Grandpa and Grandma Olson Tonight I want to write about Grandpa and Grandma Olson. As I’ve written before I spent considerable time staying at their place. The routine remained the same, get up in the morning go to the barn and do chores. What’s the different is I never milk the cows. Grandma did most of the milking. After the chores where done we go to the house for breakfast. Now I’m going to take some liberties Grandpa had a nick name for Grandma and for the life of me I can’t remember for sure what it was but I’m going to say Mrs. Calabash. If somebody remembers please let me know. When we would get back to the house for breakfast Grandpa and Grandma would be in the kitchen Grandma making pancakes, Grandpa would say, on this fine morning how are you Mrs. Calabash, Grandma would say you old fool go sit down and get ready to eat. They seem to have a great relationship, I always felt warm and comfortable there. Grandma always made pancakes for breakfast; she used lard and never cleaned the big black frying pan. Sometimes I put syrup on but many times I just put milk and sugar on them. After we got done eating whoever were there we would lineup and Grandpa would take a spoon put sugar lump in it, soak it in his coffee and then give it us. One of the first memories I have is when they built the new barn. Grandma and Grandpa loved to dance so they had a barn dance. As I remember it the band was in a corner of the hay mow. I do remember they started the dance with the grandkids dancing together, Tootie maybe can add to this. The rest of the memories I have of the dance are Roy Olson was there, if he couldn’t find somebody to fight with he would fight himself. I think he was picking a fight maybe with Irvin Olson but Grandma showed up, end of fight. The other memory I have is Grandpa and I spent most of the night walking around the barn looking for firers. Another memory I have is when I went to the dance at Como Beach. Uncle Ervin in later years owned it but at that time I can’t remember who owned it. The dance floor was out over Lake Andrew, the outside toilet was up on the hill with a lot of steps to climb. I remember the dance it had lights strung around it and Shokie played the drums. Sometimes he would come off the bandstand and walk around to show his talents. Ma would say lookie lookie here comes Shokie. I spent a lot of time with Grandpa and Grandma, I’m sure my cousins thought I was spoiled and I was, but I didn’t make that bed. Sometimes on Saturday nights the parents would want to go to dance, that meant most of the grandkids went to Grandma’s. Swinging on the ropes in the barn and running amuck. Sometimes the Quisberg girls and the Separatist Preacher’s daughters would come to visit. That was a maximum testarone surge, but Grandma kept a short rope. Then Grandma died, she hated that sand hill in front of her house, she was digging sod to put on the sand and she had a stroke. I remember hearing it on the radio. I was staying at Grandpa Reigstad’s. We went to the barn to milk and of course we turned on the lights and of course the radio came on, it was tuned to KWLM Willmar. It was the 6:00 O’clock PM news and they had the death announcements. Elvina Olson Passed away, I remember leaning my head against the cow’s side I was milking and feeling so sad. I had been told earlier by Bernice but that’s when it hit me. I didn’t want to go to the reveal but Bernice said I had to go. I don’t remember much, I don’t know who took me or how I got home, all I remember is Grandma in her casket. She had big funeral at Johnson’s funeral home and a lot of people were there. She is buried at Colfax Cemetery. I had lost one of my best is friends.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 05:37:45 +0000
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