Lunch, Golf & Shopping

Elaine and I met brother Don and Gladys at the Mongolian Grill and Chinese Buffet in Lincoln this noon for lunch. If you can call the amount some of us ate, "lunch". They have the most excellent food for the least money of any place around. After topping off our meal with ice cream, the ladies went to the Gateway Shopping Center. Don and I went down 70th Street to the Holmes Golf Course. Don played 36 holes yesterday in Syracuse and usually plays 18. The only way I've played 18 this year is when playing by myself with two balls. So with some concern about the ladies having too much shopping time, we decided on playing just 9. Being seniors and mid-week it cost us just $14.50 with a cart. . There were golfers teeing off on #1 when we were ready to go, so the club pro started us on #10 and we played the back nine. Don did concede to my wishes by playing the middle tees. He has a new set of hybrid clubs which he hits very well.

Don got off a good tee shot on the 378 yard 13th hole, hit his 17degree hybrid on to the green and made a 12' putt for a birdie. Not to be outdone, I put my tee shot on the green at the next hole and made a 35' putt for my birdie. We basically played bogey golf from there on out and each finished with a 42. The course is in beautiful shape with little evidence of the fungus that we've had in Seward. It is a very "open" course with wide fairways and large greens. I did have to use my "foot machie" on one occasion for safety reasons and bumped the ball occasionally, but didn't take any "gimmes" of over 2'This was the first time this season that I've golfed anywhere except here in Seward. I was really apprehensive about even trying it today but enjoyed it to the extent that we are planning on getting together again in Syracuse and here in Seward. Oh yes, we found the ladies when we got back to the Shopping Center. They had a good afternoon shopping and it was an exceptionally good day of golfing

Senior "Golf"

We "Seniors" play "golf" for exercise, fellowship, to enjoy the outdoors and Mother Nature. We don't necessarily follow all the rules as set down by the PGA. Here is one of the fellows that plays with us quite frequently teeing up his second shot on the short grass fairway. He has had some health problems over the past couple years and played very little last year. This year his health is improving but he has difficulty hitting the ball for any distance. In this case he doubted that he could get across the pond with anything other than his driver with the ball teed up. He counts an extra stroke each time for such a shot and no one complains. It is standard practice among all of us seniors to take a mulligan on our initial tee shot if necessary.

We also "bump" the ball in the fairway as well as the rough. Mulligans are taken occasionally but often recorded as an "m" to ease our conscience. "Gimme putts" are of course standard. The only question is the distance to qualify. It has been acceptable in charitable events to give putts the length of the putter head to the grip, or about 2', but that interpretation is not always respected.  "Foot mashies" are utilized occasionally when a person could be injured by trying to hit the ball near a tree or with the hazard of overhead  low hanging branches. Some of us have even been known to skip around and play the holes that are open if the course is crowded in certain spots. One rule that seems to be highly respected is the matter of "not grounding the club" in a sand trap. Yes, we do keep score because we play by the same "rules" every day and everything is done out in the open. We are competitive among ourselves as we enjoy the fresh air, exercise, and fellowship. Maybe we should call it "Flog" though instead of golf.

Kiwanis Installation

The Kiwanis Club of Seward held its annual Officer Installation at the Seward Country Club this evening. Sandy Scheinost, Lt. Governor from the Capitol City Club in Lincoln was out to perform the ceremony. Shown here is Sandy handing "a piece of the puzzle" to outgoing President, Cheryl Ingerslew while incoming President, Julie Klimn stands by. Jack Swanson, also shown, is a member of the Kitones, who sang earlier and were recognized for having completed 40 years of service to the community. Maury Zwick of the Kitones was chosen by President Cheryl as her "Kiwanian of the Year" for his dedicated work in preparing and putting away the material utilized at each weekly meeting. Bud and Betty Hasenbrock were also out from the Capitol City Club for the event along with Sandy's husband, Steve. Steve has retired from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) as a Soil Scientist. Bud is a former Lt. Governor of Division 22 and longtime arborist and landscape manager for the UN-L east campus. He and Betty are long time family friends. We had a great time and enjoyed visiting. It's going to be a great year with President Julie's leadership.

Robotics

I had an interesting conversation this morning with a fellow who had recently visited a large manufacturing plant of farm machinery and other commercial equipment in Illinois. He told of the number of employees in the plant some years ago compared to today's workforce that continues to increase output of finished products. It is accomplished by replacing human labor with robots. The Internet has a wealth of information on the history and use of robotics. Among the interesting things that I learned is that the term, "robot" comes from the Czech word, "robota" which translates to "drudgery". Hence, robots have come into use during the past 50 years to replace the repetitive work that was associated with manufacturing. However, they have gone far beyond performing simple tasks as they advanced in ability and are utilized in every fields from health care to warfare. I saw my first robot in a center pivot irrigation plant in Nebraska some 25 years ago. It performed a simple spot-welding task with perfection and replaced 2 or 3 skilled workers. Robots do wonderful things these days but it seems we have devoted more energy in their development and use that we have in providing employment opportunities for those being replaced. Then I remind myself that the Vogel Brothers Blacksmith shop that employed several men here is Seward 50 years ago, isn't here anymore either. It has been said that, "Life is a race between retirement and obsolescence", but what do I know.

The Bobcat Company

Perry is a Regional salesman for the Bobcat Company and often plays golf with us on weekends when he is in town. He loaned me a book that the company published to commemorate their 50 years of progress. The company has an interesting history with some similarities to Hughes Bros. Co. here in Seward in that four Melroe brothers were instrumental in the growth of the company. The Bobcat company has its roots in the Melroe Manufacturing Company in Gwinner, ND that was set up back in the late '40's to build windrow pickup attachments for combines. We had such an attachment for our combine which we used in harvesting sweet clover seed when I was growing up. In the '50's, Eddy Velo, a turkey farmer in MN inspired the Keller brothers who were local blacksmiths, to build a small three-wheel loader for cleaning manure from his pole barn. The Melroe brothers purchased the manufacturing rights and the Keller brothers went to work for the Melroes. This was the humble beginning of a business that was later purchased by the Clark Equipment Company in 1969, by Ingersoll-Rand in 1995 and the Doosan Group of South Korea in 2007 for 4.9 billion dollars.The Bobcat Skid-Loader is sold worldwide and has the popularity that other competing products are often called “Bobcats”. The Bobcat company produces over 70 attachments for the skid-loader along with other laborsaving machines. They make a Utility Vehicle which has competition from several other companies. Utility vehicles are getting popular even here in Seward. Perry has been with the Company for a number of years and tells me that he knew the Melroe brothers. As a banker in one of the neighboring small towns, his Dad did the payroll for the Bobcat Co. in the early days. We may not be able to duplicate success stories of this nature today but certainly need to promote innovative small business opportunities.

Real Estate Auction

Our current Seward Independent carried this ad for an auction coming up next month. Public tax records indicate that all 4 properties are owned by Liberty First Credit Union of Lincoln, NE. One can't help but have empathy for the previous owners and I'm sure there is a "story" associated with each of the homes. I know little about the recent owners but the houses each rekindle memories. Elaine recalls delivering produce from the farm when she was a young girl, to the people who had the house at 603 S. 3rd. St. The next house at 521 S. 3rd. was built in 1918 and is the "newest" of the four. I have noted the assessed value for tax purposes in 1999 and 2010 along with the actual real estate property tax for those years. The little house at 234 E. Bradford, was built in 1888 and within a block of Elaine and my first house; I drove past it for several years on my way to work. The big house at 848 Seward St. is one that I remember walking past on my way to kindergarten. It is unique by being set back in the middle of the lot which runs through to the next street north. It was maybe  this uniqueness that made it "scary" to a youngster and not because "Red" Dunnigan lived there. Houses become homes by the people that occupy them but they also have "character" of their own. In a town the size of Seward where over the years you "get to know" individual houses, they are part of the very fabric of our community. I hope the sale goes well. The Credit Union will probably lose some money but maybe some ambitious young people can buy them at a reasonable price and make them their happy homes.

Black Raspberry Ice Cream

Ice Cream has been a staple in our diet throughout the over 62 years of our marriage. One of the first "ice cream experience" I enjoyed with Elaine and her family, involved serving my brother and I a big dish of home made ice cream in soup bowls. We still have our old freezer but don't get it out as often as when the kids were home. We have enjoyed some of the finest ice cream available as we traveled over the years. And, while we don't recall ever having eaten any poor tasting ice cream, some is better than other. Always on the look-out for something new, we discovered Kemps Black Raspberry Swirl down at our local Pac-n-Sav grocery store recently. It ranks right up there with the best we have ever tasted. While we often just put Vanilla ice cream on our pie, the Black Raspberry is so tasteful that we always have it alone, with maybe a homemade Chocolate Chip cookie. The Raspberry flavor comes through with gusto and the little chocolate chips add extra pleasure. Since the half-gallon size of ice cream containers have been reduced to 1.75 quarts, we buy ours on Wednesday when Pac-n-Sav gives a 5% discount to Seniors.