September 1957
WRH Dairy September 1957
September 1, 1957
Again the pattern is late sleep. Breakfast was most enjoyable-just Helen and I. However Debbs and Teri found out we were eating and each had a bowl of cereal. Debbs was weak as a kitten when she got up. Had a little fever. She is such a pretty-precious baby that my heart skips beats when anything is wrong with her.
Cozart and I walked down to the boathouse to take the boys fishing. To our surprise we found the three of them out in the double end Adirondack canoe. We straightened them out with a lecture. Scott and Billy are just beginners at swimming. We confined the boys to the house while Cozart and Teri and I went pike fishing. We had no luck so our intended lesson wasn’t quite as forceful as we had hoped. After lunch we took the wraps off the boys and went bass fishing. We anchored and used worms. We caught five bass and six assorted perch and rock bass. I had one 15 1/2 inches, two lb bass and one that weighed 1 1/2 lbs. Scotty and Bill Cozart were skunked. dinner and putting the girls to bed killed the evening.
September 2, 1957
Planned on a trip down the river to Alexandria Bay but the weather turned bad so we are postponing it. With strong gusts of wind and showers the day quickly turned to one of reading, writing, checkers, etc. Bill Cozart has the three boys all enthralled in the game of twenty-one. By popular name it is black jack. The boys use chips and keep track of what they would be losing. Ron said, “I’m glad my church preaches against gambling. I would have lost $60.00”
I sparked the lunch suggestions by starting preparations. Bill came to my aid so we prepared and served fish and chips. fish was the nice fresh bass we caught yesterday. Excellent eating. We are very low on groceries because of the double holiday. The children really enjoy the fire-works they have. We let them set off a few fire crackers and some sparklers each evening. Deb and Teri love to race around the dark veranda with sparklers. A bit of fishing in the evening yielded a nice bass and lots of perch and rock bass.
September 3, 1957
Real heavy rain storm last night with lots of lightning and thunder. I didn’t wake but signs of it and Helen telling me about it recorded its vigorness (sp). In spite of cloudy weather threatening skies and a good bit of a blow we decided to make the run down the river. Choppy was a mild expression for the white caps that danced along the river. On the run to the main channel on the United States side all the children were soaked with spray. We took pictures of the United States span of the international friendship bridge. We saw the man-made island-the island being removed to accommodate the new channel of the St. Lawrence Sea Way, Boldt’s Castle, his guest house, his boat houses etc. (look up Boldt Castle in Wikipedia)
We motored to Alexandria Bay where we had lunch. We then motored to the Canadian side, passed a river-ocean freighter and hit the open water for several miles to Gananoque. With the top up on the boat water and spray came over the top. Walt and the boys were drenched. We stopped at “Gan” got the boys haircuts and had ice cream treats before boating back to the island.
September 4, 1957
Up at 7 AM. The weather is still windy with scattered showers. We feed the Cozarts and loaded their gear aboard the boat. A rough ride to “Gan” where Walter and I saw them packed and off for Ottowa. They will return through New England and will probably stop at our house on Friday night. Walt and I took Rusty (Mr. Pratt’s 13 year old Irish Setter) to the vets for a bath. We will take him back to Locust Valley with us tomorrow.
We picked up a tank of propane gas at the dock to bring to the Island. Had hoped to take Helen golfing but weather didn’t permit. Walt and I worked at taking the Hinckley’s fishing poles apart. They are jointed rods but have been set with salt water for years. We used gasoline and oil as a penetration liquid. We finally had all three rods working fine. Took Teri and the boys fishing. Wind kept blowing us down the river. Our anchor wouldn’t hold. Scott caught the only fish-a perch. Ron however caught a nice bass off the boat dock. We asked Walt to lunch and then napped, showered and packed our bags so as to be ready to depart on the morrow. Wind and white caps still prevailed strong in the evening so we cancelled our plans to see a movie and spent a nice evening together as a family.
September 5, 1957
Six AM and the alarm went off. Hinckley’s begin to roll out of their sacks. We dressed and took our bags down stairs. Started breakfast and took all of our bags and gear down to the boat house. Debbie was very cross at getting up so early. Teri said a beautiful family prayer and we were all down at the dock by the time Walter arrived. Wind blowing hard. Trip to “Gan” was full of bounces and spray. I gave Walt two dollars and loads of thanks. the boys gave him a carton of American cigarettes as a gift. We loaded Rusty and his bed aboard and headed home.
At Watertown we took route #3 east and enjoyed a most beautiful ride through northern New York State and the Adirondack State Park. The mtns were most impressive and most beautiful. We had lunch at Lake Placid and drove on through the beautiful hard wood forests just barely turning to autumn colors to Lake Champlain. then south through Ticonderoga, Saratoga and thence to the thruway at Albany. Dinner at a Hot Shoppe on the thruway and on to Locust valley by 11 PM after 500 miles it is great to be home.
September 6, 1957
Had a hard time prying myself out of bed. The boys were already up and gone to their first day of school. I unpacked and cleaned out the car. Had breakfast and chatted with Helen, Mrs. Edwards and Mrs. Anderson. The Anderson’s 4 month old adopted son Mark was the center of attention. Cut a lot of flowers from the garden, Dahlis, Marigolds and Zinnias. Took some pants to the tailors to be taken in, in the waist. From 42″ to a 40″ waist. Need 42″ through the hips and fanny. Made a couple of calls in the village and checked in at the club. Everything under control. 63 kindergarten students were holding forth down stairs. Teri Ann was among them-her first day. Drove Helen and Debs to Glen Cove for groceries and a look see at some suits for Helen. Returned home to work on the yards. Mowed front and back lawns and Mrs. Baily’s lawn also. Enjoyable dinner with Helen and then a shower and off to Dr. Vorisek’s for a Boy Scout committee meeting. Stayed on to talk with Bob, Chat lasted until midnight.
September 7, 1957
It is work-work-work! All of the things I have put off this past year now stares me straight in the face. My desk is piled high with mail at the club but I am going to ignore it while I spend my last week of vacation working around the house. There are many things that need to be done around the house and yard but my income doesn’t permit doing them at the present. Worst of all and the most expensive of all is the job that has to be done of painting the outside of the house.
We are two weeks along with our football teams at the club. We are also very short of coaches. It has been a long time but I must again don a uniform and coach. I will work with tackles, ends and guards. Today was my first session. I took part in all drills and calisthenics so should do good to get out of bed in the morning. Ron is playing and shapes up good.
September 8, 1957
We called the Macdonalds re/conference schedule and that turned out to be a smart move. Because of the large numbers turned away at the last conference it was decided to have two conferences. One at the Queens ward chapel for Manhattan and Long Island and one at North Jersey for Westchester and the New Jersey crowd. We really enjoyed the conference. Lovely chapel, good seats and an excellent P. A. system. Scott, Teri and Debs attended Jr. Sunday School while Helen, Ron and I took in the general session of conference.
Conference had a missionary theme and was highlighted by Apostle LeGrande Richards speaking twice, each time for 45 minutes, following some remarks by some new converts and some remarks by active and former missionaries. We returned home had brunch and spent a quiet afternoon. We returned to Uniondale in the evening to attend sacrament meeting. Services were good and meaningful to our family.
September 9-17 have no entries.
September 18, 1957
Made my mind up to get a lot of the things done that I have been putting off. One of the biggest is work on the yards. I borrowed Bob’s wheel barrow and mixed a mixture of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 soil and 1/3 black rich leaf mulch. I sifted all the soil to rid myself of future headaches dealing with rocks. It was back breaking labor to top it off I put the back porch in on a permanent basis and painted the bottom of the steps. I worked at least 12 hours in preparing and mixing the top dressing. I put it on the front lawn and seeded that area. After borrowing Herb Edward’s roller and filling it with water and after raking my seed in good I rolled my front lawn well and left it with a prayer of dedication that it might grow well and help to enhance the beauty of our street and village. Children came home with a young beagle pup that I gave them permission to keep. It thrilled them immensely and is the center of attraction of our entire neighborhood.
September 19, 1957
Worked hard to have everything in shape to get away to the administrative conference over the coming weekend. I finished my lawn work by spreading top dressing, seeding and rolling my back lawn. This fight against crab grass is terrific-costs lots of money to buy good seed, peat moss, fertilizer, etc. Hurried on and spent a couple of hours washing the car, takes time to keep the car in a presentable shape.
Went to the club and helped with football practice. Made certain that Bill had everything squared away and all club matters were under control. Left for a quick shave and shower and to pack my bags. Bed felt very good at midnight as we turned in. Disappointed in boys who engaged in some brotherly horseplay and wound up with Ron splitting Scott’s forehead with a rock.
September 20, 1957
Had an alarm set for an early hour. Loaded bags and children aboard, put the pup in the garage, Ross E to care for him and drove to the Voriseks. Left a box of clothes for the boys who are to spend the weekend with the Voriseks while we are gone. Next stop was at Bob’s sisters place. She is Mrs. Jim Wood and lives in an apartment at Armstrong Dairy. We dropped the girls and their baggage and headed for Mt. Vernon. About an hour late I arrived at the Boys’ Club. Dion Hoffarth took our projector to clean and oil and gave Andy a couple bottles of wine to take to Lenox. We loaded Andy aboard and headed for Western Mass. Stopped for lunch at a lovely Sea Food place. Exquisite food, generous servings and low prices. On up beautiful Rt #7 to Lenox, checked in at the hotel and took off for the golf course. Helen walked through with us. Beautiful course. We loved the majestic view of the beautiful Berkshire mountains.
September 21, 1957
Alarm at 7:30 AM was about two hours ahead of my sleep requirements. A brisk shower helped this matter however. After dressing, Helen and I had breakfast together and she went antique shopping while I attended a morning session. The second session of the morning entitled “Progressive Personnel Practices” found myself as the presiding chairman. Much provocative thinking was evidenced by virtue of the lively discussion. Again I had the lovely opportunity to lunch with my wife. We again took a side table for two. (2nd Honeymoon) Charles McNivens and wife came “out of the blue” with an invitation to drive to Springfield for the Springfield College-University of Connecticut football game. With two minutes to go Springfield put a 70 yd touchdown play together via a pass that won the game 19-14. A regular Frank Merriwell finish. (Look him up yourself) Back to our hotel in Lennox and after a shower we dressed and had dinner together. I went to the evening meeting, met Helen two hours later for the fellowship hour and retired early to read and write.
September 22, 1957
Here I am again two weeks behind and still trying to catch up. This weekend is perfect in that Helen and I are really enjoying each other’s full and uninterrupted companionship. We had breakfast together and enjoyed a short walk before purchasing a newspaper and settling down on the front porch. I went on to the last session of the conference while Helen wrote to a few friends. We had lunch together-said so long to our many Boy’s Club friends-saw Andy Semansco off to Troy N.Y. with Bob Murrin and headed down route #7 for home. Beautiful drive. We stopped for gas a half bushel of MacIntosh apples from a roadside farm stand for 95 Cents and a carvel ice cream.
We stopped at the Candle shop a new and delightful gift shop and purchased some candles and other gifts for Gladys Wood and Gert Vorisek for taking care of the children. We were in Manhasset at 7 PM and stopped at Leong’s for a good Chinese dinner. We were anxious to see the kids and very pleased to see and hear that all had gone well. The children were thrilled to see us and we gossiped as though we had been apart for weeks.
September 23, 1957
Ron had to be driven to school. He was one of the two injuries in the midget football scrimmage at Syosset. Our team won the scrimmage 46-12. All our kids made the weigh-in. Our Knute Rockne team took it on the chin 47-0 from Valley Stream in the first league game played yesterday. I spent several long hours in going over and making up a deposit for all the money at the club. Membership fees, soda and candy sales, etc.
My front and back lawns look real good. I’m thrilled with the results of the hard work and the good seed. Already some of the clover seeds have sprouted. Lots of rain over the weekend has helped. If it warms up for a couple of days it will really sprout. I worked at the club on the club’s newspaper until quite late. After dinner I took some of Helen’s clothes back to the club to dry and spent a couple of more hours working on the first issue of our newspaper. Long day so was willing to retire early.
September 24, 1957
Up at 7 AM again. Had a flat tire that had to be changed before taking the kids to school. Picked up Dr. Westfall-Principal-LV School and found myself setting out in front of the school chatting to him for about an hour. I was down in the dumps about all of my work and so little to do it with both financially and staff wise. Dropped my tire off at the Depot Garage and drove on to Glen cove. Placed a large order for office supplies with Rocco Famuletti. Rocco told me of the new Recreation job opening in Glen Cove at $9,000.00 and asked me if I would be interested in applying for the ob.
Worked at the club for a few hours and then picked Helen, Scott and Debs up to take to Glen Cove. We bought Scott some new slacks and a couple of ties. Had football practice. Miss Ron at offensive center. He is a good ball player. Took a variety of cold cuts to Dr. Vorisek so Gert could make sandwiches for baseball game tomorrow!
September 25, 1957
Spent an hour at the club going through mail before returning home to shower and shave. Drove to Mineola to attend a Board of directors meeting at the county office of the Federated Girl Scout council of Nassau county. First meeting of the year so a lot of Hello and Did you have a nice summer? Were in order. Our camp chairman did an excellent job with her report. Camp Blue Bay has undergone some marvelous changes in the past 3 years to become an excellent Girl Scout Camp.
Had lunch at the local Chinese Restaurant in Glen cove. Enjoyed it. Ron and I accompanied Bob, Tom, Robbie Vorisek and Randy Curth to Yankee Stadium. Yanks split with Baltimore in a double header. It’s the Yankees and Milwaukee in the world series. We took loads of meat loaf and rye sandwiches and salami and onion roll sandwiches and a few other varieties plus loads of kosher cucumber pickles to the ball game. Made it a very delightful evening. Home about midnight.
September 26, 1957
Up and out by 8 AM. Drove boys to school. Ron still limping from his bruised foot. Spent some time with Mr. Alpy in discussing maintenance problems. Our gym is a particular problem this year. Mr. Alpy and I moved furniture and cleared out two small rooms to better utilize our available space. One room is going to open itself into a music library room and combination Girl Scout Office. Six or seven hours was spent in typing copy on to stencils with art work already done that are to be used for the first issue of our Boys’ Club newspaper. We hope to make the paper a monthly publication during the fall, winter and spring months.
We worked our football teams very hard. Our little team ran against the big team with myself and Jay Nollman and Henry Nollman running with the little team to help bolster their attack. Our little team could, getting started right win 50% of its games. For their sake I hope they win a couple early in the season.
September 27, 1957
Stiff as a board from playing football last night. Rolled out and creaked into my clothes. Drove the children to school. Finished up a few odd jobs left un done from a couple of days ago and spent the majority of the day sorting, filing and adding new addressograph plates to our membership mailing files. My back aches from football. No fool like an old fool!
Spent the afternoon working like the devil getting flammable materials together for the pep rally tonight. Hauled several loads of boxes etc from the village stores to make a big pile for the Bonfire. Had dinner with the family and collapsed into a chair for an hour’s sleep. Took Scott, Ron and Teri to the football rally. We had about 200 present and had a short but snappy pep rally. Met the team, coaches, two groups of cheer leaders, their advisors and the crowd yelled like mad.
September 28, 1957
Again it was early to rise and to Glen Cove before 9 AM. Visited our family shoe shop in hopes we could find a gimmick to use on Ron’s foot. We wound up with a heavy leather stirrup guard and a dozen ideas. Back to the club and an hour’s work with sponge rubber, tape, heavy leather guard, etc. found Ron working out in his usual spot as 1st string center. He gives the team a good psychological lift. We are very weak at center and Ron has the ability to snap a good pass from center. We worked the 1st club against the 2nd club who ran out of our enemies T-formation. We use an “A” formation and a single wing on offense.
Spent the greater part of the afternoon lining the football field for tomorrow’s game. Took four sacks of line and a lot of work. Shower and shave felt good. Helen had a delicious roast ready for dinner and asked the Andersons over to share it with us. The children love to have company. Teri was especially sweet and nice. Boys were perfect gentlemen.
September 29, 1957
Dug the family out at 6:30 AM instead of 7:30 as usual. My lesson books were to be left in the Bishop’s office so I could use the extra hour to prepare for my Sunday School class. Sunday school went fine and the priesthood lesson was interesting. Ron had a tearful talk with the Bishop about Sunday football. It is a tough point, one involving a working father and mother on Sundays.
I squared the ladies away on their concession stand and worked on Ron’s foot-giving it support and lots of protection. Our gang of midgets made a successful league debut by beating Manhasset 7-0. They fumbled four other opportunities to score away. Our Knute Rockne team was being defeated at Massapequa 14-7 in a situation of waiting too long before doing ones best. Church services found us all present. I had a special meeting with the bishop regard my Gen Secretary’s position with Aaronic priesthood under 21. Administered to Robert Wm Cooper an ill dad.
September 30, 1957
This habit of getting up at 7 AM is not of my liking but with the work to do there is no alternative. I took the girls for a ride to the Glen Cove shopping area to drop off dirty shirts and pick up clean laundry. My girls are beautiful intelligent and spoiled. They are very strong minded. Our baby Debbie (2 yrs) continues to amaze us with her vocabulary, diction and ability to do things for herself. Picked up the mail and passed a few “world series” remarks with the post office gang. I’m a Yankee fan but can readily understand Milwaukee being a sentimental favorite.
Met with Mrs. Limbert and Mrs. Slocum regard our library program. We will start with volunteers manning our library and I hope the girls bought my idea of raising a few hundred dollars and hiring a part time librarian. Drove to a meeting at Rockville Center regard the youth bureau being planned by the county council of social agencies. Headed off another survey using Thrasher’s report. Visited with Mr. Batterman about long range planning, Nassau county and a pool and a girl’s club.