Dodge

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Late 1950s Montpelier, Idaho

Washington Street, Montpelier, Idaho late 1950s

The first time I saw this picture I grabbed it for a number of reasons.

First, that looks like my car on the front right of the photo. That is clearly a 1956 Dodge car on the right in the same yellow, charcoal, and white as my car. Although when my car was repainted about 1984, the top and inside the fins around the taillights was also painted charcoal so that there is not any white on it at present. Mine is a Coronet. Looking closer at the photo, that car is likely a higher model as the chrome stripe goes up before the bumper, where the lower models went down. So it must be a Custom Lancer or Custom Royal. Here is a link to the different models and nuances of the 1956 Dodge lineup.

Aliza and 1956 Dodge Coronet

Second, I have been to Montpelier dozens of times in my life. Beginning in the 1980s with my Grandmother, Colleen Jonas, selling insurance. I came to love the town. Soda Springs and Montpelier both had the viaducts which stuck out in my mind. I immediately recognized the town.

Growing up in and near Burley, Idaho, I am familiar with the history of the King’s Variety Store chain. On the left is the M. H. King Co. Who in southern Idaho is not familiar with Milton Herman King and his variety or discount stores? I went looking and can see on Google that the King building in the photo is no longer present in Montpelier. However, the rest of the buildings on the north are still there, but some with some pretty drastic facade alterations. Even though King’s has now closed, Google still has one across the street on this picture. Apparently with the buildings the Dodge is parked in front of all gone.

Third, the red car in the picture appears to be the only 1958 model, I think. The rest all look like 1956 or earlier, so that red one might only be a 1957. This picture is likely in 1957 or 1958.

Fourth, my Dad, Milo Ross, spent quite a few summers in Montpelier growing up as my Great Uncle Chauncey De Orr Michaelson was born in Montpelier in 1922. He was married to my Grandma Gladys Ross’ sister, Dena Dorothy Donaldson. Richard Michaelson and Dad ran around Montpelier probably during the same time period as this photo. When we lived in Leefe, Wyoming, once and a while the family would have to come in or through Montpelier as well.

Fifth, my Grandma Jonas married Bud Lloyd who haled from the Montpelier area. Grandma and Bud met in the early 1990s while she was working in the Montpelier area. They dated and were married in 1998. Unfortunately she passed away in 1999. They are both buried in Dingle, just south of Montpelier.

Deer Cliff Inn 1998

Lastly, Montpelier has an announcement for a temple. This modern view will have a temple spire in it down the road, probably above that truck that looks like a garbage truck. Montpelier on the right side has a beautiful school that has been kept. I hope it continues to be kept and maintained. Bringing a temple to downtown Montpelier will do much to help rejuvenate the downtown area that seems to have struggled.

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Racing Father Time

2017 is now ending.  Where in the world has it gone?  Here is a photo that I think more or less sums up the entire year.

Hiram, Lillian, Amanda, Paul, James, and Aliza Ross in 2017!

Ms. Brandi Teuscher took that photo and deserves the credit.  She had some difficult subjects to work with under the circumstances.

A 1956 Dodge Coronet with plenty of blemishes due to age.  She turned 61 this year.  Hopefully we can get her better looking in the future.

One of my favorite things in the photo, beyond the family and car, are the dandelions.  They make my heart happy.

Aliza turned 7, Hiram turned 5, Lillie turned 2, and James was born in March.  Amanda and I continue to mature in age and demeanor.  Our little family continues to grow.

In March we saw the raging Snake River over Shoshone Falls.

Hiram and Aliza at Shoshone Falls 19 March 2017

In April, the Snake River continued to rage so we took a picture at Minidoka Dam.

23 April at Minidoka Dam spillway

Our grass greened up and was beautiful and the kids enjoyed a new Radio Flyer wagon.

Lillie 23 April 2017

We attended the Open House and Rededication of the Idaho Falls Temple.

Idaho Falls Temple during the Open House

Hiram was antsy to start farming in June.

Hiram on Grandpa’s 1948 Ford 8N

During most of the summer, the kids loved to go for walks or bike rides in the evening.

30 July trip around Fairmont Street

We traveled to Rexburg for the 2017 Great American Eclipse!

Amanda during the Total Eclipse 21 August 2017

We enjoyed some hot miniture golfing in Twin Falls in September.

Twin Falls Miniture Golfing

The Annual Hemsley Camp Out also took place in September in Soda Springs.  We not only enjoyed the carbonated springs, we felt a few earthquakes too.

2017 Hemsley Reunion: Front kids (l-r) Aliza Ross, Lillie Ross, Olivia Hemsley, Hiram Ross; Second row Jill Hemsley, Amanda Ross, Derek Hemsley, Jordan Hemsley holding Jack Hemsley, Bryan Hemsley holding Red Solo Cup, with Zack Smart and Alyssa Hemsley behind; James Ross sitting in car seat

James grew up enough to look around, crawl, and Lillie grew enough to pull him in a wagon by September.

Lillie pulling happy James

Made a trip to Cedar City for the Cedar City Open House by November.

Paul, Amanda, Aliza, Hiram, Lillian, and James Ross at the Cedar City Temple Open House

And Cove Fort.

Paul, Amanda, Aliza, Hiram, Lillian, and James Ross with Jill Hemsley recreating a 1939 photo of David and Dave Donaldson.

What shall 2018 bring with it?

I find myself echoing Jacob.  “And it came to pass that I, Paul, began to be old… the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream.”  It passes too quickly.  We could make more memories, but health and money are limited.  Hopefully more memories and life in the upcoming year.

 

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Oh, You Beautiful Dodge!

Notwithstanding applying for jobs, fretting over passing the bar, putting things in place for solo practice, and helping around my Dad’s house, I have made an effort to resurrect my 1956 Dodge from the garage.  Here is how dirty about five years had made her.  She had so much dirt that some of the seams, like around the trunk, were full of dirt.

The battery was dead so I put a new one in.  As a tribute to Dodge, a new battery and the car cranked over and started up after about 30 seconds!  I had absolutely no brakes, but I moved it into the driveway where I could more easily work on it.  I gave her a good bath and washed off more than a few millimeters of dust in several places.  There in the driveway I bled the brakes, vacuumed her out (and her numerous mouse nests, what a heart-breaker), and prepped her for more use.

We still have some of the original marketing materials that came with the car in 1956 and I knew one of the marketing themes was “Oh, You Beautiful Dodge!”  I knew the song was “Oh, You Beautiful Doll” modified for Dodge’s purposes (and with the help of Lawrence Welk).  So that one line I kinda hummed under my breath as I worked through my various tasks.  I decided I would check to see if I could find the commercial.  Voila, Youtube has a copy.

Kinda catchy and I am jealous of the singer’s low voice.  There is another interesting commercial about the creation of the Dodge as a piece of art, as an automobile.

Since money is tight, some of the necessary fixes will just have to wait.  I am afraid the master brake cylinder will have to be replaced as well as the cylinders in both back brakes since they grab and both seem to be leaking brake fluid.  One of the valve covers appears to have the gasket completely missing so she throws out a healthy dose of oil when she gets hot.  Additionally, the transmission which slipped even 10 years ago slips worse than ever.  Storage is never good on a vehicle and where the dirt has sat on some of the fenders and a little moister have added some rust bumps in the paint.  She has some cancer in a few areas.  I am afraid she will need a good going through and probably a paint job to restore her to her true colors (white top of the cab, charcoal not grey, and yellow which is pretty close).

Here is a picture of her all cleaned up on the outside, I have not done anything beyond vacuuming inside, with Aliza and me.  I hope we can get her squared away to make her a regular Sunday driver.

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Fun Bankruptcy Case

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MERRITT S. DEITZ, Jr., Bankruptcy Judge.

Is a bus a bus, or is it a car?
Reluctantly we conclude that it is a car.
Bankruptcy petitioner, Theodore Roosevelt Johnson, Sr., has claimed as exempt his 1969 Dodge bus. The bus has a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Upon it are occasionally transported members of Johnson’s church congregation.
The trustee vehemently objects. He points to the state exemption statute, KRS 427.010, which in pertinent part permits the exemption of “one motor vehicle and its necessary accessories, including one spare tire, not exceeding $2,500 in value…”
The trustee patiently explains that the legislature intended the term “motor vehicle” to be synonymous with “automobile”.
Enacted in 1980, the statute excluded earlier statutory limits upon the uses to which a motor vehicle might be put, so we must cast altogether aside the trustee’s concern with the voluminous seating capacity of the behemoth. The record is silent on the size of the petitioner’s family and their transportation needs.
Is a Moped a motor vehicle? What would the licensing arm of the state Department of Transportation say to the contention that a bus is not a motor vehicle? What would Gertrude Stein have to say about what a motor vehicle is?
Such rhetorical questions having been considered, we are bold to say that a bus is a motor vehicle.
In our dialectic, during this era of motorized evolution, we are inclined to regard the “bus” and the “automobile” as species of  the genus, “motor vehicle”.
This Bankruptcy Court is answerable to an appellate forum of literal bent. That is good, for it gives us guidance and certainty in ascribing to the legislature the ability to express its intent in clear, simple, precise English.
As this trustee will recall, District Judge Thomas Ballantine, in reviewing a decision of this court, recently held that a statutory 15-day limitation upon the recording of chattel mortgages imposed a recording limitation not of indeterminate length, as was contended, but a limitation of 15 days.
Guided by that clarity of perception, we find with conviction that a motor vehicle is a motor vehicle, and not necessarily an automobile. We expressly reserve, until it is properly presented, any consideration of the reverse proposition that an automobile is neither a bus nor a motor vehicle.
Abundantly confident that this opinion will find its way alongside Marbury v. Madison and McCulloch v. Maryland in the  lasting library of legal logic, it is hereby
ORDERED that Theodore Roosevelt Johnson, Sr. is entitled to the claimed exemption, and the trustee shall comport his activities accordingly in administration of the estate.

Bkr. Ky. 1981.
In re Johnson
14 B.R. 14

There was another case about whether a tractor-lawnmower could be classified as ‘household furniture”.  But the judge doesn’t have as much fun with it as the above judge did.  Check it out.  169 B.R. 732