Prairie Project

Riding through Nebraska has always been kind of a sleeper. Well, the western side of the state of Kansas is much the same, that is if one just rides through it and doesn't stop to get acquainted. We have started our "acquaintance" process with Kansas and find it has much to offer even if it is different than the states our group members come from. We do have a Kansan in our group so she fills us in on some of the finer aspects of this state.

Last week I sent a very dark picture of our campground. This picture will give you a "clearer" view of what the campground is really like. Sorry I didn't take the time to straighten up the elevator before I sent the picture. It really does stand tall. We have added one couple to our group and they come from Cambe, MN so they live less than 100 miles from Sioux Center. Dad has been the oldest male in our group and he thought this man probably beat him in that competition but find out he is just 3 months younger than Dad. Afraid I still am the oldest female. Not necessarily a contest I wanted to win but then again I can always play the age game when it comes to putting on ceiling paper, climbing on ladders, etc. Actually the whole group is well aware of what we are comfortable doing and we feel free to say where our limit is. NO putting on ceiling paper from a scaffold.

This week Dad and Bob were busy with updating the plumbing in the house shown. It was built in 1905 and was recently moved into town from 30 miles away. It cost $30,000. but they did it all in one piece so they had a very experienced house mover. Not even cracks in the plaster. The plumbing will take them a least another week. Some of the work is done beneath the house in the 4 foot crawl place. They don't have to crawl so that helps but when removing wainscoating from the under side of the house (which would have been the basement ceiling when the house had a basement) they were so dirty that they actually looked like black men. Sweat and dust is not a pretty sight. I and another person spent our time steaming wallpaper off ceilings and walls and then priming the walls. Of the 7 or 8 rooms in the house we got less then 2 finished. Since we now have another couple we will have 2 or 3 people papering and then 1 or 2 will continue steaming and priming trying to keep ahead of the wall paper people. Sometimes we think it is a stretch to think this is a mission project but we realize it will be an added attraction for people who come to Shepherd's Staff for retreats or even just to visit. The house will be decorated in the style of the era when it was built. Flowered wall paper, etc. I can almost hear some of you cringe thinking about the decor. However, the dishwasher and garbage disposal will expose its recent refurbishing

Our Thursday tour was to the Prairie Museum at Colby, the biggest town around here and it boasts of having 6000 people. The Museum was even greater than the publicity about it. The spark which started the collection was kindled when Nellie Kuska, at the age of 7, received a bisque doll for learning her multiplication tables. The Kuskas lived in California after marriage and she continued to collect dolls and various other things until her death in 1973. The artifacts were moved to Colby in 1975 and the Smithsonian appraised the collection at a value of more than one million dollars in 1975. Imagine the worth now! It took 3 moving vans to move the seventeen tons off artifacts to Colby.

The one part of the Museum I was interested was the large genealogy room. They like their history and many families had researched and printed the family tree. It was good for me to see the different ways a family tree can be constructed to be interesting and still hold to the facts.

I cannot begin to describe the museum pieces but the heritage buildings outside were interesting too. The only discouraging part is that Dad and I both remember seeing or using the building they considered heritage buildings.
The one building we had only heard about but not lived in was the sod hut. I recall hearing that those in Sioux Center had dirt floors and ceilings. This one had to be modified enough so people could see the development of sod houses. It also was furnished in a style later than the actual sod house. Such ingenuity those homesteaders had. The hut was built of sod blocks 1 foot by 2 feet by 4 inches deep. The walls could be plastered or newspapers (wonder where they got them) could be placed on the walls. Muslin was stretched across the ceiling to catch the dirt, bugs and an occasional snake. This hut had windows so some day light could be seen. Still I think depression would have been a problem for the wives especially as they were in that dark, damp house so much of the time.

The Cooper barn is the largest barn in Kansas measuring 66 wide', 114' long and 48' high. It is now used for the bigger displays. It also was moved to the site in one piece. Some of the things like hay mow, grain bins, stanchions etc again reminded us of activities we had done years ago. The metal "leg ties" put on cows legs to get them to stand still we remember vividly because when milking if you didn't get the cow's tail tied in with his legs you might get that dirty tail come flying around your face as you sat and milked the cow. And those were the good old days? Some of you recently romped around in a hay mow. Imagine trying to pitch hay down out of this mow, had to carry some of it 144 feet to the opening and then still throw it down to be picked up and brought to the cattle bunks. Diets usually weren't necessary in those days. Of course, first we did chores and then we continued the day with fried eggs, bacon, bread with fat and syrup and drinking whole milk, we had a lot of heavy food to burn off.

My favorite building is always the one room school house. This one is small and all the desks are made for two people. That is close company if you ask me, we always had our own private desk. We also had a furnace instead of the oil stove in this picture. Ours was coal burning so the teacher always had to go to school early and start the furnace before the students arrived but they could easily do that on the $40.00 a month they got (according to a teacher we had with us), right? I remember taking a potato to school and laying it on the ledge where they scooped the coal into the furnace. At noon that potato was just done and actually was a warm food which we could eat. Else we could take a tin of soup and set it on the furnace register (one in the floor) and have a warm entree for lunch - unless some clumsy person came along and tipped your soup container down the register. Still those days were good because we didn't know any better. Even wearing the same underwear for a week and long stockings in the winter and dresses made of feed sacks. What memories.

We pray for all of you often. If you have a specific request let us know and we will intercede for you in that way. We love you and enjoy all the means we have of communicating even though ours aren't totally reliable here we usually get through.

Love, Dad and Mom