Saturday, September 15, 2012

The cookbooks we have been working on so long are finally here. Let me know if you want some. They will make awesome Christmas gifts for $15 a piece. Hint- James Johnson would surely like one!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Long day working election


Tuesday was a long day. We had to be at the City Hall in Lowden at 6:00 a.m. to set up for the primary election. There were 7 of us--it didn't take long to set up as we all did our separate jobs and things were ready by 6:45. It was the rest of the day that took so long. We only had 76 voters in the 14 hours we were there. Too many people to play cards. At 9:00 when we closed we found out the modem wouldn't work and I wound up taking our equipment to Clarence where a gal from the Auditor's office was there to take everything to Tipton.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

I'm back

I've been trying to figure out how to post on my blog as blogger was no longer supported by my computer (or whatever it said and whatever it means). I'll try this to see if it works. Finally a morning without gale force winds. The guys are going to spray some corn today. Larry wants to get it done as Ellen is ready to go to see Caleb and Larry wants the corn sprayed first! When we put the flags up at the cemetery the wind was blowing hard. We have new flags and new poles as they all were ruined last year in the storm over Memorial Day. The new poles are a foot longer and much heavier than the ones we had and it took 3 guys to set the pole after the flag was on it--with the flag blowing out and the heavy poles it was hard work! But fun and the cemetery was just beautiful. We take them down tonight and hopefully we have lots of help as it takes much longer to take them down than to put them up. We took mother to Evelyn Ibsen's 90th birthday party Sunday. Talked to Harry Meyer and she saw a lot of people she hadn't seen for awhile. She sure enjoys being able to get around by herself without that dreaded alarm! Yesterday we had a wonderful Memorial Day service at the Legion. Larry, Ellen, Caitlin and Isaiah were there. Bryon Schroeder was our featured speaker (Donna & Bob Schroeder's third son). He was back a month from Afghanistan with the Iowa Air Guard. His unit is the one that will be losing its planes so he doesn't know his future in the guard. He gave a wonderful speech that he had written himself. Taps were beautiful and always make me cry. The Legion auxiliary served lunch afterwards and there was free keg beer! Why don't the paragraphs show? Help is needed!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Spring dinner

Our church's spring dinner was held Sunday to a good crowd, not a really good crowd, but the committee was satisfied, I guess. I helped in the carry out section. This year we served ham, cheesy potatoes, steamed frozen green beans and corn, five salads: cole slaw, an orange whipped salad, a cherry Cool Whip salad, Jell-O salad and a pasta salad, rolls and choice of dessert. Ten people called to have their dinner delivered in Lowden; which is a good thing for the elderly who don't want to miss out, yet can't come to the church. Yesterday Bill had a dr. appt. in Iowa City at the VA so we HAD to go to Riverside after that. After loosing my $10 we then drove to Kalona to stop at the cheese factory and then Springtown Grocery. I got a lucious chocolate angel food cake, YUM! I know it is homemade with fresh eggs and it is so tender and GOOD. I also bought a jar of bread and butter pickles that I know Larry will like. Last Friday night was the Legion fish fry where I wound up helping with carry-outs. We sell quite a few carry-outs and that was one of the easiest jobs I've had while helping with the fish fry. It was well attended. The next and last for this year fish fry will benefit the Honor Flight. The guys didn't get in the field this week because of the rain. Maybe this coming week.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Turkey

Easter Sunday morning 6:30. I didn't go to Easter sunrise service, I sort of wanted to, but it meant an extra trip to town and getting up really early so--

At 6:30 I was getting ready to eat breakfast when I saw this BIG turkey on the lawn strutting himself--his tail fanned out, his waddle touching the ground, wings dragging on the ground as he strutted around. Beside him I saw 5 hens (Bill said there were 8 altogether, I only saw 6). They were right here on the lawn on the south and west side of the house. They are huge birds. The big tom proceded to walk around the house over to the garage on the east side and then back up to the south. We see turkeys a lot, but I have never seen the tail fanned out like yesterday.

And you all know how I like birds!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Field work

Field work started officially today with Larry and Ben doing some field cultivating at Thelma's. Bill is off working for Liqui-Grow hauling fertilizer. I spent part of the morning at Mother's house while the electrican came and put in GFI's, a new light fixture in the bathroom and fixed the upstairs bedroom light switch.

Sherrie and I took mother to Davenport yesterday to see about a new brace for her leg. The technician (I guess I'll call him for want of a different title) said she didn't need a new brace and just tweaked the one she had a little bit. We ate lunch and took her to a recommended shoe store for a new pair of shoes. She found a pair she liked and they are bone not white, and although she thought they were very expensive she really liked them and thought they felt good.

The first race of the season for Ben was Sunday night at Vinton. He has a few bugs to work out yet; and is talking about going to Maquoketa Saturday night.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Bats in the belfry

You've all heard of bats in the belfry, how about bats in the church basement during choir practice? Happened last night. The bat was huge, looked like a bird! One of the men noticed the bat flying around first and had us women putting our books on top of our heads. The basses finally got it into the kitchen and caught it in a dish that had a lid and then brought it out to show us. He was BIG! They let him go outside. Ask Sandra Horman about bats--she was cowered in a corner with the song book over her head. We were told that bats can't fly if they are on the ground;(especially if I step on him, Joy said); that they need lift under their wings to fly. True?

It was interesting in that Pastor Steve had said on Sunday we should think of humerous things that happened in our church life -- now all the choir members have a great memory.

I got the lawned mowed Sunday afternoon. I don't remember ever having to mow lawn in March, but it surely needed it. Yesterday seemed cold, after the 70 & 80's we've had!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

cookbook

A lot of my time lately has been taken up with typing recipes for our new cookbook. We have over 500 so far and I just got a phone call this morning saying she would mail me her recipes so I know more are coming. I type, Marilyn proof reads and then I retype! We have a meeting next week so we will know then how many Vicki and Julie have typed. Should be a wonderful cookbook according to the recipes I have received.

The rest of my time, it seems, is taken up with doing stuff for mother. I took her some summer clothes yesterday; I called her lawn mower person from last year and told him he won't need to mow this year. Sherrie & Milan are going to do her yard. I am glad she feels comfortable in the nursing home and seems to be doing well.

Racing season begins in two weeks. Ben has been getting things ready, and hopefully he has a safe and fun season.

I have been sweeping up gnats. Those little things are between all the windows. The other night I was knitting by the open windows in the back room and was nearly inundated with them. YUK! Anyone else have this problem?

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Hanging clothes out to dry

This week I've been hanging my wash out on the line to dry. How wonderful is that? The bedding was hung out Tuesday, yesterday I washed extra blankets and hung them out, today I've got one load of Bill's clothes out and when the towels get out of the washer they will go out too. I am heading to the nursing home this morning, Pastor Steve is doing the church service at 10:00 and I need to talk to the administrator there. After that I want to get some groceries and then come home and type recipes.

We had our joint Lenten service at our church last night. Our Circle served the meal: lasagna, lettuce/dressing, garlic bread and bars. Julie, McKayla and I waitressed and we were very busy. As I told Vicki as we were sitting in the choir loft before church started; when you look out at the congregation--90% have grey hair, does that tell you that only the older folks care about attending Lenten services?

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Is it summer yet?

Or did it just feel like it yesterday? If it hadn't been for the wind it would have been hot! When I went to the nursing home they had the windows open in the big room where the dancers from Cal-Wheat were performing. One resident was going outside to sit on the patio and enjoy the weather. The one down-side: until the road dries up it is muddy and my car must weight 100 lbs. more with all the dirt. Doesn't pay to wash it, one mile down the road and it is muddy again.

Choir went with Pastor Steve to the nursing home in Clarence Sunday to sing our anthem during his worship service there. The residents sure enjoyed the service. They sang 3 hymns and Pastor Steve gave a nice service. I stayed and talked to LaVonne Chapman, Louise Hasenbank, June Rowser, Mary Ann Fehling, Lester Rix and others. Came home to visit with Caleb who planned to go back to NC on Monday, but due to plane misfunction; left yesterday instead. Good to see him again.

Congrats to Noelle! Next she will be running all over the place!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Snow in the forecast

Cheryl comes to Iowa today and will probably be greeted by snow. There was snow on the ground the last 2 mornings when I got up; but in a couple of hours it was completely gone. This time they are predicting more, that is how we welcome Californians to Iowa!

We had Circle Monday night and made and baked small cherry pies for our shut-ins and nursing home residents. Marlene W. and I headed to the Clarence Nursing Home to deliver 2 pies; and then to Wheatland for the next 4. We have one parishioner in the assisted living part and the other 3 in the nursing home. Mother's room mate, who also belongs to our church, didn't want her pie so I took it over to Uncle Elmer. That made his day. He just couldn't wait to find a fork! As usual, we had a lot of fun making pie dough (well, I sort of watched) and putting together lattice tops and baking the pies. The people in charge of refreshments made cherry pie for us to eat too! Those not making pies make labels that we put on the plastic bags that the pies go in. It is a fun night. Our next project will be serving a meal before our Lenten service in March. I get to make chicken lasagna; we also serve beef lasagna and salad and garlic bread.

Tomorrow night is our Legion fish fry again. Always a busy night. Ben and Sue are bringing Cheryl so she gets a taste of what real food tastes like!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The sun is shining

What a pretty morning it is. I am so used to not having the sun shine, it looks wonderful today. Sherrie and I will meet at Wheatland to have our first staff meeting at the nursing home. Hopefully, we will find some answers, and the staff will probably too. Last night mother took a trip by ambulance to the DeWitt Hospital, but was back in the nursing home within a couple hours. She has had a stroke, but it has affected only her right leg/foot. Sherrie noticed it on Sunday because mother was lifting her right leg high; mother said her foot felt "heavy". She was able to answer questions, the rest of her is fine too.

We had supper at Schneid's last night for Valentine's Day. Ron and Kathy joined us at our table and by the time we left the place was filling up and was getting noisy!

School was fun Monday with lots to do. The kids were excited about Valentine's Day and the teachers, well, let's just say the kids have more fun than the teachers! I listened to stories, the 4th graders can pick which book they want to read to the volunteers and I love listening to their good books. Only wish I could hear the whole book instead of a few pages. The 1st grade all read the same story and the volunteers mark on a page how well they did. The 2nd graders do "rocket math" which is a timed test that we get to check. Usually the same for 3rd grade but Monday I got to count out 10 Valentine candy hearts, 3 chocolate animal cookies and 3 vanilla animal cookies to put in a bag for each of them for their Valentine treat. In kindergarten a few read to me; one girl named Gabby is well named!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Recipes please

Today we went with Rick and Deb to Riverside for the morning. We get there early enough that there aren't many people there. We came back to Iowa City for lunch and some shopping. I have decided that we have to enjoy every day as much as we can because life can be too short.

The Legion beef supper went over well Saturday night serving over 500 people. We are still eating some of the left-over beef we bought afterwards. It is really good, but I think I will need to make something else for tomorrow night. We are taking Grandma to see her surgeon tomorrow morning; hopefully they will take out the staples and her drain tube. I wonder how the cold weather will affect her as she hasn't been outside since we took her to the nursing home. And hopefully we can find the dr.'s office without too much trouble!

We are working on our cookbook for church, getting the recipes we have typed up etc. Still need more recipes--Shirlee, Lynne! I know you have some, just email them to me.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

fog--again

Schools in this area have been delayed 2 hours because of the dense fog. I don't have to go anywhere until later so I am glad I don't have to drive in this stuff.

My computer crashed and I have to get a new tower. My desktop computer was old (by computer standards) so I am learning to do stuff on the laptop that I usually use my desktop for. Luckily I had saved the important stuff, Brooke says she can transfer a lot from the old to the new. I don't have a few email addresses and other sites I normally use.

I have visited mother in the Nursing Home quite a few times; and am going today. She was complaining about her clothes (I brought all the wrong ones) and the food (they just feed her leftovers). I figure if she feels well enough to complain she is feeling pretty good. She has a nice room and the people working there are very helpful. Hopefully she is working on getting strong enough to come home.

We have been to the funeral home twice in the last 2 weeks; the latest for 60 year old Pat Boedeker who had been sick for a few years with cancer. She is now at rest and the family too. Prayers are needed for our superintendents wife who is battling stage 4 brain cancer and starts her treatments today.

I had a little time yesterday to make 2 quilt squares from the bright and pretty fabric Chelsey gave me for Christmas. If I ever get it done, I'll post a picture.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Much ado

Much to do and much ado this past week. Getting a phone call at 11:00 at night is never a good thing. Sitting in the ER and surgery waiting room isn't either. But things get better and Mother is doing very well recuperating. Thanks to Shirlee for her trips to Cedar Rapids and to Sherrie who is trying to remodel her kitchen, work and take care of Mother! I went to the house yesterday and cleaned out the fridge, paid a bill, turned down the thermostat and unplugged everything that didn't need to be plugged in.

Today is visitation for Lillian Brendes who at 100 fell and broke her leg and then had a massive stroke. One of mother's best friends, her funeral is tomorrow. I am having my cookbook meeting at the library this morning--the one I was going to host last Thursday. Choir practice is tonight also.

I guess from the looks of things, we won't be going to a wedding in DC. Vanessa has decided to call it off. It will be very hard to be a Marine's wife, I think and they have to do what is best for the both of them.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Not a good week so far

The week started with Sherrie's phone call about Jason's accident. Jason was a very lucky man and I sure wish people will move over when they see an officer or DOT worker parked on the side of the road.

Mother had a dr. appt. Monday but Nancy said she could not find anything wrong with her. Mother's biggest complaint was she had no pep. Nancy asked her if being 91 had anything to do with that! Her urinary infection was cleared up; they did take some blood but I haven't heard the results of any of those tests.

Yesterday I was supposed to serve the Committee on Ministry at church but because of the weather the meeting was cancelled. Now I have lots of chili in the freezer and ham and cheese to make oven baked hot ham and cheese sandwiches. I also made a spread to put on the sandwich; butter, horseradish mustard, onion,dill weed and poppy seed. Puts a little more taste in what is a bland sandwich. I got my hair cut yesterday afternoon and stopped to give Pastor Steve tickets for the beef supper and ask him to stop and see Mother. He had already given her a call when I called her later in the afternoon.

I just talked to Mother and she said she felt better than she did yesterday but still doesn't have any pep! She probably worked harder this morning already than I will all day! She sounded fine but was worried about her friend Lillian (100 years old) who fell yesterday and broke her leg. Poor Lillian, it is going to be hard for her to heal, I would think.

Monday night we had Evening Circle meeting with a fun night. Played an interesting game--we had to pop a balloon that had a note inside. The note gave you a question to answer or something to do. Julie had to do the "hokey-pokey"; I had to name the Sunday School teachers. One was name 3 women in the Old Testament and other religious questions. Fun trying to pop the balloon. An idea for a kids party too.

Having cook book committee meeting here tomorrow. Hopefully the rest of the week is better than the first few days!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

BB game

We went to our first North Cedar basketball game last night. North Cedar played Tipton and both NC varsity girls and boys won easily. We specifically went to this game to see Ron Elijah's ex-wife's son, Alex, (who lives with Ron) play for Tipton. As a sophomore he was on the starting varsity team (he also quarterbacks the football team for Tipton). They need some leadership and maybe by the time he is a senior he can be a leader and they will win some games. We enjoyed the game and except for the 4 year old sitting beside us who was taken here and there by his mother numerous times it was a fun night. Much better than staying home and watching the Hawkeye's lose.

We are planning our first cookbook committee meeting next Thursday at my house. I would appreicate it if those of you who read this would send me a couple of recipes to publish in the book. The more recipes the better! We plan on having this book ready by October so it can be used as Christmas gifts.

Spent yesterday at the library after taking mother to her chiro appointment. Her neck is hurting her again. I don't believe the chiro was of much help. Vicki and I went to Schneid's for lunch and then took a walk around town before coming back to the library to proof read what I had typed.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

bigfoot tracks

On my walk this afternoon I followed Bigfoot tracks up the road to the south and to the north. I know this is Bigfoot but Grandpa is trying to convince me they are horse print tracks. More fun for the tracks to be Bigfoot, don't you think?

Took on another volunteer job; this one typing the complete Clarence Centennial Book; it was published in 1959. It will be on the Iagenweb site when I get it finished. There is a lot of narrative which is fun to type; the not so much fun is a chart of advertisors and one of photographs. I have learned a lot about the history of Clarence. I am still typing obituaries on the site also and am finding out who is related to who, some of which have surprised me. This is in between trying to find time to make some quilt squares, I received a bunch of pretty fat quarters for Christmas so I need to make some time to work with them. While volunteering at the library I am typing up a list of marriages that have been written in a note book by some ambitious person starting in 1903. I have gotten as far as 1925. That will also be on the web site--someday!