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Aunt Norie’s Sewing Room

By Eleanor Mckee - | Apr 6, 2005

Like the ripples from the small stone tossed into the still waters, going on and on, so go the dust storm memories. Grandparents tell the stories to their children and grandchildren, sharing those memories with each other.

As Mindy told me the other day, “Oh Aunt Norie, you would not believe the people who have said something to me after that column about the dust storm.”

Georgette Shoemaker, who was too young to have been there and, like Mindy, never studied it in school, said, “It sure brought back memories of those days when I worked in a nursing home, and the stories those old folks would tell us about the dust bowl days.” She said they told her that the practice of turning cups upside down on cupboards started during the dust bowl, that they followed fences and ropes to get from building to building to care for animals and that they hung wet sheets inside to catch the dust as it came through the walls. Others talked about covering their faces with wet bandannas to be able to breathe outside.

Many young parents like Mindy would like to see photographs of the dust drifting and piling up along fences, like snow, until only the fence post tops were sticking out of the dust drifts.

A trip to the library should provide a wealth of photographs and additional stories. And the Internet should provide lots of information. Do check it out. It’s a great family project.

— Aunt Norie, P.O. Box 265, Tonganoxie 66086; auntnorie@bdc.net