Mary Kauer: April 23, 1927 Rib Lake, Wis.

Dear Friends,
Well, I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine had it's moments. One thing that happened, happened to the husband. He was cutting some dead trees down behind our place and he had a close encounter with a small branch of a tree when he was trying to get around it and the tractor. He zigged when he should have zagged. A small branch poked him in the ear. Sunday morning we went to the walk in clinic because has ear was bleeding. He damaged his ear drum. He has to go see a doctor at the Ears, Nose and throat this week to find out exactly how bad it is. His hearing is dulled. He said that if I start yelling at him for some reason he will make sure I'm standing on his left side so he can't hear me very well.
Enough of my little drama. Here is the next letter from Mary.

 As always, for those of you that find it hard to read, here is what it says:

            Rib Lake Wis
             April, - 1927
Dear Howard
  Well, Clara didn't
have her party tonite
so I guess I'll have to
write so you don't get
sore at me altogether
First I'll start in with
excuses for not writing.
Well, on Sunday's I can't
read or write. On Monday
afternoon Mart was sick

And in the evening it was 8
o'clock by the time we finished
supper & then Rose came over
and we went fishing ( with good luck
Then when we got back, Mart, Rose
& I went for a walk because it
was so nice & warm. And we raked
everyone over the coals.
  Tuesday morning I got back
here and did some house
cleaning and in the evening I
sewed curtains for Clara till
about 9 o'clock. Wednesday I
washed clothes & bathed the kids in the
evening. Thursday I ironed till
quite late in the evening
and tonite I'm writing But
I fell asleep over it already
so you see what a good
writer I am.

How is your cold, is it
better or should I
send you a bottle of castor oil?
Gee Howard, I can't
write any more so I
guess I'll have to call
you up again or you
call me up some time
its lots easier to
talk than it is to write
  god bye and love
from Dutchie

I wonder why she signed it Dutchie? Was it a nick name? Or was it a kind of way to point out her German heritage? An thing that has faded away.
Now we know what a week for Mary was like.
I wonder what kind of things they talked about when she said "They raked everyone over the coals."
I wonder if she sent a bottle of castor oil to Grandpa to help with his cold. Back then castor oil was the go to medicine for people.
I wonder how often they talked on the phone.

Here is a picture from the scrap book.

At Right is the Pennsylvania railroad's advanced design in streamlined steam engines, compared
in Philadelphia with a model now in use. The new locomotive, intended for high speed passen-
ger service, has shown a mile a minute record in tests and a reduction of more than one-third in
wind resistance.

Here is a picture of a modern passenger train.

As for the speeds of today's trains, that depends on where the train is traveling. Maybe 110 mph to maybe 177 mph. That is if I found the right info. My point is, they go a lot fast today then they did back in 1936.

Here are a few random pictures for you to look at.

I'm not sure who this is but I thought it kind of fit with this letter because of the diaper line.

This one was on the dark side. I did the best I could to lighten it up. It is a group of people huddled together maybe raking everyone over the coals, just like Mary said they were doing.

Cars from the past along with a tractor in the back ground.

Well that's about all I have to share with you today.
I hope you will drop by again for some more Faded History.
Till next time.
Your friend,
Sandy