Next Sunday is Easter Sunday! All this coming week we will be getting ready for Easter Sunday by a Thursday service and Good Friday. Passover begins for the Jewish people on Wednesday, April 5.
Snow and high winds were predicted for early Saturday morning with road conditions not good. Snow did come but by Saturday afternoon, it had melted!
Heartland Care Center invited kids to their traditional Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday, April 2 at 1:30 p.m. There were some residents that came out to watch the “hunt”. It seemed that there were some adults that were just as enthusiastic as the kids—could it be that they were remembering the time they went “hunting for eggs?”
Last Sunday I had called Sherree Ogren about taking a picture of her to go along with the article I had written on her. I left a message for her to call me back when I could come and take this picture or—if someone was at her house, they could take one of her on their cell phone and e-mail it to the Marcus News. I would have to have this picture by 8 o’clock that night.
About 4 o’clock on Sunday, my phone rang and it was a cell phone and I wondered if Sherree had gotten a cell phone. When I answered it I said, “I’m glad you called me back. If no one is at your house that could take a picture of you, when would it be a good time for me to come?”
The caller said, “Oh, I don’t need a picture.” I replied that it was necessary and when it would be a good time to come before 8 p.m. as I just found out my articles had to be in before 8 o’clock.”
The more I thought of this caller, I didn’t think it was Sherree and it sounded like Shirley Shea! I hadn’t talked to her since Sept. 1 when I went to Heartland Care to take a picture of 3 of the residents all celebrating their birthday on the same day! So I asked if I was talking to Shirley Shea—yes, I was! We talked for over an hour. I was glad she called even though it wasn’t who I expected to call!
I finished reading a book by Roger Stoner—“Life with My Wife”. There were many articles in this book that reminded me of things I would do. He was upset when his wife left him carrying her purse while she went off doing something else. Especially when a little kid commended to his mother that “that man is carrying a purse!” Many times I have had Steve carry my purse when I am taking pictures. I wonder if this bothers him like Stoner?! This book is at the Marcus Public Library and is one that really tells about things that bother Stoner.
My dryer is still sitting in the kitchen, but I don’t care because if it goes outside to the garage to be worked on, it will never make it back inside. I do have the dryer that wasn’t being used by someone and it is doing a good job for me. Now the laundry room is being taken apart to put base boards on. This room has been without for 25 years, so why the hurry?! My kitchen looks like a consignment place for clothes—hopefully this will go to people that can use what is there. I only wish I was closer to Mississippi where some have nothing. Where do you begin to start over when there is virtually nothing? We should count our blessings.
Now the Easter Bunny might be a popular animal but the common rabbit in our areas is not! South Sioux City has a South Sioux City Community Orchard that had over 100 apple trees that began producing in 2019. There were 370 people, including volunteers that picked 776 pounds of apples from these trees in September last year. There were 736 visitors that came to the orchard in 2022.
Now they were looking forward to an even better “apple picking year” this year—that is until the rabbits took over! A cold December and a lot of snow likely left the rabbits without much of their regular winter food sources, so they went looking and found this apple orchard. Some of the younger trees had chicken wire around the trunks but snow drifted in high enough around some of them that the rabbits reached above the protected areas, or they crawled under the chicken wire to get to their meal.
Rabbits even destroyed several saplings of numerous tree species that were stored at the orchard for free distribution to city residents this spring. Even some of the grape vines got destroyed. The cherry and raspberry bushes were found nutritious for the rabbits, but they will grow back. However the rabbits were choosy and didn’t touch cherry, plum, peach, and pear trees.
Rabbits typically prefer younger trees and their tender bark over the rougher, older trees, but in this orchard—they took old and young alike. They chewed the bark off of trunks and any low-hanging branches up to three or four feet off the ground. It was in January that the rabbit destruction was found, but it was too late. Rabbits had destroyed 108 apple trees and left 25.
The dead trees are being cut down and replaced. The people in charge are looking for grant funding to pay for new trees that are probably about $50 each—that is until the person selling them knows they need them and suddenly the cost goes up.
This orchard is three acres of former farmland on East 17th St. near Siouxland Freedom Park that is owned by the city and maintained by city workers and volunteers. It has more than 200 fruit trees. From the beginning, this orchard was to create a community space to promote healthy eating habits with fresh, free fruit. There is a tall fence around the orchard to keep deer out, but how to you keep a hungry rabbit from getting in? It has taken from 2014 until 2020 for these trees to produce—now the replacements will take just as long. It takes five years for apple trees to grow large enough to produce fruit and now it will be a long wait for maybe even 7 years. Through this horrible experience, those in charge are looking for ways to NOT have this happen again. So, rabbits, if a new way is found to protect their orchard, you will have to find another source of food in the winter!
There has been a place advertising shrimp for $6. Most of these ads or advertisements, the customer has to come in to eat. I went for the $6 one and found no ads or anything on their menu for that price—but it was $11+ for the shrimp. This will be the first and last for my visit to this place.
I had an experience two times (at another place) where I ordered a meat sandwich with “just a little mustard”. Both times, the inside of the bun (top and bottom) had mustard spread on it. Naturally the meat got it from both sides. My mouth (inside) was broken out both times so it had to be from this mustard. IF I go there again, I will have NO mustard. I don’t know why some people have to overdo (maybe they like lots of mustard) when the customer doesn’t.
Remember in your thoughts and prayers those who have lost friends/loved ones to death, have had their lives changed, are struggling to make ends meet even though they have a job; help those who desire “wants” rather than “needs” that prestige isn’t everything and be with those who are still trying to shorten the distance between family/friends to build a bridge instead of a wall.
Have a good Easter and count your blessings.
I will close with this quote from Herodotus (484 B.C.-425 B.C.) Greek historian: “Of all possessions, a friend is the most precious.”