Early 1900s

Here are a couple really old pictures for you. The first one is of my Great Great Grandmother Sarah. I'm not sure when the picture was taken yet, but I'm looking into it.



This one is of my Granpa John and my great Uncle Carl taken in 1918.



A few years ago Kim, Keri, Aaron and I visited our family in Minnesota. Aaron and I arrived in Upsala from Atlanta around 1:00 am. As soon as we walked into Carl and Mildred's house, we noticed their entire kitchen table was full of food. Mildred had spent the evening preparing us about three different meals. We ate and ate and ate. Each time we said that we were full, Mildred would bring us another heaping plate of homemade deliciousness. It felt like Thanksgiving....at 1:00 in the morning.

The next morning we were chatting with Uncle Carl and mentioned that we would like to do some fishing while we were there. Without saying a word, Carl turned around and walked out to the garage. The next thing we knew, the boat was hooked up to the Oldsmobile and Carl was hurrying us out the door for a trip to Cedar Lake.

Now, on the way to Upsala from Atlanta we had stopped by a giant Bass Pro Shop and loaded up on fishing gear. We each spent about $200 just to make sure we had what we needed to catch a boat full of fish. We had these dreams of catching the big one once we reached The Land of 10,000 Lakes. Well, to make a long and embarrassing story short, Carl was reeling in fish after fish and Aaron and I sat there with $400 of gear between us and not one fish. After a while Carl offered to let us reel in some of his fish just so, "We would know what it was like to catch a fish" to quote my Uncle Carl. Sometimes he would reel one in and say, "Hey guys, want to see what a fish looks like?" You can't deny that Lekberg sarcasm.

Kim and Kerri stayed in Upsala for a few days longer than Aaron and I did. Later George, Keri's husband, told me stories of Uncle Carl taking him fishing at Horse Shoe Lake. He told me how he got a little bit scared during the drive to the lake. Apparently Uncle Carl was so excited to fish that he would drive a bit faster than what George was comfortable with. At one point, while going down a dirt road, the boat would fishtail and creep into the other lane. Uncle Carl was not particularly worried about it. He was more focused on the Northern Pike that he was about to catch.

After several hours of fishing in the hot Minnesota sun, George wasn't feeling so well. He told this to Carl and asked if they could head back home. Uncle Carl was not about to cut a perfectly good fishing day short because George had a bit of a headache. He told George to drink some water and that would make him feel better. After a few more hours of fishing and after they had caught their limit, Uncle Carl decided to head home. When they showed up, George was sunburnt and suffering from heat exhaustion. Uncle Carl, on the other hand, felt just fine.

So here we have Uncle Carl in his 80s and George in his 20s. They fish all day and George was the one who couldn't handle it. I love it!