By Elaine Rassel
I am writing this first part of this article on the morning following the Fair. Sunday morning my day started at 3 a.m. I worked on articles that had to be in that day. Zachary took Steve and me to the Fair just in time to get a seat for the Cooking School. After that I went home and proceeded to do finish work on one article. I took the articles downstairs for Zachary to send off.
I had had Steve find picture numbers (on my camera card) earlier so I didn’t have to have Zachary upset because he would have to wait for these. I thought I put my computer stick in my pajama pocket, only after the fact that I wasn’t wearing my pajamas when I came home after the Cooking School. Anyway, at 4:30 I was headed for the Fair again. I got home about 7 o’clock and checked to see if the articles had been sent. As usual, it was a Sunday night and it seems Zachary always finds something to do instead of sending articles off.
Now it is 9 o’clock and Bethany yells from downstairs that she cannot find my computer stick. I thought I had it in my pajama pocket but on checking, found it was not. It is panic time for me! I had written on the top of the articles and was told “scanning” wouldn’t accept it if it had writing on it. What was I to do? I had six articles that would have to be re-typed and the hour was late. I started re-typing one of them when Bethany said she thought she would try and use her memory stick to get into my files.
Meanwhile I was re-tracking where I might have been and couldn’t find the stick anywhere. Her stick worked and the articles got sent out. I had a restless night trying to figure out where the stick was. On Monday morning, I went to get dressed to deliver Meals on Wheels. The memory stick was in my pants pocket, not my pajama pocket! I had been at the Fair and the stick was in that pants pocket. I was thankful I didn’t lose it at the Fair or it would have been a lost cause!
Going back to Sunday at noon when I attended the Cooking School program, we had a drink that we were offered when we signed in. It was just as I like it_strong! It brought back memories of when Barb Jorgensen and I walked beans. The first day, she brought some lemonade. It was so sweet that I couldn’t hardly get the glassful down. This is how she likes her drinks _sweet. Before we left the field, I told her I would bring something to drink the next day. The first mouthful of my drink that she took, told the story that it wasn’t sweet enough for her. In a nice way, she let me know that perhaps we should bring our own drinks from then on! My lemonade was strong and I wasn’t drinking all the time like I would have been if it was sweet!
There was a good chicken salad recipe given. Bethany says she is tired of “chicken”. This recipe has the chicken in so small pieces that I don’t think she would even know it was chicken! I’m going to try this and see what she says about it!
I went home to finish off an article and back off to the Fair for the capsule to be buried. Committee on that decided to not bury it for the next 25 years but rather take it to the Historic Society for keeping. It is a large medal chest that people at that time could put something in it. There were newspapers_Marcus News and S.C. Journal, a book with over 300 photos of businesses, other picture books, and Farm Journal. (I did put Zachary’s Lawn Care Service in it without him knowing it.) I won’t be around the next 25 years to see the expression on his face when this is taken out!
I enjoyed the Anton City Choir that performed north of the Food Stand. I didn’t know David Drefke played Sax in this group. I only wish Marcus could have a community band_maybe it would entice more school kids to be in band and choir.
I did try the chicken recipe. I cut the onion, celery, and green pepper up into very small pieces and cooked them for 10 minutes in the microwave. (If they would have been raw, no one would have eaten them!) Zachary thinks that cold salads should be at noon and a hot meal at night. (I served this at night.) Bethany would eat it again. I thought it was very good and in fact, early Saturday morning, I made a half recipe for me!)
On Wednesday morning, I left the Clinic and just by chance, we drove down past the pasture. There was a cat, hanging upside down and stuck in the fence. At first Zachary thought it was a tom cat and didn’t care about it. He changed his mind when he got closer and saw it wasn’t a mother cat but one of her kittens. I told him to cut the wire. Oh, no! It was a new fence. He called Bethany and she came down. Before she got there, three other kittens were lined up in front of the stuck one and stood there like, “we can’t do anything to help you”! He left and I told Bethany to get the towel out of the car and wrap it around the kitten so she could lift it up and relieve some of the pressure. She thought it was a dumb idea!
Zachary arrived with the wire cutters and took the towel and did wrap it around it. Bethany had already been scratched! Once it was lose, it took off with the other three following it. Bethany took the kitten to the Vet’s the next day as her leg was really swollen. The next morning she picked her up and was given some medicine that the cat has to have once a day with food. This kitten is friendly with Bethany so giving it medicine isn’t a problem. Her leg is getting better_it wasn’t broken or anything, but just swollen from the incident.
Steve and I delivered Meals on Wheels this past week. It was good to see the people after the long time we were not able to leave meals off for them.
I used almost all day Saturday and now part of Sunday to get the rest of the articles out for the newspaper. I’m still waiting for the results of the beard contest. If there were any pictures, e-mail them to the Marcus News. I would appreciate it. It was impossible for me to get the names down as they were read fast and the next winner was called right after that.
What do you think about the cemetery problem at Sergeant Bluff? It would take 8 months or so to move the graves to another place as the town is “land locked” and need this space. Have they thought that the early graves had no vaults? The coffins will not be in the best shape. There are always places where a marker was left and over the years has disappeared. Marcus has a place where no graves are being dug because there could be some already there. I don’t think these people are thinking about what they are going to find once they start to remove the graves. It is a problem that maybe they should have thought about years ago.
Most schools are starting on Monday, August 23. There are still issues about having to wear a mask in school. Hopefully these won’t be a problem in our school, but we will have to wait and see.
Remember to keep in your thoughts and prayers those who have lost loved ones recently to death, are dealing with health problems, are struggling to make finances work with what they have, and those who need to be working on making the distance between their families or friends shortened and over with. I saw on television where a person was asked to consider someone he would like to be like. Think about this_would you like to be like someone that on the outside looks fine but probably has inside issues? Be satisfied with yourself and count your blessings.