Saturday, December 26, 2009

Steve's Education

I remember making several contributions to Steve's education and his ability to cope with life and be a success.  Among these educational increments are the following:
  • The aforementioned Grandma's Lye Soap.
  • The touching ballad "I won't Go Huntin' with you Jake"
  • The lesson in physics about centrifugal force by teaching him to twirl a full slop bucket full of goodies overhead without spilling a drop.  Awesome.
  • How to take care of the bike I loaned him and Ann while I went to Bozeman and had paid for with my 75cent an hour bathroom cleansing job.  As I recall, the next spring all that remained was a broken chain, a few bent spokes, and a dilapidated carcass.  Oh well, for a good cause.
  • The wisdom gained from my stack of "funny books" which I fervently wish I had saved for posterity.
  • My boy scout manual which I expected to inspire him to be an Eagle Scout since I was never able to get past 2nd class on account of the swimming stuff which I couldn't exactly master in the irrigation ditches.  Which he generously returned to me 100 years later.
  • How to be extremely quiet and not move a muscle, thus irritating big brother since Steve was not supposed to be in my private room anyway.
  • I never thought of throwing garbage through the hole in the wall from the door handle.  It took the genius of A & S to do such diabolical deeds.
  • How to behave on the school bus, get to the school bus on time, and how to be respectful at all times.
As you can see, the above fund of information was about all any one would ever need to get through life and I know that it has stood Steve in good stead.  Though I firmly believe A & S committed more egregious deeds and got away with  it than the righeous big brother.  Life just isn't fair.

6 comments:

Ann said...

What fun to find these treasures on the blog. In defense of Steve and the claim about the bicycle being mistreated, the rest of the story must be told. There was an older bike still at home (I do not know the origin of that bike). Then there was Dwight's newer bike that was left in Penrose, which provided an absolute treasure trove, because now there were two bikes to ride. These gave Steve and me or Judy and me or Steve and Judy wings to fly.
The bikes were in need of some TLC, so we would, from time to time, perform surgery on them. We (Steve and me) would take them apart and grease them up, fix the chains, mend the inner tubes, put them back together (extra parts were always kept just in case)and then we would take off. The rutted roads in Penrose made for bone jarring rides, and after a good rain storm, the puddles on the oiled road leading up to the top of the hill and the stop sign by the black oil tank provided incredible splashes. Those bikes were our means for exploring, going down to the river bridge, parking on one side,with the bikes well hidden, and then climbing down on the pier under the bridge to spy on interlopers who dared cross our bridge, etc.
So, with apologies to Dwight that there wasn't much left of the bikes when he checked on it/them, I will always be appreciative for him providing us with a way to go adventuring, without using legs that just couldn't cover that much ground. What a fun memory.

Steve Blood said...

A red Schwinn and a blue Hiawatha if I am correct. One very cold, clear Christmas morning we were told to go up to Grandpa's where we were escorted to the garage, (we were not allowed in the garage normally) there we found two bikes that looked brand new. Dad had refurbished the bikes and hid them there from prying eyes. At the time I thought they were from Grandpa it wasn't until years later that I realized that it was Dad's handy work. To my knowledge he never said a thing.
Great educators start young and It appears that I was Dwight's test tube by his own accounts. I have attempted to teach "I won't Go Hunting With you Jake," to all of my children. The gene pool has been tainted.

Elizabeth said...

I really needed to add my two cents worth about bicycles. Alas, my lot was to never learn to ride. When Dwight got the Swchwinn bicycle, which he shared with Louise (I thought it was for both of them), I had the privilege of running alongside Louise while she rode, but I was never allowed to try to learn. They rode the bike into oblivion, so my opportunity passed. When I was a senior, I stayed with Shirley Kells in town to be in the class play. She and Louise Knutson tried to teach me how to ride, but I was beyone redemption by then. (Brig tried years later and almost killed me.) So, when Judy, Ann, and Steve were the fortunate recipients of the reconditioned bikes, I had already left home. You can see how completely deprived I am in life. When people comment that I have learned to do a lot of things, my rejoinder is that I never learned to ride a bicycle. Boo hoo.

Judy said...

So, is Elizabeth telling us that the famous picture of her with her hair all curled after just getting her pigtails cut off, is just a staged picture? It looks real just like she really rode that bike.

Elizabeth said...

I was just following orders from my big brother - staged all the way. The important thing is that it was from pigtails to perm. Big deal, going into the 7th grade.

Dwight said...

This is supposed to be about how I educated Steve not about girls.