A Faithful Scout Indeed.

This is a special post that I am sending out to my dear nephew Steven who appreciates all things "Joe City" & who himself is a great example of what this little town can produce. There have been many a scout brought up in Joe City but none as faithful & hard working as this one!

If you pay any attention to Gale Hansen you have seen this sight many a time. The one thing missing would be his less than excited farm hands.

Oh, here they are! Well by proxy anyway. I recruited the younger generation to fill in for me. I even got them up very early in the morning so I could capture that "I can't believe we are awake & have to go work" look. They do look quite similiar to the originals don't you think? I'm sure the memories aren't as fond for them as they are for me, but I will always remember seeing them early in the morning, while Julie & I were walking, sitting on the tail gate donning they're irrigation boots & long faces as they drove past us on their way to the farm.

Here's the ScoutMaster himself. Here stands the essence of Joe City. A hardworking farmer & his trusty steed, but in Gale's case, "Scout". It is plain to see that this machine has seen better days. On hot days, if you drive fast enough, you can generate the air conditioning through the holes in the floor board, but if you make a sharp turn you may get more air conditioning than you want when the door flies open. Riding in this vehicle is a real "raw" experience. You'd better have some gloves on & be ready to work, otherwise get out! I think that could be our town motto!

"On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to Gale and his farm and to obey the Joe City Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong and haul as many bales of hay as I possibly can without blowing my transmission, mentally awake and morally straight, as long as the farmer driving me hasn't been awake all night irrigating"

This scout definitely lives up to it's oath. I might have to start saluting when it goes by!

"Saturday in the park, I think it was the 4th of July!"

The 4th of July has come & gone & I am finally sitting down to write about it! I love the 4th & I wouldn't want to celebrate it anywhere but here. I had fun playing with my new camera & I took way too many pictures to post on here but here are some of my favorites, hope you enjoy.

After the parade there was an opening ceremony where Jim & his scout troop raised the colors.

Jeffrey, or as I like to call him "Mr. Independence Day."
At last count Seth had about 12 otter pops!

Run Chicken Run!!!!
Apparently Julie is not aware of the child labor laws. These poor boys twisted balloons for hours & were made to peddle thier wares around the park until they came back with money in hand.

After all the festivities at the park, Grandpa killed the fatted calf so that Grandma could host a barbeque. Uncle Gale slaved away at the grill making sure his marinated steaks were exactly right & I had the chicken.
Mr. & Mrs. Solomon were there.

Here's Kristi & Cory. Kristi enjoyed showing off the "Love Pole" that Julie made for her.

Jody & Bobby were there to.
After the big announcement, Julie made an expectant dog for Kristin & Ezra.

Danny & Alicia were looking swell!

Now she's onto another nephew, younger & not so wise to her ways. Soon he too will be twisted around her little finger just like those innocent looking balloon creations she makes.

Seth the Mechanic at it again.

I was able to capture a few more Joe City moments with my old camera. I think this is an appropriate farewell to my little camera that has captured so many photos of the people, places & things of this little town. Seth the mechanic is at it again. A true "shade tree mechanic". Puzzled by the problem, he scratches his bum rather than his head. As usual, in this neighborhood, when working on a project you get the usual passers by who stop to offer assisitance.Nope, it wasn't Jerald on this particular day, it was Auntie Julie. Knowing little in the way of mechanics, she offered the assistance that only she can give. Yep, that's the "Ole' Do Gooder" out doin' good again. If it's old, rattling & on death's door Ivin can most likely figure it out.
In the end Uncle Gale had to be called & the poor ole' Beast had to be hauled to the shop. But all is not lost, I got some great pictures out of it!

I can't talk without my camera!

My posts have been lacking of late. It's summer, what can say. My days are spent outside working or playing & if your a Hansen, working is playing. The other reason is that my camera is on death's door & I can't talk without my camera. I have purchased a newer, nicer camera & it is, as I'm typing, on it's way to me, it's proud new owner. The files of idea's for pictures & posts are stacking up in my mind & it's getting a little cluttered. Hopefully, soon I'll get to "clean house."

"The Triangle Y Outfit"

I apologize for the long wait between my last post & now. It is summer, my most favorite time of year & these days you can find me out pushing a mower or working in the garden, two of my most favorite things to do.

The branding of the cattle after the summer round up is a long standing tradition in the Hansen family & I took it upon myself, after realizing that all these years no one has ever taken a single photograph or written anything about it, to photograph & write about it. I'm sure no Hansen ever thought it was worth documenting, after all it's just what they do, year after year, generation after generation, nothing special. That right there is another "Hansen" trait. They don't ever think that anything they do is especially unique & they never think they are any better than the next person. They are all very humble. My dad calls them the "salt of the earth kinda people". Being the outsider looking in & coming from a family whose tradition is to have no traditions, I can't express how much I appreciate the many "Hansen" ways of life & traditions that have been around for generations. It is a rich family life that I can't express in words the gratitude I have for it. Did that make sense? Well , in my head it does. Basically, I Love It!

After taking these photos of the branding, I asked Uncle Doyle if he would write down some of the history of the ranch that is now known as "Hansen Brothers", or as Uncle Floyd calls it, the "Triangle Y Outfit" because of the brand. If you concentrate you can hear Uncle Doyle's voice in your head. Anyways....

"The family patriarch, Joseph Christian Hansen, came to Allen's Camp in 1877. Here he was best known as a farmer and gardener. He was very industrious and enterprising, as well as frugal. One characteristic which he seemed to employ more than most was his desire to increase his holdings, more particularly in land. When he obtained enough land, he began ranching. By the time his sons, James, Delbert & Harvey, were mature enough to start carreers of their own the Hansens had farm & range land sufficient to support what was left of the original family and the families of the three sons. When Jim decided to retire, Delbert & Harvery bought him out. Delbert bought Uncle Harvery's share from his widow after he passed away. The spread was downsized somewhat when he turned it over to Gene & Floyd so that it is not as large as when J.C. hansen built it up. However, Gene & Floyd still have their hands full. One significant portion that has been discontinued is the dairy enterprise. No one wanted to be tied down with a declining profit margin." Dr. Doyle comes out of retirement every once in awhile. On this day he went from long toothed rabbits to earmarking of the cows. I love his chin strap.
Uncle Floyd, cleaning off the branding iron after having branded a calf. Until recently they still did the branding the old fashioned way, with an iron in the fire. But these modern cowboys have got themselves a generator & an iron they can plug in.

The "surgery" as Grandpa Gene calls it.
Grandpa Gene, the surgeon, with all the surgical tools. If there is a castration your needing, he's the one to call. Being a musician, he has more than way to get you to sing soprano!
Gale Hansen, oldest son of Gene & Eleanor Hansen. I guess he could be considered the anesthesiologists. He straps 'em down so they don't move. He's lookin' pretty tough.
Pumpa's truck is a fixture at Manila. He's no longer sitting in it, but when I see it there I'm reminded of him & in my minds I eye I can see him sitting there with the door propped open watching the next generation carrying on the tradition of his father, and in his mind I'm sure he doesn't see anything especially unique, just a job that needs to be done. And so it is with Hansens, if there's a job to be done they just do it with very little talk at all. And that ain't no bull.

"Saturday in the park, getting ready for the 4th of July"

Well it was really Monday, but that wouldn't fit with the rythym of the song. It's that time again when we summon all citizens of Joe City to come join us at the park for a good weed pulling session. And come they did. Both young & old & in between. Paul Hatch kept us entertained with his stories & jokes.

Justin pulled weeds while Seth tried to push him into the weeds.

Then they hauled the weeds away.

Even the "Beauty & the Beast" were there.

All the weeds were pulled, hoed, raked & hauled away. The park looks great. We're ready for the 4th of July celebration. Hope to see you all there!

I Love Sunday in Joe City.

There are so many things that I love about Sunday in this little town I won't list them all but I'll tell you about today. When I woke up I knew it was Sunday because it was so quiet. No lawn mowers, no weed eaters, no tractors. We made our way to church & found our usual spot on the 2nd row from the front on the left side, that's our bench & everyone knows it, mostly because of the show that Seth puts on every Sunday. It's hard to miss us. The deacons take their usual spot right across from us on the front row, they are Seth's most attentive audience. Sometimes he thinks he's one of them & he'll go sit with Nic. Today he stood with his big brother & the rest of the deacons while the sacrament was being blessed. After the bread was passed to him he turned to me & said "good bread mom mom". There was the usual youth speaker & then the new couple in our ward gave talks. Brother & Sister Layden, a very fun couple , she's my new 2nd counselor. Anyway, we had our usual rest hymn after the first two speakers, only when the chorister , Aunt Sara Mae, stood & motioned for the congregation to stand & sing there was no music playing. Grandpa Gene, our ward organist, was asleep at the organ. This is not an unusual thing for our ward, Grandpa has fallen asleep many times at the organ. He has been known to nod off & hit an organ key or two during the sacrament prayer. After Sara Mae walked over to the organ & woke him up we proceeded with the song. Now, there has been a new, how should I say it, situation, issue, happening, however you want to look at it in our ward. Sitting behind us most Sundays is a certain elderly lady who shall remain nameless, but I'll tell you if you ask, who has recently aquired a cell phone. This cell phone rings almost every Sunday. One Sunday it was ringing from her purse as she walked down the aisle to her seat & after she sat down she proceeded to answer her phone. Derron & I were quite amused by the whole thing, it kept us laughing all through church. Well today was no different, her phone began to ring during Brother Layden's talk. It rang several times before the voice mail finally picked up the call. After the phone stopped ringing she got up & walked out to return the call. Derron was working today so there was no one to enjoy the humor of it with me so I laughed to myself. After the closing prayer our ward, like alot of others, has recently adopted the practice of singing one more hymn after the prayer while the sunday school & primary teachers leave to prepare their class rooms. Well to end another typical sacrament meeting "Jammin' Gene" played the wrong hymn. He played it clear through while everyone smiled & chuckled. Sara Mae eventually put her arms down & let him play. After he was finished Bro. Bushman, who was conducting, stood up & said "We'll just forget the song today".

To end another perfect Sunday in Joe City, we were expecting our hometeachers who had made an appointment for 7:00p.m. The door bell rang right on time only when I answered the door there was the usual junior companion from the teachers quorom but with him was an even junior'er companion from the teachers quorom. The usual senior companion from the elders quorom had to go out of town, so this jr. companion found himself another companion & fulfilled the assignment. I looked out to the driveway & saw a car & I asked the oldest of the two if he had driven here, I knew he wasn't old enough to drive, he said "No, my mom's in the car". So we sat down with our family & were home taught by a 14 year old boy & a 15 year old boy. We ended with a prayer, thanked them & sent them on their way with a fudgsicle. I love this town.