The T-Bird Wheel

One Sunday morning while Mom was driving the T-Bird to church, the wheel fell off when she went through the intersection near the Bolander's old house.  Luckily, she had been going slow which helped limit the damage and she was fine.  In fact, she walked the block home to tell Dad about it.

Mom's House, plant hanging

Mom had a plant hanging in the living room and it was approximately 20 years old.  She received it from a friend of Sharon's and the plant hung from the ceiling with some macrame.  Mom carefully tended to the plant all those years!

Pocatello, Mark's golf set

When we lived in Pocatello, Mark received a play golf set (Dad was a golfer).  He was young and called it "gawf", but he sure enjoyed playing golf!

Pony Boy - Byron Bigelow

Dad used to give us, his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, "pony rides" when we were young where he, sitting, would cross his legs, then would put a child on his free swinging leg and bounce us up and down while singing the chorus to the song Pony Boy (or girl!).

Pony Boy, Pony Boy
Won't you be my pony boy
Don't say no
Here we go
Off across the plains
Marry me
Carry me
Ride (sic) away with you
Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, whoa!
My Pony Boy

As Sharon tells it, 

"I remember he would get really wild when the kids were a little older. In the line giddy up he would almost swing the kids down to the ground and try to "buck" them off while hanging onto their hands. Everyone would laugh and laugh and want to do it again and again and would not stop until Dad got too tired and said the "horse" was worn out and needed a rest."

Good memories!

Here is a recording of the full song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZZ1ItQB76Q

Family Member Names

Here is a picture of Exit 84 "Byron" on I-15 just north of Las Vegas, Nevada. We took this on our way to Vegas in June 2016 for a mini McNeal reunion with Joseph's parents and his dad's siblings and cousins.

Here is a picture I took with Mom in July of 2015 when she and I were walking downtown in Boise. I pointed out the Barbara Barbara sign to her and she smiled so I decided to take a pic. Unfortunately the clothing store is now closed.

  

Spokane Washington Memories

Tom and I used to play in a field behind the house.  There were yellow wildflowers/flowering weeds that grew there and we used to pluck the blossoms so we could taste the sweetness of the flowers.  We called it nectar and thought the flowers might be goldenrod, primarily because on car rides Mom would exclaim when she saw goldenrod by the side of the road.  Looking back, I doubt it was goldenrod but it was still fun to taste the blossoms that grew behind our house. 

Down the street a few blocks from our house there was a bent over pine tree.  We used to have horsey rides on the tree because it would bend.  It was a lot of prickly fun but required collaboration as someone would have to hold the tree while another got on it. 

I remember warm summer evenings and having to go to bed simply because it was bedtime despite it still being light out and prospects of fun still existed. 

There were a few trees that were planted in our yard.  Once, a few of the children talked about appointing one tree per child. 

I received a Jolly Green Giant stuffed toy while living in Spokane.  Mom may have sent away for it using labels off of Green Giant vegetable cans as Mom and Dad were quite frugal that way.  Mom and Dad may have started saving up green or gold stamps in Spokane as these could be exchanged for various items like waffle irons, etc.

I remember Dad helping to build the new chapel in Spokane.  He would bring home some leftover bits of wood, carpet, and screw shavings for us to play with.  His work on the chapel was impressive to me because it showed what a hard worker he was and how important service to others was. 

The Ashcraft family was friends with our family and our families would occasionally visit each other.  The father was a very fun and friendly man and enjoyed making us laugh.

Mom had an address list from those days where she maintained the names of the Pease family (although perhaps we knew them while we lived in Yakima?).  Their names were:  faither Leonard, Mother Alnora, Harold, Carolyn, Helen, Leonard, Verla, Larry, Rex, Becky, Cheryl, Eric Ricky, Joan and Judy.

Music from Mom's Japanese Jewelry Box

Attached is a video of the music from Mom's old Japanese jewelry box.  The background buzz is from the cell phone.  The music box mechanism has been perched on top of a piano so it can act as the sounding board. 

For me, this music and the jewelry box it once was in is another representation of Mom and Dad's love for each other.  I have happy memories of Mom showing me the jewelry box and playing its tune.