My school life began when I was five; fall birthday and no kindergarten and of course I walked a mile each way to school and back...but that's another story. Sometime during WW II I and my school mates were drafted into the war effort. I can't pin down the exact year but it was '43, '44 or '45 meaning that I was in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade and Ruth Quail was our teacher.
We were excused from school after lunch and driven to a large dry slough on Helmer Quail's land...Helmer was Ruth's father. They lived about a mile and a half south of the school. There we were given burlap gunny sacks and set to picking milkweed pods. "Why milkweed pods?" you may ask. The milkweed seeds and the gossamer to which they were attached were used as filling for life vests used on navy ships.
I often think about that beautiful fall afternoon of picking milkweed pods when I drive by that slough. The slough is drained and farmed now. There are no more milkweeds growing there providing homes for Monarch Butterflies and life vests no longer use their seeds.
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