On Kenny Rogers.
"One time Mary and I were in Las Vegas and we wanted to see Kenny Rogers so we went to get some tickets and they were $125.  That's $125 each, so we walked away.  That was a few years ago already when that was a whole lot of money.  It still is.
"We liked Kenny Rogers, especially Coward of the County and the Gambler, too.  That reminds me, I'm a peculiar guy.  I like the Gazette much better when you're not writing about the school issue.  But I under-stand that you can't be the coward of the county."

On goulash.
"You know, things change so.  When I used to have the bus business, I started eating my lunches with others at the Chaska High School.  It was very reasonable, but sometimes they had goulash with everything mixed together and that wasn't really my bag so I didn't last long eating with the teachers.  Then Mary made my lunch.
"I loved to watch the kids play ball at the school during lunch time.  Some-times if the short stop wanted to do a few somersaults, it was okay.  Today it's so very organized.  Now you gotta win!"

On fishing.
"Mary and I were fishing Mille Lacs one time, and we were fishing pretty close to each other because walleyes hang around in groups.  So I got a walleye, and Mary cranks her line in and gets the net for me and, sure enough, I got the walleye.  Then Mary turned around and looked for her rod, and it wasn't nowhere to be found.  But she saw her hook in the boat.  The rod was in the water and she pulled it back up by the hook and the string.
"That reminds me of when you wrote about throwing Allan's rod into the lake up north, Sue.  It's much worse if a woman throws a man's rod into the lake than if a man throws a woman's rod in.  We really get attached to the rods, but for a woman it's only some-thing to catch a fish with.  With a man it sorta becomes part of you."

More on women.
"In the old days women didn't have to drive.  There was no need for it.  Blandine never drove.  Clarine didn't drive much.
"Even today there are cases where the man does all the driving, even if the woman can drive better, which is very seldom.  I hate to get into trouble.  Mary was a real good driver.  When it comes to driving in rough weather, I was better.  Men are more mechanical and know about why cars would act a certain way.
"My mother didn't drive.  Her name was Elizabeth.  She was a very good cook and a good person.  I don't know if my mother was ever in a bar.  That's the way things were.
"Another story about women … Back in the old days we had a grain binder that had a steel wheel and we couldn't rumble the thing down the highway so we had to get it onto a hayrack that had rubber tires.  One time there was this guy having a heck of a time, and his wife had been in the house watching us and when he saw her he got off to let her do it, and she got that binder right on the hayrack!  So there are some mechanical women."

On old age.
"I'm a little forgetful, but I still think I'm a pretty good driver.  Some people are just natural at things -- like with baseball.  Some are natural at baseball.  It's hard to understand, but that's the way it is.
"If I had to live my life over again there would not be many changes.  Some of the things that I thought were important back then aren't so important today.  My kids are important.  Do you know all of them?  There's Paul, Marilyn, Larry, Diane, Phyllis, Ed, Mark and Randy.  They are all assets to the community they are in.
"The biggest change would be that I'd teach my kids to speak German.  That's something they could have had for nothing.  Mary and I could both talk German.  It came in so handy when I was in the Second World War.  What good would German be today?  The same as with any other second language!  It doesn't matter which one it would be.  When you want to say something and not have the kids hear it, you can speak it in that language.
"I am so glad we did the picnics with the kids, sometimes at Plocher's Lake and sometimes an overnight at a resort by Brainerd.  Mary and I would fish a little and the kids would swim.  We didn't have to have other people along all the time.  It was family fun.  I am so grateful we did family things.  Families have a better chance of staying together if they play together.
"If we only knew what we knew when we came out of school, the world would not be very smart.  There is so much opportunity today to learn things."

Thank you, Ed, for being the driver in our children's world.  Thank you for being tall in my world.  Thank you for the stories that help tie us all together.
Thank you for chewing the rag with me.  Love, Sue.