tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68764087227636137162024-03-12T22:47:29.474-05:00Adventures of Flat LalaGrannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876408722763613716.post-78244738201795774902010-03-04T09:23:00.000-06:002010-03-04T09:27:11.036-06:00Epilogue<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/S4_Q027UTMI/AAAAAAAABCs/CnN-sqvPaBY/s1600-h/IMG00122.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/S4_Q027UTMI/AAAAAAAABCs/CnN-sqvPaBY/s320/IMG00122.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444800081030302914" border="0" /></a>
It has been several years since Flat Lala visited. The original Lala is now a grown lady of 10.
Her Flat Lala report was the highlight of that assignment. Not many students had the Flat People returned, but Flat Lala had enough adventures for the entire class.
We had fun with the assignment. I'm sorry other grandparents, aunts, and uncles missed the treat.Grannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876408722763613716.post-18470116095417893622007-03-29T03:11:00.000-05:002007-03-29T03:45:05.283-05:00Flat Lala returns to Texas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/Rgt8WkHLUSI/AAAAAAAAAB8/9STEZCbH-Bc/s1600-h/oregontrailkapic.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/Rgt8WkHLUSI/AAAAAAAAAB8/9STEZCbH-Bc/s320/oregontrailkapic.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5047264534491517218" border="0" /></a>
<span style="font-family:verdana;">Dear Lala,</span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;">I've a box of things ready to mail to you. Please tell your teacher that I will be posting more Flat Lala stories to your blog at http://flatlala.blogspot.com. There is a CD of pictures and the letters I have written so far inside your box. I'll add a copy of this letter, too.</span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;">I have so many more things to tell you but am a week past due returning Flat Lala to your school. I hope the assignment isn't over. </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;">The box is full of travel folders that Grandpa and I picked up as we returned from Indiana. Grandpa was particularly interested in the Lewis and Clark information. Grandpa comes from Eugene, Oregon. That's where Lewis and Clark ended their trip. I always thought they started it in western Missouri, but that was wrong. They started in St. Louis. The major overland trails of the West -- the Santa Fe Trail and The Oregon Trail came later and started from Kansas City. </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;">Grandpa and I found information about the Lewis and Clark Expedition all across our trip. He'd like you to look at the things we are sending you and think about men using boats, horses and their own feet to go west from Kansas clear to the Pacific Ocean. It was a hard trip, but helped people learn how big the North American continent is and how beautiful it is too. It was after Lewis and Clark found a way west that others followed them and eventually started building homes here. </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;">Those other two trails I mentioned -- the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail -- were the only roads people had to travel west. They would gather their wagons in Kansas City and Independence, Missouri, find a man who knew the trails (he was called the Wagon Master) and start the slow walk West. They had to start early in the spring, about this time of year, and hope to be through the Rocky Mountains before winter came. If they were caught in the mountains when it snowed, it could mean they all died. The wagons were pulled by horses or mules,or oxen. The men, women and children walked beside them. It was slow progress. Sometimes they would go to bed at night, after walking all day, and still be in sight of the place they camped the night before. They didn't have any Interstate highways like I-35 to get from one place to another. </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;">The Santa Fe Trail was the first trail. It went from Kansas City to Santa Fe, New Mexico, angling across what would become Kansas and Colorado into New Mexico. Later a shortcut, called the Cimmaron Cut-off would be made through the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. The men who traveled this trail were called muleskinners. They drove large wagons pulled by mules. The wagons carried things they were going to sell in Santa Fe. In Santa Fe, they filled them up with things to sell in Kansas City. The Santa Fe Trail passed near Waverly. Local stories say Lebo, Kansas, the next town west of Waverly was founded by an Frenchman named Joe LeBo. He was one of the Santa Fe muleskinners, but he got tired of making the trip. He found a pretty place to build his house and said "I'm stopping here!" He started a business and the town of Lebo grew up around him. Lebo is about the same size as Waverly (700 people). It is a farming town today.</span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;">People going to Oregon weren't going there to sell things. They were going to find new homes. They followed the Santa Fe Trail until they were well clear of Kansas City then split off to go northwest. The town of Gardner, Kansas is called "Where the Trails Divide". When I taught school there in the 1970s, the students told me there was a barn you could go to and look out the hay loft to see where the trail went. Not far from Gardner, outside Baldwin City, there are still ruts in the ground that were made by the hundreds of wagon wheels that went over the Oregon Trail. I had wanted to take Flat Lala there and get a picture of her looking at the wagon ruts but we didn't get a chance to go.</span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, Flat Lala is returning to your school. I've really enjoyed having her visit. Let me know how the class project goes.</span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;">Love,</span>
<span style="font-family:verdana;">Grandma</span>Grannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876408722763613716.post-34397306466604353672007-03-29T02:34:00.000-05:002007-03-29T03:27:34.070-05:00Lala Means Tulip<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/Rgt19EHLUQI/AAAAAAAAABs/7m-gCm6wFKQ/s1600-h/Lala+means+Tulip.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/Rgt19EHLUQI/AAAAAAAAABs/7m-gCm6wFKQ/s320/Lala+means+Tulip.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5047257499335086338" border="0" /></a>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style=";font-family:";font-size:13;color:black;" >Dear Lala,</span></b><span style=";font-family:";color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";color:black;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style=";font-family:";font-size:13;color:black;" > Your name means Tulip in Slavic. I know you know that. Flat Lala decided to join some of her "sisters" in the flower bed, but she found the stone face a bit disturbing.</span></b><span style=";font-family:";color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";color:black;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style=";font-family:";font-size:13;color:black;" >Love, Grandma</span></b><span style=";font-family:";color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p>Grannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876408722763613716.post-72643005525157173282007-03-20T23:54:00.000-05:002007-03-21T00:46:38.569-05:00New Clothes for Flat Lala<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgC7uHcgpqI/AAAAAAAAAAs/QPSYPmtcSng/s1600-h/Flat+Lala%27s+clothes.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgC7uHcgpqI/AAAAAAAAAAs/QPSYPmtcSng/s320/Flat+Lala%27s+clothes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044237983601960610" border="0" /></a>
<p>Dear Lala,</p> <p> Flat Lala, Grandpa and I are back from our trip to Indiana to see the family there. We left on Saturday (St. Patrick's Day) and got home on Monday. It is nearly as far from Waverly to Batesville, Indiana where PJ and Renee live as it is from Waverly to Grand Prairie where you live. Ashley, Kayleigh, Emily, Matt and Mark live part way in between in the city of Terre Haute, Indiana. Uncle Pat, who drives a semi to Laredo, Texas every week, says to tell you it is 978 miles from Batesville to Grand Prairie.
</p> <p> Flat Lala had a great time playing with the cousins. She knitted with Kayleigh, watched TV with Ashley, and played with Emily. Matt was reading when Flat Lala visited him, so he showed her his favorite stories. She watched Mark and the neighbor playing light sabres outside. He later came in and played with her, too. When we got to Batesville, Renee made Flat Lala a new skirt. Later everyone played Uno with their Grandma Janelle. Ashley made sure Flat Lala got to play, too.</p> <p> PJ (Pat III) noticed that Flat Lala's neck was getting weak. He volunteered to eat a popcycle so she could have the stick to strengthen her neck. It's taped to the back of Flat Lala's head and she says that feels much better now. PJ understands about splints because he broke his toe and has to have it taped to the two toes next to it as a splint. He'll be walking in a surgical boot for six weeks while that toe heals. </p> <p> We had too many adventures to tell them all in one letter. I'll write you more tomorrow. I did want to tell you about this picture. Flat Lala has lots of clothes now! You can see she is laying on her new red and white knitted blanket. She has a yellow flowered skirt from Renee with bright orange flower buttons at the waist. Flat Lala decided the skirt I made her was really a poncho. She needed it this weekend because it snowed on us as we drove through Missouri to get to Indiana. She also wore her new purple hat to keep the snow off. Fortunately, the snow ended before we crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois.</p> We went from Kansas across two states to get to Indiana this weekend. We covered Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Terra Haute is near the Illinois border of Indiana and Batesville is on the other side, nearly to Ohio, so we covered a lot of ground. <p> I'll tell you more tomorrow!
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p>Grannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876408722763613716.post-48822541045941660632007-03-20T23:43:00.000-05:002009-12-16T01:31:00.236-06:00Waverly, Kansas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgDKYHcgpsI/AAAAAAAAAA8/97NuNwfYYvI/s1600-h/mainstreet.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgDKYHcgpsI/AAAAAAAAAA8/97NuNwfYYvI/s320/mainstreet.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044254098319255234" border="0" /></a>
<!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" spt="75" preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:formulas> <v:path extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" connecttype="rect"> <o:lock ext="edit" aspectratio="t"> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Waverly Main Street" style="'position:absolute;margin-left:0;margin-top:86.05pt;width:321.1pt;" allowoverlap="f"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\IRISJO~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.jpg" title="703220902@17032007-3136"> <w:wrap type="square"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" spt="75" preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:formulas> <v:path extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" connecttype="rect"> <o:lock ext="edit" aspectratio="t"> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Waverly Main Street" style="'position:absolute;margin-left:0;margin-top:0;width:321.1pt;height:144.05pt;" allowoverlap="f"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\IRISJO~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.jpg" title="703220902@17032007-3136"> <w:wrap type="square"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >Hello, LalaBug,
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > Part of your assignment with Flat Lala was to learn about the area where yo</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >u sent her. You know Waverly. It's a small town. It's only seven blocks square with a population of less than 700 people. But did you ever think about how it got here? Why it is where it is? Who were the people who settled here?</span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > Waverly is a farming community in eastern <st1:state st="on">Kansas</st1:state>, about 80 miles southwest of <st1:city st="on">Kansas City</st1:city> on I-35 (yes, the same I-35 that goes through <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Dallas</st1:place></st1:city>.). Farming is big business in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state>. There are signs along the road that say "One Kansas farmer feeds 183 people -- AND YOU!" That's a lot of people! <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">Kansas</st1:state></st1:place> grows a lot of food -- corn, wheat, beans, cattle, sheep, chickens... all kinds of food. When Grandpa and I were planting our garden, we were follow</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >ing in a fine tradition.</span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:black;" > Kansas</span></st1:place></st1:state></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > became a state in 1861. Shortly after that the War Between the States began. Northern states fought Southern states</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > for four years. After the war, people who had lost their homes or jobs moved west to start a new life. Railroads were built into the new state of <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state>. The railroads needed customers. They knew those people moving west needed homes, so they got the idea to offer places to live along the railroad. If the people would build a town and develop farms, they could bring their crops to the town a</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >nd ship them to market on the train. Waverly was one of those towns that was started by the railroad. In 1886 people from <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:state> moved to this area and built a town. They named it after their home in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">O</st1:place></st1:state></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" ><st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">hio</st1:place></st1:state> -- they named it Waverly. </span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > Waverly was a prosperous</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > town in the late 1880s. It had the railroad, restaurants, a bank, two hotels, and other businesses. One of the first barbed wire factories in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state> was in Waverly. Less than 15 miles away a man started a silk ranch where men and women from <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region> raised silkworms on mulberry trees. The cocoons were carefully unwound and the thread woven into beautiful silk cloth. No one raises silkworms in our area anymore, but the Silkville Ranch still exists. Great-Great-Grandpa John Hull's farm was a neighbor of the Silkville Ranch.</span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > Notice the picture to the left? One field looks greener that the other. The one in f</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >ront is browner. It has more dead grass in it, d</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >o</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/SyiJ0vBgT5I/AAAAAAAABBE/A3W4Yh6kTp4/s1600-h/winter+wheat+coming+up.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/SyiJ0vBgT5I/AAAAAAAABBE/A3W4Yh6kTp4/s320/winter+wheat+coming+up.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415730090982002578" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >esn't it? The one on top is brighter green b</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >ecause it is planted with winter wheat. Russian immigrants brought winter wheat seed to <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state>. They could plant it in the fall and let the seed lay unsprouted throughout the winter. The seed would benefit from the moisture and nutrients in the rain and snow all winter long, then pop up and start growing as soon as the soil was warm enough in the spring. T</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >his gave <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state> farmers a head start on growing wheat and allowed them to grow two crops</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > of wheat a year. That is one way a <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state> farmer can feed so many people.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_s1028" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Ohio Days Mural" style="'position:absolute;margin-left:329.2pt;" allowoverlap="f"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\IRISJO~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image005.jpg" title="703220902@17032007-313D"> <w:wrap type="square"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > The townspe</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/SyiKJHLC9gI/AAAAAAAABBM/NwAj6uwgfrA/s1600-h/Ohio+Days+mural.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 253px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/SyiKJHLC9gI/AAAAAAAABBM/NwAj6uwgfrA/s320/Ohio+Days+mural.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415730441061856770" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >ople of Waverly liked the good <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state> dirt that grew big crops. Lots of food was shipped out on the ra</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >ilroad. Still they didn't forget they used to live in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:state>. They would have a big celebration every summer to honor the people who settled the town. They called it Ohio Days.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > Great-Great Grandpa John told me his parents used to fill their buckboard with hay and put all seven of the kids in the back, then drive all morning to go the 10 miles to Waverly for Ohio Days. They would take the harness off t</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >he horses when they got to the city park, tie the horses to the back of the wagon and let them munch on the hay while the family went to the picnic. There were talent shows where kids would recite poetry and some of the ladies would sing. There wo</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >uld be foot races, and sack races and all sorts of things for young kids to do and candy and other rare treats to be bought if you had a penny. The ladies would make "box lunches" (sort of like a picnic basket) that would be raffled off for a worthy cause. The men that bought the lunches got to eat lunch with the women who made them, so the young men were eager to bid on the lunches made by the prettiest young women. The last event would always be the balloon ascension. A traveling entertainer with a hot air balloon would give a speech, then release the sandbags and his big, colorful balloon would rise </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >up into the air. That was the signal to gather the brothers and their only sister, crawl back into the buckboard -- without the hay now, because the horses had eaten it all -- and ride back to the farm. If you remember the time you lived in Waverly, you know that we still celebrate Ohio Days. That's when the traveling carnival came to town and you got to ride the merry-go-round and eat cotton candy.</span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > Your great-great-great grandparents moved to the Waverly area about the time the town was settled. They didn't live in Waverly. One set of grandparents -- the Hulls and Herrons lived in a town north of Waverly that is called Quenemo. </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >Another set of grandparents -- Morris and Bethell -- lived in the town east of Waverly, called <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Williamsburg</st1:place></st1:city>. The Hulls, Herrons and Bethells were all farmers. Their farms grew wheat, corn, beans, cattle and chickens. The crops and the cattle were men's work. What they raised fed the family first. Any extra was sold for other things they needed. The chickens and the eggs were women's work. Any extra "egg money" that the wives might get was theirs to use for the small extras they might want around the house -- a piece of cloth for a new dress or a new bonnet. The men worked their farms with horses. By the time Great-Great Grandpa John was a young man, around 1910, steam tractors were used to plant and harvest the grain. Grandpa John and his father and brothers had one of the only steam threshing machines in the area. They would take their machinery south and west where the crops were becoming ready to harvest and work to harvest the grain, They would follow the ripening harvest north and east until they got back home. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >That kind of harvesting is still done today, only on a bigger scale. When Uncle Joe Evans was living with Great-Grandpa Joe Bill Hull in 2002 he drove a semi for the harvesters. They had huge combines that would cut the grain and shoot it into the back of the truck. The harvesters would have three, four, five or more of those big combines working across the field cutting the stalks of wheat and jumbling them through the machine so the seeds of wheat were separated from the stems and leaves. There would be an open-bed semi following each of the combines.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > Uncle Joe drove one of those trucks. When his combine had enough grain in it to dump, Uncle Joe would pull his truck forward and the long chute would drop down and the grain would run into the bed of his truck like water into a bathtub. Once his truck was full, Uncle Joe would drive into town to the grain elevator and unload. Eventually that wheat would be ground into flour and turned into bread, cake, pies,</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > pizza dough -- all the good things we like to eat. Remember that sign that says <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">Kansas</st1:state></st1:place> farmers feed 183 people and YOU? You can see how they do it.</span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >Great-Great-Great Grandpa Billy Morris was different. He wasn't a farmer; he was a coal miner. He was born in <st1:city st="on">Cardiff</st1:city>, <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Wales</st1:place></st1:country-region>. By the time he was your age -- 8 years old! -- he was already working in coal mines. It's hard to think about coal being in our quiet part of <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state>, but it is there. Thousands of years ago, the area that became <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">Kansas</st1:state></st1:place> was a ancient inland sea full of salt water. There were forests that grew along the shores of that sea. When the sea dried up, it left salt deposits in central <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state>. One of the largest salt mines in the world is in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Hutchinson</st1:city>, <st1:state st="on">Kansas</st1:state></st1:place>, about 150 miles west of Waverly. In our part of <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state>, the ancient trees died and were compressed under layers of rock until they were turned into coal and oil. Most of the coal is in southeast <st1:state st="on">Kans</st1:state></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" ><st1:state st="on">as</st1:state> around the town of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pittsburg</st1:place></st1:city>. The Waverly/Williamsburg area is the northern edge of that big coal deposit. Great-Great-Grandpa Billy mined coal in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Williamsburg</st1:place></st1:city>. </span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > In the 1930s <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state> had a terrible drought. The crops died. Other things were going wrong in the nation. It was a time called the Great Depression. There were lots of people out of work. My Dad's father, Great-Great-Grandpa John, became a coal miner during those years to help feed his family. He said it was dirty, scary work because you went down inside the earth in a little tunnel just as wide as your shoulders. It was darker than a closet with the door shut. The only light he had was a small carbide lamp pinned to his hat. It sputtered and didn't give off a lot of light. In that small dark place he had to take a hammer and a pick and chip rocks of coal off the sides of the tunnel and send them back to the surface. Wow. T</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >hat would be hard work for a grown man. Think about Grandpa Billy! He was doing that kind of work when he was 8 years old! No wonder his parents left <st1:country-region st="on">Wales</st1:country-region> to find a better life in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span><span style=""> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > Times change and some things change and some things stay the same. There aren't as many people farming today as</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > there were when Waverly was settled. Most of the kids I went to school with have left this area</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > to get jobs in the cites. It's been like that</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > ever since my parents were kids. Some kids graduate from high school and move away to larger towns in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kansas</st1:place></st1:state>. <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Wichita</st1:place></st1:city>, to the west of Waverly, is famous for building airplanes. That's where my Dad, your Great-Grandpa Joe Bill, went when he couldn't make a living</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > on the farm. He became a machinist and a tool and die maker and spent a lot of time working in the aircraft industry. Great-Grandpa Joe Bill didn't like living in the city though. He wanted his children to grow up in a small town and be able to enjoy country living. When I was ten he moved to Waverly and opened a farm repair shop that we </span><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_s1029" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Grandpa Joe Bill's blacksmith shop" style="'position:absolute;margin-left:-18pt;margin-top:2.95pt;width:180pt;" allowoverlap="f"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\IRISJO~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image007.jpg" title="703220902@17032007-3144"> <w:wrap type="square"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >always called "the blacksmith shop." I</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/SyiMAyCsWKI/AAAAAAAABBU/qfBDSZ6IVNQ/s1600-h/Blacksmith+shop+and+grain+elevator.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/SyiMAyCsWKI/AAAAAAAABBU/qfBDSZ6IVNQ/s320/Blacksmith+shop+and+grain+elevator.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415732496973977762" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >n many ways Great-Grandpa Joe Bill was carrying on the tradition of the blacksmith. He even had a forge where he heated metal red hot before he worked it on a big anvil, just like old-time blacksmiths used to do. Later Great-Grandpa Joe Bill sold his blacksmith shop and became the town handyman and plumber. Today, Grandpa Pat is starting a business as a town handyman in Wave</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >rly. See what I mean by some things change and some things stay the same? By the way, the little white building in this picture was Grandpa Joe Bill's blacksmith shop in 1958.</span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" > Well, LalaBug, I hope I've given you a bit of an idea about how Waverly came to be, what it does and why it stays small. Waverly will never be big like Grand Prairie or Dallas because it doesn't have big factories or businesses to give people jobs, but it still serves the farmers of our area. The grain elevator is one of the busiest places in town during the summer. We've lost our hotels. </span><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_s1030" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Farmer Jones" style="'position:absolute;" allowoverlap="f"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\IRISJO~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image009.jpg" title="703220902@17032007-3152"> <w:wrap type="square"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;color:black;" >The barbed wire factory has been gone so long few people remember it, but this is still a good place to call home. Your Grandpa Pat and I are happy to have returned here. We're going to enjoy our own little bit of farming as we plant our garden and watch it grow.</span><span style=""> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="">Love you!</span></b></span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style=""><span style="font-size:100%;">Grandma</span></span></b><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <!--[endif]--><!--[endif]-->Grannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876408722763613716.post-61967584813763370632007-03-20T23:34:00.000-05:002007-03-21T00:30:41.963-05:00Flat Lala Helps Grandpa Make a Closet<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >Dear Lala,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Yesterday Flat Lala stayed home with Grandpa. We didn't get any pictures, but she helped him install a closet at Angie's house. Grandpa had cut all the boards before time in our garage, but the biggest board was too big to go up the stairs. It was six feet wide and wouldn't go around the corner. (Sort of like getting Mama's mattress upstairs in <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">Texas</st1:state></st1:place>.) Grandpa and Flat Lala rubbed their chins and scratched their heads.
</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >Grandpa sent Flat Lala to the top of the stairs to pull and he pushed from the bottom. Ugh. It didn't work. It got stuck.</span><span style="font-size:100%;">
</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >They scratched their heads some more. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">"Its a shame it isn't flat like me, " Flat Lala told Grandpa. "Then you could fold it in the middle and take it up the stairs."
</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >"That's it, Lala!" Grandpa cried. "I can't fold it, but I can cut it!" Grandpa cut the six foot board into two 3 foot wide boards. It was so easy to carry up the stairs then that Flat Lala didn't have to pull at all. She got to ride on the end while Grandpa carried the boards up the stairs.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >Miss Angie is really happy with her new closet. She says she's going to paint it pink. Flat Lala thought that was an excellent idea. Now if Miss Angie were just flat, she could get lots more clothes in her closet. :)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >Love, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Grandma</span></p>Grannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876408722763613716.post-45153490556225193422007-03-20T23:32:00.000-05:002007-03-21T01:51:04.197-05:00Flat Lala helps Garden<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgDVhXcgpwI/AAAAAAAAABc/WQCPfQgCRFU/s1600-h/plant+potatoes.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgDVhXcgpwI/AAAAAAAAABc/WQCPfQgCRFU/s320/plant+potatoes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044266351860950786" border="0" /></a>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dear Lala,</p><p class="MsoNormal"> Flat Lala was busy tonight! She helped Grandpa and I plant garden. We were putting the potatoes in the dirt when she hollered, "Grandma! You're doing it wrong. The cut side goes down so the green parts can grow up to the sun." We had to go back and fix the potatoes we had planted.
</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> She and Grandpa were much more careful when they planted the onions. Everything went in properly the first time. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> Later this week we will be going to the nursery in LeRoy to buy tomato plants and other seeds. Some seeds like cool soil for growing; others want it warmer. We can't plant the tomatoes outside until the ground is warmer, so we'll keep them in the house by a window until the ground is ready. In the meantime, they will look like a small forest of tall stalks and green leaves on the table. Won't that be funny?
</p>Love,
Grandma
<p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p>Grannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876408722763613716.post-69832139308652983712007-03-20T23:30:00.000-05:002007-03-21T01:28:52.338-05:00Resting at Home<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgDNY3cgptI/AAAAAAAAABE/y2ZlANTwyPs/s1600-h/with+Hagar.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgDNY3cgptI/AAAAAAAAABE/y2ZlANTwyPs/s320/with+Hagar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044257409739040466" border="0" /></a>
<div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > <div>Dear Lala,</div> <div> </div> <div>Flat Lala had a busy day today. When she got back from work with me, she ran into the living room and played with Hagar. They tussled and played until Hagar rolled on his back and demanded belly rubs.</div> <div> </div> <div>After that Flat Lala sat on the couch with Grandpa and watched TV. Grandpa offered her some red Jello, but she wasn't hungry.</div> <div> </div> <div>I made her a new skirt and beret. She is wearing them here where she is reading a bedtime story. The fun part about the skirt is she can slip it over her head and wear it for a poncho. She liked the beret best because it matched her blouse and shoes.</div> <div> </div></span></div> <div> </div> <div align="left"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><span class="000333504-14032007">Love you!</span></span></div> <div align="left"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><span class="000333504-14032007">Grandma</span></span></div> <div align="left"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><span class="000333504-14032007"></span></span>
</div>Grannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876408722763613716.post-8544701828135140022007-03-20T23:15:00.000-05:002011-08-20T19:06:11.221-05:00At Southeast Kansas Library System with Grandma<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgDINHcgprI/AAAAAAAAAA0/1JsXbaHEe6I/s1600-h/Making+calls+for+library+visits.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgDINHcgprI/AAAAAAAAAA0/1JsXbaHEe6I/s320/Making+calls+for+library+visits.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044251710317438642" border="0" /></a>
Dear Lala,
Flat Lala went to work with me. She helped Sally type library cards, and helped me make telephone calls. One of my jobs as Library Consultant is to visit libraries in the 15 counties that SEKLS serves. The next day I visited a library in Mound Valley, but left Flat Lala home with Grandpa.
When I got to Mound Valley, I showed the librarian there the picture of Flat Lala on my cell phone. "Did you bring her here? I want to meet Flat Lala." I was sorry to say, Lala stayed home on the piano today. But I've learned my lesson. Next library visits, she'll travel with me in my purse.
Love,
GrandmaGrannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876408722763613716.post-17346442306802056632007-03-20T23:05:00.000-05:002007-03-20T23:56:26.556-05:00Grandma meets Flat Lala<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgC4LncgppI/AAAAAAAAAAk/OPpiWfRSehQ/s1600-h/Flat+Lala+and+Grandma.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgC4LncgppI/AAAAAAAAAAk/OPpiWfRSehQ/s320/Flat+Lala+and+Grandma.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044234092361590418" border="0" /></a>
This charming pink paper girl just doesn't look like a FLAT STANLEY. She has been sent to me by my granddaughter Lala and she's standing in for Lala on this visit. While she is at my house, I am going to call her <span style="font-weight: bold;">F</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">lat Lala.
</span><span>I have been writing e-mails to Lala to keep her posted of Flat Lala's adventures. I'm going to collect those letters and post them on this blog so all the family and Lala's friends at school can see what Flat Lala has been doing.
</span>Grannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876408722763613716.post-71388439432831676982007-03-20T22:42:00.000-05:002007-03-20T23:14:10.547-05:00The Challenge -- er The Assignment<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgCuGncgpmI/AAAAAAAAAAM/BPAc6wVqvzk/s1600-h/Flat+Lala.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_RAsRdPF5-h8/RgCuGncgpmI/AAAAAAAAAAM/BPAc6wVqvzk/s400/Flat+Lala.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044223011345966690" border="0" /></a>
The second week of March 2007 I received a package in the mail from my granddaughter Lala. Inside I found this message:
Dear Friend or Relative:
As part of our integrated Reading, Writing, Language, Social Studies and Mathematics programs, the children in my class at St. Andrew's Episcopal School [Grand Prairie, Tx.] have read a funny book called <span style="font-weight: bold;">Flat Stanley </span>by Jeff Brown. The book is about a young boy named Stanley who is accidentally squished "as flat as a pancake" when a bulletin board falls on him. Stanley is very, very flat but otherwise fine. The story goes on to tell how Stanley discovers some real adventures while being flat. He can slide under doors, go down into sidewalk grates, and even fold himself up small enough to fit into an envelope and be mailed to California for an exciting vacation.
We are sending out plain paper dolls that we call FLAT STANLEY, and we are sending them off to visit cities all over America and the WORLD. I have selected you to be FLAT STANLEY's "host family" and hope that you will send him back to me after a short visit telling us and/or sending us (my class) pictures of something about your city and the exciting things FLAT STANLEY saw or did while he was there. We would also appreciate it if you could let us know approximately how far your city is from mine (Grand Prairie, Texas) so that we can calculate the numbers of miles FLAT STANLEY has traveled. Of course, FLAT STANLEY would also appreciate it if you could "dress" him to reflect the season you are in, or an activity that he did, or other clothing that would tell us more about where you live.
Thank you for letting my FLAT STANLEY come to visit you!
PS It would be fun to get a postcard from FLAT STANLEY in your town, too!Grannytillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682955182048426007noreply@blogger.com0