Poor Nancy

"December 1, 1991:  Thanksgiving dinner at Tom's.  Helen and John came with Greta, but Howard stayed home -- didn't trust the weather.  Streets and trees covered with ice -- ice on trees until Thursday.
December 4, 1991:  Rick in an accident at work -- broken collar bone and ribs -- was in ICU 5 days."

All these years later, Rick's accident is still a topic rife with ammunition to tease Nancy.  As most of you know, I received a phone call early in the morning from the hospital that Rick had been in a work accident.  We were a one-car family at that time, so I called Nancy and woke her up.  Asked if I could use her car to run to the hospital -- I guess I thought I would have it back to her in time for work, not sure.  In any event, since she had been sleeping, she wasn't yet at her best.  She declined to loan me her car and we hung up.  I called Mitch's daycare provider who lived a block away.  She sent her husband out in the dark winter morning to gas up their van.  While he was doing that, Nancy's synapses started firing a bit better and she called me back.  Said she would give me a ride to the hospital.  So, I called off the van with my thanks.

Nancy came to get me in short order and took me to the emergency room entrance.  And dropped me off.  And went on her way.  Honestly, I didn't think anything of it.  I don't know if that was because I had bigger things on my mind or if I come from a long line of people that are not easily insulted or slighted. 

Nancy got to work and related the events of the morning to her boss.  Allen looked at her aghast and clarified with her that she had indeed just left me there by myself with a husband in who-knows-what condition.  Yes, she had and now felt guilty about it.  For the record, I was fine.  Didn't need any hand-holding.  Someone to visit with as a distraction once they hauled Rick away would have been nice, but I most certainly handled it.  Rick was okay even though he did have some serious injuries that took some time to heal.  The staff at the old Lincoln General did great.

I had no photo that remotely related to the topics at hand, so here's some of Grandma's tulips.  And her car.  And her caboose.

Multiple holidays

"November 28, 1991:  Thanksgiving Day -- went to Lincoln -- ate at the Hilton.  In evening Bill and I played Cribbage and 2-handed Pinochle.
November 29, 1991:  Rain and sleet.  Tom came at 11:00 a.m. to take me to Nancy's in Lincoln.
November 30, 1991: Nancy took me Christmas shopping.  Went to Tom's for supper.  Tom had left to go to Winside for wood and bring Howard back on Sunday."

I recall going to the Hilton for Thanksgiving on at least one occasion.  It was pretty swanky and pretty fun.

In a rush right now to go to Lincoln myself for Mothers' Day dinner at Nancy's.  I am among the world's worst at remembering to get and picking out greeting cards.  So, Happy Mother's Day to Mom and Nancy (since there isn't an Aunt's Day to my knowledge).  Love you both bunches, always have and always will.  See you in a bit. 

I've used this photo before, but it was the only one I had at the ready of Mom and Nancy.  Well, the one I had at the ready that I had used longer ago than the others.

Repairs

"November 24, 1991:  John, Helen, Greta, Dorothy Jo and I had dinner at the Black Knight.
November 24, 1991:  Dryer repairs amounted to $50.25 -- covered by CAPP.
November 27, 1991:  Greta took me to West Point to meet Bill. I went on to Wahoo."

Yes, Grandma did have two entries for November 24; it's not blogger error.

I shouldn't be surprised given Grandma's habit of memorizing presidents and vice presidents and the counties in Nebraska and such, but I found a list of expenditures in no particular order.  I would guess that she was going by memory and/or was looking at old records when she started writing them down.  Here is a sampling in the order she recorded the entries:

March 1995 - chain saw $130

Bought dryer in 1966

August 1990 -- total repairs on riding lawn mower, $467.92

March 4, 1989 -- Furnace burnt out on Saturday night -- really cold.  Repairs $112.65

June 1989 -- paid $310.87 to have car repaired; change distributor, check bearings, etc. for trip

March 1987 -- new water heater from Gas Company $199.74 + $24.50 labor, total $224.24

February 1988 -- had wart removed from forehead [no cost noted, so this entry was a bit out of place]

October 1982 -- accident in Wayne, hit by car at intersection. Johanna was with me.  My collar bone was broken.

August 1986 -- New sink and counter top installed with money from anniversary gifts.

That's it for now except for one more notation.  On another page, all but itself, was this entry related to the car accident mentioned above:  "1982 -- In the fall I had my collar bone broken.  Howard washed dishes for me for 6 weeks."  I like that that got a page all to itself.

Photo is just a random picture with Grandma and Grandpa in it.  With linked arms.  Sweet.

Started and done

"November 14, 1991:  Started piecing 16-patch block top.
November 20, 1991:  Busy Bees at Stop Inn.  Bonnie W., hostess.
November 22, 1991:  Snow and sleet.  I postponed Pinochle.
November 23, 1991:  Finished piecing the 16-patch top."

I know it was winter and snowing and such, but I think that is a good time frame to piece an entire quilt.  Especially a 16-patch which to me means little pieces.

I still have yet to piece a full-sized quilt.  At this point, I don't know that I'll ever get there.  But, the family has been well-represented in the quilt realm, so it's probably okay.

That's Grandma Anna seated to the far left in the photograph.  She quilted, as we know.  I do not know if her mother did as well.  I'm guessing it is very possible.

More pinochle, more Dane

"November 8, 1991:  Pinochle Club at Stop Inn.  Marie H. -- hostess.
November 9, 1991:  Nancy and Dane came.
November 13, 1991:  ELCA"

Eek.  I know it is early, but I really have nowhere to go with that stuff.  So, I'll go back to the Iversen-Jensen Family Tree book that I was referencing earlier.

I did a very quick glance through the book and it seems that of the many descendants of .Iver and Christiane Iversen, only Peter Iversen and family lived and married and died in northeast Nebraska.  Quite a few ended up in Fremont and Omaha and Washington County, Nebraska.  Quite a few others lived out of state.

The only people I found this early in the morning that lived near us was Ivar Jensen.  He was born in Denmark but came to American at age 2 with his parents.  They lived near Kennard, Nebraska and he grew to an adult there.  He married Lena Falconer who was born in Iowa.  They first lived in Colorado, but later moved to a farm near Wisner.  They had five children, including Genevieve and Phillip that I wrote about earlier, before they divorced in 1917.  Ivar then married Anna Schroeder in Wayne.  The book shows she was buried in Wayne in 1958, so perhaps they lived there all that time.  Ivar eventually moved and remaried the first Mrs. Jensen.  She and some of their children were living in Washington and Oregon.  Ivar and Lena died in Oregon and are buried there.

Well, now that I look again some of their children lived in Nebraska.  Maybe.  It looks like several were still living in 1987 when the book was made, so I only know where they were born and married.  The ones born and/or married in Nebraska are Chester Jensen (married Betty Langan from Hartington), Delbert Jensen (married in Wakefield to Elinor Meyer), and Richard Jensen (married in Wahoo to Kathleen Langan).  Maybe this information is helpful to Mom or Nancy.

Speaking of siblings born in Nebraska, see the photo above.

Sledding

(No, Grandma didn't go sledding, just to put such thoughts to rest right away.)

"November 1, 1991:  Snow and wind -- almost a blizzard.
November 2, 1991:  Streets blocked.
November 5, 1991:  Arlene P. took me quilting."

Grandma's mention of snow put me in mind of sledding down the hill in front of Grandma and Grandpa's house when I was a kid.  Grandpa had given me a big red sled one year.  It had handlebars instead of the usual steering method.  The back skids were set, but the skids were split front and back so that the front half would move with the handlebars.  Very cool.  And also very, very heavy.

It is a bit amazing to think that as kids we were well acquainted with the laws of physics.  Either some kid why back when learned it from a grown-up and passed the knowledge down through kid generations, or we learned by trial and error.  In any event, we knew to put the heavy sled at the back whenever we made a train of sleds.  (Dale was generally good at letting me tag along with he and his friends, but all notions of "she's too little" really went away when it came to sledding -- a kids' detente.)  As I recall we really scooted down that hill when Big Red was in the back.  And that hill was great for sledding because we had the turn at the bottom to negotiate.  That made it more interesting then just slowing to a halt on a straight shot.  We usually ended up in a snow bank if we missed the turn since the street stopped with nothing ahead at the turn, so extra snow was pushed in to that area at the very bottom of the hill.  Great fun.  And of course, we had to take the bank if we saw a car coming.  I seem to remember that after awhile we grew tired of hauling Big Red all the way back up, so it got put aside and my old regular sled got used for the latter part of our sledding day.

No sledding pictures and no picture of Big Red, but here's some snow.

Time to hit the woodpile

"October 29, 1991:  Quilted at church on Mildred K.'s quilt.
October 30, 1991:  Helen and John took us to Pierce to doctor.  Got our flu shots.  Tom came for wood.
October 31, 1991:  Snow about 4 inches.  No wind."

I hope the snow didn't deter the trick-or-treaters.  Maybe the snow came later in the night after the ghosts and goblins had gone to bed, all smiling and sticky from candy.

As most readers know, the picture of the woodpile is woefully inadequate, at least compared to the best of the best of Grandpa's woodpiles.  Cute that the chainsaw is right there.  Like someone wanted to take the photo, so Grandpa put the saw down and got the heck out of the way.

Which reminds me.  I've said it before and I'll say it again -- don't turn your back on Dale if he has a running chain saw in his hand and there are trees within sight.  For sure you will turn back around and . . . no trees!  I am guessing he learned his woodcutting technique and enthusiasm from Grandpa.