Blog
Two Characters
My Dad and my Uncle were always my hero’s when I was growing up. My Dad was the “The Great White Hunter” and my Uncle Glen who was my mom’s brother was” the Cowboy” hero. These two were wilder than “March hares” when they were growing up on the prairie of Northern Montana in the 1920’s. They hunted, coyotes, skunks, and weasels and trapped all three in the winter. They rode horses and most of all pulled pranks on any and all unsuspecting people. Friends, family, schoolmates, neighbors, and...
read moreFinding Friends
You never know when or where you will meet good friends. I went to Overland Park, Kansas years ago for the Railroad to be re-certified on my engineers license. I didn’t know anyone in my class because my two engineer friends from home were in a different class. The first day of class the instructor spent some time introducing himself and then went around the room to ask everyone to tell the class their name and a little about themselves. When he came to my classmate who soon became my friend the instructor asked him the general...
read moreOld Hogheads {Engineers to you Flatlanders}
I was always fascinated by the old Engineers when I was a young brakeman on the Railroad. There were some real characters. One in particular was very hard of hearing I’m the same way now. As I think about it I don’t know if he was that hard of hearing because if you dropped a 50 cent piece on the floor he sure as hell could hear that. Maybe just tired of talking to young brakemen, a real possibility. He was also very negative in all that you could bring up to talk about. One day we got on the train in Glasgow heading West. The...
read moreA Heady Railroad Tale
When I was a young brakeman on the Railroad I was with my good buddy Kenny C. the engineer. We were out of Glasgow, Montana heading West toward home when the Train Dispatcher called and said to stop the train and inspect the 4 Locomotives that we had on the train that day. He was very specific to look very carefully underneath the engines/locomotives. He did not explain why we were stopped out in the middle of nowhere looking for what we didn’t know. We did as we were told and called him back on the radio and told him we had inspected...
read moreSeptember Morn
When I was little running naked in the house after a bath in an old tin tub or the old kitchen sink my Dad would yell” September Morn.” When I was older and my nephews and nieces would come to the house and do the same thing as 2 and 3 year old do my Dad would yell the same thing, “September Morn.” Typical of my Dad he never did explain this and when you would ask him about it he would ignore that and go onto some other subject. This continued on to when I was a parent and my children would run around the house after...
read moreMe and My Sis
My sister Arla and I used to fight like cats and dogs. When I think about it she is a cat person and I am a dog person, maybe it stems from that? Although my sister Astrid is a cat person and her and I have only had one disagreement in our lives. Now I should clarify that the disagreements my sis Arla and I had were a long time ago when I was young. I remember one time in particular when she was assigned the disagreeable job of babysitting me out on the farm when the folks went to town. As I recall we fought most of the day account I...
read moreBlue linoleum
This is a picture of some old blue linoleum found under a rug upstairs in a bedroom we are remodeling. When I uncovered it I remembered a story my mother and oldest sister had told me. In the 1930’s when my mother was married to her first husband, Hollis my dad’s cousin, times were very hard. There was no work for a farm hand and if there was work the farmer had very little to pay. The farmer usually would try to provide a place to live and something to eat for labor. If money was paid it was very minimal. Hollis, my mom, and my...
read moreBuried Treasure
Growing up 17 miles north of Gildford with 2 people who were 42 when I was born and a sister who was 10 years older I learned to entertain myself. I learned especially to use my imagination and played a lot of games by myself. I knew how to entertain myself for sure. One of the things I enjoyed was playing cowboy. Of course I had real horses around, and I had the cowboy hat, and the toy guns and holsters. When I could talk Dad into playing cowboy that was good, but most of the time it was me, myself, and I. One day I decided I would hide my...
read moreLaughter
Laughter they say is the best medicine. We need to not take ourselves so seriously and learn to laugh at our shortcomings and mistakes. I can do this sometimes, but I still work at doing this especially taking myself too seriously. My memory savors the laughter of others. My Uncle Don had the most wonderful laugh, it shook his whole being when he told a good story. He certainly had a wonderful laugh to go with the storytelling. I loved to hear him laugh. My friend on the Railroad that is gone now Bill A. had a fabulous laugh too. I can...
read moreOld Cars/Chevys
I love old cars especially old Chevys. Guess I was raised with General Motors products such as Oldsmobiles and Chevrolets. I learned to drive on an old Fordson tractor and the second one I conquered was a Ton and half Chevy truck at the tender age of 6 or 7. The tractor caused so much trouble they took the coil wire off and disconnected the battery as I could start it by myself and run it around the yard. This love for old cars has followed me to adulthood, as they say the difference between men and boys are the size of their toys. I really...
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My newest book, The Dread, has just been published! Click the book cover below to read more.
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