Memories
Hans’ dog normally stayed at night in the entryway to the house. The dog was normally very quiet and shy. One night, out of the blue, it started barking. The unusual barking led Hans to look out onto the farm yard. Outside was a local Irishman who had passed out in the snow. Apparently, this lad had been to Sid’s Place and/or the Horsehead a bit too long. Hans was able to get the drunken Irishman into the house. Without the barking of Hans’ dog, the population of Westside most likely would have decreased by one that night, as it was very cold outside.
Hans had many dogs throughout the years... and apparently they were all named "Trixie".
Hans, Lefty, and Ed milked around 12-15 cows. One little trick that Hans liked to do to entertain kids was to to turn the teats of the cow he was milking, and shoot milk at the faces of cats who were patiently waiting for an opportunity for milk.
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The Noethes always had a lot of Hampshire blood in their pigs. One reason was the belief that Hampshires were calmer than the other breeds. They used an interesting German method to feed their pigs. After the cow’s milk was separated from the cream, the milk was added to whole corn and fed to the pigs who seemed quite delighted with this feast.
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The chickens were Hans’ main responsibility, and the pigs were Ed’s. Ed would sleep with the sows in the hog barn when they were farrowing. He would walk up there in the middle of the night in a snowstorm to be with them. I always thought he was going to die on the way up there. They were his pride and joy.
The farm had two separate wells. In the 1930’s the main well went dry. Another well was dug further to the north. Water was then pumped from the new northern well to the main well, and then to the farm place. The main well later regenerated and the north well was no longer necessary.
The Noethe brothers always farmed with RED equipment. Ed would begrudgingly admit that John Deere made good equipment… however, he would also add that anything that shade of green is expensive.
In 1936 the area was hit with extreme heat. If you watch the all-time record highs on the weather report, the 1936 highs still show up. The god of rain, Zeus, was also quite cruel that year in that once the crops had all dried up in 1936… it started raining.
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Local farmers needed help shelling corn and baling hay. The local neighbors would be that help, which also included the younger guys. After the work was done, a bottle of whiskey was passed around for a drink. There was a very loose standard as to the minimum drinking age. "Old enough to do the job - old enough to have a drink."
Mixed drinks weren’t really a thing. The only mixed drink on the farm was beer poured into their whiskey - or vice versa.
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The Noethe brothers followed a traditional pattern concerning eating. First was breakfast, then around 10am was lunch. At noon was dinner, followed by about half an hour nap. At 3pm was an afternoon lunch. At 6pm was supper. During the hot months of summer, supper mostly consisted of a bowl of milk with small pieces of bread soaking in it.
The Great Depression was a tough time for farmers, and the Noethes were no different. Ed several times noted that at times he didn’t have a quarter in his pocket to go to town. Frank Noethe somehow managed to hold onto his farm just south of Arcadia as well as the Westside farm.
The brothers were all Major League Baseball fans. One player was of particular interest - Denis Menke of Bancroft, Iowa. Denis played for the Braves, both in Milwaukee and Atlanta (1962-67), Houston Astros (1968-71, 1974) and the Cincinnati Reds (1972-73). Denis was a "shirt-tail relation"... close enough that the brothers would check the box scores constantly to see how he was performing. A thrill for young Eddie Noethe was visiting a Menke relative in Dyersville, Iowa area who looked at Eddie and stated, "Denis Menke sat in that very chair you are sitting in last winter." Certainly a brush with greatness.