The my kids all came to the house today for a late lunch. All the usual foods. We all eat way too much. Made over the grand Kids a little more than normal.
My Uncle (Old Iowa) also made it back from Arizona. He would have been coming home in few weeks anyway. So he just packed up the camper and hauled butt back here. He is part of the funnies.
He is a retired JD Dubuque plant worker. HE bleeds green. The day he left to go to Arizona I put two CIH bumper stickers on his camper. I put them down low so if you where standing they where hard to see but if you where in a car behind the camper you could see them. He got all the way down there and was there a few days when the guys in the camp grounds he stay at started to raze him about the CIH stickers. HE was HOT. LOL So I got him for once. HE is the biggest practical joker there is so score one for me. LOL HE will get me back but I will get him too.
Then the other funny memory. He and I got to talking and telling stories about family members long gone. The younger kids have not heard some of these stories so we try to tell them when we all are together.
We remembered digging my Great Uncle Richard's grave. Well we did not dig it we where just old enough to be there while the grown ups did the hard work. This would have been in the late 1950s. I was only 8-9 years old.
To really understand what made this funny you need a little back ground on my Uncle Richard. He was a bachelor. He lived with his spinster sister until she died in 1952. He never married, never dated that anyone knew about. He farmed a little and did general farm work for local guys. He also would dig wells and clear stumps out for guys. He loved to use dynamite. He just about always had some on him at all times. He would carry a stick in the outside pocket on his bid overalls. The fuses he carried in the top button pocket on his bibs. He had zero fear of using dynamite. Scared the heck out of everyone around him with it at times. LOL HE was kind of our local "Red Green" kind of a guy but with dynamite.
One time he was working on this big Burr oak stump. It was huge. He drilled four holes around the stump and put a 1/2 stick down each hole. He usually would get the stumps to just kind of raise up out of the ground not go flying everywhere. Well this time this stump was a lot bigger stump than what was common. The 1/2 sticks did not do the trick on the stump. He was PO at having to blow it again so he drilled six holes and used 6 full sticks under the stump. Well that was little much. LOL This stump was right next to this farmer's lane. That is why he wanted it out of the way so he could widen the lane. When Uncle Richard lit it off this time he got the stump to blow out alright. It took about 50 ton of dirt with it too. The hole was so big the farmer's lane was completely blocked. It gets even better. The stump hit the farmer's hay barn and damaged the roof. Needless to say the farmer was not real happy with my Uncle Richard. It took them weeks to get the lane and barn fixed.
So when My Uncle got into his mid 70s his heart was giving out in him. Nothing could be done in those days. He finally just did not wake up one morning. So My Great Grand Dad and my Grand Father dug the grave at the family cemetery. The side of the cemetery that his grave in on is right on some bluff rock. His was the last grave to be dug on that side. So when they got down to about three feet that hit ledge rock. I mean solid limestone ledge rock. So they had to hand drill holes into the limestone and blast it loose to get the grave deep enough. What they did not know was that his grave was on top of a hollowed out spot in the limestone. So when they blew the first charge nothing came out of the hole. When they went to see what had happened they found the hole now was twenty or more feet deep. LMAO They had blew the top out of the hollowed out spot. They had to haul rocks and dirt for two days to get the grave back up to where they could have a normal grave. I remembered all the hard work it took on that grave. My Grand Dad was trying to get my Great Grand Dad to just use the hole like it was and just fill it later. He said what difference did it make if the coffin was deeper. LOL A bunch of the other relatives all teased that Uncle Richard would have less distance to travel to his final destination. LMAO So even when he went out of this world he had to do it a little differently.
Maybe this is not funny to you folks but it is to us.
My Uncle (Old Iowa) also made it back from Arizona. He would have been coming home in few weeks anyway. So he just packed up the camper and hauled butt back here. He is part of the funnies.
He is a retired JD Dubuque plant worker. HE bleeds green. The day he left to go to Arizona I put two CIH bumper stickers on his camper. I put them down low so if you where standing they where hard to see but if you where in a car behind the camper you could see them. He got all the way down there and was there a few days when the guys in the camp grounds he stay at started to raze him about the CIH stickers. HE was HOT. LOL So I got him for once. HE is the biggest practical joker there is so score one for me. LOL HE will get me back but I will get him too.
Then the other funny memory. He and I got to talking and telling stories about family members long gone. The younger kids have not heard some of these stories so we try to tell them when we all are together.
We remembered digging my Great Uncle Richard's grave. Well we did not dig it we where just old enough to be there while the grown ups did the hard work. This would have been in the late 1950s. I was only 8-9 years old.
To really understand what made this funny you need a little back ground on my Uncle Richard. He was a bachelor. He lived with his spinster sister until she died in 1952. He never married, never dated that anyone knew about. He farmed a little and did general farm work for local guys. He also would dig wells and clear stumps out for guys. He loved to use dynamite. He just about always had some on him at all times. He would carry a stick in the outside pocket on his bid overalls. The fuses he carried in the top button pocket on his bibs. He had zero fear of using dynamite. Scared the heck out of everyone around him with it at times. LOL HE was kind of our local "Red Green" kind of a guy but with dynamite.
One time he was working on this big Burr oak stump. It was huge. He drilled four holes around the stump and put a 1/2 stick down each hole. He usually would get the stumps to just kind of raise up out of the ground not go flying everywhere. Well this time this stump was a lot bigger stump than what was common. The 1/2 sticks did not do the trick on the stump. He was PO at having to blow it again so he drilled six holes and used 6 full sticks under the stump. Well that was little much. LOL This stump was right next to this farmer's lane. That is why he wanted it out of the way so he could widen the lane. When Uncle Richard lit it off this time he got the stump to blow out alright. It took about 50 ton of dirt with it too. The hole was so big the farmer's lane was completely blocked. It gets even better. The stump hit the farmer's hay barn and damaged the roof. Needless to say the farmer was not real happy with my Uncle Richard. It took them weeks to get the lane and barn fixed.
So when My Uncle got into his mid 70s his heart was giving out in him. Nothing could be done in those days. He finally just did not wake up one morning. So My Great Grand Dad and my Grand Father dug the grave at the family cemetery. The side of the cemetery that his grave in on is right on some bluff rock. His was the last grave to be dug on that side. So when they got down to about three feet that hit ledge rock. I mean solid limestone ledge rock. So they had to hand drill holes into the limestone and blast it loose to get the grave deep enough. What they did not know was that his grave was on top of a hollowed out spot in the limestone. So when they blew the first charge nothing came out of the hole. When they went to see what had happened they found the hole now was twenty or more feet deep. LMAO They had blew the top out of the hollowed out spot. They had to haul rocks and dirt for two days to get the grave back up to where they could have a normal grave. I remembered all the hard work it took on that grave. My Grand Dad was trying to get my Great Grand Dad to just use the hole like it was and just fill it later. He said what difference did it make if the coffin was deeper. LOL A bunch of the other relatives all teased that Uncle Richard would have less distance to travel to his final destination. LMAO So even when he went out of this world he had to do it a little differently.
Maybe this is not funny to you folks but it is to us.
