Tuesday, September 10, 2013

No place like Nebraska

Last week, Tonja and I gathered her mom, Joyce, and took a quick trip to attend the funeral of a family friend in Bertrand, Nebraska. When we left the country church after lunch, I realized we were only a couple miles from the Gosper County farmstead of Tonja's grandparents, Doris and Leroy Biesecker--Joyce's childhood home.

I enjoyed many summer vacations at the farm, where Leroy (everyone called him Tooter) taught me to start siphon tubes during irrigation season, one of the more frustrating skills I never quite mastered. The chores were completed after we enjoyed the Largest Breakfast Ever Served. We could then set out for morning of fishing at Johnson Lake. This is Tooter at the farm, in a snapshot I took when we stopped by on the way home from our honeymoon in 1973.


As we left the church last week, I couldn't resist the temptation to head down the gravel to see the old place. It is unoccupied at the moment, and like many Nebraska farmsteads, looking a little rough compared to it's better years. But the house is standing, and the barn is sturdy.


I snapped this photo of a basketball hoop on the west side, and sent it off to Joyce's youngest sibling, Tonja's uncle Gary, a recently-retired physician in High Point, NC.


Gary messaged me back in an instant: "That's been there for 60 years, must be made in America!" He also pointed out that his dad, not being particularly savvy about basketball, had installed the hoop upside down. "No problem," I replied, "just rotate the photo." The bird, however, will then be hanging from the rim at a rather odd angle.


There really is no place like Nebraska, particularly when you get off the Interstate and go back in time a few decades to revel in the simple joy of a late summer day in God's country, surrounded by sun, wind, waves of grass, and currents of memories.

9 comments:

Ryan said...

Director,

Sorry to shift away from today's blog, but I was cuurious if uyou could shed some light on a recent report that popped up on my Crime Mapping email.

"Known Donkey Kicked V On Shin"

Case B3-083706

2600 BLOCK OF N 63RD ST
9/9/2013 9:32:00 AM

What the heck?

Anonymous said...

Director,

Sorry to shift away from today's blog, but I was cuurious if uyou could shed some light on a recent report that popped up on my Crime Mapping email.

"Known Donkey Kicked V On Shin"

Case B3-083706

2600 BLOCK OF N 63RD ST
9/9/2013 9:32:00 AM

What the heck?

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed this post so much. My great-great grandparents, great grandparents and grandmother were all from Elwood, county seat of Gosper County. My grandmother's father was a banker. You know you are deep in Nebraskiana when the words Gosper County are spoken. If you have been in Eustis or Smithfield, you have seen most of Gosper County.

Tom Casady said...

9:23,

I'm trying to remember George's last name, who ran the grocery store in Smithfield. Great guy. He moved to Lincoln after retirement and lived on A Street, but I am drawing a blank. Starts with an S...?

Wonder if the soddy is still standing in Eustis, and if the pool hall still has Mexican food on Fridays. Or was it Wednesdays?

Anonymous said...

Is that your honey moon mustang in the picture?
You can tell a lot about someone by just looking at a picture and the surroundings. It looks like Alfred stayed on top of things and ran a nice farm operation. Is the farm still in the family? How many acres did he farm?

Tom Casady said...

5:38,

Yes,that's our Mustang. Not really sure on the acreage. The quarter section, at least. I'll have to ask around.

Tom Casady said...

Ryan,

Autocorrect inserted a donkey into an incident report.

Tom Casady said...

9:23,

Schaefer, George Schaefer. That was going to drive me nuts.

Anonymous said...

Ryan,
That report entry caught the eye of several local reporters and created quite a few laughs at our morning media briefing. It actually should read with donkey as part of the verb, not the noun. In that incident, one girl "donkey kicked" another in the hallway at school.

It ranks up there with the popular burglary summary - broke wind to gain entry.

~Katie Flood