BOOTS & TUFFY--The most profound memory of the place N. & E. of Argonia is not the most pleasant one. We got a black female dog from a family living a mile west of the Turnpike at Wellington, Ks [the place still looks the same, some 50+ years later.]. She had four white paws, her only white, so she was appropriately named "Boots". She had several litters of puppies & one year we saved one male puppy, which I named "Tuffy", unfortunately he grew to live up to his name. During those years lots of traveling salesmen would come to the farm. Tuffy got to where he would bite the pants leg of any salesman that got out of the car. They all said he never got skin, but Dad was afraid that someday he would really bite someone. My dad, would work in town a lot during winter months. At this time he was driving to Wichita to work in a Chemical Plant. It was one Fall, that he took Tuffy with him & dropped him off along the road somewhere, I would often ask if he saw Tuffy on his way to work. He would say yes. When Christmas Time got near they ask what I wanted for Christmas and I said the next time you see Tuffy, bring him home. That was my only answer from about Thanksgiving to Christmas. Dad finally admitted that he didn't see Tuffy any more. Then he remorsefully said had he known I wanted Tuffy that bad he wouldn’t have hauled him away. I seemed to remember begging him a lot for 2-3 months not to take him.
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| My first Sears guilt as a sow |
4-Her included crops [milo, corn, forage sorghum, Alfalfa], photography, Leadership and Dairy. In MY 10th year I was presented the Archer-Midland Daniels Trophy in Field Crops. I never won to many award pins in projects. There were parents who made sure their kids name always got turned in for awards, but others never made it. I got several leadership awards but they would go to several people, not one individual. An interesting sidelight is the fact that the Archer-Midland Daniels Company was a major contributor to the National 4-H Foundation Fund that paid my way to India as an IFYE.
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| Archer-Midland-Daniels Trophy |
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| Mike Crews & I with his sheep on a 4-H Tour |
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| Bill, Larry & Jonathan, Patrick [there's a story involving Bill in my India stories.] |
BILL DUSENBURY-----Arlene & I were in 4-H when we moved to what would become the Dairy farm, so to switch to Dairy as a project instead of Beef and Pigs seemed the natural thing to do. The Shetlers in Malaby had Registered Holstein Cows [pronounced- Holstines]. Jim their son told me they were Holsteins [emphasis on the ‘i’], if they had registration papers. They were ''Holsteens", emphases on the ‘e’ if they were just plain old cows. They were spelled the same, Holstein. We didn't figure we would win any prizes with Holsteins as several 4-H families in Sumner Co. had them. There were a couple of Sumner Co. 4-H families that had Ayrshires. The Clarence Beets family by Wellington and the Bill Dusenbury family by Caldwell. We decided to visit both families about getting a dairy heifer. We visited Beet's first and then went to Dusenbury's. Bill had 4 calves born during the right time for a Dairy Heifer Project. We visited with Bill, had a little family conference and decided we wanted to get a heifer from him. He offered to let me pick one of the 4. Dad, knowing 4-H fathers, save the best for your own kid, asked which one was going to be Susie's, his daughter. Bill said it didn't matter Arlene and I could have first choice. I picked one out. Bill responded with, "You sure you don't want that one over there." Pointing towards one of the calves. I looked at it and said, ''No, I like this one''. He said, ''You better look again'', and tried to get me to change my mind. But I persisted, ''No, this is the one I want''.
I picked out the one who on her Registration was named Prudence. I called her Prue. Arlene picked the one named Moonbeam. The 4-H year rolled around to Fair Time & Susie's heifer got 1st place. As we were standing around the Fair Barn, Bill came over to me, nodded toward Susie's heifer and asks, ‘‘remember her''. I shook my head and replied, ''No''. Bill responded with, ''That's the one I tried to get you to take last Spring.'' We became friends with the Dusenbury family and as the years went by my respect and admiration for Bill Dusenbury grew.
Another story that I heard about Bill , but one I couldn't verify, was that he had a singing pipe in his pasture. Lots of people had seen and heard it but I never did. There seemed to be an oil well pipe or some kind of pipe buried in the ground but stuck up in the air about 3 ft or so, if you put your ear to it you could hear music. No one could explain why. The chemistry of the ground, electrical air currents who knows what. It wasn't a radio station, no talking or commercials, it was always like elevator music in a big city building, so they said. We saw Bill and his wife Doris and daughter for years. At 4-H Fairs, Sumner County Fair, State Fair and we would always visit with them. When Bill was actively farming he would show cows at the State Fair. After he quit farming he would go to the State Fair and show cows for Ayrshire Breeders from all across Kansas. It seemed anybody with Ayshire Dairy Cattle knew Bill Dusenbury & respected Bill & his reputation as a showman in the Fair Ring.
There was humorous things, I guess, that happened at one fair. It probably looked funny to see but it didn't seem real funny when it happened.
I need to explain one thing before I go on. With my bad leg, this happened more than once. If I was standing with all the weight on one leg, the good one, and someone would come up behind and nudged it to bend the knee, like people some times do as a joke. I could not catch or steady myself with the bad leg. I would literally fall on the floor or ground.
Back to the story. Susie Dusenbury was sitting on the bleaches by the show ring, the 3rd row up, I was standing in front of her talking to her. We'd talked awhile and I had all my weight on my good leg. Unbeknownst to me here mom Doris came up behind me. She nudged my leg as a prank. I felt the knee bend & got a terrified feeling. I did the only thing I could think of, I reached out with both arm hoping to catch myself on the bleaches as I fell. I worked somewhat, but I hit Susie, one hand on each side and she fell backwards onto the next row of bleaches up. There I was totally on top of Susie, arms on both sides of bleachers. Turning I rolled off of Susie. I looked up at Doris standing there with her mouth wide open. I made an explanation and ask, ''Didn't know that I had a bad leg''. In a surprised voice see said, ''No I didn't". We had a good laugh but I still think it was pretty embarrassing to everyone. And who knows what fair goers passing by thought.
There was humorous things, I guess, that happened at one fair. It probably looked funny to see but it didn't seem real funny when it happened.
I need to explain one thing before I go on. With my bad leg, this happened more than once. If I was standing with all the weight on one leg, the good one, and someone would come up behind and nudged it to bend the knee, like people some times do as a joke. I could not catch or steady myself with the bad leg. I would literally fall on the floor or ground.
Back to the story. Susie Dusenbury was sitting on the bleaches by the show ring, the 3rd row up, I was standing in front of her talking to her. We'd talked awhile and I had all my weight on my good leg. Unbeknownst to me here mom Doris came up behind me. She nudged my leg as a prank. I felt the knee bend & got a terrified feeling. I did the only thing I could think of, I reached out with both arm hoping to catch myself on the bleaches as I fell. I worked somewhat, but I hit Susie, one hand on each side and she fell backwards onto the next row of bleaches up. There I was totally on top of Susie, arms on both sides of bleachers. Turning I rolled off of Susie. I looked up at Doris standing there with her mouth wide open. I made an explanation and ask, ''Didn't know that I had a bad leg''. In a surprised voice see said, ''No I didn't". We had a good laugh but I still think it was pretty embarrassing to everyone. And who knows what fair goers passing by thought.
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| 1st year 4-H ribbons |
THE 4-H FAIRS---The boys in Sumner County who had livestock, usually stayed over night at the fair with their livestock. So the barn was full of boys looking for something to do. Boys usually stayed in groups with other boys from their 4-H club. So it was common for boys from one club to pull pranks on boys from another club. The funniest happening was when I was a young 4-Her. There were 3 of us younger members from Malaby. Mike Crews had sheep, Jim Shetler had dairy & I had beef. We were sleeping with the older boys in the back of a truck behind the Sheep & Hog Barn. Some boys from another club had done something, I don't remember what. Our boys had been thinking of doing something in retaliation. The roof of the Sheep Barn had a gentle slope, someone came up with the idea to put a couple of 55 gal. barrels on the roof, fill them with water, send us younger boys to get the pranksters, lead them through the Sheep Barn and the older boys on the roof would dump the water on them. Everybody thought this was a great idea. So we got the barrels ready, and we younger boys went after the pranksters. We had to do some fast talking but we finally convinced them to follow us. [I need to inject a little information here,]
It seems every year they hired a night watchman, it seemed like it was always someone who spent a lot of time at the pool hall as they always seemed to have an alcoholic beverage in a paper bag with them & they made good use of it.
As we were bringing the pranksters around the big Cattle Barn the night watchman was walking under the Sheep Barn. The boys on top could not see who it was but assumed it was their intended victims so they dumped the 110 gal of water. It came rushing down the roof, came off and hit the night watchman dead center. It might as well have weighed a ton by the way the night watchman dropped to his knees. He turned on his flash light and was shining it in the Sheep Barn shouting in a slurred voice, ''I seeeez you'', ''I kkkknow who did it,'' 'I'mmm gonna geeet you.'' Three things happened all at the same time. The pranksters who the water had been intended for took off on a dead run. The boys on the roof quickly headed down the back side of the roof into the truck, while the watchman was staggering around the Sheep Barn shouting and shining his light around the Sheep Barn for pranksters, us three youngster ran, sneaking quickly around the barn, climbed into the truck and we all pretended to be asleep, I was laying as still as possible but still breathing hard, almost gasping, trying to breathe like someone sleeping, when the watchman finally made it to the truck. He shined his light into the truck and looked around and mumbled, ''I cccccouldn't have been theeeze guys, they are all all asleeeeep'', and he left.
A more scary incident happened when I was high school age. I was going to go into the cattle barn to check on my livestock. Some one shouted, "Larry!, don't go in the barn!'' I asked why not. they said,
"A kid from Belle Plaine is in the rafters with a pitch fork and he is going to throw it at you when you come in the barn.'' So I cautiously entered in the barn searching the rafters. I walked almost the length of the cattle barn before I spotted him. Standing a safe distance away, behind some wooden cattle panels. I called out, "What is this all about, Dennis?'' and he began to rattle of a string of negative things someone had told him I had said about him. I said, ''I never said any of those thing about you, we're friends." It took some talking but I convinced him to come down out of the rafters and put the pitch fork away. I kept a close eye on him but he did. After he got down and he put down the pitchfork we had a long talk and then we were OK. Everything was alright after that and we spent time doing things together at the fair and in the cattle barn. I often shuddered to think what might have happened if someone hadn't shouted the warning.
As we were bringing the pranksters around the big Cattle Barn the night watchman was walking under the Sheep Barn. The boys on top could not see who it was but assumed it was their intended victims so they dumped the 110 gal of water. It came rushing down the roof, came off and hit the night watchman dead center. It might as well have weighed a ton by the way the night watchman dropped to his knees. He turned on his flash light and was shining it in the Sheep Barn shouting in a slurred voice, ''I seeeez you'', ''I kkkknow who did it,'' 'I'mmm gonna geeet you.'' Three things happened all at the same time. The pranksters who the water had been intended for took off on a dead run. The boys on the roof quickly headed down the back side of the roof into the truck, while the watchman was staggering around the Sheep Barn shouting and shining his light around the Sheep Barn for pranksters, us three youngster ran, sneaking quickly around the barn, climbed into the truck and we all pretended to be asleep, I was laying as still as possible but still breathing hard, almost gasping, trying to breathe like someone sleeping, when the watchman finally made it to the truck. He shined his light into the truck and looked around and mumbled, ''I cccccouldn't have been theeeze guys, they are all all asleeeeep'', and he left.
A more scary incident happened when I was high school age. I was going to go into the cattle barn to check on my livestock. Some one shouted, "Larry!, don't go in the barn!'' I asked why not. they said,
"A kid from Belle Plaine is in the rafters with a pitch fork and he is going to throw it at you when you come in the barn.'' So I cautiously entered in the barn searching the rafters. I walked almost the length of the cattle barn before I spotted him. Standing a safe distance away, behind some wooden cattle panels. I called out, "What is this all about, Dennis?'' and he began to rattle of a string of negative things someone had told him I had said about him. I said, ''I never said any of those thing about you, we're friends." It took some talking but I convinced him to come down out of the rafters and put the pitch fork away. I kept a close eye on him but he did. After he got down and he put down the pitchfork we had a long talk and then we were OK. Everything was alright after that and we spent time doing things together at the fair and in the cattle barn. I often shuddered to think what might have happened if someone hadn't shouted the warning.
RUNAWAY STEERS--- Every year at the 4-H Fair at least one animal in the 4-H barn would get loose at night and get out on the street. A lot of them seemed to belong to a Malaby 4-Her, Bobby Mercer. Sometimes I think he went out in the pasture the day before the Fair, roped a steers and brought it to the fair. I remember asking Bobby one year if he had worked with his steer before the Fair. His reply was, ''Yeah, about a week''. I always tried to work with mine all summer, not always as much as I wanted but they usually behaved respectably. The one runaway I will always remember was his steer. It had gotten loose and headed west 2 blocks towards Wellington's main North-South street, Washington Street, where he turned South on the sidewalk. There were 4 or 5 of us boys chasing him trying to catch up. When it got in front of the Montgomery Ward Store where my Aunt Flossie Cramner worked, someone driving down the street honked at it. It kicked sideways. The Wards store had a huge plate glass window. When the Steer kicked I am sure I saw the window vibrate. I could just see myself explaining to Aunt Flossie how the plate glass window got broken the next day as we usually stopped by to see her several times during the Far. The glass didn't break though and we chased the steer all the way to the Santa Fe Railroad tracks before we caught it. All 4-5 guys grabbed the halter rope and just tried to hang on. A couple more kids showed up who had ran behind us. So, 6-7 of us tried to lead the steer back to the fair barn which was going to be 8 to 10 blocks, but we could not hold him, The steer would start to run and just drag us along. He was liable to take of in any direction, north, south, east or west. So at the first chance we snubbed the rope around a street light pole and discussed what to do. It was decided to go get a farm truck at the Fair Barn, bring it down, tie the steer to the back of the truck bed and lead it back to the fair barn that way. Someone got the truck, we tied the steer to the back, put the truck in 'Grandma', that was a nickname for the lowest gear in a 5 speed transmission and started for the Fair Barn. Bobby hadn’t stayed at the fair so he missed it all. The steer was still fighting the rope, at times the truck literally drug him with his legs locked & hooves sliding on the pavement. I was afraid the ropes would break before we got back to the barn, but they didn't.
DIPPING SHEEP-- For several year Malaby 4-H dipped sheep as a money making project. The county extension office had a vat and 2-3 clubs in Sumner would speak for it, don't remember us having to rent it. Malaby dipped sheep for farmers around Argonia, Conway Spring, Freeport & Danville at so much a head. The sheep were usually put in a pen or barn and the vat backed up close to it.
There were several jobs involved. Sheep had to be driven up a ramp to the back of the vat, that was usually done by the younger 4-Hers. With a little poking and gouging the sheep would go up the ramp to the back of the vat and then balk. So there was usualy an older 4-H boy standing on the the next to top row of wooden panels along the edge of the shute, so he was across the ramp. [That was my job for many years] His job was to grab the sheep behind the stub of a tail and pull the sheep forward sending it into the vat. A few sheep would try and jump as far as they could across the water but most had to be manhandled. There was a platform along the side of the vat [opposite of side in picture] that would hold about 3 people. Usually manned by some of the younger but bigger or stronger boys & girls, The one closest to the back had the job of pushing the head and shoulders down as the sheep was shoved or jumped in so that the animal would go completely under the misture of water and sheep dip. Most time that worked but not always. The other two had one of two jobs. If the sheep didn't get completely covered they neeeded to shove them under again, or if they were floundering, help the sheep get to the ramp leading out of the vat. Once in awhile a sheep would jump on top of one already in the vat sending it under & they'd have to be rescued. There was a circular platform at the end of the small ramp. There was about three 4-Her on that platform. They had possibly 3 jobs. Help the sheep up the ramp. Let them drip a little or rub off some of the excess water & start them down the ramp that would take them back down to the ground [other side of vat shown in picture]. Usually a bigger or stronger 4-Her was stationed near the ramp. Once their head was headed out the platform they would run down the ramp or jump 5-6 ft. to the ground. Heading them down the ramp was easier so younger boys or girls might be there.
There weren't to many boo-boos, but one year when we were dipping at Earl Beals south and west of Argonia he had goldfish in either a larger concrete cattle water tank or old silo bottom. It was late in the afternoon and we were hot and tired. Some how we got started throwing each other in the water tank. We found out a few days later that we'd had enough sheep dip on our clothes get in the water to infect and kill all the goldfish. Now I can't remember if it was used to water cattle or sheep or not, but I don't think so. If it did he would have had to drain it and refill it. If he restocked it with fish he'd have had to drain it also. We dipped sheep for him several year after that but we never got in the water tank again. Don't know if any 4-H parents offered to have the 4-H Club buy him new goldfish or not. I think one other mishap accured over at Don Drouhard's at Danville. The kids were always told not to run sheep in the pasture to round them up and get them to the barn as to much running would kill them. Some of the younger members weren't paying attention and chased an old ewe long enought that she collapsed. I think it took some time, but the old ewe did finally get up. After she got up she was still so weak that we didn't run her through the Vat.
JUDGING 4-H MEETINGS-----This was later when I was in my early 20's. Mary's family was in 4-H at the same time as my family but we just never got acquainted. The only time I remember meeting any of them was when Mary's dad and I were in a group of 3 to go out to 4-H clubs and judge a monthly meetings. We’d had Model Meetings at County 4-H Days but they had just turned into one act plays which the 4-H Council had decided weren't accomplishing the desired results. The night we went to Perth 4-H it was only Henry, Mary’s Dad and I. This is the only time I remember being with Mary's dad, He passed on before we started dating, I always wished I'd had a chance to get to know him. As we were going Henry informed me that his wife taught school at Perth and cautioned me not to say anything critical that might carry over from parents towards Mary's mom. When we got up at the end of the meeting to give comments I mentioned that I saw kids in the back too young to be 4-Hers voting on motions. I could see eyes narrow an some frowns appear as they figured I was going to make a negative comment about not counting them or that they shouldn't be voting, we’d had judges at Malaby make that comment. Of course when I had been club President I just counted the members votes and just overlooked the little kids in the back. At Perth I made some comment that they were fortunate to have young kids looking forward to being 4-H member. I said we didn't have that any longer at Malaby and I'd like to stick a few in my trunk and take them home with me. That got rid of the frowns and brought a few chuckles and then I went on to tell them what I thought might make their meeting better.
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| Stopping to refill the vat with water and sheep dip. I'm standing on the tire |
There weren't to many boo-boos, but one year when we were dipping at Earl Beals south and west of Argonia he had goldfish in either a larger concrete cattle water tank or old silo bottom. It was late in the afternoon and we were hot and tired. Some how we got started throwing each other in the water tank. We found out a few days later that we'd had enough sheep dip on our clothes get in the water to infect and kill all the goldfish. Now I can't remember if it was used to water cattle or sheep or not, but I don't think so. If it did he would have had to drain it and refill it. If he restocked it with fish he'd have had to drain it also. We dipped sheep for him several year after that but we never got in the water tank again. Don't know if any 4-H parents offered to have the 4-H Club buy him new goldfish or not. I think one other mishap accured over at Don Drouhard's at Danville. The kids were always told not to run sheep in the pasture to round them up and get them to the barn as to much running would kill them. Some of the younger members weren't paying attention and chased an old ewe long enought that she collapsed. I think it took some time, but the old ewe did finally get up. After she got up she was still so weak that we didn't run her through the Vat.
JUDGING 4-H MEETINGS-----This was later when I was in my early 20's. Mary's family was in 4-H at the same time as my family but we just never got acquainted. The only time I remember meeting any of them was when Mary's dad and I were in a group of 3 to go out to 4-H clubs and judge a monthly meetings. We’d had Model Meetings at County 4-H Days but they had just turned into one act plays which the 4-H Council had decided weren't accomplishing the desired results. The night we went to Perth 4-H it was only Henry, Mary’s Dad and I. This is the only time I remember being with Mary's dad, He passed on before we started dating, I always wished I'd had a chance to get to know him. As we were going Henry informed me that his wife taught school at Perth and cautioned me not to say anything critical that might carry over from parents towards Mary's mom. When we got up at the end of the meeting to give comments I mentioned that I saw kids in the back too young to be 4-Hers voting on motions. I could see eyes narrow an some frowns appear as they figured I was going to make a negative comment about not counting them or that they shouldn't be voting, we’d had judges at Malaby make that comment. Of course when I had been club President I just counted the members votes and just overlooked the little kids in the back. At Perth I made some comment that they were fortunate to have young kids looking forward to being 4-H member. I said we didn't have that any longer at Malaby and I'd like to stick a few in my trunk and take them home with me. That got rid of the frowns and brought a few chuckles and then I went on to tell them what I thought might make their meeting better.
I adapted this concept after all the years giving talks at 4-H days. At first I always accepted judges comments as being what I had done wrong and would change my talk. But sometimes if I went on the Regional 4-H days the judges there would tell me to do what I had done before I changed the talk. So when I judged at 4-H Days in other counties I started out by saying I wasn't there to tell them what they had done wrong, I was going to tell them what I thought would make their presentation better. I always said think about it and if you agree change your presentation, if not don't, because another judge could possibly say something completely different. Some listened but most still acted like I was telling them what they had done wrong.
STATE FAIR JUDGING TEAM--We had judging contests at the County 4-H Fair to select a team to go to the State Fair as Sumner County Livestock Judging teams. The first year I went on the Sumner County Dairy Judging Team, I went 3 times, I had an experience that influenced my attitude on State Fair attendance for many years. I had put money in a special place in my billfold for food & money in another to spend on the Midway and other things. I got to the midway at the carnival booths and was trying to win a stuffed animal. At first it was 3 tries for so many $’s. Then after 2 hits it was so many $’s for 1 try. After several booths I decided to use some of my food money. I got my food money out & found I had already spent some of it. I had just enough money for a coke & hotdog for 3 meals. I vowed never again to go to carnival booths on the Midway. When the boys were growing up I discouraged them from going to Midway booths. However when they got in their late teens & early 20's & started going with friends they went to the Midway, but they had better luck than I did as they often came home with some pretty neat stuffed animals.
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| Paul showing Jason & Jon the trick to winning |
Paul generated one fond memory of State Fair Midway Booths. As the boys got older we went to the Midway more. Paul found one that involved lily pads going around in a circle, in water. You placed rubber frogs on a catapult, & hit it with a rubber mallet. Object: Cause the frog to land on a lily pad. Paul got the timing down & showed his brothers; soon all 4 Paxson boys were winning stuffed animals on a regular basic, with a lot of whooping and hollering. When Paul started he was the only one at the booth. When the 4 Paxson boys left the booth it was crowed, don’t think there was an open spot. I had to laugh to myself as we walked away. The ‘Paxson Boys’ had certainly boosted the ‘Carnies’ business for awhile. Note: I still don’t do State Fair Carnival Booths.
REAPIN WITH RIP-- Some time in my 20's. Merle 'Rip' VanWinkle, who was a custom wheat harvester that lived in Argonia that started cutting wheat in Texas and went to the Canadian border every summer, came to me and ask if I wanted to go with him for a month. He was in the Argonia area when one of his combine drivers suffered an attack and had to have his appendix removed. I talked it over with dad concerning the milking and he gave his OK so I told Rip I would go. I went from the Argonia area to Nebraska and helped him finish his first job in South Dakota before the guy was able to return, then I came back home by bus. I got the job of riving a combine. It wasn't unusual to start getting machines ready at 8 a.m. in the morning and go till 2-3 o'clock the next morning every day before we'd quit. Once in a while we'd get a couple cays of rain days and have a chance to rest a little but it didn't happen to often. There were 2-3 Argonia boys that had gone with him for several years. One of them was whining because he had been driving a truck for 2-3 years and wanted to run a combine.
Rip had never let him drive a combine because he knew he wouldn't last and couldn't take it, but he ask me to drive a truck one day and let the kid run the combine. It only lasted one day. By the time the day was over he was crying about the heat, dust & hassle of running the combine and was wanting the truck driving job back.
One kind of funny thing happened to me somewhere in Nebraska. It had rained on a Saturday so several or all of us started for a Drive-In to see a show. We were camped not far from the Drive-In. Rip had a trailer for Himself, Juanita & their daughter, A trailer for the crew to sleep in and 4 trucks with combines on them and a header trailers so Rip would find a big a lot as possible to park everything.
As I said we were headed for the Drive-In on foot, at one point we were walking across a big farm machinery lot watching the Drive-In screen in the distance. I was concentrating on the movie screen when I notice instead of walking close together as we had been, two guys were walking some distance from me to the left, and two some distance to the right. They seemed to be laughing at something. I was looking at the screen and didn't really see anything that funny going on in the movie. I looked at them again and noticed the were looking at me and laughing! I wondered what was so funny? Then I began to realize I was picking my feet up kinda high when I was taking a step. I looked down and I was in a water puddle that was about 20' across and water was about to the top of my shoes. I had been concentrating on the movie screen so much that I hadn't even realized I had walked into the puddle of water! I did look pretty silly standing in the middle of the water so I just laughed along with the other guys for a couple minutes while I was standing in the water and then we went on to the move.
Rip ran 4 International Combines. He had worked out a deal with International Harvester Company. He would get and keep combines for 3-4 years, they'd alway send the latest models with the newest improvements and additions to their combines, then they would take them back and go over the whole machine to see how the changes, had held up, what was working or what had failed to work and they alway took a report from on how they had performed in the fields cutting wheat.
It was a fun experience but it would really be a job to start with 'Rip' in Texas in May and go to the Canadian border and finish up the first part of September. That would be a Bunch of wheat cutting!
REAPIN WITH RIP-- Some time in my 20's. Merle 'Rip' VanWinkle, who was a custom wheat harvester that lived in Argonia that started cutting wheat in Texas and went to the Canadian border every summer, came to me and ask if I wanted to go with him for a month. He was in the Argonia area when one of his combine drivers suffered an attack and had to have his appendix removed. I talked it over with dad concerning the milking and he gave his OK so I told Rip I would go. I went from the Argonia area to Nebraska and helped him finish his first job in South Dakota before the guy was able to return, then I came back home by bus. I got the job of riving a combine. It wasn't unusual to start getting machines ready at 8 a.m. in the morning and go till 2-3 o'clock the next morning every day before we'd quit. Once in a while we'd get a couple cays of rain days and have a chance to rest a little but it didn't happen to often. There were 2-3 Argonia boys that had gone with him for several years. One of them was whining because he had been driving a truck for 2-3 years and wanted to run a combine.
Rip had never let him drive a combine because he knew he wouldn't last and couldn't take it, but he ask me to drive a truck one day and let the kid run the combine. It only lasted one day. By the time the day was over he was crying about the heat, dust & hassle of running the combine and was wanting the truck driving job back.
One kind of funny thing happened to me somewhere in Nebraska. It had rained on a Saturday so several or all of us started for a Drive-In to see a show. We were camped not far from the Drive-In. Rip had a trailer for Himself, Juanita & their daughter, A trailer for the crew to sleep in and 4 trucks with combines on them and a header trailers so Rip would find a big a lot as possible to park everything.
As I said we were headed for the Drive-In on foot, at one point we were walking across a big farm machinery lot watching the Drive-In screen in the distance. I was concentrating on the movie screen when I notice instead of walking close together as we had been, two guys were walking some distance from me to the left, and two some distance to the right. They seemed to be laughing at something. I was looking at the screen and didn't really see anything that funny going on in the movie. I looked at them again and noticed the were looking at me and laughing! I wondered what was so funny? Then I began to realize I was picking my feet up kinda high when I was taking a step. I looked down and I was in a water puddle that was about 20' across and water was about to the top of my shoes. I had been concentrating on the movie screen so much that I hadn't even realized I had walked into the puddle of water! I did look pretty silly standing in the middle of the water so I just laughed along with the other guys for a couple minutes while I was standing in the water and then we went on to the move.
Rip ran 4 International Combines. He had worked out a deal with International Harvester Company. He would get and keep combines for 3-4 years, they'd alway send the latest models with the newest improvements and additions to their combines, then they would take them back and go over the whole machine to see how the changes, had held up, what was working or what had failed to work and they alway took a report from on how they had performed in the fields cutting wheat.
It was a fun experience but it would really be a job to start with 'Rip' in Texas in May and go to the Canadian border and finish up the first part of September. That would be a Bunch of wheat cutting!
