Radio School in Minnesota in 1944 - Telegraph operator

Radio School in Minnesota in 1944 - Telegraph Operator.

 I went to Minneapolis in 1944 to go to radio school and learn some things so I could get a better job. My Mother went with me and my friend Myrtle Olson came along and she was going to find a job and I also needed a job so that I could support myself and go to school. 

   We went up on the train and then I think my Mother rented a hotel room and the next day we went down to the radio school and paid them the rest of the money and then we went out for a job search.  There were jobs all over town and my friend got a job at a defense plant running a machine and I go a job at at cafe  located at 6th and Hennepin right down town.  We then found a place to room at on the third floor of an apartment house.

     The room had a bed and a closet and a hot plate.  The bathroom was down on the second floor and the washing machine and iron was down in the basement.   Myrtle's job was at night and we did not see each other very often.  I went to radio school from 9 until 3 and then I came home and changed clothing and went to work at the cafe from 5 to 10 in the evening. I caught the street car home and the apartment was just a block from the street car line.

     The cafe work was quite interesting as it was located in the entertainment dist of Minneapolis.  There were movie theatres close and the men who ran the projectors would come in to get a bite to eat.  Upstairs was a bowling alley and the guys would come down a get a cup of coffee and sometimes pie a la mode.  I also had a couple of women who worked for the CNW railroad that would come in on their break and get a bite.  There were also people that worked on the newspapers that would come in. 

     I had a bartender that came in every night and ordered a chicken sandwich.  We always saved a piece of chicken for his sandwich.  The cafe was also a tobacco store and outside the cafe was a newstand.   I can still hear the man who owned the newstand saying  Extra Extra Read All About It.  He was of the Jewish faith and he ordered a milk shake with a raw egg in it.

     The cafe was close to the street car line that went to St Paul and so would get some people waiting for the street car and they would come in for coffee or cherry cokes and we also had ice cream and I made sundaes and milk shakes.  I also washed the dishes as they came off the counter.

     I went to a movie one time with friends and Duke Ellington had a show there.  Think it cost about 50 cents.  Minimum wage at that time was 40 cents an hour.  I could live on what I made at that part time job and was able to save about 40 collars in 9 weeks. We would some times get on the street car and go over to St Paul as it cost about 15 cents.  We would get a transfer ticket and ride all over on Sunday afternoon and see the sights.

     I left Minneapolis the first part of October as had secured a job on The Santa Fe Railroad. I had learned to type much better at the school and also learned how to use a teletype machine which came in hand on the railroad.

They also taught us radio theory and I got my amature radio licence.  We had to go to St Paul to get that at a court house.  Never did use it but that was one of the requirements and we had to pass that test.

     Was an interesting time in my life and helped prepare me for the business world.

My thoughts on the 1918 Flu.....

My parents were alive when the 1918 flu hit near the small village of  Ellendale Minnesota.  I do not believe that they had the flu but a lot of the neighboring  farmers did have it..  I was born in 1927 and people were still talking about it when I was young.

     Dr  Erytl was the Doctor living in Ellendale at that time and he was a young man.  Bear in mind that in 1928 people were not using cars and it was the dead of winter.

 Dr  Erytl would start out in the morning with his horse and sled and he would stop at every farm that had a case of the flu.  There was very little medicine at that time and some of the farmers developed pneumonia.  The Doctor would stop by every day and cup the farmers on their backs to loosen the congestion.  When he had finished his rounds he would tie the reins up and go to sleep and the horse would carry him home.  Then he was up the next morning doing the same thing.  He did not lose one patient. 

     The same thing happened in 1936 to my sister Daisy.  She developed pneumonia at the age of 17.  I was 8 years old and my little brother Richard was about 6 months old.  My folks sent me over to my sister Dorothy who was married and richard and I stayed with Dorothy until Daisy was well.  She ran a 105 fever for a long time and she said Dr Erytle cupped her on the back to loosen the congestion.

     When I went to work for the railroad in 1944 the telegraph operator who were working in 1918 said that they sometimes had to work around the clock as so many people were sick.  The ones that were well stayed in the depot and the dispatcher would tell them to take off and go to sleep and he would call them when he needed them. 

We are facing a worse case now and we need to isolate ourselves as best we can. 

The Winter of 1936

The Winter of 36

I was 8 years old in 1936 and I want to tell you some things about that winter.  My oldest  sister Dorothy was married on Dec 28 1935 and that memory stays in my mind after all these years.

We had lost our farm located 3 miles west of Geneva Minnesota  in 1935 and so we were forced to move and rent a farm about 10 miles from where I was born.

That winter we had an unusual amount of snow in Minnesota and my brother Don and I had a ½ mile hike to school.  Don had to break the snow drifts ahead of us as he was 12 and I was 8 years old.  We also skied to schools some days.  We had skies that fastened over our overshoes and we just kind of walked them to school over the snow.

That winter my sister Daisy contacted pneumonia and ran a fever of 105 degrees for quite some time.  The Doctor came out from Ellendale and cupped her on the back every day and he came with a horse and sleigh as they could not get the roads plowed out until we had another storm.

My little brother Dick who was 6 months old and I went over to my sister Dorothys and spent 6 weeks while my Mother was taking care of Daisy.  I missed that much school but did not seem to hurt me any.

Dick was a good baby and I remember teasing him a little and he would get so mad.  He knew I was fooling with him and he was so small.

My brother Lawrence and a neighbor boy and girl went to High School in Geneva and they had to go in a sled driven by one horse.  They parked the sled and hose in a livery stable in Geneva and then had to come on back home.  It was about 3 miles to Geneva and they had one teacher that taught all the subjects.  The students had to go to High School the last year in Ellendale to graduate by state law.

We moved to 2 miles south of Hope Minn in March and the neighbors came with their sleds and horses and moved us.  They had to dig out the last quarter mile so that the Model A Ford could get through.  I remember my Mother holding the mantle to the Alladin lamp in her hand all the way to Hope.

Don and I then started school in our local district and when the spring thaw came about it was another mess.  My Dad met us down by the creek one day and the water was running over the road.  He told Don and I to walk back to the railroad tracks and come through the field.  We had to walk the barb wire fence for about 10 feet as there was quite a bit of water in that field.

We started in the new school and did all right.  I think Lawrence walked across another field and caught the bus into Ellendale.  He was in 10th grade at that time.  The next year my dad bought a Model A Ford and the boys drove to Ellendale and took about 5 other young people going to High School.

That was a very different time and people cooperated more and helped out more with their neighbors than they do now..

Getting to High School in the 20's and 30's (yes, that is 1920s and 1930s folks)

Getting to High School in the 20’s and 30’s

My sister Dorothy  was born in 1930 and she started grade school 3 miles west of Geneva when she was 5 years old.  She would have started High School in 1926.  We lived 5 miles from the nearest High School which was located in Ellendale Minnesota.  So my folks paid Arthur Muri  five dollars a month so that Dorothy  could stay in town and go to High School.  She did help around the house  and would come home on week ends.  I supposed my Dad drove the Model T Ford in and got her on Saturday and they probably did the shopping then.  I do not know if they took the horse and buggy to get her when the weather was bad or if they used the sled and horses in the winter time.  But they probably did as they were still using the sled and horses to go to town when I was a small child in the thirties.  

Dorothy did not get to finish High School as my Mother had TB and she had to leave in her Junior year and come home and take care of the rest of us children  as my Mother went to the TB sanitorium when I was two and a half years old.

My sister Daisy was born in 1918 and she would go to the same grade school and then she would have started High School in  1932.  She did not go to Ellendale for the first 3 years as they had a High School in Geneva which was 3 miles from our farm.  She did not stay at home either and she lived with a Jensen family on a farm about one half mile from the Geneva school.  I do not know what my Father paid them for keeping Daisy but suppose about five dollars a month.  My Mother was home from the TB sanitorium at that time.  

Daisy had to finish her last year at the High School in Ellendale and I do not remember ifshe stayed with some one in Ellendale or if the school bus came close enough to the house that she could catch it.  Geneva just had one teacher and he taught  Latin and English and all the math courses for students for 3 years and then they had to go to Ellendale to get their diploma.  I think that the state had test to see if you had passed your subjects.  Daisy graduated from Ellendale in 1936.

Lawrence  started High School in 1934 and he also went to Geneva for 2 years.  I think he must have either driven the Model T to school or rode horseback when the weather was good.  I do remember in 1936 that he and the oldest Paulson boy and May Vogt took the horse and sled to school in 1936 when we had such a terrible winter and lots of snow.  We moved in 1936 to a farm 2 miles south of Hope and Lawrence and Daisy caught the school bus  across the filed about one half mile south of us. Daisy went an extra year to Ellendale and took the business courses offered at the High School in Ellendale   By that time we had a Model A Ford and I think in 1937 that they drove the car to Ellendale to School.

Don started High School along with Lawrence in 1937.  They drove the car to Ellendale and they took Helen and Violet Olson and Barbara Webb and Robert Bedney to school with them and I think they paid my Dad some money for doing that.  Lawrence graduated in 1938 and he was 4th highest in his class.  Daisy was 3rd highest in her class.

We moved in 1940 to a farm 5 miles south of Owatonna and Don stayed on the farm we left and worked there for 2 years so that he could finish school.  By that time the school bus came about one half mile from the farm and he caught the bus to school .  Donald also went to the school west of Geneva and then we had moved to the school south of Hope.  Don was in 8th grade and I was in 3rd grade when this happened . Don was born in 1923.

I started grade school in the school west of Geneva and we had to walk about a half mile to school.  My Dad lost the farm in 1936 and we moved to the rent farm 2 miles south of Hope.  So I got to start a new school. I started 4th grade the next year and the the teacher skipped me a grade as I was on the same reading level as the fifth graders.  In 8th grade we moved again to a farm 5 miles south of Owatonna and by that time in 1940  we had a New Plymouth car.  The school was located 2 and ½ miles from our house and so  the neighbors took turns taking the kids to school.   There were 7 kids in the car besides the driver. And I was the oldest one.  I probably held one of the younger ones on my lap.  I just went to that school for 3 months and then I was ready for High School.  My folks decided to send me to Ellendale for one year so I stayed with Iver and Dorothy and Warren and went home about once a month.   I caught the school bus right outside  from the house  and went into Ellendale to school.  The next year I went to Owatonna and Lawrence drove 3 of us to Owatonna  every 3 days.  Sometimes Elaine drove the car and we would disconnect the odometer and put some gas in and drive around during the noon hour.

The next 2 years I stayed with the Supt of our High School and did house work for my room and board.  Got to come home every two weeks.  I brought eggs in to sell to Mrs Burt and that was my spending money.  Think I took 3 dozen eggs back every two weeks.  Probably got fifty cents for the eggs.  My Mother had been a school teacher and my folks insisted we all get to High School and at that time we were rent farmers.  Many of the kids whose folks owned farms did not get to High School but my parents valued an education.

My brother Dick started school south of Owatonna and then he went to a school over by Meridan and then he went to Hope school and ended up in Willow river Minnesota where he was a star basketball player.  That is the way we got to school back in the dark ages.

Tall Grass Prarie, near Bartlesville Oklahoma. Telegraph Operator promotion.

Recently I made a trip to the tall grass prairie which starts about 40 miles from Ponca City Okla. A friend and I ate at the senior center in Kaw City Okla and then we drove east to Shidler Okla and north to just south of Foraker Okla.  

We went in the back way as usually you go through Pawhuska Okla to get to the reserve.  This reserve was started in about 1989 when the Barnard Ranch was sold for the reserve.  It was made so that the native grasses of the southern part of the flint Hills would be preserved.  Buffalo were also brought in to the reserve about this time.

     This year the rain has been plentiful and the grass is green all over Osage County.  The reserve starts about 7 miles east of Highway 18 just south of Foraker..In other words you go 7 miles before the reserve starts. There were numerous cattle in the pastures and also a lot of horses.  I think the ranchers are taking care of those horses for the government.  We saw a herd of buffalo going into the headquarters but they were not close to the road.

    We went to the headquarters and two docents were there and they did not have any other people looking that day.  We started talking and the man was related to the people that sold the ranch to the tall grass preserve in 1989. He said that they also had all or part of the Kings Ranch close to Corpus Christi Texas .  Then I started to tell him about how the cattle used to be shipped from many places in Texas to Osage county to be fattened for market.

     The first job I worked after being promoted to telegraph operator was the third trick operators job at Ralston Okla.  The trains came into Ralston from Texas via South Shawnee Okla which was a watering stop for the cattle as they had to be unloaded and watered every 36 hours.  The docent said the ranch in Osage county had a siding where they unloaded the cattle. The railroad had a branch line coming off the Santa Fe old second dist which connected with the main line that went into Tulsa.  This branch also went through Pawhuska and Bowring.  The railroad kept the stock trains off the main line which went from Arkansas City to Ft worth.  They cut off on the second dist from Pauls Valley Okla and then hit the main line again at Newkirk Okla.

   A little more about the stock rush.  In 1946 I was second trick operator at south Shawnee Okla during the stock rush and were we ever busy.  The Fort Worth relay office would send me consists of the trains and where the cattle were going and if they needed to be watered.  The section foreman would be called out and they would unload the cattle to be watered and then load them up again in the same stock car.  After the cattle were taken care of we would call the train crews get the orders ready and send them on the way through Cushing and up the second dist to Ralston or Arkansas City.  We had cattle on the  trains going into the flint hills in Kansas and some of the towns were Burden, Cassoday, Matfield Green, Cottonwood Falls and other stops in Kansas.

    Everything had to be organized so that there would be a crew ready to take these cattle to their destination, so it had to be coordinated by telegraph or message phone.

     Enough about that.  We toured the Ranch headquarters which had been nicely restored and then came on back and visited some more with the docents.

     We then left to go back home and the buffalo were close to the road and there were several calves.  they were close to a pond and some were in the pond.  I have lived in this part of the country for almost 70 years and it is more beautiful this August 2014 than at any time that I can remember.

     Osage County is at the southern end of the flint Hills and I understand that there is no other place like it on earth.  The Flint Hills cover a large amount of ground in south central Kansas and I would encourage you to take a good look at them if you are ever in this part of the United States.

Hot Flashes, Menopause and Yoga

Are you having hot flashes? Heart palpitations? Maybe yoga can help. I know I'm going to start doing this sequence as recommended by De-Stress Yoga with Mimi, and from "The Women's Book of Yoga & Health" by Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden, to help me with my issues. Here are the sequences.

1. Bound Angle Pose (Seated Butterfly). May be upon a block or folded blanket. This pose increases circulation to your abdomen and pelvis, toning and improving function in your reproductive organs. Stay in the pose about a minute.
2. Wide-Angle Seated Pose I (Seated Letter "V" Legs). Legs wide apart, flex feet, may be upon a block or folded blanket. This pose helps increase circulation to your pelvis, stimulate and improve circulation to your ovaries, and lift and tone your uterus. Stay in the pose about a minute.
3. Head on Knee Pose. Seated, bring right leg to the inside of the left leg, hinge forward, optional place chair at the end of the right leg, hinge forward, placing forearms on the seat of a chair. Stay in the pose 1-2 minutes, switch sides. This pose helps revitalize your adrenal glands, which can help mitigate hot flashes.
4. Wide-Angle Standing Forward Bend. Standing, bring feet wide, hinge forward, with a blanket folded place your head upon the blanket as you hang upside down. Stay in the pose one minute. Great inversion! This pose helps calm your mind and relieve the stress that can cause hot flashes.
5. Downward Facing Dog. With a folded blanket or block to rest your head upon. Try this pose to relieve anxiety, tone and relax your nervous system, and to relieve hot flashes.
6. Headstand. Only do this one, if it is already a part of your practice and you can so the headstand safely. This pose helps stimulate blood flow to your brain. Many women find standing on their heads helps relieve hot flashes. Do this one caution, especially if you already have neck or back problems.
7. Shoulderstand. Only do this one if it is already a part of your practice.Caution, if you suffer neck or back problems, skip this one. This pose is calming and soothing for your nervous system and excellent for relieving hot flashes.
8. Half-Plough pose. Again, with caution, and no, if you have neck/back issues. This pose helops calm anxiety and nervousness and relieve hot flashes.
9. Bridge Pose with a bolster/folded blanket under the back and hips, and a bolster/folded blanket underneath the feet. This pose is great if you're trying to cool down your hot flashes and re-balance your thyroid and parathyroid glands.
10. Reclined Butterfly (Reclined Bound Angle Pose). Bolsters underneath the low back, running up the spine and past the head. Optionally binding the legs with a yoga strap. This pose is comforting, cooling, and supporting when you have hot flashes.
    
11. Legs Up the Wall Pose. If you experience a jittery feeling with your hot flashes, this pose may be all you need to feel more balanced and in control. Remain in this position, breathing normally for 3 to 5 minutes.
12. Corpse Pose. Final Relaxation. Close your eyes and let everything relax. Visualize heat rising up and out of you with every breath you take. An eyebag draped over your eyes will help quiet external distractions. Remain in this pose for 10 minutes, breathing normally.

1. Bound Angle pose (Butter fly) - Rachel my second oldest.

2. Wide Angle Seated Pose I - Grace my youngest.

3. Seated Forward Bend with a chair.

4. Wide-Angle Standing Forward Bend.
With a block or pillow/blanket to actively rest your head

5. Downward Facing Dog.

7. Shoulderstand in its
traditional format. Can be done
with a chair

8. Half Plough Pose. Can be done
with chairs/bolsters.

9. Bridge Pose. With Bolsters
underneath the hips/legs and feet

10. Reclined Butterfly Pose

11. Legs Up the Wall Pose

12. Corpse Pose.

Yoga for MS, Tuesdays at 10 a.m. at Wesley UMC/Nederland Texas

Adaptive Chair Yoga for MS at Wesley United Methodist Church, 3515 Helena Avenue, Nederland, Texas 77627. Sponsored by the National MS Society, free for attendees and their support people. 10 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.