrible sight compared with the other children in the family who are perfectly normal.

It will be remembered by those who saw the carnival at the Red Lake County Fair at Red Lake Falls this summer, that there was child shown whose skin was like that of an alligator, which same child is the oldest of the two. Sam’s who arrived here last week, treatments were given him for some time at the University Hospital in an attempt to remove the scales and also produce a growth of hair on his head. As he was practically bald and the medical science has succeeded to the extent that the number of scales has been lessened and the hair has commenced growing. Although the two boys have a strange appearance they are mentally like any normal child.

Rosewood News The Ostgaard Family from Gatzke spent Thanksgiving with the Benhard Ranum’s



All patients are released from hospital. The auditorium no longer needed as a detention hospital for diphtheria cases.

Rosewood News Adolph Haugen shot a wolf last Thursday
Rosewood News Carl Bloom is expected to leave on Friday to haul gravel

Eat Burned Toast; You'll Sing Better

Electric toasters have been in existence for less than 100 years. Yet, people have been consuming bread for the past 6,000 years, and people have been toasting bread since the time of the Romans. Toasting bread makes it crunchier and preserves it, an especially important characteristic for early civilizations. Before the advent of the electric toaster, bread was toasted over an open fire with the help of a variety of simple tools. Toasting bread does more than just preserve it, of course, it changes its nature; bread becomes sweeter, crunchier and the perfect surface on which to spread all sorts of things.The toaster represents the crest of one wave of technological innovation, it began with a huge effort to electrify the nation. Once homes were wired this created a demand for household appliances, one of which was the toaster.

The toaster pictured was Grandma Mae's toaster. Well, it was Grandpa Phil's, too when he was well. Actually, he was responsible for making sure the toast didn't burn. Toast one side, open door, turn bread around, toast side two. Then, it was spread with soft butter. Oh, can you taste that hot toast right out of the toaster unto your plate with homemade jelly? Grandpa was a great toast maker and he didn't have to get out of his chair in the kitchen; Grandma brought the toaster to the table.

After Grandpa had his stroke in 1949, the toaster was Grandma's responsiblitily. Mae was great at getting the bread INTO the toaster AND flipped BUT not side two. Her response to me about the burned on one side was, "It will make you sing better." I was a naiive kid, and I believed her. I would go straight to my bed ridden Grandfather's room, climb into his bed and sing. Poor Grandpa.

The idea of writing about the toaster came to Old Trunks this Christmas. I had written to Shirley stating: Tom is a geek about wattage. The four slice toaster we have is high wattage but it is really slow and only dries out the bread. I can actually cook sunny side up eggs faster than the toaster can do bread.

During the holidays, they were at WalMart. He was looking at toasters. But instead of just the wattage, he was looking at the number of heat coils. It is a whimpy little two slicer and the outside is too hot to handle BUT it TOASTS!!! It has lines on it where the coils are. And the bread is too tall for the cavity so the top is white. Next thing we know we will be timing it. I could blog about toasters.

As a child, we had a two slicer silver unit with a fancy W on the side. It never left the kitchen, although I know families that actually had their table close enough to a plug in to put in on the table. Mother cleaned the crumb tray after every use. WHAT? You didn't know toasters had a crumb tray?

Crunching the time to new years.

e

ALL ABOARD!!

In the early 1900's, one could by a round trip train ticket for fewer than sixty dollars. If you wanted to go to California, this was the way to go. This morning, while looking for train routes across America, the route from Fargo to San Francisco is sold out for December 29. On December 31, a ticket was available for $650.00 at which time one would ride the train for 50+ hours one way. The train is routed through Portland, Oregon. That would be to about where Bud lives. If I wanted to visit my daughter near Salt Lake, once again, to Portland, then down the state of California to Sacramento to Salt Lake for 65 hours one way. I can't get to Columbus, OH by train. I would have to get off at Cincinnati.

We know the Anderson's went to the west coast by train often. Ella had a sister who lived in Spokane. One of the children told me about going through Idaho and being in the dome car and how pretty it was to look out the window. Traveling by rail pass in the fifties and early sixties was the way to travel. It was the mode of travel.

There were no cars to travel the distance of Fargo to San Francisco in the early 1900's. For the sake of comparison, let's take the same trips by car today. Let's say you have a new blue Mustang that gets 25 miles to a gallon and gas is $3.00 a gallon.

Rounding off, it is 1,000 miles to Columbus. 1,000 divided by 25= 40 gallons of gas at $3.00 a gallon is $120 dollars for gas. Map quest states it is a 15+ hour drive. And guess what!? There is a road all the way.

Let's say we want to go from Fargo to Salt Lake City by car. That is 1200 miles and would take 17 hours driving time.

Or, if we were going to San Francisco, it is 1800 miles and 26 hours driving time.

We have shaved a lot of hours off the train time!

Now, this Christmas, our guests flew to Fargo. Round trip out of Texas was $850 per person. It took 13 hours to get here and they had to change planes in Dallas and Minneapolis. There luggage was lost. On the way back, they were delayed due to the weather and found themselves on stand by at Dallas to get back to Lubbock. There plan was supposed to leave Fargo at 6:40, it left around noon. The party called from the airport at 8:30 PM to say they were on the ground. We shipped boxes back because they had too much stuff. That means about 14 hours. Driving time is 18, distance is 1,250 miles.

Our other guest came from Columbus. Delay delay, hooray, hooray he made his connections. One can fly from Columbus to Fargo in 5 hours for about $400. Half of that is from Minneapolis to Fargo! On his way home, he routed through Chicago. He was on the ground in Columbus without delay and baggage loss.

Winter travel is based on weather conditions, regardless of the method of transportation. I have ridden the train twice. Once, the tracks were full of ice and they had to stop and chip it out. The privy froze up and it took us hours and hours to get to Minneapolis only to be delayed in the station. We made reservations on planes and got back to Kansas City and to Thief River Falls.

There is no perfection in air travel. Planes are late, connections are missed. Bags are lost. I knew that nearly forty years ago when Rachel, as a less than two year old, and I went north in the summer. Braniff was touching down as North Central was taking off. This Christmas, Ryen RAN to catch is flight. RAN.

So what about coming north in a car? Been there. The anti freeze was slush because it was so cold up here. Or kids get sick, the entire family gets sick, and everyone goes home by car as weaklings only to say, "Never again". But you don't loose your baggage.

My grand daughter went to visit her grandparents in Illinois for Christmas. One can fly non stop from Salt Lake to St. Louis. NON STOP, imagine that!!!!

It all boils down to tolerance and conditioning. in 1894, one had to take a horse and buggy to St. Hilaire to catch the tri weekly train service to Red Lake Falls. St. Hilaire is 8 miles from Thief River Falls; Red Lake Falls is 18 miles. Remember this is during a time when the schools in New Solum Township were built so kids didn't have to cross the swamp to get to school. It was also a time when people walked to St. Hilaire and carried the flour home on their shoulder.

Think about that. Think about how we really have come a long way. Think about airlines are run by people, although we expect perfection out of them, we aren't going to get it. No wonder they say put your underwear on your carry on, or if all else fails, sleep in Grandpa's T shirt.

For all of you that have ditched a car, have been delayed by ice on the wings, or snow on the tracks, I bid you a power nap.

e

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

UPDATE ON GLEN RANUM

I did write to Patrick.

He stated that Glen did indeed live with his parents until he was a teen. I asked Patrick why he moved back to live with his dad. He said that he was old enough to work on the farm and Alfred wanted him back. Lorine, who had mothered him all those years, was not happy.

As for the place of his death, it was in Luzon, in the Phillipines. NOT at Iwo Jima.

I also have the date wrong. He died in 1945.


RANUM, GLENN A
DATE OF BIRTH: 11/18/1923
PFC US ARMY
WORLD WAR II
DATE OF DEATH: 01/27/1945
BURIED AT: SECTION C-3 SITE 7671
FORT SNELLING, MN

Thanks, Patrick for the update.

e

The Games People Play

It isn't often Old Trunks turns on her computer and first thing in the morning, before coffee, roars with laughter at a message. This morning was particularly funny and sweet Thomas could hear me when he was upstairs with the door shut.

We have talked often about games. Our discussions have included Emil Mellem and the Wahoo! board he made for the Anderson children. We have talked about card playing and the looser making coffee.

When Rachel and Ryen were here for Christmas of 2006, we played SHUT THE BOX. The game had a bit of history with the household when we put it on the list of things to do with Tom's grand daughter, Jillian.

Sculpy

Stenciling

Picture frames from scraps

Color

Cut out

Stickers

Yahtzee

Crazy eights

Shut the Box

Rubber Stamping

Dry erase board

String beads

Paper chains

As we played SHUT THE BOX with Jillian, Ryen remembered I BLEW IT. It is a dice game his grandmother taught him. Remembering only fragments of the game, we turned to the Internet to help us with the scoring. I talked to Shirley about the game. She too, had taught it to her grandchildren and they learned to add by playing the game. Our young house guest was counting the dots on the dice, although by the time we finished playing, she recognized fives and ones.

By the time Ryen and I had worked out the kinks in a game called SKIPO, which he learned from his grandmother when he was about seven, it went to the dining room table for adult play.

Let's get back to SHUT THE BOX. It shuffled through the group of guests on Sunday before Christmas, each expecting to win the game, after all, it is simple. Roll the dice and cover the numbers. Yet no one has ever won in our house.

The idea was to send the game home with Ryen. It did not happen. When I went to the closet to get the sweeper, it was back on the shelf. I considered emailing him about it.

Then, I got two emails. Two things had happened:

1. They had made their own shut the box. As you can see by the picture, they made a grid on cardboard and used quarters to cover the numbers. This was why I started to laugh. Where did those 'make do' genes come from?

2. The second email was truly master mind like. A computer program had been written to continue working until the game was won. It took only nano seconds to win, even though it took as many as

'SHUT THE BOX!' after 2141 attempts with this combo: 4-4,1-3,6-6,6-6,5-4,2-5,5-6,6-4,3-5,2-2,5-5

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 12779 attempts with this combo: 3-6,6-3,6-6,6-5,1-3,4-3,4-4,5-2,1-1,5-5

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 14354 attempts with this combo: 4-2,3-3,6-5,6-4,6-3,1-1,2-3,6-6,4-3,4-4,1-4

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 40575 attempts with this combo: 2-5,5-5,3-4,6-2,6-5,4-5,6-1,6-1,6-6

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 63103 attempts with this combo: 3-4,6-6,4-6,4-2,5-3,4-3,6-5,6-3,3-2,1-2

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 79483 attempts with this combo: 3-1,1-3,6-4,2-6,6-5,5-4,6-6,2-3,6-1,3-5

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 25172 attempts with this combo: 6-6,5-5,6-2,2-3,6-1,3-6,1-3,5-6,6-2,2-2

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 13353 attempts with this combo: 3-1,1-2,1-6,6-6,1-2,5-6,4-4,6-5,6-4,4-5

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 12803 attempts with this combo: 2-1,1-2,3-5,5-5,3-4,6-3,4-2,5-6,5-5,6-6,1-3

I 'SHUT THE BOX!' after 2464 attempts with this combo: 6-5,5-6,3-2,4-4,1-6,6-6,3-6,5-5,1-4

It is exciting to listen to the human brain take the same concept and readjust it. Although the concept of the game is centuries old, it plays to small children, Old Trunks with Worn Shoes, and computer programmers.

If you have nothing to do on New Years Day, take a tip from Ryen, and with a few quarters, a gridded paper, and two dice, start the new year playing a game with your family. Google SHUT THE BOX for directions.

May the games begin.

Laugh often, even before coffee.

Happy Anniversary Judy and Arlen

e

Ranum, Ranum, Everywhere

DECEMBER 1931
12 31 Mr. And Mrs. Otto Ranum and children from Warren were here to spend New Years at the home of Mr. And Mrs. Benhard Ranum.



What? Children? Betty Lou Katherine was born in 1926 and Chesley Patrick in 1940. What do they mean children? I will need to ask Patrick. Pat lives in Oregon. Pat and I are 1/2 first cousins. His father, Otto and my grandfather, Benhard had the same father. Benhard had Siri and Otto had Kari, as mothers.



I am going to talk about it and send the same note to Patrick and see what the story is. This is what I think.



Knute and Siri had several children. The second oldest was Alfred.

Alfred married Hulda, the two of them had ten children.

Glen was born in 1923.

Hulda died in 1924.

Otto and Lorine, married in September of 1923, raised him.

In the 1930 census, Glen is listed as an adopted son.

Glen was the plural of children in the opening paragraph.

Glen died at Iwo Jima in 1943. He is buried at Fort Snelling.



Now, this whole Ranum thing is a tangle of fish line or is that fine gold chains?



We know that Benhard and Otto were half brothers.



But Alfred and Hulda continues....

Alfred married Clara Olson who had children with Oskar Ranum, he died

So when Alfred and Clara married, she was Clara Olson Ranum, Ranum.



I understand when I hear this group are first cousins, once removed

Florence

Knute

Isabell

Alice

Lloyd

John

Elsie

Sanford

Kenneth Sidney

Stanley



I even understand Clara and Alfred (First cousins once removed0

Delores

Margaret



Clara and Oskar children are my first cousins once removed

Marceline

Oscar

Maynard

Oral



But where do these first cousins once removed come in?

Lloyd

Myron

Junice

Ray

Arlene

Orrin

Ferrel

Sherwin





OH! They are John and Olga Ranum's, (Grandpa's brother) children!





On New Years Eve of 1966, Otto and his wife, Lorine, and a friend named Mrs. Pete Mellem played cards at my Grandfather's house. "Lena Pete" had become a widow in September of 1966 and my grandfather, Benhard, a widower in November of the same year. At midnight, they were having a lunch after several hours of card playing. Otto and Lorine lived with my grandfather that winter; he stated he needed someone to wake him from his nightmares since his wife of 55 years had died. He slept on the hide-a-bed; they slept in the bedroom.



About the time the clock struck midnight, a snow mobile came around the corner of 13th and Horace too fast and asked Benhard for a shovel to dig the skis out of the snow bank made by the city while plowing the street. I know all of this because Rachel and I stayed up and watched Guy Lombardo usher in the new year.

Boxing Day

Rosewood News Mrs. Kari Ranum entertained the Benhard Ranum family the second day of Christmas. It was 1922, Stan was 8 and his brother, Harry, was 11. Do you suppose it was a carry over from the 'old' country?

Boxing Day is a traditional celebration, dating back to the Medieval Ages, and consisted of the practice of giving out gifts to employees, the poor, or to people in a lower social classes. The dictionary attributes it to the Christmas box, a verb box meaning: "To give a Christmas-box hence boxing-day." Outside the United Kingdom, the day is still celebrated but just with a different name.

It was the day when people would give a present or Christmas box to those who had worked for them throughout the year.


In feudal times, Christmas was a reason for a gathering of extended families. All the serfs would gather their families in the manor of their lord, which made it easier for the lord of the estate to hand out annual stipends to the serfs. After all the Christmas parties on December 26 the lord of the estate would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would get a box full of such goods the day after Christmas. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obliged to supply these goods. Because of the boxes being given out, the day was called Boxing Day.

In England many years ago, it was common practice for the servants to carry boxes to their employers when they arrived for their day's work on the day after Christmas. Their employers would then put coins in the boxes as special end-of-year gifts. This can be compared with the modern day concept of Christmas bonuses. The servants carried boxes for the coins, hence the name Boxing Day.


In churches, it was traditional to open the church's donation box on Christmas Day, and the money in the donation box was to be distributed to the poorer or lower class citizens on the next day. In this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that lockbox in which the donations were left.


Boxing Day was the day when the wren, the king of birds, was captured and put in a box and introduced to each household in the village when he would be asked for a successful year and a good harvest.

Because the staff had to work on such an important day as Christmas by serving the master of the house and their family, they were given the following day off. As servants were kept away from their own families to work on a traditional religious holiday and were not able to celebrate Christmas Dinner, the customary benefit was to "box" up the leftover food from Christmas Day and send it away with the servants and their families. (Similarly, as the servants had the 26th off, the owners of the manor may have had to serve themselves pre-prepared, boxed food for that one day.) Hence the "boxing" of food became "Boxing Day".

It appears boxing day here is the day the city of Fargo is going to pick up the paper chase from Christmas and Tom and I will eat boxed food, that is, left overs! It is also a day to box up the items which did not fit in suitcases and get them ready to ship.

Boxing Day.

e

Letters to Santa 1899

Dear Santa,
Please bring me an orange and a doll.

Dear Santa,
Please bring me a set of dishes and a cupboard to put them in.

Dear Santa,
Please bring me a doll and a buggy and bring my brother a train.

Dear Santa,
Please bring me a pair of gloves and lots of nuts and candy.

Dear Santa,
I am not afraid of you.

Dear Santa,
Please bring me a new coat, a doll, a buggy, and a wagon for my brother.

Dear Santa,
Please bring me a bicycle, a pair of skates, an orange, nuts, and candy and then I will be a good boy.

Dear Santa,
I want a doll, some nuts and raisins, and an orange.

Dear Canterclaws,
Please bring me a piano and some candy.

Dear Santa,
Please bring me a drum, some candy, an overcoat, and some nuts.

Dear Santa,
Please bring me slate and a book satchel. That is all.

Dear Santa,
Please bring me an air gun and some nuts

Dear Santa,
Please bring me a story book. I am good. Please bring me two story books.

Dear Santa,
I would like a drum, horn, and a coat and don't forget the nuts and candy

Dear Santa,
Please bring me a wash board and some clothes line and pins and all the other toys you give other children.

Dear Santa,
We want so many things this year, we don't know if your sled can carry off of them. We want two sleds, one green and one red, a live pony and a cart, an air gun, skates, and a train. We hope you have room.

Dear Santa,
I would like to have a ball and a pair of striped socks.

Dear Santa,
I want a toy cow.

The Glue That Holds it All Together

Grandfathers are marvelous people. There should be a T Shirt that says, "When no one else listens, ask grandpa".

Grandpas teach you things in a way that you never forget them. Grandmas get the project started and Grandpas do the maintenance.

Jillian needed more glue for her project; she needed grandpa. Need is important. To express one's need is even more important.

Grandpas are handsome. Never mind if they are pendulous, grey haired, smell funny, or are bald. The have a kind of knight in shining armour. They may have hair in their nose and ears, dress in flannel shirts or bib over alls. They may wear a belt AND suspenders at the same time and we may not know what any of that means; what matters is in our eyes, they have a king like look that we never forget.

My own Grandfather, a pendulous man that drank his coffee from a saucer before he put his teeth in his mouth in the morning, was a true king to me. He had a laugh that came from his belly. I never thought of him as anything but in total wellness. He knew everything I ever needed to know and seemed to understand my broken questions. He did things for and with me that my parents did not do.

Granted, my parents did not think bringing in a field mouse in a barrel into the kitchen so I could watch it run around the perimeter inside said barrel was their idea of entertainment; it was a grandpa thing.

Grandpa things were special; there is a cloak of magic. Perhaps Grandpa's are just human beings that are older and smell funny.

When my Grandfather played cards, there was a kind of energy that emitted. I hadn't thought about it for decades. Last night, while playing cards with a group of people, someone in the group had some expressions and table thumping like Benhard. I recognized it immediately.

Let's hope something triggers a memory of someone special at Christmas.

Joy to your world

e

Is There a Frog onYour Table?

Let's say that a frog jumps on your perfectly set table trying to get into the water pitcher just after all your invited guests have sat down to have Christmas dinner.

He hops into the ribbon salad that someone stayed up until after one o'clock to make. There are frog prints in it!


He lands smack dab in the middle of your antique China dinner plate, says rib bit and in trying to grab him, you knock over the stemmed glassware full of wine which lands in your lap.

He confuses the Cole slaw with a lily pad. His becomes slippery from the oil based dressing and now hops near another guest who catches him but can't hang on.

The table, bowing in the middle from the bounty set upon it, wiggles. The apples, turned candle holders roll, the table cloth is spotted with wax.

All guests are standing. A voice from the head of the table hollers, OPEN YOUR NAPKIN AND COVER HIM WITH IT!. The frog is caught.

Dinner resumes with replaced salad, no coleslaw, wine soaked clothing, and paper towels on the table to replace the cloth napkins. Fine antique collectible plates are exchanged for paper plates.

Think about this. The only perfect Christmas is in your head or on paper. When a group of bodies each with a mind, soul, and spirit come together with their idea of a perfect Christmas, it becomes a universal pot of fruit soup.

And if a frog jumps on your table and someone takes charge to catch the frog, and everyone pulls together, you have for a few majestic moments, a group in unity with the same focus. Perhaps that is a perfect moment.

Does the frog give the group a dash away, dash away all from the visions pills, bills, wills, and hills yet to climb or hills not able to climb a mini moment that nothing else matters?

Would this be a moment to remember?

Would you tell it as a funny memory or one of disaster?

Is life attitude?

e

Order within AMOK

Old Trunks wonders today what the kids did after the packages are open and the gifts are collected in a box to look at later. Or do they dump the box and play in the box? Or, do you give them a box as a secret gift to allow their imagination to fly!?

When the Anderson children were young, did they take out the Wahoo board that Emil had made and play together with some sort of heavenly temperament? I almost said cease fire, but I was thinking about MY brother and our rag matches. :)

What happens to the roar of the house after Christmas? Did you go skating? Sledding? Ski behind the car? Sled behind the car? Go to a movie? When you were older, did you get together with your friends? SOOZI?, ever ride in a powder blue Chevy on Christmas Day?

Although the gifts are important, I really do think the mystery and the tearing of the paper is the most exciting part. Gives me shivers to think about the sound of the paper ripping! OOO.

And I am thinking about my sweet Grandmother, who FOLDED the paper BEFORE she looked at the gift. FOLDED. Ever do that? Me neither.

My other grandmother wrapped everything in white tissue paper and tied the packages with ribbon on which you curl the ends. NO TAPE. Tied with ribbon. Think about that. NO TAPE.

I am remembering my sixth Christmas. Daddy took an enormous sheet of tissue paper and wrapped my gift like it was a pork chop. I am six, and I tell him he did a poor job of wrapping. And he at thirty-six reminded me that it wasn't how it was wrapped that counted, it was what was inside.

Now, I will tell you my Dad walked on water; he had the right to is opinion and I to mine. I love to wrap. One day I never got dressed, I was lost in a world of paper and expression and designing. My youngest son is here now. We were upstairs making bows. He was telling me about one of his friends who wraps beautifully but does not crease the edges. Ryen is not finicky, he just learned to wrap by my side. It is a thing with us. For all of you pork chop wrappers, it is okay. For all of us who ooze with a wish to create a finished package, that is okay too.

Did your family go somewhere on Christmas? Did you take your gifts with you or did you beg to go home at 7P so you could open your gifts? My cousins did not take their gifts with them. They had the pleasure of their own home to wrap and squeal. Isn't squeal a Christmas word?

Although it is a time for sharing, I certainly did not want to share my brand new walking doll with my cousin Judy. Result: One of her arms got pulled off. Shame on us. And in front of Grandma, too. As an adult, I liked watching my kids be excited and squeal and rip while I took pictures of them. They could be totally themselves in their own surroundings. There aren't that many times in one's life time that you can really trip that switch, let it happen.

The standard was when my children were at the squeal stage:

Dinner
Dishes
7P
Bible Story & prayer
Gifts

Now we varied the dishes and we set the clock ahead BUT dinner and Bible story came before gifts. It was based on the BIG GIFT to all humanity is Christ. It was a tradition which came to our family from the Anderson's. The story was not started and stopped. The children knew that regardless of how excited they were inside, they were expected to be still.

When the prayer was finished, I wonder if they said, "Are we done?"

How did you pass out gifts? Was the youngest the elf? Where all the gifts delivered to each person and they were in their own world of paper and ribbon? Was there a general 'thanks, everyone'? Or did you go around the room and each open one?

On to and from tags, do you state from? Does that seem like an odd question to you? Think about it. You are getting the blessing while they get the gift regardless of a name, aren't you? The important thing is to be certain people are thanked. Where your children strongly encouraged to write thank you cards to family far away? Will you, as I did, find those thank yous in a box of treasures kept by a grandmother for decades?

Does your family all work to pick up the wrapping with covers the floor? Does it get picked up right away? What difference does it make if the floor is paper for a few hours. Isn't there something really neat about wading in it? We know that mother's are the ones that will get the cellophane tape out of the carpet at some point; does it matter if it waits until Easter?

How are you going to do it this year?

Reach in and find a little squeal.

Play with the box.

Play Santa.

Cry if the joy is too great to hold in, it won't hurt the paper.

Clean up your own paper.

Play.

Hug.

Marvel.


e

Jump, Turn, Twist, and Twirl!!!

A seven year old is sharing her jump, turn, twist, and twirl with us this holiday. If it has been awhile since you have had someone this age in a group of adults only, then you know that all of this energy happens right in the middle of adult conversations in the livingroom.

Remember now, that we are new to her, the house is new to her, the town, the weather, and the food are new to her. She is doing very well. She takes instructions well, likes to help, wants everything in site for her Christmas gift, and has no screen. If she thinks it, she says it. I will say she is a kind soul waiting for Christmas and worried that she isn't finding the number of gifts marked with her name that she thinks she should have. SHE IS SEVEN.

I asked her last night if she could find a lady bug in each room. This house has a swarm of lady bugs. An outsider may think I am a collection junky.

Let the game begin

She, with the help of her grandfather, found ladybugs

We moved on to:
Frogs
Loons
Angels
Dragonflies
Teddy bears
Raggedy Ann and Andy
Presents
Christmas Tree ornaments
Reindeer
Hummingbirds
Butterflies

She did not extend her search to:
Fishing Rods
Lures
Rubber Stamps
Ribbons
Stickers
Pens
Scissors
Paper
Stones

Did not wish to count the bumps on the ceiling or calculate the number of snow flakes on the ground. It did, however, give her a couple hours of pleasure on a mystery hunt. It grins me to think about the simple exploding joy that all of us may have.

Twist, Turn, Twirl, and go for a three point shot!

e

The Great Package Rattle

There is something profound about children guessing what is in wrapped packages. I can feel Rachel's close examination of the spines on books. Books wrap great BUT are give aways, don't you think?

Did you ever shake til you break? Did your parent's ever double or triple wrap a package for the sake of surprise and suspense?

Did you ever peek? OH...I wanted to peek SOOOOOOOOO Bad!

The idea of gifts has ballooned over the years. My parents may have gotten stockings or other wearable items. My grandparents? Perhaps the same. I know Daddy never got a bike for Christmas because he never learned to ride a bike. Can you believe that? I do know that Benhard and Julia sent Severt, (Benhard's brother-in-law), a tie and a card each year. The next year, the tie would come back to Benhard with the same card. And they say re-gifting is new! Cards were written in pencil so you could recycle. :)

Ever think about what you gave your parents? Did you know them well enough to buy them something they wished for? I wonder if Daddy really wished for monogrammed handkerchiefs? We know that whatever mother got went into the rummage sale the next spring.

Did you have a budget? Mine was a couple of dollars. I would push my pencil to figure out how I could remember everyone with that amount. One year, (I only remember this because it still was on the wall after Grandma Mae died in 1968). I found this really cute little bunny head plaque at the dime store for 15 cents. I bought both grandmother's one. Grandma Mae said, "OH, I know just where I am going to hang this!" She brought it into the kitchen and hung it up. Isn't that so precious?

The year of the pink flocked tree there were no gifts under the tree for Greg and I. I still hate when people tease kids at Christmas time; it is no time to put them on a roller coaster. Daddy said we had been naughty. It was the year, as a teen, I really wished for something. REALLY WISHED. No, harder!!! I wanted an onyx ring I saw in the window of a jewelry store. When I told Daddy about it, he said I was too young and would loose it. BUT I KEPT WISHING. Mother brought them out from someplace she had hidden them. It was wonderful.

One year when Rachel and Bud were young, they remodeled the way the gifts were under the tree, what seemed like many times a day. OVER and OVER, rattle and replace. We as parents decided it was too much for them to bare and a few days before the traditional gift opening, we announced the gifts were theirs and they certainly could open them if they wished. Paper flew for a nano second. Rachel started to cry. The gifts were re-wrapped and they waited. I would think they will never forget that.

One year we bought Bud a watch for Christmas. Oh, you know what I mean, one of those with a timer alarm on it. I will tell you truthfully, I do not believe the timer was set when I wrapped it. As a mother, I tend to believe someone peeked, played with the timer and it unknowingly got set. But that isn't the story. The story is every night at suppertime or dinner to those of you with different terms, the watch would go off as we ate.

Rachel got diamond earrings for Christmas one year. Bud just kept dropping hints. He may have even told her. He just couldn't keep a secret WHEN HE WAS YOUNG. Now, I will tell you he can keep secrets, like when Hookslide was on a television show and he wouldn't tell the outcome!

But, it is different now. The packages are placed/stacked and they are only moved if there is not enough clearance for the Seth Thomas clock's chains. The memories of touching, squeezing, shaking, listen to packages is a wonderful memory for all of us.

Blink back in time, squint if you must; look for those magic moments.

You are worth it!

e

O Tannenbaum

"Where should we put the tree this year?"

I am thinking back before the pane-pain on Arnold Avenue to when we had our tree by the windows overlooking the backyard. It was as far away from the fireplace as possible. That was a good thing, because when Grandpa put the box and all the packing from cousin's Judy's doll into the fireplace, the fire escaped the pit and the flames shot up and out. I can hear Daddy hollering, "EVERYONE OUT!" I am happy to report the fire was confined and the only real damage was a badly scorched birch mantel. Judy's permanently 'measles doll' was okay.

Although we can control the size of the tree we buy to fit the spot, it doesn't always come out right. Trees at Christmas in Northern Minnesota where often snow packed and iced. The tree had to sit at least a day just to thaw. Our trees were generally big; they were a thank you from a sub contractor who dug basements for homes and buildings the construction company built.

There was a beautiful tree warming in the garage the Christmas of 1958. Who would have known that when we got home from school, the tree would already be decorated. Mother had flocked it in pink, attached pink lights, and pink bulbs. It was majestic. And on Christmas Eve, we tried to figure out just which bulb had burned out on one of many seven string lines

Ever do that?

Between the tree on Oakland Park and the tree of 1958, the tree was a family affair.

Daddy hung the lights

We put on the balls

Greg and I would see how far we could toss the tinsel

We would be relieved of the tinsel trimming

Mother would straighten the tinsel and hang it piece by piece.

Tom 's mother did the same thing

When the kids were little, we went to a tree farm and cut down the tree.

It was picked by a rotation of family members

The trees were always the most beautiful ever

They were pruned as they grew

Ryen helped saw the tree down

Bud helped saw the tree down

Rachel helped saw the tree down

It was tradition to get the tree on Thanksgiving

And father put on the lights

We all put on balls

Each of us had a new ornament each year

There was no tinsel

Rachel and Bud fought hard to see who could get their ornament the highest

Bud's bird almost always won

Rachel had a light connected near the bottom so she could read under the tree

The placing of the tree varied from year to year

One year we actually tied the tree to the wall

The last of the needles were picked up on Easter

My grandparents didn't always have a tree

When they did, it was aluminum with a color wheel

It sat in the corner by the television

Grandma Mae had a little artificial tree with red berries

She decorated it with icicles made from the strips

of metal which was removed while opening coffee cans

She did not have lights

It didn't seem to matter what size or shape the trees where

They all represented the same thing

Fast forward to Fargo

We have an artificial tree

Gone are the 300 white lights of the past

Replaced with green rice lights

Each year we have a new ornament

There is no tinsel

The tree goes up around the 10th of December

The tree is undressed after the new year

The tree is not put away

it is moved into the dining room

The only decorations left on the tree are

Two red birds; one for Shilpa and one for Bud.

Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,

wie treu sind deine Blätter!

Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit,

Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,

wie treu sind deine Blätter

O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree

How loyal are your leaves/needles!

You're green not only in the summertime,

No, also in winter when it snows.

O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree

How loyal are your leaves/needles!

Sweet Memories to all!

e

An Icicle is not a Popsicle©, or is it?

Close your eyes for a moment and think about the last time you broke off an icicle and sucked on it as a popscile. Think about how it stuck to your mittens and you saw your breath while you brought it to a very sharp point. Yum.

I was always disappointed that our house didn't have icicles. It wasn't fair that some of the kids in the neighborhood had many to harvest through out the winter. They also had the priviledge of knocking several down at a time and watching them fall and be buried in the snow. If they did it fast enough, a klink-klink sound happened as they hit each other before dropping into the drift. It seemed as if most of the good icicles were on the south side of the houses. I wondered about that, too.

My favorite one was at St. Paul Grocery. On Wednesday mornings, we went to the church chosen by our parents to attend Wednesday School. It didn't matter how far it was, you walked. I went to Knox School and attended church school at Zion Lutheran. It was about a mile jaunt. That is how I met the big icicle on the grocery store.

Every week, it seemed to get bigger and wider, and dirtier. I wondered if one could break it off in a big piece and look at it in the winter sun.

Since I didn't seem to get an answer that I understood from parent's or grandparents. I started looking at our house and other houses and trying to figure out what the difference was. What I noticed was our house had snow on the roof and others had patches of shingle showing.

It occurred to me that my parents and grandparents knew the answer, I just had not asked the right question. I asked my contractor father why those houses had shingle showing and ours didn't. He told me that those houses weren't insulated and the heat was going up causing the snow melt. Well, if that were the case, then if the snow was melting, water was running slowly, forming the icicles. It wasn't that complicated at all! I guess I would just have to go to Hanson's and get my icicle fix, or any other house in the neighborhood that had the shingles showing.

So in our freeze/thaw society, I still look at roofs for heat loss and check the south sides for icicles! One year, an icicle formed on the high line wire! It hung there until the spring winds came!

Obviously the picture of the logging shack shows there is a lot of heat loss through the roof. I wonder if anyone ever sucked on them?!

Clink, clank!

e

Turn Your Radio On!!!

Summer of 1924
Radios are being donated to the patients in the sanatorium
Winter of 1924
Rosewood News Benhard Ranum has installed a new radio set
Winter of 1926
Rosewood News There has been during the past week the customary holiday home parties in almost every home and to give the names would be useless except for the local interest. The summary for them all is an invitation to the most intimate friends to spend an afternoon or evening, either talking socially, listening to the radio, cards, or music and terminating with the serving of lunch. It is a social custom and tends to bind the home ties closer.

THE FIRST RADIO

The first radio stood in Grandma Mae's living room. It was, in 1952 where I learned the words to How Much is that Doggie in the Window. The local station also played B-I-N-G-O. My bed ridden Grandfather would get frustrated with the racket and the radio would be turned off. And I thought he loved to hear me sing!

I did learn B-I-N-G-O was in a college song in 1906. Look at this version!

The miller's big dog lay on the barn-floor, And Bingo was his name; (repeat)

B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O,

Bingo was his name.B-I-N-G-O,Bingo was his name.

They cut him into sausage meat, And Bingo was his name; (repeat)

B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O,

Bingo was his name.B-I-N-G-O,Bingo was his name.

They whistled at that sausage meat; and Bingo wagged his tail; (repeat)

B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, Bingo wagged his tail.

B-I-N-G-O,Bingo wagged his tail.

(Whistle the melody); and Bingo wagged his tail. (repeat)

B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O,

B-I-N-G-O, Bingo wagged his tail

THE SECOND RADIO

Is a radio and phonograph unit. My brother and I had 78rpm reconds with picture books. Favorites were Bozo the Clown and Hopalong Cassidy. Bozo the Clown was introduced to the world in a children's record entitled Bozo at the Circus. The album, which featured an illustrative read-along book set (the first of its kind), lasted for an astounding 200 weeks on Billboard's Best Selling Children's Records Chart, and a clown star was born.

THE THIRD RADIO

This radio sat on my grandparent's dresser. My grandparent's played cards every night before bed. Whom ever lost had to make the coffee the next morning and serve the winner coffee in bed. When Grandma, who generally lost, got up, she would turn on the radio to the local KTRF to listen to the local news and weather. She would patter into the kitchen, already dressed, and make coffee on the stove in an alumium pot.

When the coffee was ready, she would bring Grandpa his coffee in a cup with a saucer and lumps of sugar. The home made brown sugar lumps were dipped into the cup, the coffee was sucked through the sugar. The lump was held in his mouth as he poured the hot coffee into the saucer and sipped it, (from the saucer). He would finish up his coffee by drinking the last of it from the cup after it had cooled.

After the news, which included the obituaries, and the weather, the radio was turned off until favorite programs came on in the early evening.

How well I remember being in bed with the winner and being allowed to dip my own sugar into the cup and suck the coffee through it. There was only one rule about it; you may only dip once.

Ah, yes, the sign on song of KTRF, and a sugar lump with grandparents. That is what memories are made of.

One lump or two?

e