When we lived in Beaver City during the time I was in grade school, there was not any television available there. Going to all the high school sporting events, the town team baseball games, and the movies at Beaver City or surrounding towns provided entertainment.

The football field did not have any grandstand for the fans to sit in. Cars could be driven up pretty close to the sidelines and you could sit in the car and see at least some of the game. Most people walked up and down the sidelines along with the play of the game. Sandburrs were a hazard to players as sticky plants were all over the football field.

Basket ball games were very noisy in the little gyms except when a free throw was being shot. In those days it was a technical foul against the crowd to yell when a free throw was being attempted.

The town team baseball games were originally played on Sunday afternoons. Later on all the towns around got lights for their fields so the games could be played at night. One year they got really fancy and let each team hire three or four players. Semi-pro they called it. Most teams hired college kids and covered up the pay by giving them jobs.

At the baseball games when a foul ball was hit, whoever turned it back in got a dime. So us kids would pick out a good spot to watch the game where we could run after the foul balls hit over the stands. There were always one or two grownups that were in charge of this activity and if nobody came up with the ball, they would search us all to keep us from keeping the ball. The trick was to try to hide the ball when you found it and come back the next day to get it. This didn't happen very often as there were so many kids chasing the balls that it was usually almost a fight to get the ball.

Because there was no TV, we read, drew pictures, and played card games in the evenings after any homework was done. We listened to radio shows, which let you develop your imagination about what things looked like.

Winter Sundays were spent visiting relatives, with picnics with the relatives in the summer time. I used to like to go and visit Uncle Sig's in Wilsonville because they got the Lincoln paper that had different funnies than the Omaha paper that we got. Uncle Sig was my Grandfather William S. Fleming's brother. He had a big "Walrus" style mustache that was white except on the bottom where it was discolored from his chewing tobacco.