Dad - Kermit Miles

Yesterday was the 122nd anniversary of my Dad's, Kermit Miles, birthday.

 

Some more of my paint by numbers pictures

 It is 98º here in Clarinda, IA at 4:35 pm Friday September 4, 2027 with a "feel like" of 109º.

One thing I can do while sitting in the air conditioned basement while it is over a hundred degrees "feel like" outside is the computerized paint by number.  With most of these having 150 or more numbers/colors and many having between 100 and 200 of each number/color they can be quite challenging.   Here are today's pictures-- (Click on picture to enlarge)

Hot again here in Iowa

 96º with "feel like" of 105º here in Clarinda, IA at 5:45 pm Wednesday - outside - I am guessing it is about 72º here in the basement at my desk -- much more comfortable.

This is our 10-year old great grandaughter
Jessica that visisted us back in July --  taken in 2017

Another old photo - about 25 years 
ago at our place west of town.

the Four Miles Brothers - 1996, Cape Girardeau

Solar Battery for pump under the leaves.

We are getting a few tomatoes every day from the four plants - two in containers.  I was wateriing them with the solar powered pump that dripped for 10 minutes four times a day.  But now I hand water, with some added fertilizer, each day as no sun reaches the battery charger. 

Little over a month ago the solar
didn't have competition.

Solar Pump is back under there, really!

Some roses on the little rose bushes planted last year.

Decided the white I had painted the rose trellis when I added the front three posts and four rails was to garish so repainted the 
trellis similar to house to camouflage it a little.  

We attended a meeting at Church Sunday with Linda, the Choir Director/Organist.  Starting practice middle of this month - we will be gone.  May be able to sing one Sunday in October before we head south.

Next time - LC

WWII. Rationing

 

      "July 1943. WWII. Rationing. Canned food went to troops. Fresh food barely made it to cities. USDA said: “Plant Victory Gardens. Feed yourselves.”

     In McPherson County, Kansas, the men were gone — drafted or working war plants in Wichita. Left behind: 42 widows, average age 67, all from German Mennonite families. Their kids called them the “Garden Grandmas.”

     Problem: no men to plow. No gas for tractors. County had 1 horse left — blind in one eye.

     So Grandma Hilda Penner, 71, organized them. They used push plows from 1890. Hooked 4 grandmas to a plow like oxen. Took turns. 6 AM to 9 PM. They broke 18 acres behind the church. Planted everything: potatoes, beans, cabbage, onions. No fences, so they slept in shifts with brooms to beat off rabbits and deer.

     They canned 9,000 quarts that fall. Ran a depot out of the church basement. Rule: take what you need, leave what you can. Nobody in the county went hungry in winter ’43. City folks from Wichita drove 60 miles with empty jars.

     The War Department sent a man to film them. He said “smile.” Hilda said: “We smile when the cellar’s full.” She was holding a plow, not a flag.

     They kept it up till 1945. Last jar was dated August 14 — V-J Day. Hilda wrote on it: “We won too.”

Some of my work

 Here are some of my recent fingertip paintings by number on the phone.

More later. LC

Almost end of August - nice weather in Clarinda, IA

 Well, it is 85º here in Clarinda, IA at 3:00 pm on Wednesday - bright sunny day.

I posted the last blog after midnight this morning by copying and pasting on the telephone.  We have always followed the Iowa State Fair and attended many times over the years.  Several years we were in our travel trailer.  We drove up just for the day a week ago tomorrow, parking at Southridge Mall and riding the provided city bus to the fairgrounds.  We were told the grass parking at the fair was pretty bad with the rains the several days before.  We always watch Iowa Public Television the 6 days they have fair coverage every year

Walked the Varied Industries Building and looked a bit around the grounds then went to the Maytag Theater building where we got off our feet in the air conditioning and sat while watching a cooking presentation.

This farmer and his mother made a dish with steak and Hollandaise sauce with a vegetable I forget the name of.  We all got a sample when it was finished.

Watched several heats of kids racing on hot wheels

Waited in line a bit at the Cattlemen's Beef Headquarters for lunch.  Phyllis had their Hot Beef Sundae and I had the Cattleman's Steak Wrap.  Good eating.

Walked through the Agriculture Building where the butter cow and several other butter sculptures were as well as lots of flowers and vegetables were on display.  With our age we didn't cover near the amount of ground as in years past, but saw a lot of things.  I wonder some times if I have Pre-mature  Rigor Mortis.  We took the bus back to the pickup and were back in Clarinda by 6:30 that evening - had left home before 7 am in the morning for the 132 mile drive.

This last Sunday was the last Sunday for our Paster Andy Rubenking -- retiring after 19 years here.  They had a noon pot luck Dinner that was quite well attended

Always mowing the grass, it seems.

They don't show up real well, but these bright
blue tiny flowers are in the Railroad ROW behind
and below our house.

This rose is on one of the 2-year old bushes

Till another time, LCM