Class of '61 Reunion

 Here are some photos from the class reunion. 

Taken at Leo and Keri's place when I picked up the cobblers.

There were many attempts to get everyone in the group photo. Let's just say it didn't happen.😏

We sent up a white balloon for all of our classmates who have gone before us. There were 29.

Colleen's Column -Admission of crabby genes

 As I enjoyed Colleen's column this morning it brought me to the thought of my own genes. My maternal grandmother, Grandma Z, was a competent, steady as you go, take no foolishness kind of woman. And yet she was fun too. My father was adopted so there we have a "Nature or Nurture" situation. Grandma Brock, loved us openly and dearly until we were about 10 and then she was sure we were headed for hell. 😉 She may have been right. Both of my grandmas are remembered fondly, both of them had a harder life than I have had and both of them lost their mate too early in life.

As I have become closer to my Deja Vu friends I have come to realize I had much more freedom in my growing-up years than many of them were afforded. My mother was a young widow(31) and had a fair amount of trouble dealing with many of the issues that came her way. Add 4 children to that mix and you see what I mean. One of my cousin's assessments of my mother, her aunt, was that she was always willing to listen, no matter day or night and for hours on end. I have to agree. Her 3rd husband said he didn't know a person could sit in one place for 8 hours straight and talk. I had to laugh when he said it because I knew he was right! The housework could always wait. A good friend of hers, Joann Ott, told me that there may be dust under the bed but my mother could put a meal on the table with nothing apparently available. I am sure she learned that from her own mother. I don't like to but I seem to be able to do that too.

Enjoy Colleen's column and take your own walk down memory lane with your genes.

Admission of crabby genes

September 29, 2021

~a column by Colleen O’Brien

I found a photo of my paternal grandparents as a young couple lounging on the grass with friends at a  Fourth of July picnic, as it said on the back, no date. One of the young men wears a WWI uniform, the women wear snug, white, long-sleeved shirtwaists and calf-length black skirts. I figure the photo must have been taken between 1917 and 1920.

It opens a world of speculation about my grandparents. Grandpa lounges on one elbow in front of the group of four couples, a long, lean fellow with broad shoulders, a black cheroot hanging in his mouth, a cocky grin on his Irish face. I never knew him like this – a handsome, rakish fellow loving life. I knew him as a gentle, humorous fellow who smoked cigars, watched the fights on TV and let me crawl all over him taking his temperature, bandaging his fingers, giving him sugar pills from my doctor’s kit.

In this photo, he is irresistible, carefree and full to the brim with youth. I first became aware of him when I was a little girl of about 3; he was around 60 years old, had lost a child and a farm.

My grandma in the picture has her mouth open. I laughed because I remember her this way, talking, always telling someone what to do, berating Grandpa for dropping ashes on this shirt. She was a poet and a pistol as I grew up around her, Gramma having honed her crabby skills over the decades from when this picture was snapped. She too had lost a child and a farm.

She didn’t wear Grampa down, as I thought growing up; life got to both of them, and their reactions were characteristic of who they were.

Something about Grandma’s visage at the picnic so long ago nagged at me. “I think I look like her,” I said to myself, hoping I was wrong. But the longer I looked the more I believed I was the spitting image. I searched through a scrapbook until I came across the picture I was looking for that confirmed it. I’m 8 or 10 years old, standing before the camera holding the first and only fish I’ve ever caught in my life. My mouth is open, a slight frown creases my brow – I’m a miniature Grandma O’Brien.

Disconcerting, to say the least, to see these related females years apart yet connected by the particular genes that determine facial structure and expression. I hope I don’t have her temperamental genes because she was something of a crab. In the photo she was a young housewife, and she looks like she’s telling the photographer how to do his job.

I believe that one’s heritage has more to do with behavior than one’s environment. It is obvious that we have the build or hair color or upturned nose of our progenitors, so it must be that their innate personalities – the kindness or the meanness, the generosity or the stinginess – lurks somewhere in our souls.

As my children grew up, I felt increasingly that they were who they were when they came out of the womb. My training of them, or my brainwashing, was a surface ritual that is a veneer on their very individual selves. Of course, my rearing of them is also a family pattern with leftovers of my parents’ training, and of their parents.’ It is, therefore, a very intertwined process of genes and environment. These phantoms of past generations that appear in oneself and then in one’s child are as eerie as they are predictable.

Sometimes I see in myself what I call quirks that are the negatives of my mom or my dad, of my grandmas and grandpas. As I recognize them I quit doing them, but they come again. They are part of me. As I pile up mounds of letters, papers, poems and junk mail in my office, I am my Grandma O’Brien who was a collector and a saver. She was a rotten housekeeper, reading newspapers and letting them fall at her feet; cooking and baking and never cleaning up the kitchen; arranging cut flowers in vases all over the house and leaving them to wilt and rot.

When I see that I have done the same things, I am suddenly my mom, cleaning with a vengeance, making immaculate house out of chaos. This is the reaction to my other genes, my other grandmother who trained my mom. She was neat, clean and orderly, never crabby, very fun to be with.

With two such diverse gene pools, my life has been one minute one thing and one minute the other. At least it’s not dull.

I wish I’d known the two young people at the picnic 10 decades ago. But then, I do, don’t I? I am their blood and brains, and I act and react in ways they would recognize. I know I have a bit of the devil-may-care of Grampa’s youth, as well as the kindness and gentleness of his maturity. I might as well admit I have a tad of Grandma O’Brien’s shrewishness, shrewdness and sloppiness. What the hell, if you can’t admit the crabby genes, you can’t lay claim to the good ones. And had those two far-off souls at a picnic never laid side by side, I wouldn’t be here now with all their (my) faults and attributes.

Trivia-end of season

 

Last night we had our last trivia gathering for the season. One of the crew treated us to Pizza. We all enjoyed it very much. We will continue next Spring. I used questions from a couple of years ago and for the most part, they seemed new to the players. Being able to use them makes it easier on me. I do have a folder of questions I have labeled unused trivia questions. It is always good to have back-up.

Jar Opener

 Hey! I'm on a roll. Years ago when we lived at the lake I had one of these jar openers and we used it all the time. In fact, when we moved to Cumberland I remembered to take it with us. Unfortunately, I forgot it when we left there. It used to be Butch was the official jar opener in our house. But now his hands are quite arthritic and it makes it painful for him to even try so I have become the one to open jars and bottles. I can usually get it done. I have friends who also have arthritic hands so when I saw this I thought the kind thing to do was pass along the info.

About this item

THE EZ OFF JAR OPENER WILL OPEN TOUGH LIDS EFFORTLESSLY - EZ Off will grab hold of any lid whether it's factory sealed, childproof, tamper-proof or just stuck from what's inside the jar. A simple twist and The EZ Off Jar Opener will deliver

OPENS ALL JAR LID SIZES -- Try anything small like a bottle of water, nail polish, or a wide container of pickles, peanuts, canned fruits, jams, molasses, marshmallow creme, or maraschino cherries

INSTALLATION AND OPERATION ARE EASY -- It's easy to install the EZ Off with the pre-attached, peel-and-stick adhesive and the 3 included screws. It's ideal for children, the elderly, those with arthritis, carpal tunnel, those working in kitchens, and those with limited use of hands or amputees

YOU'LL NEVER KNOW IT'S THERE -- This jar opener hides neatly out of sight under a cabinet, cupboard, counter, or shelf, taking no valuable storage space

THE EZ OFF JAR OPENER IS MADE IN THE USA -- The EZ Off is made with premium materials by American workers here in the USA.

They have it on Amazon.

Food Tip

 I like red bell peppers. Actually, I like them better than green bell peppers. Of course, I do because they are way more expensive!  In Iowa, they are twice as much as the green ones and are rarely on sale. Also even if they are on sale it does not pay to stock up because they will go bad before you can eat them all. Now here is the good part!

I buy this product: 

Wallah! I have red peppers anytime I want! I will still buy the fresh ones. But most likely only in Texas.

Booster + Flu

 Butch and I went to our local HyVee pharmacy to see what it would take to get a flu shot and/or the Pfizer booster. We got both! And to top it off, each of us was gifted with a $10 gift card for the Pfizer booster and a total of 40 cents off on a fuel saver card for the Flu shot. The Pfizer one was an unexpected bonus. We had no idea they were doing that and since we planned to pick up a few grocery items we used them right away. It is very easy to go over $20 in a grocery store.

Back to the injections- neither of us had a reaction. The flu shot gave me an itchy spot for about 10 minutes and both injection sites felt warm. But that was all.

We thought about waiting till we got to Texas for the booster but there is a long way to get there and many people who are thumbing their nose at the danger all around them. We will now feel a bit safer on the trip down.

We are taking small steps towards taking off and plan to leave either the 15th or 16th. We will be moving into the motorhome next week to test our readiness.

Moles, Voles, Skunks, Ground Squirrels, or Gophers

 We were invaded but not sure by what. We did know that action was called for because there were new holes daily. So I looked to our in-house expert Mr. Google and found that the plan should not be to kill the little diggers but make our yard an undesirable place to spend the winter. Several methods were mentioned but I chose ammonia, basically because I had some on hand. I cut up strips of rags about 2" by 10 inches, poured ammonia into a disposable paper cup, dropped in my cloth strips taking them out with some tongs, and stuffed the dripping wet strips into every entry hole I could find and I found plenty! I tamped them in with a piece of re-rod. I then walked around the yard and stepped on every spot of mounded-up grass or soil I could find. It took more applications and running out of ammonia, I used peppermint oil the last time. At one point in the process, we noticed that the rags had been removed in 3 locations. That is when I used peppermint oil. It has now been over a week with no new humps or holes. We are feeling slightly relieved but will remain vigilant. Our neighbors on each side of us will not care one wit if they invade their yard. They are not the yard care people of the year or even the day!

Life is one adventure after another!

Ogden IA Homecoming Parade

 Our boy Devon Hiller is a senior this year and was chosen for the Homecoming court so we went to see the festivities. And wouldn't you know we have lacked rain all summer but yesterday there was just enough to be a nuisance.

Karla and Devon

Just Chillin'

 We are watching a movie now and then. Last night we watched The Two Popes and it was well worth it. Even made me tear up a couple of times. I happened upon a list of movies I had made a while ago that I thought worthy of looking into. One of them we discovered, we had already watched after we were into it a ways. 'The Marriage'. It wasn't memorable as a keeper. The next one on the list is 'Misha and the Wolves'. Hey! I put it on the list for some reason.

Today Butch did his daily walk on the golf course. He didn't hunt for golf balls as he usually does. He has accumulated bunches of golf balls. First I asked him why? He said it was like hunting for Easter eggs. Next, I asked what he planned to do with them. He said he didn't know but thought he might give them away. I asked him what percentage he thought were worthy of keeping and he said somewhere between 50-75%. He has always been good at entertaining himself. I am sure his mother would back me up on that.

Butch, Jason, and I hung the new light over the 8-foot pool table. We like it.

That's it for today...

Wind River

 Watched another good movie on Netflix last night. Wind River..a little hard to watch in places but it was a well done movie. Not a comedy!!!

North to South

 There is nothing like putting a nip in the air to have our minds switch directions. If you want to get technical we have been going to Texas for 33 years! Doesn't seem possible. The very first year was a vacation and could not have been for more than two weeks because that was about all we had for vacation in those days. And the month would have been February because the weather was balmy. After finding a place where we could have summer in the winter there was nothing holding us back.

Golfing was big for us in those years and we did plenty of it wherever we could. I dropped out of golf after 20 years of overload but Butch has carried on with it. He likes it best when his boys can join him. Rich was here yesterday and they played 18. I always did like it when all the boys went out to play.

So back to being southward bound. Our Motorhome has been gone through from stem to stern with lots of adjustments here and there. When things get some age just as people it is one patch after another. As much tender attention the Moho has had this summer, we feel we can trust it to be as ready as we are for the trip.

Our next step will be moving into the motorhome after the 4th or 5th of October. We have found through experience that living in it before we take off, cuts way down on items that get forgotten. We will live in it until we take off so I would guess a couple of weeks.

So until the next time!

Happy Day!

The doctor called to tell me that the normal reading of my blood indicates that the condition is not an emergency. She still thinks I should see a GI doc but if I can't do that in a timely manner in Iowa, I should get in touch with one in South Texas. I plan to do that. So there you have it. I am a happy woman.

I have lined up our itinerary for our trip south. I have made the reservations in the two places we will need them. I will put it in an email for those who may need or want it. I am a happy woman.

We had a good group of trivia players last night and a good time was had by all. The questions were not easy, however, laughter was abundant. I am a happy woman.

I have been diligently working on a slide show, 2 actually, for my Class of '61 reunion on October 1st and 2nd. These are pictures I have taken or gathered over the past reunions. It has been a long time since I have done a slide show so I had to work hard on the old tired brain cells to get it done. I have it completed. Updates on it should be fairly easy. So anyone from the class of '61 who would like to send me photos can still do so. Having this done makes me a VERY happy woman! And thanks Mickey for helping me test it.

Butch is at the golf course so I assume he is a very happy man!

Blood work???

 Had a blood test yesterday to see if my elevated numbers were still the same. Just saw the results. The good news is they are all completely normal. The other news is WHY? Will tell you what I know when I know it.

Tuesday...

 Tuesday is garbage day. The day we gather up our contributions to the landfill and place them at the curb for pick up tomorrow morning. I imagine that you can surmise I have a bit of a writing block since I have stooped to writing about garbage.

There is no news on the health issue. I have not had another attack. They came up with an appt. for me in Ames on November 9th. So I asked them just how serious is this thing. Didn't get an answer but they and I are now working on getting an earlier appt. Last I knew they were working on a referral to Des Moines Digestive Services. That was yesterday.

I have been working diligently on a slide show for my class reunion. I thought I had it done but then tried it on another computer and it would not work. So I found a workaround by using Google Slides App. It is a great app by the way as I was able to export the one I had done in Libre, another wonderful program, and it was nearly seamless. But still, I want a slide show that will work on anyone's computer with as little fiddling as possible. So now I have a slide show that works on my HP computer and one that works on my Chromebook. As soon as I do a bit more investigating I will be looking for a volunteer to test them for me. Butch is not a candidate. 

Speaking of Butch he has been keeping up with his yard work. It has been cut in half since he sold the extra lot. He has been getting his walks in by golfing and playing pool. We are adjusting to the larger table. Sometimes it is good and sometimes it is not. I think that is true for any sport, however.😏

Last Fall and this one

 Last Fall we were kept from heading South at the time we usually do because of the derecho and the damage to our motorhome. Last year, a few days before we left we received an "incentive" to stop at the Winstar Casino in Thackerville OK. It included a $25 free meal, $50 free play, and a free stay at the hotel. We each received one of these fine deals! Of course, we didn't use the free room but we took full advantage of the other two. So our stop there paid us instead of them!

This season we were lamenting the fact that we were leaving earlier than last and most likely before the voucher would reach us. Surprise! They came in the mail a few days ago and they are good for the month of October. This is a stop on our usual route and we will be stopping there again.

The weather has been top-notch lately and we are enjoying it too. It is the in-between kind, not requiring air conditioning or heat. We do need more rain. My rain barrel is mostly full so the plants will not suffer much as long as I remember they need a drink on a regular basis as we all do!

I didn't expect much of an adjustment to an 8-foot pool table from a 7 foot one but it is a bit more than anticipated. I am handling it though and so far so good. Nearly every day at 4:00 pm we will be in the pool hall. 

Another subject; I have been having abdominal pain episodes. It comes and goes and this has happened perhaps 3 or 4 times since January. The last one was a humdinger and pushed me to seek medical advice. A blood test revealed an abnormality so a CT scan followed yesterday and that showed an enlarged bile duct. So now the ball is rolling for more tests to verify the results and see just how urgent the action should be. I hesitated to add this last paragraph. Talking about my own health issues is one area I am not overly comfortable with sharing. I will try for very short updates. Shouldn't be too hard as I do try to be brief generally speaking.

"An Unfinished Life"

 Butch and I watched this movie on NetFlix tonight and we really enjoyed it.

"An Unfinished Life"

Put the pool table together

 Yesterday Butch and I got the BIG BOY pool table ready for play. It looks very good and plays well too.

Chaos in the Pool Hall

 The Pool Table has been purchased and transported to its new location. Butch has made sure it was situated properly and leveled to the nth degree. His many years of helping with the recovering of the tables in Magnolia Park have come to serve him well.

The next step will be waxing the seams followed by installing the felt, getting the rails back on and we will then be ready to play. By the end of this week, it should be ready.

The room will be a bit less roomy and I am thinking we can make it all work. 

Trivia Night in the Pool Hall

 

Dee, Sharon, Jan and Sue-The girls

Butch, Larry, Denny and Jack-The guys

Stuff continued

 A week or so ago Amanda asked me for handwritten recipes from my mother. I went through my recipes and sent her a few and then yesterday I happened onto Mom's recipe boxes and I spent far too much time taking a walk down memory lane. I picked a few to send to Amanda. The craft project she is starting has to do with handwritten recipes and I assume white dishcloths. I am anxious to see the result.

In my perusing, I found this article from a newspaper. I am guessing it is the Fort Dodge IA paper. It may be a bit hard to read. (Later) I decided it was too difficult to read so I took what I thought might be a better picture of it and when I started to enhance it Google asked me if I wanted to "Copy Text?" and even though I was dumbfounded I said yes!

So here is the text of the article above! Thanks, Google!

Rhubarb, a versatile plant food

Rhubarb, a plentiful plant this time of year, can be canned or frozen. Freezing rhubarb is easy-no blanching or adding sugar. Just trim the stalks, wash, cut to fit the container, and freeze. What could be easier for winter pies and cobblers, says Martha Jacobson, Webster County extension home economist.

Ben Vance, the extension specialist at Iowa State University, says to keep those rhubarb plants healthy; pull the stalks-don't cut them. When stalks are cut, the base often rots causing decline or death of the plant. For a better rhubarb crop, grasp the base of the stalk and pull, don't cut.

A Hamilton County homemaker shares this rhubarb cake recipe with you: 

RHUBARB CAKE

(or cupcakes)

Beat together: 1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/2 cup shortening

1egg 

Add:

1 cup buttermilk (or 1-2 tablespoons vinegar with sweet milk to fill cup let stand 5 minutes)

1  tsp. soda 

2 cups flour

1 tsp. vanilla

 1½ cups rhubarb (cut fine) 

Pour ingredients into a 9½ x 13-inch cake pan or 24-26 cupcake fillers. Before baking, sprinkle with: ½ cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes; cupcakes at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

RHUBARB JAM 

Mix together 3 cups of rhubarb and 1 heaping cup of sugar. Cook until rhubarb is done. Add 1 small package of strawberry raspberry or gelatine. Mix well and pour in small glass or jars.

And then... chit chat

The weather has quickly changed to be on the cool side. What is wrong with MEDIUM, Mother Nature? I know you are ticked off at what we have been doing with your favorite planet. I will try to do my part to make it better. Still, we are grateful we are not dealing with the messes they have in other places.

The situation does turn our thoughts southward but it is still more than a month before take-off.

Stuff's been a-happening...

 We bought an 8-foot pool table from friend and classmate Jan Durlam Mitchell. Butch and I spent part of a day getting it disassembled as much as we could before calling in the strong arms of Jason and Zach who will be helping us shortly to bring the rest of it home. Then we will be doing the reassembly. Not nearly as scary this time as last.

We sold our extra lot that Butch bought to keep the alley open. The irony is we sold it to the guy who was plugging it up! For more than we paid for it AND he has promised to keep the alley open. Butch made friends with him and we think he will abide. We received the check today. Bottom line: Butch can get out with the motorhome if it is blocked, it is just more work.

We took the demo hearing aids back today and decided not to use them. Butch did not like them nearly as much as he does the ones he has had for the past 6 years. And when he replaces will probably go with the same brand he has had.

Continued tomorrow.

Trivia Replay

 

So,we are back to trivia. In the pool hall on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 pm. I am taking it easy on myself by using questions I have put together in the past. It has been close to two years since we have done any trivia. I am finding that it is still being enjoyed by most of us. Last night it fell into place that it was the guys against the girls. And I was feeling sorry for the guys because they were way behind in points and it looked for sure that they were going to lose. But then the 4th round is double down round and the guys came roaring back to win by answering the last two questions correctly. A Big surprise to us all.

Come join the fun on Tuesday night in the pool hall. Teams are put together by drawing numbers, odds and evens. So far we have had two teams.

Read Where's Eldo

 If you are reading this on your computer look to the left and see where it says "Links". The top one is a blog titled "Where's Eldo". Sparky is a friend of mine I met in Michigan for 15 minutes and we have stayed in touch, so to speak, ever since. All RVers should read her latest entry.

The RV industry is not what it used to be. If there is a well-built RV anywhere, I would be very surprised. Unfortunately, what Eldo discovered is not at all uncommon. They are shelling out new RV's as fast as they can. This has been true for a few years now. Look at RV lots that have them for sale and you will find they are 'short of product'. You might see ones that look well stocked but if you asked the dealer many of them might be waiting for a part! A part that is unattainable.

Not a good time to buy a NEW RV.

Yup!

 “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of the intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the beauty in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that one life has breathed easier because you lived here. This is to have succeeded.” ―Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sherri was telling me

 ...about her drive up from Atlantic. She said this big truck came up behind her and she wanted it to pass her but it didn't, so finally she slowed way up so they would pass her and finally they did, and as they went around her they waved and flashed their lights. She was puzzled by that and then in the telling of it, she said they had Texas plates. I said, OOOOH, they were thanking you! In Texas, they have Texas pullovers and if you are going slow or slower than the folks behind you expect, they want you to get over ASAP and let them by. It is considered a courtesy. 

This is something many Iowans might not know about.

And Then...

 Yes, it has been one of those weeks. Busy as can be but having fun throughout. Sunday morning Keri and I finally got a walk in, and that felt very good and we had lots to catch up on. I came home to Jason being here and then shortly my friend from Atlantic, Sherri Clark, arrived as well. We had an exceedingly fun day talking, playing pool and more talking. The guys went to play golf in there too. Sherri's husband Randy passed away a year ago( not Covid) and with that and the pandemic we had not been able to spend much time together. She just might come to Texas and spend some time with us this winter. I certainly hope so. We miss them both.