Kim Scott
(Oldest daughter of Harley Horsager)

It took me a while to get started on this, but once I did the memories started flowing!

Most of these memories are all linked to Grandma (Adele) Horsager. I have so many happy memories of time I spent with her. I loved her tremendously and always looked forward to spending time with her.

I remember staying in her house in Berlin. The floors were slanted, the basement was scary with the dirt floors, there were beautiful lilacs surrounding her yard and there were always yummy cookies and cinnamon rolls when we arrived.

Visiting her in the post office was always fun! She’d let me help her sort the mail and take down the flag.

I remember Grandma’s trailer in Edgeley and finally being old enough to get to spend a week with her during the summer without my parents. She would let my sister Julie and I bike to the Tasty Freeze to pick up fried chicken for dinner. I learned to eat oatmeal with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and I first watched soap operas! Although I rarely have time to watch them now, I am still true to CBS soaps as she was.

Grandma would always let me sit on her lap for hours and we would giggle about the silliest things. She could always make me laugh! She would write me letters and I would recognize her shaky handwriting anywhere. Nothing would brighten my day more than getting a letter in the mail from her.

One highlight of going to Grandma’s was getting to see my cousins (actually the children of my cousins) at Blaine and Audrey’s house. I loved their huge house and playing in the basement was always a fun time. Beth (daughter of Alan Horsager) and Jonathon (son of Dennis Horsager) would often come to Edgeley when we were there, and we would play for days.

I remember helping Aunt Audrey in the garden, making lefse and cinnamon rolls and canning pickles. One day Uncle Blaine took me with him on the gas truck. I thought I was big stuff helping him steer the truck and pump gas!

Thanksgiving dinners and Blaine and Audrey’s were always a special time. The table was long; there was plenty of fabulous food and many wonderful relatives that I sometimes only saw once a year.

One summer we decided to drive to Idaho to visit Uncle Bryan and his family at the lake. We took Grandma with us as we headed west. One of our first stops was at Helen and Elmers where Elmer promptly insisted that we take his car as he did not want Grandma traveling all that way in what I remember him calling our “tin can”! We also stopped at Hazel and Buddy’s. I remember hiking to pick berries so Hazel could make my Dad’s favorite pie, and hearing them talk about look out tours where my dad spent many summers. Once we got to the lake and set up camp I remember all the fun we had with Mark, Jeff and Alan. I learned to water ski that trip although I think it me 15 times to get up on the skis.

Another family vacation with Bryan, Kathy and their boys was to the Boundary Waters in northern MN after Dad married Diane. I remember that we had 3 canoes, one for Bryan, Kathy and Alan, one for Dad, Diane and Julie, and the third was for Mark, Jeff and I. After our first portage, I remember that we quickly decided it was much easier for our canoe (Mark, Jeff and I) to be way ahead of the others. That way we could avoid all the lessons and guidance Uncle Bryan wanted to share with us. I’m sure we could have learned something but I believe we were 13, 14 and 15 so you know how that goes. We had so much fun trying to outsmart our parents and get there faster and better than they did.

My trip down memory lane this evening has been fun! I am thankful to have such fond memories of my family.