Ottawa County news. (Port Clinton, Ohio) 1931-1956, 1955-05-27
THE
FARMERS WIFE
BY GRACE LuEBKE
By GRACE LuEBKE

t1aVe you DeeH listening W
weather forecasts and scanning the
sky anxiously for any sign of rain
the way we have been doing? 1t
sure is dry, and l guess this is
about the worst time of the year
to have drought, because grow
ings things just can't get a good
start. Honestly, it seems that in
this business of farming it's just
one worry after another. First you
worry as to whether or not it will
stay dry long enough to get the
ground worked and the seed SOW
ed, 1t stays dry, in fact, too dry,
now you worry that there isn't
enough moisture for the corn and
sobeans to come up. Probably
there's just enough there to make
the seed sprout and then it will
mold. To get it to rain, I've even
been considering taking such
drastic step as washing windows
on the outside of the house, it
usually brings rain within "a
hours. Maybe by the time this is
printed the drought conditions
will be over, l sure hope so.
Do you have blank wall space
in your home and don't know what
to do with it? Ii you had the in
genuity and creative ability of Mrs.
Howard James, of rural Elmore,
you'd paint a picture on it just as
she did on one of her bathroom
walls.
Esther just loves to paint, and
although she modestly insists that
she's rank amateur in compari
son with some of the lady artists
in Ottawa County, for my money
she's tops, I've just never seen
anything like it. 1t seems that
when they remodeled their bath
room, the James had this lovely
blank wall space on one end Of
the room above the bathtub
Esther asked her husband if he'd
care if she painted picture on it,
and he (very philosophically) said
they could always paint over it.
Well, she went down in the base
ment, found some leftover enam-
els that they'd used in and around
the house, put the step ladder in
the bathtub, and went to work on
her painting. It's the cutest thing,
it's picure of boat or tub on
the water, with three children in
the boat. On the bottom, to one
side, is this little verse - "Rub-a-
dub-dub, 3 kids in a tub, There's
Sam and Nan, and then there's
Jan. Throw 'em out! Buns all
three!" Chose are the James three
children.) The painting is about
2 yds. square, and Esther figures
it probably took her about an hour
and half to paint it.
Mrs. James is very enthused a.
bout this hobby of painting, and
though she insists that she has
only bare knowledge of color and
perspective, l don't believe her.
She says that with just a very
little training, most everyone could
paint, but I'll bet that with any
amount of training l would have,
If I'd suggest to Bill that I'd like
to paint picture on one of the
bathroom walls, he'd promptly fall
in the bathtub.
Isn't it wonderful what a little
fertilizer will do? Last spring after
the planting season was over, Bill
dumped the remains of a sack of
fertilizer on one of the flower
beds, and now, you never saw
such dandelions! (After | removed
them discovered that the flowers
were growing beautifully, too.)
Todsy's Bit of Nonsense -
AT meetings of clubs, by an
effort of will,
] always continue to keep
perfectly still,
For it takes but word of
annoyance or pity,
And whaml there am on
another committee.
Helpful Hints for Harassed
Housewives Department