1
00:00:05,706 --> 00:00:08,041
[heavy rain and thunder]

2
00:00:08,709 --> 00:00:11,044
[soothing piano melody]

3
00:00:16,383 --> 00:00:18,785
- I was probably, I don't know,
three or four years old.

4
00:00:18,852 --> 00:00:20,320
It was a rainy day,

5
00:00:20,387 --> 00:00:22,356
and I wanted to do
something else.

6
00:00:22,422 --> 00:00:24,124
I don't know
what I wanted to do.

7
00:00:24,191 --> 00:00:25,325
As a little kid,

8
00:00:25,392 --> 00:00:27,528
I had all kinds of projects
I wanted to work on,

9
00:00:27,594 --> 00:00:28,862
and most of them were outside.

10
00:00:28,929 --> 00:00:30,163
I was always an outside kid.

11
00:00:30,230 --> 00:00:32,232
And it began to rain.

12
00:00:32,299 --> 00:00:33,967
And I was--

13
00:00:35,469 --> 00:00:37,304
Well, I probably did use

14
00:00:37,371 --> 00:00:40,040
one of the few cuss words
that I knew at the time

15
00:00:40,107 --> 00:00:43,911
in saying to my dad
that it was raining

16
00:00:43,977 --> 00:00:46,547
and everything that I'd planned
was now,

17
00:00:46,613 --> 00:00:48,048
I couldn't do it.

18
00:00:48,115 --> 00:00:50,083
And he looked me
right in the eye,

19
00:00:50,150 --> 00:00:53,720
and with a very serious look,
no smile,

20
00:00:54,321 --> 00:00:57,224
"Never curse the rain, Jerry."

21
00:00:57,958 --> 00:00:59,293
And I've never forgotten that

22
00:00:59,359 --> 00:01:02,796
because I knew later
what he meant

23
00:01:02,863 --> 00:01:04,531
because our farm was sandy.

24
00:01:04,598 --> 00:01:06,333
We never had enough rain.

25
00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,736
And for the crops
to amount to anything,

26
00:01:09,803 --> 00:01:13,941
every drop of water that fell
on our land was precious.

27
00:01:14,007 --> 00:01:16,276
And I grew up seeing water

28
00:01:16,343 --> 00:01:20,180
not just as something
that helped our crops grow,

29
00:01:20,247 --> 00:01:21,915
which it surely did,

30
00:01:21,982 --> 00:01:24,418
but something
that had to be respected

31
00:01:24,484 --> 00:01:26,920
and indeed to see it
as something sacred.

32
00:01:26,987 --> 00:01:29,056
It is something
we've got to cherish.

33
00:01:29,122 --> 00:01:32,025
Our very lives depend on water.

34
00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:35,796
I am trying my darnedest

35
00:01:36,096 --> 00:01:38,799
to help people,
through my stories,

36
00:01:38,866 --> 00:01:41,134
realize that there's another way

37
00:01:41,201 --> 00:01:44,438
of thinking about
our relationship to water.

38
00:01:44,505 --> 00:01:48,075
And not everybody has had
that opportunity that I've had

39
00:01:48,141 --> 00:01:50,811
to grow up
at a time and a place

40
00:01:52,179 --> 00:01:55,315
where water
was not in abundance.

41
00:01:55,949 --> 00:01:57,551
So water has meant a lot to me.

42
00:01:57,618 --> 00:02:00,053
It's been a part of my life
all along.

43
00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:01,488
I don't do much fishing anymore.

44
00:02:01,555 --> 00:02:04,758
I used to do a lot of it,
both in summer and in winter.

45
00:02:04,825 --> 00:02:08,695
I did a lot of swimming,
and I enjoyed it.

46
00:02:08,762 --> 00:02:10,831
It's a way to teach my kids
something about

47
00:02:10,898 --> 00:02:13,267
the relationship
of water to nature

48
00:02:13,333 --> 00:02:14,601
and the appreciation of it.

49
00:02:14,668 --> 00:02:17,471
It's been integral
all along.

50
00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:20,641
Never curse the rain.

51
00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:28,348
? ?

52
00:02:35,455 --> 00:02:38,025
- <i>Jerry Apps:</i>
<i>Never Curse the Rain</i>

53
00:02:38,091 --> 00:02:40,093
was funded in part by:

54
00:02:40,694 --> 00:02:42,930
Greg and Carol Griffin,

55
00:02:43,931 --> 00:02:46,166
Ron and Colleen Weyers,

56
00:02:47,234 --> 00:02:49,703
Stanley J. Cottrill Fund,

57
00:02:50,537 --> 00:02:52,673
Joel and Carol Gainer,

58
00:02:53,307 --> 00:02:55,642
Wisconsin History Fund,

59
00:02:55,976 --> 00:02:57,177
with support from

60
00:02:57,244 --> 00:03:00,848
the National Endowment
for the Humanities,

61
00:03:00,914 --> 00:03:04,885
and Friends of
Wisconsin Public Television.

62
00:03:07,788 --> 00:03:09,790
[icy water currents]

63
00:03:13,660 --> 00:03:15,996
[uplifting piano music]

64
00:03:24,505 --> 00:03:28,075
- It was the 31st day
of January in 1938,

65
00:03:28,709 --> 00:03:33,280
the day after we'd had
a considerable sized blizzard

66
00:03:33,347 --> 00:03:35,449
that had blocked all the roads.

67
00:03:35,516 --> 00:03:40,020
The temperature had dipped
down to about 15 below zero.

68
00:03:40,087 --> 00:03:42,789
And I was three-and-a-half
years old.

69
00:03:42,856 --> 00:03:44,858
I didn't know what the heck
was going on.

70
00:03:44,925 --> 00:03:47,694
I thought my mother
maybe gained a little weight.

71
00:03:47,761 --> 00:03:50,564
I didn't have this figured out.

72
00:03:50,631 --> 00:03:54,768
And lo and behold, my dad
hitched the team to the sleigh

73
00:03:54,835 --> 00:03:58,772
and headed for the schoolhouse
a mile from our farm.

74
00:03:58,839 --> 00:04:02,342
And they had called
Dr. Beck from Wautoma,

75
00:04:02,409 --> 00:04:05,012
who was going to meet him
at the school

76
00:04:05,078 --> 00:04:07,848
because the road past the school
had been plowed.

77
00:04:07,915 --> 00:04:09,917
He picked up Dr. Beck,

78
00:04:10,417 --> 00:04:12,186
driving across the fields,

79
00:04:12,252 --> 00:04:13,787
because you couldn't
drive on the road.

80
00:04:13,854 --> 00:04:15,389
It was just a mess.

81
00:04:15,455 --> 00:04:17,791
And they arrived at the house.

82
00:04:17,858 --> 00:04:20,260
Sometime during the night
all of this happened.

83
00:04:20,327 --> 00:04:23,597
I came downstairs
in the morning,

84
00:04:23,664 --> 00:04:26,433
and there the stove was red-hot.

85
00:04:26,500 --> 00:04:29,369
You could see
the cherry red stove.

86
00:04:29,436 --> 00:04:30,871
And I came downstairs

87
00:04:30,938 --> 00:04:35,509
and there were these two naked
babies on the dining room table.

88
00:04:35,576 --> 00:04:37,644
Where did they come from
and why are they here,

89
00:04:37,711 --> 00:04:39,780
was the question I asked.

90
00:04:39,847 --> 00:04:42,616
I did not get a decent answer.

91
00:04:42,683 --> 00:04:47,588
And so my twin brothers, there
they were, Donald and Darrel.

92
00:04:47,654 --> 00:04:51,792
Donald was the older one;
Darrel was the younger one.

93
00:04:51,859 --> 00:04:54,161
Donald was pretty frail.

94
00:04:54,228 --> 00:04:55,629
He was a skinny little guy.

95
00:04:55,696 --> 00:04:57,631
Well, as the months went along,

96
00:04:57,698 --> 00:05:00,801
the doctor was not too sure
he was going to live.

97
00:05:00,868 --> 00:05:02,803
And my mother was concerned
about the fact

98
00:05:02,870 --> 00:05:05,172
that none of us were baptized.

99
00:05:05,239 --> 00:05:07,474
But Reverend Vevle
agreed to come out to the farm

100
00:05:07,541 --> 00:05:10,444
on a Wednesday evening in July.

101
00:05:11,178 --> 00:05:13,013
They were born in January.

102
00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:14,982
Donald was not doing well.

103
00:05:15,048 --> 00:05:16,517
And the preacher said,

104
00:05:16,583 --> 00:05:18,986
"Get some water
from the water pail."

105
00:05:19,052 --> 00:05:20,187
And I'm looking at that.

106
00:05:20,254 --> 00:05:22,589
What's special about
the water pail water?

107
00:05:22,656 --> 00:05:27,594
Pours it in a little pan
and adds a little warm water,

108
00:05:27,661 --> 00:05:32,032
and then he proceeds to
baptize my brother, Donald.

109
00:05:32,099 --> 00:05:34,101
He says, "In the name
of the Father."

110
00:05:34,168 --> 00:05:37,004
What father is he talking
about, for Heaven's sake?

111
00:05:37,070 --> 00:05:38,972
And then he said,
"The Holy Ghost."

112
00:05:39,039 --> 00:05:40,874
Geez, I don't know
anything about ghosts.

113
00:05:40,941 --> 00:05:44,011
The only ghosts I know about
are at Halloween time.

114
00:05:44,077 --> 00:05:45,746
What is going on here?

115
00:05:45,812 --> 00:05:47,581
Dribbling a little water
on my brother

116
00:05:47,648 --> 00:05:49,783
and saying
these mysterious things?

117
00:05:49,850 --> 00:05:52,653
And at four, I was
skeptical of everything.

118
00:05:52,719 --> 00:05:54,321
I mean, what little kid isn't?

119
00:05:54,388 --> 00:05:56,590
And this stuff
made no sense to me whatever.

120
00:05:56,657 --> 00:05:58,659
And he said, "Well,
what about this other one?"

121
00:05:58,725 --> 00:06:00,260
That's Darrel.
"Well, do him too."

122
00:06:00,327 --> 00:06:02,829
And then he said,
"What about Jerry over there?

123
00:06:02,896 --> 00:06:04,431
Is he baptized?"
"No."

124
00:06:04,498 --> 00:06:05,732
"We better do him too."

125
00:06:05,799 --> 00:06:07,434
Well, gee whiz.

126
00:06:07,501 --> 00:06:08,902
Now, I got the full treatment.

127
00:06:08,969 --> 00:06:11,538
They took me over,
they just dumped water,

128
00:06:11,605 --> 00:06:13,407
almost dumped on my head.

129
00:06:13,473 --> 00:06:14,441
It wasn't a sprinkle.

130
00:06:14,508 --> 00:06:16,844
It was the full treatment.

131
00:06:16,910 --> 00:06:18,946
I'm still curious
at this moment

132
00:06:19,012 --> 00:06:21,882
about this Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost business.

133
00:06:21,949 --> 00:06:24,084
I mean, what is happening to me?

134
00:06:24,151 --> 00:06:26,453
And then the pastor said,
"You realize, of course,

135
00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:28,856
that this is holy water?"

136
00:06:29,223 --> 00:06:33,594
It seemed like regular water to
me, but now we were baptized,

137
00:06:33,660 --> 00:06:35,128
and we were all set.

138
00:06:35,195 --> 00:06:36,830
And the preacher
ended it all by saying,

139
00:06:36,897 --> 00:06:39,533
"You are now children of God."

140
00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:41,835
I thought, well, good for us.

141
00:06:41,902 --> 00:06:44,404
I didn't realize that
that was a big deal

142
00:06:44,471 --> 00:06:46,073
because I didn't feel
any different

143
00:06:46,139 --> 00:06:47,374
than a little while ago

144
00:06:47,441 --> 00:06:50,277
except now my head
seemed a little cleaner.

145
00:06:50,344 --> 00:06:52,012
[laughter]

146
00:06:53,313 --> 00:06:56,583
Our pump was powered
by a windmill.

147
00:06:56,650 --> 00:06:59,419
And all of the water
used in the house

148
00:06:59,486 --> 00:07:01,722
was provided by the windmill

149
00:07:01,788 --> 00:07:03,257
and my two brothers and I,

150
00:07:03,323 --> 00:07:09,162
as one of our daily chores was
to carry water into the house.

151
00:07:09,229 --> 00:07:11,965
And the water pail
sat by the sink.

152
00:07:12,032 --> 00:07:16,837
And that water pail was
the source of all of the water

153
00:07:16,904 --> 00:07:22,776
for cooking, for washing,
for tooth brushing, everything.

154
00:07:22,843 --> 00:07:24,645
And just one--

155
00:07:24,711 --> 00:07:26,613
Well, I don't
know how many pails of water

156
00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:29,650
we would carry in a day,
but not many.

157
00:07:29,716 --> 00:07:31,818
It was really kind
of interesting.

158
00:07:31,885 --> 00:07:33,921
But two times of the week

159
00:07:33,987 --> 00:07:36,490
when we had a bath
on Saturday night,

160
00:07:36,557 --> 00:07:41,195
we had to carry in more water,
of course, to fill the washtub.

161
00:07:41,261 --> 00:07:43,530
And that was...
well, we put up with that

162
00:07:43,597 --> 00:07:46,433
because we knew
we were going to town afterward,

163
00:07:46,500 --> 00:07:49,770
and going to town once a week
was a big deal.

164
00:07:49,837 --> 00:07:52,773
The other time when
we carried way too much water,

165
00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,175
in our estimation,
was on wash day

166
00:07:55,242 --> 00:07:57,878
when we had to fill up
the old washing machine

167
00:07:57,945 --> 00:07:59,780
and the wash tubs
and all of that.

168
00:07:59,847 --> 00:08:03,450
And the third time,
which was, well,

169
00:08:03,517 --> 00:08:07,120
we knew it was going to happen
about every July

170
00:08:07,187 --> 00:08:08,288
when Mabel and George Rancord

171
00:08:08,355 --> 00:08:10,924
would come out
from Chicago

172
00:08:11,692 --> 00:08:14,361
in their big ol' Dodge car,

173
00:08:14,428 --> 00:08:17,965
and they would stay with us
for two weeks.

174
00:08:18,031 --> 00:08:19,967
Why?
I have never figured out.

175
00:08:20,033 --> 00:08:22,469
We had no electricity,
no indoor plumbing, nothing.

176
00:08:22,536 --> 00:08:24,137
And George was a very nice guy.

177
00:08:24,204 --> 00:08:25,205
He didn't do anything.

178
00:08:25,272 --> 00:08:27,341
Sat under a tree
most of the time,

179
00:08:27,407 --> 00:08:28,909
looking out over the pasture.

180
00:08:28,976 --> 00:08:31,311
I guess he just liked to watch
the cows in the pasture.

181
00:08:31,378 --> 00:08:34,414
Mabel, however, figured she
had to help with the cooking,

182
00:08:34,481 --> 00:08:37,885
and her idea of cooking was
everything had to be scrubbed,

183
00:08:37,951 --> 00:08:39,820
and there had to be water
in everything.

184
00:08:39,887 --> 00:08:41,855
And she, as soon as she arrived,

185
00:08:41,922 --> 00:08:43,891
one of the first things
she would say was,

186
00:08:43,957 --> 00:08:46,660
"Jerry, could you fetch me
a pail of water?"

187
00:08:46,727 --> 00:08:49,029
Sure.
Carry in the water.

188
00:08:49,096 --> 00:08:51,131
And 10 minutes later--

189
00:08:51,198 --> 00:08:52,933
10 minutes later!
Maybe 15.

190
00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:54,434
"Could you fetch me another?"

191
00:08:54,501 --> 00:08:56,637
What happened to the first pail
of water, for Heaven's sake?

192
00:08:56,703 --> 00:08:58,438
I wanted to ask.
I never did.

193
00:08:58,505 --> 00:08:59,940
Carry in
that next pail of water.

194
00:09:00,007 --> 00:09:01,975
And pretty soon
Jerry came up missing.

195
00:09:02,042 --> 00:09:05,846
Jerry found other things to do
when Mabel was around.

196
00:09:05,913 --> 00:09:07,915
And my two younger brothers,
they were still around.

197
00:09:07,981 --> 00:09:10,017
"Donald, could you get a pail?"

198
00:09:10,083 --> 00:09:11,952
"Well, yes, of course."

199
00:09:12,019 --> 00:09:14,621
And then Donald came up missing,
and then it was Darrel's turn,

200
00:09:14,688 --> 00:09:15,956
and then he came up missing.

201
00:09:16,023 --> 00:09:17,891
And Mabel said,
"Where are those boys?

202
00:09:17,958 --> 00:09:19,626
We need water."

203
00:09:21,028 --> 00:09:23,463
And so, "Herman, could you
get a pail of water for me?"

204
00:09:23,530 --> 00:09:24,565
That's my dad.

205
00:09:24,631 --> 00:09:26,967
And Pa would not be
too happy about that

206
00:09:27,034 --> 00:09:29,002
because not only
we're carrying a lot of water,

207
00:09:29,069 --> 00:09:31,405
we were using a lot of water.

208
00:09:31,471 --> 00:09:33,540
And he wanted the water
for the cattle.

209
00:09:33,607 --> 00:09:35,042
He didn't want it in the house.

210
00:09:35,108 --> 00:09:36,443
To carry in a pail of water

211
00:09:36,510 --> 00:09:38,378
every 15, 20 minutes,
half an hour

212
00:09:38,445 --> 00:09:40,380
was not only unbelievable,
it was almost obscene.

213
00:09:40,447 --> 00:09:41,982
My dad would roll his eyes.

214
00:09:42,049 --> 00:09:43,650
"What is wrong with this woman?"

215
00:09:43,717 --> 00:09:45,419
She could not believe

216
00:09:45,485 --> 00:09:48,989
that my mother could get by
with so little water.

217
00:09:49,056 --> 00:09:52,025
And she did not appreciate,
nor understand

218
00:09:52,092 --> 00:09:54,661
how precious water was to us

219
00:09:55,195 --> 00:09:59,499
and how every drop of it
had to come from our well.

220
00:09:59,566 --> 00:10:01,869
And in those days,
before we had electricity,

221
00:10:01,935 --> 00:10:04,438
every drop of water
depended on

222
00:10:04,505 --> 00:10:06,640
the wind
turning the windmill.

223
00:10:06,707 --> 00:10:08,976
So my dad
was very, very careful

224
00:10:09,042 --> 00:10:11,512
about the water that he used.

225
00:10:13,447 --> 00:10:17,784
Back in the '30s, we had
not only a Great Depression,

226
00:10:17,851 --> 00:10:20,120
but we had severe drought

227
00:10:20,187 --> 00:10:22,456
in several parts
of the United States.

228
00:10:22,523 --> 00:10:25,359
The Dust Bowl just raised havoc.

229
00:10:25,425 --> 00:10:28,562
The wind would blow
day after day,

230
00:10:29,329 --> 00:10:33,200
and the fine talcum-like dust
from the soil

231
00:10:33,267 --> 00:10:34,835
would filter into the house.

232
00:10:34,902 --> 00:10:37,204
And it was very, very dry,
obviously,

233
00:10:37,271 --> 00:10:38,472
with no rain.

234
00:10:38,539 --> 00:10:41,808
But as long as the wind blew,
the windmill turned.

235
00:10:41,875 --> 00:10:44,044
And even though
the cows had little to eat,

236
00:10:44,111 --> 00:10:48,081
the pastures were drying up,
the hay crop was meager,

237
00:10:48,148 --> 00:10:50,651
we were getting by, just.

238
00:10:50,717 --> 00:10:54,321
And then one day,
the wind quit blowing,

239
00:10:54,388 --> 00:10:56,523
and the windmill quit turning.

240
00:10:56,590 --> 00:11:00,494
And the most pitiful sound
in the world

241
00:11:00,561 --> 00:11:04,231
is the sound of cattle
that are thirsty.

242
00:11:05,566 --> 00:11:08,769
They would bellow
all night long.

243
00:11:08,836 --> 00:11:11,471
I could hear them in my bedroom.

244
00:11:11,538 --> 00:11:14,374
And my dad would spend
each afternoon

245
00:11:14,441 --> 00:11:15,876
looking to the western sky

246
00:11:15,943 --> 00:11:18,779
to see if there was
any sign of a storm coming,

247
00:11:18,846 --> 00:11:21,882
any sign that the wind
might start blowing again,

248
00:11:21,949 --> 00:11:24,284
but the wind did not blow.

249
00:11:24,718 --> 00:11:25,686
We were desperate.

250
00:11:25,752 --> 00:11:29,423
We've had 12 - 14 cattle,
a team of horses,

251
00:11:29,489 --> 00:11:32,826
and Pa was more concerned
about the livestock

252
00:11:32,893 --> 00:11:34,127
than he was about his family,

253
00:11:34,194 --> 00:11:37,164
but we hadn't
anything to drink either.

254
00:11:37,231 --> 00:11:40,701
And one of our neighbors,
Alan Davis was his name,

255
00:11:40,767 --> 00:11:44,605
he lived a half a mile,
maybe a mile to the north of us,

256
00:11:44,671 --> 00:11:47,140
Pa knew that
he had a gasoline engine

257
00:11:47,207 --> 00:11:49,510
because he lived
down in the hollow

258
00:11:49,576 --> 00:11:52,279
and the windmill
wouldn't work there very well.

259
00:11:52,346 --> 00:11:55,883
And so we loaded up a bunch of
milk cans, 10-gallon milk cans,

260
00:11:55,949 --> 00:11:57,618
put them on a wagon,
team of horses,

261
00:11:57,684 --> 00:12:01,188
drove down to Alan's farm,
filled these cans with water,

262
00:12:01,255 --> 00:12:02,623
brought them back,

263
00:12:02,689 --> 00:12:05,959
dumped them into the stock tank,

264
00:12:06,026 --> 00:12:08,028
and now we've got
the cattle and the horses

265
00:12:08,095 --> 00:12:09,696
all running into each other,

266
00:12:09,763 --> 00:12:11,698
fighting to get
a drink of water.

267
00:12:11,765 --> 00:12:13,800
It was a terrible time.

268
00:12:13,867 --> 00:12:16,970
And we saved enough,
a pail of water for the house,

269
00:12:17,037 --> 00:12:19,339
so we could have
a drink of water

270
00:12:19,406 --> 00:12:22,976
and my mother could do
some cooking with water.

271
00:12:23,043 --> 00:12:26,647
And Pa was just troubled
beyond belief

272
00:12:26,713 --> 00:12:29,316
that we had to depend
on the neighbor.

273
00:12:29,383 --> 00:12:32,986
It was about the next day,
in the middle of the night,

274
00:12:33,053 --> 00:12:35,289
I heard the wind come up.

275
00:12:36,223 --> 00:12:39,359
And generally we're not pleased
when the wind is blowing

276
00:12:39,426 --> 00:12:41,228
because it was blowing dust
all the time.

277
00:12:41,295 --> 00:12:45,399
But this time I knew what was
happening because the wind came

278
00:12:45,465 --> 00:12:48,335
up and then you could
hear this windmill.

279
00:12:48,402 --> 00:12:53,507
It squeaked and squawked,
and then it began turning.

280
00:12:53,574 --> 00:12:56,243
And I knew the pump
was working then.

281
00:12:56,310 --> 00:12:58,645
And I knew that
Pa would be a lot happier,

282
00:12:58,712 --> 00:13:02,216
as was my mother, when I came
downstairs in the morning.

283
00:13:02,282 --> 00:13:04,918
Everybody was smiling because
the stock tank was full,

284
00:13:04,985 --> 00:13:08,288
and the windmill, of course,
had been turning.

285
00:13:08,355 --> 00:13:12,292
But Pa was concerned that
another day the wind would stop.

286
00:13:12,359 --> 00:13:15,863
And he looked in
the farm newspapers for ads.

287
00:13:15,929 --> 00:13:19,132
And so he bought
a Monitor gasoline engine

288
00:13:19,199 --> 00:13:21,969
built specifically
to replace a windmill.

289
00:13:22,035 --> 00:13:24,404
It looked just like
a bunch of cast iron.

290
00:13:24,471 --> 00:13:25,506
Hooked this thing up.

291
00:13:25,572 --> 00:13:28,041
Took a half a day
to get it hooked up.

292
00:13:28,108 --> 00:13:30,511
Kaboom the machine went.

293
00:13:30,577 --> 00:13:33,480
And then kaboom, a-sheesh,
a-sheesh, a-sheesh.

294
00:13:33,547 --> 00:13:34,982
Kaboom, a-sheesh, a-sheesh.

295
00:13:35,048 --> 00:13:36,950
And the pump rod
had been going up and down,

296
00:13:37,017 --> 00:13:38,318
and the water began running.

297
00:13:38,385 --> 00:13:39,786
Kaboom, a-sheesh, a-sheesh.

298
00:13:39,853 --> 00:13:43,023
Everything shook and I thought
things were going to fly apart,

299
00:13:43,090 --> 00:13:44,992
but now we had water.

300
00:13:45,826 --> 00:13:47,594
Dependable water.

301
00:13:47,661 --> 00:13:50,497
And we used that Monitor engine
until we got electricity,

302
00:13:50,564 --> 00:13:53,700
which was
a number of years later.

303
00:13:54,434 --> 00:13:56,270
The first people
that moved into the area

304
00:13:56,336 --> 00:13:58,739
would make sure
they were by a stream or a lake

305
00:13:58,805 --> 00:14:01,441
because life depends on water,

306
00:14:01,508 --> 00:14:04,111
and farmers, if you're going
to be a successful farmer,

307
00:14:04,178 --> 00:14:07,181
water was absolutely critical.

308
00:14:07,814 --> 00:14:10,017
Water was precious then.

309
00:14:10,083 --> 00:14:12,152
It's precious still today.

310
00:14:12,219 --> 00:14:13,887
[running stream]

311
00:14:18,158 --> 00:14:19,826
[running stream]

312
00:14:23,397 --> 00:14:25,065
? ?

313
00:14:34,842 --> 00:14:36,510
Back in the 1940s,

314
00:14:37,044 --> 00:14:39,546
when we were in the midst
of World War II,

315
00:14:39,613 --> 00:14:42,950
and I was, oh,
eight, nine years old,

316
00:14:43,984 --> 00:14:46,820
the crops by July
were drying up.

317
00:14:46,887 --> 00:14:48,322
The pastures were slim.

318
00:14:48,388 --> 00:14:50,891
They oat crop was
not much of anything.

319
00:14:50,958 --> 00:14:52,893
The corn was withered.

320
00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:56,396
Every afternoon when the chores
were done, my pa and I,

321
00:14:56,463 --> 00:14:59,766
we'd stand out by the barn
and we'd look to the west

322
00:14:59,833 --> 00:15:04,404
to see if the weather
had any hope of a rainstorm.

323
00:15:04,471 --> 00:15:06,740
And my dad was very good
at predicting the weather.

324
00:15:06,807 --> 00:15:09,676
By looking at the western sky
and the weather vane,

325
00:15:09,743 --> 00:15:11,745
the wind direction
and the cloud formations,

326
00:15:11,812 --> 00:15:13,447
he could predict the weather.

327
00:15:13,514 --> 00:15:14,915
Well, this particular afternoon,

328
00:15:14,982 --> 00:15:17,518
after evening after evening of
not seeing any sign of a storm,

329
00:15:17,584 --> 00:15:20,120
he saw something I couldn't see.

330
00:15:20,187 --> 00:15:22,055
He said, "See those clouds
on the horizon?"

331
00:15:22,122 --> 00:15:23,557
I could barely see them.

332
00:15:23,624 --> 00:15:25,959
He said, "I think it's
going to rain tonight."

333
00:15:26,026 --> 00:15:29,329
Came into the house,
lit the lamp on the table.

334
00:15:29,396 --> 00:15:31,865
It was just getting dark.

335
00:15:31,932 --> 00:15:33,901
We're all sitting around.

336
00:15:33,967 --> 00:15:35,469
Dad reading the newspaper

337
00:15:35,536 --> 00:15:39,506
and my brothers and I fooling
around with something or other.

338
00:15:39,573 --> 00:15:41,441
About nine o'clock,
my mother said,

339
00:15:41,508 --> 00:15:43,076
"Well, it's time to go to bed."

340
00:15:43,143 --> 00:15:45,045
And so that's when
we went to bed, generally.

341
00:15:45,112 --> 00:15:46,780
Blew out the lamp.

342
00:15:46,847 --> 00:15:48,682
Took my lamp, went up to bed.

343
00:15:48,749 --> 00:15:51,185
My little room was
on the end of the house.

344
00:15:51,251 --> 00:15:53,453
The two windows in the bedroom
were open

345
00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,523
and stifling hot in the bedroom.

346
00:15:56,590 --> 00:15:58,592
But I had hoped
that pa was right,

347
00:15:58,659 --> 00:15:59,927
that it might rain.

348
00:15:59,993 --> 00:16:00,961
[thunder]

349
00:16:01,028 --> 00:16:02,763
And it must have been
about midnight

350
00:16:02,829 --> 00:16:06,333
that I heard this growl,
this thunder in the distance.

351
00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:08,635
That wonderful sound.

352
00:16:08,702 --> 00:16:09,970
When it's dry weather,

353
00:16:10,037 --> 00:16:13,540
you listen for the growl
of the thunder in the distance.

354
00:16:13,607 --> 00:16:15,242
[thunder rumbling]

355
00:16:15,309 --> 00:16:18,145
And then I got up
and looked out the window.

356
00:16:18,212 --> 00:16:19,379
It had awakened me.

357
00:16:19,446 --> 00:16:21,048
And I saw a flash of lightning.

358
00:16:21,114 --> 00:16:22,783
[thunder]

359
00:16:22,850 --> 00:16:26,220
And another
louder clap of thunder.

360
00:16:26,286 --> 00:16:27,955
[thunder]

361
00:16:28,622 --> 00:16:32,526
And the sky was
a menacing conglomeration

362
00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:36,563
of clouds rolling and tumbling

363
00:16:36,630 --> 00:16:38,665
and fighting with each other,

364
00:16:38,732 --> 00:16:41,668
which I could see
with each flash of lightning.

365
00:16:41,735 --> 00:16:43,337
[thunder]

366
00:16:43,403 --> 00:16:45,205
And then Pa
called up the stairs.

367
00:16:45,272 --> 00:16:47,374
He said, "Boys, wake up.

368
00:16:47,441 --> 00:16:49,042
Wake up and come downstairs."

369
00:16:49,109 --> 00:16:51,712
He did that
maybe once or twice a year

370
00:16:51,778 --> 00:16:53,614
because he wanted
everybody dressed

371
00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:57,451
in case the wind
did something to the barn

372
00:16:57,518 --> 00:17:00,254
or if there was
a terrific hailstorm

373
00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,090
or lightning struck something.

374
00:17:03,156 --> 00:17:07,461
The Wild Rose Fire Department
remained in Wild Rose,

375
00:17:07,528 --> 00:17:09,796
and if there ever was a fire,

376
00:17:09,863 --> 00:17:12,699
and lightning fire
was not uncommon,

377
00:17:12,766 --> 00:17:14,434
we were on our own.

378
00:17:14,902 --> 00:17:18,872
And the worst possible thing
that could happen to a farmer

379
00:17:18,939 --> 00:17:20,207
in late summer

380
00:17:20,274 --> 00:17:22,943
when the barn was full of hay

381
00:17:23,010 --> 00:17:24,344
was to have lightning strike it

382
00:17:24,411 --> 00:17:27,681
and destroy
the winter supply of hay.

383
00:17:27,748 --> 00:17:29,950
So he was deathly
afraid of fire,

384
00:17:30,017 --> 00:17:32,419
and lightning was
one form of it, of course.

385
00:17:32,486 --> 00:17:35,355
And so we were all
in the dining room,

386
00:17:35,422 --> 00:17:39,259
watching out the window
this storm, this menacing storm.

387
00:17:39,326 --> 00:17:43,530
And why in Heaven sake did
this storm have to be so mean?

388
00:17:43,597 --> 00:17:45,866
Why couldn't it just rain?

389
00:17:47,901 --> 00:17:51,438
My mother would
ask that question.

390
00:17:51,505 --> 00:17:52,639
The storm got closer.

391
00:17:52,706 --> 00:17:53,874
[wind]

392
00:17:53,941 --> 00:17:55,576
And a gust of wind came,

393
00:17:55,642 --> 00:17:57,845
and it shook the windows
a little bit.

394
00:17:57,911 --> 00:18:00,247
But it wasn't that severe.

395
00:18:00,314 --> 00:18:04,084
And immediately, the temperature
dropped probably 20 degrees,

396
00:18:04,151 --> 00:18:05,419
at least 10.

397
00:18:05,485 --> 00:18:07,821
And there wasn't any hail.

398
00:18:07,888 --> 00:18:09,656
But it just dumped.

399
00:18:09,723 --> 00:18:11,258
[rain]

400
00:18:11,325 --> 00:18:13,894
The rain came down, and we--

401
00:18:13,961 --> 00:18:18,232
If you ever saw a family
happy with an event

402
00:18:18,298 --> 00:18:21,068
that was
as natural as rain,

403
00:18:21,134 --> 00:18:24,104
it was at that time
because farmers,

404
00:18:24,171 --> 00:18:26,974
if they had nothing else
going for them,

405
00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,042
they always had hope.

406
00:18:29,843 --> 00:18:34,214
And the hope, in this instance,
was for some rain

407
00:18:34,281 --> 00:18:37,184
because it would save the crops,
it would save the garden.

408
00:18:37,251 --> 00:18:39,319
We would have something to eat
during the winter.

409
00:18:39,386 --> 00:18:41,989
The cows would
have some feed again.

410
00:18:42,055 --> 00:18:45,526
And Pa said, "You can go
back up to bed now."

411
00:18:45,592 --> 00:18:47,027
He looked at his watch.

412
00:18:47,094 --> 00:18:48,996
"It's three o'clock.

413
00:18:49,062 --> 00:18:52,633
You've got a couple of hours
yet before you have to get up."

414
00:18:52,699 --> 00:18:54,301
Crawled into bed,

415
00:18:54,368 --> 00:18:59,273
and 5:30 the next morning,
it all started over again.

416
00:19:00,174 --> 00:19:02,042
What we ordinarily
did on a rainy day,

417
00:19:02,109 --> 00:19:04,011
we'd crawl up into the barn

418
00:19:04,077 --> 00:19:08,148
and listen to the rain
drum on the barn roof.

419
00:19:08,215 --> 00:19:09,683
Wonderful sound.

420
00:19:09,750 --> 00:19:11,818
Never forgotten it.

421
00:19:11,885 --> 00:19:16,323
The smell of sweet clover
and drying alfalfa.

422
00:19:16,390 --> 00:19:18,091
I was afraid pa
was going to say,

423
00:19:18,158 --> 00:19:20,060
"Let's got hoe the potatoes."

424
00:19:20,127 --> 00:19:21,461
It stopped raining,
just a little drizzle.

425
00:19:21,528 --> 00:19:23,030
But he didn't.

426
00:19:23,096 --> 00:19:25,799
He said, "You know, this might
be a day to go fishing."

427
00:19:25,866 --> 00:19:27,601
He didn't say that very often
in the summertime.

428
00:19:27,668 --> 00:19:29,303
We fished a lot in the winter,

429
00:19:29,369 --> 00:19:31,305
but in the summertime
there was work to be done.

430
00:19:31,371 --> 00:19:32,739
Always work to be done.

431
00:19:32,806 --> 00:19:37,711
So I found the six-tine fork and
went out back of the henhouse

432
00:19:37,778 --> 00:19:41,281
and dug some worms
and put them in a can.

433
00:19:41,348 --> 00:19:44,218
Found the 16-foot long
cane poles

434
00:19:44,284 --> 00:19:47,120
that we had tucked
under the corn crib eaves,

435
00:19:47,187 --> 00:19:50,023
tied them across the top
of the '36 Plymouth,

436
00:19:50,090 --> 00:19:51,225
piled in the Plymouth,

437
00:19:51,291 --> 00:19:54,194
and drove over
to Norwegian Lake.

438
00:19:54,261 --> 00:19:55,829
And Pa knew the Andersons,

439
00:19:55,896 --> 00:19:58,966
who lived at a farm
right by the lake.

440
00:19:59,032 --> 00:20:00,801
And they rented boats.

441
00:20:00,868 --> 00:20:03,170
The boat rental
was a dollar a day.

442
00:20:03,237 --> 00:20:06,240
And a day was an hour
or 12 hours,

443
00:20:06,306 --> 00:20:07,541
whatever you wanted to call it.

444
00:20:07,608 --> 00:20:09,276
It was one dollar.

445
00:20:09,843 --> 00:20:12,813
And so Pa went in the shed
and picked up a pair of oars.

446
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,849
We drove on down to the lake,
and here were these wood--

447
00:20:15,916 --> 00:20:16,884
These were all wooden boats.

448
00:20:16,950 --> 00:20:18,619
They were--
I don't know.

449
00:20:18,685 --> 00:20:20,387
Somebody made them, I 'spect.

450
00:20:20,454 --> 00:20:22,389
And they were sort of
half-sunk in the lake,

451
00:20:22,456 --> 00:20:24,491
and we looked around to see one

452
00:20:24,558 --> 00:20:26,493
that looked like
it would be halfway decent,

453
00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:27,828
pulled it out,
tipped it over,

454
00:20:27,895 --> 00:20:29,596
dumped the water out.

455
00:20:29,663 --> 00:20:31,231
All crawled in

456
00:20:31,298 --> 00:20:35,002
and we rowed out
to where the marl hole was.

457
00:20:35,068 --> 00:20:37,337
Many of the lakes
had marl bottoms.

458
00:20:37,404 --> 00:20:40,407
Marl is calcium carbonate
thousands of years old

459
00:20:40,474 --> 00:20:43,277
from various seashells
that have accumulated there.

460
00:20:43,343 --> 00:20:44,611
And it was dug out.

461
00:20:44,678 --> 00:20:46,580
Farmers used it to fertilize,

462
00:20:46,647 --> 00:20:48,849
to change the acidity level
of their fields.

463
00:20:48,916 --> 00:20:50,918
So there's a big hole
in Norwegian Lake,

464
00:20:50,984 --> 00:20:52,886
probably 40 feet deep,

465
00:20:52,953 --> 00:20:55,856
and the idea was
no anchor was big enough,

466
00:20:55,923 --> 00:20:59,226
long enough, the chain,
the rope, to drop down 40 feet.

467
00:20:59,293 --> 00:21:04,665
So the idea was to row right up
to the edge of this marl hole

468
00:21:04,731 --> 00:21:07,234
because on a hot day in summer

469
00:21:07,301 --> 00:21:09,570
the big bluegills
and the big Northerns

470
00:21:09,636 --> 00:21:12,439
are down deep where it's cool.

471
00:21:13,207 --> 00:21:15,242
And pa knew this lake
better than we did.

472
00:21:15,309 --> 00:21:17,578
And we're rowing, he's rowing,
and we're looking.

473
00:21:17,644 --> 00:21:19,012
And we see

474
00:21:19,079 --> 00:21:20,180
the bottom disappear.

475
00:21:20,247 --> 00:21:21,415
And Pa says, "That's it.

476
00:21:21,481 --> 00:21:22,616
"We're over to marl hole.

477
00:21:22,683 --> 00:21:24,751
Now we've got to back off
just a little bit."

478
00:21:24,818 --> 00:21:26,253
And we backed off a little bit.

479
00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:27,588
We dropped the anchor.

480
00:21:27,654 --> 00:21:30,624
And we started tossing
our poles, our bobbers,

481
00:21:30,691 --> 00:21:34,228
into this deep hole
in the marl hole.

482
00:21:34,294 --> 00:21:35,462
And we'd hit it.

483
00:21:35,529 --> 00:21:37,431
This was the day to catch fish.

484
00:21:37,497 --> 00:21:40,234
Soon the bluegills were biting.

485
00:21:40,300 --> 00:21:43,136
I mean, my brother Donald's
bobber went under

486
00:21:43,203 --> 00:21:44,771
and up came a big bluegill.

487
00:21:44,838 --> 00:21:46,940
My dad's bobber went under.
Another big bluegill.

488
00:21:47,007 --> 00:21:48,642
Mine, Darrel's.

489
00:21:48,709 --> 00:21:50,978
Soon the bluegills
were accumulating.

490
00:21:51,044 --> 00:21:53,547
What we did not
pay attention to was that

491
00:21:53,614 --> 00:21:57,084
there was water accumulating
in the floor of the boat.

492
00:21:57,150 --> 00:21:58,619
The thing leaked like a sieve.

493
00:21:58,685 --> 00:22:00,687
We didn't realize that.

494
00:22:00,754 --> 00:22:04,458
And I said to Pa, I said, "Pa,
I think this boat's leaking."

495
00:22:04,525 --> 00:22:06,460
And he kind of looked down,
and he said,

496
00:22:06,527 --> 00:22:08,795
"Yeah, but the fish
are biting pretty well.

497
00:22:08,862 --> 00:22:10,731
Maybe one of you
or both of you..."

498
00:22:10,797 --> 00:22:12,266
We had a little pail along.

499
00:22:12,332 --> 00:22:16,136
"You could dump some of the
water out as it accumulated."

500
00:22:16,203 --> 00:22:18,939
And so we're dumping water
and catching fish

501
00:22:19,006 --> 00:22:21,642
and just continuing to do that
for about an hour,

502
00:22:21,708 --> 00:22:26,647
but we could not keep ahead of
the water that was accumulating,

503
00:22:26,713 --> 00:22:29,683
now up to our shoes
and covering our shoes.

504
00:22:29,750 --> 00:22:32,186
And I said,
"Pa, this boat's going to sink."

505
00:22:32,252 --> 00:22:33,720
We had no life preservers.

506
00:22:33,787 --> 00:22:35,389
There wasn't anything like that.

507
00:22:35,455 --> 00:22:38,358
And Pa didn't seem to mind
that the boat might sink

508
00:22:38,425 --> 00:22:40,027
because the fish
were really biting.

509
00:22:40,093 --> 00:22:41,995
I mean, we'd had
25, 30, 40 bluegills.

510
00:22:42,062 --> 00:22:44,398
And I'm not exaggerating.

511
00:22:44,464 --> 00:22:45,999
The bluegills
were this big around.

512
00:22:46,066 --> 00:22:47,634
I mean, they were
just wonderful.

513
00:22:47,701 --> 00:22:48,969
But...

514
00:22:49,036 --> 00:22:51,471
If the boat sank, well,
what difference would it make?

515
00:22:51,538 --> 00:22:53,240
And we're quite a ways
from shore.

516
00:22:53,307 --> 00:22:55,709
We're a good hundred yards,
maybe more than that.

517
00:22:55,776 --> 00:22:58,478
And we're bailing
and still fishing

518
00:22:58,545 --> 00:22:59,813
and pa finally says,

519
00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,383
"I think we probably ought to
hang it up for the day.

520
00:23:03,450 --> 00:23:04,852
We got enough fish."

521
00:23:04,918 --> 00:23:06,587
And now the boat's got,
I don't know,

522
00:23:06,653 --> 00:23:08,055
probably that much water in it.

523
00:23:08,121 --> 00:23:09,656
We just couldn't
bail fast enough.

524
00:23:09,723 --> 00:23:11,191
We got the boat up to shore.

525
00:23:11,258 --> 00:23:13,360
We were there safe and sound.

526
00:23:13,427 --> 00:23:15,362
Got home, cleaned the fish.

527
00:23:15,429 --> 00:23:17,698
One of the things
we had learned

528
00:23:17,764 --> 00:23:19,766
early in all
of these adventures:

529
00:23:19,833 --> 00:23:23,504
never tell ma
any details of what went on

530
00:23:24,271 --> 00:23:26,373
because she would have
chewed out my dad

531
00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:28,575
like you can't imagine.

532
00:23:28,642 --> 00:23:32,045
So we're all smirking as we're
cleaning these bluegills,

533
00:23:32,112 --> 00:23:33,914
and Ma's prepared with

534
00:23:33,981 --> 00:23:37,117
the great big ol' cast iron
skillet on the wood stove,

535
00:23:37,184 --> 00:23:38,919
put in a big hunk of lard

536
00:23:38,986 --> 00:23:40,654
and put these fish in there

537
00:23:40,721 --> 00:23:42,723
and fry 'em up and crisp.

538
00:23:42,789 --> 00:23:44,191
And my dad said,

539
00:23:44,258 --> 00:23:48,362
"There's nothing sweeter than
bluegills caught in cold water."

540
00:23:48,428 --> 00:23:53,066
And we had a wonderful
fish dinner and a memory.

541
00:23:53,133 --> 00:23:55,335
Are we going back
to Norwegian Lake,

542
00:23:55,402 --> 00:23:59,306
and, if we do, let's remember
the boat that we were in

543
00:23:59,373 --> 00:24:02,042
and not select that one again.

544
00:24:07,314 --> 00:24:08,982
[fast waterfall]

545
00:24:10,317 --> 00:24:13,887
? [energetic staccato
piano melody] ?

546
00:24:22,963 --> 00:24:25,499
In the fall
that I turned 12 years old,

547
00:24:25,566 --> 00:24:28,235
I was able to
get a hunting license.

548
00:24:28,302 --> 00:24:29,903
Farm kids were hunting,
of course,

549
00:24:29,970 --> 00:24:32,172
as soon as they were big enough
to handle a rifle,

550
00:24:32,239 --> 00:24:33,674
but we couldn't deer hunt.

551
00:24:33,740 --> 00:24:35,175
So I'm 12 years old,

552
00:24:35,242 --> 00:24:38,145
and my dad and Bill Miller,
the neighbor half a mile away,

553
00:24:38,212 --> 00:24:40,080
had been going
for several years.

554
00:24:40,147 --> 00:24:44,885
But now, now, I had
the opportunity to go along.

555
00:24:44,952 --> 00:24:48,689
Well, there was
a 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun

556
00:24:48,755 --> 00:24:51,124
that weighed about--
[clears throat]

557
00:24:51,191 --> 00:24:52,826
Well, it weighed a lot.

558
00:24:52,893 --> 00:24:54,528
[laughter]

559
00:24:54,595 --> 00:24:57,865
And so I'm to use this--
It was a Blunderbuss.

560
00:24:57,931 --> 00:24:58,932
The thing--

561
00:24:58,999 --> 00:25:01,668
I mean, it had a barrel
that never quit.

562
00:25:01,735 --> 00:25:03,370
You could hardly see
the end of it.

563
00:25:03,437 --> 00:25:05,305
Well, this is a bit
of an exaggeration.

564
00:25:05,372 --> 00:25:06,607
We had slugs.

565
00:25:06,673 --> 00:25:08,509
Anybody that knows
about deer hunting knows that

566
00:25:08,575 --> 00:25:11,845
when you deer hunt you don't use
fine shot, you use slugs.

567
00:25:11,912 --> 00:25:14,848
Well, when that shotgun
went off, I mean it,

568
00:25:14,915 --> 00:25:17,084
if you were standing up
out in the open,

569
00:25:17,150 --> 00:25:18,986
it would drive you
back two feet.

570
00:25:19,052 --> 00:25:20,487
I mean, it was wicked.

571
00:25:20,554 --> 00:25:23,023
It was very much like a horse
kicking you on the shoulder

572
00:25:23,090 --> 00:25:24,258
when the thing went off.

573
00:25:24,324 --> 00:25:26,760
So I was a little fearful
of this big ol' shotgun.

574
00:25:26,827 --> 00:25:29,263
We drive to Adams County.

575
00:25:29,329 --> 00:25:32,399
It's a beautiful day
in late November.

576
00:25:32,466 --> 00:25:34,868
To make the hunt really work,

577
00:25:34,935 --> 00:25:37,371
it was good to have somebody
walking through the woods

578
00:25:37,437 --> 00:25:39,206
to scare out the deer

579
00:25:39,273 --> 00:25:42,042
toward those who were
standing on the other end.

580
00:25:42,109 --> 00:25:46,280
And my dad had selected me,
as the novice,

581
00:25:46,346 --> 00:25:48,148
to perform that role.

582
00:25:48,215 --> 00:25:51,351
And so he dumps me off,
and he says,

583
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:54,888
"Bill and I are going to go
on the other end of the woods

584
00:25:54,955 --> 00:25:56,557
about a mile away."

585
00:25:56,623 --> 00:25:58,458
And he said,
"Now, you won't get lost.

586
00:25:58,525 --> 00:26:01,061
All you have to do
is walk along the river."

587
00:26:01,128 --> 00:26:02,663
Which is true.

588
00:26:02,729 --> 00:26:04,064
I'm walking along the river,

589
00:26:04,131 --> 00:26:08,836
and that big Blunderbuss
of a 12-gauge got so heavy.

590
00:26:08,902 --> 00:26:11,538
And I'm tired
and we had to get up at 4:30

591
00:26:11,605 --> 00:26:13,340
to milk the cows
in order to get there.

592
00:26:13,407 --> 00:26:16,343
So I lean it up against
the tree, and I sit down.

593
00:26:16,410 --> 00:26:18,212
I look at the river.

594
00:26:18,979 --> 00:26:21,715
Well, lo and behold,
as I'm looking at the river,

595
00:26:21,782 --> 00:26:24,785
here comes
what looks like a dog.

596
00:26:25,519 --> 00:26:29,122
Swimming along,
just his head sticking out.

597
00:26:29,189 --> 00:26:31,892
And this creature sees me,
and it's--

598
00:26:31,959 --> 00:26:34,194
[claps hands]
My gosh,

599
00:26:34,261 --> 00:26:36,930
I about
jumped out of my skin.

600
00:26:37,497 --> 00:26:42,336
There was this slap on the water
as loud as a rifle shot.

601
00:26:42,402 --> 00:26:44,004
Well, it was a beaver,
of course.

602
00:26:44,071 --> 00:26:47,574
And this big ol' beaver
pounded his tail on the water,

603
00:26:47,641 --> 00:26:48,976
which is the common way
that beavers

604
00:26:49,042 --> 00:26:53,247
told the rest of the beavers
that there was trouble ahead.

605
00:26:53,313 --> 00:26:54,715
I'd never seen a beaver,

606
00:26:54,781 --> 00:26:58,151
and I look upstream
and I could see the beaver dam.

607
00:26:58,218 --> 00:27:01,488
And I'm watching these beavers
now work at this dam.

608
00:27:01,555 --> 00:27:03,724
It was a fantastic thing to see.

609
00:27:03,790 --> 00:27:06,727
I mean, it almost was better
than hunting deer.

610
00:27:06,793 --> 00:27:07,995
And then I thought,

611
00:27:08,061 --> 00:27:11,231
I better get on
doing what I'm supposed to do.

612
00:27:11,298 --> 00:27:13,834
So I picked up
my old Blunderbuss

613
00:27:13,901 --> 00:27:15,769
and I wandered on
through the woods,

614
00:27:15,836 --> 00:27:19,039
and after a half an hour or so,
I come upon Pa,

615
00:27:19,106 --> 00:27:21,408
and he said,
"Where have you been?"

616
00:27:21,475 --> 00:27:24,011
And I said, "Well,
I've just been taking my time."

617
00:27:24,077 --> 00:27:27,414
I would not admit that I was
sitting there on the riverbank

618
00:27:27,481 --> 00:27:32,152
watching the beavers
and having a wonderful time.

619
00:27:32,853 --> 00:27:35,689
Pa said,
"You should walk a little faster

620
00:27:35,756 --> 00:27:39,560
if we're going to get
any deer this year."

621
00:27:42,930 --> 00:27:45,933
About 1948,
I was in high school,

622
00:27:46,567 --> 00:27:50,137
and it had been
an interesting winter.

623
00:27:50,204 --> 00:27:54,308
A lot of snow,
and come spring, it warmed up,

624
00:27:54,374 --> 00:27:57,711
in March, up to,
it must have been in the 70s.

625
00:27:57,778 --> 00:28:00,013
And the snow melted fiercely.

626
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:01,815
And our country
where I grew up

627
00:28:01,882 --> 00:28:03,517
has a lot of hills and valleys.

628
00:28:03,584 --> 00:28:06,820
And the valleys
quickly filled with water.

629
00:28:06,887 --> 00:28:09,590
Including the roads
were flooded.

630
00:28:09,656 --> 00:28:13,227
And so the school bus
couldn't come by,

631
00:28:13,894 --> 00:28:15,896
nor could the milkman,
nor could anybody.

632
00:28:15,963 --> 00:28:18,432
It was just like a winter storm.

633
00:28:18,498 --> 00:28:20,267
It's the unexpected in nature

634
00:28:20,334 --> 00:28:23,070
that I have
always found fascinating,

635
00:28:23,136 --> 00:28:26,707
whether it's a fierce storm
or a flood.

636
00:28:27,341 --> 00:28:30,010
It's what you don't expect
to happen.

637
00:28:30,077 --> 00:28:31,812
Especially in our area,

638
00:28:31,879 --> 00:28:34,948
the idea of a flood
was unknown in sand country.

639
00:28:35,015 --> 00:28:36,416
The ground was frozen.

640
00:28:36,483 --> 00:28:39,586
That's why
the water didn't recede.

641
00:28:39,653 --> 00:28:41,255
And so when
the unexpected happens,

642
00:28:41,321 --> 00:28:44,024
and my dad was good at this,
his comment was,

643
00:28:44,091 --> 00:28:46,360
"Well, you gotta make due.
You take what's given to you."

644
00:28:46,426 --> 00:28:47,528
Rather than sit back

645
00:28:47,594 --> 00:28:48,996
and say, "Oh, my.

646
00:28:49,062 --> 00:28:50,797
"You boys don't have to
go to school now

647
00:28:50,864 --> 00:28:52,599
"and I don't know
what we're going to do,

648
00:28:52,666 --> 00:28:53,800
"and the milkman can't come by

649
00:28:53,867 --> 00:28:56,003
and what are we going to do
with all the milk?"

650
00:28:56,069 --> 00:28:57,137
and all of that,

651
00:28:57,204 --> 00:28:58,939
he said, "Well, you guys
can walk to school.

652
00:28:59,006 --> 00:29:00,340
"I used to walk a long ways.

653
00:29:00,407 --> 00:29:01,441
It'd be good for you."

654
00:29:01,508 --> 00:29:02,476
And it was wonderful.

655
00:29:02,543 --> 00:29:04,778
It was such fun
to brag to the town kids,

656
00:29:04,845 --> 00:29:06,513
who were a bunch
of wimps anyway,

657
00:29:06,580 --> 00:29:08,015
that we just walked
four-and-a-half miles

658
00:29:08,081 --> 00:29:09,183
to get to school.

659
00:29:09,249 --> 00:29:11,118
We impressed our teachers
unbelievably,

660
00:29:11,185 --> 00:29:12,653
how we would do that.

661
00:29:12,719 --> 00:29:14,588
Well, what happened was

662
00:29:14,655 --> 00:29:17,090
when all these valleys
froze over,

663
00:29:17,157 --> 00:29:19,092
the water didn't disappear,

664
00:29:19,159 --> 00:29:21,094
but there was
about two inches of ice.

665
00:29:21,161 --> 00:29:23,163
So it took
another two, three weeks

666
00:29:23,230 --> 00:29:25,465
before the water receded enough

667
00:29:25,532 --> 00:29:28,468
so the school bus could come by

668
00:29:28,535 --> 00:29:30,571
and things would
return back to normal

669
00:29:30,637 --> 00:29:35,175
and we didn't have to walk
nine miles round trip to school.

670
00:29:35,242 --> 00:29:36,710
For Heaven's sake.

671
00:29:36,777 --> 00:29:38,545
But this community of kids,

672
00:29:38,612 --> 00:29:42,049
there must have been a half
a dozen of us walking to school.

673
00:29:42,115 --> 00:29:45,452
I mean we just thought that was
the greatest thing in the world.

674
00:29:45,519 --> 00:29:49,323
And to get there
and be able to brag, oh, man.

675
00:29:49,389 --> 00:29:52,092
I mean, we country kids were
short on bragging rights anyway.

676
00:29:52,159 --> 00:29:54,294
The town kids had
all the advantages, we thought.

677
00:29:54,361 --> 00:29:56,496
We didn't have electricity
or anything.

678
00:29:56,563 --> 00:29:57,664
And now we could brag.

679
00:29:57,731 --> 00:29:59,867
By golly, we're in school

680
00:29:59,933 --> 00:30:03,837
even though the school bus
didn't make it.

681
00:30:04,738 --> 00:30:06,406
? [polka music] ?

682
00:30:08,642 --> 00:30:10,844
Oh, good golly, Miss Molly.

683
00:30:10,911 --> 00:30:13,213
When I turned 18 years old,

684
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:15,816
there was still on the books
a law in Wisconsin

685
00:30:15,883 --> 00:30:19,853
that said you could drink beer,
but not liquor or wine.

686
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:23,090
And so there were beer bars
all over the place

687
00:30:23,156 --> 00:30:25,392
just for 18-year-olds.

688
00:30:26,059 --> 00:30:28,395
And Lakeside Lodge at Hancock,

689
00:30:28,462 --> 00:30:31,131
now gone, had such a beer bar.

690
00:30:32,366 --> 00:30:35,469
And they also had
this wonderful dance hall.

691
00:30:35,536 --> 00:30:39,706
And every Saturday night
all year round,

692
00:30:39,773 --> 00:30:41,942
I don't think they
missed a Saturday night,

693
00:30:42,009 --> 00:30:45,312
maybe if it was Christmas Eve
they didn't perform, but they

694
00:30:45,379 --> 00:30:47,281
invited in a polka band.

695
00:30:47,347 --> 00:30:49,716
And finally, I loved to polka,

696
00:30:49,783 --> 00:30:52,286
it took me a long time
to learn how to do it,

697
00:30:52,352 --> 00:30:54,188
but here we would all show up.

698
00:30:54,254 --> 00:30:55,389
It was 50 cents.

699
00:30:55,455 --> 00:30:57,758
That's what it cost
to get into the dance hall.

700
00:30:57,824 --> 00:31:01,261
And they would play
all these wonderful polkas.

701
00:31:01,328 --> 00:31:02,663
The "Beer Barrel Polka."

702
00:31:02,729 --> 00:31:05,232
We call it the "Butcher Polka."

703
00:31:05,299 --> 00:31:08,735
"Butcher arms around me, honey;
hold me tight."

704
00:31:08,802 --> 00:31:11,605
We knew all the words
to these songs.

705
00:31:11,672 --> 00:31:14,141
And then they would do
the old time waltzes.

706
00:31:14,208 --> 00:31:15,709
"The Tennessee Waltz."

707
00:31:15,776 --> 00:31:18,412
[singing tenor]
? I was waltzing
with my darling

708
00:31:18,478 --> 00:31:20,714
? To the Tennessee Waltz

709
00:31:21,415 --> 00:31:22,983
You probably want to
take that part out.

710
00:31:23,050 --> 00:31:24,151
[laughter]

711
00:31:24,218 --> 00:31:26,720
I mean, it was just fantastic.

712
00:31:26,787 --> 00:31:29,756
And, of course, we were there
with our girlfriends

713
00:31:29,823 --> 00:31:31,425
showing off our dance steps.

714
00:31:31,491 --> 00:31:33,293
None of us could
dance worth a hoot,

715
00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:34,895
but the girls
all knew how to dance,

716
00:31:34,962 --> 00:31:38,765
but the big deal was
going into the 18-year-old bar

717
00:31:38,832 --> 00:31:40,701
where you could get, I think,

718
00:31:40,767 --> 00:31:44,638
five seven-ounce bottles
of Blatz Beer for a dollar.

719
00:31:44,705 --> 00:31:45,973
Something like that.

720
00:31:46,039 --> 00:31:48,041
I mean, it was absurd.

721
00:31:48,375 --> 00:31:49,743
Well, we didn't have
any money either,

722
00:31:49,810 --> 00:31:52,646
so we'd get our dollar's worth
of beer and that was about it.

723
00:31:52,713 --> 00:31:54,648
But the thing
that I remember most

724
00:31:54,715 --> 00:31:57,818
is the Lakeside Lodge was
right on this wonderful lake.

725
00:31:57,885 --> 00:31:58,919
[cicadas]

726
00:31:58,986 --> 00:32:00,954
And there was often a full moon

727
00:32:01,021 --> 00:32:03,156
when we're trying
to impress our dates.

728
00:32:03,223 --> 00:32:05,325
And we would take them
down to the beach

729
00:32:05,392 --> 00:32:09,229
and with the moon rising
and the bullfrogs--

730
00:32:09,296 --> 00:32:11,098
Har-ump, har-ump.

731
00:32:11,765 --> 00:32:14,101
I mean, why wouldn't
that impress a girl

732
00:32:14,168 --> 00:32:16,170
to hear that wonderful sound

733
00:32:16,236 --> 00:32:18,906
of a bullfrog?
[laughter]

734
00:32:18,972 --> 00:32:20,407
We're walking along the beach

735
00:32:20,474 --> 00:32:22,576
and in the background
the Butcher song...

736
00:32:22,643 --> 00:32:26,346
[singing tenor]
? Butcher arms around me honey
? Hold me tight

737
00:32:26,413 --> 00:32:27,514
...is playing.

738
00:32:27,581 --> 00:32:29,383
I mean, it was the best.

739
00:32:29,449 --> 00:32:30,884
Absolutely the best.

740
00:32:30,951 --> 00:32:33,587
And, of course, the band every
so often would take a break.

741
00:32:33,654 --> 00:32:36,123
And then a bunch of us
would walk along the beach.

742
00:32:36,190 --> 00:32:39,826
And then you'd hear
the announcer say,

743
00:32:39,893 --> 00:32:41,595
"We're now going to do
a schottische."

744
00:32:41,662 --> 00:32:43,363
And we'd do the circle two-step,

745
00:32:43,430 --> 00:32:47,234
and then they would play
some drag along dance

746
00:32:47,301 --> 00:32:49,136
that some of us
who didn't dance very well,

747
00:32:49,203 --> 00:32:51,872
we could cuddle up
a little closer to our dates.

748
00:32:51,939 --> 00:32:55,242
The beach and the lake
made it what it was

749
00:32:55,309 --> 00:32:57,778
because the moonlight
on the lake,

750
00:32:57,845 --> 00:33:00,147
I mean
who couldn't be impressed?

751
00:33:00,214 --> 00:33:03,217
And we, of course, after
a couple of these cheap beers

752
00:33:03,283 --> 00:33:06,186
were trying our darnedest
to impress our dates, which,

753
00:33:06,253 --> 00:33:09,623
as it turned out,
were not very impressed.

754
00:33:09,690 --> 00:33:11,358
[laughter]

755
00:33:11,725 --> 00:33:13,794
I have long forgotten
who these girls were.

756
00:33:13,861 --> 00:33:16,230
Almost a different one
every Saturday night.

757
00:33:16,296 --> 00:33:20,100
But these dances
were absolutely fantastic.

758
00:33:20,167 --> 00:33:22,302
And people, in my mind,

759
00:33:22,803 --> 00:33:25,372
sometimes fail to realize

760
00:33:25,439 --> 00:33:27,107
that in this life

761
00:33:27,608 --> 00:33:30,410
there's more than economics.

762
00:33:31,044 --> 00:33:32,713
And the idea of

763
00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:37,217
just sitting by a lake
and watching it

764
00:33:37,284 --> 00:33:39,419
has value that exceeds

765
00:33:39,887 --> 00:33:43,957
most anything that you
could write in your checkbook.

766
00:33:44,024 --> 00:33:46,793
I grew up understanding that.

767
00:33:46,860 --> 00:33:48,328
These lakes were created

768
00:33:48,395 --> 00:33:50,063
10,000 years ago

769
00:33:50,898 --> 00:33:53,267
when the last glacier receded.

770
00:33:53,333 --> 00:33:57,137
We see natural vegetation
all around it.

771
00:33:57,604 --> 00:33:58,972
And if you went out into it,

772
00:33:59,039 --> 00:34:01,341
my guess is that you could look
probably to the bottom

773
00:34:01,408 --> 00:34:03,777
because there's no
external pollution.

774
00:34:03,844 --> 00:34:06,413
It's a natural environment.

775
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:11,318
And when I say that lake
is 10,000 years old, it is.

776
00:34:11,385 --> 00:34:12,452
That's a long time.

777
00:34:12,519 --> 00:34:16,757
The extent to which
our society can continue,

778
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:21,828
and maybe this
is an exaggeration,

779
00:34:21,895 --> 00:34:23,630
will depend on
the extent to which

780
00:34:23,697 --> 00:34:26,400
some of this can be maintained

781
00:34:26,466 --> 00:34:28,135
to remind us

782
00:34:29,770 --> 00:34:33,540
that nature
is important in our lives,

783
00:34:33,607 --> 00:34:36,844
and lakes and water
are essential.

784
00:34:41,682 --> 00:34:44,618
[rain falls softly on the water]

785
00:34:44,685 --> 00:34:46,353
? ?

786
00:34:47,688 --> 00:34:49,356
[birds chirping]

787
00:34:54,895 --> 00:34:57,531
We bought our farm
50 years ago now.

788
00:34:57,598 --> 00:34:59,766
The house had burned,

789
00:34:59,833 --> 00:35:02,402
and we were trying to turn
the granary into a cabin,

790
00:35:02,469 --> 00:35:04,538
but there was
no indoor plumbing.

791
00:35:04,605 --> 00:35:06,306
There was no running water
in the house.

792
00:35:06,373 --> 00:35:09,776
The only source of water
we had was this well.

793
00:35:09,843 --> 00:35:11,144
We did have electricity

794
00:35:11,211 --> 00:35:12,379
that I'd put in,

795
00:35:12,446 --> 00:35:14,314
and we had an electric pump jack

796
00:35:14,381 --> 00:35:17,751
that moved the pump rods
up and down

797
00:35:17,818 --> 00:35:20,420
so we had water,
but not very much water.

798
00:35:20,487 --> 00:35:21,755
And we had to carry water,

799
00:35:21,822 --> 00:35:24,057
of course, to the house.

800
00:35:24,358 --> 00:35:26,126
Well, I couldn't afford
to put a well in,

801
00:35:26,193 --> 00:35:27,794
to have a decent system.

802
00:35:27,861 --> 00:35:30,931
And to tell you the truth, I'm
happy that we didn't because,

803
00:35:30,998 --> 00:35:33,033
and this may sound cruel,

804
00:35:33,100 --> 00:35:35,636
but I really wanted
my kids to experience something,

805
00:35:35,702 --> 00:35:39,173
we had three kids,
some of what I did.

806
00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:41,542
- And my mom was determined
to keep us clean,

807
00:35:41,608 --> 00:35:44,011
even though we were outside
every day all summer

808
00:35:44,077 --> 00:35:46,146
getting really filthy,
crawling around in the woods

809
00:35:46,213 --> 00:35:47,981
and barefoot and running around

810
00:35:48,048 --> 00:35:49,416
getting really dirty.

811
00:35:49,483 --> 00:35:50,751
So she just determined that

812
00:35:50,817 --> 00:35:53,387
we would at least have
clean feet when we went to bed.

813
00:35:53,453 --> 00:35:55,756
And my mom decided
that was not enough of washing.

814
00:35:55,822 --> 00:35:57,324
It didn't count as washing up.

815
00:35:57,391 --> 00:36:00,861
So we needed
the whole shower experience.

816
00:36:00,928 --> 00:36:03,130
- I don't know
where I came up with the idea,

817
00:36:03,197 --> 00:36:05,732
but I thought maybe
we could figure out a way

818
00:36:05,799 --> 00:36:08,569
of making an outdoor shower.

819
00:36:08,635 --> 00:36:10,571
That would be
kind of interesting.

820
00:36:10,637 --> 00:36:12,706
Well, how are you going
to make an outdoor shower?

821
00:36:12,773 --> 00:36:14,041
I thought about that.

822
00:36:14,107 --> 00:36:15,242
My neighbor at the time,

823
00:36:15,309 --> 00:36:17,544
in Madison,
ran a hardware store,

824
00:36:17,611 --> 00:36:18,745
Ellis Hardware.

825
00:36:18,812 --> 00:36:21,348
I said, "Maurie,
I want you to help me

826
00:36:21,415 --> 00:36:22,683
with something
I'm thinking about."

827
00:36:22,749 --> 00:36:24,685
And he said, "Now what
are you trying to make?"

828
00:36:24,751 --> 00:36:26,620
I said, "I'm trying
to make an outdoor shower.

829
00:36:26,687 --> 00:36:28,355
Here's the idea.

830
00:36:28,689 --> 00:36:30,624
Let's start with
a 14-quart pail.

831
00:36:30,691 --> 00:36:32,159
You got some of
those around here?"

832
00:36:32,226 --> 00:36:33,327
"Yes, I do."

833
00:36:33,393 --> 00:36:34,661
"Cut a hole in the bottom,

834
00:36:34,728 --> 00:36:36,163
and then I want you to put

835
00:36:36,230 --> 00:36:39,233
about a foot or so
of garden hose,

836
00:36:40,234 --> 00:36:42,169
fasten that in there
so that it doesn't leak.

837
00:36:42,236 --> 00:36:43,871
You know how to do that;
I don't."

838
00:36:43,937 --> 00:36:45,339
He said, "Yes, I can do that."

839
00:36:45,405 --> 00:36:47,541
And I said, "On the other end
of the garden hose

840
00:36:47,608 --> 00:36:49,243
put a garden sprinkler thing."

841
00:36:49,309 --> 00:36:50,777
And the spigot on the bottom

842
00:36:50,844 --> 00:36:52,346
had a little schnozzle on it

843
00:36:52,412 --> 00:36:55,716
so you could turn it off and on,
which is very important.

844
00:36:55,782 --> 00:36:58,685
So then the kids and I
went down in the woods,

845
00:36:58,752 --> 00:37:00,954
and we cut three long poles,

846
00:37:01,021 --> 00:37:02,723
locust tree poles.

847
00:37:02,789 --> 00:37:04,091
Brought them up.

848
00:37:04,157 --> 00:37:06,760
We set them up as a tripod
about eight feet high,

849
00:37:06,827 --> 00:37:10,631
hay-wired the top together,
set it up as a tripod.

850
00:37:10,697 --> 00:37:14,601
- This is a picture
of our one-pail shower.

851
00:37:15,269 --> 00:37:16,970
My dad on a ladder,

852
00:37:17,037 --> 00:37:20,807
and the one-pail shower
was on a pulley system

853
00:37:20,874 --> 00:37:22,643
so you could
pull it up and down.

854
00:37:22,709 --> 00:37:26,046
It was one of my dad's
finest inventions.

855
00:37:26,113 --> 00:37:27,915
- So, how do you
not freeze to death

856
00:37:27,981 --> 00:37:29,917
because the water coming out
of the pump is about,

857
00:37:29,983 --> 00:37:31,919
I don't know, 50 degrees or 45,
something like that.

858
00:37:31,985 --> 00:37:34,121
So we would warm up some water
on a cook stove.

859
00:37:34,188 --> 00:37:36,156
We had a wood cook stove
with a teakettle.

860
00:37:36,223 --> 00:37:38,692
Warm up the water there,
put some cold water in the pail,

861
00:37:38,759 --> 00:37:41,461
put some hot water in it
until it was just nice,

862
00:37:41,528 --> 00:37:42,996
pull it up, crawl under there.

863
00:37:43,063 --> 00:37:45,065
Then Susie and my wife said,
"Well, geez,

864
00:37:45,132 --> 00:37:47,434
"we're not going to
take a shower standing out here

865
00:37:47,501 --> 00:37:48,902
in the buff in the open.

866
00:37:48,969 --> 00:37:51,205
You're going to have to put
something around that thing."

867
00:37:51,271 --> 00:37:55,576
So I wrapped a canvas around the
thing, and now it was complete.

868
00:37:55,642 --> 00:37:59,479
I said, "If you're going
to take a shower now,

869
00:37:59,546 --> 00:38:03,717
there's got to be at least
three showers for every pail."

870
00:38:03,784 --> 00:38:05,385
They go, "What?"

871
00:38:05,452 --> 00:38:06,720
"Try it and see."

872
00:38:06,787 --> 00:38:08,021
And it works.

873
00:38:08,088 --> 00:38:10,490
You don't need a whole lot
of water to take a shower.

874
00:38:10,557 --> 00:38:12,759
I was keenly interested,
at that time,

875
00:38:12,826 --> 00:38:13,994
to helping the kids understand

876
00:38:14,061 --> 00:38:17,297
that water
is pretty darn precious.

877
00:38:17,364 --> 00:38:19,433
I grew up
without very much water.

878
00:38:19,499 --> 00:38:20,834
And I thought
it'd be interesting

879
00:38:20,901 --> 00:38:22,169
for them to realize that,

880
00:38:22,236 --> 00:38:25,973
yeah, you can take a
shower with not very much water.

881
00:38:26,039 --> 00:38:29,510
Then I struck
the most wonderful idea

882
00:38:30,010 --> 00:38:32,246
I'd come up with
in a very long time

883
00:38:32,312 --> 00:38:35,749
was an incentive
for doing good work

884
00:38:35,816 --> 00:38:38,385
that was different
than 50 cents.

885
00:38:38,452 --> 00:38:40,888
"If you work hard today
in the garden,

886
00:38:40,954 --> 00:38:44,858
you will be eligible
for a whole-pail shower."

887
00:38:46,059 --> 00:38:47,461
Wonderful!

888
00:38:47,528 --> 00:38:49,363
I mean, they worked so hard,

889
00:38:49,429 --> 00:38:51,565
and that's still a big joke
as a family.

890
00:38:51,632 --> 00:38:54,568
"Have you done enough to earn
a whole-pail shower yet?"

891
00:38:54,635 --> 00:38:55,836
[laughter]

892
00:38:55,903 --> 00:38:58,505
One of the things
they want me to do, I may do it,

893
00:38:58,572 --> 00:39:01,375
is to reconstruct
the whole-pail shower

894
00:39:01,441 --> 00:39:04,311
so the grandkids
and now the great grandkids

895
00:39:04,378 --> 00:39:05,879
can experience it.

896
00:39:05,946 --> 00:39:07,614
[laughter]

897
00:39:11,618 --> 00:39:16,590
I really wanted a 17-foot
aluminum Grumman canoe.

898
00:39:16,657 --> 00:39:19,493
I said to Ruth, "What
would you think..." my wife,

899
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:20,894
"What would you think
if I bought..."

900
00:39:20,961 --> 00:39:23,397
"Why would you want a canoe
when you got a boat?"

901
00:39:23,463 --> 00:39:25,199
I said, "Well,
a canoe is kind of neat

902
00:39:25,265 --> 00:39:26,633
and the kids might like it too."

903
00:39:26,700 --> 00:39:29,436
And she said, "I think your
dad thinks they're not safe."

904
00:39:29,503 --> 00:39:32,973
"I've heard him say that too,"
I said.

905
00:39:33,473 --> 00:39:35,442
Well, I took the canoe
down to the pond,

906
00:39:35,509 --> 00:39:37,811
and I don't know
what the kids were,

907
00:39:37,878 --> 00:39:39,813
maybe eight, nine, and 10,
something like that.

908
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:41,081
10, 11, 12.

909
00:39:41,148 --> 00:39:43,884
And I said, "Now, you guys
can go out here and canoe

910
00:39:43,951 --> 00:39:47,521
any time you want, but
you've got to wear a life vest.

911
00:39:47,588 --> 00:39:50,824
And before you even
get in the canoe,

912
00:39:50,891 --> 00:39:52,659
I want to tell you something

913
00:39:52,726 --> 00:39:54,661
about how to operate
this thing."

914
00:39:54,728 --> 00:39:56,296
And I showed them how to paddle.

915
00:39:56,363 --> 00:39:59,333
And then I said, "Now,
I want each one of you

916
00:39:59,399 --> 00:40:01,034
to take the canoe
by yourself

917
00:40:01,101 --> 00:40:03,103
out in the middle
of the pond

918
00:40:03,170 --> 00:40:05,205
and see if you can tip it over

919
00:40:05,272 --> 00:40:06,507
so you know

920
00:40:06,573 --> 00:40:08,775
what the characteristics
of the canoe are."

921
00:40:08,842 --> 00:40:12,112
And by golly,
they had to stand on the side

922
00:40:12,179 --> 00:40:14,181
to tip the canoe over,
of course.

923
00:40:14,248 --> 00:40:15,916
And I, then, had to

924
00:40:16,450 --> 00:40:17,484
confront my father.

925
00:40:17,551 --> 00:40:19,853
You don't confront
your father generally,

926
00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:23,423
but there are times
when it's necessary to point out

927
00:40:23,490 --> 00:40:27,261
to someone who has the power
in the family that he was wrong.

928
00:40:27,327 --> 00:40:30,130
I said, "Pa, canoes are safe."

929
00:40:31,164 --> 00:40:33,000
He said, "Are you sure?"

930
00:40:33,066 --> 00:40:34,868
I said, "Yes, I am."

931
00:40:35,736 --> 00:40:38,939
And we never
talked about it again.

932
00:40:39,006 --> 00:40:41,041
So, over the years,
that canoe has,

933
00:40:41,108 --> 00:40:43,544
we've done many, many
canoe trips with it.

934
00:40:43,610 --> 00:40:45,179
It looks like
it's been through the war.

935
00:40:45,245 --> 00:40:47,581
It's all scratched up
and dented up and bent.

936
00:40:47,648 --> 00:40:48,882
Still doesn't leak.

937
00:40:48,949 --> 00:40:50,551
Not a hole in it.

938
00:40:50,617 --> 00:40:53,187
But it has a lot of memories.

939
00:40:57,224 --> 00:40:59,326
There's a very special place
in northern Minnesota

940
00:40:59,393 --> 00:41:03,530
where my kids and I have,
one time or another,

941
00:41:04,031 --> 00:41:05,799
gone for 25 years,

942
00:41:05,866 --> 00:41:07,401
and that's the Boundary Waters.

943
00:41:07,467 --> 00:41:09,369
It is a million acres

944
00:41:09,970 --> 00:41:12,873
of pristine lakes and forests.

945
00:41:13,373 --> 00:41:15,042
It is a place

946
00:41:16,043 --> 00:41:19,847
where there are
bear and wolves that howl.

947
00:41:19,913 --> 00:41:22,683
There's no sound pollution.

948
00:41:22,749 --> 00:41:25,586
There's no light pollution.

949
00:41:25,652 --> 00:41:27,387
It's a place for contemplation.

950
00:41:27,454 --> 00:41:29,890
It's a place to
discover who you are.

951
00:41:29,957 --> 00:41:33,694
It's a place to get in touch
with nature in a way that--

952
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:36,063
Well, my farm comes close,

953
00:41:36,129 --> 00:41:38,899
but that's
such a special place.

954
00:41:38,966 --> 00:41:40,767
It's also restful.

955
00:41:41,268 --> 00:41:42,936
The sound of water

956
00:41:43,504 --> 00:41:45,739
lapping on a rocky shore

957
00:41:46,573 --> 00:41:48,609
in a rhythmic kind of way,

958
00:41:48,675 --> 00:41:51,078
the interaction
of rocks and water

959
00:41:51,144 --> 00:41:52,513
is really kind of interesting.

960
00:41:52,579 --> 00:41:55,582
And then, how that sound changes

961
00:41:56,149 --> 00:41:58,252
with the intensity
of the wind

962
00:41:58,318 --> 00:42:00,888
with sort of a gentle message

963
00:42:00,954 --> 00:42:04,858
to a shouting story
of history and the past

964
00:42:06,460 --> 00:42:09,496
and all the rest of it
as the waves come splashing in.

965
00:42:09,563 --> 00:42:10,697
You wonder,

966
00:42:10,764 --> 00:42:13,567
how did the voyageurs
manage with their canoes

967
00:42:13,634 --> 00:42:15,536
when the weather was this rough,

968
00:42:15,602 --> 00:42:16,837
and we're not able to manage

969
00:42:16,904 --> 00:42:21,275
with a 17-foot Grumman canoe
that's built like a tank?

970
00:42:21,341 --> 00:42:25,112
We stay in a tent
on the banks of a lake.

971
00:42:25,179 --> 00:42:29,650
And we so much enjoy
any rainstorm that comes by.

972
00:42:30,751 --> 00:42:33,887
I love the sound
of rain on canvas.

973
00:42:34,421 --> 00:42:37,191
I mean, it's just wonderful.

974
00:42:37,257 --> 00:42:39,426
And the stories are told

975
00:42:39,493 --> 00:42:41,061
over and over

976
00:42:41,128 --> 00:42:42,996
as the family comes together

977
00:42:43,063 --> 00:42:45,866
to think about the beautiful
places where we have been,

978
00:42:45,933 --> 00:42:47,835
and we've been
to a lot of them.

979
00:42:47,901 --> 00:42:50,838
Steve and I were coming out one
year, and Steve is in the back.

980
00:42:50,904 --> 00:42:52,172
He's steering and paddling.

981
00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:53,373
I'm in the front.

982
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:54,741
I'm looking for stones.

983
00:42:54,808 --> 00:42:57,911
A lot of stones in the water,
in the Boundary Waters.

984
00:42:57,978 --> 00:43:00,480
Foggy, misty, beautiful morning.

985
00:43:00,547 --> 00:43:03,283
And I say,
"Steve, stone ahead, left.

986
00:43:03,350 --> 00:43:04,451
Bigger stone.

987
00:43:04,518 --> 00:43:06,486
Steve,
the stone's getting bigger.

988
00:43:06,553 --> 00:43:08,222
Stop!

989
00:43:08,555 --> 00:43:11,024
It's a moose!"
[laughter]

990
00:43:11,658 --> 00:43:13,727
There was a feeding on--

991
00:43:13,794 --> 00:43:17,264
The moose, just like
some kind of a miracle,

992
00:43:17,331 --> 00:43:18,932
comes out of the water.

993
00:43:18,999 --> 00:43:20,601
There's this whole big moose.

994
00:43:20,667 --> 00:43:22,002
And Steve says, "What do I do?"

995
00:43:22,069 --> 00:43:23,470
I said, "Geez, I don't know,

996
00:43:23,537 --> 00:43:26,106
but I wouldn't do anything
if I were you."
[laughter]

997
00:43:26,173 --> 00:43:28,609
The moose stood there,
and we stopped paddling.

998
00:43:28,675 --> 00:43:31,078
We're looking at this moose
four, five steps ahead.

999
00:43:31,144 --> 00:43:33,780
It could have dumped us,
but it didn't.

1000
00:43:33,847 --> 00:43:35,082
It looked us over and said,

1001
00:43:35,148 --> 00:43:36,950
"I don't think
this is worth the energy."

1002
00:43:37,017 --> 00:43:38,185
[laughter]

1003
00:43:38,252 --> 00:43:39,620
I don't know what he thought.

1004
00:43:39,686 --> 00:43:41,755
Turned around,
walked up on shore,

1005
00:43:41,822 --> 00:43:44,157
and shook itself like a dog.

1006
00:43:44,224 --> 00:43:47,094
I mean, what an experience
that was.

1007
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:49,296
Never forgotten that.

1008
00:43:49,897 --> 00:43:52,466
Those are the kind of stories
that we have.

1009
00:43:52,533 --> 00:43:54,101
One more.

1010
00:43:54,168 --> 00:43:57,104
This time Jeff and I
made the mistake of

1011
00:43:57,171 --> 00:43:59,940
going into the Boundary Waters
without a map.

1012
00:44:00,007 --> 00:44:01,775
We'd been there
for 10-12 years, and I said,

1013
00:44:01,842 --> 00:44:02,976
"Jeff, we don't need a map.

1014
00:44:03,043 --> 00:44:04,311
We know where we're going."

1015
00:44:04,378 --> 00:44:05,512
Right.

1016
00:44:05,579 --> 00:44:07,247
So, we are lost,

1017
00:44:07,648 --> 00:44:08,715
and we're going along

1018
00:44:08,782 --> 00:44:11,218
and we come upon an island.

1019
00:44:11,285 --> 00:44:14,154
And I said, "Jeff,
look over on the island."

1020
00:44:14,221 --> 00:44:16,356
And here were
four young women

1021
00:44:16,423 --> 00:44:18,091
bathing,

1022
00:44:18,892 --> 00:44:21,128
sunbathing in the nude.

1023
00:44:21,728 --> 00:44:22,996
And Jeff is in college then.

1024
00:44:23,063 --> 00:44:25,632
I said, "Jeff,
look over to the left."

1025
00:44:25,699 --> 00:44:27,267
Jeff, "Whoa!

1026
00:44:27,334 --> 00:44:28,836
You got the binoculars,
Dad, somewhere?"

1027
00:44:28,902 --> 00:44:30,037
[laughter]

1028
00:44:30,103 --> 00:44:31,572
I said, "No,
you don't need binoculars."

1029
00:44:31,638 --> 00:44:33,607
I said, "Act like we know
where we're going.

1030
00:44:33,674 --> 00:44:35,776
Don't look.
Just paddle."

1031
00:44:35,843 --> 00:44:37,377
So we're going by
and we're about,

1032
00:44:37,444 --> 00:44:39,546
I don't know, 20-30 yards away.

1033
00:44:39,613 --> 00:44:40,714
We're paddling along,

1034
00:44:40,781 --> 00:44:43,050
and these women jump up
and they're holding

1035
00:44:43,116 --> 00:44:44,718
a big blanket up
in front of themselves.

1036
00:44:44,785 --> 00:44:47,421
And we paddled by,
and Jeff did get a little, "Hi."

1037
00:44:47,487 --> 00:44:49,022
[laughter]

1038
00:44:49,089 --> 00:44:51,091
Son of a gun,
if it wasn't a dead end.

1039
00:44:51,158 --> 00:44:52,893
We had to turn around
and come back.

1040
00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:54,061
[laughter]

1041
00:44:54,127 --> 00:44:55,662
This time they were ticked.

1042
00:44:55,729 --> 00:44:56,663
They were mad.

1043
00:44:56,730 --> 00:44:58,065
[laughter]

1044
00:44:58,131 --> 00:45:01,568
I said, "Jeff, we got to paddle
a little faster this time."

1045
00:45:01,635 --> 00:45:04,071
Anyway, those are
some Boundary Water stories.

1046
00:45:04,137 --> 00:45:05,806
[laughter]

1047
00:45:06,139 --> 00:45:07,808
Oh, my.

1048
00:45:10,611 --> 00:45:12,279
[waves swashing]

1049
00:45:13,614 --> 00:45:15,282
? ?

1050
00:45:16,617 --> 00:45:18,619
[mellow piano music]

1051
00:45:30,964 --> 00:45:34,668
I began teaching at the
Rhinelander School of the Arts,

1052
00:45:34,735 --> 00:45:37,838
and I taught there
for some 32 years.

1053
00:45:37,905 --> 00:45:42,042
And our kids were something
like seven, eight, and nine

1054
00:45:42,109 --> 00:45:44,578
when we started
going there in 1971.

1055
00:45:44,645 --> 00:45:47,848
In fact, I've taught
creative writing now

1056
00:45:47,915 --> 00:45:49,516
for 40-plus years.

1057
00:45:49,583 --> 00:45:51,385
And I have discovered

1058
00:45:51,451 --> 00:45:53,954
that there's something magical

1059
00:45:54,021 --> 00:45:58,959
about having a writing class,
I suspect any class,

1060
00:45:59,026 --> 00:46:01,562
but a writing class,
which I do, close to water.

1061
00:46:01,628 --> 00:46:04,464
And I've taught
on Washington Island.

1062
00:46:04,531 --> 00:46:06,533
I still teach at The Clearing
in Ellison Bay,

1063
00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:08,769
which is right on the waters
of Green Bay.

1064
00:46:08,836 --> 00:46:10,771
And, of course, at Rhinelander,

1065
00:46:10,838 --> 00:46:13,307
the lakes were everywhere,

1066
00:46:13,373 --> 00:46:16,310
and water was
one of the attractions, I think,

1067
00:46:16,376 --> 00:46:20,147
that brought some
of the students to my classes.

1068
00:46:20,214 --> 00:46:22,649
I discovered that
sort of accidentally

1069
00:46:22,716 --> 00:46:25,519
by realizing that
something was going on

1070
00:46:25,586 --> 00:46:27,354
that I couldn't figure out,

1071
00:46:27,421 --> 00:46:29,556
that I couldn't understand,

1072
00:46:29,623 --> 00:46:33,093
the relationship
of people to water.

1073
00:46:33,994 --> 00:46:37,197
The creative juices
that began flowing.

1074
00:46:37,264 --> 00:46:39,099
And this sounds crazy maybe,

1075
00:46:39,166 --> 00:46:42,469
but as people
associated with water,

1076
00:46:42,536 --> 00:46:43,871
watched it, played in it,

1077
00:46:43,937 --> 00:46:45,372
did whatever they wanted
with it,

1078
00:46:45,439 --> 00:46:47,975
or simply wrote about it even,

1079
00:46:48,041 --> 00:46:51,945
there was something
mysterious happening.

1080
00:46:52,012 --> 00:46:53,547
And I still haven't figured

1081
00:46:53,614 --> 00:46:55,549
exactly what
that relationship is,

1082
00:46:55,616 --> 00:46:57,751
but it's an important one.

1083
00:46:57,818 --> 00:46:59,520
And I firmly believe,

1084
00:46:59,586 --> 00:47:00,721
and I've taught this for years,

1085
00:47:00,787 --> 00:47:04,558
that everybody has
a creative side to them.

1086
00:47:04,625 --> 00:47:08,295
It's often dormant
and not being expressed.

1087
00:47:08,362 --> 00:47:12,432
But water and the presence
of water, in my judgment,

1088
00:47:12,499 --> 00:47:16,203
will help to release that
creativity that sits there

1089
00:47:16,270 --> 00:47:19,072
and is waiting to be released.

1090
00:47:20,207 --> 00:47:21,742
? ?

1091
00:47:21,808 --> 00:47:24,244
As the kids got older
and grew up

1092
00:47:24,311 --> 00:47:26,813
and had jobs
and eventually married,

1093
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:28,815
Ruth and I were there alone

1094
00:47:28,882 --> 00:47:30,984
for several years
while I was teaching.

1095
00:47:31,051 --> 00:47:32,886
I think it was my daughter,
Susan, said,

1096
00:47:32,953 --> 00:47:34,354
"Well, wouldn't it be fun

1097
00:47:34,421 --> 00:47:37,991
"if we brought
our spouses and our kids

1098
00:47:38,792 --> 00:47:43,463
to Rhinelander to experience
what we experienced as kids?"

1099
00:47:43,530 --> 00:47:45,999
And so, that's what we did.

1100
00:47:48,902 --> 00:47:53,240
Today, 16 years later,
we are still doing that.

1101
00:47:54,508 --> 00:47:57,878
And there's something like 15
of us when we're all together.

1102
00:47:57,945 --> 00:48:00,747
Grandkids,
now two great grandkids.

1103
00:48:00,814 --> 00:48:03,984
It's to bring
the family together

1104
00:48:04,051 --> 00:48:07,855
in a way that
we could never have anticipated,

1105
00:48:07,921 --> 00:48:10,257
and water was the key to it.

1106
00:48:10,324 --> 00:48:11,692
Being on a lake

1107
00:48:11,758 --> 00:48:15,195
where they could
fish and water ski

1108
00:48:15,262 --> 00:48:18,265
and just sit
and watch the water.

1109
00:48:19,266 --> 00:48:22,402
And what's interesting,
sometimes we think that they,

1110
00:48:22,469 --> 00:48:23,570
the kids and the grandkids,

1111
00:48:23,637 --> 00:48:25,839
want to be busy all the time
doing things.

1112
00:48:25,906 --> 00:48:28,242
But every so often
I catch one of them,

1113
00:48:28,308 --> 00:48:29,576
sometimes several of them,

1114
00:48:29,643 --> 00:48:33,780
just sitting by themselves
watching the water.

1115
00:48:33,847 --> 00:48:35,849
So water has been the glue,

1116
00:48:35,916 --> 00:48:37,484
if that makes sense,

1117
00:48:37,551 --> 00:48:39,286
in bringing the family together,

1118
00:48:39,353 --> 00:48:42,689
which we do once a year
for a week or more.

1119
00:48:42,756 --> 00:48:46,293
And it has been
absolutely wonderful.

1120
00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:49,897
We rent a boat so those who
want to water ski can do that.

1121
00:48:49,963 --> 00:48:55,469
This year, the most fun thing
the kids did was kayaking.

1122
00:48:55,536 --> 00:48:57,971
There were four kayaks,
and they were out exploring.

1123
00:48:58,038 --> 00:49:00,807
And they would come back,
these are the grandkids now,

1124
00:49:00,874 --> 00:49:03,577
with stories about
what they had seen.

1125
00:49:03,644 --> 00:49:06,547
The big blue herons
and the fish that they had seen

1126
00:49:06,613 --> 00:49:07,981
and the water plants.

1127
00:49:08,048 --> 00:49:10,050
And it was like they were
discovering all of this--

1128
00:49:10,117 --> 00:49:11,618
It probably was
for the first time,

1129
00:49:11,685 --> 00:49:13,353
some of them.

1130
00:49:13,820 --> 00:49:16,256
Either consciously,
or sometimes unconsciously,

1131
00:49:16,323 --> 00:49:20,427
I was intent that my kids
appreciate the out of doors,

1132
00:49:20,494 --> 00:49:22,930
that they appreciate nature,

1133
00:49:22,996 --> 00:49:27,701
that they appreciate the quiet
that goes with being outdoors.

1134
00:49:27,768 --> 00:49:29,303
I did that with my kids.

1135
00:49:29,369 --> 00:49:31,004
I'm doing that
with my grandkids,

1136
00:49:31,071 --> 00:49:34,074
and maybe I'm doing
more of it with my grandkids.

1137
00:49:34,141 --> 00:49:35,809
I have more time to do it

1138
00:49:35,876 --> 00:49:39,913
because I don't have
a 9:00 to 5:00 job to go to.

1139
00:49:39,980 --> 00:49:42,316
And I try to do it subtly.

1140
00:49:42,382 --> 00:49:44,251
Tell a story
rather than to say,

1141
00:49:44,318 --> 00:49:46,253
"Here are the points
I want you to memorize."

1142
00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:48,522
And, interestingly enough,
they're picking that up.

1143
00:49:48,589 --> 00:49:52,593
It's a way of teaching that
I guess I tried to follow.

1144
00:49:52,659 --> 00:49:54,695
I taught for many years
at the University,

1145
00:49:54,761 --> 00:49:57,097
and I've pretty much been
doing that with my grandkids,

1146
00:49:57,164 --> 00:49:58,632
did it with my kids.

1147
00:49:58,699 --> 00:50:00,367
[laughter]

1148
00:50:01,635 --> 00:50:04,872
My perspective on water
goes back,

1149
00:50:05,272 --> 00:50:07,641
way back to when I was a kid.

1150
00:50:07,708 --> 00:50:11,645
All of those experiences
with my dad going fishing,

1151
00:50:11,712 --> 00:50:14,615
with my brothers and I
going swimming,

1152
00:50:14,681 --> 00:50:18,952
of cattle not having
enough water to drink,

1153
00:50:19,019 --> 00:50:20,988
all of that helped me develop

1154
00:50:21,054 --> 00:50:23,390
this tremendous respect
for water.

1155
00:50:23,457 --> 00:50:25,259
And I'm afraid that

1156
00:50:25,659 --> 00:50:28,896
so many people today
in our society

1157
00:50:30,330 --> 00:50:33,133
see water as
an economic commodity.

1158
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:35,869
Something that is unending,

1159
00:50:36,236 --> 00:50:39,206
and most of us who study this
know better.

1160
00:50:39,273 --> 00:50:40,541
It's not unending.

1161
00:50:40,607 --> 00:50:43,944
The supply is not
forever abundant.

1162
00:50:44,778 --> 00:50:46,146
We need to watch that

1163
00:50:46,213 --> 00:50:49,950
and watch that carefully
in our overuse of water.

1164
00:50:50,017 --> 00:50:53,587
So, going way back to the days
when I was a kid

1165
00:50:53,654 --> 00:50:57,524
and learning to respect water,
to cherish it,

1166
00:50:57,591 --> 00:51:00,093
and indeed to see it
as something sacred,

1167
00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:01,828
to today when

1168
00:51:02,129 --> 00:51:06,433
I'm trying to do that myself
with limited water use,

1169
00:51:06,500 --> 00:51:09,069
but I see so many people
around me,

1170
00:51:09,136 --> 00:51:12,239
and I don't mean
to be judgmental,

1171
00:51:12,306 --> 00:51:14,308
but so many people who see water

1172
00:51:14,374 --> 00:51:19,313
as something that's going to
economically benefit them

1173
00:51:19,379 --> 00:51:22,416
and not worry about
what it does to the environment,

1174
00:51:22,482 --> 00:51:25,552
what it does
to the aquifers that draw down.

1175
00:51:25,619 --> 00:51:28,055
Right here on my farm
where we're sitting just now,

1176
00:51:28,121 --> 00:51:30,424
one only has to look
at my two ponds,

1177
00:51:30,490 --> 00:51:33,327
one in back of me,
one in front of me,

1178
00:51:33,393 --> 00:51:37,731
both of which have
less than half the water in them

1179
00:51:37,798 --> 00:51:40,234
that they had
as recently as 15 years ago.

1180
00:51:40,300 --> 00:51:42,336
And I don't want to blame it

1181
00:51:42,402 --> 00:51:44,271
on the irrigation
that takes place in this area.

1182
00:51:44,338 --> 00:51:46,139
Part of me doesn't
want to do that.

1183
00:51:46,206 --> 00:51:47,374
I'm a farmer.

1184
00:51:47,441 --> 00:51:49,309
I've known farmers for years.

1185
00:51:49,376 --> 00:51:53,981
But I also know in studying
the research evidence

1186
00:51:54,047 --> 00:51:55,682
that's been done
in this area that

1187
00:51:55,749 --> 00:52:00,654
that is a major contributor
to the decline of the aquifer

1188
00:52:00,721 --> 00:52:04,791
and the disappearance of
several feet of the water table.

1189
00:52:04,858 --> 00:52:06,960
And the thoughtful farmers
know this,

1190
00:52:07,027 --> 00:52:10,697
but there are always
those that are not.

1191
00:52:11,832 --> 00:52:14,701
So doom and gloom
I probably sound,

1192
00:52:14,768 --> 00:52:15,869
but I'm hopeful that

1193
00:52:15,936 --> 00:52:19,439
more people will recognize that
as a problem

1194
00:52:19,506 --> 00:52:22,209
and begin to talk about it
and discuss it

1195
00:52:22,276 --> 00:52:26,380
and begin to figure out policies
that will allow us

1196
00:52:26,446 --> 00:52:30,350
to put the brakes
on some of our overuse of water,

1197
00:52:30,417 --> 00:52:32,319
some of our
inappropriate use of water.

1198
00:52:32,386 --> 00:52:34,955
And then we see these spills

1199
00:52:35,022 --> 00:52:37,324
and we see the streams polluted.

1200
00:52:37,391 --> 00:52:40,961
There needs to be more study at
this, but that is a problem.

1201
00:52:41,028 --> 00:52:43,630
And I don't have the solution
to it, but it's happening.

1202
00:52:43,697 --> 00:52:45,365
? ?

1203
00:52:53,507 --> 00:52:57,878
The Great Lakes have something
like 80-plus-percent

1204
00:52:57,945 --> 00:53:00,547
of all of the freshwater
in North America.

1205
00:53:00,614 --> 00:53:02,749
Can you believe that?
80%.

1206
00:53:02,816 --> 00:53:04,017
And those same Great Lakes,

1207
00:53:04,084 --> 00:53:08,055
the 20-some-percent
of the world's freshwater

1208
00:53:08,121 --> 00:53:10,958
happens to be
in the Great Lakes.

1209
00:53:11,024 --> 00:53:12,292
But, but, as we look ahead,

1210
00:53:12,359 --> 00:53:15,262
some predict by
as early as 2050

1211
00:53:17,097 --> 00:53:23,170
we are going to have a terrific
shortage of water in the world,

1212
00:53:23,237 --> 00:53:25,506
including the United States.

1213
00:53:25,572 --> 00:53:27,574
We see evidence of it now.

1214
00:53:27,641 --> 00:53:30,444
California has had a drought
that's gone on

1215
00:53:30,511 --> 00:53:32,312
for almost half a dozen
years already.

1216
00:53:32,379 --> 00:53:35,949
The southwestern states,
New Mexico and Arizona,

1217
00:53:36,016 --> 00:53:37,284
have had drought.

1218
00:53:37,351 --> 00:53:40,087
And the wildfires
in the northwest,

1219
00:53:40,153 --> 00:53:43,524
storms where we'll get
inches of rain an hour,

1220
00:53:43,590 --> 00:53:46,960
these are indicators
of what we can see coming.

1221
00:53:47,027 --> 00:53:50,030
But it's very difficult
to convince somebody

1222
00:53:50,097 --> 00:53:53,534
who has just had
their car flooded out

1223
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:56,170
because of a recent
terrific rainstorm

1224
00:53:56,236 --> 00:53:58,172
that there's going to be
a water shortage.

1225
00:53:58,238 --> 00:54:01,175
And, today, it's so easy
to turn on the spigot,

1226
00:54:01,241 --> 00:54:02,876
and there's the water.

1227
00:54:02,943 --> 00:54:06,079
And for most of us,
it's fresh and it's safe.

1228
00:54:06,146 --> 00:54:09,116
Increasingly
that will not be so.

1229
00:54:11,318 --> 00:54:15,255
I think my father
would shake his head as I do,

1230
00:54:15,322 --> 00:54:17,891
and he would probably
start telling stories,

1231
00:54:17,958 --> 00:54:19,326
which was his way.

1232
00:54:19,393 --> 00:54:22,563
He had a never-ending supply
of stories

1233
00:54:22,629 --> 00:54:25,999
to celebrate
that water is sacred.

1234
00:54:26,066 --> 00:54:28,101
Without water,
death is imminent.

1235
00:54:28,168 --> 00:54:31,438
And people have to make
a living, I understand that.

1236
00:54:31,505 --> 00:54:34,174
But the broader scheme means

1237
00:54:34,241 --> 00:54:36,076
we've got to see
the relationship

1238
00:54:36,143 --> 00:54:39,413
of what we're doing
to a bigger picture.

1239
00:54:39,479 --> 00:54:42,115
And that means that
we are all in this together.

1240
00:54:42,182 --> 00:54:44,084
And my dad knew that.

1241
00:54:44,985 --> 00:54:47,888
"Jerry, never curse the rain."

1242
00:54:53,694 --> 00:54:55,362
Back in the 1940s,

1243
00:54:56,496 --> 00:54:59,733
we always hired a man to
work with us during the summer.

1244
00:54:59,800 --> 00:55:02,736
And this particular
year the fellow,

1245
00:55:02,803 --> 00:55:05,105
he must have been
18, 19 years old,

1246
00:55:05,172 --> 00:55:10,277
he came driving into the yard
with a Model T Ford touring car.

1247
00:55:10,344 --> 00:55:12,813
Today, we'd call it
a convertible.

1248
00:55:12,880 --> 00:55:14,047
And as the summer went on

1249
00:55:14,114 --> 00:55:16,016
and it got hot in July

1250
00:55:16,450 --> 00:55:18,652
and we were in the midst
of haying season,

1251
00:55:18,719 --> 00:55:19,853
Henry would say,

1252
00:55:19,920 --> 00:55:21,822
"How'd you guys
like to go swimming?"

1253
00:55:21,889 --> 00:55:25,025
And we all piled in and went
chugging down the dirt road.

1254
00:55:25,092 --> 00:55:26,393
And Hank said,

1255
00:55:26,460 --> 00:55:29,129
"Well, why don't I just back
my car right into the lake?"

1256
00:55:29,196 --> 00:55:31,832
And we begin
leaping off the back.

1257
00:55:31,899 --> 00:55:35,035
I mean,
it was fantastically fun.

1258
00:55:35,736 --> 00:55:38,438
And then, as the sun
began setting and Hank said,

1259
00:55:38,505 --> 00:55:40,874
"Well, we probably
ought to be getting on home,"

1260
00:55:40,941 --> 00:55:42,643
my brothers and I
got behind it,

1261
00:55:42,709 --> 00:55:44,511
and we pushed it out of the lake

1262
00:55:44,578 --> 00:55:47,414
and we went chug-chugging home,

1263
00:55:47,481 --> 00:55:49,116
crawled into bed,

1264
00:55:49,183 --> 00:55:50,684
and 5:30 the next morning,

1265
00:55:50,751 --> 00:55:53,220
it all started over again.

1266
00:55:56,723 --> 00:55:59,293
- <i>Jerry Apps:</i>
<i>Never Curse the Rain</i>

1267
00:55:59,359 --> 00:56:01,361
was funded in part by:

1268
00:56:01,962 --> 00:56:04,198
Greg and Carol Griffin,

1269
00:56:05,199 --> 00:56:07,434
Ron and Colleen Weyers,

1270
00:56:08,502 --> 00:56:10,971
Stanley J. Cottrill Fund,

1271
00:56:11,805 --> 00:56:13,941
Joel and Carol Gainer,

1272
00:56:14,575 --> 00:56:16,910
Wisconsin History Fund,

1273
00:56:17,244 --> 00:56:18,445
with support from

1274
00:56:18,512 --> 00:56:22,115
the National Endowment
for the Humanities,

1275
00:56:22,182 --> 00:56:26,420
and Friends of
Wisconsin Public Television.