A Wrong Side Of The Bed Morning

Wrong side eh?

Hello, my name is Groucho this morning. 

Everyone knows that putting your left foot off the bed first is unlucky....and wow was it ever unlucky for me this morning.   You got to get out on the "right side" in order for the day to be a good one.  And believe me, my day has started out to be a big pooper day.

So today I'm a bad tempered, cranky and irritable woman who not only slept poorly, but I couldn't keep my left leg from protruding off the side of the bed this morning which resulted in that dang left leg hitting the floor first ..... and of course it was on the wrong side of the bed.  Dang it!  And I'm convinced that Mr. Sandman came by last night and put "Grouchy Drops" in my eyes.  Yessiree....he did he did!

So now I feel like I need to go to the court house and change my name to Groucho.  That would fit the mood of the day. If I don't watch it, I'm going to land in Duck Soup because of the grouchy mood.  Be still mouth.....be still fingers on the keyboard.....keep it to yourself.  But I still wonder why today of all days, I had to become Groucho of the month.

Oh crap, now I know.  I'd forgotten.  Today is National Groucho and Grumpy Day in this world.  And, you probably should register for the grand prize.  It's a great one.  An all expense paid trip to Grouchland.....the place where Elmo went with his blue blanket. (I'm amazed it wasn't Elmo's buddy Oscar the Grouch who went to Grouchland, but it was Elmo.)

  So be sure to register for the contest, pack your blue blanket like Elmo did and get ready to win.  And, if I win, I promise to choose the reader of my choice....the one I think is the most grouchy and most cranky!  So it could be you I choose....so if you don't want to go on this marvelous prize, then change your mood......I know I'm going to have to try.  Just as soon as I get out of these frog pajamas and have my first chocolate candy bar and a cup of java.  All cures for a groucho day.

Old Greenview
(taken from the Greenview Scrapbook)


1968:  A heavy snow hit Greenview the week of January 19.  Drifts high, the ground had about 8 inches of snow.  Traffic was near a standstill, activities came to a halt, the basketball game was cancelled, and Greenview schools were closed Monday of this week due to the heavy accumulation.  Services and the congregational meeting at the Greenview United Church were cancelled.

1968:  Cramer Implement is holding an open house, featuring a free noon beef dinner on January 30 at Cramer Implement.  The program began at 9:30 am and included morning and afternoon shows.  Factory representatives were on hand to discuss and demonstrate farm equipment.

1968:  May 24:  The Greenview Community Bank presented the village of Greenview two flags, one of the state flag of Illinois and the United States flag.  Mayor Bill Davison announced the flags will be flown on Memorial Day.

1968:  November 29: The United Church congregation voted to build a manse at the congregational meeting.  The result was that a lovely manse was built.  (*** See below)

1969:  January 3:  The Greenview Bulldogs, our fighting basketball team, received a trophy for second place in the Havana Holiday Tournament.

1969:  January 3:  Jim's Coin Wash began its operation in Greenview this week.  Jim Hornback is the owner.  The coin wash is located in the building which formerly was the Owl Garage building.  There are 20 General Electric washers, 14 lb. capacity; 10 dryers and a 25 lb washer.  There is plenty of parking space, plenty of water, a hair dryer, a soap dispenser and all the other necessary things to operate a first class laundromat.

1969:  July 4:  Wm Yueill, the minister of the congregation of the United Presbyterian Church arrived in Greenview with his family.  The family came from Columbus, Ohio.

1969:  September 5:  Dr. W. A. Beard and C. N. DeHart were two men honored for their contributions to the Greenview community.


*** Note....on this passage.....the sentence structure in the scrapbook led me to believe that the manse was being built at the meeting....I had to laugh when I typed this passage from the book!!


Quote For The Day

The world is not yet exhausted;

let me see tomorrow something which I never saw before.

--Samuel Johnson

Today is my poem day....written just for you!  It might not rhyme correctly, and it might be stupid but remember I wrote it especially for you.

The Cow

The old brown cow stood by the fence,

She was worth a hundred and a few cents.

She mooed and mooed loud in the night,

Until I thought her and I would have a fight.

Finally she shut her mouth for a while,

Of course I knew why, as she let a pile.

The stink was hardy and came on the wind,

An odor for enemies I would like to send.

The old brown cow no longer stands there,

She isn't even mooing or moving a hair.

She lost the right to moo my way

And for that mooing, she had to pay.

The steak I had last night was good

And put me in a very happy mood.

You see that cow is in my freezer,

I guess I taught that old geezer.

The moral of this story is pretty cool,

 Mess with me cow & you'll lose, you fool.

The End

Thank you for coming to my blog.

(blog and posts are protected under copyright laws)

Hope to see you again soon.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

A Beautiful Day.....warm but not too hot!

What is this?  Another nice day that's what.  A beautiful day in the neighborhood as Mr. Rogers would say.

If I were a meteorologist, I would be predicting this kind of day for every day of the year.  For Midwesterners, it's the perfect day.  Supposed to be around 70 degrees, sunny and perfect.  Just about like yesterday and more forecasted   for tomorrow just like this, except a little higher in temps.

This is what Spring was like in the late 50's and 60's.......nice!  Kids back then didn't pay too much attention to the weather other than the weather is good enough a game of baseball at the old grade school.  Or, maybe good enough to ride bikes after school or on the weekend days.  And we could walk to church wearing a light weight jacket and then by the time church was over, it was warm enough to carry the jacket home (that is if we didn't forget it at church, which happened several times in our household).

This special weather day is going to be a good shopping day for me.  Back to the garden center to buy more plants for the yard.  And maybe some garden soil, bug spray and then a light lunch before getting back in time for a nap.  It's a good life when the weather is like this.  We all feel the life of the day......and it makes a person want to live it to the fullest.  Amen!

Death

A special former resident passed away on Monday, May 7.  Juanita "Nita" Johnson, passed away in Effingham where she lived with her son Mike.  Juanita and her husband Jimmy were residents in Greenview for many many years.  She was a teacher in our schools and even after her retirement she was a substitute teacher.  Her funeral is Friday, May 11 at the Presbyterian Church, at 11am.  God Bless you Nita, for all of your years of service to our children and residents of Greenview.


Old Tyme
(click on pictures for an enlarged view)

Travel Lodge, south 9th Street, just a few blocks north of Cook Street.

This has been posted previously, but reposting

for those who didn't see it before.

The famous "The Mill" as it burned.

Illinois State Fair Main Gate 1947

Quote For The Day

I may not have gone where I intended to go,

but I think I ended up where I needed to be.

--Douglas Adams

Think back to your youth.  Think of the automobile your family had.  Maybe it was a four door Chevy, or an Oldsmobile, or an Pontiac.  Those three seemed to be the most popular brands, and now days two of those brands are no longer made by General Motors.

How did your family auto influence your life.  When I was too young to drive, that big old heavy Oldsmobile or Pontiac we had, depending upon the  year, meant going to a ride on Sunday with a picnic along the road at one of the roadside picnic areas which were plentiful in those days.  The family auto also meant a trip to grammie's in the country which we did several times a week, and on Saturday night and Sunday nights to watch their color television because we didn't have a colored set. And back then you didn't get something new to replace the old one until the old one broke.  Wahhh....I began to hate John Estill, the local television repairman.  I wanted him to say "if can't be fixed", but he continued to put new tubes in the old black and white set for years and years.  Then.....one day he said.....the picture tube is gone.....it would cost too much to put in a new one!  YAY....the day had come for us to get a brand new color television.  Now I could watch Salty Sam and Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Greenjeans in color....but only when they began to run the shows in color that is.

Now I go into my living room and there sets big old flat screen plasma television....easy on the eyes and a huge screen.  And moving to the garage sets a big old General Motors crossover SUV.  What is the world coming to....everything is BIG....including costs....gas, food, clothes, appliances, etc.

I think the BIG old family auto influenced me into thinking I had to have big of everything......and I do have.....except my bank account of course.....because I've been paying for those big things....and the bank account is no longer big!  Wahh Wahh.

Thanks for coming to my blog.

(blog and posts protected under copyright)

Hope to see you again soon!

Mr. Clean Where Are You?

Calling Mr. Clean!

Oh those good old days when we only had a choice of a few cleaning products.  And one of them was my good old buddy Mr. Clean.  He was my hero as a teenager who had to clean a huge house all by myself.  He was strong and made the house smell like it was really clean.

I remember when his owner company ran a contest to give him a first name.  I entered that contest and thought for sure I had a winner.  My entry was "Maximo".  I thought it fit him perfectly because Mr. Clean did the maximum in cleaning.  But did I win....NO I DIDN'T!  The person who submitted "Veritably" so Mr. Clean was then known as Mr. Veritably Clean.  Yuk.  Mine was much better.

I know that Mr. Clean was a sexy, tanned and muscular and very bald.  It was that earring that was so attractive.  It set him apart from all of the "boys" I went to school with.  (Sorry boys!)

Then a few years later, I went to buy a new bottle of Mr. Clean and lo and behold he had whiskers and a black eye.  I never did figure that out and soon he went back to his usual self.  But over the years he went from smelling of pine to smelling of lemon.....but he still cleaned really well.  And then in latter years,  he brought out his famous Mr. Clean magic erasers and wow they were wonderful.

Through the years about a million different cleaners were brought out, manufactured by about as many makers.  Some with bleach, some without, some with the latest in antibacterials and some with oxygen built in.   And, those with antibacterials killed all of the good sewage eating bacteria when it went down the drain so that people's cesspools and sewage systems were out of whack.  Some cleaned well and some didn't.  Some bleached out the item being cleaned and some just sat there on your rag doing nothing!

So where did that leave me?  A choice of about a million cleaners or could it be a trip back to Mr. Maximo Clean...  yes it was....the cleaner of all time.  Mr. Clean will always be Maximo to me and I will call him that until eternity.  I buy his bottle with his cute picture on it......the funny thing is he didn't age in his picture but I did.  Mr. Clean you save my day....that is when I get motivated to clean...which ain't often!




Old Pictures
(click on pictures to get an enlarged view)

5th street south from Adams....1939

Trivoli theater can be seen.

First of all was called the Vaudette, then became the Lyric and then

became the Trivoli and closed in 1954.

The building was later demolished.

Downtown Springfield,

6th Street looking north from Adams intersection.

The Strand Theater on the right, which opened in 1921 and closed in the 1960's to make way for a new bank building for the original Marine Bank.  Barkers is on the right.

A last picture of the Orpheum Theater on north 5th street, downtown Springfield 1965, right before the wrecking ball tore it down to make room for a bank.

Springfield's Eisner Store 1965

Old 1911 postcard of Springfield, looking north on fifth downtown.

Downtown Springfield

Melody Lane Record Shop

125 North 6th Street

which I think was on the west side of

north 5th, just north of Washington....and perhaps about

across the street from the old Coney Island.

Quote For The Day

A slip of the foot you may soon recover,

but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.

Yes I admit it, I was once a vegetarian.  Not a vegan as I know I've told you before, but a lover of veggies.  It didn't matter what kind of veggie, I loved it.  I made that fat burning soup made out of veggies and would eat and eat that soup, but I guess I did something wrong as it didn't really burn any fat from the body.  But the tomatoes did make my tummy burn from too much acid.

I continued to eat those veggies until I felt myself leaning.  I couldn't straighten up.  I kept leaning no matter what I did.  Then I figured it out......it was all those dang vegetables I was eating.  I was leaning toward the sun just as any vegetable will do.  I had become a vegetable.  I had to quit leaning so, I started eating meat again and quit leaning towards the sun.  The moral of this story is:  be careful when you become a large volume vegetable eater, you don't want to become a vegetable (excuse the pun).

Thanks for coming to my blog.

(blog and posts protected under copyright laws)

Hope you visit again!

Say What You Mean

What did that headline/ad really say?

I can't believe some of the headlines and ads I've seen.  When I find one, I save it so I can laugh again and again.  I thought I would share some with you so that you can go into the weekend with a bit of humor. Remember laughing is the spice of life.....laughing will get you more time on this earth.  So laugh hardy or smile if your laughter is broken!

this one is for a gator fighting person I know!

$.59 x 3 = $1.77

I've seen Walmart do this same thing many times!

Some U. S. Flag History

The star is a symbol of the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial; the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun.  Both themes have long been represented on the standards of nations, from the banners of the astral worshippers of ancient Egypt and Babylon to the 12 starred flag of the Spanish Conquistadors under Cortez. 

The first flags adopted by our Colonial forefathers were symbolic of their struggles with the wilderness of a new land.  Beavers, pine trees, rattlesnakes, anchors and various like insignia with mottoes such as "Hope", "Liberty", "Appeal to Heaven" or "Don't Tread on Me" were affixed to the different banners of Colonial America.

The first flag of the colonists to have any resemblance to the present Stars and Stripes was the Grand Union flag, sometimes referred to as the "Congress Colors".  It consisted of thirteen stripes, alternately red and white, representing the thirteen colonies, with a blue field in the upper left hand corner bearing the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, signifying union with the mother country.  This banner was first flown by the ships of the Colonial Fleet in the Delaware River in December 1775.

Many Americans still believe that Betsy Ross made the first flag, although historians dispute this story.  Another disputed story is that the first Stars and Stripes displayed in the face of an armed enemy was at Fort Schuyler, August 3, 1777.  This was probably a Grand Union flag.

Continental Congress passed a resolution that established the Stars and Stripes on June 14, 1777, but did not specify the arrangement of the thirteen stars on the blue union, except to say that they should represent a new constellation.  As a consequence. we find many variety of forms.  The first Army flag, popularly known as the Betsey Ross flag, had them arranged in a circle. based on the idea that no colony should take precedence.  The first Navy Stars and Stripes had the stars arranged in staggered formation in alternate lines and row of thees and twos on a blue field.

The resolution of June 14, 1777 establishing the Stars and Stripes has an interesting history.  After the Declaration of Independence, colonial vessels were putting to sea to hamper enemy communications and prey on British commerce.  Many of them flew flags of the particular Colonies to which they belonged.  It was necessary to provide an authorized national flag under which they could sail, for England considered armed vessels without such a flag as pirate ships and hanged their crews when they captured them.  So the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress presented the Resolution.

General Washington, when the Star Bangled Banner was first flown by the Continental Army, is said to have described its symbolism as follows:  "We take the stars from the heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated for her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty."

Realizing that the flag would become unwieldy with a stripe for each new state, a suggestion was made that the stripes remain thirteen in number the represent the original thirteen colonies and that a star be added to the blue field for each new State coming into the Union.  A law of April4, 1818, resulted and requires that a star be added for each new State on the 4th of July after its admission.

A 48 star flag come with admission of Arizona and New Mexico in 1912.  Alaska (admitted 1-3-59) added a 49th star on  July 4, 1959, and Hawaii (admitted  8-21-59) paved the way for the 50th star to be added on July 4, 1960.

Quote For The Day

Happiness makes up in height

for what it lacks in length.

--Robert Frost

If I could become Queen for the Year, what country would I choose as my Queendom?  Well America of course.

In my Queendom, everyone would receive a check for the year for $100,000 from the Queendom to do with whatever each person wanted.  There would be no taxes on individuals, and each person would receive free healthcare. 

I would make it a rule that each person must work only 4 days in the week, with the choice of the extra day off resting with the person and not the employer. 

I would also make it a rule that each person receive 5 pounds of rich glorious chocolate that year so that they can have a delight to munch on.  Everyone will also receive vouchers to go out to fancy restaurants each week for a free meal on the Queendom.

I suppose my reign will break the Queendom, but at least I and the residents of my Queendom will be well fed, richer than before and tax free......all for a year.....and all for the good of the people.  I bet they will think twice before granting another Queen for the Year after I'm done.

Thanks for coming to my blog.

(blog and posts are under copyright laws)

Hope to see you again soon.

Have a great weekend.

Ten Things To Know About Me

Ten things about me huh?!

Some of you knew me as a kid but you only know me now via the internet.  And, some readers have never met me....what a loss that is!!  I'm a really sweet person who loves life and if you're my friend, I'll have your back!  (As long as you don't crap on me!)

But, there are at least ten things you should know about me to really get to know me.  So here's the list....hopefully you will know a bit more about me after you read it  (and you might be a bit more bored too).

1.  I'm a history buff.....it doesn't matter what kind of history, I just love old things and the history surrounding the item, the article, the whatever.  BUT.....I hated history when I was in high school.

2.  I love to cook.  I have taken some gourmet classes and can cook with the best of the chefs.  I especially love to bake and make desserts, but I can do a pretty fair job on any item I set out to make.

3.  I can sew up a storm.  When my kids were little, I used to make a lot of their clothes.....I even made coats and hats and once I made my nephew a three piece suit for Christmas.  In the latter years, I made dozens of doll clothes to fit 18 inch dolls.  In fact, I still have a closet left over from a mall booth I had before people started stealing me blind in that booth.....seems my doll clothes were a popular item with the thieves and especially around Christmas.  A few years ago, I won first place in the sewn doll clothes category at the Illinois State Fair.

(purple/white outfit on the right

is the State Fair winner)

4.  I've got just a few (minor????) medical conditions.  A massive heart attack resulted in 6 bypasses during open heart surgery.  I now have congestive heart failure.  I had a 3.6 cm brain tumor and went blind.  Surgery resulted in  total eye sight recovery in the right eye but not the left eye.  The dang thing is, that tumor seems to like to pop up again and even after surgery and radiation.  I had a hip replacement and need both knees replaced.  Before long, I will be boasting that I am the BIONIC WOMAN!  You should hear the bells and clangs when I go through the airport and courthouse X-ray machines...wires in the chest and in the leg.  It's almost like Dog the Bounty Hunter as the security raise their guns when I start through.

5.  I don't work.....I sit home on my butt and do as little as possible and draw a disability check.  The joys of not working.....and I don't know when I had time to work when I really did. 

6.  I write articles, blogs, posts, and stories and now am working on a novel.  I might never get the novel done but at least I'm trying.  I have written my life's story and a couple other stories about things in my life.  I really want to try to write a children's book, but haven't got started on that idea yet.  I write this blog Monday through Friday and I don't mind telling you that it is difficult sometimes coming up with different topics each day.....some get pretty boring and some articles are just crappy but, I try to keep going even when I have no creative ideas flowing through the mind.

7.  I draw portraits from photos.  A few years ago, a portrait I drew in charcoal of my grandson was hung in the art gallery at the Illinois State Fair and I received honorable mention.  I didn't win placement for a money prize but, honorable mention was an honor for me as I have no formal art training.....I just do it.  I painted a mural of a chicken yard on my kitchen wall......people don't believe I painted the chicken mural, but I really did. 

(the chicken mural on my kitchen wall)

8.   I hate to do house work and laundry.  I will wait until we either have no more socks and underwear or until I can write in the dust in the case of housework.  My mama didn't raise me to be a housekeeper....and no one ever comes to see me so why should I care.....and if they do come, they just will have to see the crud.

9.  I'm an avid gardener and love flowers.  For the past two weeks I have been out in the yard planting some new perennials.  I try to thin out my plants and move them elsewhere so that the big yard we have has plenty of flowers and plants.  I hate fighting the poison ivy that is ever present in this yard....the land used to be a forest and the poison ivy doesn't want to give up.  I made a rock garden in the back yard along with a reflecting pool which incidentally needs cleaned out at this moment....horrible job!

(a garden spot with iris)

10.  I collect dolls of all kinds.  Mostly my collection ranges from the late 1800's through the mid-1960's but I do have quite a few current day collectible Barbie dolls which have never been opened.  I took some classes to learn doll repair and do my own repair and occasionally some repair for others.   Right now I have over 500 dolls.  I did have close to 600 dolls, but decided to thin the herd, so I sold some and gave away others.

(a doll bed with some old dolls)

(dolls with coats I made....doll on the right is from mid-1950's)

I really didn't mean to take up a whole blog post with stuff about me, but I guess I did.  But now you might know a bit about me. For now, I'm going to make this a shorter post than usual and forgo most of the other subjects I usually post.

Quote For The Day

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived,

however, if faced with courage,

need not be lived again.

--Maya Angelou

Thank you for coming to my blog.

(all rights reserved)

Hope to see you again soon.

Funniest Cartoon Character Ever

What's your most favorite cartoon character??

Watching cartoons was one of my most favorite things to do as a kid and I can truthfully say, I still like to watch the old ones.  I have some VHS tapes of some really old cartoons and I still laugh like an old hyena.

Among my top ten old time characters would be Micky Mouse, Road Runner, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Casper, Porky Pig, Fred Flintstone, Tweety Bird.

Sure there were lots of other great characters, but these just always were my most favorites.

I loved to hear Tweety Bird say "I tawt I taw a puddy tat".  And "whats up" coming out of Bug's mouth was hilarious.  Mickey's big ears and his pleasant personality won the hearts of many even though he didn't have a lot of memorable quotes. 

Who could forget "be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits"; Elmer Fudd's favorite and most remarkable quote. And everyone remembers Porky Pig saying "th th th th th that's all folks".  And Daffy Duck's famous words "you're despicable" made me laugh and laugh.  The Road Runner only said "Beep Beep" but it was his antics which were so funny.

What better way to start your day than to remember those wonderful Looney Tunes characters.   These were  wonderful things for a kid to grow up with and to be able to remember highlights for a lifetime.....just like I did.

Old Area Pictures

Lincoln City Hall 1912

An old ad which appeared in the Lincoln paper

advertising Henderson School shoes.

Another advertisement which appeared in a

Lincoln paper for Tarrant's Seltzer Aperient, a

tonic for headache.

Lincoln's #91 old streetcar at Lincoln's Old Chautauqua

Quote For The Day

A lifetime of happiness!

No man alive could bear it;

it would be hell on earth.

--George Bernard Shaw

Let's say you had a choice .... to be stranded on a tropical island alone or with someone you hated, which would you choose?

That is a difficult decision as I see it.  To be alone out there in the ocean and on that lonely island would probably be a horrible thing to go through.  However, choosing to be with your most hated person might be even worse as you might end up killing each other during one of your most heated arguments.

Being alone on an island means you only have one person's knowledge about survival.  But having two person's knowledge and abilities, as well as manpower, would enable you to be more creative....that is if the hated person would cooperate.

There hasn't been too many people that I can say I actually hated so much that I couldn't stand to be on a tropical island with.   I would hope that being secluded there with only one person would, at least at some point, mean a bond of some type would result and perhaps even a friendship. 

I guess my choice is to be there with the hated foe.  If I chose wrong, I suppose no one else in the world would ever know if a bond or friendship resulted, because the chances of anyone finding me and this hated person would be pretty slim.   I guess both of us would probably spend our last days on that tropical island out in the middle of nowhere either hating or loving each other.



Thanks for coming to my blog.

(all rights reserved)

Hope to see you again soon.

Prom Time

It's prom time ... be home by Midnight or else

Cinderella has arrived at the prom all in her finery.  Prom time means a lot of girls get transformed into a Cinderella of sorts.  Even an ugly duckling can become a swan with a few strokes of the make-up brush.

And as your child gets ready to leave, the ultimate warning.....be home at ????  (whatever time you set).  Some parents aren't so lenient and the curfew is as soon as the dancing is over....but some do the Cinderella curfews and a few let the young people stay out all night.

I can imagine how some of the conversations go when a daughter leaves for the night:

"Since your date has no car and no driver's license, you will not, and I repeat, will not let him drive our car!  That car is valuable and will turn into a pumpkin or will entirely disappear (remember I have the other set of keys) at Midnight so you absolutely have to be home before then.  And, I don't mean 10 after midnight either, I mean at the stroke of midnight, you must be home.

And, I want to repeat again, he absolutely cannot drive our car.  Be sure to wipe your shoes when getting into the car so that you don't get dirt on the carpet.  You will go straight to the Prom site after picking him up at his house and straight home afterwards after leaving the prom site and then dropping him off.  Don't plan on stopping to kiss or make out as I've installed cameras in the car and I will know about it.

Ok Cinderella girl, have fun at the Prom, and don't let anyone, I repeat anyone kiss you.  And don't forget the car turns into a pumpkin at midnight and don't forget I have the other set of keys and don't forget, don't let your date drive the car.

As your Cinderella ponders all of this, she might wonder if it's worth it!  And might be hurt you don't trust her.....but I'm sure we've all had these type of instructions given to us and we might have even issued similar ultimatums ourselves at one point or another.  The joys of being a parent.

Old Menard County
(taken from the History of Menard and Mason Counties 1879)

Agriculture:
The soil is adapted to agricultural pursuits in a very remarkable degree. Not only in the bottom and table lands is the black loam deep and rich, but the uplands are also equally productive. Of the 310.4 square miles, or 198,675 acres of land in the county, there were in 1878, 168,282 in cultivation, against 134,173 acres in 1870. Of this, 63,286 acres were in corn, yielding 1,875,096 bushels. The same year, 1878, there were 8,987 acres in winter wheat, yielding 125,149 bushels; 891 acres in spring wheat, yielding 6,244 bushels; 8,352 acres in oats, producing 263,666 bushels; 10, 168 acres in timothy meadow, yielding 14,542 tons of hay; 303 acres in Irish potatoes, producing 15, 620 bushels; 1,469 acres in apple orchards, yielding 56,157 bushels of apples. The acreage of grain raised in 1878 was not as large as usual, from the fact of the extreme wet weather in the early part of the season, preventing the cultivation of large amount of the flat and low bottom-land. Beside this, winter wheat has been such an uncertain crop for some years past, that little attention has been paid to it: but the yield per acre of what was sowed last year being so fine that the acreage the present year is almost double that of 1878, and the quality and yield are both much better. There are a variety of crops raised beside those named above, but those given are the most important.

The county is well supplied with the various kinds of stock, and for many years great pains have been taken to improve the quality by securing the best imported breeds. For a number of years, there was great profit in feeding cattle and hogs for the Eastern markets, and many of the cattle raised on the rich pasture-lands of "Little Menard" were shipped to European ports, and proved to be as rich and savory as the boasted beeves of the Old World. For a few years past, however, farmers have found but little profit in this department of labor, and raising cattle and hogs as a business is falling into desuetude. The price of pasture and the cost of raising corn, together with the Western competition in prices, render the cattle business very uncertain and dangerous, while the prevalence of hog-cholera for several years past, renders the business of hog-raising so dangerous that but little attention is given to it. In 1878, there were 5,961 head of cattle fatted in the county, the aggregate gross weight of which was 2,104,900 pounds. There were 1,089 milk-cows kept, from which was sold, beside the home consumption, 43,890 pounds of butter, 225 pounds of cheese, 15 gallons of cream and 2,300 gallons of milk. The same year, 18,902 hogs were fatted, the gross weight of which was 4,664,546 pounds; besides these, there were 22,495 hogs, big and little, died with cholera during the same year, the aggregate weight of which was 1,514,421 pounds. The sheep of the county yielded, in 1878, 19,689 pounds of wool. Of the horses, mules and asses in the county, we have no statistics later than 1870 that are reliable. There were then 6,840 horses and 921 mules and asses. Since that time, or six years, the attention of farmers has been turned largely to the improvement of the breed of horses. For this purpose, large sums have been expended in importing, from various portions of Europe, studs of the finest horses. The most popular breeds are, perhaps, the Norman and Clydesdale. In this short time, a marked improvement is observable in the stock all over the county.

The total valuation of farmlands, at the last census, was $7,944,895. The total farm products were estimated to be worth $2,237,505, and the livestock was valued at $1,617,389.

Quote For The Day

A woman is like a tea bag.  You never know

how strong she is until she gets in hot water.

--Eleanor Roosevelt

Do you remember the Maypole dance you did as a kid.  Do kids now days do those kind of things??

I remember on May Day, on May 1, a celebration used to be important to us kids in town.  Me and some of my friends used to make cones from old wallpaper and put flowers we plucked from our yard as well as our neighbor's yard (she didn't care).  We then took these cones of flowers around to the old people in town.  We would put the cone of flowers on the porch and ring the doorbell and run like the wind.  I think we were supposed to use baskets but we didn't have any so that was the reason we rolled the old wallpaper into cones....this idea was from my mama who loved to help us do these kind of things.

I also remember using some kind of paper streamers that we attached to an old clothes line pole and we would each take a streamer and go around and around the pole singing at the top of our lungs.  This idea was another one from my mama who said this was a May Pole.

I think the old customs have been lost.  I remember telling my kids about these things we did but I can't remember if they did them.  I'm sure they didn't carry on with these.....they live in the city where things like this aren't done for fear of something bad happening. 

I would love to see someone leave a cone of flowers on my porch.  It would mean the old custom had not been lost!

Thanks for coming to my blog.

(all rights reserved)

Hope to see you again.