Thanksgiving 1986

I got into another box of pictures and pulled this

one out of Tim and Laura coming to visit on the 22 of November, 1986. We had Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner at our house with them, Carolyn, Ben Julie and my folks. After dinner we looked at a few slides. It was a beautiful day with the temperature up to 50 so Elaine,Julie and I went for a walk . Tim's went to Lincoln in the evening to visit Charles and Sally. Tim went along out to the farm the next day where I showed him the old Flowerday dining room table and chairs which we later took back to them. During the time they were here, Carolyn and Tim worked up a Purchase Proposal on the 5th Street house which she soon bought and talked about moving the smokehouse from the farm in for Julie's playhouse. We had a great visit with Tim and Laura who got on their way home on the 29th.

November 1975 Activities

This is the Hotel in Disney World in Florida where Elaine and I visited during November, 1975. I realized we were following a hectic travel schedule as I tried to put together pictures from those days. Our travels during the month included: Driving to Greensboro, NC to see Carolyn and stopped to see Verlon on the way home; 4th, spoke at Broomall, PA Training Center; 5th, flew to Tampa, FL, drove to Weeki Wakee Springs where we had a tour and picnic at the Plant Materials Center, I was on the program the next day. We drove across the state and got to Orlando on the 7th, spent the 8th in Disney World, the 9th at the Kennedy Space Center, Saint Augustine and drove to Jacksonville. Elaine stayed in the hotel there while I flew to Dallas, TX to be on the Training Center program the next day (10th) and flew back to Jacksonville. The next day we drove to Jekyll Island, GA where I met with top people and spoke to over 400 SCS employees on the 12th. We drove back to Jacksonville where Elaine flew back to DC and I flew to Lincoln, NE. I was on the Training Center Program for nearly 3-hours on the 13th. The folks picked me up and took me out to Seward where I also visited Flowerdays before flying back to DC. I flew to Temple, TX on the 18th and was on the state SCS Federal Women's Program the next day, flew home on the 20th. We drove down to Blacksburg, VA to help Jon celebrate his 21st birthday and see VPI beat Wake Forest. We stayed over night at Dr. and Mrs. Miller's who served breakfast before our driving home. Verlon, Vickie and Jon were home for Thanksgiving which "wound-up" our November activities.

John and Julie Owens

We received this message from Julie this morning that tells of their recent trip to South America. We appreciated she and John coming up to see us soon after they got back. It's well that they're able to travel at their age. Making it to the top of Huayna Picchu would be far beyond most of us. They will remember this trip all their lives. We even had the pleasure of having Sadie and Jack with us one afternoon while they were gone. John folks did much of the baby sitting with Carolyn and Ben picking up a share. They are good kids and didn't present any unusual problems while their folks were gone. We were all happy to have them back home.

A Happier Elaine

Elaine's birthday recognition continued on into today by her calling the Beauty Shop and getting an 11:30 appointment for a hair wash and set. While I was willing to take her down and pick her up, she got a ride with the Seward Transit in pouring rain to get there. Carolyn left a dinner get-to-gather early to pick her up. This is what she looked like walking in to our unit. Kay had even carried her Dinner in for her. I just never really knew that a "hair do" could be as important as it is in a woman's feeling and attitude. Not only was her perspective much brighter, the comments and discussion at our summer table were lighter and evolved around her appearance. While this may be temporary, she has an appointment for a cut and permanent next Wednesday. We have been entertained for nearly 2-hours this evening by a Ken Burns rendition on the life of Mark Twain. Like most things done by Ken Burns, this is an excellent presentation on Samuel Clements. It made me realize how little I knew about Twain even after studying him in American Literature.

Elaine's Birthday

We are celebrating Elaine's Birthday today and she would be the first to tell you that she misses Donna who has been her hairdresser for the past 20 years. She was just to the point of scheduling a "cut" and "permanent" for her weekly appointment when Donna was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. Donna's health is the main concern but Elaine's hair is certainly an issue. She tried the operator who comes to Brookdale a couple days/week but it "didn't work out". She washed her hair this morning, put it in curlers, but without a dryer, it didn't do much good. I even tried to help with some hair spray to get her by. Tomorrow morning she will be in touch with her shop to see how Donna is doing and find out if one of the other operators may be able to do something for her. Meanwhile, this will add to the listing of how she has spent her birthdays. The record goes back 70 years to before we were married and I gave her a gold and blue set pin that she still wears. Dinner at Olive Garden has been most popular followed by Seward Country Club, Trader Vic's (in DC), Grandmothers, and numerous family Dinners. Her hair had little effect on her enjoyment of a visit by Carolyn and Ben and the phone calls from Verlon, Tim, Jon, Julie and Janice as well as many nice cards. She was also recognized here at Brookdale this noon with a candle on a fancy cupcake, song and many best wishes.

Woodsey Owl

This is an "official USDA photo" taken in the Patio of the Administration Building back in 1976. Tim, Jon, Jean Rolenc and others are shown being greeted by Woodsey Owl. I have finished the scanning of most of our 35mm slides and are wrestling with the pictures during the 1975-'80 time frame. Pictures taken during that period were put in albums and are not as clearly identified as were the slides. Many have come loose from the tape that Elaine used to attach them to the pages in the binder. She takes them out, I scan them, and then she reattaches them. We did very little sorting on the slides but are not scanning these printed pictures if they are only of flowers or something that was only important to us at the time. We are attempting to think in terms of what may be of interest to family in the future. Pictures of "failed family relationships" also present a problem with that criteria. We would appreciate guidance from our kids on that.

Big Red Lightning

Elaine and I drove past the Hughes house on our way back from Walmart this morning. A lot of progress was made during the past week. We hope it can continue. We enjoyed a visit from Ben, Carolyn, Sadie and Jack this afternoon. Carolyn took them down to get some ice cream out of the machine which they ate our on the Patio where we were visiting. Jim, the maintenance man, got the privacy fence back in place after the recent drainage project so it was very pleasant out there. While rain had been forcast for today, it was very pleasant most of the time here in Seward. Many of us looked forward to the Nebraska-Akron game in Lincoln this evening as Coach Frost first game back to where he won fame as Coach Osborne's Quarterback. We had the TV all set up to see the famed “tunnel walk” as he led the team out for the 7:00 pm game. With both teams on the field and the Ref's ready for the coin toss, one of them saw a flash of lightning in Memorial Stadium. It was announced that the game would be delayed until 30 minutes after the last flash occurs. It has now reached the 2-hour delay point and no sign of the game beginning. If that wasn't bad enough, the Royals are down by 1 in the bottom of the 9^th after having led at one run in the game at Kansas City with Baltimore. BUT with a runner on base Witt Merrifield hit a walk-off HR to win the game for the Royals. Here at 9:30 the announcement was made that it is raining in Lincoln and no indication of when the game may begin.