Grew up in south central kansas, but moved to Liberal in 1961, graduated highschool there, married there. Wife is from New England area. The sand and dirt still blow back and forth between Kansas and Oklahoma just a mile and one half to the south. Moved away about 49years ago, but it is still the same. Hot and dry in the summer, colder than bejzus in the winter.

Just found this site and really like it. We passed thru Liberal Kansas several years ago. It is wide open land and flat. When we came through it was incredibly windy. I understand how that wind and the drought of those years could have created the storms that built that hill.

Liberal is way out in southwest Kansas, near the Oklahoma border. 1935 was the worst year for the Dust Bowl, and southwest Kansas and the Texas and Oklahome panhandles were the center of it. This boy and his dog are probably sitting on the previous year's accumulaton. I remember my grandfather, who farmed in Kansas throughout the 1930s (though further east from the worst area) saying, "You have no idea how bad it was."

Visible on one of the boards in the lower right is "Engebretson-Grupe Co." which is a wholesale produce company in Nogales, Arizona, still in business as of 2001, at least.

From the USDA: WASHINGTON, July 15, 2003 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has filed an administrative action against Engebretson Grupe Co. Inc., operating in Nogales, Ariz. The action alleges that the company committed repeated and flagrant violations of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act.

In the action, it is alleged that the company failed to pay 22 sellers $276,178.41 for perishable agricultural commodities purchased in interstate and foreign commerce during the period of January through July 2001. Engebretson Grupe Co. Inc., filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on Nov. 7, 2001, and the case was converted to a Chapter 7 on Jan. 3, 2002.

Learned a new word today. Moribund will be used by me today to describe how some of my retirement days look.

It is ironic that what he might consider to be work clothes, one would pay big money for today at their local JCrew!

Even without the "soil dunes," it's easy to tell that this farm is moribund. Were it not, there would be far too many chores for this strapping youth to be idling about with his pup.