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prairiechat thoughts from the heartland prairiechat thoughts from the heartland menu skip to content about clarence favorite quotes poetry photography genealogy family memories march 6 2025 by prairiechat haiku 3 6 2025 snow covered mountain so beautiful to behold masks a frozen core cj holm posted in poetry tagged haiku mountain snow leave a comment february 21 2025 by prairiechat haiku 11 30 2021 found by the door between the day and the night life s empty spaces cj holm spoon and empty bowl waiting for the chicken soup after winter storm cj holm wild red raspberry growing near a forest trail spring revelation cj holm posted in poetry leave a comment february 17 2025 by prairiechat a prairie rose a prairie rose standing tall in sand and gravel growing strong where few would travel silent beauty flowers of red and gold prairie s symbol of a story untold cjholm posted in blog poetry prose tagged flower north dakota poetry 4 comments february 16 2025 by prairiechat haiku 2 16 2025 moss covered riverbed on a lazy summer night egrets watch for prey cjholm posted in poetry tagged egret haiku moss poetry riverbank water white 1 comment february 12 2025 by prairiechat haiku 2 12 2025 frost covered feathers explode from field s white blanket fox considers plight cj holm posted in poetry tagged cold fox haiku poetry winter 1 comment february 10 2025 by prairiechat haiku 2 10 2025 long white icicles rendering midwinter scene starlings crowd the roosts cj holm posted in poetry tagged cold haiku poetry winter 1 comment january 28 2025 by prairiechat tanka 1 28 2025 open sign posted inviting all to enter still the doorway s locked smile is an invitation that is shuttered by a glare cj holm posted in hate poetry tagged haiku poetry tanka 1 comment january 26 2025 by prairiechat haiku 1 26 2025 dried broken branches piled behind old backyard shed garden s castle keep cj holm posted in poetry tagged haiku nature poetry 3 comments january 24 2025 by prairiechat haiku 1 24 2025 photo attribution http www forestwander com wikimedia commons winter s falling snow delays springtime s bright colors pausing floral show cj holm posted in poetry tagged haiku photo poetry snow spring 1 comment january 24 2025 by prairiechat river ice in 1963 my family began moving off the farm the first apartment we moved into in valley city was on the second floor of an older home located one block south of central park our family filled the smaller space with only two bedrooms and a single bathroom finding an area to sleep in at night was hard jack and jerry temporarily slept in an unfinished attic room off the dining room jim eugene and i slept on a pull out couch in the living room mom and dad slept in their bedroom while joanne and my grandmother slept in the other bedroom it was an exhilarating time for us our apartment was located on the south side of valley city two blocks away from the state teachers college and a half block away from the sheyenne river valley city was a lovely small town that was known for its scenery the city was known as the city of bridges the river twisted its way throughout most of the town surrounded by tree lined slopes bordering it on all sides my mother had reservations about living near the river she told us that one of her uncles had drowned during swimming lessons in the sheyenne river and the riverbank was full of quicksand she did her best to make us afraid of the river but that plan quickly failed the lure of fishing and crawfish hunting was too much to resist until we moved into the city our only experience with water was in the small sloughs on our farm the water in these was not very deep but it was deep enough to hold a raft made by roping together dead trees from the shelter belt across the road eugene and i were used to the raft and spent much time floating on it and reading comic books our oldest brother had figured out the easiest way to babysit us was to give us comics push us and the raft out to the center of the pond and anchor us there with nowhere to go and lots of reading material we happily sat out there for many hours while our older brothers went about their day when on the farm i had only one friend who wasn t related and lived within walking distance of our home his farmhouse was less than a quarter mile away and he and i lived for adventure we hunted gophers snakes frogs toads and salamanders who volunteered to be the stars of the wild prairie circus we built we also dug endless holes looking for the buried treasure under the trees we spent hours inspecting the large apple tree with small green apples hanging on the branches we were told they were baking apples that would be too sour to eat but we tried them anyway and they gave us horrible stomach aches we carried bucket after bucket of water that we poured down gopher holes thinking we could drive them out of their tunnels into our snares we collected the tails from the gophers caught in our steel traps hoping to make a fortune by turning them in for the state s three cent bounty payments unfortunately his dog found the tails and ate all our profits one day i woke early and walked over to my friend s house to find he was gone the doors to the home were left open and the house was deserted i was told they didn t get a crop meaning they had no money to pay the rent they had packed up and left in the night i never saw my friend again not long after that it was our turn to leave the farm because of a drought our crops that year were terrible my dad found a job working for the state highway department as a grease monkey grease monkey was a term for a beginning mechanic assigned all the jobs no one else wanted my father did not appreciate the title but he stuck with it and worked there for many years clawing his way up the ladder to be one of the better mechanics in the shop we loaded our possessions into a truck and moved into the city settling in the apartment we didn t take long to meet our new city playmates who lived in the immediate area i remember meeting and playing with the iverson the bongs and many others we had so many things to keep us occupied neighborhood ball games street soccer swimming lessons tennis practice and going fishing at the little dam which was only four blocks away in the backyard of our building was a work shed we commandeered as our fort we played games from morning till night in it and kept ourselves busy after our first christmas in the city gene and i got the idea of expanding the fort by piling christmas trees that were left outside after the holiday for garbage pickup our neighbors were happy to give us their old trees and we happily dragged all the trees within a few blocks of our house to our backyard after we had collected thirty or forty trees dad noticed our fort he did allow us to play in it for one weekend and then he found a neighbor who helped haul them all away there was so much to do in town during the winter for young boys there were considerable hills to sled down skating rinks to slide on and snowy trails to explore during that first winter in town one of my friends told me that he heard that a person could walk under the bridges and capture pigeons when the river was frozen it sounded like a great adventure and i eagerly volunteered to go with him we knew we would be in trouble if anyone caught on to what we planned to do so we kept our mission a secret waiting for the christmas holiday we put our plan into action because my parents were not around during the day we walked to one of the nearest bridges and walked onto the ice we checked around the bridge and all the birds appeared to be gone that day so we started to leave suddenly my friend thought he heard something so he said to run and get away i took a few steps and the ice gave way under me i slipped entirely underwater i remember opening my eyes and seeing the ice above my head luckily i was wearing a large parka that had filled with air and it pulled me up into the hole above me i grabbed the hole s edge but could not pull myself out i called my friend to help me i started to scream for help and my friend told me to be quiet because someone might hear us i thought that someone hearing me would be a good thing but my friend i later found out hadn t told me that he had been on the ice before with a friend and the boy had gone under the ice and did not make it back up and had drowned that s why my friend was terrified that it was happening again i kept asking for help and finally he helped pull me up onto the ice i was freezing so i ran to the apartment no one was home so i went to the bathroom removed my clothes and ran a hot bath to soak in my grandmother came home and found me in the tub she asked me what had happened and i said i had fallen into the river she got a very shocked look on her face i knew immediately it was only a matter of time before retribution would occur stupidity would not be a good defense and i knew facing the music was better than trying to delay it to this day i do not go on the ice i do not go ice fishing in fact i have a hard time watching ice skating and hockey cj holm posted in family memories tagged broken ice camping danger hiking ice ice fishing moving nature rafting story travel 1 comment post navigation older posts follow blog via email enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email email address follow join 1 173 other subscribers topics topics select category blog 681 challenge 373 family memories 226 farming 87 foolish thoughts 431 genealogy 42 hate 21 holiday memories 40 insurance 11 love 59 marketing 16 photography 321 poetry 1 033 prose 85 riverbank 1 school memories 15 sweden 3 uncategorized 1 woodworking 1 search archives archives select month march 2025 february 2025 january 2025 april 2024 march 2024 february 2024 january 2024 november 2021 july 2021 june 2021 may 2021 april 2021 december 2020 november 2020 october 2020 september 2020 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