Pictures

Dad talks about sending pictures and we do have some that we need to scan in. I am trying out new things here so I have included a picture of Tim working on his Tera Trike. We went out biking this last week the day after Thanksgiving we used the new bike path and headed west then took some small roads out to Mesilla for the women's coffee group. Tim hangs out at another coffee shop while I hang out with a group of women. The group started a number of years ago when a woman died who a number of people knew through different associations. Since then some of the women have invited other friends so we do not all know each other outside of the group. One time Tim came when there were only a few of us and we let him sit in on the group but he had to go by the name of Tammy. He just got back from doing the neighborhood route to check his improvements to the bike, and it works well. Now I'll have more trouble keeping up with him. I have thought of creating another blog called 'What's Tim doing now'. This week he also went down to Fort Bliss to witness for a young man in the army who is asking for a conscientious objector discharge. He said the hearing went well. I do like the army's term 'a quickening of conscience'.
Three weeks in a row. I may be back in the routine of writing in the blog.

September 22, 1944

9/22/44

Dear folkes,

            I guess youn’s are getting even with me for not writing to you.

You may be too busy too. Well Anyway I’ll beat out a few lines. I’ll quit the double spacing. I had it shifted and forgot to change it.

            I’m pretty well back to normal after the firefighting and cold and I had after getting back. We havn’t had any real fires since. We had a thunderstorm yesterday and there was an old snag struck with lightening over on the other side of town a couple of miles. Maybe it wasn’t more than a mile. Well some of the boys saw it burning and we were sort of keeping our eyes on it but it seemed to be plenty damp so nothing was done about it till afternoon when the guy that owned the land called up and wanted three of us to come up and help him cut the snag down as the grass was drying off so that it would burn. So a couple of the fellows and I went over. We had a nice little afternoons diversion.

            There are six or eight of trying a new kind of meeting. We are going to meet 4 mornings a week for an hour before breakfast and talk over problems and things that are of interest to all of us. We feel a need to know each other better and also see the value of discussing things to clearify them. The first thing we are going to work on is how we use our time. I have done a little thinking on it this summer and thought I had an idea that helped me get more out of life. I took a survey of what I was doing with my 24 hours of day. It was quite interesting. I didn’t change my schedule much tho as a result. I don’t like to have a schedule to follow it seems too stiff and formal. I like to do things when I’m in the mood to. There are some things that I find it good to set aside time to do them regularly like reading and writing letters. I have been keeping up with my letters better this summer than I ever did before and I have been doing it by getting up before breakfast and writing one every day if I had one to answer.

            You got quite a bit of what I have been thinking about in Evelyn’s letter. I suppose you read it. Did you look at the pictures in it? I think I mentioned one time that the Classmate was going to give us some pictures some time. Well they finally came out and they sent for a lot of coppies which sold for 2 cents a copy. I got several thinking that it was a good cheep way of sending my friends camp pictures. They were taken a little over a year ago while I was out surveying or I might have managed to get me nose in one of them. I have some pictures here that I think I shall send to you if you will send them back as I only have on print of each.

                                                            Yours with love and stuff

                                                                                                Bernard

Attached: Insert from Classmate, August 13, 1944 entitled “Conscientious Objectors”

September 19, 1944

 

9/19/44

Dear family,

            Just a note. I’d like to write more but I seem to have run out time. I managed to get a letter written to Evelyn that I hope may give her a boost. I’m mailing it to you to send on to her. I’l leave it open and youn’s may read it if you’d like. In fact I’d like to hear what you think of it.

            Hey Dad, isn’t it about voting time. Would you get me an absentee ballot and send it out? I don’t know when the deadline is but it can’t be long. I have been talking to some of the Socialists in camp. There are quite a few. They about have me convinced that I ought to throw my vote away on Thomas. I suspect Thomas would be about the most supprised if he won. I’m sending you a little of their propaganda. I really go for it.  I don’t know which of the other guys I do like the best. I’d like to see Roosevelt get booted I guess but I don’t have hope for the other guy doing anything wonderful. What are you thinking these days

            I hope everyone is doing ok, Mom’s eyes and Eileens ainlents too. I am pretty well over my cold and enjoying life. I’ll try to write a better letter when I answer you next one.

                                                Yours

                                                            Bernad

Throwing away votes

So I just posted two short letters of Dad's from 1944. He talks about throwing away a vote on a socialist. We do not even have this option today. I do not think that any vote is thrown away. If you vote for someone and they do not win your vote still has value. We just had an election and I find I have felt rather positive since then. Not because of all of the results but rather because of a few of them and because of the overall direction I feel that people are moving in. I am encouraged by the number of women going into the US Senate. by the votes in Washington and Colorado on changing our relationships with the use of marijuana. I do hope that we can move away from declaring 'war' on everything from poverty and drugs to other countries - War is not the answer.

September 14, 1944

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9/15/44

Dear folks,

            I think that I got the best of this deal. You have written me two letters and I havn’t gotten around to answering any of them yet. As you have probably guessed I have been on a fire. Last Fri. just a week ago fires broke out all over. To start with there were two fires right close to camp. One was just outside of Elkton and the other was about 4 ½ miles down the road. Well we got those pretty well under control by night and about 11:00 that night we got a call to a fire that had started that same afternoon about 60 miles or so south of camp. Well we went down and just got back Wed night. I slept most of yesterday. I developed a pretty good cold so am laying off today. I am in the infirmiry now using the ‘Doc’s’ typewriter. Hence the different type.

            I don’t have very much to write. I alos got enough poison Oak to keep me scratching for a while.

            That is a funny thing about Evelyn and the teaching job. I don’t know as I can figure it out very well. There are lots of people like her that don’t like to take responsibility. But they don’t usually get themselves in a jam where they have to take it. I think that as soon as I get a little ambition I will write her a letter. I don’t know what her address is but I can just mail it to you and you can send it on.

            I’ll have to close this as the mail will go soon. I’m ready to go to bed again anyway. I think that I’ll be ready to work tomorrow so don’t worry about me.

                                                Yours with love

                                   

                                                            Bernard 

Time off and back again

I took off a few months. I wrote up some of my adventures with frivolous filing and war tax resistance. We are now finally through with the election and fall is setting in here. We are expected to get a freeze tonight and are making plans for covering our tomatoes. In dad's letter he speaks of what he learned in his four years in CPS. I do think it changed his life and set him on a different direction. I think this was true for a lot of the men in the CPS camps. So I hope to return to writing on a regular basis. Off to Quaker Meeting.

September 1st 1944

9/1/44

Dear family,

            Once again I’ll say that another week has passed. When I start a letter like that I sound like I’m bored. I don’t really think that I am. Occasionally I get impressed that time is passing right along too. I don’t get bored unless I get to thinking of the sameness of life. And life isn’t the same from day to day. There are lots of changing things to keep one interested.

            Your last letter had a dollar pinned to it. Dad. Thanks a lot. I did get the sisors. The came one day after your letter and I forgot about them by the time That I answered your letter. They are a little better pair than The ones that I left at home. They work fine.

            Coments on the farm news: I was glad to hear that you finally had built a fence north east of the south barn. As far back as I can remember, almost, that has been sort of a wreck. I’ll bet the boys will enjoy a good gate there. As to not getting a corn picker. I’m sorry that you didn’t get one. However, I suspect the you have quite a bit of new machinery in the last two years and tho you may need it more or as much as someone else they would be influenced by that. Maybe that is just rationalization but that helps.

            We had a small rain last night, it was raining when I get up this morning. I hope we get several. It will nearly shut off the fire season. About what will happen is that it will rain enough to encourage the farmers to burn their pastures then it will get dry again and we will have a bunch of brush fires that will have to be put out or they will get to some good timber. I wouldn’t mind going to a fire but I do hate to have them burn up good timber.

            I’m having a heck of a time thinking of something to write. I think I should have a page don’t you.

            We had a meeting with the project Supt. the other night. He had a few things that he was a little dissatisfied with and we had a nice sort of visit with him. I think he left understanding us a lot better than he did. I think that most of the men though more of him and appreciated his attitude towards us. I certainly could notice a difference in this meeting with him and the one that we had when we first came out here over a year and a half ago.

            I suppose the boys are still safely 2-Cs. Some times I wish they had gone to CPS. I have learned so much that I don’t believe I would have learned anywhere else. I wonder what they have done in the last two years besides work and spend their money? Are they any better prepared to live the next 40 years? It is something to think about.

                                                            Yours

                                                                        Bernard

P.S. (over)

I almost forgot to wish you a happy Birthday Mom. Happy Birthday.