Quite a summer! Kids graduating, wedding planning, babies arriving, storms blowing, lots of travel adventures, and much more. Suki says it’s time to join in the posting flurry.
First let’s go back a couple of months. Thanks to all who came to Marian’s 80th birthday. It was a beautiful day and she and the rest of us enjoyed very much seeing everyone. Extra thanks to all of you who participated in the reminiscences book. Mom says she reads it often and it is now among her most valued possessions.
Seems New York City is the place to be! Last month Grandpa & I stopped there as well on our Saunders County Livestock Assoc. tour. Here we are at Yankee stadium.
We traveled to the stadium by subway. Getting 44 wandering characters from the country down the crowded sidewalks, down the crowded escalator, which was broken of course, and through the turnstiles to the train platform was a challenge. So was shouting instructions to the group over the din. You can imagine most not hearing too well, and the rest not listening too well. We were told to “spread out and get on the 4-train when it arrives and the doors open!!! Well we did, barely. Our guide did get left behind as he pushed the last ones on. As we stood up against the characters on the subway there were two 20ish black guys, from Jamaica I’d guess, talking loud & gesturing wildly. I could hear over the noise one of our wide-eyed guys (who was pressed up against the Jamaicans) shout “Jim, do you have your billfold in your front pocket like Keith told us to???” Guess he figured since he couldn’t understand them, they wouldn’t understand him. It was great entertainment being among the red-capped characters on the trip. (We all wore matching red caps making it easier to find each other & be found in the crowds of the East coast)
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I thought this was interesting. On our Circle Tour around Manhattan, we saw a barge carrying old subway cars to be dumped in the ocean for a marine habitat. Besides New York, we toured the Amish area of Pennsylvania. We even had the good fortune of visiting an Amish family on their farm.This is a rare privilege according to the locals. Very interesting & pretty unbelievable how these people live and farm & make a living with horses, hard work, lots of kids & no electricity. The teenage boys (not the girls) get their own horse & buggy when they get around 16.
These buggies are a prized personal possession. The boys fix them up and some even get a radio! Wish I had a more descriptive picture, but we were asked to be respectful of the Amish family wishes that we not to take their picture or climb around on their stuff.
This is a funny picture of Delbert Otte & one of the draft mules. You might remember Delbert… he & his family of 7 or 8 lived near Yutan for a while around 1960. As for the mules, they are bigger & stronger looking than any I’ve seen.We also spent some time in Delaware and went to their State Fair, which was very nice.
Also stopped at a giant mushroom farm. Of course I saw many of the fellows sampling the produce, oblivious to the fact they had just explained how they are growing them in chicken manure compost. The boys knocked off the big chunks, for the most part. One of the great parts of a trip like this is you get to go to places most visitors would not. Keith Glewen, the County Extension Agent does a terrific job getting everything planned. So my adventures did not include the satisfaction of finding my own way around the big city like Nancy & Stan & John & Sue. But a good time was had by all. As you may have read in Janice's blog (in clear violate of HIPAA law, I might add):o) I did have a short visit to the hospital. I'd like to report there is nothing particularly seriously wrong with me and my stay was short. I'm fine. Let it be known I'd rather watch men's synchronized diving than discuss the condition of my innards. (However I thank you for any concern you may have had).
Looking forward to seeing you all the 23rd.
Steve
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