I am going to suggest you do what I did and that is film or record your parents telling you the history of their family and the history of how they came to live in the Osage and even if you are one of those folks just following this blog and not from the Osage I suggest you do the same in order that you NEVER FORGET YOUR ROOTS AND THE VALUES THAT MADE AMERICA WHAT IT IS TODAY.
Of course now that dad, Cliff Olson, has passed it is the evidence of these tapes and some interviews that I am going to share with you his roots and how he came to put those roots down in the Osage. One more thing I want to share before I begin and that is the blessing I received on my 50th birthday.
Dad had been sick for about six months and on December 8th, 2002 he passed away and on December 10th we had a memorial service. On December 9th, 2002 was a surprise birthday party at my house put on by my wonderful wife, Shouna. The timing could not have been better as so many friends were there. I don't know how my wife did it since she had tons of food and all kinds of activities going on around the house. There were people from all over the country who came for my 50th. I guess I was just too pre-occupied to notice. That party was what I needed at the time as I had just lost from this earth my best friend, Dad.
In 1945 Dad and Mom had purchased 160 acres of bottom land on Beaver Creek for $5,000 plus furniture, machinery and a harness for another $100. As a surprise to me they actually lived around Manhattan, Kansas for a while before moving back to Grainola where Mom was raised. In about 1946 Dad decided to put in electricity. The thing about Dad was that he never saw anything he could not figure out. Even when he was in the Air Force they asked him if he knew how to wire things. He said he could figure it and they saw that he was a small man, about 125 lbs sopping wet so they put him in the nose of airplanes re-wiring them after they were shot up during air raids. Dad said he made sure he did it right because when the pilot tested his work Dad had to ride with them.
Well back to the electricity. Dad could not find an electrician so he found a buddy and they proceeded to wire the house. Now if I were a betting man it was Bill Head, Danny's dad, because Dad always used Bill to wire things and he was always bragging on how good Bill was. Anyway the tape did not say who it was that helped on Mom and Dad's first house in the Osage. Dad said they did not have all the connectors and boxes like they do today so he just soldered and black taped every joint.
By the way did I mention that they wired the house from the crawl space which is a small area generally about 18 inches high underneath the house. That meant they had to crawl all around underneath and drill holes to shove the wire into to be able to put in an electrical plug or light in every room of the house. The most amazing part was during this process they had gotten out to go eat and when they came back to crawl under the house they found two copperhead snakes that had been with them all morning and the days before. Dad and his buddy were pretty gun shy after that about getting under houses. Dad always said there are no good snakes besides dead snakes. I once tried to convince him that some snakes just killed rats and mice but he did not care. If you check back to one of my earlier stories when he was cowboying down in Louisiana they were crossing a bayou and a couple of snakes got on his horse with him so he decided he would ride the ferry the rest of the way.
Well there is a lot more to tell but I am going to break this up in to small stories each day for a few.
So, what do you learn in the Osage?
gary@thepioneerman.com
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| Cliff and Opal Olson |
Of course now that dad, Cliff Olson, has passed it is the evidence of these tapes and some interviews that I am going to share with you his roots and how he came to put those roots down in the Osage. One more thing I want to share before I begin and that is the blessing I received on my 50th birthday.
Dad had been sick for about six months and on December 8th, 2002 he passed away and on December 10th we had a memorial service. On December 9th, 2002 was a surprise birthday party at my house put on by my wonderful wife, Shouna. The timing could not have been better as so many friends were there. I don't know how my wife did it since she had tons of food and all kinds of activities going on around the house. There were people from all over the country who came for my 50th. I guess I was just too pre-occupied to notice. That party was what I needed at the time as I had just lost from this earth my best friend, Dad.
In 1945 Dad and Mom had purchased 160 acres of bottom land on Beaver Creek for $5,000 plus furniture, machinery and a harness for another $100. As a surprise to me they actually lived around Manhattan, Kansas for a while before moving back to Grainola where Mom was raised. In about 1946 Dad decided to put in electricity. The thing about Dad was that he never saw anything he could not figure out. Even when he was in the Air Force they asked him if he knew how to wire things. He said he could figure it and they saw that he was a small man, about 125 lbs sopping wet so they put him in the nose of airplanes re-wiring them after they were shot up during air raids. Dad said he made sure he did it right because when the pilot tested his work Dad had to ride with them.
Well back to the electricity. Dad could not find an electrician so he found a buddy and they proceeded to wire the house. Now if I were a betting man it was Bill Head, Danny's dad, because Dad always used Bill to wire things and he was always bragging on how good Bill was. Anyway the tape did not say who it was that helped on Mom and Dad's first house in the Osage. Dad said they did not have all the connectors and boxes like they do today so he just soldered and black taped every joint.
By the way did I mention that they wired the house from the crawl space which is a small area generally about 18 inches high underneath the house. That meant they had to crawl all around underneath and drill holes to shove the wire into to be able to put in an electrical plug or light in every room of the house. The most amazing part was during this process they had gotten out to go eat and when they came back to crawl under the house they found two copperhead snakes that had been with them all morning and the days before. Dad and his buddy were pretty gun shy after that about getting under houses. Dad always said there are no good snakes besides dead snakes. I once tried to convince him that some snakes just killed rats and mice but he did not care. If you check back to one of my earlier stories when he was cowboying down in Louisiana they were crossing a bayou and a couple of snakes got on his horse with him so he decided he would ride the ferry the rest of the way.
Well there is a lot more to tell but I am going to break this up in to small stories each day for a few.
So, what do you learn in the Osage?
- know where you are going, it might be a little snaky
- be careful what you say you can do like wiring cause it might get you air born
- most likely when you marry a woman you are gonna wind up moving close to her home
- buying 180 acres for $5000 represents opportunity for a vision or a dream but if you missed it when is the best time to grab the opportunity? NOW
gary@thepioneerman.com
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