Bradley Family Heritage: Betsy

The Steamer

Instead of having a humidifier we used to just stick a pot of water on a little hot plate that you plugged into the wall. Betsy was sick and mom made carrot jello and she brought it up to my room. Richard came up to keep her company. Betsy was probably 3 1/2 and Richard was 2 1/2 and they were taking turns jumping over the pot of steaming water. Richard wasn't quite as good and he fell in the pot. He was burned bad and Betsy had to run down and get mom. They had to wrap him up and take him to the hospital. He still has burns on his leg.

The Paper Route

The brothers always had newspaper routes. If they went out of town then the sisters would have to do the newspaper route for them. They'd get up about 5 and we'd get home about 6:30 in time to go to school. If it was snowing, Craig would wake up Richard and Betsy to go with him. Craig would
drive and Richard and Betsy would have to run them up to the front porch because they didn't have plastic bags for papers back then When they'd get home they would be so cold they thought they would die. Craig would pay them about a buck for their help.

Horseback riding

Horseback riding at Hi Ute Ranch

Betsy never liked horseback riding. She never felt safe. The family bought horses when she was in high school. We kept them at a ranch that was a half hour out of town. Richard always tried to get her into going horseback riding with him but she never wanted to. Finally he said "Come go with me and I'll help you saddle them up." We took them out of the barn and Richard put the saddle and reins on and got them ready to go. Betsy climbed on the horse and the horse got spooked and ran into the barn. The horse kept running around in the barn, and Betsy kept hitting my head on all the rafters. All the while she was screaming bloody murder. That was the end of horseback riding that day.

Richard talked her into going back the next week and promised her that nothing would happen. They got up to get the horses and the horses were out in a big pasture. They took the reins out to get the horses and bring them back in. The horses were clear at the end of the pasture. Richard didn't want to walk them all the way back to put the saddle on so Richard said "Let's just put the reins on and ride them bareback." Of course Betsy didn't want to do it but he talked her into it. We were riding the horses back in, and we had to go through a little stream. The horse galloped over the stream and Betsy landed in it. Needless to say she didn't go horseback riding for another 10 years. Richard is always trouble.

The Treehouse

When Betsy was six and in first grade we had a great treehouse in our front yard. It had a couple of different levels with boards hammered into the tree trunk for a ladder. My brothers were fixing the ladder so some of the boards were missing. We still wanted to climb up so we just stacked a chair on top of another chair to climb up. The Pie Seller who was about 12 was coming by selling pies and he said, "I'll hold the chairs for you." He didn't do such a good job and the chairs fell and Betsy fell too. He didn't know what to do so he left. Betsy had to crawl into the house and mom wasn't home. Mom came home and said she had a broken ankle so she took her to the doctor and she had to get a cast for 6 weeks.

The Great Plate Smashing

The rule of the house is that you eat everything on your plate. We couldn't leave the table until we finished everything. My mom made some goofy meals - it was probably liver or cooked peaches or something else Betsy didn't like. Sometimes we would stuff it in our mouth and go spit it out in the bathroom. We had just gotten a new fancy brass garbage can in the living room. Betsy thought that would be the perfect place to put her plate so she put the whole plate in the garbage. It was a big fat heavy plastic plate. My mom found it and she was so mad that she smashed it on her head and the middle circle of the plate broke out. Betsy learned not to use the living room garbage.

Smile

Richard and Betsy used to get the giggles sometimes during prayers. This drove mom crazy. So she was getting mad because we were giggling and she told us to "Wipe that smile off your face." Richard took his hand and swiped it down his face to wipe the smile off and that just made them laugh more. They got sent to bed with no dinner.

Back Porch

When they were about 5, 7, and 8, Jimmy Richard and Betsy were playing in the little enclosed porch off the back door. We would keep newspapers and stuff out there. We had safety matches. In the olden days safety matches would only light on the box. We would take a match and run out back and try to light it on the floor of the porch. When it didn't work, we would run put the match back in the box and get another one and try again. All of sudden, one of them lit and caught fire on the newspaper. I'm not exactly sure what happened after that but Betsy ran to her cousin's house and didn't come back until the fire engine came. Richard and Jimmy kept telling my mom that Betsy was here too but she denied it. I don't think the truth really came out until a family reunion 30-40 years later.

The Fire Extinguisher

When Betsy was in high school dad had a Mercedes. One night she was out gallivanting with her friends and they would see people walking along the sidewalks and they would shoot them with the fire extinguishers (they just had water in them). They were having a great time soaking people until They came across some little punks who after they sprayed them they kicked the doors in on dad's car. We knew they were in trouble so Betsy went home and Richard tried to help her get the dents out with the toilet plunger.

The Flags

The Cemetary Flags

Our church used to be by the cemetery and quite often we would walk home after primary which was on Wednesday afternoon. We'd walk home five or six blocks. As we were walking home one day we saw all these flags on all these white graves so Richard and Betsy thought it would be great if we took all the flags and took them home and decorated our front yard. We thought we would be very patriotic. We probably collected 100 flags and we took them home. We had them all over the front yard even lining the sidewalks to the front door. We thought it would be really fun if we called the newspaper so they could take a picture of our patriotic yard. One of the older kids said that probably wasn't a good idea since we'd stolen all the flags. Someone mentioned that maybe we should take them back but since we didn't know whose graves they went with we just left them in our yard instead.

Sunday, November 23, 2014