Rotting pea vines along the road

By Elizabeth Cooper Mike From the pen of the late Elizabeth Cooper Mike, Kimball Historical Society member, in her book "The Girl From Stickney Hill, Kimball Prairie, Minnesota" (Reprinted with permission of the author.) I wanted that job badly the summer I was 18. Just out of high school and naïve as the back forty, I look back now and wonder how I had the nerve to be so persistent. Friday, September 25, 2009

A Mill Pond Night

By Elizabeth Cooper Mike From the pen of Elizabeth Cooper Mike, Kimball Historical Society member, in her book "The Girl From Stickney Hill, Kimball Prairie, Minnesota" (Reprinted by permission of the author.) The first part of this story (Aug. 27, 2009, issue of the Tri-County News) left Elizabeth at a church youth-group outing, a night-time wiener roast at the mill pond dam. We sang songs and told jokes as the flames died down and the glowing red embers became dark and blackened around the edges. Lawrence left early. I heard his car across the water start up and drive away, but I was caught up in the romance of the evening. The dark night closed around us with the dying fire at our feet. The sound of the water falling over the dam. The far-off starry sky. The moon was mostly behind a cloud now. I didn't want to leave. I thought I could stay here forever, even if Larry was gone already. Wednesday, September 09, 2009

A Mill Pond Night Part I

By Elizabeth Cooper Mike From the pen of Elizabeth Cooper Mike, Kimball Historical Society member, in her book "The Girl From Stickney Hill, Kimball Prairie, Minnesota" (Reprinted with permission of the author.) Wednesday, August 26, 2009

When I Was Four

By Elizabeth Cooper Mike From the pen of Elizabeth Cooper Mike, Kimball Historical Society member, in her book "The Girl From Stickney Hill, Kimball Prairie, Minnesota" (Reprinted with permission of the author.) Note: Gramma Coopie was my paternal grandmother; Muddy, my mother; Bailey or Daddy, my father; Nana, my maternal grandmother; Frederic, Jack and Peggy, my siblings. Mary and Laura were my second cousins. Sitting on the steps of Gramma Coopie's back porch I stretched out my legs and admired my new shiny black shoes, my white stockings pulled up tight and rolled over round garters to below my knees, and my next-to-best dress, blue with little white flowers all over it. Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Runaway Tractor

By Elizabeth Cooper Mike From the pen of Elizabeth Cooper Mike, Kimball Historical Society member, in her book "The Girl From Stickney Hill, Kimball Prairie, Minnesota" (Reprinted with permission of the author.) "It roared away from us and we chased it. It made a big swing in the farmer's pasture and came roaring back and we ran like heck, away from it, back up on the road," said Rachael Ann. She was telling me the story of the day Viola Donnay's dad's tractor got loose and demonstrated it had a life of its own. (1 comments) Wednesday, July 29, 2009