"Keep It Between the Ditches"

The blizzard has begun here at Red Oak House. On days like today, if indeed we were going to drive (much less leave the farmhouse) my Slope County Grandpa Andy (and my Mother, his daughter) would say, "Keep it between the ditches!" My Mother said this until her last days to her children when she was worried about us traveling. She said it with a smile on her face and with a tone that let us know that she also worried about and loved her children until her last breath.