Entry from Journal #1: August 31, 1930

Had a snow storm.

It’s somewhat unusual for it to snow in August in this area of Montana – but not unheard of.  I remember snow flurries at my grandmother’s funeral in late August 1966.

The photo below was taken many years after the journal entry above, and probably not in August, but it gives us an idea of how Mary’s “home and patch”, as she referred to it, might have looked following a snow storm.  Notice her skis and poles (center of the picture) standing up in the snow.  And I can’t help but wonder who chopped and stacked all the wood!

Entry from Journal #1: August 22, 1930

I got a fishing basket for Christ[opher] & little flower baskets for Irene & Evelyn Schenk (Wilber & Myers¹) made by their Uncle Jno Eisenbardt² from willows³.

1.  Wilber & Myers.  Did Mary mean to write “Weber & Marks”?  These were the married names of Irene and Evelyn in 1930, at the time this journal entry was made.

2.  Uncle Jno Eisenbardt.  John “Eisenbardt”, correctly spelled “Eisenbart”, was married to George Schenk‘s older sister, Emma Rose.  John and Emma married in Michigan in 1887 when Emma was about 16 years old.  The couple had four children, all daughters.  They lived for a time in Sand Coulee, Montana, and then moved to Great Falls, Montana.

3.  willows.  Through some research at Ancestry.com, I uncovered the fact that although John was a farmer by trade, he was also considered an expert at caning furniture.  So he likely made the fishing basket and “little flower baskets”.

Entry from Journal #1: August __, 1930

I saw 2 cubs (blackbears) and heard the mother come thro the timber above rawhide.  Also saw bobcat tracks below the well.

Entry from Journal #1: August 10, 1930

My head bothers me more than anyone can realize from heat, worry and thinking of everything ever minute day and nite, then I got no rest or sleep for the next days manual labor.  I sure was ashamed & hurt at Frances Dalin’s words & actions at the baby show, for no reason at all but mean[n]ess and no will power of her own.