None of them had any idea yet what was coming.
Image Of The Month
Month: January 2022
Travel Log: 1998 Pine Lake, Part Three
July 23 – Shelly and Jacob were up first and into town for a paper. None to be found in Eldora, so they made their way through the departing RAGBRAI’ers to Steamboat Rock. No paper there either so back to the cabin. The kids ate breakfast and then we were off to the Hardin County Fair! The kids both had money left and were so excited about the rides and games and prizes they were going to win. We parked and entered through what must be the back of the fairgrounds and checked out the livestock barns. There were the usual cows and sheep in a couple of barns. Another contained roosters, chickens, rabbits, ducks and geese. We walked on to the next barn and outside was a dog show, while inside was a pig show (I was wondering where all the pigs were) Next was an open area where some local kids had some games set up (Little basketballs to be thrown through a little hoop, plastic balls to be tossed into buckets, etc.) Then on to the last two barns which contained all the fair contest entries including baked goods, quilts, veggies, flowers, photos, clothing, drawings and all manner of crafts. Looking out the door of the last barn told us we had walked the length of of the little fair, there were no rides and the only games were the ones we had past. Shelly and I could see on the kids faces that this was it. We waited for their reactions. “Can we play some games now?” Shelly and I were relived and proud of them both for trying to make the best of it. They bought their tickets and played some games. We stopped for some lunch and then decided to check out the other Eldora city park. The kids played on the new wooden playground called Twister Park (very nice) and then back to our cabin. Shelly took the kids swimming again while I stayed behind to prepare Hobos for supper. When Shelly and the kids got back we started the fire, enjoying it before letting it burn down to cook on. Shelly and I ran the boombox out one of the windows and listened to music while the kids roller bladed and played. Everyone enjoyed the hobos when they were done and we spent the rest of the evening listening to music and enjoying the campfire.
July 24 – Up and at it for our last full day here at the cabin. Relaxed and lounged until I served a late lunch of almost all the leftovers in the fridge mixed with a dozen eggs. Then we were off to Upper Pine Lake so Shelly and kids could go around the lake in a paddle boat. When they got back they talked me into a canoe trip around the lake. Back to the cabin, and then a hike. Shelly and the kids then drove into town to watch “Mulan” at the Eldora Grand Theater. They came back tired and we all relaxed, cleaned out the rest of the fridge, and went to bed. I am tired now and ready for home, as we all are.
Part one can be read here.
Part two can be read here.
Don’t Stop
“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.”
Gabriel García Márquez
2021 Reading
Once again I kept track of all my reading for a year. The reading goal for 2021 was pretty much the same as for 2020, to make my way through the large library of unread books I have accumulated over the years. There were just a few books I started and decided not to finish, but all the rest made it on the list. My nine favorites are in bold.
One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding By Robert Glover
Narrative of My Captivity among the Sioux Indians By Fanny Kelly
One Man’s Meat By E.B. White
Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph By Doon Arbus
The Bridge of San Luis Rey By Thornton Wilder
The World Without Us By Alan Weisman
The Magic Never Ends By John Ryan Duncan
Natural Cures They Don’t Want You To Know About By Kevin Trudeau
The World of the American Indian By National Geographic Society
The First Century By William K. Klingaman
Hermann Hesse Poems Translated By James Wright
The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told By Rick Beyer
The Greatest Stories Never Told By Rick Beyer
Six Short Masterpieces By Tolstoy Translated By Margaret Wettlin
Schott’s Original Miscellany By Ben Schott
American Scripture By Pauline Maier
We Pointed Them North By “Teddy Blue” Abbott and Helena Huntington Smith
Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson By Alan Pell Crawford
Historical Viewpoints, Notable Articles from American Heritage, John A. Garraty, Editor Vol. 1 to 1877, 4th Ed.
The Road To Wellville By T. Coraghessan Boyle
365 Four-Star Videos By Leslie Hamilton
An E.B. White Reader Edited By Watt and Bradford
Best Known Works Of Robert Louis Stevenson
From Mexican Days to the Gold Rush By Marshall and Buffum
The Walking Drum By Louis L’Amour
One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich By Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Telling Writing By Ken Macrorie
Folklore Myths And Legends Of Britain By Reader’s Digest
The Rockefellers By Peter Collier and David Horowitz
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter By Carson McCullers
Any Survivors? By Martin Freud
Selected Tales And sketches By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Soldier’s Pay By William Faulkner
Two Storms
In the middle of December we were warned of a big rain storm coming our way from the west, and checking radar online we saw a vicious looking red streak sawing across the state, with us right in the way. That gave us plenty of time to prepare, with the accompanying long term dread of what might happen. Later we could see it coming off to the west, maybe 20 or more miles away, with big dark clouds and plenty of lighting. As it approached the streaking lightening fired up along with the strobe lighting, the tornado sirens began blaring and the wind was gusting at over 80 miles per hour. The rain was coming horizontally and dirt and debris were flying all around. We took the dogs to the basement and stayed there until the all clear, about 20 minutes later. The next couple of days revealed how close we came to a tornado, as about 15 miles to our east along Hwy 169 there were scattered parts of grains bins, out buildings, trees and some houses.
About a month later, in mid-January, the next winter storm hit us with snow this time, around 12 inches according to the local weather report, but it looked like around 6 inches to us. Plenty of 3 foot high drifts, though, after the 30 plus mph winds kicked in. The old John Deere 420 (with a snow thrower mounted on the front) fired up and took care of the mess again. Maybe this snow will help a little with the now two year old drought we have been experiencing. There were big cracks in the yard before this latest storm. I am not rooting for more snow, more like hoping for a rainy spring.
The Other Half
At the start of 2021 I decided to keep track of what shows, documentaries and movies I watched for an entire year, and this list is the total for the other half of 2021, from July through the end of December. The first half of the list can be found here.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
The Road To Wellville (1994)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Nobody (2021)
Centurion (2010)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Stella Dallas (1937)
J.R. “Bob” Dobbs and the Church of the Sub Genius (2020)
Big Love – Entire Series
Goliath – Entire Series
Paycheck (2003)
Every Breath You Take (2021)
600 Miles (2016)
The Way of the Gun (2000)
Sweet Girl (2021)
A Night in Casablanca (1946)
The Book of Eli (2010)
May It Last: A Portrait of The Avett Brothers (2017)
Stevenson Lost and Found (2019)
Hindenburg: The New Evidence (2021)
Marley (2012)
Son of a Gun (2015)
Phantom (2013)
The Girl With All the Gifts (2017)
Gangs Of New York (2002)
Highlander (1986)
Misery (1990)
City Slickers (1991)
Death Race 2000 (1975)
Homeboy (1988)
Bad Reputation (2019)
Love, Gilda (2019)
The Paperboy (2012)
Days of Heaven (1978)
The Transfiguration (2017)
LBJ (2018)
Splinter (2008)
A Quiet Place (2018)
A Quiet Place 2 (2021)
Lady You Shot Me: Life And Death Of Sam Cooke (2019)
Tideland (2006)
Leave No Trace (2016)
The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Hud (1963)
Captain Fantastic (2016)
I’m Not There (2007)
The Greasy Strangler (2016) (One of the weirdest movies I have seen)
The Mystery of Picasso (1956)
Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something (2020)
High-Rise (2016)
Blood on Her Name (2019)
Ham Balls
This delicious recipe came to us from Shelly’s Aunt Shirley. We have made it both with and without the sauce, and have used brown gravy instead of the sauce in the recipe. A note on the recipe card says “Shirley divided in half – made plenty.”
Ingredients:
2 ½ lbs ground pork (Shirley used ground beef instead)
3 ½ lbs ground ham
1 cup bread crumbs
¼ cup dry milk
4 eggs
1 ¾ cups water
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients. Shape into balls and brown in 400 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes on a baking sheet. Transfer to a clean, greased 9 X 13 inch pan. Pour sauce over balls and bake at 325 for 30 minutes covered.
Sauce:
1 ¾ cup tomato juice
1/3 cup vinegar
1 ½ cup brown sugar
¾ tablespoon mustard
Mix all ingredients well.
Crazy Little Flowers
Once a month I highlight a piece of art I have created and posted on my Fine Art America site. This one is titled Crazy Little Flowers from the Flowers and Plants Collection.
Off The Back Porch 