It's not too scary to get close to a 'stuffed' grizzly. Not just sure where this one was located, but I think it was somewhere near Park Rapids...
My dad found a dead mama raccoon on the road, and a baby raccoon nearby, so he brought the baby back to the cabin, and built this little shed for it from what looks like the old martin house, some boards and a wire cover to keep the little guy in the cage. Doug (with ever-present life jacket!) and Diane are checking out the new baby's abode. My dad named this little guy 'Rascal,' and he became my dad's pet.
Rascal gets his bottle. I don't remember what kind of 'formula' she made for him, but he thrived on it...
Diane and Doug, with Grandpa standing watch, liked seeing what Rascal would do next. In this photo, they are still in their p.j.'s... I think that cool car was ours. I don't remember it at all, but in later photos, a car very much like it is standing in our driveway.... Nice!
It tickles to have Rascal crawl on your shoulders! I can see me off to the right sitting in a lawn chair, and my mom sitting in one on the cabin 'stoop.' In Minnesota, it was acceptable to stay in your bathrobe or p.j.'s, even when you went outside. We had pretty much total privacy there...very few cars came into our 'compound,' and we usually expected those visitors. This was such a peaceful and beautiful place. I am so glad my kids had the chance to experience spending time there...
Rascal liked to climb! He wants my dad to let him into the cabin, which did happen now and then. But, you had to watch him...he was not 'house-trained!' Eventually, Rascal got pretty big, and was too much for my parents to deal with, and his little cage got too small for a grown animal. So, my dad reluctantly took him into Park Rapids and to the little animal zoo they had there. Rascal would not have done well on his own in the woods...he had none of the necessary skills to feed himself or defend himself. Although having him as a pet was fun and entertaining, we all agreed that it is probably best to make every effort to let an orphaned wild animal get re-introduced back into its normal habitat once it is able to take care of itself. Now, there are many wildlife rehabilitation places that do just that...and that is really the best solution.
We had all kinds of chipmunks around the cabins. Here Doug and Diane are feeding one of them. My dad and uncle kept plenty of peanuts on hand for just such an opportunity. One of the chipmunks that came around when my cousin Linda and I were in our teens we called 'Chipper.' (I guess nearly everyone names tame chipmunks, 'Chipper...') Well, Chipper was so tame that when my dad sat on the ground, the little guy would climb up his chest, crawl into his shirt pocket, and retrieve peanuts (and his other favorite - chocolate candy stars!) We actually had a 'chipmunk' candy jar, and sometimes Chipper would climb right into the jar, and dig around until he found those chocolate candy stars, which he would stick into his jowls until his face was huge! Then, he'd climb out and scamper off to his tunnel home to store them, soon returning to do it all over again. I guess he was gathering his winter 'stash!' One time, we noticed that Chipper had lost the end of his tail and there was a festering sore on what was left. We got out a tube of antibiotic cream and smeared that on the end, whenever he got close enough and held still enough to get that accomplished. Well, finally that sore healed up, and from then on, we could recognize him as the one we had 'cured' because he had a little stub of a tail.
One real advantage to spending vacations at the lake was that the kids learned to not be afraid of the water, and learned how to float and swim. Here Doug is practicing that skill... The depth of the water in front of the cabins was shallow out a long way from shore. It gradually got deeper until way out there was a drop-off where it went down to about 20 feet deep, But, before that drop-off, my cousin and I could walk out until the water was up to our armpits... it was a great place for kids to play without too much worry about their safety, as long as an adult was nearby in case of some kind of problem. I learned to swim in Minnesota, and to this day I don't like swimming in pools with all of their chlorine and 'who knows what else!'
The red cabin, with Levenick's cabin behind the trees, and my folks' cabin off to the right. Notice all the rocks along the shore. My cousin, my uncle, my dad and I gathered a lot of those rocks, as well as the ones forming the steps and the terrace retaining wall in front of the Levenick cabin. It was a huge job, but Uncle Herbert and my dad did a lot of huge jobs up at the lake. One year, the road into the cabins was in bad shape where it crossed a swamp just as you turned off the county road to come back to the lake. So, Uncle Herbert and my dad felled a lot of small trees, stripped them, and cut them to the width of the road, and then laid them side-by-side to make a 'corduroy' road. That road supported the sandy soil that made up the road top, and it was a really good road then. My parents' generation came up ready to do whatever labor was needed to build things up. This family summer compound is an example of that work ethic. I remember that my mother told me that my dad built the coal furnace for the two-flat building we lived in when we were in Chicago. That information sort of astounded me... I had never thought of someone building a 'furnace!' Guess I just thought you had to buy those kinds of things. But, if you were cut from 'pioneer' stock, nothing was beyond possibility. It was that kind of attitude that made this country what it is today...too bad we don't have more of that 'gumption' today!
Meanwhile, back in chilly Cedar Falls, Diane and Doug had fun playing some inventive game with our car which was parked in the old driveway behind the house. I don't know whose car is parked behind our car, but you can see Sartori Hospital behind that car.
Here's a shot from when Diane was a baby. That car would probably now be called a 'classic car,' too... I made the dress I am wearing, as I made most of my clothes back 'in the day...'
This was the original house, and that is our green car parked in front. Doug is standing on the porch...and Sartori Hospital is off to the right. The house was fine for two young kids and their parents, but when our family increased to include Dave, the house was just too small.
Here are Diane and Doug playing in the front yard on West 7th St. Doesn't the grass look good? Iowa has so much beautiful green during the growing season...
I don't even remember the fence in the back yard, but eventually that came down. We had a swing set for the kids, and here are Doug (with Tootsie Pop in his mouth!) and Diane playing on the glider swing.
Diane did a lot of 'tumbling' when she was little. At that time, our driveway was gravel and came in from Catherine Street along the side of the house. There was that little bit of 'turn-around' at the end of the drive, and some 'casual' retaining wall at the back of the property. This slide (like so many of them...) is split at the bottom. I will have to do some repair work in my Adobe Photoshop program!
More tumbling! Sometimes kids are seen mostly from upside-down! (There is that blue and white car again...I guess it was ours'...but I sure don't remember it!)
(Whew! Photos sure get 'pink' with age...good thing these are digitized now...they won't fade any more...) In this shot, you can see the little porch that was on the side of the house before we added on. That is Doug just about to go in the door, and maybe Diane is in front of him. I can see a leg with a high heel on the foot...that must be my leg!
OMG! Here I am back in my guitar-playing phase... This was in our living room on West 7th Street. Notice the black ice cream chair to the left. Well, my brother-in-law Jack got those somewhere and I ended up with two of them. They are actually oak chairs, and I still have them. They have been stripped of the black paint, have new pretty wooden seats, and are in our present kitchen at our new table.
Christmas at the Hansen house. Doug and Diane in front of the Christmas tree...
More to come...stay tuned...
No comments:
Post a Comment