Water Drop on CA Fires

Roger sent a video of his helecopter dropping water on the California Fires:



We were flying on the Santiago Canyon fire in Orange County, CA when I took this video. I hope you all enjoy it.
--Roger Douglass

California Fires - Up Close

Hi,
Just checking in from the fires in Malibu and Orange County CA. Here are a couple of shots of the Malibu Fire and one of the trip from Malibu to Orange.

I am in Orange County now and, thankfully, the fire here is winding down. We are supposed to get Santa Anna Winds late today though so we will see what that brings, if anything.
Roger Douglass

Happy Birthday - Lillian Mahon

We wish you a very Happy Birthday!

THE BLOG EDITOR

Hands Down, she wins the Awards for the years 2006 and 2007.

I just did a partial review of 2006 and just now learned that Roger Douglass responded to the editorial “The Whole Nine Yards” comments. I nominate Roger Douglass to the Haigler Blurb for his exceptional knowledge of the Whole Nine Yards – whence – where did the term originate? I had heard that once before, that it came from the nine yards of canvas belt holding 50 caliber rounds for military combat missions for the gunners aboard aircraft. Roger was correct with his answer.

I thank the editor of the Blog for making the Haigler Blog site such a source of information for the readers and participants to this site. These winter months will be cause for more reviews about our past – what we can learn from each other, and the editor that makes this site available to all of us.

I have responded off the blog to other participants, as well.

Thanks you Sherri!

-- Dallas Adams

A Cool Clock

Have you seen this neat clock? Click here.

Just thought I'd share it with you. It shows where you are in time: Year, Month, Week, Day, Day of the Week, Hour, Minute, Second.

-- Sherri

Retired People have ALL the Fun!

View from our deck of Mt. McLoughlin on the left + Pelican to the

right and Agency Lake in center.
--Russ Hoover

Sunday Visitors

One day last week, Dwight & Leah (Gregory) Brewer stopped at the Post Office in St. Francis to pick up their mail. A familiar looking lady walked by Dwight and he suddenly remembered who she was and said to Leah, “Let me introduce you to your cousin!” It was Laurene (Crabtree) Rohn, who is the daughter of Kenneth C. Crabtree (KC Crabtree). Laurene, who graduated in 1962 from St. Francis High School, moved back to St. Francis last May and is teaching ESL to the dairy workers at Bird City.

Early Sunday morning found Maurice and Janice Barnhart, Doug Brewer, Laurene Rohn, Dwight & Leah Brewer and Sherri Gregory at the Windmill Café having breakfast and spending an enjoyable hour of conversation, which led to an idea for a Crabtree family reunion next summer.

Later, Leah Brewer and Sherri Gregory drove to Haigler where they and Sharna Richardson were Sunday guests at the Ray and Floy Ruggles home. They caught up on family news and spent some quality time together. More plans for a family reunion were discussed and it was decided to include both Crabtree and Bartlett families. More about that in future postings.

***

On her way home to Lincoln, Sherri stopped in Hastings for a brief visit with her cousin, Dennis Craft and his wife, Judy, before traveling on east to Lincoln.

Pioneer Haigler Man Dies in Denver (75 Years Ago)

75 Years Ago
The Benkelman Post & News-Chronicle
Vol. 39, No. 24 - Oct. 14, 1932

George Cecil, Pioneer Haigler man, died at Denver last Sunday and his funeral was held at Haigler Wednesday afternoon. A number of Benkelman Masonic brethren and friends attended the funeral, among those were: Dan Ough, C.A. Ratcliffe and son, Dr. Forest Ratcliffe, Sam Ewing, J. F. Richardson, Ashby Morrison, John Snavely, Roy Ham, and Dr. J. F. Premer.
--The Benkelman Post & News-Chronicle - October 17, 2007, pg. 4

Delmar Trembly returns from Arctic Assignment (50 Years Ago)

50 Years Ago
The Benkelman Post
& News-Chronicle
Vol. 64, No. 28 - Oct. 17, 1957

Pvt. Delmar L. Trembly, whose wife, Betty lives in Trenton, Ne. returned to Fort Story, Virginia, October 8, from a three month mission in the Artic.

He participated in Project 572-East, a joint army and navy resupply operation in which a combined task force delivered supplies to isolated radar stationed in the polar area.
A radio operator in the 565th Transpotation Company, Trembly entered the army in October 1956, and was last stationed at Fort Chafee, Arkansas.
Trembly, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wesly F. Trembly, Haigler, was employed in civilian life by Mossbarger and Ems Construction Company, Arapahoe.

***

--The Benkelman Post & News-Chronicle - October 17, 2007, pg. 4

A Friendship Quilt

Enroute home from Malcolm, Nebraska and the merry-go-round adventure, LaNeta Carlock and Myrna Mulligan traveled Highway136 to Franklin, Nebraska, where their late Mother, Opal (Myer) Collicott was born in 1919, and spent her early childhood days, and where their Aunt Evelyn (Myer) Creach Friesen graduated from high school and began her first years of teaching in a country school there. That schoolhouse was moved into town and is now part of the Franklin County Museum.

In memory of their mother and aunt, the sisters delivered and donated a friendship quilt to the Franklin museum. The block pieces were given to Evelyn (Myer) Friesen in 1928 in memory of her teaching at the school near Franklin. Each piece had a family name embroidered on it and Opal hand-pieced the quilt together 15 years ago. The Collicott family felt the quilt should be "returned home" and the Franklin Museum was most grateful for the gift. The quilt will be proudly displayed along with the story of its history.

School Playground Equipment

Country Schoolhouse District 67 South will soon be having some playground equipment on its grounds. Thanks to Floy Ruggles, the old swing set and slide from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wray is being donated and will soon be moved. Another piece of equipment to be added is the 105 year old merry-go-round which was purchased through silent auction from the Oak Valley, District 148 Country School in Malcolm, Nebraska, which was retrieved from its original home by LaNeta Carlock and Myrna Mulligan on Monday. The sisters left early with a trailer to dismantle and load the old maypole type merry-go-round with the help of Lyle and Beverly Pitts, friends from Deshler, and other volunteers in Malcolm. The hope is to have the equipment installed before winter.

The First Anniversary Came and Went

Sorry I missed the 1-year anniversary date of the Haigler Blog. I was browsing through the Blog and saw the post of how the Blog was started. I went all the way back to the beginning to find your very first post. May 20th. 2006. That was the earliest posting I could find, Is that right? Also it looks like the first Blog entry from someone other than you or your staff was by Don Harford / Haigler in the 1920's ---- Written 8 - 24 - 2006... If I were a betting man I would of said Dallas was the first one to get his story published! hehehe! (just kidding) Don had wonderful memories of Haigler and I enjoyed reading it again. August 30th 2006 was the post that we all now can thank you for. This was the invitation to contribute to the site our pictures, our stories, and our memories of Haigler and it's Residents. Thank You Sherri so very much. You've done such a great job with this Blog Site. Thanks to everybody involved for all their contributions and Thank You again for sharing such a w onderful place we can visit and enjoy all those memories. You've given us all a little piece of ownership to a place that feels like Home "The Haigler Blog".

-- Yours Truly, Larry Wall

Fall is Here

Yes, fall is here. As I watch the corn being hauled away out of the field in trucks going straight to the elevator. How time has changed. The words of "pickin' corn", "shuckin corn", "shellin' corn", "grindin' corn", are a distant vocabulary. Now we "combine" with a "corn header". This magic piece of machinery does the whole process in one step, almost. I wanted to share a picture of one of the "steps" dad did when doing corn. I can remember the red cobs that were picked up after shelling. Ah yes, and this was not a "one-man" operation. It took the family and the neighbor families to "get-r-done". It was a process of who could start first, and then on to the next neighbor until the corn was all done. I can remember men in big old coats, hats with earflaps down, and heavy gloves in and out of the yard. And women brought in a dish of some sort to help with the meals. These are great memories of neighbors around the Haigler community. Speaking of corn-cobs, anyone remember how many uses those darn things were used for????

-- Karen Lindell

The Frost is on the Pumpkin

October!

Where did the summer go? I left my car in the driveway the other night and when I went out to go to work, I had to first remove the frost from the back window. Now the weatherman said it was 38, but on the north side of my house it obviously had gotten down to at least 32 the night before!

Alot of my neighbors have pumpkins and colored corn and ghosts and goblins around the front of their homes, reminding me of the "old days" when I was a kid at home on the farm.

I remember in the fall when the corn would be picked and taken to the barn to be shelled with the "BearCat" corn grinder, which was hooked to the fly wheel on the Minneapolis Moline tractor. there was an elevator tube that lifted the ground corn into the grain room. This ground corn was fed to the cows and horses all winter long.

Then there was the hay that was cut and hauled to haystacks with the "farmhand" my dad had made out of an old truck frame. A seat had been mounted on the frame and the motor was in the back with a hydrolic hay fork mounted toward the front of the frame. It was a challenge to steer since the "front" wheels that turned were in the back. We always begged for a ride which was better than the rides at an amusement park.

Dad also grew cane, which was stacked into "shocks" that looked like Indian tepees. The cane was not quite "dry" so you could still chew on it and taste the sweetness of it. When we "helped" shock cane, I'm sure we played more than we worked!! (The picture is of Garry and Melvin Fisher "helping" their dad shock cane).

This time of the year teases us with remaining warm days of summer and chilly nights of winter. It isn't long now until it will be time for all cold blooded creatures (like me) to fly south for the winter. (and that is exactly what I will do once I can retire from my J O B).

Have a great weekend!!
-- Sherri

Happy Birthday, Gene Pennell

Today is Gene's Birthday! Hope you had a great day and many more birthdays!!

Progress on Schoolhouse

Thought you would like to have update pictures on 67 South.

As you can see, the one shows the building with the art designs of all the cracks in stucco after they were filled. The other shows the white paint that was just done this week.

Also the original flagpole was donated by Laura Pearl Wall and after lots of work on it, was reinstalled yesterday.

The guys have been tirelessly working on restoring roof joints, rafters, etc.etc. and will complete the base covering today. Shingling will begin next week--so no more tarps to worry about blowing off. -

Progress is definitely being made - and next spring there will be an open house and old time box supper and ice cream social at the school.

We have reached $25,000 goal now. The Hansen Foundation Grant helped lots. We did not get the Peter Kiewit Foundation one -too bad- but we tried! There are others we might try later.

Yes, donations of $ and school items from 1897-1945 donated would be most appreciated-still. Thanks to Floy Ruggles, we have some playground equipment donated from a church in Wray and this week I got the bid for a merry-go-round from an old country school near Lincoln. ---More later-- LaNeta

Don Smith Plans to Come Home

Good News. Pat Fortkamp reports that Don Smith is looking forward to going home on Tuesday after spending several days of rehabilitation at the Madonna Rehab Hospital, where he has greatly benefited from the therapy there.

I visited him on this past Tuesday and he looked very well, and seemed to be feeling good.

We wish him the best and many years of good health!

--Sherri Gregory

Roofing on Schoolhouse

I just took these pictures. Marv and Stan Carlock caught in the act of getting the roof ready for shingling. They have done such a good job on everything. You will notice the stucco has been patched and painted and the flagpole is up. Stan says he cannot remember how long it has been since it was there.
--Submitted by Floy Ruggles

The Ruggles Vacation in Nebraska & South Dakota

Ray and Floy Ruggles drove a total of about 700 miles last week through the Nebraska Panhandle and on to the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The reason for the trip was in celebration of their wedding anniversary. They took in sights including; Chimney Rock near Bridgeport, NE, Scott's Bluff near (guess where), and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

They were given a tour of the facilities at Black Hills Health and Education Center near Hermosa, S.D., spending the afternoon and staying overnight in one of the guestrooms. BHHEC operates a massage therapy school; also has an ongoing program using diet, massage, exercise and other circulation stimulating methods for improving health. Many patients who enter barely able to walk, after going through the two or three week program, come out walking several miles a day.

Ray and Floy witnessed the graduation ceremony and heard the glowing testimonies of a group of about a dozen happy people ready to go home much healthier than when they came.

Country Schoolhouse 67 South Update

Have you driven by Country Schoolhouse 67 South on Porter Avenue lately?

Work continues on the outside structure. All wall cracks in the stucco have been sealed; the school has been power-washed, all new ceiling rafters installed, and the roof work is underway. Watch for more pictures, soon. Also, the financial contributions are now at $25,000--so it is hoped the $30,000 goal (set 5 months ago) will soon be reached.

If you have not yet contributed to this project and would like to have your name placed on the donors list; please send to Save 67 South, PO Box 144, Haigler, NE 69030.

Donations of old school desks, wall maps, books, and other items are being delivered. If you have any old school items from 1897-1945 that you would like to donate, they would be most appreciated.

Update - Don Smith

Dad finally got moved to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital on Sunday. They expect him to have a week to two weeks stay if all goes as planned!

He would enjoy receiving cards and visits. The address is:

Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital
5401 South Street, Room 200B
Lincoln, Nebraska, 68506

-- Pat Fortkamp