Aug 20, 2010

Did you ever make a purchase that you later regretted?

I never regretted any of the candy or ice cream I purchased, yet you might say I was given good reason to regret some I made in my early years as a primary teacher sternly scolded my friends and I for buying candy cigarettes as we walked to primary. I liked the candy but needless to say we never bought anymore even if it was only sugar. I cannot honestly remember a purchase that I regretted other than now in adulthood as I am greatly regretting the purchase of a VW Passat, a mistake that will never happen again.

Aug 19, 2010

Did you ever experience homesickness?

Not that I can ever recall since we rarely left the farm for anything other than a trip to Grandpa Hansen’s or a scout camp. Then my parents would be with us, which is why most children experience homesickness from being away from their parents. Then at scout camp there was too much fun going on to think about being sick other than what you already were due to your own cooking. So, no, I guess I really didn’t ever have the chance for any homesickness to ever creep in to my away from home experiences as a child.

Aug 18, 2010

Share your childhood experiences with roller skates.

We had several pair of roller skates that were of different sizes so that as we grew we were able to fit into another pair. Our home had a sidewalk that was only about 35 or 40 feet long and had a major right angle turn in it. If you were to start on the one end under the grape arbor you could skate quite easily past the front o the house and then after getting to the side of the house make the right turn and go up the walk to the stairs to my bedroom. However if you started at the bedroom steps it was sloped just enough that you had pretty good speed by the time you went the 15 or so feet to the turn. It took a lot of practice to finally be able to make the turn and continue past the front of the house. I ended up on the lawn a lot more times than I ever made the turn. It was the only place we had to roller skate however as our road was just a dirt road and the barn though it had a lot of cement floor was divided by a gutter filled usually with cow manure, flies and larvae and landing in it was far less desirable than landing on the lawn.

Aug 17, 2001

Do you remember being really curious about something?

I was always curious about a lot of things and most of them dealt with things in nature. I became very curious about sunrises and sunsets as I began to notice the subtle differences that took place in the clouds as the process of the sun rising or going down took place. I now understand it to be a matter of angles of the light from the sun reflecting off of the clouds. However it took a photo session when I was 17 to really see it. I went over to the edge of the hill where I could easily observe the sunset and for about 15 minutes took a picture every two or three minutes. I was amazed by the differences in the clouds as I watched them more closely that ever before slowly change in color as the sun set. It was a very beautiful thing to me and one that made me appreciate the beauty of a sunrise and sunset ever so much more.

Aug 16, 2001

If you ever ran away from home tell about it.

I cannot ever remember having a need to run away from home but I suppose if I did it was probably for not more than a few minutes and then up onto the hill for my escape route. Really I do not ever remember running away from home since it was a pretty secure place to be with some very wonderful parents. Yes they did spank on occasion as needed but I always knew that they loved me and were glad that I was a part of the family. Children need spanked every now and then especially if they talk back to their parents and I believe that was what probably created the times that I was spanked. I never got the belt or the switch but the spanking hurt enough to get the point across yet not to damage my physical body.

Aug 15, 2010

Share a memory about staying overnight with a friend?

I do not believe that I ever stayed overnight with a friend. We were all pretty much farmer’s and thus stayed home at night to do the work. I did however stay overnight at grandma and grandpa Hansen’s place several times when we would go to Centerfield to visit them. There were usually other families there as well so we always had a lot of fun. There were two bedroom in their basement where we would sleep, the boys on the east side and the girls on the west or in the west bedroom. It had a hole between the rooms where we could stand up on the bed and by lifting ourselves up talk to cousins in the other room. We use to always plat red rover on the front lawn and hide and seek at night after dark. I believe we were always there during the summer as well since we didn’t travel during the winter or when school was going. It was always very fun except for the long drive to get there and back.

Aug 14, 2010

Tell about your bedroom.

I had an upstairs bedroom that was fun since we had a pole going up near the window where we could climb in or out of our room by using it. Then later I had a basement room where it was always cool and had mice running around in quite regularly. I caught an awful lot of mice down in that room. It had two rooms adjoined by a doorway with no door. Our beds (two of them) were separated by a closet and in the same room we had a shower in the corner opposite of the doorway to the other room. The second room had a desk and book shelves where we could study in relative quiet surroundings. It also had a door that led to the outside of the house where I could sneak Pee Wee our small dog into the room without mom knowing. Dogs were not house pets according to her, only small birds and not even cats were allowed in the house, if she knew about it.

Aug 13, 2010

Did you have any favorite family songs that you sang together?

Other than Happy Birthday? Well we quite often sang as a family on Sunday evenings after sacrament meeting or even in the afternoons before meeting. The best part of it though was listening to dad with his beautiful base voice sing “The Mighty Deep”. He also sang some others but that was our favorite because he had to sing a note that was really low and we loved it because he always hit it perfectly. That was fun to sing and in fact I learned to sing parts , Alto no less, from Alma during several of those evenings as we sang “Love at Home” as a family for Sacrament meeting on time and she needed some help with the alto. I have sang base or tenor mostly since getting older but can still do alto if I use my falsetto voice mode.

Aug 12, 2010

What was the dumbest stunt pulled by you and a brother or sister? Were there consequences?

There were no consequences from my parents n this one but there were some natural consequences. I roped a calf one day thinking I would be able to rope it throw it and tie it just like the calf ropers in the rodeo. Needless to say those animals are very strong even when they are young. I roped it and then it began pulling me all over the coral and I finally was able to get on my feet and quickly go around a pole that then secured the calf enough that I could let go of the rope and then determine my next move to release it. I do not remember how I got that rope off of it’s neck but it had to have been a miracle. I had no brother’s or sister’s involved in this act with me or maybe it might have been easier, probably not. I never aspired to be a calf roper ever again.

Aug 11, 2010

Did you ever play in the sprinkler or hose?

Did I grow up as a typical buy you might ask and then you would get the answer of Yes and know instantly that of course I played in the sprinkler and the hose. We often had water fights break out during a down time after we had finished hauling the hay. The water fight helped to wash off the sweat and the hay leaves and it felt so good. Then there were always the water fights that just naturally broke out at reunions and other family gatherings. I have since learned though that to not get wet you have to not let your expensive camera get off of your body. At that time I didn’t know that and got soaked plenty of times. Mostly however I played in the irrigation water and really enjoyed that even though in today’s teachings it would have made deathly ill or sick from the bounty of germs in the water. I swallowed a lot of canal water and youth today would be served well by doing the same so their immune systems could get a chance to learn to defend themselves from diseases.