Sorting Stuff

Cold weather has some pluses. It has kept us close to home and sorting through some of the stuff that we need to "clean out". We have kept many things over the years with the idea that we would enjoy reading and looking at them when we got "old". However, no one wants to admit to  being at that point so they continued to accumulate. Some of the stuff was kept with the idea that "someday" I would write a story about the event or incident and would need the basic information. And, we have done a pretty good job on a few items. But,  I'm to the point now that I am willing to accept the fact that a lot of those stories are not going to get written. An example is files from 12 years on the Seward City Council. I have been off the Council for a year now and still have many files. Yet nothing that isn't already a part of the Official City Records, so after thinking about it for a year, I'm ready to see it go. Now things like this picture will have much longer lasting value. It was taken some 25 years ago and "documents" how we looked at one point in time. I believe Mother had just come from the Beauty Shop and Julie and Heather were just little kids. 

Our 1968 Volkswagen Beetle

We bought this 1968 VW in the fall of '67. It was the perfect car for us at the time. Verlon, our oldest had taken driver training but we didn't feel very comfortable with him driving our '65 Chevy station wagon. It was the car that all 4 of our kids learned to drive after having driver training in HS. It was a most convenient vehicle to have back in the Washington, D.C. area. Elaine and I even drove it  to work down in the South Building of Agriculture. Our youngest son, Jon took it with him for his summer job as an SCS Soil Scientist Student Trainee while he was at Virginia Tech and through his Senior year. We had it repainted and gave it to him as a wedding present when he graduated and got married in June of 1977. By 1984, Jon and Mary had other vehicles and no longer needed the VW. We had a Motor Home and felt it would  work well to tow.  We drove our '82 Chevy Pickup back to Franklin, NC, and towed the VW home. We had considerable restoration work done on it including a new paint job to the original red color by Keller Bros. here in Seward. We towed it along on many trips behind the Motor Home but after selling it, we decided in the spring of 1999 to also sell the VW. We placed the following Ad in the Lincoln and Omaha newspapers.  "FOR SALE: 1968 Red Volkswagen Beetle. Restored to near original condition; new tires, battery, carburetor, clutch, brakes, starter, shoulder-seat belts, etc. Speedometer shows154,000 miles, 15,000 of which were registered while towed behind a motor home, engine rebuilt at 108,000. Must be seen to appreciate. Best offer over $3,500."

We sold it within a few days to a couple from Columbus, NE. They were very happy to be able to get it and in sending some things they found in the car, wrote: "Thanks for selling us your 'Baby', we'll take good care of it."

Conservation

We watch many nature programs on TV and find them very educational and enjoyable. This Prairie Chicken is an example of how the presence of certain species indicates the condition of the habitat. If they are plentiful in range grasslands it indicates the grass is near a climax condition. During my 32 years with the Soil Conservation Service, I had the opportunity to work with many knowledgeable people under "field" situations. Our son began working for SCS a few years before I retired and continues to work with the Agency even though it went through a name change a few years ago. I can't think of a better career for any young person who has an interest in Nature than working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in USDA. 

Tastee In-Out

This was it--The last day for Tastee in-out. They had planned for tomorrow being their last day but with the rush of customers, they ran short of food. Tastee has a long history in Lincoln and many happy memories with Lincoln families, including ours. I believe we became customers while we still lived here in Seward. Then when we moved to Lincoln in 1958, it was on the way from where we lived to down town. With 4 kids and a very limited income, it was our favorite place to go and get Tastee Sandwiches. During the years that we lived in the Washington, D. C. area it was always a "must stop" when we came back to visit each summer. While we didn't patronize the place very often after we moved back to Seward, It wasn't unusual for the boy's to want to go there when they were back to visit. I know very little about the ownership and management of the place but it is most unusual that a business of any kind can exist for that length of time without changing. The people involved certainly deserve the community's commendation for the service they provided to family's in Lincoln with many years of Tastee food.

Sadie, etc.

Sadie came to visit this morning. She is eating Rice Krispies. We are amazed at how well she handles a spoon. We hadn't seen her for a couple days and she seems to be more "mature" every day. She understands what we say to her and is increasing her ability to say words. Her vocabulary is up to about 8-9 that she says without any question. Then she has her own sounds to express many other things. We think she is pretty special  but aren't all Great Grandchildren. 

Sadie not only brightened our day but the weather also warmed up and melted most of the snow we got a couple days ago. We got out to do some shopping, etc. 

I also started typing up 2013 highlights on our HP PC when the screen went black. After trying several things to bring it back, I finally unplugged it and when plugged back in, it came to life. It was bought back in '07 so I wonder if it's telling me something. The screen has seemed to need to "warm up" for the past few months but I can live with that as long as it brightens up after a few minutes. Maybe it's time to download onto the auxiliary memory that Jon helped me install a few months ago and prepare for what may be inevitable. 

Furnace Maintenance

This was not a good day at our house. It has a gas, hot water heating system that was installed when the house was built 44 years ago. We have owned it for 31 of those years and have had a minimum amount of furnace maintenance. However, it had been a few years since the furnace had been cleaned so we contacted the Black Hills Energy people to do the job. We had delayed having it cleaned since BH's office is in York. Prior to their taking over from the Northern Natural Gas Company with an office here in Seward, we had always received excellent service and personally knew the fellows who did the maintenance. The BH fellows cleaned the furnace in late October and while it may just be a coincidence, it hasn't heated the basement properly since. One of the fellows got here early afternoon but was not familiar with a boiler system. The second fellow came about an hour later and the two of them "bled" the radiators to hopefully eliminate any "air lock". While it appears to have helped the situation, they nor we are very confident that the problem has been solved. We did sign a service contract with BH at the time we had the furnace cleaned and they didn't know if this "service" would apply since it was beyond the furnace. While York isn't very far away, I'm convinced that one of our old local guys could have fixed the problem in half the time these two fellows put in. 

Happy New Year

It's always a thrill to see the pictures of Times Square on New Year's eve after being back there in the fall of '09 when Carolyn and I went back to visit Julie and see baseball games. We walked down these very sidewalks. As much as we enjoyed it then, I'm equally pleased that we weren't there last night when this picture was taken. During the years we were back in the DC area, New Year's eve parties were very important. Even after coming back to Nebraska we generally "saw the New Year in".  For the past several years we have been content to watch the ball drop in Times Square at 11:00pm our time, and go to bed. We have now reached a new level of celebrating the event. We were up early yesterday morning, had a demanding day, and didn't think we could make it to do our regular ball drop at 11:00. I mixed up a couple Pina Colada's about 9:30 and shortly before 10:00, dropped a rubber ball in our living room and we went to bed. Sometimes, "dropping the ball" is not all bad. Happy New Year!!!