A Big Birthday Party

Elaine and I had the pleasure of helping celebrate a big birthday of a Garland High School friend this afternoon at the 1st Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln. Dolores was a year behind me in HS though there is only about 6 months difference in our ages. She moved with her parents to Lincoln soon after HS  where she married, had a family and a successful career with the State Farm Insurance Co. She has close relatives that we see frequently but have only seen Dolores at occasional HS Alumni reunions. She and I are the only remaining members of our graduating classes. It was interesting to get to meet her family and grandchildren.

We had interesting visits with her grandsons. One of whom went to school with Alex Gordon and is a great baseball fan. He was impressed with my having seen games in all 30 of the current Major League parks. The other is an attorney working in D.C. with whom we were able to relate. I mentioned my old Diary from HS days and how I had noted when Dolores had her 16th birthday. After this many years, it was a real pleasure to help her celebrate this one, and she invited us to come back for her next big one.

Interesting Auction

I attended an Auction this morning that was held in Seward that was conducted by Schweitzer's who did their usual good job. There was an outstanding array of Nebraska athletic collectibles as well as many other memorabilia items. We have talked about how much our Great Grandson would enjoy a Hobby Horse like the one shown, but this was not for him. It was in good shape for its age with a coat of imitation "horse hair". Some of the items appear to have been in an Antique store at one time since this item had a price tag on it for an exceptionally high price. I don't know what it brought.

This elderly gentleman is looking at the "remains" of Harry Husker. It was a papier- mache head that was worn on the shoulders of a member of the cheering squad as a popular mascot back in the 1970's. Harry morphed into "Herbie Husker", who too has been replaced. I didn't stay to see it sold. I was surprised at the price several items that I did see sell such as a quart fruit jar of marbles for $205.; Nazi war metals for over $400.; Red Wing crocks and jug each for over $600. Seward facilities are becoming popular for bringing in collections such as these for auction. I enjoy them.

Old "Dogs" and new Tricks

I went through some old pictures on a CD this evening and came across this one. It was labeled, "Teaching an old dog, new tricks". This was taken in June of 2010 and includes Carolyn with her dog, Jack, me and Julie. Many changes have taken place since but I am still learning "new tricks". I an indebted to Carolyn and Julie for having the patience to get me started on our first computer back in the early '90's and have continued to "tutor" me over the years. I started writing my blog the fall this picture was taken and have continued to the present time. This was an interesting day that included a 9:00am 1st Impressions Meeting, Coffee, Fish dinner at the Senior Center, and going to the Seward Crossmakers facility and making a purchase. The Crossmakers have sold over 57,000 of their product during the past few years and continue to expand their volunteer activities. It is a real success story of volunteers as is the Seward Senior Center and the 1st Impressions  Committee. And, the volunteers are rewarded with an active lifestyle, fellowship,  and the satisfaction of doing for others.

Jack's Education

I try to teach Jack something every time we have the opportunity to take care of him. This morning's lesson was on "saving money". While the reason for doing it was a bit beyond his comprehension, the challenge of taking coins from my hand, one at a time, and putting them in the slot of the piggy bank was met. It began to be routine after the first few so to help him learn that saving isn't always that easy, I turned the pig so the slot was off 90 degrees from what he had become familiar. It took a while but he got it figured out by himself. I have no idea as to what such an exercise accomplishes, but my guess is that it caused that little brain to make some connections that had never been made before. 

This may be one of those things that we just "always knew".  Or, maybe the new connections will make other decisions possible. He has always been my "Buddy" but has never demonstrated his affections as strongly as this noon when his mother came to pick him up. He actually fought and cried to stay with me rather that get strapped into his car seat to go home.  While we have 5 grand children and only one of them a boy, who lives in Indiana, this Great Grandson is the first little boy with whom I've been able to have a close personal relationship. I hope this can continue to the point that someday he might tell a Grandchild that he remembers something (anything) that his old Great Grandad taught him.

1993-An Interesting Year

I slipped a CD with pictures from the early '90's into my laptop and went through some of them while watching the Nebraska basket ball team get beat by Wisconsin this evening. Those were good years when we had retired from daily jobs, were involved with several organizations and did a lot of traveling. Carolyn and Julie contributed considerably to our pleasure and happiness. We had brought the VW new in the fall of '67 and gave it to Jon in the late '70's and brought it back in the early '90's. We had it repainted, the 

engine rebuilt, and pulled it behind our Motor Home. We had some great trips from Yellowstone to North Carolina and some winters in Texas. All 4 of our kids learned to drive the VW and I don't remember if Julie did. My guess is that she drove it quite a bit after student driver training. Elaine got a new hair-do and permanent for her birthday in '93 as she often does. We did many interesting things that year. She and I were invited as guests to participate in a Lincoln Cosmos Club formal dance. Tim and & I went on a baseball trip, Soucek's, Don's and us went to the Czech Republic, and the girls went with us to Mackinaw Island. It was a great year.

A Good Day at Our House

I came home from coffee early this morning to spend some time with Great-Grandson Jack. We played with the little flashlight which he knows exactly how to "turn on". Elaine had his "toys" spread out in the living room for him, including the little rocking chair. I continue to be amazed at how well he can throw a small rubber ball that's just a bit smaller than a baseball. He actually does it "overhand" part of the time. After a few trips through the hallway to the kitchen, through the dining room and back to the living room, he was ready to go downstairs. I had to hustle to get ahead of him as we both "backed down" the steps with him doing it on all four. He played with more of the tractors and cars and then listened and danced to the Ernie Kucera Orchestra record.

He wasn't anxious to leave when his Mother came back to pick him up. He had been fed and spent some time with Great Grandma watching the birds at the feeder just outside. She even finished feeding him his lunch while he sat on my lap. In addition to having Jack here for a while we also got to see Sadie and Julie down at Walmart. Elaine got a permanent this afternoon and after picking her up, we went out to get a few things, and the first people we saw in the store were Julie and Sadie. By coincidence, we also walked out together to our cars which were parked in the same area.

Thrivent Program at Kiwanis

Mitch Klintworth and Patricia Stradley presented the program this noon on the Thrivent Financial organization which they, along with Jim Evert represent in this area. Mitch is a member of our Club and Patty is a member of the Kiwanis Helping Hands Club here in Seward. Thrivent members have been highly involved in Habitat for Humanity for a number of years along other programs  in "Connecting Faith & Finances for Good".  They spoke of "Action Teams" where community service can be carried out and Grants of $250.00 can be obtained with a minimum amount of documentation. There were members of our Club that had already utilized that source of funding for worthwhile projects. 

Marv Taylor and I were involved  in taking pictures of some of our new members to put on the Kiwanis International web site. Marv and I also talked this afternoon about our local Kiwanis Foundation. Our Foundation has been in place for over 10 years, but it still short of reaching its potential. Marv has ideas for helping to move it forward. I participated in Kiwanis Kitones choral group practice this evening so its been a busy Kiwanis day.