With Grandchildren

I look like I really had it made on this August 13, 1989 picture of little Tony, Julie and I in our 1st. street house.  Tim's were back to visit, we were home from Alaska, had helped celebrate Mother's 89th birthday and were looking forward to a new position as Executive VP of the Soil and Water Conservation Society in Ankeny, IA. I had already retired from the Soil Conservation Service and the Nebr. Natural Resources Commission and we had our Farm sale earlier in the year. In retrospect, I should have considered myself retired at this point rather than taking the job over in Ankeny. The folks both died during those 2+ years we were over there and I could have started playing golf earlier.

Mother, Dad and Brother Don

This picture of Mother and Dad was taken back in the late 1970's It is out #7 west of Washington, DC of them looking over Arthur Godfrey's ranch and cattle. My folks never missed an opportunity to listen to him on radio back in those days. Elaine and I were able to see him while performing in DC. We also got the folks on a tour in the White House on their same trip. These were Happy Days as we looked forward to returning to Nebraska. We are scheduled to help my brother Don celebrate his 90th birthday tomorrow but the weather report isn't good. His birthday is actually the 17th and I have memories of that 1929 date.

Crow's Nest

This is something that many of you are already aware of but it was something I just learned about last evening. I entered my name in Google and searched . There must have been several hundred items come up. Many of the latter ones are copies of blog pages I'd posted as "Tony - The Crow's Nest". But it was most interesting. You may want to see what all they have for you. I have explained to many people that my use of the "Crow's Nest" stems from the relationship that the word "Vrana" refers to the big black Crow.

WW II Hero

Charlotte brings books up from the Library where she works after picking out what she thinks may interest us. This one came up yesterday and Elaine read part of it. I picked it up today and had a hard time putting it down. It was written by Bob Dowding with Judy Liska after Bob was back home in Seward after having spent time in a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp during WWII. It was copyright and published by Dageforde Publishing, Inc. 122 South 29th Street, Lincoln, NE 68510 in 1999. I thought we read it soon after it was published but find much of it new information. We knew Bob, Martha and their family back in the late 50's when we lived across the alley from them on Lincoln Street in Seward. Our kids played together and were good neighbors. The early part of the book covers Bob's growing up in the late 20's and 30's. I was able to relate to the schools that he attended and the places where he worked before going into the Service. I will need to write another blog page after finishing the book. Bob was a good example of how our Hero's can be honored and still live normal lives without many of their friends and neighbors knowing their history. 

Men's Coffee

We have tried to get a men's coffee group going here for the past several months without much success. Our "House sheet" of activities had Tuesday10:00am Mens coffee in the Coffee Room so I was there. Wes soon joined me and after a couple phone calls, Larry joined us. We drank coffee and just had a real good visit. While we have known each other for several years in Kiwanis, I leaned things from each of them that I hadn't known before. It seems that the days are pretty well filled with activities so it's difficult to find a time when this is high priority. We will keep trying because it might fill a need for some of us.

Seward Kiwanis Kitones

The Kiwanis Kitones sang up here at Brookdale this evening. I was setting up to close to get a picture of all 15 of them with one shot so this is my attempt to put two together. I had hoped to put them side-by-side but wasn't able to do so. It's interesting that there are 5 of us as residents that sang with the group at one time. They mentioned an average age of 83 if the one young guy was eliminated. And as it turned out he wasn't able to be with them tonight. I visited with several of them and believe that some of them will be up to visit

Good Family

Here is a picture of us remaining siblings and spouses at Brother Jerry's funeral in Tomah, WI. We have continued to 'maintain reasonable relationships with the family. I spent more time on the HP computer than what I got done. One of my problems is in getting the margins set and held in the WORD program. I also have a problem moving a copy of 2018 Highlights from the HP over to a flash drive. I've written to Jon for help. We did enjoy visiting with Verlon this afternoon and with Carolyn later in the day. We are looking forward to helping Brother Don celebrate his 90th birthday in a couple weeks. I distinctly remember telling Grandpa and Grandma Walker that "We have a real baby at our house" when they came to our house the morning after he was born.