Remembering "Grammy" Joyce Furniss Nelson

Reviewing this video continues to evoke tender feelings of love and appreciation for our dear "Grammy" who passed away just two years ago on December 31, 2009.

Merry Christmas from Wayne and Joyce.... about 1935

I recently came across these photos of Wayne and Joyce, perhaps taken for high school yearbooks.  Neither photo has any writing, though Wayne's is creased as if it was in a wallet. (Norm cleaned it up.) I estimate their ages as about 18 (for Wayne that would have been 1934) and 16 or 17 (for Joyce, about 1936 or 1937.)  Their happy, youthful, good-looking faces make me happy and ready for a Merry Christmas!

These are the same photos rendered as sketches through the iPhone app "My Sketch."

Grandpa's Doughnuts

In honor of Bruce & Judy's birthdays. . . 

My thanks to Andrea for calling and asking for Dad's doughnut recipe awhile back. (I inherited the recipe Bruce fixed for Dad, masking tape and all.)  She made some up and said hers were almost as good as Dad's. It brought back memories. . . 
When I was a kid, on “Saturday Night at the Fights,” two boxers feinted at each other while a referee held them apart. After letting suspense build like steam in a pressure cooker, he yelled, “Gentlemen, shake hands and staaaart fighting!” They shook hands, then attacked each other.

Rex gave me similar workouts (without the handshake) so I never watched past this point. 

The fighters provided an enduring family saying.  After the last dish was set on and the blessing was said, Ellen or Jeanne was sure to shout:  “Shake hands and staaaart eating!”

As we approach that food frenzy called  “the holidays,” here are phrases that make us salivate just hearing them:

“Soup’s on!”

“Let’s eat!”

“Name your poison!”  We used this bartender’s phrase in sentences such as, “Name your poison—pancakes or biscuits!”  It offers a nice, self-deprecatory tone for the modest cook.  (With my cooking, though, ‘poison’ comes too close to the truth!)

We were crazy about the Pogo Possum comic strip. Walt Kelly had Ma Groun’ Squirrel (was that her name??) say: “The way to a man’s heart is through the soft underbelly!”  We seven girls said it when we made cinnamon rolls or cookies for boyfriends. (I still say it today!) 
We also quoted the Pillsbury doughboy, "Nothin' says lovin' like somethin' from the oven!" 

However, I rebelled when Mama said, “We’ve got to feed the men.” (Usually prefaced by, “Put that book down and peel these potatoes!”)  I didn’t want to cook for my Dad and brothers, who were capable of both feeding themselves and cooking the food to do it. 

She let me vent, but made me cook, reminding me that Dad and the boys worked hard to provide the food on our table.  Life has proven that as chauvinistic as her saying was, it’s true that every five to six hours, men, women and children eat.  And at my house, it’s usually up to me to make sure they—and I— have something to eat.

Dad cooked. Grandma Nelson taught him so he and his brothers could live at the “batch house” on a remote part of their farm.  He made delicious stews, roasts, ham and beans and our favorite, large quantities of cake doughnuts for the holidays.

At about age nine, Bruce cut this recipe from a metal Raleigh’s nutmeg can and bent the edges, impressing them into a hand-carved wood plaque, which he gave to Dad for Father’s Day. It hung in our kitchen for 50 years. Andi says to add the extra spices shown here— Mama’s secret for doughnuts and pumpkin pie filling so good she drank it out of the blender!  This is a tiny recipe-- you'd have to multiply it at least five times to get the volume of doughnuts Dad made!

Wayne’s Doughnuts

Flour, sifted - 4 cups

Baking powder - 4 1/2 tsp. 

Cinnamon – 2 Tblsp.

Nutmeg – 2-4 tsp. to taste

Mace  - 1 1/2 tsp. to taste

Salt - 1 tsp.

Shortening- 3 Tblsp.

Sugar - 1 cup

Eggs, well beaten - 2

Milk - 1 cup

Sift together 3 1/2 cups flour with baking powder, spices and salt. Work shortening with spoon until creamy; add sugar gradually while beating with spoon until light. Add eggs and beat well with spoon.  Add sifted flour mixture alternately with milk, blending well after each addition. Add enough of remaining flour to make a soft dough easily handled. Roll or pat on floured board to 1/2 inch thickness and cut with floured doughnut cutter.  Kids can do this—we cut a circle with a large tumbler and used an Alka Seltzer bottle to cut out the holes.  Rather then re-roll the dough, which would make tough doughnuts, Dad fried the scraps and called them “critters” – they look amazingly like antlered beasts! Fry in any hot fat—but lard produces doughnuts like Dad’s!  Drain, then shake well in a paper bag with ½ cup sugar and 2 Tblsp. cinnamon. (Another kid job!)

A Birthday Gift for Grammy

For the last month, every time I walked by the calendar- October 25th stood out to me. It is sad not to have Grammy here to wish Happy Birthday. This year, I decided to try and do an act of service in honor of Grammy for her birthday. It was a simple thing- but it felt good to know that she knows. So- if you feel inclined you may want to do the same. We are blessed with that same love and kindness that Grammy and Grandpa so easily shared with others. I love you all!

Old Fashioned Chicken-N-Noodles by Grammy

As the weather cools, I start to think about soup. I'm sure I'm not the only grandkid who remembers pulling up to Grandma's house after a long drive and being greeted by a warm bowl of soup.  Here's Grammy's recipe for Old Fashioned Chicken-N-Noodles, submitted by Shanan.

The House That Love Built

On July 9, I stood where my father was born 95 years earlier—the master bedroom of the home my grandparents built between 1913 and 1916.

Grandpa Joe homesteaded in Clementsville, just west of Teton Valley in Eastern Idaho, in 1906. Grandma Alice, his bride, didn’t join him permanently in the remote area until 1908, when he completed a two-room cabin.

As their family grew, they needed room, and unlike many at that time, they didn’t dream small. It took years to build their two-story, four-bedroom frame house in a Victorian style, but without gingerbread: solid, welcoming, homey.

They paid for building materials as they went along, finishing it section by section. “Neither Grandpa nor Grandma would have borrowed a dime, even to build their house,” according to my cousins Mary and Whitey.

It was pretty much a one-man job, though Joe’s boys wanted to help. The problem was, they were just little tykes. So he’d give them each a block of wood and some nails, and while he was framing, they pounded a lot of nails, quickly learning which was the business end of a hammer!

Joe followed this pattern in every aspect of their lives, and eventually, the four sons drove teams of huge workhorses and helped their Dad do all the labor on the dry farm homestead. The three daughters learned to garden, cook, can and bake the quantities of homemade food that were required to feed a large family, occasional hired help and neighbors who might drop in.

But I digress. Weather in the area is historically changeable, and family legend has it that it snowed on July 7, 1916, the day Dad was born. (Sticklers for accuracy point out that the snow fell about 10 miles from the farm in the mountains, at Packsaddle Lake. But still, it WAS July! I daresay a fire blazed in the stove to warm the house for the new arrival.)
I don’t know who delivered Dad. There was a doctor in Newdale, 17 miles away, and one in Sugar City, 23 miles away. However, I believe his grandmother, Alice’s mother, Sarah, probably delivered him. She had taken midwife training from Dr. Ellis Shipp in Salt Lake City and had delivered many babies.

Joe was lucky to have such a mother-in-law—a neighbor, Joe Umphrey, wrote: ”Had 14 children born. . . During the birth of the children there was a doctor present about three times. About three times I was midwife myself. Bessie told me what to do and I done it.”

The large home became the center of the Clementsville community. Summer Sunday afternoons brought family and friends for fried chicken and homemade ice cream, frozen with snow kept from melting by covering last winter’s snowdrifts with straw.

Joe Nelson worked the farm until 1941, when his oldest son, Henry, took over. Henry and Saville and their young family moved in, and voices of another generation rang through the rooms. In 1971, Henry’s oldest son, Albert, took over. I’m grateful Al and his wife Joan haven’t changed things—my girl cousins’ bedroom still has 1950’s pink and blue wallpaper decorated with skunks and bunnies, and the dark hardwood banister shines, worn to a patina by the hands of generations of Nelsons, Dad included. Every room has a transom above the door, and an antique tear-drop shaped fire extinguisher near the ceiling.
 

When Mary’s granddaughter told a friend back East she was going to a reunion at this home in Idaho, her friend said, “Why would you want to go there?” She replied, “That’s where I come from, that’s where my family lives, AND – we all like each other!” There’s magic in a home built with love.

Hi all!

I suppose I can take a moment out of my birthday to post! ;)

This is Nicolette, by the way. It feels like we haven't done much, and yet we've been busy!

Our big news is that Aaron got a new job, back in Reno. So we're moving again! We have to be there Nov 1, so we'll be busy packing, driving, and unpacking the last week of October.

Kirin started the third grade. We were going to start a Girl Scout troop, but since we're moving, that's on hold. I did the leadership training in August, and we'll transfer all that to Reno.

Aaron's been working at the Ocean Spray bottling plant here in Las Vegas for the last year. It's been good, but not great. This new opportunity in Reno is programming for a medical equipment maker. Small start up, the company is less than 10 people. He's excited to get to use a skill (programming) that he doesn't usually get to do.

I started back to school. I'm attending Western Governor's University online. Hopefully, I will be done with a Bachelor's in Accounting within the year. As quick as I can manage it.

Christensen Update

Hi everyone, I am new to this and going to try to post some pictures. Our family news: We had a wonderful summer and just wish we could freeze time and enjoy it like this forever, but our boys insist on growing up, learning, and developing new talents. We spent a week on the Southern California beaches with Bruce's family. It was so fun to just relax, play in the sun and sand, and try to learn boogie boarding. We also went to SeaWorld. Instead of going to Lagoon this summer, we spent a weekend in Tooele and Mom and Dad took us four-wheeling and target shooting. We found a great little spot near the Stansbury mountains to spend the afternoon in the shade of the Junipers, and we weren't bothered by a soul. We feasted on barbequed hamburgers, hot dogs, and zuchinnis (yum!) with pasta salad, and bacon(!) maple cookies. It was so fun! Now the boys are back in school. Joel in 8th grade with new braces and hearing aids. Todd has joined him in Middle School. He's in 6th grade and playing football with Magic Valley Junior Football. Kurtis is in 2nd grade and playing soccer, coached by his dad, Bruce. Kurt is also beginning to take Violin lessons! Will has started preschool and really likes it. I am enjoying the start of the new schoolyear and getting back into the swing of things with our cub scout pack. Kurt turns 8 next week and will be in our Pack! He will be baptized and confirmed Nov. 5th, and Todd will receive the Aaronic Priesthood the next day, Nov. 6. If any of you can come and share this special weekend with us, we'd love to have you. Becky

This just in from Danny via Facebook!

Just a reminder to my extended family, work weekend Sept. 16 17 18. Planned activity Finnish the siding on North side of house and shooting guns in a celebratory manner. If weather continues to be wet, we will work inside on basement retaining wall.

Welcome!

Hi, everybody. Finally got the blog up and running. Please send me email addresses for anyone who needs to be added (or add them yourself, if you can). First, I'd like to share some of the pictures we took at the Farm this past July. Please post yours as well-- and also favorites from years past.