Pleasant Grove
Hello To All,
A major purchase for the Fortress was made today. A new washer and dryer will be delivered on Thursday to make mother's life a bit easier. I took Luella to Best Buy and RC Willey once she returned this morning from doing a load of laundry down at the canal. She was overjoyed with the announcement that after all these years of knuckle scrapping on a wooden washboard, Dad and I were finally willing to spend the money to get a completely automatic, ELECTRIC no less, washer and dryer for the Fortress.
Our first stop today was Best Buy in Orem. Luella wasn't impressed with the salesman at Best Buy. He was young and wasn't able to answer all her questions. I think he was thrown off his game by her appearance. She looked like an old Chinese washerwoman with bleeding knuckles (I didn't give her time to wash up before we left). He printed the information on an out of model LG washer and dryer and we went on our way.
Luella enjoyed our next stop and the RC Willey across the busy street. The salesman was sales veteran. He was upon us the moment our feet hit the Appliances Department. He looked like he was dressed for church (1950's style). He had polished shoes, perfectly pressed slacks, a crisp white shirt with tie and hair cut and combed back off his face (a lesson the Best Buy kid should learn). He knew the answer to every question. He enjoyed talking washers and dryers. He even had washing and drying jokes! He had the Consumer Reports Books on hand for comparison shopping. He knew every screw and magnet in the machines and threw in enough goodies and rebates to seal the deal. Luella was overjoyed. To be honest, I was more interested in the new 3D Panasonic Television they had on display at my 11:00 o'clock position.
We drove back to the Fortress several hundred dollars lighter in the wallet.
I wonder if our clothes will be any cleaner? Will they smell better? Don't know. I do know it won't take three days to dry a full load of towels in a new dryer. That should save some electricity. Anyway, the money will be well worth it to keep mother from making another trek to the canal below the Fortress with her washboard and soap to do the laundry. Bless her heart but could we continue to let her push a full load of canal washed, wet clothes back up the hill of 1100 North in that borrowed WalMart shopping cart with the wobbly wheel? This new washer and dryer will be well worth not having to put up with the neighbor's dirty looks and the never ending calls from Social Workers banging on the door asking uncomfortable questions about Elder Abuse.
And now, for tonight's enjoyment as we gather around the digital fire we will look at some old pictures of a simpler time in the 1950's for the Mattsons of Montana and Spearfish, South Dakota.
In this picture we have Luella, Grandma Violet holding baby Linda and Grandpa Walter. This picture was taken around 1942 on the Montana Ranch. This is one of Luella's favorite pictures of her parents. 
This is Luella proudly modelling her new coat. She thinks she is a junior in high school.She loved the coat. Isn't it a sad commentary on life today when you think that Luella, even after all these years, can still remember everything about that coat. Just getting a new coat was such a special occasion you had to stop to take pictures of it!
In this picture you have Uncle Marvin, Uncle John, Great Grandmother Vesta and Luella in her new coat. This was taken early in the morning. Luella is still in her pj's. Luella was about 15 years old. John was 11 and Marvin was 9.
This is a picture of Great Grandma Vesta with her husband Jim Logan. Standing beside them are Luella and Charles, newlyweds of two days. Back then, Charles took his shirt off all the time to show off his muscles. If he did that now, at 74 years old, Immigration would be called in to deport the strange starving Ethiopian on the loose every day in the Orem, WalMart.This picture was taken in June 1956. After their wedding, the couple went to Newcastle, Wyo and stayed the night (giving them a one night honey moon. Romantic, yet cheap - important in those days). They had a lovely little apartment near Spearfish Park for the first few months of their marriage. Dad got a job in Deadwood with the State Highway Department so they moved to Deadwood. They had an apartment above the Montgomery Ward Store. Luella worked at Goldburg Grocery running the Bakery Concession Stand.
This is a picture of John Albert Mattson holding Luella as an infant. Ida and John were so proud of their first grandchild (they only had one child - our Granddad Walter). John Albert had large hands. He was a very hard worker and loved to walk whenever it was possible. He and Ida were born in Sweden. He was the black sheep of the Mattson family. He loved to drink before he and Ida married. After their wedding Ida took control of his spending money. Whenever they went to town Ida would give him one dollar to spend in the saloon and that was it. His drinking was under control. 
The Mattson's drove to Belle Fourche, South Dakota from the Montana Ranch for a picnic and to take a few pictures. In the top picture you have Linda with her curls, then Uncle John, their first cousin Diane Pierce (daughter to Violet's brother Walter) and finally Uncle Marvin.In the lower picture we have Luella proudly posing to show off her new saddle shoes. All the girls wore them with white anklets. Luella was 12 or 13 in this picture. Shocking isn't it. She was very tall for her age. The pictures were taken in Belle Fourche Park.
These are pictures of Uncle John as a baby.
And that is it for today.
Simply,
Victor
