1934 continued.

April.
   1. Easter, went to German Communion , The roads were muddy, dyed Easter eggs for Florence in afternoon. 5. School was cancelled all week as Miss Hangen was sick. 7. Mother's birthday. Had a music lesson. 8. Outside all day, beautiful weather. 14. Music lesson. 15. Went to Grandma Nelson's house. 17. Got new shoes--very nice.18. Broke heel of new shoe in race at school. 23. Dust storm. 25. Race and track day at school. 28. Music lesson. 30. Dust storm.
May.
   10. Terrible dust storm. 22-23. Hauled wood. 25. Put away books at school. School is out. 26 Music lesson. 29. English and science exams. 31. History exam.
June.
   1. Picnic. 3. Dust storm. Mission fest at church. 5. Plant Garden. 7. Music lesson. Had glasses fixed. 14. Dentist in Zumbrota. 15. Rhubarb at Reese's. Florence stayed overnight at Margaret's house.17. Harlan Albers Birthday party. 21. Glory, Glory Hallelujah! I passed my exams. Got letter in the mail. 23. Music lesson and dust storm. 29. I graduated from Eighth Grade. 225 students attended ceremony in Red Wing.
July.
   3. Cut Rye. 4. Picnic at our place--Ice Cream. 6. Hoed thistles. 7. Hauled Hay. 8. Hauled Hay. 19. Florence's Birthday--2 years old. 22. So hot we slept outside. 108 degrees. 23. Slept outside. 106 degrees. 28. Music lesson. Cut grain in P.M..
August.
   3-7. Threshers are here. 15-16. Canned corn, plum jelly and peaches. 21. Canned corn, green beans, peas, and apple butter. 22. New Sear's Catalog arrived. 27 Canned green beans. 28 Started to fill silo, made Jam.
   The dust storms continue. I remember that once we drove by an area where there was a clay pit for the Red Wing pottery, and she remembered people working there who lived in tents and cars. Didn't realize that passing you final exams meant that you could go to High School. If you didn't pass, your education was over. Seems that there was plenty of work on the farm in the summer, that probably explains the fewer entries in the diary. 
 

1934 Diary

On December 22, 1933, Eleanor received a diary from her Sunday School teacher. 1934 was the first diary that I have found since she began the habit of keeping a diary. There are many gaps in the years, maybe I will be lucky and find more. I have decided to add the material in these diaries to this blog in hopes that children, grand children, and great grand children will gain some appreciation of Eleanor.
1934: January.
   Early January entries are mostly one word per day and describe the weather: nice, sleet storm, cloudy, snow, foggy, and the occasional beautiful day. 15 School begins with a new science book and a book to read "Uncle Tom's Cabin".16 Edna has the measles. Little did Eleanor know how much of an impact this event would have over the next several weeks. 17 Ben Franklin's birthday. 18 Daniel Webster's birthday. 19 Florence is 11/2 years old, Robert E. Lee and Edgar Allen Poe's birthdays. 20 Sledding in the pasture. 22 Finished "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and began David Copperfield. 28 Windy with a dust storm. I missed school due to bad weather. 29 Father went to Zumbrota. 31 Mother went to Red Wing to get a driver's license.
February.
   6 I am sick with the measles. 9 All broke out, itching worse, nearly dead. Temperature 103. 10 Feeling better, I have missed five days of school. 12 Measles are awful, Lorraine came down with them. 14 Received Valentines Day cards in the mail. Lorraine is itchy and cranky. Ready to go back to school, but school is closed due to measles.20 Cold and windy, dust storms.
March.
   1 Spring like day. 5 Dust storm. 7 Went to Red Wing to pick up Confirmation dress, slip, and shoes with Margaret. 14 Lenten services, Margaret brought me home afterward. 15 Dust Storms. 17,18,21 Confirmation classes 24. Last Confirmation Class, took cloths to Margaret's house.. 25 I am Confirmed. It went well. I got a book and a scarf. 28 First Communion, received a hymnal as a gift. 30 Blizzard. I missed first group Communion at Church, and was the only one who was not there.
   I have often asked Eleanor about the Great Depression, and she has always claimed that she  had no memories of it. I was surprised by all the references to dust storms even after rain in Minnesota.  

A great visit.

   Joanne and I went to South Dakota to visit Eleanor at Barb and Keith's home. We had a wonderful time which included a fall foliage tour , and a short tour of Volin, South Dakota.Eleanor is doing well and we had a wonderful visit. She was happy and alert, and didn't seem as tired as she did when she lived in Seward. Kudos to Barb and Keith for the great job they are doing, and to everyone who has stepped up the letter and postcard writing. She loves to get her mail and hear from everyone.

Moving.

       About a month ago, my sister Barbara asked Eleanor to move to South Dakota and live with Barb and her husband Keith. Eleanor agreed, and I have been busy getting Eleanor ready to make the trip to South Dakota. Doctors visits, trips to the optometrist, and Miracle Ear, have kept us busy this month. I have made arrangements for a U Haul to pack her furniture for the move, and we have begun the process of packing her belongings for the trip. She is nervous about her decision, but remembers how much she enjoyed having her Aunt Margaret live in Mississippi with her. Change is difficult and sometimes it seems like it is easier to stay with the same routine rather that try something new. Mary Ann is coming to visit on August 24th, and will help with the packing. We plan to move on August 31. Wish us luck!

St. John's

   Eleanor's brother Howard, and sister Lorraine are both at the Red Wing Manor in Red Wing, Minnesota. Lorraine is in the Alzheimer unit, and Howard is in physical therapy after several falls put him in the hospital. The Manor is located in the old St. John's Hospital, where Eleanor went through nursing training, and gave birth to me. It has been a central location in her life.Her sister Lorraine also trained as a nurse there, and her sister Florence worked there for years
   Before she was to report for training as a Army nurse in 1942, she went to visit her grandfather Nelson in Lake City, MN. When she arrived, she found him on the floor of his home. He had been having difficulty living at home,and Eleanor was worried that he was so frail that she couldn't leave him alone. Eventually she found a doctor friend who would admit him to St. Mary's in Red Wing. She left the next day for nurses training in Iowa, and was notified the following day that her grandfather had died at St. John's. She was comforted by the fact that he did not die alone in his house.Now with Howard and Lorraine both at the Manor, she feels a sense of concern but also comfort that they are in a place familiar to her and her family.

Update.

   Eleanor seems to be doing well since her surgery last Thursday. Thanks to Barbara, who came to Seward on Friday and Saturday to provide support and assistance to Eleanor. Yesterday, Eleanor played Farkle, a dice game, in the activities room. Her friend Evelyn told her it was a waste of time, but Eleanor had a good time, and it's better than sitting in ones room. Thanks to Jill for the wonderful card with the cat in the hammock She has it placed on her table and comments on how nice it is every time I visit. Thanks to Mary Ann and Nette for the cards and phone calls. Eleanor loves to get mail and enjoys all the cards and notes she gets.
   Her surgeon called her two days ago to ask how she was doing and if she was taking her antibiotic pills. That really impressed her! Donna Meeks, Eleanor's sister in law, called and asked if Eleanor was doing well; she had a sense that she was not well--" a disturbance in the force?" We had been praying about the surgery, so maybe Donna was on the same channel.
   She received a letter from Bryan Hospital informing Eleanor that the information and I.D. card for new pacemaker should arrive in about one month. That was news to me, as I was under the impression that she was only having a battery replaced. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and cards!

part II

   Just talked with the Doctor. Everything went fine. She will probably be discharged to go home this afternoon, and we can go back to Seward.

The Big Day. Part I

   We arrived at Bryan Hospital at 10:30 am,and I am now sitting in the waiting room at the surgery center. The procedure should take about 30 minutes,d and the doctor will come and visit with me when he has finished. Eleanor is in good spirits, but would like some coffee and a bite to eat. They plan to replace only the battery, but will have to look at the electrodes to see if the are in acceptable condition. I guess its time to wait and see how it goes.I should hear something by 2 pm.

Pacemakers

   Tomorrow Eleanor and I are going to the Bryan Surgical Center to have a new battery put into her pacemaker. This has not been an easy decision to make, as Eleanor struggled to make up her mind as to whether or not to have the battery replaced. She had a very difficult time when the original pacemaker was implanted, and worries about the surgery. We have been packing a bag in case she has to stay overnight, and making preparations for a bath with surgical soap this evening. She is nervous and still wondering if she shouldn't cancel the procedure. If you have a chance to send a card to her apartment it would be appreciated. Prayers are welcome via the appropriate channels.   

Flowers and Sunshine.

   I have been taking flowering plants and cut flowers to Eleanor for the past two weeks. Joanne sent a white Amaryllis to her apartment two weeks ago, and and it was beautiful. Several of the nurses aides commented that the white ones aren't seen too often. Eleanor enjoyed watching the plant with it's four white flowers bloom. When it had finished she asked me to get her some daffodils, and tried to remember the poem about "Daffodils" that her mother always recited.She remembered it for the most part:

"I wandered lonely as a cloud

            that floats on high o'er vales and hills,

     When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils,

         Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 

           Fluttering and dancing in the breeze"

 She has been enjoying her daffodils this week, and the Amaryllis  that we had thought was finished, has decided to produce another set of blooms. I would guess by Friday it will be time to bring in new flowers. 

   Eleanor called this afternoon and told me she wanted to sit outside in the courtyard, as everyone has been talking about the beautiful weather we are having. It was a bit windy, but we enjoyed watching the courtyard squirrel finding his buried nuts in the courtyard. I was glad that she decided to get up, get dressed, and leave her room for a change. 

Lord I believe, please help me through my doubts.

   I went to a funeral yesterday for an old friend, Virginia Downing. I met her when I first started teaching in Seward, she was in the final few years of her career and I was a first year teacher. She was an excellent teacher, and had the desire to help those who were starting out in their careers. Virginia was born in 1919, so she was older than Eleanor, she was healthy, but had Alzheimer's so her final years of life were not easy.
   At the funeral, the pastor used the story of the centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant, Jesus asked if he believed in him, and his reply was yes, but. I was talking with Eleanor about the yes, buts in our lives and she told me that as she has grown older she is more certain about her relationship with God. She has a hard time reading and hearing, but she still tries to listen to the tapes from St. John every week and read the large print Portals of Prayer devotions. It is becoming increasingly difficult for her to get around, so corporate worship is not easy to attend. I'm glad the yes, buts are now only yeses for her.

Funnies

   I had coffee and mixed berry muffins with Eleanor this morning. I asked if I could take the Sunday newspaper to the recycling bag at Heartland. Eleanor wasn't sure that I should take the comics, as Sam or Austin might like to see them. The boys enjoy looking at and reading the comics when they stop to visit her.
   She remembered that as a child, her grandfather Nelson would save the newspapers in his workshop. When Eleanor would visit, she would go out to the workshop and read and color the comic strips. She always looked forward to going through the papers looking for comics. When they were ready to return to the farm, they always brought the saved newspapers with them, as they were used in the outhouse.
   I can remember visiting my grandparents farm in Minnesota and visiting the outhouse with its pile of newspapers and catalogs stacked between the two seats on the outhouse bench.