Who pulled your teeth when they were loose? How was it done? How much did the tooth fairy leave for a lost tooth?
This is a painful subject. Dad pulled the first teeth with a pair of pliers. I soon learned to tie a string around it and a door handle and then slam the door. Not much better but at least I had control. As far as a payment for the teeth it was a dime or if lucky a quarter. As far as one that got lost it was nothing. we kept good track of those teeth until the fairy paid up which was usually the very night we pulled the tooth.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Feb 9, 2011
Do you remember having a favorite nursery rhyme or bedtime story?
What kinds of books did you like to read?
I remember having many nursery rhymes somewhat committed to memory in my childhood and although I don't really remember having them read or told to me they were obviously very much a part of my early childhood. Mother loved to read when she got a chance and I am sure she read to us a lot or told us the stories a lot.
As far as books that I liked to read, well , I wasn't much of a reader even though I did read a lot of books in my youth. They were mostly westerns in origin and adventure in plot. I did read some church related books that had been given to me through the years and would always order books through the readers book clubs at school. I must admit however several of them were never read. I guess that is why I was somewhat excited when some of my children took to reading very heavily. I always wanted that kind of drive but never fully had it as part of my young life.
What kinds of books did you like to read?
I remember having many nursery rhymes somewhat committed to memory in my childhood and although I don't really remember having them read or told to me they were obviously very much a part of my early childhood. Mother loved to read when she got a chance and I am sure she read to us a lot or told us the stories a lot.
As far as books that I liked to read, well , I wasn't much of a reader even though I did read a lot of books in my youth. They were mostly westerns in origin and adventure in plot. I did read some church related books that had been given to me through the years and would always order books through the readers book clubs at school. I must admit however several of them were never read. I guess that is why I was somewhat excited when some of my children took to reading very heavily. I always wanted that kind of drive but never fully had it as part of my young life.
Feb 8, 2011
Since I just made an entry about best friends I feel it appropriate to add another story of another of my best friends in life from my history short stories collection.
Truly A friend: Dave Nemelka
I was in a ward with the Nemelka’s for several years after a ward boundary change placed us in the boundaries of the Mapleton 1st Ward. After the ward change I was called to be the Scoutmaster of Troop 66 in that ward. I ended up being the Scoutmaster for 5 years before being called into the Bishopric as second counselor.
While I was the Scoutmaster I worked hard to take the boys to the Eagle Rank. I planned the program so that I could take my sons to that rank and thus along with them the other boys. One such boy was Mike Nemelka son of David Nemelka. Mike wanted to be the youngest scout to reach the rank of Eagle. I had a lot of the other older young men nearly to their eagle rank but some had stalled and so I had a number of them that were close but not yet there. Anyway I took Mike and planned a program that would get him to the next rank as soon as the time was done. We went hiking and camping and even had the father’s go one time when I couldn’t just so we could keep them on track.
There time flew by quickly and one time I arrived home to find a Motor home parked in the driveway with a note in it that it was given to me. Well Dave later explained that he had bought a new one and would like to give that one to me. Well I decided to use it primarily for scouting. We took it out to the sanddunes and up to Fairview for snow caves. I used it for a place to put sick boys and a place to haul several of them at times. Now I wouldn’t be able to use it since everyone would have to have a seat belt. I took it to Bristlecone camp for a summer camp one year where we worked prior to the camp for nine months to get twenty merit badges ready so that we could compete the outdoor requirements during one week. On Friday night of that week Dave and the rest of the troop committee came up to camp and we had a very large Board of Review to complete the last part of the process. Dave as the committee chair was not only there for that camp but would give updates each week in Quorum Meetings. We did a number of eagle projects and worked on merit badges as often as possible. Finally the day came and we had 11 boys ready to receive their Eagle rank. And Mike was the youngest of them having reached the goal right on schedule. We had a live eagle at the eagle Court and everything planned in such a way that it only took an hour to get all of the program completed.
The scouting program wasn’t the end of Dave’s help either. Later after Signetics had shut down and I had worked at Kara Chocolates and then began working as an Insurance Agent he came to me after church one day and said “You are hardly the kind of person to sell insurance, you are too honest”. We later had several discussions and one evening he gave us a car that we badly needed. His children had bought a new car for him and so he passed his on to us. We used that car for several years before an accident on the freeway totaled it and we had to get a new car.
He also helped me to learn the internet and at one point was even involved in starting a company called OWOL or One World On Line. It was a multilevel company that established web pages on line and helped me to get my photography business started. I have greatly appreciated all that he has done for us over the years and his gracious friendship. He helped us out more than once just when we were needing it most and gave renewed meaning to being there when the Lord needed someone to work through to give us aid.
A final tribute to a wonderful life and friend.
On February 8, 2011 Dave took his life after battling some apparent brain disorders for several months. I will miss his calls and queries about my family and how they are doing. It is hard for me to understand the stress that must have taken over his mind after literally years of helping others to avoid that very process. He was very kind and was also very smart. He took me with him on several scout activities with the boys and was always a great example to them. I will always cherish his memory and the memories of the many talks that we had through the years. I know there were many nights that he was up all through the night counseling others and then after sleeping a few short hours was into the shower taking a long shower while talking on the phone helping someone else or planning something else that would benefit many others in their lives. I know because I spent some of those hour and shared was on the other end of several of those early morning shower calls. He couldn’t let his mind rest and possibly that was the final cause of his unrest. I truly grew to love that man and did not always totally agree with his views knew that he would listen to my counsel as well as giving counsel to me. Recently a young man was killed in a traffic accident leaving football practice. The fellow had almost completed his Eagle and Dave and I spent quite a bit of time discussing the possibility of presenting that Eagle after completing his Eagle project which was the only thing he hadn’t completed. I couldn’t quite feel that was right and after discussing it with Dave he finally understood my concern and knew there was a better way to honor the life of that young man. Thank You Dave for all of your love. A child is not only raised by a village but a village will never forget those who were so instrumental in the growth of many of those villagers.
Feb 7, 2011
What kinds of things did you like to do? What were your favorite childhood games to play?
I have mentioned already the games that we played so I will not address that part of the question. Don and I however probably had one thing that we did the most. We both owned .22 rifles. My rifle was a single shot and he a semi-automatic. I have also told how rabbits and wood chucks were a menace to the farm so he and I would often go for a rabbit hunt after school or after work during the summer. We lived out on the end of the road below blue bench so the rabbits were as close as the hill above the house where we had to watch closely where we did the shooting. However when we would go up on the bench and over to the big draw (Hammond 's Hollow I think it was called) we could see a lot of rabbits and shoot pretty much at them in any direction except toward the valley. The rabbits would run across the small draws and hills of the big draw allowing us some challenges as they could crest the hill and go down into the next draw really fast. They would also cross over the draw and go up the other side which made them much easier to follow and shoot.
I look back at it now and wonder how I ever really enjoyed it but at the time it was fun, plus I suppose we did help control them since there was a lack of natural predators besides us. I learned to be a fairly accurate shot and would often use only one bullet while Don would go through several. With his semi automatic he would just pull the trigger and hope to get one by following the trial of where his bullets were kicking up the dirt. He did aim but just not before he started to pull the trigger. I had to aim since I had one shot and then would have to reload. It was good exercise for us to since we got to where we could run up and down those hills fairly rapidly. That may have been why I did as well as I did in cross country and 880 yard dash in the track and field events.
I also got to be pretty good at shooting but regretted it once when I was trying to scare off a dog that had come around the farm and I aimed below it as it ran up the hill. I didn't guess it would hit a rock and bounce up under the dog and end up killing it. I always felt bad about that even though my intent was not to kill only scare. It tend to help understand why shooting toward rocky areas was always very dangerous and so I avoided it after that.
I have mentioned already the games that we played so I will not address that part of the question. Don and I however probably had one thing that we did the most. We both owned .22 rifles. My rifle was a single shot and he a semi-automatic. I have also told how rabbits and wood chucks were a menace to the farm so he and I would often go for a rabbit hunt after school or after work during the summer. We lived out on the end of the road below blue bench so the rabbits were as close as the hill above the house where we had to watch closely where we did the shooting. However when we would go up on the bench and over to the big draw (Hammond 's Hollow I think it was called) we could see a lot of rabbits and shoot pretty much at them in any direction except toward the valley. The rabbits would run across the small draws and hills of the big draw allowing us some challenges as they could crest the hill and go down into the next draw really fast. They would also cross over the draw and go up the other side which made them much easier to follow and shoot.
I look back at it now and wonder how I ever really enjoyed it but at the time it was fun, plus I suppose we did help control them since there was a lack of natural predators besides us. I learned to be a fairly accurate shot and would often use only one bullet while Don would go through several. With his semi automatic he would just pull the trigger and hope to get one by following the trial of where his bullets were kicking up the dirt. He did aim but just not before he started to pull the trigger. I had to aim since I had one shot and then would have to reload. It was good exercise for us to since we got to where we could run up and down those hills fairly rapidly. That may have been why I did as well as I did in cross country and 880 yard dash in the track and field events.
I also got to be pretty good at shooting but regretted it once when I was trying to scare off a dog that had come around the farm and I aimed below it as it ran up the hill. I didn't guess it would hit a rock and bounce up under the dog and end up killing it. I always felt bad about that even though my intent was not to kill only scare. It tend to help understand why shooting toward rocky areas was always very dangerous and so I avoided it after that.
Feb 6, 2011
Who were your best friends in your early years? Did you ever have sleepovers or campouts together?
Besides my siblings my other best friends were Max Wimmer, Don Hansen, Lee and Wendell Moon and the Weber's. For the most part Max was my best friend when I was in elementary school along with Chuck Wilkins and Russell Conn. Then when Hansen's moved to town I started playing with Doug and Don. Don eventually became my best friend in High School and we spent a lot of time together.
I never really had any sleepovers when I was young that I can remember. However Don and I did do some camping when we were in Scouts.
Here is what I have written about that experience.
Of course these were all boys that were best friends but Marie Behrmann probably took the number one spot for the last several years of school. I was very blessed with good friends and enjoyed my experience while growing up with them. And growing old now with Marie.
Besides my siblings my other best friends were Max Wimmer, Don Hansen, Lee and Wendell Moon and the Weber's. For the most part Max was my best friend when I was in elementary school along with Chuck Wilkins and Russell Conn. Then when Hansen's moved to town I started playing with Doug and Don. Don eventually became my best friend in High School and we spent a lot of time together.
I never really had any sleepovers when I was young that I can remember. However Don and I did do some camping when we were in Scouts.
Here is what I have written about that experience.
Don and I and the garden tractor campout.
When I was new to scouting I had a den leader named Donna Hansen. Later her husband Ray became my scoutmaster. They had three sons. One who was my age and in my class during the school years, and one a year younger in Marie’s class. They became close friends during those years of scouting and Don became probably my closest friend of the two. So Don and I did a lot of rabbit hunting and scouting events together. When we were about 14 years old we needed more campouts to complete the required camping merit badge so Don and I struck onto a plan to take the small garden tractor that dad owned and pull the trailer that goes with it up onto the bench and find a place near the canal where we could easily set up a camp and spend the night. We had a great time after we set up camp and made and ate supper. We decided we needed and easier way to cross the canal (which we could easily jump) so that we could gather firewood and other things fo camp. So we set out to building a foot bridge over the canal. There were always a lot of cottonwood trees growing along the canal and always a lot of dead and downed ones that we could cut up for firewood. This time however we got a couple of the bigger trunks and cut them so that they would span the canal. We then added smaller ones and laid them crossways of the tow logs to make a crossing. After we had lashed the end ones to the two logs then we just laid the rest into place and then covered the logs with dirt taken form the sie s of the canal complete with the grass so that it would not just be a muddy mess. It didn’t take us long to build the bridge so then we also made some other camp gadgets like a tripod for our fire from which we could hang our water pots for heating.
We did a number of other small gadget as well. When we did finally go to bed it was fairly late but we had been able to have a great night. Well the canal was actually about 35 00r 40 feet below the level area where we had driven the tractor to before we commenced setting up camp. During the night we were awaken by the sound of the garden tractor being started and discovered our means of transportation of our equipment that we would be hauling back the next day was being stolen. We quickly got up and ran up the hill to find my brothers being the misfits who were thieving the tractor. It was quite fun and I don’t remember if they took it home that night or if we succeeded in stopping them but we must have stopped them because it wasn’t a traumatic enough of an event to set it deeply into my memory. It was always fun being the youngest brother however because of things like that which were always done by older and wiser brothers, well at least smarter (smartelic that is) ones than I.
Just as a side note. That bridge remained there for a number of years . It was above the canal enough that it never caused junk to lodge and create a dam that would have made the canal wash out the side of the hill upon which it ran. It was eventually removed as the ditch company went through and dug out the canal to make it deeper. It was a reminder for a lot of years that we were able to create a camp and make it useable and still be smart enough whether through dumb luck or actual planning of something that could be used for years to come. The grass continued to grow watered only by rain but still made it a very crossable bridge.
Of course these were all boys that were best friends but Marie Behrmann probably took the number one spot for the last several years of school. I was very blessed with good friends and enjoyed my experience while growing up with them. And growing old now with Marie.
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