Brad Nelson

“First, it’s gotta be dark outside,” is the punchline of the joke that starts, “How do you pick a good watermelon?” It refers to the practice of stealing watermelons after dark.

“I could have ….”
“I would have ….”
“I should have ….”
“If only I had known ….”

Many years ago, I noticed a sign in a mechanic’s office which was visible to customers. ‘Shop rate, $25 per hour. If you watch, $35 per hour. If you help, $50 per hour. Box jobs, full shop rate plus $10. No whining.’

Anybody out there remember Germade? It’s a breakfast cereal made from wheat, just a bit coarser than Cream-of-Wheat. Growing up, it was preferred to oatmeal, which we sometimes had. It came home from the store in bags – cloth and finally paper.

The summer I turned 10, Dad sold the farm, bought a small motel, and I became a city kid. Accustomed to dealing with milk cows morning and night, tractors, hay balers, combines and irrigation ditches, I was out of my element.

We did get loaded before we got “darked on.” By the time we made it to the Hill City, Idaho scale, we were being snowed on. After we loaded, I retrieved the pot of chili from the cab of the truck and the propane camp stove.