Superbowl #50

Halftime is over and while I appreciated it as a spectacular presentation, I wish it could have been more enjoyable. But I  also have a problem understanding some of the commercials. I might be getting old, or something. I'm rooting for Denver because of Peyton Manning and hope they can hang on to win. While I have seen Major League baseball games in all 30 of the Stadiums, I have never seen a professional football game. I did get to see the Washington Redskins play an exhibition game when we lived there.

When it was noted that this was the 50th Superbowl game, I went to my old diary to see what I may have written about it.  I found nothing but several blank pages and realized it was early in the last semester of my BA degree program. I was carrying 18 credit hours and working full time. I was able to take a couple of the courses on "official time" since they closely applied to my job. I don't know how I did it, but did manage to graduate. The extra effort at that stage of my life is what has helped to provide a comfortable retirement today. Incidentally, Elaine, just served a piece of warm apple pie with ice cream which increased the pleasure of the evening considerably. And, Denver leads 24 to 10 with 3:08 to go. "Omaha".

Thomas Mahlin Auction

I attended the Thomas Mahlin Estate auction conducted by Schweitzers at the Seward Ag Pavilion today. There was a large crowd with many out of town bidders. This 2003, 22' Airstream trailer was the "feature item" but it was supported with one of the largest collections of cameras and photography equipment that I have ever seen at an auction. This is not to say that there wasn't a lot of everything else that shows up on estate auctions only there were several of every items. Schweitzers normally set up chairs and sell from a higher level so people 

can see what is being sold but there was so much "stuff" there wasn't room to set up the normal number of chairs. Plus there were about twice as many bidders as what normally attend. I didn't buy a thing but enjoyed looking at many items. Word in the crowd was that things were selling very well. I did have an opportunity to visit with several people. I enjoyed looking at the photography equipment but couldn't understand why anyone would want to have 3 identical tripods. Sales like this always makes one wonder about their own "stuff" and how best to get rid of it when it is no longer being used or of little value to anyone else. A box of several hundred 35mm slides at this sale really brought to my attention how much things may mean to those involved  but not to anyone else.

"Doc" Byron Winters Written Record

I am reading a 95 page document written by Dr. Byron K. Winter as he completed his 40-year service to the community as a Veterinarian and involved citizen. Doc and his family came to Seward in 1960 as a newly licensed practitioner having received his DVM from Iowa State. He had served during WWII, was called back into active duty for the Korean War, and taught Voc Ag before enrolling in the DVM program. Most of the 95 pages are filled with his 1st person accounts of incidents with customers during his professional career.  The publication is most interesting to me because of having known him for over 50 years and also by knowing a very high percentage of the farmers and others involved in the stories he tells. Doc lived an exampliary life and died this past June at age 8. Here is part of what was included in his "Life Legacy": “Doc” was a vital part of the Seward community his entire professional life. He was an active member of the United Methodist Church, serving in nearly every capacity and leadership position. He was a member of the Seward Area Chamber of Commerce, a City of Seward City Council Member for 12 years, served on the School District of Seward Board of Education for 24 years, was a member of the Memorial Health Care System Board of Directors, a founding member of Seward Kiwanis, longtime member of the Seward Magazine Club, a strong supporter of the Seward County 4-H program and was inducted into the Seward County Hall of Agricultural Achievement." His writing of these personal experiences, as well as his writing of his Korean War duty, provide a perspective that can be gained only "by having been there and done that".

Nebraska Corn License Plate

Recently (January 29th, 2016) I wrote about a Nebraskan who utilized a map of the State and made an interesting drawing by entering the license plate number in each counties location. The current Nebraska Farmer (February 2016) tells of the debut of a specialty plate featuring Nebraska Corn. It was developed by the Nebraska Corn Growers Association, NeCGA, but you don't have to be a member of the Assoc. to purchase one. Cost for the license plate is $70. which is in addition to the standard fees for licensing one's vehicle in Nebraska. This additional fee is due with the initial application and is subject to annual renewal. It can be used on a wide variety of vehicles and equipment  including passenger vehicles, pickups, trucks, motorcycles, mobile homes, etc. The plates will not carry a county designation and the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles will assign plate numbers as applications are submitted. There must be a minimum of 500 applications with payment before the plates will be manufactured through NeCGA. Forms are now available for ordering. I plan to combine this article with the earlier one for my report at our Magazine Club Meeting this evening.

Snow, Sunshine and Optomism.

I didn't take this picture today but could have taken one almost identical. While I started the snow blower yesterday and cleaned off the south half of the driveway, the City came through during the night and left a big ridge of packed snow at the bottom of the driveway. The wind also blew some snow back over where I had  cleaned earlier. So, this afternoon when the temperature got up to near 30 and the sun was shining brightly, I went out with the old farm aluminum scoop shovel and cleared the City ridge. I used the "pusher" to clean the snow that had blown in. I've decided to leave the north half go till it melts off this weekend.

 I didn't take this picture today either but once in a while it helps old folks morale to see pictures that were taken when they were young. We had our first child, had moved in to our own little house and were in the "prime of our lives". The "helmet" I'm wearing was from the IHC Implement Dealer but I used white paint to cover the emblem and printed "SCS" on it. Elaine was doing part time typing work and we were both picking up jobs in addition to my regular employment. It was during the summer this picture was taken than we dug a trench through the back yard, had a bathroom built on and installed in-door plumbing. We were able to pay for most of it as we went along. Young people started out a lot different in those days than today.

Heavy Snow in Seward Area

This is the way our back yard appears this afternoon out of our kitchen window. The good news is that the Groundhog didn't see his shadow this morning which predicts an early spring. The additional good news is that we had no reason to go anywhere today. I did go out, start up the snow blower and clean off the driveway. It was reported that Seward received 9.5". It was very wet and heavy and until I worked with it, wouldn't have estimated over about 7.5". The birds were very active around the feeder and school will be closed again tomorrow. The I-80 Interstate was closed earlier today from Kearney to Lincoln.

This is the way our deck looked this afternoon. We didn't get our Lincoln or Omaha newspapers nor did we receive any mail. The street past our house has not been cleared but a few vehicles have driven on it. We did receive a York Advantage weekly newspaper that is distributed free of charge. The carrier is certainly to be commended for their effort. We and another couple are scheduled to host a meeting of our Magazine Club on Thursday evening. We had some final planning discussion this afternoon and expect things to be cleared so that it can proceed as scheduled.

Iowa Caucus, Now and '92

The big news tonight is the predicted snowstorm for our area but the political news is the Iowa caucus. This picture was at at Iowa City, the home of the U of Iowa and the big crowd at the top left of the picture is Sanders supporters. The much smaller crowd to the top right are Clinton supporters and the few at the lower right are undecided. O'Malley supporters were only a handfull and out of the picture. The next picture is of a Republican caucus in the DesMoines area where votes are being counted.

We were in Iowa from mid-1989 through 1991 and didn't have a memory of the "run up" for the '92 caucus. A check revealed that George Bush was running unopposed and on the Democratic side, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin received 76% of the caucus votes. Paul Tsongas 4.1, Bill Clinton 2.8%, Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey received only 2.4% and dropped out of the race. Bill Clinton went on to become the party candidate and defeated George Bush and Ross Perot in the General election to become President.