[Sable99]

I have wonderful memories of my paternal grandparents. We lived with them on the family farm. I never heard my grandmother say one bad thing about anyone! She was the sweetest woman I've ever met. My granfather went to college but his life was farming. I never saw them affectionate with each other although he used to give her small pinches on her arm that he called 'love bites"!! After he passed away, Granny showed me her scrapbook! That stern old German sent her a card every day they were dating!! He only went to colllege about 20 miles away but they didn't have phones! She saved every one of those cards in a scrapbook. By the way, the cards were beautiful three dimensional cards!! I have them now.

Every Saturday, we spent the day making German noodles and homemade bread. We would roll out the noodles on the entire kitchen table. Early Sunday morning before church, Gramps and Dad would take care of all the animals and Granny and Mom would put the dinner in the old coal stove! After church, my aunts and uncles and their families would show up for our big family dinners! We had a huge lawn in front of the barns and after dinner we would play either softball or touch football. In the winters, my Dad would flood the yard (pumping the water from the well) so all of us kids could ice skate! Oh, what memories.

My great grandfather lived to be 101. I remember his stories of seeing Abraham Lincoln's "election" train. That always amazed me.

My maternal grandparents lived farther away so I didn't see them as often.