Nickellton School gets foamed

Last Tuesday, after the water receded, the foam insulation crew was finally able to foam the inside walls and ceiling of the Nickellton School. Looks much different.

East Wall-chalkboard wall

North wall-no more holes

West wall-mom is looking for bats. I don't think she is going to find any.

Front hall-east side. There will be a door added to this wall. It will enter a small addition which will have restrooms and a kitchen area.

Front hall-west wall

Rafters and ceiling

Next we will be adding a new porch and vinyl siding.

What are little boys made of? Tune into my next blog post to find out what some of the Nickellton School boys were made of back in the days of one room school houses.

We were getting foamed today, but ...

Lots has happened since we started the process of restoring the Nickellton School. It was a complete mess.

Then the Washington Woodsmen gutted the inside of the entire building.

Charlotte removed nails left after taking off the plaster lathe.

Then Kurt and Dad put in new windows.

We put in a new door.

The holes were fixed for mouse and varmint proofing.

To get ready for the foam insulation we put in new electrical wiring. Electricity was added to the school house around 1948. Before that time the school used the natural lighting from the windows. If an evening event took place kerosene lamps were used. 

Notice the outlets are about 4 feet up the wall, not close to the floor. Electricity was new, many homes did not have electrical outlets. The electrical outlets were place high on the walls to keep small children from harm. Hmm... not a bad idea.

 The foam insulation has been slightly delayed as the insulators have no way to get to the Nickellton School. Mom and Dad are now on a island. All  bridge roads are closed as you can see below.

Bear Creek to the southwest of the house.

Salt River to the east of the house.

Bear Creek to the north. When I took this picture the bridge was still open. As soon as I crossed the bridge they closed the road. Within 10 minutes of crossing the bridge the water was over the road on the east side of the bridge.

Tune in next time to see if the school finally got foamed. Sounds like some kind of prank.

That's a bunch of Bull.

Donna Faye McMichael-Ayres and her sister Pat and brother-in-law John Cox stopped by yesterday to visit the Nickellton School renovation project. Donna attended Nickellton School from 1929-30, her first grade year,  to 1934-35, her 6th grade year. After the 6th grade her family moved to the Atlanta, Missouri area so she and her siblings could attend the Atlanta High School. While attending Nickellton School her teachers were Miss Eunice Marsh, Miss Mary Laughery, and Miss Genevieve Henry.

During the first grade Donna road Chubby her pony to school. By the 4th grade Donna had moved up to riding the big horse. Arthur Hale "Jack" her younger brother took over riding Chubby the pony. Ronald "Cookie" road the big horse with Donna as there was only one pony; and Jack and Ronald were to young to ride the big horses.

Donna recalled passing a bull while riding to school one day.  Most of the families in the Nickellton Community raised live stock, so it was not uncommon for cattle to get out of the fences or be roaming the grounds along her trail to school. She recognized the bull as belonging to her family, but figured her pa knew the bull was out.  When she arrived at school the kids were sitting on the porch and playing on the school grounds waiting for the bell to ring. The day started like any normal day at school. When the bell rang the students filed into the school, hung up their coats in the front hall, sat their lunches on the floor below their coats, and then stood by their assigned desk.  The Pledge of Allegiance was said and the Star Spangled banner was sang. The lessons began as usual.

Some students were busy working on lessons at their desk while Miss Henry was instructing a small group on the stage. The older students were helping the younger students with math. As usual it was calm and quiet. Suddenly there was a loud rumbling roar coming from the front of the school. It was the sound of clanging chains and pounding sledge hammers. All the students stopped their lessons to listen. The teacher went to the window to look then walked onto the porch. The students, unable to contain their curiosity quickly went to the hallway windows to look. Some of the older students rushed onto the porch. All stood in awe watching three bulls butt, kick, bite, and push. The bulls were thrashing around and stirring up dust. One bull had a ring in it's nose with a long chain hooked to the ring. It's head was rearing up and down, the chain hitting the other two bulls. Then the chain became hooked within the hove of one of the other bulls and as the ring nosed bull pulled up the ring ripped from his nose. Blood and snot flung everywhere.

The teacher, Miss Henry, realized the bulls were on a rampage and would not stop fighting until the pecking order of the community bulls was determined. Alarmed for the safety of her students she quickly hurried them back to their seats.  A couple times the bulls kicked the outside of the school's east wall shaking up the chalk dust and moving the pictures. You would have thought it was an earthquake. The bulls continued to push, shove, and ram one another for hours. It was time for the children to go home, but the bulls were still fighting.  Miss Henry did not want to let the children walk home, but two older boys convinced her to let them leave to get help. The two boys left taking Ivan and Iris Allred home. Then the two went to get Oliver Belt and Donna's Dad, Hale McMichael. Oliver, Hale, and Willie Borron road in on horses carrying pitchforks. Using the pitchforks and maneuvering the horses, the men were able to separate the bulls and get them headed back to their respective cow lot.  Once the men confirmed the bulls were contained, Miss Henry dismissed school. Donna noted, "It was a very scary day at school."

Cyber-bullying is the craze among our youth today.

The first picture is of Nickellton School, class of 1930-31. Left to Right: Donna is the 4th student in the bottom row. Wayne, Donna's brother, is 4th in the top row.  The second picture is Miss Genevieve Henry.

It Must Be in My Genes

Science has proven DNA determines a person's genetic predisposition.  Genetics determines your eye color, hair color, height, and skin color, and also plays a role in a person's intelligence and health.  Our Genes comes from bits and pieces of DNA from all generations before our time. I could go into the exact genetic coding, but I won't bore you with those details.  Plus, I'm really not a geneticist.

Since starting the renovation project I have learned I have several genetic predispositions that date back to generations before me. Not only was my Grandma Jennie a prankster, so was her daughter, my Aunt Shirley.  My Momma was the baby of the family, 9 years younger than my Aunt Shirley; which made for an easy target. When my mother, Charlotte, was about 6 years old Shirley decided it was about time for the "ole baby" to experience a Shirley Borron prank.

Since Charlotte never left her momma's side, Shirley waited until Charlotte and her momma Jennie were outside. Once the two left the house to do chores, Shirley went about the house collecting items for her dastardly prank; an ironing board, the brand new mop her momma just bought, a lipstick, rouge, black, blue and brown pencils, an old white pillow case and pillow, a long sleeve shirt, a long jacket from her momma's closet, gloves, and a scarf.

Old houses are full of nooks and crannies not open floor plans, perfect for hiding places. In order for Charlotte to get to her room, first she had to open a door to enter another room, then walk a few steps to the door to her room.Shirley set the stage for scaring Charlotte to death just behind the first door. She propped-up the ironing board, flat side facing the door, and dressed it to look like a person. Shirley being the talented artist and pillow sculpture made a face with a nose, big blue eyes with log black eyelashes, rosy cheeks, and voluptuous red lips. She placed the long roping of the mop on top of the pillow for hair and placed a scarf around the hair. She tied the knot of the scarf under the chin. Shirley put the shirt on the ironing board, then the jacket, stuffed the sleeves and pinned the gloves to the ends of the sleeves. Lastly she rigged the arms to look as if they were reaching out for someone. She was ready. Now all she needed was for Charlotte to open the door and walk into the ironing board. I'm sure she was tickled with herself.

It was getting late and the sun was setting. Jennie, Charlotte, and Willie finished the chores and returned to the house to get ready to turn in for the evening. Shirley was sitting in the main room next to the carosene lamp reading a book, probably peeking over it to see how close Charlotte was to opening the door. Hard to contain herself Shirley snickered under her breath. Jennie, knowing Shirley liked to play pranks on Charlotte, went to the door, opened it and let out a scream "Oh my heavens!" Jennie grabbed her chest, leaned against the door jam and slowly slid to the floor. She sat with back her propped on the wall.  Shirley's prank meant to scare Charlotte, scared her momma half to death. Jennie had had a slight heart attack. Grandma Jennie did survive, but to this day they claim Shirley's ironing board prank was detrimental to Jennie's heart for the rest of her life.

You may be asking, "How does this story connect to my genes?" Well I have to admit I am a pretty good prankster myself; although, I don't think I ever gave anyone a heart attack.

My birthday is October 16th and I absolutely loved Halloween, and still do. On my 12th birthday, my parents let me have a sleepover with six of my closest friends. In our backyard was an old bunk house. The sleepover was going to take place in the bunkhouse.  The festivities for the sleepover included a hayride,  a wiener roast in the woods, entertainment by a witch who read our palms, and a scary ghost story back at the house. Unbeknownst to me (Momma Charlotte being a bit of a prankster too) mom enlisted Lee and Cheryl Cheek to be partners in crime. While mom was telling the ghost story, Lee and Cheryl, disguised as goblins, lurked around our house looking in the windows with flash lights lighting up their faces. We were all screaming, even me. Once we were scared out of our wits, we headed for the bunkhouse to sleep. From what I can recall, I don't think we slept.

A couple days earlier I decorated the bunkhouse to look like a haunted house. I made a life size witch and hung it just inside the door. I used string to rig the hands to move up and down as people entered the bunkhouse. All my friends, accept Kim, figured I had decorated the bunkhouse so they did not want to go in first. Kim was a timid, kinda clumsy girl and new to the group. We coaxed her into walking in first. I tugged on the string to move the hands and the entire witch fell on top of Kim. She was screaming and rolling around in the floor with the witch attached. Finally, she calmed down and I pulled the witch off of her. Needless to say Kim did not spend the night. 

Now you see the connection?

A little note on Shirley and myself's behalf. We really didn't mean to hurt or scare anyone half to death.

Picture: From my 12th birthday party. Left to right is Jill Jennings, Rhonda Cheek, Cori Burnett, Angie Shackelford, Julie Hageimeir, and Kim Hageimeir. No picture of the ironing board person exists, wonder why?

Finding Treasures

Mom, Dad, Kurt and I have been searching for books, school desks, pull-down wall maps, chalkboards, a Goerge Washington picture, and a Big Chief writing tablet. We've been to auctions, flea markets, anitque malls and stores, and even shopped on ebay. It has been loads of fun rummaging through boxes, stacks of magazines, store shelves, and sqeezing through narrow paces to get to that one fabulous find.

Yesterday was a big find day. Kurt's friend from the carpenters union donated enough slate chalkboards to cover the orginal area where the blackboards hung, 4'X 27' of slate board. Plus I finally found a Big Chief Tablet in our price range on ebay; however, we still have one day to go before the auction finishes. Hopefully it will stay within our price range. These two items have been the hardest to find.

Treasures are not found in things, treasures are found in people.  I found a treasure that surpasses all material objects needed for the school.  This treasure was found in the phone book, Mrs. Doris Lamers-Dell. Mrs. Lamers-Dell taught at Nickellton School in 1951-52 and lived with my Grandparents Jennie and Willie Borron during that year. She was my mother's favorite teacher. When I spoke with Mrs. Dell yesterday she remembered making a snow lady during the winter of that year and expressed disappointment in not having a picture of the snow lady. She was delighted when I told her I had a picture and would be happy to send it to her. Mom recalls Miss Lamers was a talented artist as you can see from the picture of the snow lady.

I told Mom we need a quest book.  The Macon County Historical Society made a visit in early June. Donna Faye Ayers and her son stopped by last week. This week she brought her grand children. Treasures are showing up little bits at a time, but I am certain more and more treasures will come as the news spreads about the renovation of the Nickellton School. Be a treasure. Share your stories with us, come visit, or share the news of the renovation of the Nickellton School with someone you treasure.

Make Memories and Share Stories with the Ones You Love

On Thursday my Mother and I were coming home from the LaPlata Nursing Home 4th of July celebration knowing as soon as we got back to the house I would be heading home to Pacific, Missouri. We reminisced about the day trips with Aunt Shirley, shopping and spending money, and sharing stories.  Sharing stories was the best. We laughed and giggled like little school girls to the point our tummys were aching. I am so thankful for the  memories and stories I shared with Mom, Dad, and Aunt Shirley. Ok enough of the sappy stuff.

 Shirley Borron-Weber started 1st grade  at Nickellton School in 1937-38 and graduated from 8th grade in 1944-45. Her teachers were J.M. Ross, Mildred Henry-Bragg and Edna Mitchell.  I think somewhere within the 3 years J.M. Ross taught Aunt Shirley, she developed a crush on Mr.Ross, because she talks fondly of him.  One night during a pie supper or school board meeting Shirley Borron and Betty Collins pretended to chew tobacco using crayons. Just imagine two little girls with a huge wad of crayon wax in their mouth making their lower lips and cheeks bulge. They even proceeded to use the floor as a spittoon and squirted the melted wax out their mouth onto the floor. These two must have been sitting in the back of the room thinking no one could see them or hear them. I am sure they were being sneaky. "It made quite a mess," Shirley recalled, "no one seemed to notice, at least not until the next day at school."

The next day Mr. Ross approached Shirley and Betty at their desks. I almost bet Shirley tilted her head and having a sheepish grin, looked up at Mr. Ross with innocent eyes as if she had done nothing to make the crayon mess on the floor.  Problem was she still had crayon wax on her teeth.  Mr. Ross didn't take to the inocent bit and instructed Betty and Shirley to clean-up the crayons off the floor.

Charlotte Borron-Wheeler, started 1st grade at Nickellton School in 1946. In 1952-53, Charlotte's 6th grade year,  the school closed six weeks after school started. Charlotte's teachers were Nelly Harrison, Lola Bowen, Ida Perrine, Doris Lamers, and Betty Lou Ingraham.  Doris Lamers was Charlotte's favorite teacher. She was young, always sweet and kind, and Charlotte was Miss Lamers' teacher's pet. Plus Miss Lamers lived with the Borrons. Charlotte would walk to school with Miss Lamers and stay late after school with Miss Lamers. After Charlotte finished her school work she would clean the chalkboards and sweep the floor while Miss Lamers graded papers and wrote lessons. The two seemed to be like two peas in a pod. It would be late by the time Miss Lamers finished getting ready for the next day so Charlotte headed for home alone.

To get the full effect of the story I must tell you a bit about my Grandma Jennie Borron. She was quite a character, jolly, hardworking, humorous, and liked to play pranks sometimes. She also had a unique way of disciplining. Mom said "Much of the time you didn't even know you were being disciplined, but you did change your ways."

Momma Jennie had been warning Charlotte about coming home late from school, but Charlotte didn't pay much attention to the warnings and continued to stay late after school.  One evening as Charlotte was walking home on the dirt road, in the distance she saw a small dark figure crawling into the road and then back into the ditch. As she got closer she could see the small figure was actually an animal lumbering around on all fours. Charlotte remembered her momma warning her about the  bears being seen in the woods. Charlotte walked a little further and the animal seemed to get bigger and bigger. It looked as if a bear was right in the middle of the dirt road where Charlotte would be walking. Charlotte thought about turning around and going back to the school, but she didn't want to have her back to the bear. Instead she walked out into the hay field as far away from the bear as possible, keeping her eyes on the bear. Then when she was within seeing distance of the house she ran as fast as she could to the porch and then straight into the front door slamming it behind her. Charlotte was winded and completely out of breathe leaning against the door. A few minutes later Jennie walked in dressed in a brown furry hat, a dark brown coat, dark brown gloves, brown trousers and boots. Charlotte still in a tizzy about her journey home from school about fainted. When she realized it was her Momma she said,"Oh Momma did you see that big brown bear!" Jennie replied, "Hmm... big brown bear ya say?...You gonna come home from school on time from now on?" Charlotte left school on time from that evening forward.

In the first picture Betty and Shirley are the two little girls in the front row, the boy is Junior McLin, the back row is Lelan Collins and Geraldine Collins. The second picture is Miss Doris Lamers.  The third picture is Jennie Forsythe-Borron with one of her horses.

Borron Girl Mischeif and ulterior motives

This summer Shirley, my Mom and I have taken three day trips to various places within a two hour drive from the farm in Neckellton, Bloomington and Centerville, Iowa, Monroe City and Perry, Missouri, and Rocheport, Missouri. I am always the coordinator and driver of the trip, hard to believe isn't it. So on Monday I wanted to take Mom and Aunt Shirley to Perry, Missouri to shop the antique stores and eat at the Hootenanny Cafe. Well about the time we got 10 minutes away from Monroe City Mom said she was getting hungry and suggested we should eat in Monroe City. Aunt Shirley chimed in saying she was getting hungry too and she thought it would be a good idea to eat in Monroe City also. They even began to get me to think my sugar levels were getting low and so I agreed we would eat in Monroe City.

I have to back-up a little here. Just before Memorial Day President Obama paid a visit to several places along Hwy 36. Mom and Aunt Shirley just happened to take a drive on the very day he was visiting. The two ended up on Hwy 36 just about the time he was driving by. These two had snickered the secret service and somehow eluded all the barriers and parked on the side of the road waiting for him to drive by. You can read this entire story on my cousin's blog http://www.sawdustandcowpies.blogspot.com/. One of President Obama's stops was a little diner in Monroe City, Peggy Sue's Diner.

Ok, back to Monday. We drove over to pick-up my Aunt Shirley. She was dressed in a patriotic red shirt with USA in big lettering across the front. Next Aunt Shirley came from her room bringing a JCPenny bag and handed it to Mom. What do ya know, it too was a red shirt, the same as Aunt Shirley's. Aunt Shirely tells Mom to put it on and Mom obliged. So we left for Perry, Missouri with Mom and Aunt Shirley dressed in patriotic red.

We get to Monroe City all having decided we would eat somewhere in the town. Mom knows I don't like pizza or fast food, so she suggests we drive through downtown to see if there might be a diner. We get downtown and Mom says, "Why look Shirley, there is a diner, Peggy Sues." Aunt Shirley says, "Well ya suppose that's the diner where President Obama ate." "Could be," Mom said.Well guess where we ate. I did take a picture of them on my phone camera, but can't get it downloaded. So I do have proof the that  two Borron girls really did eat at Peggy Sues and sat where President Obama sat.

The mischief of the two Borron girls hasn't changed much since they were little. Tune in tomorrow for stories about Nickellton School.

The first picture is of Shirley about four years old, the second is Mom in the 4th grade. Don't they look like little shysters? Hmm.. I kinda resemble them too.