Wednesday, November 18, 1936

EDNA'S CHICKENS GET TESTED.

HELEN GETS A TROUSSEAU.

MORSE TAKES WHEAT TO TOWN

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Clear and cold.

Jen went back to Lydia's this

morning to help get ready

for the chicken supper at L.A.S.

Hall tomorrow night.

VL Watts and Jack Van Hoven

blood tested my hens and pullets.

There were 24 reactions.

Tested 207 fowls @2¢ $4.14

170 pullets + hens

13 roosters

24 reactions

Helen + I went to G.R. shopping.

Bo't Helen new dress (green)

under wear, pajamas, hose, gloves

house dresses, etc.

Morse took 20 bus wheat to

town (Alto) this A.M. @ 1.09 bus.

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The history of the NPIP (National Poultry Improvement Plan) is actually quite fascinating but not possible for me to succinctly recap. It involves science and knowledge beyond my scope. I can tell you that it began in 1935 and remains today. Then, as now, it is a voluntary program implemented to improve poultry and poultry products.

It may seem to be a boring topic but I was fascinated by the presentation linked below that explains how, in 1935, an agency of the government was funded federally giving States the responsibility of administrating the National poultry improvement Program (NPIP).

This was, in part done by blood testing flocks for the antigen of Pullorum and typhoid disease.

https://www.pheasant.com/Portals/0/documents/Proceedings/Seminar2018/A%20Brief%20History%20of%20NPIP%20Jeff%20May.pdf?ver=2019-06-26-152903-833

Edna, it seems, was on board with the NPIP program in 1936. She had her chickens blood tested. A little more than 10% of her flock had "reactions" which I am assuming means they tested positive. I wasn't able to find any information to indicate if that was a high or satisfactory number in 1936.

Sometime before or after getting her flock blood tested, Edna took Helen to Grand Rapids shopping. A couple of days earlier, Helen announced to her mother that she and Red were getting married on Friday. They are still in the midst of the Great Depression but Edna, it seems, was not going to let her daughter be married without some sort of trousseau. I love that she notes the color of the dress. Green.

Henry is still in Lansing for a meeting, so Morse takes the wheat to town. He receives $1.09 a bushel. Just a few years earlier, at the onset of the Great Depression, wheat hit a low of $0.33 per bushel. The current price of wheat (November 13, 2020) is $5.9350 per bushel.

Tuesday, November 17, 1936

HELEN AND RED GO TO THE STRAND

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Bright sunny day but real

cold.

Henry went to G.R. for meeting

came home at noon and

went with Leonard Kauffman

Sec of Road Comm to Lansing

to Road Show.

Helen, Jen + I went to

Lucille's a few minutes

this P.M.

Helen + Red went to

Show at Lowell to-night.

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The Strand was not quite ten years old when Helen and Red went to see China Clipper staring Pat O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart on November 17, 1936. The theater opened in 1928 and remained operational as a movie theater through the 1980s.

I have a distinct memory of seeing Lady and the Tramp at the Strand when I was little. I also remember seeing Grease, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Blue Lagoon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and E.T. at the Strand in my teens.

When it opened, the Strand featured a pipe organ. Legend has it that Laurel and Hardy once performed at the theater. A brief history of the Strand detailed on the Lowell Museum's website tells how it was the only theater in nation showing On Golden Pond after the death of Henry Fonda.

"Following the death of Henry Fonda, the studio pulled the movie “On Golden Pond” out of circulation for a few weeks. Because of prior commitments, The Strand was allowed to show the film as scheduled, effectively making it the only theatre showing the academy award winning film, exclusively!"

In case you were wondering, I held hands with a boy once during a movie at the Strand. I don't remember what movie or even which boy. Hand holding is as far as it went. And, my favorite movie snack (other than popcorn) at the Strand were Bottle Caps. I was particularly fond of the root beer flavored bottle cap.

Monday, November 16, 1936

HELEN TAKES EDNA INTO HER CONFIDENCE

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Nice Day but cold.

Washed - Helen ironed this

P.M.

Helen took me into her

confidence and told me

that she is going to be

married this coming Friday.

Jen came this P.M. to

visit us a few days.

Sold to V.L. Watts

2 4/12 doz. eggs.

Paid for last wks.

2 4/12 doz @ 35¢ - .82¢

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Let's start with math.

Edna's math was not adding up to me. Thirty-five cents per egg does not equal eighty-two cents.

Sometimes I am uncertain of Edna's handwriting. Did she mean 25¢ or 2.5¢? The math just wasn't working.

I actually spent about thirty minutes trying to figure it out. Then... Ding! Ding! Ding! She meant 35¢ per dozen.

Math is not my forte.

Jen, Henry's sister, comes to visit. She was born in Bowne Center but moved to Traverse City with her husband.

But let's get to the elephant in the room. Helen took Edna (her mom) into her confidence.

She and Red are getting married on Friday.

Let's do some more math.

Dean Bryant was born to Helen and Red Bryant on August 24, 1937 (281 days later). Pregnant women are routinely assigned a delivery date of about 280 days after the onset of their last menstrual period.

Maybe Helen took her mother into her confidence because she was pregnant.

If so, I have fallen in love with my great grandmother more than ever. It is 1936. Nineteen thirty six! It is 1936 and Helen is able to share with her mother that she and Red are getting married in a few days.

Edna loves her family. She simply writes, "Helen took me into her confidence."