Life on the Prairie

Tayler

 

Dark clouds of war hang over Tayler’s head.

A misfired missile fills our hearts with dread.

Any part of the world could be the place

Where all lives are destroyed without a trace.

 

Non-violence is the vow of Civil Rights.

Marchers and protesters join in the fight.

Bloodshed and assassinations abound.

The key to winning in Viet Nam can’t be found.

 

Kind and friendly Tayler fights her way

Facing her uncertain future every day.

Defending friends and ideas is key.

Forging a path to life’s victory is she.

 

This blog changes on the first and third weeks of each month.

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www.onceupontheprairie.com

Prairie Girls

Tayler

by Collette

It’s Tayler again, and I have to tell you about the fun I had today. My whole school walked to the big hall downtown, and so did all of the other elementary schools. We were all vaccinated for polio. Normally I hate shots, but this wasn’t a shot. The nurses gave each of us a little sugar cube with a bright pink spot on it. All we had to do was suck on it until it melted in our mouths. I had a good time with my friends as we walked.

Also, I am glad this will keep me from getting polio because my parents thought I got it when I was three, but it wasn’t. My family knows a little girl who has it, and she can’t come to school any more.

 

 

 

Ouch!

                                   By Judy

 

Lives were saved when the polio vaccine was discovered. As a mother, I am grateful the vaccination was available for my children. Because I am not a child, I thought my need for vaccinations was a thing of the past. However, a few years ago, I had an opportunity to travel overseas. Before I said bon voyage, though, my immunizations had to be brought current. I didn’t enjoy the shots, but I did enjoy my travels and am happy I returned healthy.

Eisenhower's Plan to End Polio

Eisenhower’s Plan to End Polio

                                                     by Collette

Poliomyelitis was a dreaded virus during the 1940’s and 1950’s. It was brought to national attention when Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted the disease as a young adult, but was able to continue in politics despite having it. When he became President photographs sometimes captured his heavy braces and difficulty walking. Although determined to not let the affliction affect his Presidency, it made his elected four terms very arduous.

The disease attacked those with weakened immune systems, but children were especially susceptible. No one knew what caused it, but its effects were devastating. It could mean paralysis and even death. Tragic pictures of children and young adults living in “iron lungs” showed what life could be like if polio was contracted. These people were so paralyzed, the “lung” provided pressure so they could breathe. Research led to a discovery of the causes and the eventual development of a vaccine for polio prevention in 1955 by Dr. Jonas Salk. President Dwight D. Eisenhower supported the government’s intervention into the eradication of the disease by advocating inoculation against polio for all school age children.

The following sources provide more information:

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155580
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_pressure_ventilator
www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/salk.html

 

 

 

1960's Side Dishes

1960’s Side Dishes

                                           by Collette

The following side dishes became popular during this decade.

Carrot Casserole

 8 large carrots                                   1 tablespoon prepared mustard

1 cup chopped celery                         ½ cup mayonnaise
1 medium onion, chopped                 salt

Cook the carrots, drain and mash. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Place in a casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Serves: 4-6

Rice, Onion, and Mushroom Casserole

1 cup raw, long grain rice                 1 (4 ounce) can mushrooms

¾ stick of butter                                salt and pepper to taste
1 can onion soup                              1 soup can of water

Mix all ingredients together and bake in a covered casserole for one hour at 350 degrees. Serves: 4-6

Celery Casserole

4 cups diced celery                            1 stick butter

1 can sliced water chestnuts              salt and pepper to taste
1 can celery soup                              1 ½ cups of crushed Ritz crackers

Cover celery with water and bring to a boil (do not continue to boil); set aside from heat, then drain. Add the water chestnuts, soup, butter and salt and pepper. Mix and place in a baking dish and cover with the cracker crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Serves: 4-6

 

 

The Scourge

The Scourge

                                      by Collette

Poliomyelitis, or polio, was the scourge of the 1950’s. Americans living during the 1930’s and1940’s witnessed the difficulties President Franklin Roosevelt endured from polio. Every mother feared her child might contract the disease. On a family trip to Yellowstone National Park, my parents took me to the doctor because I was showing symptoms, and I was only three-years-old. Fortunately, it must have been a virus.

Even after the vaccine for polio was developed, my mother still was cautious about contracting it. We had a county lake near us, but my sister and I usually rode our bikes to the local swimming pool in the summer. Mother never allowed us to go swimming in the month of August. Sometimes rivers do what my dad called “turn over” in this month. The water appeared dirtier, smelled and tasted horrible. I don’t know if her fear was because of the change in the water or something else. We never swam in the river, seldom went to the lake and the chlorine in the pool should have kept it fairly clean.

It is more likely so many kids gathering together in the last month before school started helped spread the disease. We girls just accepted the fact there was no swimming in August. A water hose and sprinkler were the way we cooled off in the hottest month of the year.

Never a proponent of shots, I liked the vaccine on the sugar cube and was delighted when all the schools got to walk downtown and participate in the mass vaccination. Only now as an adult do I understand how unique that experience was. The fact the entire nation was being vaccinated would not happen today as the outbreak of measles in the United States recently has shown. Surprisingly during my research at Eisenhower’s museum in Abilene, I found a picture of the President and his son, John. To prove the safety of the vaccine, Ike had his own son photographed taking a dose of it shortly after the testing trials ended. Dr. Jonas Salk’s discovery would eradicate the scourge of the 1950’s and the need for iron lungs.

Melons

 

 

 

Melons

           By July

 “Nana, we’ve brought watermelon,” my young grandson said and handed me a plastic container filled with evenly-sized chunks of melon. My mouth watered when I saw the beautiful, crimson pieces of melon. Except, something was missing…seeds, where were the seeds? How could we have a watermelon seed spitting contest without seeds?

 My dad enjoyed eating watermelon and many years grew them in his garden. If it didn’t rain and his crop failed, he purchased them, usually from a stranger in a parking lot who had a pickup filled with melons. Daddy submersed it in the water tank we had for the cows. After all, a cool watermelon tasted better than a warm melon. After supper Daddy brought the melon into the house and split it open with a large butcher knife. The louder it cracked when jabbed with the knife, the better it tasted. Each person took a half-moon shaped slice, went outdoors to sit on the porch steps, and enjoyed the melon in the cool of the evening. That was where the seed spitting contest was held, too. (We were easily entertained.)

I’m not picky when it comes to melons because I like cantaloupes, too. An elderly couple lived across the country road from my childhood home, and each year they planted cantaloupes in their garden. When the melons were ripe, I was sometimes invited over for a late afternoon visit and a piece of cantaloupe. My neighbors placed the cantaloupe in the small stream behind their house early in the morning so it would be just the right temperature by mid-afternoon. They did not have a refrigerator.

The couple is no longer living; I wish they were. A picture of President Dwight D. Eisenhower hung in their living room, and they were proud of their state’s native son. Now that I am older, I would enjoy another visit with them. How interesting it would be to know their thoughts on Kansas, America, and the world, itself! I would enjoy a nice, water-cooled, slice of cantaloupe.