CHRISTMAS and the CONTAMINATED CANDY 12/07

GRANDMA RITA’S RAMBLINGS

Life on a Nebraska Farm
December 2007

To my grandkids with love


CHRISTMAS AND THE CONTAMINATED CANDY

It was Christmas about 1934 and my daddy was in charge of purchasing the candy, peanuts, oranges and hard candy for the treats to be given out after the children’s Christmas program at church. Much of our social activities centered around church and specifically around Mt. Zion Methodist church, which was only a mile and a half from our farmhouse.

Christmas was always looked forward to and especially our church program. Not only for the treats we would be getting but also the Miller kids were often the stars when it came to musical numbers. Daddy loved music and encouraged us to sing.

We were so excited when daddy came bringing the boxes in to our living room to later be sacked and taken to the church.

Except for one problem------

A few weeks prior to Christmas my sister Vara, who was about twelve at the time had contacted the dreaded disease of Polio. And now a dark cloud hung over our home as little was known about this serious illness. Would Vara be crippled for the rest of her life? Or worse yet, would she die as many in that day had?

A quarantine sign hung on our front screen door that forbid anyone other than family to enter or leave. Many stories were circulating about how this disease was spreading fast and no cure was known for it. . It might have been similar to the dreaded disease of Cancer or Aids in our present day.

So when the word got around in the community that our doctor had quarantined the Miller family and that Vara had Polio, the rumors started spreading. The party line telephone with five or six families on a line was a wonderful way for the news to spread.

People were naturally concerned for my sister. And a few days later the concern also grew that we had all this candy in our house that was under quarantine. What should be done about it? Many had concern even though the boxes had not been opened, that the candy should not be used --just to be on the safe side. There was not a small discussion over all this. Then the word came to us--- the decree was that they would not be using the treats.

Since I was only six or seven, I don’t remember all the details. I think my parents were surprised. They felt the treats could not have been contaminated. At any rate they were so sure of this that we were permitted to open up the boxes and enjoy!

The Miller kids didn’t get to go to the Christmas program that year because of the quarantine, and things were terribly uncertain regarding my sister’s future. But there was a bright light--never in all our lives had we enjoyed so many of those delicious “cheap chocolates“!



Sequel to the story: Vara had a deformed foot from the results of Polio but lived quite a normal life. She married John Holloway and they had two girls, Kathy and Donna-- . (Kathy Murphy and Donna Marvin)

The last fifteen or so years of Vara’s life was when Post Polio Syndrome set in which caused her much pain and suffering She was 82 when she passed away.



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MY CHRISTMAS GREETING TO YOU THIS YEAR OF 2007!


It’s been over ten years now that Ramona and I went to Israel. There we entered a huge cathedral called the Church of the Nativity. In one area we came to some rough, steep steps that wound around to the place that supposedly Jesus was born. As we stooped and stepped, and stooped and stepped we finally came to the lower cavelike area.

There is a sacred thought that we can remember from this experience. After I got back home I read an article written by Max Lucado He brought out this truth that came to him as he entered this same cave like place.

He said that it continues to be true that before we come to Jesus we all must bow our heads and stoop in humility. We must acknowledge that He is and always will be KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS. And furthermore, one day “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord .The crux of the story of Christmas--Immanuel, God With us.

"THIS OLD HOUSE"-Nebraska Memories

RAMBLINGS OF GRANDMA RITA
Life Lessons
To my grandkids with love
November, 2007

“THIS OLD HOUSE”(1927-1945)

There is so much I want to tell you about life on the farm where I lived for my first eighteen years. It’s location was eight and a half miles south of Wauneta, NE There was about 160 acres of farm land, a barn, tool shed, garage, hen house, brooder house (for baby chicks0--- and then there was our house.

Let’s start by telling you about “This Old House”.

Of course it was the hub of family life.. With your great grandpa and grandma (Ralph and Nellie Miller) and six kids living there we kept things lively. The house was quite large but not LARGE like you are thinking. In earlier years a part of it had been the Calvert post office. Back a couple of generations this farm had been homesteaded by my great grandparents..

There were two bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs--with one bathroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, front and back porch, and a large basement. I know right now that you are picturing it by today’s standards. Well, not exactly.. This is what I want to tell you about.

:Let’s begin with the kitchen. Picture your kitchen without running water. The closest water was a cistern outside with a hand pump.. Below was a well that amply supplied the whole farm. That water was pulled up by a windmill, that channeled it in to the well. Passers by on the road to town would stop by in the summer for a cool drink from our well.

One of the chores for the kids was to keep the water bucket filled. On Saturday night, bath night, it was a bigger job as the boiler (large tub) had to be filled with water and put on the stove to heat for the family baths. I’ll tell you more about that when we get to the bathroom.

The cooking stove was fueled by corn cobs and wood and sometimes coal--this was another job for the kids.. We were to keep the wood box and coal bucket filled. There my mom put out delicious meals for us as well as for many guests. There was no going out to eat with friends or relatives. You invited them in. Usually this happened on Sunday after church, but other times hired help or a neighbor would drop in and be invited to stay for dinner.

The cooking stove was not only for cooking but also a form of heat. That was nice in the winter and not so nice in the summer. It looked just like you may have seen in Norman Rockwell pictures. A warming oven above, then the top of the stove for cooking. To one side was the reservoir which was a tank that held water and was warmed automatically from the heat of the stove. And then there was the oven.

The bread that my mom turned out from that stove oven could have taken first prize anywhere. I can smell the aroma even as I write this.. Many times the timing was perfect. Those beautiful warm light brown loaves were baked and cooled just in time for us to have a slice with homemade butter when we arrived home from school. We would be so hungry and it tasted sooooooooooooooo good. Sometimes we would get to have homemade muskmelon (cantaloupe) preserves, tomato preserves or our all time favorite--chokecherry jam. The only other things in the kitchen were a table which seated about six and the cupboard


The bathroom was a small room just large enough for a bathtub and small chest of drawers. The toilet was outside commonly known as an out-house! The only time we spent in the bath room was on Saturday night. All of us got a scrubbing in preparation for church on Sunday. Often the same water was used for two or three kids.. As I mentioned, our bathwater was heated on the kitchen stove so we had to use it sparingly to last for all of us. This room was not heated except on Saturday so through the week it might be used for a temporary pantry for one of mom‘s famous whipped cream cake!

:
Next to the kitchen was the dining room. It was heated with a typical coal burning pot-bellied stove. We often sat around it with our feet on the coal bucket to keep toasty and warm. On one side of the room was a stand with a small Zenith radio which daddy listened to when he was in the house. It was our connection to the world outside of Dundy County. Only a few stations came in clear. I remember getting an Omaha station and WHO Des Moine, IA.

Mom (your Great Grandmother) had her Singer Sewing Machine in this room (treadle of course). She was an excellent seamstress and delighted in ripping up an old coat and making it into a coat for one of us. She prided herself in her sewing saying that her creations looked like they were “store bought“. She made dresses for all four of her girls. In later years when they were no longer on the farm, she made drapes professionally.

Of course, there was a dining room table for us and the many guests that were entertained. The best fried chicken dinners were consumed around that table. Dessert on a Sunday might have been my mom’s white whipped cream cake that just melted in your mouth!


Next, as you go through French Doors you will be in the Living Room. A nice sofa and chair and piano were the items of furniture. This room didn’t get much use except when we had company or when we played on our upright piano. Sometimes we could coax daddy to get his guitar out and play and we would sing along.. We were in it more in the summer as it was the coolest room in the house.

There were two bedrooms upstairs. Nebraska winters were fierce especially when the wind was howling outside. Sometimes we would take a “hot water bottle” or a jug that was filled with hot water to keep warm in bed. There was no heating in these two rooms except the warmth from the downstairs stoves.

Behind the door of one of the rooms you would find stored a number of hundred pound sacks of flour that daddy brought home during wheat harvest. He would trade a load of wheat for eight or ten sacks of flour at the flour mill. This was used mostly for baking.

The old house is gone now. When the farm was sold our neighbors bought it. They were only interested in the land. No one lived in the house after that. Gradually the buildings deteriorated and when my brother Ed was back there several years ago he said there wasn’t anything left.

Thinking through the rumblings and tumblings that went on in this house I think of my life now. What contrast! Here I am in Mesa, AZ in a Condo that provides all the comforts that I can imagine. All I have to do is click this, push this button or that switch and I have heat, lights, electrical appliances, water etc.

However, most of you too will look back someday to realize the deteriorization of your stuff that you worked so hard to accumulate and you will realize that it is all only temporary. At the end of our lives we realize that much of our things that we think are important last only for a short time and then are gone! The two things that are eternal are people and the Word of God! That is what will be important as we face our Creator God.

Our family was poor if you go by today’s standards. But we didn’t know it. We never went hungry and we always had beds (lumpy ones) to sleep in. and always kept warm in the winter. We had each other. Our social lives were satisfied with school, church, and community activities. It was a good life.

My love to all of you and my prayers are with you,

ENTERTAINING IN THE PARSONAGE10/07

To my grandkids with love
October, 2007

This morning I had an unusual visitor at my door. I say unusual because this lady has lived across the street from me for many years but I have never before had her come to my door. She was originally from Japan and came to this country many years ago.

She speaks English with quite an accent and doesn’t usually seem like she wants to talk to anyone. I have never seen her visiting with any of the neighbors. So that is the reason that I was somewhat surprised to see her at my door. She was carrying some goodies and a huge beautiful apple. She declined my invitation to come in but we stood at the door and talked for quite some time. I was delighted that she had gotten the courage to do this for me.

Then I remembered something about Far East culture that I had actually learned many years ago when we lived in Tempe. We were close to Arizona State University and often entertained students in our home We often invited students that had attended our church services to come home and eat Sunday dinner with us.

Well, on with my story. We had taken in the Wasono family from Indonesia--a husband, wife and two sons to live with us until they could get settled. They were relocating to do some upper level graduate work at ASU. We got to know them really well and they found an apartment close to us and we helped them get their oldest son Andre enrolled in first grade in a school close to them and us.

To help them until they could buy pots and pans I sent over six or eight plastic bowls that I had an abundance of and in doing this I learned the lesson that I referred to earlier.

I started getting back my bowls one at a time with some delicious Chinese food. It is a Chinese (and I think Japanese) custom that whenever you get something from a friend or neighbor in a dish you never send it back empty but always send something in return in the same dish. I was a bit embarrassed when this family faithfully one by one started sending these plastic bowls back with a generous amount of food inside!

Now back to my neighbor--About a week ago I had taken her some banana bread in hopes that I would be invited in to get better acquainted. You guessed it--I had it in a little black plastic container. In my mind, it was just a throw away but then I realized the reason why she had so carefully sent back in the same container a beautiful dessert and the apple.!

While I’m telling you about this it reminded me of something really funny that happened when the Wasono family had just moved to an apartment. We had gotten Andre, their oldest child, settled in school when one morning I got a phone call from the school nurse. She said that Andre had gotten his penis caught in the fly zipper of his trousers! She wanted us to tell his parents to please see after this that he was wearing underpants to avoid a future problem such as this!

I didn’t have a car to do anything about it so I called your grandpa who was at the church office. I started to tell him about this and suddenly started laughing uncontrollably so here was your grandpa on the other end wandering what had caused this craziness and I was standing there laughing. and couldn’t explain the situation.

Dear Andre has probably forgotten this long ago but this was something I guess I’ll never forget

My love to you and my prayers,

MEMORIES--FIRST EDITION-9/07

To my grandkids with love,


I hope I’m not starting something that I can’t finish--but on second thought, it doesn’t matter. At least half the battle to do something that you wish to do is to START. From then on it seems not so hard. You know what I mean--like cleaning out the garage, writing a letter, or organizing that closet . Once you get going on it you find it not so hard after all. And how good it feels when it is done.

I have a desire to do more writing now that I have passed the 80 year mark. I especially want to tell you some things that I probably have never shared with you. Grandma Moses didn’t start paintIng until she was 80 so maybe she could be my example.

Memories are so quickly forgotten if we don’t work on it. It was only sixteen years ago that your grandpa left me for another Lover in his life--Jesus. I always thought he would do that because he was five years older than I am and healthwise wasn’t that strong. For me that adjustment to being a widow with full responsibility for business decisions as well as other situations was the toughest thing that I ever did.

A couple of years ago I read a book written by an elderly grandpa to his young grandson. He more or less just related happenings in his life, whether they were in the past or something that happened last week, that he thought would interest his grandson. I suspect that was not the only reason. Perhaps he just enjoyed reminiscing and since no one was near that was interested in listening, he took a pencil and started writing.

It was a delightful little book and since that experience I have thought about doing the same. I have even shared with a few friends that it would be my ambition. However, never got it off the ground.

As I continued to procrastinate, not long ago, I read an article in the Tribune about the value for a senior member of the family to not just leave a legal document of ones possessions-(which for me would be minimal-sorry!)- but the value of leaving a cultural, ethical and spiritual values will.. Again I was stirred that this was something I wanted to do. (O.K now it comes out that your grandmother is a hard core procrastinator. Never fear, it is not an inherited weakness!)

So this is your first edition (chapter?) and who knows what might follow. I would love to have you propose something that you would like to know about your heritage. I am sure that this is not at the top of your wish list but I just want to suggest it.

I will continue this “rambling” next month, Lord willing (or soon if I don’t P-----------!! You guessed it!
Love to all --my prayers are with you daily.