Happy Halloween!

Page Forty Five John Braden's Diary

sunday the 24
i went to the depot & got my check i paid the store paid howk

monday the 25
i worked setting up mills & halling mills got paid i wint up town paid my feed bill $7 50 i loned ed B a dollar paid $3 00 on the baby buggy got 15 cents of _____ we had fish for supper

tuesday the 26
putting up mills till noon halling mills after dinner i took the boys up town to night went to a show took my famley

wensday the 27
worked in the foundry went up to the Webester city street fair at night

thursday the 28
worked in the foundry went up town after supper

friday the 29
worked in the foundry all us formdry boys went up town at noon to see the man jump off of the hye tour i mashed my finger

Pumpkin Carving at the Zoo

Happy Halloween

Angels :)

Happy Almost Halloween!

I was looking at the blog and realized I haven't really updated all month! Just the diary pages. So I am long over due to catch up on things around here.

Today is the easiest to start with because it is fresh in my memory. I have been having more and more moments where my memory or lack of it has been a problem! Today the boys got up early and had practice at church. They are both playing their instruments in church for all three services tomorrow for Reformation Sunday. It will be strange going to church and sitting by myself. This is the first year younger son is old enough to play in church. They want the kids to be high school age. Younger son is so excited, he has wanted to play for years at church with his older brother. After the kids came home we headed out to Indiana to have lunch with my sister's family and my parents. My nephew is in for the weekend from college so it was nice seeing everyone. Older son is sick again with a cold, so I am hoping he feels better soon and we don't catch it from him before our trip!

Debbie and I have been walking 3 or 4 times a week again trying to get in better shape for all the walking we will be doing in Disney. We have one flat traveler with us now and one of our travelers we have known for years is coming back to travel with us! We will be taking Flat Nicole and Danielle from Canada with us and a traveler from the Jolly family from England too. Just think they will have to go through security with us and get x-rayed :)

Last Sunday we went with my sister and niece to Boo at the Zoo for the day and out to dinner. Boo at the Zoo is more for younger kids, but it is still fun to walk around and see all the costumes. I bought my sister, niece, and I angel halo's in different colors. The boys had scary costumes this year. I'll post a picture next. We spent a lot of time in the monkey house. They were great to watch! It was feeding time and they were all very active.

This last week younger son started a weekly gym group. Again he is one of the older kids, but there were a couple of kids his age. It is only 8 weeks and we will miss one week while we are in Disney. He likes it so far. They are going to be doing dodgeball, basketball, and kickball.

Younger son also went on an overnight with youth group recently. They went to Planetwisdom and he had a great time. He shared a hotel room with 3 other boys and really enjoyed the whole conference.

Younger son is already deep into the play for December. He has a small part this year. It works out well since he has put a lot of pressure on himself this year with school work. The band concert music is already being practiced for the Christmas concert. I am hearing alot of Christmas music around here. The only bad part about having the concert back in December is older son can't take any days off in December. He works at UPS and it isn't allowed. Now that he is a supervisor it would be even harder. He will be able to make the Spring one though.

The next 10 days are going to fly by getting ready to go, along with Halloween and all our regular activities, but all fun stuff! I have only been in a plane twice now and I am not a great flier, but the kids are. I am already loaded up on dramamine, I bought the big box :) Airport security is tight so we will be leaving a 3am since our flight leaves at 6:15am. There will be lots of pictures when we get back, so if I am not on updating until we are back home I will have lots to share! We are all getting pretty excited!

A Little Note About Buffalo Bill

Since Buffalo Bill was mentioned in the journal, I thought I would put a little information about him here. They have a nine page article about him on Wikipedia. Here is their condensed paragraph.

Buffalo Bill (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was an American soldier, buffalo hunter and showman. He was born William Frederick Cody in the American state of Iowa, near Le Claire. He was one of the most colorful figures of the Old West, and mostly famous for the shows he organized with cowboy themes.

http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Buffalo_Bill

Page Forty Four John Braden's Diary

tues the 12
i worked on the road

Wensday the 13
i helped John dig his potatoes i quit the railroad i went down to the foundry & got a job there at $1 35 pr day

thursday the 14
it rained i dident do much went out to Jo Barnes got 5 bu of oats

friday the 15
i went to work in the foundry helped to hall iron and mills

saturday the 16
helped to set up mills & hall mills

sunday 17
at home all day wint a fishing in the evning john had a dance

monday the 18
set up mills halled mills cut threads taps

tuesday the 19
set up mills halled mills taped nuts

wensday the 20
bufflo bill was here to day i halled mills & set up mills

thursday the 21
i set up mills all day

friday the 22
worked

saturdat the 23
worked i went up town got shaved went to toms played the fiddle for a dance

Page Forty Three John Braden's Diary

monday the 4
i was tamping tyes today Harry started school today

tuesday the 5
tamping tyes

wensday the 6
tamping tyes

thursday 7
tamping tyes Ed B. came home today

friday the 8
i dident work to day i rote to effie & tom

saturday the 9
i was tamping tyes to day i went up town after super bought a baby buggy paid $5 00 for it got shaved

sunday the 10th
pa John Ed & eye wint a fishing 5 miles south of the city dad cought some fine bas & some cat fish i cought 2 craw fish & a turtle we had fish for supper

monday the 11th
i was putting in tyes to day i went to the log to nite i got a bail of hay

Page Forty Two John Braden's Diary

sunday the 27
jo & family was here jo & ey went over to edds to see Joes cattle i sold 3 pigs $6 00

monday the 28
worked

tuesday 29
worked

wensday 30
worked

thursday 31
i dident work i had a sore arm i went over to the caning factory at night

friday the first of September (1899)
i dident work i went out to lees & got some patatoes i stayed at Joes & got dinner Harry was with me i got 50 cents of oats

saturday the 2th
John & wix & Harry John & i went out to lees & plowed out some tatars about 25 bu John tom & ey wint to duncom i got $4 00 out of the bank paid John $2 00 for straw

sunday the 3
i went to work this after noon to poot out a fire dad was here John & ella was here Tom & grace was here all so

Page Forty One John Braden's Diary

friday the 18
worked

saturday the 19
pa george john & i went to fort dog we stoped at duncom & got some beer we got to fort dog about 1 we wint about 7 miles West of fort dog we got home at 12 oclock in the night we got good & wet

sunday the 20th
was home all day

monday the 21
i dident work to day i fixed the fence help ed george move went out to Jos to fill a bed tick

tuesday the 22
i worked i traided a cow to jo for a mare & i got a set of single harness & $8 00 to boot

wensday the 23
i worked

thursday the 24
worked

friday the 25
i dident work on the road i pooled my beens Wife & I & the boys wint to duncom

saturday the 26
worked on road wint up town after supper paid my store bill $17 00 charley wright hit Harry across the fase with his buggy whip i went to the barber shop & got shaved

Page Forty John Braden's Diary

sunday the 6
i sold 3 pigs today for $6 00 & 4 more to go in september for $8 00 i wint up town saw emel we got a letter from effie

monday the 7
worked on the railroad baxter paid me the $3 00 on pigs

saturday the 12th
work on railroad wint over to toms to a dance ma went over to johns john gatton's sick

sunday the 13th
john sent his horse over here last night tom & grace & Hatty Harry & John went out to my tater pach to get me some patatoes

monday 14
i work today

tuesday 15
i work today

wensday 16th
dident work to day i sold $22 70 worth of chickens bought a bundle of laths to fix the fence poot $6 00 in the bank for E. ____ for my rent george & pa got to Johns to day pa is here to nite

thursdat the 17th
worked today

Along The Path

It was finally a little cooler today! I took the camera with me on my walk today and took a couple of pictures.

A Note About the John Braden Diary

I should post every so often what this diary is and dates to let some one just coming to the blog know what these pages are and who wrote it.

John Braden is my great great grandfather. He was born December 19, 1864 in Illinois. He started this diary when he moved to Webster City, Iowa in 1898. The diary spans over a year with a few entries after.

I though since I am putting John Braden's diary on here, it might be a good idea to put some information about his family here too. I was just writing this last entry and looked at some of the dates I have that he wrote in the back of his diary and realized his wife, Lucina would at this time be pregnant with what will be twins. She also has a one year old (she will be my great grandmother) along with a 7 year old boy and a 4 year old boy when we left off in May of 1899. The twins will be born in October of 1899. I do wish I would have Lucina's thoughts on paper too. I am thankful for the diary I have, but it just peeks my curiosity about Lucina life. Here below is the information John wrote in the back of his diary.

John Braden was born in the year of 1864 December the 19th
Lucina Gatton was born in the year of 1867 November the 11th
Lora May Braden was born in the year 1891 of May the 4th
Harry Vanburen Braden was born in the year of 1892 September the 25th
John Young Braden was born in the year of 1895 June the 26th
Cora A. Braden was born in the year of 1898 June the 29th
Ray B. and Fay G. Braden were born in the year of 1899 October the 19th
Dorothy J. Braden was born in the year of 1902 July the 17th


Lora May Braden died May 26, 1893
Fay Gatton Braden died October the 15, 1900

Sadly it looks like when he wrote this diary they had already lost one child. They lose Fay just under a year after she was born.

Page Thirty Eight & Thirty Nine John Braden's Diary

friday July the 14
i worked in the garden green wood came up to buy a cow but the prise dident sute him John & i wint after the thorn hill cow

saturday the 15
i worked in the house a parte of the day wint to a horse stall after i got a load of hay dinner

sunday the 16
John and i went out to lees i got some potatoes a bout 2 bushels

monday the 17
i went to work on the Chigo & north western railroad for $1 25 a day John sold the big red cow for $50 00 to day i went up town after supper for some grocries & turpintine tom took the Jersy cow home with him

tuesday the 18
worked on the road

the 19
worked on the road

the 20
worked on the road

saturday the 21
worked on the road

sunday the 22
was home all day

monday the 23
worked on the road

tuesday the 24
worked on the road

wednesday the 25
worked on the road

thursday the 26
charley got his foot mashed off

friday the 27
i was not well to day

saturday the 28
i got $6 00 out of the bank paid my feed bill i did not work today i sold 2 pigs 1 for $5 00 we all went to graces to a dance

sunday the 29
was home all day

monday the 30
i worked on the road

tuesday the first of August
worked on the railroad

wednesday the 2
worked on the railroad

thursday the 3
worked on the railroad

friday the 4
worked on the railroad

saturday the 5
worked on the railroad went to town after supper got shaved went with tom grace & Hatty to the park

We Will Get Them Next Year!

As many of us locals already know this year was not meant to be for the Cubbies. Just like last year as the last strike was called the first thing I said is, "We'll get them next year"! It is never very easy being a Cubs fan, but it is what I am. Older son is a Cubs fan too and younger son watches when we are in the playoffs, but isn't too much a fan of baseball in general. I though I would write about the "curse" on out Cubs in case some of our traveling friends haven't heard about our Cubbies.

We won our last World Series in 1908. Even my grandparents were not here to see that! I can't tell you why they never won from 1908 until 1945, but after that they have an excuse. The are cursed!

There was a bar located across the street from the stadium and the proprietor was a Cubs fan. His name was William Siants. He came to see a game and happened to bring his goat with (Did I mention the bar's name was Billy Goat Tavern?). The management would not let him bring his goat in the stadium so he put a curse on the Cubs saying they will never win a World Series again. Thus the billy goat curse was born. Now we have tried everything to lift this curse. We have had his family back and they tried lifting it, they brought a goat in thinking it may lift it so far still no win. Who knows maybe the curse has been lifted and we just don't know it because we haven't played well :)

We will get them next year! If Cubs fans are nothing else we are optimistic!

The Chicago Marathon Was Cut Short

The weather here has been unseasonablly warm. The Chicago marathin was yeasterday and the weather was a terrible problem. I am going to link the article here http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071007/ap_on_sp_ot/run_chicago_marathon
Today it will be close to 90 again and then finally a cool off. We still have our air running and the window unit in the bedroom. I am so glad we didn't take it out a couple of weeks ago when it cooled off.

The link did not work, so I am going to paste the article here..


Scorching Chicago Marathon leaves 1 dead By CARYN ROUSSEAU, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 7, 7:35 PM ET



In a race run in scorching heat that left one man dead, Kenya's Patrick Ivuti won the Chicago Marathon by a fraction of a second Sunday. More than 300 runners were taken to hospitals because of heat-related ailments.

The 88-degree heat and sweltering humidity were so draining that organizers shut down the second half of the course four hours after the start.

Ivuti leaned at the finish line to edge Jaouad Gharib of Morocco by 0.05 seconds. Ethiopia's Berhane Adere rallied to successfully defend her women's title.

Chad Schieber of Midland, Mich., 35, collapsed while running on the South Side and was pronounced dead shortly before 1 p.m. at a Veteran's Affairs hospital, the Cook County medical examiner's office. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday.

"Obviously very sad news, and our thoughts and prayers are with the individual's family," said Shawn Platt, senior vice president of title sponsor LaSalle Bank.

George Chiampas, the race's medical director, said witnesses reported seeing Schieber collapse and become unresponsive. "It sounds like he lost his pulse very fast and died on the race course," Chiampas said.

There was another running death Sunday in Arlington, Va. An unidentified runner from Virginia died during the Army Ten-Miler, collapsing near the finish at the Pentagon. The race started in 70-degree heat and high humidity.

These were record temperatures for the Chicago Marathon, topping the mark of 84 degrees in 1979. Runners were diverted to the starting area, where they were provided with medical attention and cooling misters. Shortages of water and energy drinks were reported along the 26.2-mile route.

Race director Carey Pinkowski said organizers were concerned that emergency medical personnel wouldn't be able to keep up with heat-related injuries.

"We were seeing a high rate of people that were struggling," Pinkowski said. "If you were out there at 1 o'clock, it was a hot sun. It was like a summer day. It was just a brutally hot day."

At first, organizers hoped those who passed the halfway mark could complete the run. But eventually even those recreational runners were told to turn back.

Still, some runners persevered, although organizers said they didn't know how many completed the course. Helicopters hovered over the race course while police officers shouted through a bullhorn and warned runners to slow down and walk.

About 10,000 of the 45,000 registered runners chose to not race in the heat despite more mist stations, cooling buses and water-soaked sponges, while another 10,934 started but didn't finish, officials said.

Lori Kaufman, a runner from St. Louis, said she was told to start walking at mile 14. She said the fire department turned on hydrants to hose people down along the course.

Paul Gardiner, a runner from England, said the weather made for a "brutal" run.

"We were at about 18 miles and we heard they canceled it and that kind of sent a little bit of concern through the crowd," he said. "It's just it's impossible to run."

Ivuti, competing in only his second major marathon, was timed in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 11 seconds in the closest finish in the race's history. He was the fifth straight Kenyan to win the race.

"I had never seen a marathon finish up close that was like that," head referee Pat Savage said. "This was really close, but at the same time you could see that one man was ahead of the other."

Adere finished in 2:33:49 after passing a surprised Adriana Pirtea, who had a comfortable 30-second lead after 24.8 miles.

Ivuti and Gharib surged ahead of defending champion Robert Cheruiyot and Daniel Njenga at the 22-mile mark to make it a two-man race. Gharib led for much of the final 4 miles before Ivuti made a push on the final mile.

"One thing I had in my mind was that everybody is going to face the same heat," Ivuti said. "I had no problem with that because everybody was going through the same thing as me."

The duo traded leads on the stretch run down Columbus Avenue before Ivuti's final push at the line. The race was so close that it took organizers several minutes to determine the winner.

Njenga finished third and Cheruiyot fourth. Cheruiyot was in position to contend but stomach craps forced him to drop back after 22 miles. Cheruiyot, who last year slipped on the finish line and banged his head on the pavement as he raised his hands to celebrate, finished in 2:16:13.

Pirtea waved to the crowd as she listlessly approached the finish line. But a final push on the last mile by Adere caught the Romanian in the final stretch.

"At 40 (kilometers), I could see she was going slowly," Adere said. "I knew if I started working from that point on, there was a possibility to catch her."

Pirtea tried to sprint toward the finish line, but finished three seconds behind.

"I had tears," Pirtea said.

American Kate O'Neill finished third and Liz Yelling was fourth.

___

Associated Press freelancer Benjamin Sylvan contributed to this report.