Family Fun at Petersens

HELLO FOLKS! — I suppose it is only natural that with five lively daughters in the home I should have to take a bit of abuse. Take last week for instance. It all started when I came to the table with my hair standing erect. The kids made fun of it and Zina to cap it off, put a ribbon on it.

As many of you know I have precious hair left, and none to spare. I left the ribbon in the hair after dinner and laid down on the couch to read and have a little nap. When I get sleepy I can go to sleep standing up and I become oblivious to anything going on around.

When I awakened I heard some snickers and knew that something "fishy" had been going on. It took a while for me to get the facts, and it was Merilee who informed, Merilee is my everlasting pal, and besides that she is not good at keeping secrets. She informed me that while I was asleep they had put a ribbon on my chest and a bottle in my arms and taken a picture of me.

I haven't found the film or this story might have ended differently, but I suppose I will get the razzing of my life when the picture gets here.

Living with a houseful of lovely women isn't really too bad. After all is isn't every man who gets to boss around a houseful of them, or be bossed himself. The thing that put the edge on it all is that they have a mischievious mother who encourages all this.

—o—

Our youngest son Brent got the bright idea one day of publishing a newspaper. He was helping me farm and while on the tractor he got it pretty well set in his mind what he was going to write. He calls it the "Hog Town News". Our big hog pasture we call Hog Town. The embellishments are all his and next week this column will be a reprint of what he wrote; or at least a part of it.

—o—

In case you hadn't noticed: the month of May was a wet one. We got 6.3 inches of rain. We had gotten 3.4 in April.

Zina's Turn To Write

HELLO FOLKS — One of my favorite girl friends asked me if she could write a column for me. I have consented to it and the next words you read will be hers. (Zina Petersen—age 10.)

—o—

I think that I shall never see,
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest,
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
and lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of Robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

The name of this poem is "Trees" by Joice Kilmer. It is one of my favorite poems. This poem has a tune. What I mean is, we had a record that was sung by the "Sons of the Pioneers." It is a very pretty song.

I have read many other poems, but this is the best one yet. I hope that when I grow up, I can write a few poems. Whenever I read the poem, "Trees" I always look outside and am thankful we have trees to look at.

—o—

POEMS ARE HAPPY stories or sad stories that rhyme. I would rather read a poem than a story. To me a poem is a picture readings that has to have outdoors in it or it isn't a poem. Poems always have music in them, no matter how you read them or what kind of poem they are.

In school we write poems. Here is another:

A wise old owl lived in an Oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard;
Why can't we all be like that bird?

That is a poem called "The Wise Old Owl", by Edward H. Richards. It is my favorite animal poem.

—o—

God made a wonderful mother.
A mother who never grows old;
He made her smile of the sunshine.
And He molded her heart of pure gold.
In her eyes He placed bright shinny stars,
In her cheeks, fair roses you see,
God made a wonderful mother,
And he gave that dear mother to me.

Pat O'Reilly must have loved his mother more than anything else. This poem is called, "A Wonderful Mother".

—o—

P.S. — ZINA came to live with us ten years ago, straight from heaven. She is kind, beautiful, thoughtful to all, and has a lot of talent. Of course I may be entirely prejudice, but when she winds those long arms around my neck, looks me straight in the eye and then plants a big kiss I am not in position to think anything else.

How Big Are Corn Fields?

HELLO FOLKS — There are some big corn fields in Freeborn County. I'll wait a couple of weeks and announce the response from you readers as to the size of some of the corn fields. If you know of a corn field that is a big one send in the number of acres and I'll announce it in the column.

—o—

JULY THIS year was the wettest month I have ever experienced at least as far as I can recall. Here at Edvera Farm we got 11.5 inches of rain during July. It started off with a whopping 4 1/2 inches the first. We had 1/2 inch the 4th, over 2 inches the 7th, a half inch on both the 11th and 14th, one-and-one-half the 19th, one-and-three-tenths the 20th, and then off showers the rest of the month.

This is considerably more than the Albert Lea record of over 7 inches for July.

I have been keeping record of the precipitation at Edvera Farm for several years and for the most part we get less than Albert Lea or Austin. This is quite a switch and evens up somewhat for the 2 or 3 inches less rainfall a year that we have been getting each year.

—o—

CHILDREN CAN give more laughs than any clown on earth.

Our four-year-old, Brent, was supposed to give a talk in Sunday School. He wanted to give his own idea of a talk, but we had had some experience with that in the past, so Vera drilled him closely to be sure he had the talk memorized. I understand that he did very well.

That was considerably different than what happened a few years ago to Randy. Randy is an individualist just like Brent. He insisted on giving his own talk in Sunday School. He was taught one that he was supposed to give but when it came time to give it here is what he said.

"Jesus had a little lamb. He took it down to the river. There was a railroad track running alongside the river. The lamb ran onto the railroad track and the train came along and ran over it."