July 21, 2010

Tell about the neatest shoes you ever owned as a youth.

Sorry there wasn't such a thing. Due to a disease called "perthies" and a leg brace for several months as a child of three, I had to wear corrective shoes until I was 19 years old and even then one pair that I took on my mission were corrective shoes. So my neat shoes always looked like sunday shoes but so did everyone else's. I did have Converse All-Star shoes for gym and a pair of track shoes for races but other than that my shoes were there to keep me from walking on the sides of them. I am thnkful too for Mr Kelch that made them for me all those years for I walk in my shoes not on the sides of them now as I would have had I not had them.

July 20,2010

Share a birthday party memory.

(Here is the version from my history stories.)

15th Birthday Party.

I have had several birthday parties to remember but the first one that had left an impression far too strong to forget was my 15^th one. As many of you know it is a standard in the church to not date before you are 16 years old so this birthday was pretty important since my girlfriend and I could not date. I remember going out to do chores and coming in to change my clothes and spend the evening doing I didn’t know what. As I entered the back porch and put away the milking items and the milk I started down the steps to the basement where my room was located. Little did I know that Marie Behrmann was scurrying as fast as she could to exit through my room and out the door on the other side so that I wouldn’t see her. She had come to throw a surprise birthday party for me and before long I was surrounded by several of my friends from school and of course my only true love Marie. I only remember Marie, Serena, and Don of my friends that were there and of course my sisters but I am sure that there must have been others. I only remember playing a couple of games as well but I will always remember being told how close I had come to seeing Marie at the bottom of those steps before I was suppose to know that she was even there. We started dating after she was 16 on the 16^th of December a full year and a half later and I can’t remember if we even had a party for her but I know that now I am glad that she was willing to be my girlfriend and later my wife and eternal companion. We have both had a lot of birthdays since them and some of them with parties and I will always remember my 15^th birthday party first when I think back on them.

July 19, 2010

What was your favorite holiday of the year? Why?

Christmas of course. Because we got to get out of school and we got to have parties and we got presents and made candy and ate candy that we had made and it was just a fun time. It was also fun shopping for presents and making presents at other times when money was scarce. We had about a $1.00 that we could spend on each person so we went to the "5 and dime" store in Roosevelt for most of our shopping since it had the least expensive things in it.

July 18,2010

What did you do to stay cool?

Got into the shade of trees as often as possible. Went swimming and also went down to my basement bedroom where it was always fairly cool. Upstairs however we always had to have windows open.

July 17, 2010

Share a memory about a heatwave or drought.

I don't have any memories of such. We lived in a desert so every year was really a drought and that is why we used irrigation as the source of water for our crops. We also had a well on the farm that we used for water for the house and in the early spring before there was water in the canal we would often run dry for a couple of hours or more so we had to be careful in the use of water at that time. After the water was put into the canal it would feed the underground water streams and then we would nave no more problems with water for use at the house or the barn.

July 16, 2010

What kinds of party games or party activities were popular?

Well face cards were popular with my friends but not in my home. Mother was very set against the use of them. However Monopoly and clue were two of the games that we played a lot in my youth. That was the inside games at least. In the summer we played what are now referred to as Night Games by the youth. They included "No Bears are out tonight", "Kick the can", and "Hide and Seek". We also played Cowboys and Indians a lot then as well. The popular activities were outdoor bar-b-ques and hot dog roasting by the fire. We did a lot of that and I still enjoy it today. Dad did a lot of Dutch oven cooking as well which was always really good.

July 15, 2010

Share a memory about going on a picnic.

When you go to Stan's place in Duchesne you will find two large pine trees planted in the upper yard. One by the well and one closer to the road by the old tree with the swing. I can still remember the 4th of July that we went up indian canyon and took the permit that Dad had acquired from the Forest Service and had a picnic. It was Mom's birthday and we were going to eat sandwiches and salad that mom had made and then go find dome small trees to transplant into the yard. We ate lunch and then went looking for just the right size trees. The two we found were probably only 8 to 10 inches tall and we took a five gallon bucket of dirt with the roots so that they wouldn't die while planting them into the yard. they some awfully small trees for a lot of years and finally started to grow to whee they are now very tall and beautiful. tan brought home 4 from the forest service a couple of years later that we planted at the bottom of the garden near where Grandma's house is now located. They were awful small for several years also and regardless of how well I watered them there was one of them that died. That was actually pretty good since the other three are now also very tall and beautiful.

July 14, 2010

Tell about the first meal you ever made by yourself.

This one seems easy since from what I remember the first meal that I made by myself was for a boy scout cooking merit badge requirement.

I had to cook something from the land and so I boiled dandelions. It was not very good because I let the water boil out and so it burned on the bottom of the pan. I filled the requirement because it didn't say it had to taste real good.

July 13, 2010

Do you remember having a favorite candy? How much did it cost?




This was my favorite candy because it had wafers that could sit in your mouth and slowly dissolve. They cost about 5 cents a roll and were really good. I had a lot of other favorites too which included Life Savers but I didn't eat them only saved them in a cigar box that I have no idea where it came from.

July 12, 2010

Tell about your biggest or best catch.

Can't since I don't remember catching any big ones and i wouldn't want to brag about an 8 inch fish or whatever I might have caught.

July 11, 2010

Did you go fishing, hunting, or trapping in your youth?

Hunting and Fishing but neither one was I very good at. Fishing was really bad for me and I stopped early in my youth in pursuit of that hobby. Hunting took a little longer but I eventually quit that as well.

However I did go Deer Hunting from about the time I was 8 years old. I went with my father, brothers, cousins, Uncles and their friends. One year, the first one that I was able to carry a rifle and have a tag, I went on the second weekend of the hunt with my cousin.

Here is how I have related it in my history.

Deer Hunting, the Road with Harold, plus the big one with Steve

I had several years of deer hunting after my first one with dad but that was the only one when we actually went and stayed at the ranch the night before. From that hunt until I was 18 I never missed another deer hunt. We pretty much would get up early on the morning of the hunt and go before it got daylight over into the orchard which was about a quarter of a mile from the house and there get at least one deer before even starting to hunt with my cousins and uncles. After we would get that one hung up in the barn we would go to Nana’s place in Duchesne and meet up with everyone else. It would still be quite early and they would all be ready so we would load into the trucks and head for Indian canyon. There would be 5 or so of us in the back of each truck, usually there were 3 or 4 trucks. We would go up Indian canyon about a mile and then head east on a dirt road for another mile or so and then turn south again and drive along the ridge of the hills that would drop down into Indian Canyon. I could never figure out quite how everyone else knew but at some point the trucks would start dropping one or two people out at the head of each draw. If we were the first ones off we would wait for several minutes I suppose to let the others get dropped off further up the canyon and then we would start down the ridges watching and listening for the deer that would be moving back into the hills from the fields in Indian Canyon, the fields that were owned by dad and his brothers. I didn’t carry a rifle since you had to be 16 to do so at that time. I would usually go with Clair or Stan and walk with them helping them to watch both side of the ridge. I can remember some years seeing a lot of deer filing up the draw into the hills and then when the big one would come along going to try and bag it. The worst part of the day always started tough when and if one was bagged. We would have to clean it and then start dragging it down the canyon to where we could drive to it and put it in the trucks. One year I remember hearing the smashing of horns below us, I believe I was with Clair that year. We hurried down to where the sound was only to hear it stop and then found where two bucks had apparently been fighting because the ground was all messed up and some dust was still lingering in the air. We didn’t see either of them but we were sure excited and tried to find them. I don’t think that we were successful. I still can see the year when 5 big bucks were all loaded into the trucks after that morning push. Usually after we had gone there above the ranch we would then load up again and go to right hand fork of Indian canyon and go to five mile canyon where we would then park all the trucks in the same area and then walk up the canyon and filly span out and walk up to the top of the hill where we would then be far enough apart to see each other and anything that might try to go between us and then walk back around the hill to where dad or someone else would be waiting. Every now and then we would drive a deer into the area where he could get it. When dad had a chance to shoot at a deer he didn’t miss. I was never that good.

Later when I was able to carry a rifle the older brothers had all pretty much left home and so the deer hunt changed. I would go with my neighbor Harold Spencer and in the case of my last hunt with Steve Aycock my cousin.

The years that I went with Harold were particularly interesting years. One year he drove up Grass hollow and up a road that I wasn’t even sure a horse would be safe on let alone a truck. I was on the passenger side looking down off the hillside being quite sure that we would soon be rolling down it in the truck. Harold made it all the way to the top though and was even able to turn around. We got out and hunted from there. I think I even went around and down the side of the mountain until I was back into the bottom of the valley just so I wouldn’t have to ride back down that road. It was pretty scary and I don’t even remember seeing a deer for all that trouble.

One year we went to 5 mile canyon and the two of us were alone. We walked up the valley to get to the area where we could go up the hill and were being followed by a coyote. Harold was the one who first spotted it and we watched it stalk us for almost a half mile before he finally turned and shot at it. It decided I guess at that point we were not the best of meals to try to obtain. We never saw it again the entire time we were in the canyon.

The last year that I went hunting was with my cousin Steve who was several years older than I and who was teaching a Duchesne High School. It was my senior year and the last time I would most likely hunt deer in Duchesne. It was the last Saturday of the hunt and dad and mom had gone to Provo for some reason so Steve and I went by ourselves. Harold had lost two steers that year just before deer season and thus was without meat for his family. I told him that if I was lucky enough to get one that I would give it to him since our family didn’t need it that year. Steve and I went way up Strawberry ridge east of Indian canyon. We finally stopped and got out at the top of a large canyon. Steve said to me I will go to the bottom and you stay about half way up on the hill. If I see anything I will whistle and I f you see anything whistle to me. Well as I started down the hill I came on a set of very large tracks and was pretty intent on following the tracks when I came around the front of the ridge and could see Steve down below me. The next thing I knew he whistled and pointed across a small ravine ahead of me. I looked and there was a huge buck walking up the ridge. I aimed my rifle then whistled. It stopped and looked over at me and I placed the bead on the animal just behind the shoulder. I could see his entire body in my open sights so I was sure that I would miss. I squeezed the trigger and he dropped right there. Later as we were cleaning him we found that the bullet had hit him in the neck and bounced off the bone and gone through his heart. I to this day will not claim that it was my skill that shot that deer rather the bullet was guided by someone else who knew that Harold needed to meat for his family. Since it had not been spooked and was killed instantly the meat was sweet and had no wild taste to it. It was also very large and had plenty for Harold family. It took Steve and I 5 hours to get him back up to the truck. It was nearly dark and we started for home. Just a few yards down the hill a little two point buck jumped across the road. Steve said this one is mine as he stopped, pulled his rifle from behind the seat and aimed between the trees where the buck would soon be. He shot it and a few minutes later one handed picked it up and put it in the back of the truck with the one that he and I struggled to get in just a few minutes before. We were both successful but I know why and will never be convinced otherwise.

July 10, 2010

Tell any favorite summertime memory.

Swimming in the canal above the house. We would always have to get the garden weeding or the chores involving the hay done before we could go but it was an almost daily event. We would sometimes walk the half mile up the road to the bridge and jump in on inner tubes and then float back to the house but most of the time it was just wading in the 2 foot deep water and floating on our backs and swatting the big horse flies that would bite with a terrible sting. It didn't take any skills to float or swim in that water but it was wet and sure was a lot of fun as most times it would turn into a huge water fight. There were several times that we would wait until dark to go swimming because the water was always really warm from having been hit by the sun all day as it flowed down the Duchesne River and then into the canal and lazily moved the 10 or more miles until it was coming past our house. It was warm too because the night air would be a bit cooler so in respect to the water we would rather be in it than standing up in the cool night air all wet. It was a special part of our daily routine except for Sundays it was never done on Sundays.

July 9, 2010

Tell about going to a circus, or a hometown celebration festival.

This author isn't LDS or she would probably would have left this for the 24th of July. Our little town of Duchesne was just like all of the other little towns in Utah and even some of the big ones. Salt Lake City has their Days of 47 parade celebration and the small towns had their 24th of July celebrations.

The day always started with a 6:00 A.M. firing of the canon over town from the nearby hills. It would only go a few times but was enough to wake you up especially since we would usually sleep outside the night before so we could hear it. There was always a parade on the morning of the 24th and the primary organization of the church was the main part of the parade. Dressed as Pioneers we would walk, ride in a little red wagon or ride bikes and trikes down main street while all of the traffic was diverted around through the dirt back streets to keep going on their way. The parade was usually led by a Flag Honor Guard from the Veteran's of Foreign Wars or the Scouts. There would also be the fire truck (only fire truck) and police and then with the Rodeo Queen and her attendants on horses, followed by everyone else that wanted to ride a horse down the street and the oldest couple in town in a car that would round out the parade entries. There might also be the Duchesne County Mayor and city council too. We had the mayor since we were the county seat for Duchesne County.

That night there would be a big dinner or something at the park and then when it got dark a few fireworks lit off above town from the hills above the rodeo grounds. All in all it was pretty fun and a good break from the farm for a few hours.

July 8, 2010

Tell about any State Fair or County Fair experiences.

I already told about the county fair experiences. I enjoyed the rodeo's when I was young and liked the bucking bulls and cows the most. I never had any desire to chase the greased pigs or the lambs and calves that would often attract the children from the audience. The displays were fun but became somewhat boring after the 100th pint of peaches, etc. It was also fun when we got a ribbon on any of the displays that we had turned in to the fair. That was pretty much it since I didn't particularly like watching the animal judging events that were going on over further in the areas of the fair and we had no one trying to push their businesses as they do now.

July 7, 2010

What kinds of rides and games were there? How much did they cost?

I was lucky to remember the names of the big ferris wheel let alone how much it cost. There might have also been merry-go-rounds but again I don't remember the cost. They were probably a dime to a quarter each.

July 6, 2010

Did you ever go to carnivals or amusement parks? Where?

The only amusement type events that we went to was the Duchesne County Fair. It would have the Ferris wheel and other rides but I only remember one time going on it. The main attractions were the rodeo, livestock judging and the displays. We would often have 4-H exhibits in there and we would go to see what ribbons we might have earned with them. Sometimes we might get some cotton candy or ice cream but it was pretty much for the exhibits that we would go. There were a couple times that we went to help roast a pig in the ground for the big dinner that we would have one night as a fund raiser for various things as well. That was aways pretty fun.

July 5, 2010

Do you have a special July 4th that you remember the most?

No I don't. They were pretty much all the same as far as I can remember. We love our country and always were very aware of the 4th but being on a farm also were very aware of what kept our family fed and what work had to be done regardless of the day.

July 04, 2010

Tell about Independence Day Traditions of your childhood.

There were the traditional parades out here in the valley but in Duchesne there wasn't any celebrations. They were all saved for the 24th of July when we were awaken at 6:00 AM with a canon that was fired off several times across the valley. For our family however it was a great birthday celebration every year for mom. She was born on July 4, 1916 and we always had her birthday to celebrate. Then it was also a day for work since we always had the farm and usually there was hay to cut, rake , bale or haul on hat day and if it happened to not be ready to do the hay there was always a lawn to mow, garden to weed or irrigation to do.

July 3, 2010

What kind of fireworks did people have when you were a youth?

Illegal ones. It was a problem then and still is a problem today. A friend of mine in Hanna Utah was blinded in one eye by an M80 that shattered glass and hit him in the face. There were plenty of other accidents during those years as well but that was the worst one that happened to someone whom I knew. For the law abiding people there were sparklers,, worms and flower fireworks that were the most popular.

July 2, 2010

Describe and inside game you made up.

Same answer as to the last question. Must not have been very imaginative. Again we played inside games but not a lot of them since mother would not allow face cards in the house and so I never learned to play any of those. We mainly played "Monopoly" and "Seek" (an LDS game with the scriptures.)

July 1, 2010

Describe an outside game you made up.

I don't believe I ever made up and games. I played a lot of them from "No bears are out tonight" to "Kick the can" but can't ever remember making up one.

June 30, 2010

Tell about seeing something you thought was beautiful.

I was always taken by the beauties of this world whether it be a sunrise or sunset or flowers or new born animals. When I was given a camera at an early age I started photographing everything that I could, a past time that has stuck with me ever since I got that little Brownie Instamatic camera to the Canon 7D that I now own. There was one other beautiful creature that I also thought was especially beautiful form the first time I saw it, your mother Marie. She hasn't been quite so easy to photograph even though I did get a lot of pictures of her in high school.

June 29, 2010

Did you ever have or make a swing?

Yes. Dad made a swing out of an old tire and it hung in one of the trees for many years. It was in one of the apple trees if I remember correctly. We spent a lot of time in that swing.

June 28, 2010

Tell about the first car you ever owned.

I did not own a car until Grandpa Behrmann gave us one after Marie and I were married. We called it the BLUE BOMB. It lasted for several years and then Grandpa and Grandma Poulson gave us a Chevrolet that lasted several more years. The first vehicle that I ever bought was Ford Van, blue in color that lasted even a lot more years and went over 220,000 miles much if it for Scouting and Youth trips.