December 21, 2010
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Events I remember while I was working at Felco
I remember that Sharon and I moved into our new apartment that we had furnished with things we had purchased at a store in Lakeview, Iowa. I believe the name of the store was Parkinson’s.
We had purchased most of the basic things we would need to set up house keeping. The only “luxury” item was a console stereo radio and record player. Sharon had a few things like a TV and I had really nothing to add.
I remember coming home from work the first day after we had moved in and there were boxes and stuff scattered all over the place. Sharon was not there and I panicked because I thought she had left to go back to Dysart. Just a few minutes later she walked in the door and I really told her that when she went somewhere to leave me a message. We were both 26 years old and had been on our own for quite a few years, especially her.
We lived there in the 7 room apartment for a couple of years until a close friend from Felco, where we worked together invited me to meet a friend of his that had built his house and was a contractor.
I was able to negotiate a deal with him to buy a house in Northeast Fort Dodge. He had just started building the house and with my construction experience I was able to get the house at a lower price because I was going to do all the house finishing , painting, floor covering and the yard work.
We worked at getting all that done and when we had enough finished to be livable , we moved into the house at 21st Avenue North in Fort Dodge.
1st House in Ft. Dodge 21st Ave. North 1st House in Ft. Dodge
We had made many friends while we lived in Fort Dodge. I had transferred my Army Reserve location from Cherokee, Iowa to Fort Dodge. We made friends with a couple with 3 children that were also friend of Denny and his wife Arty, the friend that I worked with at Felco. Jim and Sharon Nevins became good friend there in Fort Dodge. Jim was a paper salesman from a paper company that we purchased most of our printing paper.
Jim and I attended Army Reserve meeting together and I will devote a section of this book to the Army Reserve experience sometime.
Jim and Denny, their wives and Sharon and I started going to a dance club that was held at the
Knights of Columbus hall in downtown Fort Dodge. We added a few more couples to our group and had a very good time. During the course of our Dance Club days, we ended up taking our turns at being President, Vice President and Treasurer of the dance club.
The Vice-Presidents job was to find and get bands to play at the dances. I remember the names of a couple of the bands were “The Jane Russell Trio” and a band called “Four Jack and a Jill”.
We usually danced until midnight or sometimes later, but after we finished dancing, we always went out for early morning breakfast to a restaurant out in the Fort Dodge Mal area.
I remember so many things about our times together with Denny, Arty Wessels and Jim and Sharon Nevins that I would take a lot of space reminiscing al of them. Here is where I might get to rambling.
I recall our summer vacation family fishing trips to Legion Lake close to Bemidji, Minnesota, many summers. We would not only fish, but we would get together in each other’s cabins in the evening and play a traditional game called “Pig” It was a simple kids game, but we made it into a fun time for adults.
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Rules for the Game of “Pig” also called “Spoons”
To play the Spoons version, you also need one spoon for each player except one. EXAMPLE: With 8 players, you need 7 spoons. For Pig and Tongue, no extra equipment is needed.
Goal
To be the first to collect four cards of the same rank. If an opponent beats you to that goal, to not be the last to realize it.
Setup
For each player in the game, you need four cards of the same rank from the deck. For example, with 5 players you could use the Aces, 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s.
Shuffle the cards and deal them to the players. Each player will have four cards.
If you're playing Spoons, put the spoons in the middle of the table so that every player can reach them.
Gameplay
Players simultaneously choose one card from their hands, pass that card to the opponent on their left, and pick up the card they've received from the opponent on their right. Each player can never have more than four cards in his hand, so it's illegal for a player to pick up a new card before passing one to the left.
When a player collects four of a kind, he does one of the following actions, depending on which version of the game is being played:
- Spoons: As subtly as possible, take a spoon and place it in front of yourself. (We used plastic spoons and they got broken!)
- Pig: Quietly place a finger on the tip of your nose.
- Tongue: Quietly, but visibly, stick out your tongue. When one player does this, every other player must do likewise as quickly as possible. The last player to grab a spoon, touch his nose, or stick out his tongue is the loser.
OPTIONAL: While playing Spoons or Tongue, players who either take a spoon or stick out their tongue can continue to pick up and pass cards, making it more difficult for other players to realize what has happened. (The player who actually collected four cards of the same rank must always pass the card they just picked up, because passing any other card would break up their four-of-a-kind.) This option is not available when playing Pig, since one of your hands will be occupied with touching your nose.
Scoring
The last player to grab a spoon, touch his nose, or stick out his tongue is the loser and is eliminated from the game. Remove a set of four cards from the deck and play another round.
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From time to time Jim and Denny and I would drive into Bemidji and tell the girls we need to get some fishing lures. This would give us an opportunity to visit one of our favorite spots … the local Maid-Rite Café. One time we went in to Bemidji after tell the girls our usual excuse and I remember Denny had 3 maid-rites and Jim an I both had 2 maid-rites plus we all had French fries and Pepsi drinks.
What we were not aware of was that the girls got suspicious and discovered from somewhere what we were doing.
When we got home late that afternoon we were dumfounded to find that they did fixed a complete dinner of Rubin sandwiches
with all the trimmings. Well, to say the least, we didn’t want to reveal what we had done so we sat down and ate another meal that left all three of us so sick of eating that we never snuck off again.
There were many other events during my time at Felco from 1966 through 1974 that I remember and they were definitely a part of my life. I will just list some of them below:
A. Planting a hedge at Denny and Ardy’s place when we first met
B. Going out for breakfast at a place downtown in Fort Dodge for Ham & Eggs and Hash browns. The name of the spot started with an “E” like Edith’s.
C. Going to “Mike’s (downtown Fort Dodge) for Mike’s famous Coney Island hot dogs with French fries.
This was a real small “Hole-in-the-wall” place with only a few booths and the round bar stools at the counter. The dishwasher would come
out and mop the floor while we were eating.
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