Seward"s Christmas Parade

Elaine and I had "front row" seats for the Seward Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade last evening. The staging area for the parade is the streets to the north of our house but they are in full "Parade form" as they pass our house on 1st Street and turn to go through the downtown business district and beyond, on Seward Street. Seward began having the Christmas Parade just a few years ago when several floats were available from the City of Lincoln that discontinued their parade. Charles Lieske, Executive Director of the 

Chamber has provided leadership for the parade since its coming to Seward. Gary Rolf has spent many hours, along with others, in doing repairs, obtaining storage and helping make the parade possible. The Parade last night was the most enjoyable of all. The weather was perfect with a beautiful red sunset following afternoon record breaking temperatures that hit 80 degrees. Elaine and I sat on lawn chairs on our driveway and enjoyed every entry. Where else could you go to a Parade and have Santa Clause call out our first names and wish us a Merry Christmas. Thanks to everyone who made this half-hour parade so enjoyable.

Richard M. Pitsch, M.D.

We attended a service "Celebrating the Life of Richard M. Pitsch, M.D." this morning at the Zabka funeral home here in Seward. Dr. Pitsch was our family Doctor back in the '50's when our children were youngsters. He continued to be our Doctor during the 4 years we lived in Lincoln after moving there from Seward in 1958. Elaine could even tell a story about her coming out from Lincoln to have him perform an appendectomy on her during those years. One off my stories involves all 4 of our youngsters who were along with Elaine and I at the Clinic for Polio shots in the mid-50's. After getting the shots, Elaine asked Dr. Pitch if he might be able to remove a wart on her finger. He got out his electrolysis instrument and went to work on Elaine while the 4 Kids and I watched with anticipation. As it began to smoke a bit, the Kids started to tear up and could tell that it was hurting "Mommy". To help them accept what was happening, I told them that the Doctor had deadened the feeling in her finger and it really didn't hurt. When he was finished with Elaine, he asked if I had any warts. I admitted that "Yes, I had one on my left hand ring finger since being a little boy. Well, he invited me to have it removed so I changed chairs with Elaine. With the first "blast" of electricity, I let out a Geeeezzzzze!!!!! that could have been heard across the street. Who says Doctors don't have a sense of humor. He got a good laugh out of that. He also helped us through some very serious times, and we will be forever grateful for all of his services. After returning to Seward from Virginia, he was again our Doctor for a number of years, we attended the Presbyterian Church together and after retirement, drank morning coffee in the same group for a number of years. He was not only a good Doctor but also a dear friend. 

Sadie Elizabeth at age Two

This is our Great Granddaughter Sadie at the time of her 2nd Birthday this past August. It was taken by Allyson Garrett, a professional photographer who did an excellent job of capturing her many moods and expressions. Sadie continues to grow in many ways. We were with her and family for some time yesterday, on Thanksgiving Day, and she was very astute in helping her Grandmother put the finishing touches on the Acorn Squash. She has been an interesting case study in addition to just being a joy to be around. Somehow with our own kids, we were so busy with jobs and all the necessary chores, that we just didn't take time to realize what was really going on in their little minds and bodies. Granddaughter Julie was a great joy to us while spending a considerable amount of her childhood with us. (We even referred to her as our 5th kid at times) And, we were much more cognizant of her development than that of our other four. Now with Sadie, we are completely fascinated. It's not only that she already knows many words and what they mean, but that she has a very active mind that goes far beyond the things she verbalizes. Maybe all kids are getting smarter these days but to us, she is pretty special. Hopefully, living up to her eventual potential will not become a burden and that she can always be as happy as is reflected in this picture.

Thanksgiving 2014

We began our Thanksgiving celebration by going to an impressive Ecumenical Service at the Methodist Church last evening. This morning's Lincoln and Omaha newspapers included some 7 pounds of advertisements which are in the recycling bin. We enjoyed part of the Macy Holiday Parade from NY City. The floats get more fantastic every year. Then we took Home Delivered Meals to several people who are living alone and are younger than me. (That alone makes one very Thankful). Then we went to Owenses where we joined Carolyn and Ben in having Dinner with John, Julie, Sadie and Jack. Ben has a long standing record of furnishing and carving the Turkey.

Jack slept through our Dinner but awakened soon after and was ready for Great Grandmother to hold the bottle for him. Julie says he's getting to be a good "nurser" but also enjoys the breast milk from a bottle. And, as the picture shows, Elaine enjoys holding it for him. Tomorrow will be his 1-Month birthday. He has helped us to realize what a "big girl" Sadie has become. She not only says many words but uses them to express her "wants" and "opinion". (Do you suppose she has that Vrana gene). We enjoyed contact with several others in the family during the afternoon and have enjoyed the Celtic Thunder Christmas program this evening. Brother Don and I exchanged comments on Dad repairing Don's coaster wagon that took place on Thanksgiving Day in 1940. We are all very Thankful for our Many Blessings.

Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service

We participated in the Ecumenical Service at our United Methodist Church this evening involving St Andrew's Episcopal and Mother Helen Goldtl, Faith Lutheran and Pastor Rob Corum; Friedens UCC and Rev. Al Smith and Rev. Dale Lambert from UMC. A Community Choir sang an "Anthem of Thanksgiving" directed by Cindy Mavis and accompanied by Pam McConnell.  Mother Helen and each of the Pastors offered their personal "Thanksgiving Reflections". Mother Helen spoke of the needs for Churches to "step up" to help heal the hate that exist in Ferguson, MO and elsewhere. She used a quote that "Grief is what is in your Heart, but that Grievance is a Chip on Your Shoulder". Pastor Corum spoke of relationship with the Pilgrims and of God's generosity; Rev. Smith who has had some health problems, spoke of God as a "Healing God"; and, Rev. Lambert talked of the "compression" of the Holidays which tend to diminish the Thanksgiving spirit but that Democracy in some ways is "messy" but this service was an example of our being of "One Body of Christ" though we may have administrative differences. The Service concluded with communion with choices of wine or grape juice as well as regular or glutton-free bread.  Social Hour followed with Coffee and Cookies. It was a very nice Service that reminded us  how much we have for which to be Thankful. 

Fall Yard Cleanup

With the sun shining, the temperature in the upper 40's and rain and colder weather forecast for tomorrow, we worked on the leaves in our front yard after lunch. The leaves have really come down during the cold and snowy weather of the past couple weeks. In cleaning them up, we followed our usual procedure of blowing and raking them out into an open area and then "chopping" them up with the grass catcher off so the mower works like a mulcher. I then put the catcher on and go over the area again, doing more   chopping and picking them up. We dump them on an opened burlap bag which is the easiest way to carry them to the back yard and put them on this compost pile. We have a second pile like this and rotate between the two. What you see is about a 3 year accumulation of all the grass and leaf trimmings that we have removed from the yard. The second pile has matured compost and is older. Both are located next to the back yard fence and hidden from view by Lilac, Wigelia, and other shrubs. We haven't had any grass clippings nor leaves taken away from our place for the past 20 years. While there is work involved, it is easier then raking leaves and putting them in paper bags as some of our neighbors do; plus it's more Green to be recycling. Now we still have the back yard to do and don't have kids coming home from college to help as they did when we were back on Ridge Road. 

Rural Futures Institute in Nebraska

Chuck Schroeder, Director of the Rural Futures Institute at the University of Nebraska provided the program for our Kiwanis meeting this noon. I have known Chuck since the 1980's when he was  Director of the State Department of Agriculture and I worked in an adjoining Office with the Nebraska Natural Resources Commission. The RFI was established a year ago and Chuck was brought back to Nebraska within the past year to serve as its Founding Executive Director. He grew up on a livestock ranch in southwestern Nebraska, received a degree in Animal Husbandry from UN-L and served for some years as Director of the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Chuck is a very dynamic speaker and is a perfect fit to provide leadership for the Institutes's mission of serving as a catalyst in building a network of partnerships that will "collaboratively draw upon available resources to prepare rural individuals and communities to meet these challenges and embrace opportunities of the future".