My Two Grandpas Part II

Grandpa Rich and His Influence on My Life . . . . .

Well this blog is going to be all about my Grandpa Rich, my maternal grandfather. My mother told me that at the age of just a little over one I was not able to say "Grandpa" but I had my own version....I called him "Bumpie"

Grandpa Rich was a very unique man. His full name was Theodore Richard Niemand. His roots were from Denmark. His mother, Bertha, was still alive when I was about 4 or 5 I had my picture taken (I am on the far right) with two other cousins on the Niemand side as you may be able to see me. Sorry these pictures are so small, but I reduced them so they wouldn't take up so much space on my older computer and I don't have the originals to rescan.

Anyway hope you can see them a little bit. My Grandpa Rich had two brothers that I remember, Charlie and August. He had 3 or 4 sisters. Aunt Matildia, Aunt Sophie and I forgot the others. ( when I remember I will edit)

Grandpa Rich was originally a blacksmith by trade. He met my Grandmother through a mutual friend. They lived a long ways a part. Grandpa lived south of Spencer and Grandma lived close to Lincoln, Iowa on a farm. That was about a distance of over 200 miles. In those days many of the roads were dirt and gravel so the trip was long and bumpy to visit Margaret, my Grandmother to be! Grandpa finally was able to take her away from her family of 16 brothers and sisters and she married and moved to Spencer where Grandpa had opened an auto repair shop.

Grandpa was a very creative and talented man. He could repair almost anything. He even invented a number of things that he never patented but I know they could have be if he had wanted to. He was good at welding and machine shop activities as well as auto repair. He "Garage" as I called it was a fun place for me to visit as a young boy of 7 and 8.

Grandpa had so many good qualities that I will just ramble on here to share with you the ones that stand out in my mind. He was basically a quiet man, I never ever heard him raise his voice to anyone family or friend. He was a patient man. He would sit and wait for my Grandmother for long periods of time when they were getting ready to go somewhere. He would be ready and just sit in the car and wait. He didn't honk the horn of race the motor....he just waited for her.

Grandpa had two passions, hunting and fishing. I was fortunately a part of both. My dad worked in the "Garage" for Grandpa. Dad started working as a mechanic right after mom and dad were married. In fact, mom and dad lived with Grandma and Grandpa Rich before I was born. Dad work for Grandpa and later when I was about 2 also got a job as a full-time city fireman but was able to keep both jobs going with the understanding that when there was a fire he would have to drop everything at the Garage and go to the fire station where he drove one of the city fire trucks.

There were many times when I rode my tricycle from the fire station to Grandpa's Garage to visit Dad and Grandpa while they worked on cars. I got to clean spark plugs with the spark plug cleaner machine , I swept the Garage floor and sometimes got to use gasoline and clean auto parts that they were working on. I remember I always like sitting at Grandpa's old roll-top desk in a small office area in the front of the Garage. That is where he kept all of his fish poles, rifles and stuff like that

The first few times I rode my tricycle from the fire station to Grandpa's Garage Mom came with me to help me find my way. I would have to cross first, second and third streets where there were no stop lights. Fourth street had a stop light and so did fifth street. As soon as I crossed fifth street I would turn right and go one block East to first Avenue East where I would make a left turn. I then proceeded North on that street until I almost came to the corner of first avenue East and sixth street.Grampa's Garage was directly across the street East from the end of the street. There was a large trucking company where I would turn to cross the street to the Garage. It was owned by a friend of Grandpas, his name was Donnie Mauer. I had been told by Grandpa that if I had trouble crossing the street I could go in to Mr. Mauer's office and ask for help.

These trips to the Garage were very frequent in the summer months when I wasn't going to school. One very interesting thing that stands out in my memory are the times that I would be playing there in the Garage and about 4:00PM Grandpa would say, Dave, I have to go to Arnold's and pick up a part for the car. The interesting thing is that this happen almost every time I was there in the Garage. We would get in his "fishing car" a 1937 Plymouth and head down the street to Arnold's, an auto parts store where Grandpa bought most of his auto parts.

I would usually go into the store with him and the men at the counter would always comment that "Oh! Rich, I see you have your helper with you today!" Grandpa would respond and say "Yes, he keeps me going in the right direction!" When we returned to the car, Grandpa would look at his watch and comment, "Well, Dave, it's almost quiting time (5PM) you want to go with me up to the lake and do some fishing?" I can never recall that I ever said "no". Interestingly enough, Grandpa never had to go back to the Garage to load his fishing gear and outboard motor, he had loaded all of that stuff earlier before I got to the Garage. Now the really strange thing was that this same pattern happened sometimes three times a week in the summer.

We would head north out of town on highway 71 toward Lake Okaboji. We would go the same route every time. We passed through a small town called Fostoria, about half way then into a town just before we got to our turn. The town was Milford. Just on the north edge of Milford was a bait shop we always stop to buy bait for fishing. It was called Bill's Bait and Tackle Shop. We usually always got the same thing. A dozen minnows, and a dozen crawdads and some candy bars and maybe some potato chips. Grandpa would have his thermos jug filled with coffee and he would buy me a bottle of soda, usually orange.

We were now ready to head for the boat livery where Grandpa stored his 14 foot wooden fishing boat. We turn into a place that lead us to Danbom's in Terris Park. This Terris Park area was a popular swimming beach and the home of a large complex owned by Boy's Town of Omaha, Nebraska.

The fishing gear, bait and other things were loaded into the boat. Grandpa would take his 15 horse outboard motor and attach it to the back of the boat where he would sit guiding the boat as we headed out into East Lake Okaboji. We usually headed for an area called Emerson Bay. Grandpa had done so much fishing he was very familiar where the fish would go at different times between 5:00PM and dark.(Usually 8 or 8:30PM).

Grandpa's fishing method was "still fishing" we would go to a spot. He would tell me to start with a piece of crawdad that he would break off for me until I got brave and did it myself. I would attach it very carefully to the sharp hook on my fish pole then he told me to let out the line until it became limp. That meant it had hit the bottom of the lake. Then he told me to wind my reel up 1 and 1/2 turns to bring it up off the bottom. Then came the lesson, patience. He would sit and fish the same way for what seem like hours. He would sometimes use two fish poles and attach an artificial lure to the casting rod and cast out and slowly reel the lure back. It many times would bring fish to out lines.

This lesson was one I have never forgotten and think it is responsible for the patience I have for many things. We would then move from one place to another in that same general part of the lake. We always caught fish. Usually we caught perch and blue gills or crapes. Once in a while Grandpa would catch a northern pike on his artificial lure or a walleye on his sill fishing pole. Very seldom did we home home without our "limit" of perch (15 each). Oh another thing, when we would catch a very small perch, we would cut it up and use the white meat as bait. It worked very well and saved money when buying bait.

When the sun was almost set, we would put up a light that Grandpa always brought along and we would head back to Danbom's to unload the boat and put it away for that day. Grandpa usually always gage Mr. Danbom some of the fish we had caught. I think that might have been the payment for letting Grandpa leave his boat there. After loading the car with the fishing gear and the fish in a bucket. We headed back home.

We would get to Milford and Grandpa would say, "Dave, would you like a hamburger?" And, of course I always said "Yes!" We would then always stop at the same little hamburger shop along the West side of the street in Milford. I always got a hamburger and orange soda. The time was always about 9 to 9:30PM. then we would travel the 30 miles back to Spencer. When we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's house Grandpa and I (watching) would clean the fish, Grandpa would fillet the fish some there were little or no bones in the pieces of fish. He would then put them in the freezer for Grandma to fry the next time we had fish. Sometimes he would place a few in a bowl of water and salt and place in the ice box to fry the next day.

The basic lessons I learned were patience, how to still fish, how to clean fish and the loving care I received from Grandpa.

Back to My Story in the Early Years

My Two Grandpas

Believe it or not, I remember a lot about my two Grandpas. To start with, I started calling my Grandpas by their first names after Grandpa. For example my mother's dad I called Grandpa Rich and my dad's dad I called Grandpa Ben. Grandpa Rich's full name was Theodore Richard Niemand. My Grandpa Ben's full name was Benjamin Franklin Logan.

Likewise my Grandmothers I called Grandma Rich and Grandma Ben. Since I decided to concentrate on the Grandpas in this blog, I will talk about the Grandmas in another blog.

First I will tell you as much as I can remember about Grandpa Ben and I only seem to have one picture of him in all my archives of photographs.

I knew Grandpa Ben as a very quite man that liked to rock in a big over-stuffed chair in his living room. He would occasionally leave the chair for one of two reasons: One, to go to the refrigerator for some buttermilk or cheese or Two to go to the back porch where he would spit his tobacco in the same spot at the base of a big tree close by.

Grandpa Ben would always tell us (the grand kids) the same story time and time again. It was about Horse Eggs. Believe it or not, I don't remember enough about that story to even try to tell it here. One activity that I remember doing with Grandpa and Grandma Ben was taking our car and going out to visit my dad's brother, Russell and family who lived on the Logan family farm West of Spencer. I recall that when we got back home Grandpa always said, "Home again, Home again, the old horse is dead!" Don't know what meaning it had, but he always said it as the car stopped.

I remember when I was about 13 and had a paper route that took me to stores and businesses on both sides of Main street in Spencer, one of the businesses I delivered a paper to was a taven not too far from where Grandma and Grandpa Ben lived. Grandpa Ben was always in there playing card and (I think) having a beer. I remember I always liked going in there (the tavern) because I usually had 1 or 2 extra newspapers and his friends always bought them from me for a nickle each.

I remember some stories that my mon told me about Grandpa Ben, but it took me a while to put the stories all together to form a conclusion. From the time I can remember, Grandma and Grandpa Ben owned a rooming house with about 6 apartment rooms. My Greatgrandma Austin Lived in one of the apartments. (that was my Grandma Ben's mother) Mom told me that Grandpa had to quit farming because of his health. He and Grandma had moved to town, bought the rooming house and Grandpa had taken up painting as his job. I never saw him paint, but I do remember a lot of cans of paint and paint brushes out on the back porch.

I remember later when Grandpa got sick( I was a teenager then), my dad would drive to Spencer from where we then lived in Sac City, Iowa (about a one hour drive) to visit Grandpa Ben until he died at the age of 72, I think. He had heart problems I was told.

Much later, actually after I was 50 something, my cousins and I were talking the one's that had lived on the family farm) and we determined that Grandpa had a drinking problem. That was why he and Grandma moved off the farm. It also answered the question we always had as to why Grandma was so against achohol and was at one time president of the local chapter of the WTCU (Women's Temperance Chapter......)

My mother also told me that before they moved to town, Grandpa held my dad out of his last year of high school so dad was never able to graduate. Grandpa made him work on the farm most of his last year of high school.

Well that is about all I can remember for now...It ended up being more than I thought it would be so I will end this blog and begin the next blog about Grandpa Rich who was a very great influence in my life....see you soon, Dave

A Picture Tour of Where We Live

Our Home in Fransisca Village

Yesterday I took my camera and went out and took pictures of the different angles coming to our Compound and our Home here in Fransisca Village. The street that we use in directing people to your compound is called Happy Valley Street. The first photograph (right) is a view of the hill coming down to 6th street where you turn off from Happy Valley street onto 6th street.

6th street and 5th street are hooked together to form a horseshoe. You can turn on either 5th or 6th street. 6th street is not quite as bumpy as 5th street so we normally use 6th street. The right turn on to 6th street takes you to the street that we travel down to our compound.

As soon as you turn onto 6th street you will see a home that also has an eating place where warm meals are cooked and sold daily at noon. This is the first place on the right hand side of 6th street as you start down the street.

Continuing down 6th street you will come to a "Sori-Sori" store that sells many different necessary items like eggs, bottled water, soda, chips, toilet articles, candy and many more items that are used everyday. There are actually 2 stores next to each other in that area. The one you can't see too well also provides manicures and pedicures and haircuts also.

In addition in the evening, usually after 5:30PM this "Sori-Sori" store also sells BBQ. The BBQ here is usually either BBQ Baboy and BBQ Manok. Baboy is the Cebuano word for pig or pork and manok is the word for chicken. The BBQ we get and provide our own rice most of the time. It is a quick meal and is pretty reasonable in cost, One stick is around 6 pesos. The BBQ comes on a stick similar to the Shish-Kabobs we think of back in the US.

Our next turn comes as we continue down the street. We then come to a left turn that is identified with a sign that says "Fransisca Village". This is the entrance to our compound. As we approach the entrance we see the "Guard Station".


One thing I found very interesting was that armed guards are place, not only at Compound entrances, but in front of every business in the business areas. This give you a secure feeling, but sometimes made me wonder why.....but if you study the employment here in the Philippines you can understand why. It provided needed employment and is also a safty precausion, The photograph here on the left shows our guard at his post. The guards are very nice and accomidating usually.

As we continue into the Fransisca Village Compound and to our home we see the street we pass has many nice homes along on either side.(right) Our street is the first left turn as we continue into the compound. We had street signs placed at the street intersections not too long ago. We live on "Diamond" street.

As we turn on Diamond street we can see our green duplex on the right hand side of the street. Our landlord and landlady live right accross the street from our duplex and they also have a small Sori-Sori store where we get things like rice, coffee and soap when we need it. It is very convient and the couple are very nice to us.

That is a quick tour to our home. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did putting it here on this Blog.

Dave

Having a Good Time This Weekend

We Had a great Time this last Weekend!

I finally got my digital camera working. I am almost embarrassed to share what the problem was. Everyone knows that all the latest digital equipment expressly states in the Operator's Manual that you should always use "ALKALINE" batteries. You do this to avoid the battery leaking battery acid when they become old and are not used for a long period of time.

Well guess what I did!!!!! You guessed it, not only did I use regular batteries but I didn't take them out right away. Needless to say...the camera didn't work. After figuring this out and cleaning the camera very well I placed NEW "ALKALINE" in it and WaLa! It worked.

So I have been shooting some pictures the last few days and want to share them with you here on the Blog.

This first photo is to impress you! I took it last Friday when we were invited to a very nice Motel here in Cebu. Montebello, actually it is promoted as a Hotel no a Motel. Evelyn and I were honored last year with a Free weekend at this really cool place as a anniversary gift from our pastor and his wife.

It has an Olympic size swimming pool and the food is excellent both Filipino and Western style food. The cost for all of the trimmings is less than $75 US dollars. Last year when we were teaching at Joy Christian Academy we would take the kids there every Friday for swimming lessons as part of their physical training class. It (Montebello) is actually the only Hotel within the city that has s beautiful garden like the one in the above picture.

Saturday was All Saints Day here in the Philippines and believe me everyone goes to the cemetery to pay tribute to their ancestors that have died. That mostly applies to the Catholics and that makes up the majority of the 2 million population of Cebu. We had friends that are Catholic, but didn't all follow that tradition, so they invited us to "their beach house". I got a chance to use my swimming suit. I never experienced "The Tide" before. Interesting, at noon we were in water (salt water) up to our waist and by 4:00PM we were standing on sand with no water. We didn't stop snacking all the time we were there....from about 11AM until 9PM. Here are pictures of that snacking going on. The picture on the right shows the outside of the kitchen where helpers prepare all the many different kinds of food that we had to eat. I was having a little trouble with my camera and didn't get a good picture of the overall beach house. It is quite large and made of native bamboo and stuff like that. I might add I was the only male there and I don't think the ladies ever stopped talking. It was mostly all in Cebuano so I only understood a little bit. But they were very apologetic and I assured them that I was having fun just absorbing the rays from the tropical sun. Next to the right is a picture of the girls young and old having fun. and doing what they do best.....it's called "chieka chieka" ( I don't think I spelled it correctly,but it is a Cebuano word that comes close to our American expression of a "Hen Party". You know I was going to share pictures of where we live in Cebu at our Happy Valley address but I had too much fun with the weekend activities so I will save that for the next Blog. Later- Dave

A Bragging Grandpa's Pictures

Our First Grandson is Our Blog Here!

One week before I left the United States to come here to the Philippines, I attended my youngest US son's (Bart) wedding. He and Jamie were married a week before I boarded the big 747 jet to fly 8000 miles to meet my second wife after being widowed for almost 10 years. after getting married and living here in Cebu City for over a year, My son Bart and Jamie had an addition to their family. Micah Logan was born in February of 2007 (Hope that's right!) As Grandpa's get older their memory is not as good as it use to be.

Anyway, we have been receiving photographs from Bart and Jamie from time to time and it just occurred to me to share the latest photos that we just received today by email.

It is so cool how we are able to share these photos here on the Internet. Micah will be 2 years old next February and we are praying to be able to go to the states to visit next year sometime.

That's all for this Blog, just wanted to show off Micah to everyone that reads my Blog! - Dave

Current Happenings

Things from This Week!

I decided that in order to keep this Blog more interesting it might be good to add some narrative and pictures from what is currently going on here. This week I was able to get my digital camera working again. It just needed a little maintenance. I took some pictures that I will share with you now. This first picture is the outside front view of our duplex where we reside. It is on two levels with 3 bedroom, a kitchen, two comfort rooms (Bathrooms), a living room/dining rooms combined. The second photo is of the living room/dining room. The kitchen area is next. I may get into a little trouble showing this one because I took it while it

was not totally cleaned up. But you can see

that it is "lived in!

Evelyn was able to find an old couch and chair. She purchased it for a very low price and then a couple of weeks ago we purchased upholstery material and foam. She located an upholstery shop not too far from where we live and with some other contacts got a good deal on the material. It only took the upholstery man 2 days to make over the couch and chair. I only wish I had take a "before" picture. I took the picture at the left after it was completed.

The Other item that she was able to purchase was an antique bed that she had a neighbor lady refinish and make it look very good. She has already resold it to another doctor friend. All in all it was a very interesting week. In addition we went out to eat at a very good restaurant called Don Merto's and I had a mushroom and Swiss hamburger that was so big I had to eat it in sections. French fries and cold slaw were also included. The cost was less than a Big Mac value meal at McDonald's here!

Hope you enjoy this little diversion from the life history story. I thought it work add a little more interest to my Blog.

My Famous Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Very Simple and Good Recipe

The tomato experience in the last Blog reminds me of an extremely good tomato soup recipe. One of my favorite meals was tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. My mother-in-law from my first wife taught me how to make real tomato soup from scratch! I would make it many times in my life as it turned out. It became very important especially when I worked as a cook in a retirement home for the elderly really like it when I made the "Real Tomato Soup" with grilled cheese sandwiches. Here is the recipe:

Grandma Herman’s Real Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients

3 cans of diced tomatoes
3 cups whole milk
2 cups of V8 tomato juice (or regular tomato juice will work)
¼ cup diced green peppers
¼ cup diced onions
1 tsp Diced garlic
1 tsp baking soda (add slowly and keep stiring while adding)
1Tbs butter or Margarine

Directions
In a 2-quart sauce pan heat the milk to hot (Do not boil) as the milk heats use a 3 to 4 quart saucepan, sauté the onions, green peppers and the garlic together in 1 Tbs. of butter or margarine. (Just so the onions become clear). On medium heat, place the diced tomatoes and the V8 into the pan with the onions. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 20 minutes. Place the soda into the tomato mixture stirring constantly (it will foam up) then carefully add the tomato mixture to the hot milk stirring continually.

NEW OLD-FASHIONED GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH

1/2 pound Cheddar or Velveta cheese,
4 large 1/2-inch-thick slices country, pain levain or other hearty bread.
Thin slice of boiled ham makes an added flavor
3 tablespoons butter
Place sliced cheese (and ham if using) over 4 slices of the buttered bread. Cover with the remaining 4 bread slices.

In a large saute pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Place the sandwiches in the pan and cover. Cook until the sandwich is golden brown on the underside, about 3 minutes.
Turn with a spatula and cook the other side until golden brown and the cheese has melted, about 2 more minutes. Serve immediately.

Living with My Aunt & Cousin

Living with my Aunt and Cousin during WWII

Shortly after we originally moved to the fire station, my dad had to leave for the Navy. Mom and I were left alone in the apartment and I guess that she and my aunt Imajean, her sister decided that it would be beneficial for all to live together in my aunt and Uncle’s stucco house on 4th Avenue East. My Uncle Swede, as I called him was also in the Armed Service, the US Coast Guard.
My cousin was 2 years younger than me but we were like brothers. We shared the same bedroom and combined our toys and had a great time playing together. He had bunk beds and I’m not sure, but they may have been purchase when I moved in.

I am not exactly sure of the time when we lived together, but I know I was about five and he was three. We had wonderful times together playing our imaginary games on his bunk beds. We both had a lot of toy trucks building block, Lincoln logs and books. Every night Aunt Imagine and Mom would take turns reading to us.

Mom had a part time job working at the “Red Circle”, a very small grocery store located on about West 5th Street not too far from the Lincoln school. The owners were very good a friend of mom and dad and hired mom to help out for some extra money while dad was in the Navy. Art and Blanch Woolsteincroft were their names. They had no children but were very active in Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Art and Blanch were to play a very important roll in my life later in my story.

Art & Blanch Woolsteincroft and Me

Art and Blanch had no children, but they did have dogs. (Two real purebred bulldogs, Pudge and Shorty). Pudge was the mother of Shorty. They took very good care of the dogs and treated them just like children. I can recall going over to their house and playing with the dogs. I also remember going to their small grocery store and watching Art cut meat for the small meat case that was there in the store.

Other things I remember about living with Aunt Imagine and Webb where the fun times Webb and I had playing in the sandbox and in the garden. In the fall after the produce was pretty well harvested from the garden, Webb and I would glean the green bean stocks and place the dried-up leftover beans and place them in containers. We did this hour after hour.

Webb and I in the sandbox

Webb and I in the garden

One particularly bad experience in the garden was when we discovered the rotting leftover tomatoes. We decided it would be fun to through them at the stucco house. Well you can about imagine what the reaction to this fun time event was to Mom and Aunt Imagine. The scolded us, I remember there were no spankings, but were given a pail of water and a rag and instructed to clean off the tomatoes from the stucco walls and deposit the remains of the tomatoes
In the garbage cans in the ally behind the house. Needless to say I have never thrown a tomato at anything since then

More about the Fire Station

I Was the Firemen's Mascot

There were about 20 to 25 volunteer firemen all together. They adopted me as their mascot, I guess. My mother lettered shirts on her sewing machine for all of the firemen with “Spencer Fire Department” on the back and each of their names over the pocket. Mom also made me a shirt, same color and design. In addition she made a raincoat, rain hat and found boots that I placed right next to all the real firemen’s equipment.

I remember also the brass pole. I was told that when we first move to the fire station I was just a little past two years old. One afternoon at nap time, I was missing from my bed. After searching everywhere, my parents found me sound asleep with my teddy bear right next to the opening to the brass pole. It was about 30 feet to the cement floor below. This prompted them to construct a wooden enclosure with a lock around the brass pole opening next to our apartment door opening.

After I was a little older, almost three, my parents told me that I had asked so many times to slide down the pole like daddy did that they finally decided to let me try. Mom said she got at the top and dad waited at the bottom and I would grasp the pole like the firemen did and slide down the 30-foot pole to the ground level 30 feet below.

Not every kid has the opportunity to live at a fire station like I did, and as I look back it was a very exciting experience. Playing on the fire trucks whenever I want to was another benefit I experienced... This, of course, was before OCIA and all their safety rules.

The fire station itself was a very interesting place. Down on the ground floor was where two very large fire trucks were parked waiting for the next time they would be called into action. My dad was assigned to the Laverne fire truck when we first moved there. Ted, the other full-time fireman, was assigned to a smaller and older fire truck. A pull cord next to the trucks opened the large doors at the front of the station. One pull and they would rise to allow the trucks to pass out of the station. I recall there were large springs that allowed the doors to open automatically. This was again before all the new electronic garagedoor openers.

The main part of the fire station where the trucks were parked,was a very large area to me at the age of 3. In the rear behind the trucks was a rack where the firemen placed their boots, raincoats right next to mine! There was also a very large workbench where Ted repaired things, I guess. Ted did most of the repair work there at the fire station because my dad was working, when he was not ‘on call’ as a mechanic for my grandpa Rich during the day.

At the very rear of the ground level of the fire station was an area where mom and dad did our laundry. There was also a shower room, again very large in my eyes as I remember it, used where the firemen could shower. There were also lockers placed there for the personal items belonging to the firemen.

Dad always helped mom with the laundry, when he was home in the evenings, because, I guess it was very dark and a little scary going way back there in the dark. I remember we had a Maytag wringer type washing machine. There were also two rinse tubs that my grandpa Rich had made for mom out of two barrels. They had drain spouts on the bottom and I am sure if he had patented them he could have very easily. Cold water was placed in them to rinse the laundry soap out of the washed clothes.

In the winter and when it was too cold to hang the clothes outside to dry, they were hung in the same room where the washing machine was. In the summer and when the weather was such that they would dry outside, there was a small patch of grass out the side door of the fire station where there was a clothesline. This was also the only place with grass that I could play.

All this happened in the mid to late 40’s B.C. & B. T.V. (Before computers and Before Television. What in the world did we do after supper to occupy our time? Well, we did what most other families did; we played a game that today very few families play call “family time”. In the evening we would open the large doors to the fire station, get some chairs and sit and watch the cars and trucks as they passed by. I would continue playing fireman with my “pretend tricycle” fire truck and put out fire after fire every night.

Picture of me on my tricycle

This activity I did of putting out imaginary fires, one after another drew the attention one day from a reported from the Spencer Times, one of the two newspapers in town then. I have since lost my copy of the article, but it was a small write up featuring my tricycle fire truck and me!

The Famous Oyster Stew Story

Oyster Stew for the Firemen

In the winter months The firemen would enjoy a special oyster stew meal with their monthly fire meetings. I think they must have used the old story about when oysters were available in Iowa. All or the months that had an "r" in them where the oyster months when oysters were available in the grocery markets. September, November, December, January, February, March and April. Seven months of the year. Below is the story as I remember it and the recipe as it was prepared:

The delicious oyster stew recipe by
Uncle Cliff and Uncle George

Ingredients (reduced to a 4 bowl serving)
4 tablespoons butter
3 cups whole milk
1 1/2 pints oysters with liquor
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Cooking Directions

Heat four bowls and add a tablespoon of butter to each bowl; keep hot. Heat milk to hot but not boiling, and heat oysters and liquor just to the boiling point (ends of the oysters begin to curl); add oysters and bring to almost boiling point once again. Season with salt, and pepper. Ladle into hot bowls and top with chopped parsley, if desired.Serves 4 large bowls.

I remember that every time there was going to be a fire meeting in the those winter months I was always anxiously waiting for the firemen that always prepared the meal to arrive to begin their preparation.

I remember a fireman named Cliff Hodges was always there and the other one I remember was George Franklin. Cliff and George let me help set the tables with them and get the oyster stew cooking on the large commercial stove in the kitchen of the club room. In addition to the stew, they always had ring bologna, cheese and oyster crackers. I guess they also had coffee available, but I never had coffee there at the dinner meeting.

I remember when we opened the large containers of oysters; they search through them for these little red crab-like creatures that would come with the oysters many times. Also George and Cliff would say, “Dave, look at this as they would take and uncooked oyster and with a cracker eat the oyster and cracker at the same time.

All this preparation started about 4:30 in the afternoon. Milk was put on to warm and the oysters were placed in a large pan to warm also. I remember that butter and salt and pepper were added to the oysters as they warmed.

George always told me that you would know when it is time to add the oysters to the warm milk when the oysters start to curl around the edges. While the oysters and milk warmed, we cut the cheese into small bite size chunks and also cut the baloney into pieces.
We placed the plates of cheese and baloney into the refrigerator covered and also placed the oyster crackers on the tables. I would help set the table with spoons, knives and forks. I also helped place the drinking glasses out in a buffet-type fashion.

Growing up in a Fire Station

The Fire Station

My next recollection was that of moving to the fire station. My dad had taken a job as one of two full-time men that were hired to live at the fire station with their families. The apartment where we lived was on the top floor of the fire station and the big fire trucks were parked on the grown level just waiting and always ready to roll out of the station through two very large doors onto the Main street to put out fires. I had many very fond experiences living there at the fire station.
Spence Fire Station

The fire station was located at the south end of the main business district just a few steps from the Grand bridge, as it was called, that went over the Little Sioux river.

Grand Bridge

Directly to the south of the fire station was a Texaco gas station and directly to the north on the other side of “the ally” was a Michelin Tire store. On the other side of the Michelin Tire store was a Standard gas station then South 1st Street. Right behind the fire station was a junkyard for old automobiles and a storage garage. This junkyard is significant because I spent a lot of time playing there as I grew up in the fire station.

The top floor of the fire station was made up of two complete one-bedroom apartments, another room that was used for a bedroom and a large room called the “clubroom” where the firemen held their monthly meetings. There were also two additional storage rooms and bathroom. There was a complete kitchen in the area of the “clubroom” and a small room that was, what I called, the “scary” room. It was a room that was the top of the hose-drying tower. This is where the firemen would hang their fire hoses to dry after they were used. The hole went all the way to the basement level some 40 feet straight down. This room had one window where mom uses to shake out her dust mop.

The “clubroom was a place where I use to play all the time. It was very large and I could run my toy trucks all over the place and even play basketball and build things with my tinker toys.

This picture is a birthday party with

my grandparents and my aunt and

uncle in the club room of the fire station

One very memorable event was the winter fire meetings that the firemen had in the winter months or actually all the month that had an “r” in (like September, October through April. I discovered later in life that “oysters” were available in the Midwest in those months. The firemen would have “oyster stew feeds”, as they were called. I think this was the beginning of my love of cooking. The following is the basic recipe that was used by Cliff and George. I reduced the quantity to 4 bowls, however. We usually made enough for at least 30 to 40 firemen.

Birth and Younger Years Part 2

Some of My First Recollections

The Icebox

My first recollection of anything was the Icebox! Yes, the real honest to goodness “Ice Box”

The thing I remember was the Iceman. Whenever mom would need to get ice she would place a card in our front window. The card had printing on all four sides, as you would rotate it around. The printing on the card would tell the iceman how much ice we needed. As I recall it said whole, one half, one third or one fourth. The iceman always had to use his ice pick and chisel away the right size chunk for us. He always had small chips of ice that he would give me to suck on.

One very interesting event in my early years was the time I decided to run away from home. We were still living across from the Spencer Municipal Hospital where I was born so I must have been about two years old.

Spencer Municipal Hospital

I had gotten angry about something and decided that Grandma Riches house would be a much better place to live. I always called my grandparents by their husband’s first name. Grandpa Rich’s name was Theodore Richard Niemand, but I omitted the Theodore and used the Richard by shorting it to “Rich”. Grandma called Grandpa either “Rich” or “TR”.

I decided that the candy and cookies at Grandma’s was where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I recall that mom was busy mixing up chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen as I gathered all my important belongings together in a bag to take on my trip. I had a tricycle that I loved dearly and a little red wagon that my dad had adapted to pull behind my tricycle.

After I had everything stuffed into my travel bag and placed in my wagon, I started off down the sidewalk to Grandma’s. I wasn’t aware that mom had been secretly observing my every action. I recall that when I reached the corner I hesitated and remembered that mom had warned me to look both ways before crossing any street. It was then that the thought of her chocolate chip cookies overwhelmed the desire to continue on to Grandma’s. I turned around and went home. That was my first and only experience of running away from home that I can recall.

Birth and Younger Years Part 1

Growing up in Spencer

It was 9:00 PM on August 21, 1941. Dr. Charles Collester had just been notified that a lady under his care was about to deliver a baby. The weather outside was very stormy. The lighting lit up the night skies over the Spencer Municipal Hospital as the thunder rumbled out side.

At exactly 9:15 PM a baby boy was delivered to Leah Logan. Her best friend, Gertrude Ann Mack had flown back from her WAC (Woman’s Army Corp.) headquarters in California to assist the doctor with the delivery.

The Father, Forrest Logan was anxiously awaiting the announcement of his new baby boy. Aunt Gerty, as she was eventually referred to as, came out with the news, “Frosty, you have a son.” She announced to the expectant father.

I can only guess how my dad must have reacted when he got the news. My mom and dad had been living in the house of my maternal grandparents since they got married on September 5, 1937 in Spencer.

My dad had been removed from high school his senior year by his father, my grandfather Logan keeping him from graduating. Grandpa Logan, I was later told by my mother, that the work on the farm came before an education to my Grandpa Logan. After mom and dad got married my dad went to work as a mechanic for my maternal grandfather, Grandpa Niemand, at my Grandfather’s auto repair shop. I will call the auto repair shop,” in the future - “The garage”. Grandpa’s garage was located at the end of 1st Avenue East. On the same street has H & N Auto Dealer and just down from the Tangney Hotel at the North end of the main business district.


Grandpa had a favorite gas station where he purchased most of his gas. The gas station was called Cleabers, after the owner’s name. The last time I was in Spencer in about 2002, the gas station was still there but had changed in appearance and made much more modern. I remember that back in the late 40’s and early 50’s, Grandma and Grandpa would receive dinnerware as incentives for the gas that they purchased and Grandma had at lease 4 or 5 sets of dinnerware that she had stored away for gifts.