Old Red Barns

A video of this can be found on my timeline on facebook. This is the script I used, but this blog can't post it because of too much memory. (or something like that.)

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I’ve just written another poem for the purpose of  using it to make a video, editing it, and recording it for viewing. I won’t have my ten-year old granddaughter by my side guiding me this time. This is all in preparation for the projects we intend to undertake this spring. More information about that will come later, but for now I hope you enjoy this poem about something happening in the countryside.

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Friends, those old red barns keep tumbling 

down, and it’s  sad to see them go

They stood muscling their shoulders

against assaulting blizzard winds

that howled and wailed against their walls.

Inside cows stood and chewed their cud

while giving their milk. Here cats  

meow-begged for a milker to squirt

a stream of milk at them. Farmers 

took pride in those barns while their wives 

often said he took better care of it

than he did the house they lived in.

Then times changed, tractors pulled the loads

and horse stalls stood empty.  Stanchions

for milk cows rusted without cows.

Tractors could not enter low door

openings. Little use was made

for these proud out-dated buildings.

Shingles weathered, water leaked in

 starting the slow rot of timbers

and boards. The peak of the roof sagged,

walls caved in, and winds kept wailing

to their predestined victory. 

…….

Some of the old red barns disappear each year. We took them for granted while growing up, but now we note their growing absence on the landscape. They’ve outlived their usefulness. I offer this as a lament. I hope you enjoyed it. Have a good day.

RANDOM THOUGHTS - March 28, 2025

 PBS programing accounts for about one-half of our household’s viewing time  …  A couple generations from now we will be forgotten  …  I met some “code talkers” and they deserve recognition  …  The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around  …  Our government is intended to function with three separate but equal branches (it’s in a history book) …  There’s a herd of wild rare curly-haired mustangs running free in Wyoming  …  “…of the people, by the people, for the people.”  …  “the whole nine yards” refers to the length of the ammo belt in a WWII fighter plane  …  Without a living memory of past events some will believe everything they hear. Antidote: read history books  …  Picture of a local cowboy saddled up and ready to ride was called Bill Dee by the famous poet Tom McGrath.

Our Old Sayings

 Our language is riddled with so many old sayings, maxims, axioms, platitudes, whatever term you hang on them that it is hard to hold a conversation without some of them entering into the exchange. Take these for instance: This isn’t my first rodeo, or make hay while the sun shines, or you’re preaching to the choir. As far as their meaning these are pretty self-explanatory. But there are other examples for which the original meaning or use has been lost.  

Some interesting and often-used expressions have original meanings that we have completely forgotten. Trust me, I didn’t know these meanings either. For instance, let’s “break the ice.” One of the places we use it occurs when there has been a rift and people aren’t communicating well. In reality it refers to the time of poor roads where ships provided a primary means of trade. When water in the ports iced over, small ice-breakers sailed out to “break the ice” so trade goods could be delivered.

Here’s one that’s been directed my way: “Cat got your tongue?” We hear it when we have a loss for words and can’t respond. Its original meaning does not have much meaning for us on the prairie.  My source said the English Navy used to used a whip called “Cat-o-nine-tails” to flog  rule breakers, and the resulting pain hurt so badly that the victims couldn’t speak.

We “turn a blind eye” when we want to ignore something. This goes back to the time of Admiral Horatio Nelson, the English naval hero, who had one blind eye. He exhibited a bit of what I’d call orneriness when he received the signal to stop attacking a fleet of Danish ships. He turned to his flag captain, Thomas Foley, and said "You know, Foley, I only have one eye — I have the right to be blind sometimes," and then, holding his telescope to his blind eye, said "I really do not see the signal!” He ordered the attack to proceed and whipped them badly.

“Go the whole nine yards” surprised me when I found it’s original meaning. We use it mostly to put our best effort forward, but it comes from the fighter plane days of World War II when the belts of ammunition for the machine guns in planes measured out to nine yards. If a pilot used the whole nine yards, he’d been presumed to have done his best in aerial combat. Speaking of that we can add “putting our best foot forward.” Shakespeare used it in one of his plays.

One dictionary definition of “Letting your hair down” means to allow yourself to behave more freely than usual and enjoy yourself. Maybe dancing uninhibitedly fits, but, of course, its meaning goes back to medieval times when women wore their hair with highly-gathered hairdos. After coming home from an event where they had primped to look their finest, they undid all the pins and let it tumble down for comfort.

Being “caught red-handed” is thought to date back to 15th century Scotland. At that time, it was very common for thieves to steal and kill other peoples’ livestock because it was easy to get away with the crime. It was a crime that was hard to prove unless the thief was actually caught in the act either with the animal or with the blood of the dead animal on his hands, hence the phrase “caught red-handed.” Of course, we apply it to cases where someone is caught doing something wrong.

Our daily language literally brims with these little sayings. I’ve been “given a cold shoulder” many times when I’ve been intentionally ignored or treated in an unfriendly way. Who knew it originated in the early 1800s when Sir Walter Raleigh wrote about it. It alludes to the custom of welcoming a desired guest with a meal of roasted meat, but serving only an inferior cold shoulder of beef or lamb to those who outstayed their welcome.  

 

The phrase "run of the mill" originated to describe uninspected goods produced by a mill. It later became an adjective to describe something as average or ordinary.  Handlers of livestock know about “gate run.” It means they run, say 30 head or more in the ring, sell them so much a head, you take as many as you want, but you can't pick and choose.

Mysterious words and phrases fill the English language leaving some wondering what that meant. I’m going to “hit the hay” originated in the nineteenth century when people slept on sacks stuffed with hay. Of course they wanted it fluffed up a bit by hitting and squeezing it, but it also helped to put the bugs on the run. 

Ask a young person about the “party line.” Some might not know, but then I guess their language is sprinkled with words and phrases for which I don’t have a clue.

The Lady Mayor

Sometimes a witty saying really does apply to people or situations. Take this one for instance: “Time flies, but leaves its shadow behind.” A fitting example is Agnes Kjorlie Geelan, a one-time mayor of Enderlin. It would be interesting to know at what age local individuals might never have heard about her. She was quite effective during her term of office from 1946 to 1954 where improvements were made in Enderlin such as paving the streets, installing new water and sewer systems, and negotiating for a better deal with the electric company.

I remember her, not that I cared since I was too young and didn’t live in Enderlin, but nevertheless I couldn’t avoid table talk. She made news in 1946 when she became the first female mayor of an incorporated North Dakota town.

She came to Enderlin after marrying a Soo Line employee named Elric Geelan. It didn’t take her long before she became active in civic and political affairs. She became an officer in the auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Trainmen, and a few years later was elected president of the North Dakota American Legion Auxiliary. Her involvement in the community rose to meet another challenge in 1946 when she became the mayor.

Rolling up her sleeves and going to work as mayor, she found humor in her nomination for that office. She expressed surprise when learning she’d been nominated upon returning home from a trip. Wondering why, she asked how this happened. The answer, “Agnes, you’ve bitched so much about city government, we figured we’d give you a chance to see if you could do any better.” She went on to say that she must have done all right since they elected another lady, Doris Smith, to  succeed her.

Mrs. Geelan added another first to her resume when earning the role of first woman elected to the North Dakota Senate. After being nominated as a candidate for the U. S. Congress in 1948 and 1956 she did not win election. A lifelong pacifist, she voted for a resolution asking the U.S. to pull American soldiers out of Korea. 

In 1988 she asked the North Dakota congressional delegation to arrange for her to observe the American and Soviet arms negotiation in Geneva, Switzerland. That request failed, but through the office of Kent Conrad she did receive an invitation to observe the UN’s session on disarmament in 1988. A little icing on the cake came when she was invited to attend the UN secretary general’s reception.

In retirement, she wrote books, the most notable being a biography titled The Dakota Maverick: The Political Life of William Langer. I took the book from my  shelf and began rereading it to refresh my memory. Her writing style is aggressive, just like the accomplishments in her career. I know from my reading of history that Langer’s first job as the assistant states attorney of Morton County was the first rung in climbing his political ladder. He earned a reputation as a fearless law enforcement officer.

Mrs. Geelan wrote about his lighter side, too. Langer found time for Mandan’s social life and apparently loved dancing. After receiving an invitation to a formal ball, he found a date and called for her in a cab and brought a corsage for her. She wrote, “Those luxuries were almost unheard of in Mandan in 1911, when even automobiles were scarce. When Blossom Lang and William Langer stepped out on the dance floor, all eyes were on the handsome attorney, elegantly dressed and a superb dancer. Langer charmed the young people and became as popular in this western town as he had been on the campus of the eastern university. After another occasion, however, he had quite a time living down the fact that he came to his first ski party wearing a top hat.”

The cap to her busy career came near the end of her life. For a number of years the Newsweek magazine honored individuals by naming them “Newsweek American heroes.” Her peace activism caught the attention of the award committee in 1988 and bestowed the honor on her. 

Two days after Mrs. Geelan passed away on March 10, 1993, Senator Kelly rose on a point of personal privilege and made remarks to enter into the Journal of the Senate. While it is too long to quote here, one of the statements he made said, “As the first woman elected to the North Dakota Senate, Agnes Geelan proved that women could secure and handle legislative leadership positions.”

He concluded with this remark, “In her outstanding career Agnes Geelan received many well-deserved honors for years of service to her party, her state, and nation. We will long remember her as a dedicated public servant who served her beloved North Dakota long and well.”

Video Too Large for Blogger

 I recently posted a video on facebook. As I always try to do, I wanted to place it on this blog. I received the notice that it is too large for this site. So anyone wanting to look at it, just go to facebook and type my name in and it will be there someplace.

We had fun making it. My ten-year-old granddaughter helped me. Last summer she had taken a short class using "Capcut" which is a video editing tool. She still knew how to do it. Then she said, "Grandpa, you need an intro and an outtro." So we made and added them, too. 

When the grass turns green this spring, we plan to get out to the country and make more videos concentrating on some historical sites in Ransom County.

RANDOM THOUGHTS - Friday, March 15, 2025

On this day, March 14, 1912, the US cookie brand “Oreo” trademarked its name … A super good Netflix documentary about baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan titled “Facing Ryan” … Read a history book … Snoop Dogg’s IQ is 145 … I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done … I’m brushing up on v-logging for some work in the field this spring and summer … Fewer Canadian tourists will be visiting U.S. … Fargo wants to build a convention center … Nice breakfast made by Sheldon Lions last Sunday … It’s both Pi day and potato chip day today … Temps up and down and I think I’ve got bronchitis … A '49 Ford like I learned to drive with ...

Teamsters Hauled It All

 After the large Sibley Expedition passed through Ransom County in 1863 at least one of its participants liked what he saw and returned to live here after the Civil War ended. James M. Kinney served as a “wagon” or muleskinner, driving a six-hitch supply wagon.

The local Sheldon Progress editor wrote about him as an old man of seventy-seven who had walked from his home into town from somewhere on the Sheyenne River, a distance of sixteen miles in six hours time. On March 10, 1911, snow still covered the ground, and he remarked he could’ve arrived in Sheldon sooner but the snow slowed him.

Reaching town about 2 PM he had to spend the night until the NP train arrived in the morning on its way into Lisbon. His purpose for traveling was to spend the winter in the North Dakota Soldiers Home. As was common, overnight guests often found amusement at Chauncey Durgin’s saloon. That evening Kinney’s storytelling attracted an audience who sat listening to his experiences on the Dakota plains.

His early employment of driving a stagecoach in Minnesota wasn’t exciting enough. He wanted action on the Indian frontier. On his last day he pulled in from a trip, delivered the mail, and let someone else tend to his team. He walked over to a recruiter and joined the ranks of Company B, 10th Minnesota as a wagoner under General Sibley’s command.

He found action all right. Before crossing into Dakota Territory, his company kept engaging in little skirmishes. In one engagement Indians succeeded in killing several of their horses. The soldiers fought from behind the dead animals. When the expedition concluded, Sibley declared it a success after they had traveled 1,039 miles in a little less than three months.

Now Kinney was free to join the Northern war effort in the Civil War where he again served as a wagoner. Maybe he was no angel since in the South he participated in some high jinks. The Union Army raided cotton warehouses whenever they found them. Kinney and the boys tried their hand at a little blackmarketing by stuffing cotton in the bottom of their wagon boxes and covering it with false flooring. It didn’t make them any money, though, since the scheme was discovered.

A personal experience caused me to become interested in his life story. I have relatives buried in several cemeteries in the Sandhills. While placing memorial flowers in the Owego Lutheran Church cemetery, I noticed a solitary gravestone on the west edge, its white marble defined against a green field behind it.

When he died a stone marker had not been placed over it. Possibly there had been a wooden cross, but it would have deteriorated over the years.. His death occurred in 1915, but not until 1939 was a stone marker placed. Colonel J.W. Carroll, Commandant of the North Dakota Soldiers Home, made application for it from the War Department.

I have a copy of the paperwork requesting government action which states “This application is for the Unmarked grave of a veteran. It is understood the stone will be furnished and delivered at the railroad station or steamboat landing above indicated, at Government expense, freight prepaid.”

Mr. Henry Ylvisaker was named to receive the shipment. As a committee member overseeing the cemetery he was to see that the marker was properly placed which is where it stands today.

An Easterner Looks at No-Till

 A recent opinion article by Dana Milbank that appeared a few days ago in the Washington Post newspaper  caught my eye. His headline,  “After 10,000 years, let’s bury the plow.” He went on to discuss no-till farming, a method of farming we in this area know something about.

His article encompasses a period 10,000 years to remind us of stories of tillage found in that span of time. His examples gave me impetus to dig for information and reminisce. He first referred to the book of Isaiah in the Bible. On the surface level we know this man to be a Bible prophet who lived in the 8th century BCE. By the way, BCE stands for Before the Common Era which is more sensitive to the non-Christian folks as opposed to BC which stands for Before Christ. Isaiah’s take on the situation looks ahead to a future where peace will reign supreme. Then swords will no longer be needed, but plows will be. Melt the swords and make plows.

His second example talked of a man named Cincinnatus. To quote, “In ancient Rome, Cincinnatus resigned as dictator to return to his plow.” I’ve always enjoyed the history of ancient Rome and remember the figure of Cincinnatus. In a nutshell he was called to Rome to lead the Roman army against an enemy. He led them to victory after which the government tried to crown him dictator. He refused, instead returning to his small farm where he wished to live and work.

Our country has its own Cincinnatus story. George Washington served two terms as president of the United States. He refused to run for a third term in 1796, an office he probably could have had with a nod of his head. He returned to his home at Mount Vernon  to live out his days. He was aged and tired and feared that dying in office would look like serving a lifetime appointment. Two presidential terms became a standard, that is until FDR served three full terms and part of a fourth. The 22nd Amendment now prevents that from happening. 

The interesting character of the Plowman added to the mix brought memories of high school English classes when we read Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The Plowman’s Tale added a character to the variety of people who appear as a mix of good and evil. Their virtues and vices reflect the complexity of human nature. The Plowman rides a humble mare but embodies a high level of morality because he does not pretend to be someone he is not.

The gist of this article so far has been about humble people who work the soil. I grew up when the moldboard plow reigned. Power increased and they kept adding bottoms to the plow until they seemed to hit a limit of practicality. Some of those plows found themselves parked in the tree grove where they rust-away. The idea of no-till caught on. In my subscription to the Successful Farming magazine I’ve found many past articles where the topic of no-till was covered.

One man from Williamsport, Indiana told of his experience with no-till that pretty much blends in with most thought about the method. He said he got fed up with soil blowing and washing off his farm due to tillage and decided it was time to try  something different. He stopped tilling and started growing cover crops. He became a a no-till, certified organic producer growing corn, soybeans, winter wheat, alfalfa, buckwheat, and peas on 7,000 acres. Every acre has cover crops. Back to Dana Milbank’s premise no-till farming reduces need for fertilizers and pesticides, and promotes soil health and biodiversity. 

The concept of no-till seems to be more in harmony with nature. Speaking of that I remember a conservative farming system called the Three Sisters. The ancient Native Americans practiced growing corn, beans, and squash together. The plants support each other and create a self-sustaining ecosystem. It’s simple yet quite sophisticated. The corn provides a trellis for the beans to climb on. Beans fertilize the corn and squash by releasing nitrogen into the soil. The squash prevents weeds, shades the soil, and protects the other plants. The yield from this system furnished much of their nutritional needs.

Milbank managed to find some statistics regarding the matter of no-till. He found that in 1973 over 82 percent of U.S. cropland was in conventional tillage with only two percent being no-till. Fifty years later only 27 percent used conventional tillage. It really caught on these later years when conventional tillage dropped by 8 percent alone. If we accept his numbers we see quite a change taking place in our farming techniques. The average farmer knows much more about this than I do, and if anyone wants more information simply ask one of your farmer acquaintances.

   

 

RANDOM THOUGHTS - Friday, March 7, 2025

 

There have been very few times when I had nothing to do  …  There is a difference between dissent and disloyalty  …  Read a history book  …  There are more people in Sheldon’s cemetery than now live in town  …  Head cheese is similar to a jellied meatloaf and uses flesh from the head of a calf or pig  …  How do you tell when you’re out of invisible ink  …  Today in 1965, state troopers used nightsticks and tear gas to attack American civil rights activists as they crossed a bridge in Selma, Alabama  …  In my centrist politics, conservatives can be ok, but not the crazy ones  …   Everyone needs a little help sometime  …  Picture shows Mary immersed in another project in which she is spending a lot of time researching and writing  …  

 

Statues of the Noted

I have visited our nation’s capitol on four different occasions, twice on business and twice as a tourist. While there it is almost mandatory to visit the National Statuary Hall where every state has placed two statues of their notable people.  Sakakawea and John Burke have been selected as North Dakota’s contribution to the collection. I set out to write this little article about them but hesitated after thinking it’s a bit mundane. Maybe some other time.

Would the sculptors of Sakakawea and Burke make for some interesting reading? Leonard Crunelle sculpted the statue of Sakakawea and Avard Fairbanks sculpted the statue of John Burke. Both of them did a nice job, but ho-hum, their personal lives don’t jump out to demand my writing about them. There was something else that begged a closer look.

That something else would be the mismatched proportion of women to men. Of the 100 statues in the Statuary Hall, women account for just fourteen of them. The familiar political name Senator Amy Klobuchar tells us what she thinks. “You don’t have to have a Ph.D. to walk around here and think, ‘Huh, they’re all men,’ ” Klobuchar says. “And that’s just wrong.”  She and a few others pushed legislation to add two more women, both Supreme Court justices: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’Connor. That bill saw passage in March of 2022. 

A Washington Post article appearing a few years back reported that a nationwide count of public outdoor sculptures tallied 5,193 with only 394 or about 8% of women. The reason for the mismatched numbers probably relates to our history of male-centeredness. Our heroes have been political or military man figures. We often hear Willie Nelson’s song “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys.”  

An artist pair named Gillie and Marc created a movement called Statues for Equality after noticing most of their orders for statues were for men. It has turned into a worldwide movement and some changes are resulting.

Returning to the fourteen women in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall, some familiar and unfamiliar names. Our own Sakakawea found a place in North Dakota’s books. It seems she became a replacement for Lewis and Clark when their guide abandoned them near Washburn, North Dakota. Her husband offered her services as an interpreter so they could  communicate with tribes as they made their way, and her personality was forever established as an important figure in the journey.

Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins represents Nevada. A Paiute Indian she received encouragement to get an education, learn English, learn the white culture so as to help the tribe in their interaction with the whites, to defend Paiute rights, and to create understanding. Life Among the Piutes is Sarah Winnemucca’s powerful legacy to both cultures, the Native Americans and the whites. Her autobiography Life Among the Piutes appeared in 1883, the first book ever published and written by a Native American woman. 

I recognize a few of the other names. Willa Cather stands in one of Nebraska’s spots. Many of us have read her books about life on the great plains, such as My Antonia, O Pioneers, Death Comes for the Archbishop, and more. Many consider her one of the foremost American female writers of the 20th century.

Alabama chose Helen Keller for one of their statues. At about the age of two she suffered an illness that caused her to lose both her sight and hearing. That would have stymied most people, but a tutor named Anne Sullivan came into her life who taught her to communicate. She developed her ability into the Helen Keller International that aids people with vision loss, malnutrition, and diseases enabled by poverty.

Amelia Earhart of Kansas became interested in aviation in 1920 after attending an air show where she took her first ride in an airplane. Two years later Amelia sets an unofficial altitude record for female pilots after flying to 14,000 feet. In 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Her attempt to fly around the world ended badly. She crashed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, but she had made quite a name for herself.

Montana’s Jeanette Rankin became the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916 for one term. Rankin was elected once again in 1940. A pacifist, she joined 49 others to oppose our entering World War I. Then in 1941 she became the sole member of congress to vote against the declaration of war on Japan, even after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The 19th Constitutional Amendment gave voting rights to women nationwide. She introduced its legislation. One other notable achievement was her helping to found the American Civil Liberties Union.

States have the right to exchange their statues for another person if they so choose to do so. Maybe with the awakening of this unequal proportion of women to men, other women will be added.