MY FAVORITE INDIAN PRINCESS PROGRAM MEMORY WITH DAD

When we were younger, we had a camping trip with Indian Princesses at Camp Duncan in Ingleside.

We had a large cabin mess hall that we had all of our meals in and we thought it was cool sitting at the long picnic tables with everyone in one big room.  It was an experience that was kind of like a school cafeteria.

One night, we had dinner there and they served spaghetti.  We all loved it because it was a meal we all had had at home as a staple.  And for dessert, brownies, who doesn't love chocolate?

After we all had left the mess hall, we returned to our campsite and prepared for campfire stories and bedtime.

There was this one girl, Bethany, and her dad, Paul, and they had a big camper instead of a tent to sleep in. We were all jealous and we played together in there when she would let us. But, Paul came out of the camper into the circle around the campfire and said Bethany had been puking in the camper.  He thought it was maybe food poisoning because she hadn't been sick or had any kind of symptoms of anything else.

When Paul said that, I saw my Dad's face and this look of terror come across it because he immediately looked at me to check in.  (in my youth, I was a stage 5 puker, really anything set me off)

Needless to say, the whole first night almost everyone spent the night puking, including me, my sister Connie, AND my Dad.  I felt so bad because he was trying to take care of us while he was puking himself.

After a long night, the next day everyone was feeling much better by the afternoon. We had a schedule where before dinner, we did a skit and all acted out a short play-ish sort of thing.  As a tribe, we agreed our skit would be Spaghetti Brownie poisoning! We had a fun time making puking noises, imitating our dads in distress, and laughing at each other.  We won the skit competition during that camping trip, because EVERYONE had suffered in all tribes and all we could do was laugh once we got past the puking.

It was a fond memory of mine with my Dad because we share a love of anything gross with humor attached.

So to this day, I do not eat Spaghetti in combination with Brownies at any time.

STORYWORTH #41 (A SERVICE WE STARTED WITH MY PARENTS TO CAPTURE THEIR STORIES-SO THESE ARE ALL IN MY DAD'S OWN WORDS

QUESTION: FAVORITE BOY SCOUT PROGRAM MEMORIES

My favorite memories during Scouting with the boys were that Kathy and I both participated with them.

Mike and Anthony were in different Packs with their classmates.

We had separate Pack meetings, but we went to all the events together.

Boat racing, Rocket racing, Pinewood derby, Camping three times, Fishing Derby, etc.

All were memorable,

Boat Raced=2 winners

Rocket Races=2 second place

Pinewood Derby=1 winner, 1 second place

Camping=FUN FUN FUN

Fun Fair=FUN

Fishing Derby=FUN

Awards Banquet at the end of the year to recognize their accomplishments.

STORYWORTH #40 (A SERVICE WE STARTED WITH MY PARENTS TO CAPTURE THEIR STORIES-SO THESE ARE ALL IN MY DAD'S OWN WORDS

QUESTION: FAVORITE INDIAN PRINCESS PROGRAM MEMORIES

My favorite MEMORIES from the YMCA Princess programs were the first time I went to Eagle Cave with Theresa and Connie.

Some of the other Dads and I led some of the girls "exploring" through the cave. Connie was the smallest and she wanted to lead.

NOPE!

One of the dads, Wally, led the group, I took the middle position and Mike was at the end of the pack.

About fifteen of us total...

Wally, Mike, and I were the thinnest of the Dads in our group and Wally led because if he couldn't fit, the girls weren't going any further without us.

We found out later that the moms didn't like all the cave mud they had on their clothes. Most important, the girls were safe and had fun.

Theresa, Connie and I went "exploring" along the "Billy goat trail".

It was a marked trail about a mile and a half loop.

It followed a natural hilly ridge and required a lot of climbing up and down.

Pretty challenging for the girls. But I was there to help them and pull them up some of the steeper climbs. "Teamwork"

We found a special area at the bottom of the cliff next to a spooky looking tree.

We decided to make this our special spot and left a mark in the cliff wall.

Every time we came back, we went there. Even Jessica was with us once.

When Mom and I went there with the boys during Scouts, they had the trails closed because of deer hunting season.

Another memory with Jessica was when we camped in 20 degree weather at the Rush Creek Conservation Area in Harvard, Illinois.

It was early October, a sunny day in the 40's and no snow in the forecast. AND a chance for cold temperatures that night.

We had a good tent, an air mattress, two sleeping bags and two blankets.

We layered the air mattress, one of the blankets, two sleeping bags, topped with the other blanket pulled up to cover our heads.

There was a big campfire about ten feet away from the tents and the other Dads and I took turns stoking the fire during the night.

My turn was supposed to be at 1:00 am.

I got up to load logs but Steve, Chelsea's dad, was up already and made coffee, so I joined him for a little bit and went back to sleep later.

I think he was up most of the night.

In the morning we all had hot breakfast and talked about how the night was for us.

Steve said that in the Boy Scouts they would earn a merit badge for camping in cold weather.

Later, we broke camp and went home.

TWO GREAT MEMORIES!

STORYWORTH #19 (A SERVICE WE STARTED WITH MY PARENTS TO CAPTURE THEIR STORIES-SO THESE ARE ALL IN MY DAD'S OWN WORDS

QUESTION: BLACKBERRY STORY (YOU CAN PROGRAM IN SPECIFIC STORIES TO ASK ABOUT)

This story is not about the technology that has now become obsolete.

This is a wonderful story about communication and not taking someone's efforts for granted.

Bob and Maxine are Kathy's aunt and uncle from Ohio. They were loved by our family and hosted us almost every time we visited. They are waiting for us in a better place.

One time we were visiting with them and Max was cooking dinner for us and Bob. Also on the stove was a pot full of blackberries. She was cooking them to make some blackberry jam.

For dessert that evening, we had our choice of blackberry cobbler or blackberry pie. Mmmm.

I totally forgot what she had made for dinner, but I'm sure it was delicious.

Kathy helped her with dinner and preparing the jam and the girls couldn't wait to try to jam.

Somehow the subject came up about where did they get all the blackberries. She said Bob loved them and they weren't ready to pick except for a few weeks in July. We came to visit them in early August before the new school year had started.

There was a young boy in the neighborhood that they knew and Bob had told him that he would pay $5.00 for a gallon of blackberries. This young boy enlisted some help from his friends and after a little bit they returned with TWO FIVE GALLON BUCKETS full of wild blackberries. They found lots of them along the fenceline at a local factory parking lot. They were able to pick all of them in about 2 or 3 hours in the afternoon. they did a great job of picking, Max said she didn't have to do any work cleaning out any of the thorny stems.

Bob loved blackberries, but he told them that he only wanted a gallon. The boys were disappointed until Maxine told Bob to "Pay them" $5.00 a gallon, times 10 gallons, equals...Fifty Dollars!

It's not like Bob didn't have the money, Maxine had space in her freezer for most of them and she could put up the rest in canning jars. She sent us home with a couple quarts of jam and a freezer bag full of berries too.

The boys were not born yet, but they know the story. Kathy and I and the kids always remember this story every time we have blackberry anything.

Fantastic Food Memory!

STORYWORTH #43 (A SERVICE WE STARTED WITH MY PARENTS TO CAPTURE THEIR STORIES-SO THESE ARE ALL IN MY DAD'S OWN WORDS

QUESTION: FAVORITE MEMORY WITH YOUR OLDEST BROTHER

My favorite memory of George has to be our Frienemy relationship.

All the usual sibling rivalry stuff including fights.

But most important was that we ALWAYS has each other's back and helped each other when it really counted.

We got into the usual kind of trouble most mischevious boys do including firecrackers.

We shared a lot of the same friends.

We both played the same sports.

We both had jobs early in our lives.

We both had good grades during school.

We were both Altar Boys. (not angels)

We both set an example to our younger brothers what NOT to do.

Except it didn't always work out that way.

It worked out for them because Mom and Dad usually let them off the hook and blamed us...

STORYWORTH #1 (A SERVICE WE STARTED WITH MY PARENTS TO CAPTURE THEIR STORIES-SO THESE ARE ALL IN MY DAD'S OWN WORDS

QUESTION: ARE YOU STILL FRIENDS WITH ANY OF YOUR FRIENDS FROM HIGH SCHOOL?

Most of my best friends are from grade school. Pete, Bill, Mike, Doreen, Karen and many more. I still stay in touch with them via FaceBook, email, phone or in person. My kids know them by name and face. Although we have stories to share, we choose which stories are told. Too much dirt, too many secrets. Friends don't share secrets. Pete I've known since First Grade at St. John's School in Johnsburg, through grade school, McHenry High School, and College. Bill, I've known since we were about 4 years old. Bill introduced me to Mike in grade school on the bus, Bill and Mike went to Johnsburg Elementary school and Johnsburg Junior High School and McHenry High School, Doreen was also from the old neighborhood. She also followed the same path through school as the rest of us. She and Mike got married. Karen I've known since Kindergarten through grade school at St. John's and McHenry High School, many other friends from that time period. Mike L., Ron H., Terry R., Bob H., Steve S., Joel W., to name a few. Too many more that I've lost touch with but still remember.

THE GRAPEFRUIT STORY

Uncle Steve and Uncle Phil feel free to comment here on my memory, but my Dad loved to tell this story so I'm going to try to capture it here correctly.

My Uncle Phil lived down in Texas and was in the Army.  My Grandpa and Grandma wanted to visit him and my Dad and Uncle Steve also wanted to see him, so all the families went there.  They borrowed a camper from their next door neighbors, Howie and Inez. We all loaded up in there with my Grandpa, my Uncle Steve and my Dad taking turns driving.  Aunt Wendy, my mom and my Grandma were watching the kids in the back where the bed folded up and we played cards and games and were wearing ball caps and babushkas to keep the sun out of our eyes from the glare.  We made many, many stops I'm sure with that many kids, but one stop had to happen because the camper started to overheat.

We pulled over at a parking lot where there was a restaurant nearby and my Grandma and aunt and mom got us lunch while my Grandpa and uncle and Dad checked out the camper.  I remember someone climbing on top, probably Uncle Steve, and someone underneath, probably Dad, and Grandpa "supervising" and Grandma saying "Eugene, be careful, we don't need any more problems with this than we've got". She used his whole first name, so she was serious!

They weren't sure how to cool down the camper, so Dad and someone went to a store and bought a huge pink grapefruit because that's what they had, and used it in the engine so that they could plug a leak or cool something down, and drive back with it that way from the trip.  It held, just barely, to get them into the driveway and us all back home safely.  This was a story he loved to tell because of his ingenuity in solving a car problem. (one of his passions was anything car related)

I remember when I got my first car, my Dad shopped around and bought it for me.  I was not allowed to drive it until I was able to pump gas for myself, change my own tire to a spare, AND do an oil change.  I now have AAA and a reliable mechanic, but those skills were super appreciated when I was driving, and not many girls that were my friends had them, so I was able to help people out A LOT and that's what my Dad would have wanted me to do with them.

THE KALSCH FAMILY GESICHT (PRONOUNCED THE GA-ZIGT) OR FUNNY FACES FOR NON-KALSCHES

My Dad inherited this from his parents and this is a long standing tradition in some family photos.  Gesicht is the German word for face, so lots of family photos have someone in them making a funny face and everyone else posed with smiles.  My Dad sometimes did this in photos, but my Aunt Theresa did it in a lot of their family photos with a smile and a wink. My Dad put his own spin on the gesicht with our family where he would smile up until the last second, and then right before the camera snapped he would change his expression.  I think maybe he did that not to get whoever the picture taker was to expect it until they see the print.

He definitely passed it down the line, if you see the pictures at the Wake, you will see the Gesicht is strong in my youngest brother Anthony.

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