Change: Weather and USDA

The snow flakes began soon after 9:00am this morning and by 11:00, you could have tracked a rabbit across the lawn. This is the way our Patio looked about 2:00pm. It tapered off and the 5 inches on the table settled down to  about 3 as the temperature fell. It is to get down to 25 degrees tonight but are to have several days of Indian Summer following.

I noted son Jon's involvement in USDA organizational changes in a recent post. He has just sent the following as a follow-up:

"End of an Era, Continuation of a Legacy

Tonight, October 13, 2018, ends an era of more than 150 years of service to the USDA Soil Conservation Service (SCS) and Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) by the Vrana/Flowerday family. I have carried this conservation tradition forward for more than 42 years, the last 22 years of which have been in Washington, DC in National Headquarters.

Tomorrow I begin my service in the Business Center of the USDA Farm Production and Conservation Mission Area. The business center is designed to support the agencies in greater efficiency and effectiveness.

The NRCS, as well as the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the Risk Management Administration (RMA), will continue to do their great service to the American farmer and the taxpayer."

McWilliams Vivit

Dave and Mary Beth McWilliams came out to visit this afternoon after seeing the Nebraska loss on TV to Northwestern with Friends in Lincoln. Though it appeared that Nebraska was on it's way to winning the first game in the Scott Frost era with a 10 point lead and 5 minutes to go, it was not to be and we lost 34-31 in overtime. The drama was close to that in the Seward HS loss to York last night where York scorned 3 TDs in the final 8:40minutes to win 42-40. 

Carolyn and Ben came up also soon after McWilliams got here. We all had a good visit and Carolyn took this picture. Dave was even able to reset the dpi default level for the picture scanning I'm continuing to do. We had sack lunch with the Nebraska game on so while we went to eat supper, the others went past the new Hughes house. They then drove past several of the former homes here in Seward of Family members. We continued our visit when they got back and certainly enjoyed their coming out.

A Happy Birthday, etc.

We didn't go out of the building today and made some progress on my picture scanning project. This one is from my June Birthday in 1988. We had the Folks down for a Vegetable Beef Soup lunch with all the trimmings. According to my Journal, it was the 8th consecutive day over 100 degrees. Julie and I went swimming that afternoon. Carolyn and Ben had gone to Lincoln and the Highway had "buckled" down by the airport. It cooled off the following day.

We had an interesting call from Jon this afternoon telling of some of the reorganization that is underway in USDA. He will become part of the Farm Production Business Center (FPBC) under Assistant Secretary Northey. He will be sending us more details in the near future.

Our Guy

Carolyn brought Great Grandson Jack up to visit today a few minutes before we had to leave for Elaine's dental appointment to get a new crown. I was on the computer in the west room when they came. I hollered to "come on in" and Jack ran in to where I was and gave me a big hug. He showed me his new "tractor loader spoon" and Carolyn got him some Ice Cream for him to demonstrate. Carolyn even brought up our car from the garage so we had a bit more time to spend with him. After getting Elaine to the Dentist, I went on to Walmart and did our week's shopping. We drove up past the new Hughes house under construction after picking up Elaine with a new tooth and some fillings. We were please to see siding being installed and progress being made. A special activity was underway here at Brookdale all afternoon. A young merchant with shops in the Houston, TX area was here to visit with people about their antiques in a manner similar to the "Antique Road Show". He was from Crete, NE originally and was up visiting family. He spent a lot of time visiting with  residents & others who brought items for him to estimate  value and what they may bring on an estate sale.

This lady brought a picture that had hung in their house from the time she was a little girl and she also brought a Jade carving for him to see. It was probably one of the most  impressive items he looked at all afternoon. Kay said it was found at a house here in Seward when a "Sand Box" was being made for her. It took quite a bit of cleaning  up but is a little "figurine" about  five inches high by 3 inches wide. I won't try to describe what it depicts  but it probably came from China where Jade carvings were made. How it ever found it's way to Seward, NE and left in the rubbish is a big question. He said it may be worth something like several hundred dollars and he was even interested in it.

Good Day in Brookdale

Every so often we have the choice of Chicken Tenders or BBQ Ribs for the Dinner meal here at Brookdale. This was the day that Elaine chose the Ribs. Like the Country Girl that she is, her eating them is demonstrated in this picture. I'm sure they were good and there was nothing left for the dog on the bones when she finished. We are sharing one of my "left-over" Chicken Tenders as I write this. 

We were pleased that Rev. Jo Ellen with the United Methodist Church was up this afternoon to serve a group of us Communion by intinction. It was very well received and we later were able to confirm that our pictures from 3-4 years ago can be used in the new Church Directory underway.  I indicated to her of my pleasure of her recently becoming a member of our Kiwanis Club of Seward. She adds to the percentage of very capable women in the Club including our President, President Elect etc.

1987

I finished putting 211 pictures from 1987 on a 32GB Flash Drive today. Many of them are included in these 2 Collages. It was another interesting year as we balanced time between family, job, travel, social, religious and environmental activities. Julie's birthday and her recital with Mr. collier were early in January after Elaine and I had participated in Gov. Kay Orr's Inaugural Ball. I began service on the Presbytery committee on Ministry. The ice at the farm had as much interest in the winter as water in the summer. We attended a National Association of Conservation Districts meeting in Reno, NV, went on to Phoenix, AZ where we visited Verne and Carolyn Bathurst and went on the Nebraskan Irrigation tour, We had a Soil Conservation float in the Goehner parade, appreciated a Blue Bird that Verlon carved for us. We danced to Dad's Accordion music at Ted & Muffy's. Enjoyed our garden, the Garland Alumni reunion, Staff picnic at Dayle Williamson's, the Seward swimming pool and Camp Creek Thrashers. Elaine's SHS Class of 1947 had a 40 year reunion. We visited Oregon Trail Limestone ruts, the Tetons,  and Yellowstone NP , with the VW behind our motor home on the way to a Soil and Water Conservation Society Mtg  in Billings, MT. We visited Walt Bagley at Prairie Pines on a Seward Grange tour, Went to Canada with Willard & Audrey Kilzer to fish, harvested our Certified Switch Grass, had Thanksgiving at Don's in Syracuse, NE and a quiet Christmas in Seward. It was a Great Year.

Ceremonial Burial

Commander Dan Gross provided the program at Kiwanis here in Seward today where he has been a resident for the last several years. As a reservist, his deployments include Iraq and Kuwait 2007-2008, and Dubai in 2012 and numerous others while on active duty. He is now involved with the Navy program of returning the remains of fallen service members to their families here in the United States for Ceremonial burial. He told of the large number of bones that continue to show up in Vietnam and the efforts involved in their identification. Families have a choice of bringing the remains home for burial or having them interned in a Military Cemetery. He has conducted a funeral within the past couple weeks for a recovered and identified individual from Wahoo, NE that had been lost for some 50 years. He told of the dignity involved in the transportation of each individual. The remains are placed in a casket with a personal escort who stays with it even to his having spent a night in an Airline Terminal baggage area. It was interesting to hear on our local Nebraska news this evening of 2 cases of returning remains.