This is another “hopscotch” column – meaning it will be about many things.
If you’re in Audubon, Iowa August 1-3 celebrating the 50th birthday of Albert, a local celebrity, you might think it had something to do with birds or suchlike, because of the town name. You’d be wrong and that’s no bull! Albert is a 50-year-old Hereford bull standing 30 feet high and weighing 90,000 pounds (45 tons). He is the world’s largest bull, being nine times the normal size with authenticity right down to his toenails. Who said they grow ‘em big in Texas?
My nephew is the coach of a St. Peter, MN youth soccer team. His son is the goalie. At a soccer game against Albert Lea, in Albert Lea, some of my neighbors couldn’t understand why I wasn’t pulling for the local team. My Norwegian neighbors fully understood that “Blood Runs Thicker than Residency.”
The Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota will pick up certain donated items left at the end of your driveway. The items must be out by 8 a.m. I blew it and forgot that Genie had asked me to do just that, but I did get the items out by 10 a.m. Net result: too late, no pickup. I moved the potted pretty flowers from in front of to behind the mailbox. In front of the mailbox I put the Epilepsy Foundation items behind a big sign that said, “Free.” When all was said and done, Epilepsy Foundation got the donated items on their next pickup, Genie got new flowers around the mailbox, and somebody got potted flowers free.
Somehow Genie got an invitation from Royston Insurance CPU of Harrison, Arkansas to attend the retirement celebration of an associational missionary with the North Arkansas Baptist Association. She wrote them back a polite decline, as she was busy that Sunday.
In checking for knee-high corn by the 4th, it was well beyond that. I did not consider where there was no corn due to flooded out.
Give your county a fair shake. (Maybe even the next county over.) Genie and I plan on attending both Freeborn and Steele County fairs.
I’m in the Ellendale Café enjoying their great food. I notice about six ladies as they enter. The thing that got my attention was all the red they are wearing – especially hats. Their conversation was very interesting – I really enjoyed listening to the one they referred to as “Queen Mum.” Her most interesting statement was, “Sometimes I wake up Grumpy; most of the time I let him sleep.”
Trivia: At Farm and City Days Saturday, July 12 in New Richland, two pancake flippers flipped enough pancakes to serve a little over 400 people. They wore matching blue and white aprons. They even have the same last name. If you can call them by their first name the next time you see them flipping pancakes, they will make a specially-shaped pancake just for you! (This offer expires at the end of the Sommers Line.)
I never thought I would see portable potties on Main Street in New Richland, but I did on Saturday, July 12. With Steve Stadheim and Bud Tollefson as my witnesses, “This is most certainly true.”
They say that “Location, Location, and Location” are the three most important things about a house. The above-mentioned outhouses were close to the pancakes being consumed. I wonder if there is a “get-up-and-go” connection.
———
Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.