The Independent-News, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 6 January 1983 — Page 5

Rural Readers Describe “Worst Winters”

WHEW’ When Country People magazine asked its readers to send their recollections of the worst winter they can recall, the magazine’s editors got a blizzard of mail from rural folks anxious to share some wild wintry tales. Okay, got the fire stoked up and a nice warm sweater or blanket to cover your shoulders? Then let’s check Country People’s mailbag for the best of the bunch: “As we sit here this winter morning with a -29° temperature, a wind chill of more than -80° and visibility almost zero because of the blowing and drifting snow outside, we’re actually thankful, ” Mrs. Wilbur

This lowa Farmer “Read” Moby Dick While on Tractor \\ A\ M ANDRI WS mas be one ot the best read tanners around. W ell, maybe that should be changed to “best listened" tanners around. Here’s the background: Wayne, who farms near Bonaparte, lowa, has a tape player in his tractor cab, and makes good use ot it to listen to tapes ot good books. "My wife taped the entire book Les Miserable* that was being read in segments over station WOI last summer,’’ W ay ne explains. "It took me nearly all fall to listen to the whole book. But it really made the time go by. "A couple of scars ago she taped all ot Moby Dick, and that lasted all through ms spring fieldwork. I'm ‘reading’ some pretty good books out there on my tractor.” Other fanners short on reading time use the tape players to keep up on business and to become better (Continued on EX TRA cage 2 Ummm! Could That Be Fresh Bread Baking? IF YOU have a really good homemade bread or homemade rolls recipe, enter it in Country EXTRA ’s next recipe contest. Our next contest category is "Homemade Breads and Rolls”, and with the winter months here, sharing your best recipe with our EXTRA readers should be greatly appreciated. As usual, we’re looking for truly unique, new, different types of recipes, as well as old stand-bys that never fail to satisfy. See contest rules in "Next Recipe Contest” box on EXTRA page 4 By the way, if you enjoy these every-other-month recipe contests in Country EXTRA, you’d love Earm Wife News magazine—it features a national recipe contest every month!

Eange of St. James, Minnesota writes. "Thankful for what? you might ask. Well, at least this isn’t as bad as the storm of 1975, when we were without electricity for almost 52 hours. We made the best of things

the first night of that memorable storm, thinking our power certainly would be back by morning. But that

wasn’t meant to be the case. "As nightfall of the second das without any heat approached, the question became how we were going

JANUARY 1983 f Cmnii sm Adding Extra Humor, Photos and Fun to Your Rural Newspaper r I m •f— VJUMk MAKING IT OFFICIAL, Harrises touch wheels in Pacific after coast to coast journey Farmer Took Tractor Surfing

FARMERS have been known to do some wild things, but few have taken a tractor and driven it, as Larry Harris puts it, "from sea to shining sea”! The 26-year-old farmer from Greens Fork, Indiana accomplished what—as far as he knows—no one else had ever done before.. .drive a tractor from one coast of the United States to the other. l.arry didn’t do it to sell anything or win anything or to impress anyone. "I just wanted to see if it could be done and how long it would take,” he explains with a । smile that’s hard to hide.

to keep warm another night. "Well, as farmers we know that animals generate a lot of body heat —so we decided to spend the night in the barn w ith the cows. With each family member taking an armful of blankets and rugs, we made our

“Without electricity, we got so cold we slept in the barn with the cows!”

room, cleaned the floor and put down clean, dry straw on which to lay the rugs. After some time of listening to the cows bellowing and

way to the barn for the experience of our lives. We rearranged some cows in different stanchions to make

What sparked this crazy traveling notion? Well, it was winter in Indiana, the ground was frozen and spring planting was months off... and L.arry just felt like doing something. He’d just purchased a 6 year-old Case tractor, and he was itching to try it out. Late-Night Phone Call "I wanted to see what it could do,” he explains, "by getting some hours on it. So 1 thought I’d try something conservative...like drive to Indianapolis.” I arry grins. "But then I thought, why not do something really crazy? (Continued on EXTRA page 3)

JANUARY 6, 1983 - THE INDEPENDENT NEWS -

the chains around their necks jingling and jangling, everyone eventually dozed off. "The next day, a neighbor who had a generator came and rescued us, and that night our electricity finally returned. If ever there were screams of joy. it certainly was that time!” Memorable Birthday A number of readers sent in their recollections of the winter of 1936-37, among them Mrs. Joseph R. Erickson of Wakefield, Nebraska. "There was so much snow and drifting that winter,” Mrs I rickson (Continued on EXTRA page 2)

She Thinks God Plays the Piano! & "M\ 111 11 I NIKI was very frightened o t th under an J lightning,” Jolene Du \ all of ~n, lowa writes, "so my sister, to calm her down, told her n was just the angels playing the drums "Ilie little girl thought that over toi a minute, then a big smile replaced the frown on her face. A ou’re right. Mom” she said. ‘ And I think I can hear God playing the piano, too!’ ” * 1 Newlyweds Had Weird Welcome To Farm Home "W HI N 11 COMES to -welcome home’ surprises for newlyweds, ours has to be among the craziest”’ Jane Kleiber ot Shullsburg, Wisconsin said in a recent letter to f arm A Ranch I icing magazine. "When my husband, Pat, and 1 came home from ours, we were welcomed to our farm with the gales tied securely and a T or Sale’ sign hanging on them 11 he sign even belonged to a neighbor Realtor’) "(.limbing over the gates we noticed a ‘Just Married’ sign painted, of all places, on our Harv estore, 2-foot letters—2s feet up in the air. "Being brave and venturing farther, we entered the house, which was full of crepe paper hanging down from everything. To top that, we found 3 inches of shelled corn on our living room floor and in the bathtub. "Further inspection showed our toilet filled solid with Jell-O. All the labels were taken off our canned goods. "All this joyful handiwork was done by my husband’s brothers, their wives and neighbors. You see, my husband is the practical joker in the family—and they were getting their turn!” 1

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