Flatheadlake Scuttlebutt by Jos'e

"On-Line Copy #37 Febuary 2006"

"Somers Montana"

{"February came to us quite windy"}

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"Part Two of Two"
"Of a short story of another of my Mom's adventures"
As written by her.

In memory of my dearest Mother
"Martha Ellsworth"

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(The Last of two parts)
"To California to visit"

( By Martha Ellsworth)

     As we left the lake we climbed the narrow steep road over Myers Grade to Echo Summit at the south end of the lake, Tall timber flanked the road all the way to Placerville Ca, near the Sacramento Valley, by getting an early start we were able to go all the way through Sacramento to Napa and on to Petaluma. I can't remember if the folks were expecting us, after all these years but we did find them where they lived in a house that belonged to my uncle, one of Dads brothers, it had been over four years since I had seen them and of coarse they hadn't met their grand children my two sons.
     My sister "Adah" at Lake Tahoe had two children but they had already seen her little daughter and younger son, our children were near in ages and the first of the grand children. All my younger brothers and sisters were growing up, I was the oldest of ten children. The oldest brother was old enough to own and drive a car, the oldest twins, girls had a job at the Poultry Producers, there were still two girls and three boys younger, including the younger twins a Girl and a Boy.
     How nice it was to be with the folks again, they showed us the Pacific Ocean and even took us to San Francisco where Dads youngest brother lived, we had to cross the bay on a Ferry Boat, no Golden Gate bridge yet, though they had begun to talk about it.   My Uncle took us to "Play-Land" at the beach in San Francisco where the big Roller-Coaster was still in use, the ride in that was never repeated by me, one ride was plenty. My Mother in law got a job for a month taking care of an invalid at Two Rock out toward the ocean, while I had a good visit with my family, for four weeks to visit, it might seem like quite a while at first but it was soon to pass by and now time to head for home before winter set in in the Rocky Mountains.
     The morning we started out it began to rain. Dad and the boys thought they should overhaul the engine on the Ford, now it was tight and hard to start, the battery could handle it where the weather wasn’t so cold, but I had to have it towed to get it started when I got into the mountains.
     The rain kept falling and after we went through Placerville on our way back going back the way we came, we planned to stay all night with my sister at Lake Tahoe again, this was not to be, about three miles from the top of Echo Summit I slid off the road into a ditch, the gutter was deep and snapped the part that held what they call the wish-bone, steering parts came off.    As it happened we were in front of a summer lodging place that was closing the next day for the winter, they welcomed us to spend the night and the next morning some men got the car out of the ditch and turned around for me, there was no hope to go over the pass it was closed for the winter. They were able to tie up the wish-bone so we could get back to Placerville to have it fixed. I neglected to say that because of the continuing rain and no place to carry a wet mop type dog, we found a home for him in Sacramento at a service station the day before!   The car was repaired so we headed south, after going back through Sacramento, it rained continually as we drove past grape vineyards, fruit farms and vegetable gardens as well as grain fields and hay fields that had been harvested, it took us two days to go down through the San Joaquin valley and on to Bakersfield Ca.
      After staying all night at an auto court we took the road over the Tehachapi Pass and on over to Mojave, here we spent the night again, this is high desert and there were still clouds as we headed for Las Vegas. We got there before dark but it was a small tough looking cow town so we were afraid to stay all night.   We stopped at a store, got some food to eat on the road, filled up with gas and went on our way.   It began to storm again and the wind to blow but this time it was snow.   Since we had bought a new tire before starting home we had to only stop once for a tire that had picked up a nail, but now we had another problem, if I let the motor get cold, I had to hire someone to tow us to get it started.
      It was cold driving so we wrapped up in the bedding to keep warm, but when we reached Cedar City it was about 4am and I was to tired to go on, we found a place where there was one roomed cabins, with little flat topped stoves to heat with and cook on that took small pieces of wood or coal, which was provided. We all slept crosswise on the one bed to make the best use of our bedding, it wasn't to bad if you could keep your feet from sticking out.   We needed to go on as the storm continued, we knew it wasn't going to be easy to get home, strange roads new country to us and having to stay at motels every night made us run short of money.   We stayed all night at Richfield but learned the road was closed through the canyon, so we would have to go on north to pass over Soldiers Summit that was kept open all year.   We decided we had money enough to get to Price Utah, so sent a telegram for my husband to wire some money for us there, to get on home.   We got low on gas and out of money by the time we got to Shellville where this road joined the one from Salt Lake to Soldiers Summit.   I stopped at a service station and filled our tank with gas so we could go on, I took his name and address to send him the money when I got home.
     It was still daylight as we went on toward the summit, the snow was getting deeper and harder to drive in, I had put on the chains and it was slow going but we kept moving, we had reached the top and just started down when someone kept trying to pass, so I pulled out to let them by and there we were stuck in the snow, right beside the road, Mom tried to push but it was no use, I wanted her to drive and let me push but she refused.   Not sure what to do next I noticed two freight trucks having to help each other at a little curve about 1/8th of a mile from us, there were four men working to get them moving again.   I waited as they were beginning to shorten the distance between us, they came on and when they were past us they stopped and came back to ask how we got there?   The four of them literally picked the Ford up and put it back on the road, with the advice not to turn out for anyone again.
     It was dark now so we drove on as fast was it was safe, we needed to get to Price before the telegraph office closed at 8pm, would you believe it we made it with three minutes to spare!   Now we had money to stay all night eat supper, and I put the car in a warm garage for the night as the cost was the same as having to have it towed to start it.
     Next morning we got an early start, we were on the last leg of our journey to Delta Colorado.   The snow soon disappeared but there was lots of deep ruts in the adobe mud, usually three deep ruts so when you met someone you had to climb out to pass, we got along pretty well till late afternoon when something happened, I’ll never know what but suddenly we were out in the deep gutter, one front wheel and the opposite rear wheel held the weight of the car with the other two dangling, what to do now?   Down the road just a little way someone had put in a new plank culvert, the boards from the old one were scattered near by, somehow I managed to use them to block up the two wheels that were dangling, enough to get traction and support enough to get back on the road, no one had come by and just before dark we were able to go on.   After an hour or so we came to Grand Junction Colorado, we got gas and food and it was still 40 miles to home, there was snow on the ground and we went along past the end of Grand Mesa.   The sky cleared off and it was real cold, however we were cozy inside the car, the boys were asleep so on we went, Sometime after midnight we stopped in front of where we lived, Mike had stayed up with a warm fire after he came home from the Egyptian Theater where he was the projectionist, we quickly unloaded the things we needed,tucked the boys in bed and drained the car radiator so it wouldn’t freeze, and before long were snug and warm at HOME!!

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( NOTICE )

The information and directions about the " 2006 " Ellsworth reunion, can be viewed on my Niece Wendy Butler's sight at the address below.
http://www.zplace2b.com/
Just drop down and on the left side you will see "Family and Friends Pages", you will find it listed their, Come join us
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     February 2006, Here we go again Laurie and I are still holding our own and feeling pretty good "For Our Age" ('SMILE)!   I have been working more out in our workshop for one thing trying to clean it up, it seems to be a never ending job in trying to keep ahead of the mess I keep making.   Right now I'm working on a cutter to do the notches that make good corners in the little wooden fly boxes I make to hold the fishing flies I am tying to give to any charitie as a fund raiser that wants them.
  Laurie is a busy one here in our home cooking, cleaning as well as making grocery runs to town and doing the hundreds of things it takes to make a home run, I am super lucky to have such a great wife.
  The deer we see passing by our home seem to be in better shape this year, I guess it''s due to a milder winter thus better feed, in any event they are doing quite well here in our area.
  One thing about the light snow fall we have been getting, when I walk out to get the morning paper for Laurie I am able to see where all the animals have left the tracks of their passing right there in the new snow.  I have seen Coyote or Fox, Squirrel, Rabbit, Deer along with the neighbors Dog and Cat, all right there just like reading a road map.

      Be sure and drop by if you are in our neighborhood, until next time
"Have a Great Day".

Joe and Laurie Ellsworth

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     Left click any of the thumbnails below to view the photo at full size.
     click the (Back) button on your browser to return to this page.


"These guys Guard our bed during the day" "This is one of our Lawn Mowers." "A new face at the feeder, We are not sure what brand?".


"Daughter Lisa with her Aunt Ruth, at her Aunt's home in Israel." "Some pretty windows in Ruth's home" "A picture of a section of China's Great Wall taken by son Marty while on vacation there""

"A look at some of the weather we are having."

"February" Wow, The month's, they are getting closer together as time passes, well not really but it seems that way to me, we have had several weeks now of what we term as a mild type winter weather, first it is not below "0" and second when it does snow it is only an inch or less and seems to melt away before the next night when it does it all over again.
Mind you we are not complaining, It's just we do enjoy the winter weather and this year Mother Nature is being on the stingy side with her snow.

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We have enjoyed having you come to visit us here on the net and
hope you have enjoyed your time here. We would like to hear from you
if you are so inclined! So with an old country "Thanks" it's bye till next time.
( Joe and Laurie Ellsworth )

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"View our Last Issue" "Our Past Issues"

"Left click the next line to view paintings"
"A place to view Paintings by Jos's"

Another way to view this page is to visit:
"zplace2b.com"and click on the text link on the lower left side marked "Jose's Place" ".

Which is owned and maintained by my niece, "Wendy Butler".

{"February came to us quite windy"}

In memory of my dearest Mother"Martha Ellsworth"

"To California to visit"

( NOTICE )

The information and directions about the " 2006 " Ellsworth reunion, can be viewed on my Niece Wendy Butler's sight at the address below.http://www.zplace2b.com/Just drop down and on the left side you will see "Family and Friends Pages", you will find it listed their, Come join us

Another way to view this page is to visit: "zplace2b.com"and click on the text link on the lower left side marked "Jose's Place" ". Which is owned and maintained by my niece, "Wendy Butler".

In memory of my dearest Mother
"Martha Ellsworth"

The information and directions about the " 2006 " Ellsworth reunion, can be viewed on my Niece Wendy Butler's sight at the address below.
http://www.zplace2b.com/
Just drop down and on the left side you will see "Family and Friends Pages", you will find it listed their, Come join us

Another way to view this page is to visit:
"zplace2b.com"and click on the text link on the lower left side marked "Jose's Place" ".

Which is owned and maintained by my niece, "Wendy Butler".