On most Saturdays, we would go to town, either Belgrade or Fullerton. Mom would buy salt and supplies. There was a 5 and 10 cent store in Fullerton, but Mom made a lot of our clothes out of flour sacks. On Sunday we would go to the church our Grandfathers built. Sunday afternoon we would visit friends or relatives or someone would come over to visit us. The men played pinnacle (a card game). We could hear them laughing as we played with our cousins.

On the farm we would follow behind the plow, barefoot. Dad planted corn with horses pulling a planter that used a "check wire" across the field. Stakes held the wire at each end of the row. I do not remember how much it must have hurt when I accidentally poked one in my barefoot.

After each farmer had used a binder, cut, and bundled the oats and wheat, neighboring farmers worked together to harvest the grain. The threshing crew would come. There was a big steam engine and a big straw pile. The ladies, together, cooked a big lunch. Dinner, it was called then. There were big bowls and a big table. The men sat around the big table and ate well. We did not have or even know about air conditioning, not even fans. In fact there wasn't any electricity. Grandpa had put ice in his cave during the winter for use in the summer.

We usually went to the "Oldigs" (Grandma Hellbusch's Family) family reunion each year. It was held at the Pawnee Park in Columbus, Nebraska. There was a big wooden horse swing that hung with cables from high up in a Cottonwood tree. Two of us could really get that swing to go very high and to swing really a long way.

At church on Christmas Eve, we had a Christmas Eve program. We memorized our parts, got up and bashfully said our memorized parts. Afterwards all the kids received a paper bag filled with all kinds of nuts, apples, and candy. The next morning at home---Santa had been there. Remember the good times!