Cabin fever

(Dogs 25)
Alas, it couldn't last forever, and Vica had to go back home with us.  The same apathy all over again.  She took to walking around and around the kitchen, feeling the four walls with her shoulder as she went, blindly.  We called the vet to come and we all watched her going round and around, never stopping.  It was marked.  He said he had never seen such a thing before.  And there was nothing to be done.

Regrets

(Dogs 23)
We understood each other, [Vica and I].  All of us worried.  Regretting I complained about her before, I now tried to make it up for her by taking her for walks.  But I wasn't her master.

Moping

(Dogs 22)
At last came the day of parting when Skip went off to Ripon.  Then Vica was my dog -- but only the care was mine, never the heart.  She waited and waited for school to be out.  She started to mourn and mope and get thin.

Longing for a dog

(Dogs 13)
As I remember the dogs we have had, the scene now changes, and I am looking into the big brown eyes of Vica.  She was Skip's dog, a fine German Shepherd from a breeder in Milwaukee.  He had been longing for a dog for years -- a strong dog that would be his own -- and there was always some reason for putting him off.  At length here he was in the hospital for a minor operation, and Lorin and I were there, too, visiting him.  "What can we do for you, Skip?"

Depression years

(1934)
Because of staying home so much and having so little company, I became very nervous and went to a specialist.  ***  [Polly's memoirs, written in 1980, stop here (in mid-page) .  For some years thereafter she was badly depressed.  She stopped writing in her 5-year diary on September 14, 1934, about a year after Caroline came.  In 1980 she wrote another set of memoirs, "My Pets," which will follow on this blog.  A bit later, she wrote a memoir about her brother Lyndon, which will also be posted eventually.  For the next few months, this blog will be posted only on alternate days, when Skip can get to his desk.]

Caroline

(1933)
I was not feeling well, was nervous, and we got a maid, Caroline Fandrick.  Jobs were so hard to get she had to put up sharing Skip's room.  There was no other place for her.

Sick abed

(1930)
I became sick and weak in my pregnancy and for a week or two was flat on my back in bed with a trained nurse and specialist.  When the nurse left, one of the Pedrick twins [also a nurse, from Ripon] came in.  I was sorry for Lorin because of the expenses and worry; however, I got stronger and was able to keep my own house with a Polish woman once a week.

The privy

(1980 memoirs)
Are you wondering why she kept the privy?  Well, why not?  What if the inside toilet broke some day? or the water froze or was turned off?  Where should we be then?  It was a little house, scrubbed clean and unused, just kept in readiness.  And one early November day when we had an early mean biting stinging snowfall, here my dear cousin was  --  on top of the outhouse, nailing down a few new shingles she had been meaning to get at all summer long.

Temperance

 A story about Frankie made the family rounds and here it is.  You have to know the whole crew was for Temperance, and no doubt all had signed the Pledge and heard of the pitfall of the Demon Rum.  Well, Mrs. [Alvira] Clapp was very sick, declining, no appetite; Frankie was waiting on her as best she could, but at last a doctor was called in.  After his examination, he recommended two or three tablespoons of wine be given his 90-year-old patient.  Frankie heard this prescription with mixed feelings.  "But, doctor," she remonstrated, "don't you think it may start a bad habit?"

White

(1993 May 5, memoirs)
[On the Lawson estate] when prize Jersey cows were milked, the men were obliged to wear pure white suits.  The inside of the barn was kept pure white.  It was said many people did not have such a good house.

Our house

(1993 July, Rueping memoirs)
The Ruepings built our house for us.  It had a porch across the front with big willow rockers.  Downstairs:  living room, dining room, kitchen.  Upstairs:  four bedrooms, one for the maid and a sleeping porch for my mother, who had TB and went to Wales WI to a San to learn how to take care of herself.  She slept on the porch year around.

Minnie's health

(1992 Memoirs)
After my brother was about 4 and I was 9 or so [ca. 1914], our family broke up because of my mother's failing health.  Perhaps she did overdo at housework; my father thought she did.  [She had tubercolosis.]

Warm pyjamas

(1967 February 27)
Sad to say I was stricken again with this rheumatism I had before, and on top of it have a heavy head cold.  ...  I haven't been fully dressed since Valentine's Day.  I could, but I am warmer and more relaxed in warm pajamas and robe; besides it is easier to go on like this when I alternate work with rest periods.  I have help twice a week and my family helps too.  Dee lets me know when we are getting oil or groceries and Penelope [cat] gives me lots of love.  So I wait for my cold to go away and Spring to come and then I'll be fine.

Allergenic art

(1967 September 13)
MM's art course [at the RC campus] met first time last night 6:30-8:30.  Class includes Drs. Meyer, Spear, etc.  They climbed a hill behind the campus and drew the scene below - right thru the ragweed, dews and damps.  Some wit remarked now class was over a clinic could be set up for colds and hayfever.

Step back

(1967 August 9)
A year ago today was Daddy's gall bladder operation.  As I was spending an hour and a quarter in the dentist chair yesterday, I saw him go by on the way to court - by Fleming's [shoe store]- the old spring in the step just as always.

Almost trivia

(1967 July 16)
Lots of little things going on around here of interest to us but almost too trivial to mention - the gopher that climbed way to the top of the apple tree; the brown thrasher family; the turtle the newsboy had in his money bag when he was collecting one morning; the new type sermons Fr. Stolpman is giving; my tooth that broke off with a crown in the offing - are all samples.  It is the same with you, no doubt.

Toenail scissors

(1994 early January)
Did we talk about baths here?  You take one when your name comes up in a little notebook Dorthea keeps.  So one night we had all this bath, and at the end she said, "This is as far as we can go.  Your toenails need trimming, but we have no toenail scissors." - "Oh yes we do," says little Polly, triumphant by producing hers.  Aren't these things always amazingly satisfactory?  Beyond sense.

False alarm

We were told to brush our teeth, as Dr. Williams was going thru here and give free exams. I didn't believe it, and I was right, but I brushed anyway.

Tension

(1993 August)

I am sorry to have to say I have the heebee-jeebees today. What brings on these spasms of nervousness and what causes them to leave, Heaven knows. It is utterly silly to think of your even calling when you get this, as by that time all will be OK. The nearest thing to this is how you felt, Skip, first days at Ripon. Utterly tense.

Get-well rimes

(1993 August 3, for Sherry)

Heard you were sick
Hope you get well quick;
Don't ride too fast
Nor work too long;
Try to stay healthy,
This is my song.