Eclipse and other memories

Just watched the Eclipse. Pretty darn neat. I had a good friend tell me when to start watching and when the total eclipse would be, and he was spot on. Thanks! I watched the other eclipse several years ago, but it wasn’t as cool as this was. Today Marge and I were at the picnic table eating dinner and checking on the sun that was still showing. Marge commented about what the old timers back when must have thought when something like this happened. Who knows? We enjoyed it. Our neighbor’s donkey went to braying and another’s roosters went to crowing. We can look back and brag that “We saw that.” Precious memory!

Made me think back when we were working on a ranch southwest of Arthur, Nebraska. A winter storm blew through with several feet of snow and cold temps. There was enough snow about the only way to get around was on a horse. We rode down through some pastures south of the main barn and came upon some washouts full of snow. We wondered if the cattle as they drifted with the wind and snow might drop off in a small ravine and die when they couldn’t get out. We rode up to some drifts of snow when the snow drifts started moving. It turned out it was cattle covered with snow. Like to had a runaway on the colts we were riding.

Another time I was checking on the windmills and probably putting out salt and mineral 4 or 5 miles south of the main barn when I drove upon a grass fire that had been started with lightning. I was alone, so fought the grass fire for probably an hour and decided I couldn’t put it out alone. Weren’t cell phones back then, so had to drive for help. The Arthur County Fire Department drove one of their 4-wheel drive firetrucks out to put it out. Piece of cake for them.

Another time it had been dry most all summer, but Grandpa and I decided to go fishing, which was in our opinion anytime. We drove about 25 miles north of where Grandpa lived and came to a 20-acre Sandhill lake. Really nice little lake. When we pulled up, the lake was way down with only a few acres left with water and it was covered with a thick mat of moss except for maybe a patch of clean water the size of a small house. Grandpa and I waded out to the clear water and caught us some fish. Fun day. This memory is probably all of 60 years old. Wish Grandpa was still around.

Another time I was staying at Grandpa and Grandma’s place “helping” them do chores. One thing we had to do was chop the ice up in the stock tank and pitch the chunks of ice out. I helped Grandpa chop the ice in chunks, and we started to use a pitch fork to get the chunks out. I latched onto a good-sized chunk of ice out too far in the tank, lost my balance and when I tied to lift the chunk, I took a header into a tank of ice cold water. Grandpa got me to their old sod house, and I got dried off. I put a shirt of his on and a pair of his green pants. They came up under my arms. Had to tie them on with baler twine.

Another time Mom and Dad and Mick and I were in the Black Hills in South Dakota having a good time. We went by a place where you could rent a tent that was erected on a wooden platform to stay in overnight. Man, that sounded neat. So Mom and Dad rented a tent where Mick and I were supposed to sleep while Mom and Dad slept in the station wagon. We like to froze to death, so we all ended up sleeping in the station wagon. Not so good a memory back then but a good one today.

Make some memories. I figure there will come a time when memories will end up making our lives rich while at the same time being penniless.