My Grandma’s Doctoring

It was a happy day, my Mama and Papa had come to visit. The grandchildren were excited; they knew their Grandma brought them something. Grandpa looked better then last time; his heart had been acting up.                                       

We have a project for Grandma, my son Mike had planter’s wart on his foot. She got out the biggest roosting pan out of the pantry, so he could soak his foot in warm water till it was soft, then she asked for my biggest darning needle. Her operation began; she proceeded to dig the wart out of his foot.                             

We spent a couple of hours in the flower beds and garden. I have always experience aspiring feelings of wonderment when I look at the garden flowers that come out every spring.

It makes you glad you’re alive and can enjoy it.

By G. Brethorst  

Papa’s Print Shop

Proof reading is evidence of the truth or correctness of something to establish a fact. When I was thirteen years of age I became aware of the word proof reading. I had to read original text and my Papa would make the corrections. When we printed grain ingredients it was something else, they all had to be listed on the tags of the grain sacks

The hardest ones to proof read were cook books. They had to be very accurate; we didn't want to be responsible for a failure of a Baked Alaska! Papa published at least a dozen different cook books.

Most were for the different Catholic churches, the recipes were quite simple. They called for a ten cent box of Jell-O or twenty-five cents worth of hamburger. Things were measured by money or by your hand, such as a closed hand for salt, things were so much simpler than.

We even had an order for merchandise catalogs from Nebraska; they sent us towels and mittens.

I still have a big monkey made so its arms and legs are moveable, a beehive big enough to put honey in with a bumblebee on top, really cute. They were talented and did a lot of craft work.

It was quite a production when we had to assemble the pages from all around the print shop. I would hold a shoebox cover in my hand, put in one sheet at a time from the piles and than once assembled they were sent to the book binders and shipped to our customers.

By G. Brethorst

Spaghetti Benefit

Pete’s Place is buzzing this morning, spring is here and our thoughts turn to soft ball. The big boys need new uniforms. We though we would sponsor a Spaghetti Dinner, four dollars and fifty cents for all you can eat. Salads, bread sticks, coffee, milk, and ice cream for dessert. Hopefully, it won’t rain; we have the patio set up as well as the bar and dining area.                                          

I can’t decide if we should make meat sauce or meat balls. Both of them sound good, we won't start serving until three o'clock. Mabel says, she will bake the meat balls. Carl can cook the spaghetti and I'll make the sauce with meat in it. The player’s wives have their baked goods for sale, I see they have my favorite, caramel filled brownies!

Everything is going along nicely, we started serving at three o clock, all of a sudden I can’t see! I panicked as I only have one good eye! We figured it out, one of my lenses popped out of the frame of my glasses.

STOP! DONT MOVE! Look down on the floor to see if my glass lens is there.                                                                     

We couldn't find it, guess where it was! The only other place it could be, was in the pot of spaghetti meat sauce!                                                                           

We all had a good laugh!

By G. Brethorst  

Home Away From Home

Moving slowly this morning, we have at least one inch of rain filled snow. Very pretty but, it's almost the end of April, the average temperature is supposed to be in the sixties!                                                                                

Easter is Sunday; the way things are going we’ll be wearing ear muffs and overshoes.                                              

I think I'll make a big pot of soup; I just made the coffee at Jake’s Place.

I told Mabel about the soup and she said, “Good for you, we can put it in one quart containers for the cliental.” 

Ed came in to get some water, his son pulled one of his teeth, when he gets in a card game he'll forget his troubles.

The bakery just delivered our pastries and bagels. Our older customers are having a hard time eating them. I tell them to dunk the bagels in their chocolate or coffee.                   

We just had some bad news; one of our regulars had an accident. He was going into his house when the wind got a hold of the storm door and slammed it into him; he lost his balance and fell down the outside stairs of his house. He won’t be around for awhile.                                                 

Some of our regulars are feeling sorry for themselves. With Easter coming, they say they won't get ham. Mabel and I talked it over; I suppose we can throw a ham in the oven. It won't be anything fancy, scalloped potatoes, coleslaw, corn, and biscuits.  

As for dessert, they can have dyed eggs and chocolate bunnies, here, at their home away from home!

By G. Brethorst