St Croix Falls High School Class of '65 50th Reunion

The average change from 1965 to 2015 was:  gray hair, 25lbs added, and difficulty in hearing each other.  Our minds were still shack as a tarp.  

The master of ceremonies and one of the planners, Sandra, was a blur of high activity as she passed the responsibility of the 2020 reunion on to the Cushing Kids. 

Last night, Margo and I went to my 50th high school reunion.   Some of the folks there had gone to school together for 12 years and others less.  I started at Wolf Creek and in 6th grade went to the new Cushing School and then 9-12 at St Croix Falls and as Melvin, my only Wolf Creek Classmate died many years ago, the Cushing friends were the longest at 7 years.  

I took many photos and include some here.  I have been to most of the reunions and have gotten acquainted with the spouses of most of my classmates.  So rather than ask the classmate how they are doing, I ask the spouse as I get a more honest answer!  If you don't recognize someone, assume it is a spouse, not that at age 68 we have changed. 

Back Row (maiden names): Mike Neumann, Sharon Patrin, Sandra Lucken, Russ Hanson, Marcella Lehman, Carol Harder, Margaret Thomas, Don Hoag, Linda Pratt Front Row: Thomas Montgomery, Donna Ogilvie, Sandra Hansen, Patricia Carlson, Carol Bishop, Shirley Larsen

Some overlap with the above photo
Back:  Carol Harder, Margaret Thomas, Linda Pratt, George Gullickson, Jennifer Mueller, Dennis Peterson, Gail Felland, Brennel Byrd, Dan Woolson, Stan Folz and Steven Hobbs
Front (seated)  Pat Carlson, Carol Bishop, Shirley Larsen, Yvonne Olsen, Lois Museus, Patsy Swanson

Signed up but not able to make the reunion
Judy Gray, Karen Wilson, Doug Anderson, Diana Brown, Gordy Petersen (back surgery coming this week), Laurie Hansen (in the VA hospital with leg infection), Gerald Pieper (at a wedding).  The reunion was put on by the St Croix school kids and Jennifer made paddles with our photos for name tags.  Pretty cool!

Cushing gang -- Shirley, Carol, Bruce, Marcella, and Pat.  I think Bruce left early and missed the group photo.  

Spouses 

Lillian and Melanie (spouses) Don, Mike, and Stan

Yvonne, Sandy, Lowell (spouse) and Carol

Pat, Lois, David (spouse) and Patsy

Jennifer, Margaret, Thomas and Daniel

Brennel (I am not sure how to spell), Pat, ?, George and wife Marsha

Steve Hobbs went to school in St Croix Falls and moved after grade 9.  I remember him as a quiet and interesting boy.  He remembers having algebra phobia.  On the right is his friend Tom

We are Climbing Russell's Stairway

The 30 year old stairway to the granary above the garage was falling apart, so spent a day replacing it with treated 2 inch lumber so it will do me out.  

The treated side supports give it the strength for an above average person like me to climb with a 100 lb sack of oats.  

The first melon of the year showed signs of being ripe, but the wet summer with no real hot spells is opposite of watermelon preferences. 

The 30th (?) annual Hanson Family 22 rifle target competition was last Saturday.  The steady hands of the ladies won again with last year's champ, Connie passing the traveling trophy to Danica.  

In the under 16 category, Claire came in first with 46 of 55 points.  She had stiff competition.  My score was 44 and that tied for 4th in the adult competition.  Same target and same distance for both classes.  

Marv scores the targets with some of the youth competition helping out.  Reed, in the orange, age 4, missed the target, but learned how to handle a gun at his first shoot.  Introducing kids to target shooting teaches them safety and if they later go on to try hunting they will be familiar with safety, aiming, shooting etc.  In our rural area, many folks hunt.  I used to do it, but hadn't for 12 years until trying it again last year --thinking that venison is inexpensive meat.  However, as a MN resident hunting in WI, the license is about $170 and processing a deer is another $70, and the medium sized deer I shot was about 25 lbs of meat.   I think in the future I will give up hunting except maybe if Cecil the famous lion shot by the MN dentist this summer on his safari has a brother.

Saturday evening is my 50th HS reunion, the St Croix Falls Class of '65.  We plan to go and try to avoid talking about health issues ourselves and listening to others talk about their problems.  Most of us have turned 68 now, and that is the time for the first collapse of old age, sort of a test to see if we will go joyfully into our 80s or drearily into our 70s.  My health is pretty good after some problems and Margo is recovering from her back surgeries, so it looks like we may have a few good years ahead.  I am curious how Gordy's back surgery turned out, if Don's shoulder surgery is scheduled, how George's bypass is coming along; and a few dozen others hip and knee replacements are doing.  I also will be on the alert for people whose memories are failing.  I don't bother about cosmetic things like weight and hair, although as I was picking some black walnuts on the ground in the orchard, I remembered that the husks were once popular as hair dye....

Farmall 350 Gets Attention

Parked back in the big shed is the Farmall 350 tractor.  It has been unused and unstarted for several years.   It was Dad's favorite tractor in his later years, with live power, power steering and live hydraulics and a Torque Amplifier and about 40 horsepower. 

It has set for many years as it is in need of rings, and possibly a whole overhaul.  It began burning a lot of oil and lost power and as Dad no longer could drive a tractor from his Parkinson's disease, it got moved to the back and ignored. 

I pulled it out yesterday and began trying to get it started.  The rubber gas line was chewed off; the points corroded, and the battery dead and not chargeable.  I picked up a new 6-volt battery at Farm and Fleet in Rice Lake, WI for $40 and installed it.  Turned over fine, but no firing even with starting fluid blown in the manifold.  

So I began the teardown with removing the two side hood panels.  Under the dash, a red squirrel had packed the area full with fiber from materials scavanged from elsewhere on the farm.  Cleaned it out and no noticeable damage -- just the mess. 

Then filed the badly corroded points and still no firing.  So put a new set of points on the list for a trip to Tractor Supply.  Next decided to find out why the choke wouldn't open or close.  Unbolted the carburetor and disconnected the gas line -- which was rubber and chewed off-- and got the carburetor off and loosened the choke plate mechanism and sprayed it all to soak with carb cleaner.  The needle valve appeared to be sticking, so soaking all of that and the float too.    #2 on the list of parts:  new gas line and more carb cleaner spray. 

My guess is with new points and a cleaned carb and new gas line, I should be able to get it started.  I plan to run it awhile to loosen everything up and then, if ambition continues, pull off the valve cage cover and inspect that to make sure, as we had seen one time many years ago, a rocker mount had come loose, causing problems.  

If I get it running, and if it runs somewhat OK, even burning oil, my next step is to mount a loader on it so I can have a functioning loader tractor here.  My WD Allis is in Pine Island, MN and is my loader tractor there --but without power steering not a great machine for a loader.   I think I can move the Paulson loader to the 350.  


Dad's big tractor, a Farmall 450 Diesel had a bad habit -- it would crack the engine head as it cooled down.  After three replacements and moving into partial retirement, Dad asked me to find him a smaller gas Farmall tractor down by Rochester, MN where we lived and small tractors were not as expensive as in NW Wisconsin.  

I found this 350 Farmall in decent shape for $900 about 20 miles SW of Rochester owned by a farmer who had much newer machinery.  Farmal 350s were made in the late 1950s for about 3 years, and although a good tractor, were a little under powered in the modern days of farming in the 1990s.  

I bought it, drove it 130 miles up to the farm where Dad did a little tinkering with it and then it became his main tractor as the 450 was left in the boneyard to ponder its head problems.  It gradually disappeared as parts were removed for other repairs on Byron's 400 and on neighbor's machines and tires, rims etc reused. 

The 350 ran the mower-conditioner, baler, corn picker, combine, and pulled 3 plows over the hard red clay hills.  Dad reconfigured the 3-bottom plow to a two bottom plow so it wouldn't strain so hard on the red clay.   

Along the way, it got rolled over in the ditch as a grandson made a turn from farm to road (he was lucky in a minor injury rather than major).  The power steering at times "lost it's prime" and became hard to steer, causing the rollover I think.  Had to keep the power steering fluid level high and things were OK. 

Eventually Dad was unable to drive tractor any more and the tractor was loaned to others to use a here and there.  For some reason or other, it began to use oil at an increasing rate rather rapidly and lost power to pull a plow or most anything other than itself.  And so it has rested in the back of the shed for many years, a squirrel home and taking up space.  

If I get it running again, and it seems to be functional, it may become a winter project to overhaul it with rings and if needed the whole works.  

Brother Marv with his HS FFA jacket and Ev get on the school bus on the farm a few years ago (1960?) 

August Memories

The doe and her two fawns frequent the orchard and share in the ripening apples

August rains of several inches kept the farm and woods ponds filled

My trail to the pond through the prickly ash and young green ash trees is still dangerous with mosquitoes lurking in the brush

The corn ears are long, the stalks tall, and likely a record yield for October. 

The squash vines are dropping showing buttercup squash here and there.  Now if we don't watch out is the time the deer move in and start eating them

Box elder seeds are soon ready to wing their way around the farm yard, seeding everything in sight.  They are not a pretty tree, nor really a nice tree for the yard, but they do make OK firewood

Soon the black walnuts will attract squirrels to pack them away for the winter.  I plan to pack some myself for winter.  They are hard nuts to crack and any meat you get is earned by hard labor.

A few early apples for sale; a few squash and a few tomatoes parked at the end of the driveway -- self service.

Margo is slowly recovering from her back surgery.  She felt pretty good a few weeks ago, and went out and did a little gardening and disturbed something that put her back in the chair again in pain that is only gradually fading.  A year of recovery is 4 months complete, and her patience is fading, but if she behaves, we expect things will keep improving.  

She wants to get good enough to stand the 6-hour drive to West Bend to visit her 90 year old father -- who after a series of small strokes is in a nursing home for the past few weeks and likely to stay.  His second wife of a few years passed away a few months ago.  He seems to be making the best of things, with Margo's brother there to take on the responsibility of getting him through the problems.  Margo worries a lot, but her brother Larry does a good job with his dad.  Merlin is a social type of person who makes friends with the folks around him, in his condo, then in assisted care and now in the nursing home.  His sense of humor helps. 

The Hanson family 22 rifle competition--reunion is next weekend at sister-in-law Connie's farm.  That is always fun.  Then the St Croix High School Class of '65 50th reunion (Russ) is on the 12th and then on September 26th the 10th annual River Road Ramble where we plan to have a garden, orchard sale as well as a garage sale to clear out some of the outbuildings on the farm.  

Cushing Fun Days

Saturday, August 22nd  8 am - 3 pm
Old Stuff Sale in Cushing upstairs in the Community Center
Sterling Eureka and Laketown Historical Society
Open House at the Museum 

Been sorting out items from the farm for the Old Stuff sale at the Community Center -- upstairs around the back parking. SELHS does this a fund raiser and to attract folks to visit the museum.   Drop in downstairs for the Firemen's pancake breakfast and then come upstairs to look at the museum rooms and see what you need from the specially donated items for the old stuff sale and the vendors.  We have a lot of fun with Cushing Fun Days (Saturday for us) with the morning in the museum and at 5 pm, watching the adult soapbox derby with the interesting creations coasting down the hill on mainstreet.  

August Views

Had a very busy two weeks with the Polk County fair and taking on the 160 year old historic Red School House on the fair grounds at St Croix Falls, WI.  

Scott helped me this year as Margo, although she is improving, is still not very strong and mostly gives advice yet.  With therapy done, she is working on balance and strength improvement so she can stand, walk and do things safely.  

The school house includes cleaning the building, getting in displays, lining up 20 volunteers to sit there for 4-hour shifts over 9-9 four days, the daily upkeep, and then cleaning it all out again.  We had almost 2000 folks drop by on a fair week that was almost perfect weather, so successful!

I plan to put fair photos on in a different post.  Some of the changes that August brings on the farm are interesting.  Still warm weather ahead, but everything is trying to finish up it's cycle of reproducing before the September frosts.  

Field corn is in the early milk stage and looks great

Summer squash

Art by a spider trapping thistle down

Apples are a month away from eating, although the tiny crab apples are pretty good already

Dill heads are seedy.  The dill comes each year in the garden from seeds shed on the ground the year before.  Mom was the "dill lady" who supplied local stores and neighbors with their early dill

We have had a moderate summer with one or two days at 90F so far.  August is starting cool and on calm mornings the fog forms over the old cranberry bog to the east

Trying to change a some old cow pasture grown up to weeds into next year's pumpkin garden.  The little disk is not heavy enough to break the sod, and although this is a very sunny plot, lower and more susceptible to early frosts

Rabbits are thriving on the farm.  In the summer they just eat my gardens, fenced or not, and in the winter, all they do is chew the bark off of my apple trees, especially the young ones I spent $25 each on and have been carefully watering and fertilizing to get started.  I plan to live trap them all and haul them to the woods where they will have a safer winter than at the farm where the farmer has been known to eat rabbits in his younger days.