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Down Memory Lane
by Enid Rendle Gutman
$23.58
Chapter One - The Watch
In the spring of 1951 Norman decided to build a cabin cruiser. It was 25 ft. long, 8 ft. wide, 21⁄2 ft. draft, and a 3 bladed 12 inch stainless steel propeller – 14 inch pitch, on a one inch shaft. It had a flat-six Chrysler motor, and clear cedar boards. The keel was clear fir. My father, Harry Durant, helped build it. We kept the boat at Walter’s Resort, Pine Lake and took people for tour rides up and down the lake. We charged 50¢ for adults and 25¢ for children for a 20 minute ride that generally ended up in half an hour. We enjoyed the boat immensely and did a lot of fishing from it.
One Wednesday afternoon Norman and I went fishing with the boat. We weren’t far from Walter’s Resort. We had had supper on the boat and decided to fish a little longer. My fishing line consisted of a tree branch with line and hook. As I threw out the line I saw my watch fall into the lake. Without even thinking I stuck the “rod” into the lake near where the watch flew. We were in about 10 or 12 ft. of water.
Norman had made an old army gas mask into a water mask, fed by a 1⁄4 inch rubber hose with a valve at the mask, hooked to a hot water tank, which floated on the lake. The tank was pressurized with air. The air lasted 20 minutes. Norman put on the mask, followed the “rod” down, but the sun had set by that time, and he couldn’t find the watch.
We went home to Trochu and stayed the night, worrying and wondering if we would get the watch back.
The next morning Norman refilled the tank with air, made some improvements on the mask, and we went back to the lake. We got back to the lake, and on the boat Norman put on his home made diving gear and jumped into the lake. I stood on the boat, holding my breath, in fear of him drowning. I saw the bubbles rising out of the water and was really afraid. In a few minutes Norman rose to the boat and held up the watch. This time he was successful.
We hurried home with the watch and took it to the jewelers to have it dried out and cleaned and the watch served me many many years after that.
Chapter Two - Fireflies
Fireflies In the spring of 1952 (April) we moved from Trochu to the farm at Pine Lake. Norman continued to run the picture shows at Trochu because there was no income, as yet, from the farm. It was a very rainy summer and our road had no gravel, so it was a muddy trail for a mile and a half from home. Lots of times Norman would leave the car at the mile and a half corner and walk that distance to and from the car, in order to get to Trochu. Later he rode the tractor to and from the car.
One night he was walking home from the car, and at Dawson’s slough, he thought he saw a coyote’s eyes shining at the opposite end of the slough. He decided to scare the coyote and he cautiously crept up on it. He let out a loud beller “Boo”. To his surprise, it was a pair of fireflies. “Glow little glow worm, glow”.