Grocery shopping

Emily has been our favorite checker down at Pac n Save for several years. She had long hair when we first met her and has continued to let it grow. When I asked about taking her picture this afternoon, she said that she had 4 inches cut off recently. She is a good checker and sacker; we have never known her to make a mistake. Grocery shopping in Seward continues to be a social event. Elaine was able to do some "family" visiting with one of the ladies we saw in the produce department. Vikki was next in line as Elaine was paying for our groceries. There is a possibility of snow on Friday and that may have had something to do with our "stocking up" on groceries. I think we could get by for several days if we were snowbound. It  would be interesting to know what the first thing we would need or want but Elaine is pretty ingenious in coming up with substitutes. Our loaf of raisin bread won't last beyond the weekend, but I'm sure she has an alternative in mind if necessary. Plus the fact that it's only 4 blocks to the Save Mart store if necessary. 

Elaine and Dale

This picture of Elaine and Dale, each showing a bit of leg, was taken in August 1948. Elaine was "attired" in her Bridesmaid dress for her cousin Lois Brinkmeyer's wedding. Dale has a brace on his leg after the cast was removed following his breaking it in a Farmhouse softball game down at the U. Elaine and I had been "going together" for over a year at the time and this was about the most leg I had seen. I wouldn't say this picture had any great influence on our relationship but it certainly didn't hurt it. From having been involved with raising purebred polled Herford  cattle I had some understanding of genetics and had already decided that she would be a Great Mother after having watched her play softball. I also knew that she was very intelligent after having graduated 4th in her HS graduating class of 73 students. I had  a Civic Service appointment working for the Soil Conservation Service by this time, and she was working at the County Extension Office so we had an opportunity to see each other every day. As the Holiday Season approached, we decided to become engaged. I gave her a diamond ring just before Christmas and we were married the following June. It is said that, "A picture is worth a thousand words" and sometimes it's worth more than that. 

Visiting Charley & Dale

This was taken late this summer on one of the few occasions that I played golf with Charley and others this year.  During the previous several years we played nearly every day during the summer and occasionally every month of the year. This afternoon we went down to Bryan East Hospital in Lincoln to visit Charley who is scheduled for open heart surgery on Tuesday morning. He is very optimistic that we may be able to golf again some day and I believe we will. We went on out to Elaine's brother Dale and wife Marleen's who are in the process of moving into the lower level of a new house with Marleen's daughter and her husband in east Lincoln. Dale had some "stuff" that he wanted Elaine to have as they "cleaned out" the house that he has lived in for nearly 50 years. Some of the old newspapers, etc. that we brought home were most interesting, but I don't think there is much demand for old Currier & Ives Calendars. 

On-Line Commerce

No. This is not a partial picture of me but rather an example of about 10 different styles of Men's Khaki pants available at Amazon. I ordered a pair last Tuesday evening after not being very happy with what we found in Lincoln. They came this morning and I am well pleased. This style of marketing is another example of the many changes that are taking place around us.  Often we don't wake up until major changes have already happened. It will be interesting to see what role the U.S. Postal Service may have in  on-line commerce or whether private enterprise will make the deliveries. Our recent eBay activity has made us more sensitive to postal rates. What it cost us to mail items makes us wonder why we get so much "junk mail".  I know that non-profits have special rates but how about all the catalogs that we get this time of year. For that matter, I wonder about magazines such as Time and Sports Illustrated that are delivered every week.  I enjoy both of them but the subscription price doesn't appear to begin to cover the cost of mailing.  Maybe that is why the USPS lost another 5 Billion Dollars last year. (And, Nebraska lost another football game after 5 turnovers)

Benefits of Soil Conservation

This is the scan of a pamphlet that Elaine's brother Dale gave us recently as he sorted old files in preparation for a move. It  brought back memories of my introduction to "Soil Conservation" in the late '40's. I believe it was in the spring of '47 that Dale & Elaine came over one Sunday evening to visit with Vivian and I who were still living at the old farm though the rest of the family had moved on over to the "Mak" farm. Dale had been building terraces for the Soil Conservation District and brought along several pamphlets on the subject of soil conservation. I believe one of them was a copy of the one scanned. Whatever it was that Dale may have told or gave me to read, he made a believer of and we had contour lines laid out. I remember listing corn on the contour in the field northwest of the house the very night that Elaine had a date with a classmate for their Jr-Sr. Banquet. Though we had only been dating for a few months, it bothered me to think she was out with this "other fella". Not only that, it was much more difficult planting corn by following a curved line around the hill. Little did I know at the time that Elaine would become my faithful wife and that I would spend my working career in Soil and Water Conservation activities. We analyze many factors in making some decisions and yet others are made by what "just seems right". Could "Divine Intervention" be involved???

Thank You Dr. K.

Some years ago in a financial situation, a fellow described a situation by saying he was ”optimistic because it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be”. I was rather amused by the comment and wrote down the adage, “If you set your sights low enough, anything will make you happy”. I reflected upon those memories when walking out of the Dentist Office this afternoon. About a month ago a crown came off one of my upper-front teeth. I saw Dr. K. the next day who did some X-rays and identified  decay at the gum line of the old tooth. He put the crown back on and set up an appointment where he thought he may have to destroy the old crown, fill the decaying part of what is left of the old tooth and put on a new crown. We talked about alternatives and today he was able to leave the old crown in place but work through enough of it to fill the cavity. He then repaired the “damage” to the crown and I walked out of their in just a bit over an hour greatly relieved because, “It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be”.   I know that Medical Doctors are said to "practice medicine" but do Dentist "practice denistry"???

Sadie Elizabeth

John, Julie and Sadie came by to visit last evening. Sadie was on the move every minute they were here. She played with Dominoes by picking them out of their case and putting them in a little cardboard box. Then she would dump them out and laugh at the sound they made. We had some old UN-L Cornhusker Yearbooks in the living room that are real heavy. She couldn't pick up the big ones but did manage to pick up the one from 1945 and carry it over to John. She has amazing strength for her size and age. She likes our house since she can run down the hall, through the kitchen, into the dining room and back into the living room to complete the cycle. Her energy reminds us of Tim when he was a “toddler”. He too was always on the go and “buzzed” around to where Grandma Flowerday started calling him “Buzzer”.  We buzzed down to Lincoln today and did some shopping at the J.C.Penny store. We have reached the point of not enjoying a lot of shopping and if we find something that will work, we just buy it and head for home.