Warm in Iowa - Shenandoah's Shenfest

 86º with bright sunshine here in Clarinda, IA at 5 pm on Monday.  Cools to in 50's at night, but warms up to mid to upper 80's for the rest of the week.  Makes a lot of sweat if you are cutting brush/trees!

Yesterday I took out another tree on our side of the fence along the north line, west end of the 80.  I coat the stumps with Tordon RTU that will kill the stump.  

Last evening, after mowing the lawn, I went down into the Railroad Cut and discovered another dead tree that had fallen.  Took the Chainsaw on the mower and went and cut it up and laid the pieces up on the bank to help make mulch and help with erosion.

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Saturday was the annual "Shenfest" in neighboring Shenandoah, Iowa CLICK HERE for KMA report  This year is the 100th year anniversary of the radio station KMA and they had pancake breakfast served in the street in front of their offices by the local Fire Department and had tours of the station.  We heard a lot of interviews of old radio personalities on the radio while driving to Shenandoah and later toured the Shenandoah Museum downtown where a lot of history of KMA and KFNF - both early radio stations owned by seed nurseries in Shenandoah.  KMA by May Seed & Nursery and KFNF by Henry Fields Seed & Nursery

When coming out from our tour of KMA we visited with Tom Beavers who was on KMA many years ago and we had been acquainted with.  He talked of several Clarinda people and also spoke of his wife passing this last winter.  

Before going to the museum we had sat on a bench to rest and visited with Bill & Sarah Annan, customers at the elevator some 30-50 years ago, stopped by and we had a good visit.

Where we visited with the Annan's with right near the childhood home of Don & Phil Everly's home that was moved to that location many years ago.  Both have passed now.  A lot of history is HERE if you want to read it.

The old Johnson Bros. feed mill building in Shenandoah has been made into The Market at The Mill and they had quite a few vendors there.  I think there was talk of making some of the upper floors into living space.  HERE is an article about the building.  We worked some with competitor Carol Johnson at Johnson Bros and he helped me get rid of some grain in the final days as we got out of the elevator in 1994.

Beside The Market at the Mill were quite a few old tractors on display.  We got to visit with several old elevator customers who had their tractors there.

We watched the parade from 2 pm to a little after 3 pm.  Only had one horse at the end of the parade.

There were at least a half-dozen High School Bands in the parade, one from as far away as Creston, IA

Kids, and some not-so-young kids, were all along the street scooping up the candy that most of the paradors threw.

Don Ferguson, from Ansley, Nebraska, became a close friend of ours, along with his wife Doris, when we moved into the Kenwood RV Park in Texas in 2010.  He and his wife Doris had farmed near Ansley for many years and upon retiring in 1995 they started coming to Kenwood.  He didn't know a stranger and was active in a lot of the "goings ons" in Kenwood.  Doris passed away in 2020 after spending many years in a nursing home in Broken Bow.  Don moved into a nursing home in Broken Bow that same year and didn't return to Kenwood.  He passed on September 16, 2025.  We had stopped in Broken Bow many summers to see him and his family over the years.  He will be missed.

One evening last week we drove to Villisca, IA and got to visit with our friend Mary Jo Herzberg.  She, and her husband Oliver, were instrumental in our going to Texas when we retired and had spent a lot of time with her and Oliver over the years.

Some of Phyllis' flowers by our front door.

Later, LC Miles

Some rain in Page County, Iowa

67º with light rain here in Clarinda, IA at 11:15 pm Tuesday.  Light rain much of the night, had just over one-quarter inch this morning, to be rainy the rest of the day.  I dumped a little over 1.5" from the rain gauge for time while we were gone.  The city of Clarinda was under a boil water order several days before we left,,,,,,and it is still in effect.

   We lucked out Saturday at the Festival -- Rain was predicted for the area, but bypassed some three times and went around.  So, had cooler with being overcast and a bit of a breeze.  Had full schedule of bands that day.

We pulled in to our drive about 3:30 pm Sunday coming from Starvy Creek, MO, took couple hours to unload everything from the trailer and the pickup and then spot the trailer on driveway to the shop.  With so much markings on the concrete from the Burr Oak tree that is usually over the trailer, we left it closer to the main driveway so no more nuts would fall on roof and discolor.

After mowing the yard early Monday morning I spent several hours at the farm cutting trees.

The soybeans need some more maturing before combining.

 

The last 2 weeks, we pulled the trailer 617 miles back and forth between Clarinda and Starvy Creek Bluegrass Campground near Conroy, MO.

Then we drove another 765 miles between Starvy Creek and Cape Girardeau and Starvy Creek to Branson & back.

Later, Lynn

First Full Day at Starvy Creek Bluegrass Festival

 70º with overcast skies here at Starvy Creek Bluegrass Campgrounds at 11:00 am with high of 78º and rain predicted noon to 2 pm.  Went without rain yesterday.

There were a few changes from this poster as printed well before the Festival.

Last song Rhonda Vincent & The Rage last night

Lil' Roy & Lizzy put on two good shows yesterday

We have followed Lil' Roy & Lizzy for years, even gone to their own music festival twice in Lincolnton, Georgia.

This Dalton Harper Band was enjoyable.

Another new band, to us, The Missouri River Band

First time we had heard Leroy Troy.
You can get a lot of his songs at THIS SITE

Got back to trailer at 15 minutes before 11 pm last night.  No rain overnight.  

It is to start up in a bit - more later.

Starvy Creek Bluegrass Festival September 2025

 69 degrees at Starvy Creek Bluegrass Festival Campground at 10:15 am Friday with high to be 85 degrees -- with no rain today.  Yesterday we had no rain..............until the music started at 6;00 pm and almost through the first group's first song with it starting to rain a very large lightning strike near us stopped everything.  We hiked the about 100 yards to the trailer - first half uphill -- and just as we got inside it started to pour.  When you are in a trailer with the roof only about 6.5 feet above your head you hear every raindrop!  Local TV said this was the first rain in 60 days!  Reported just under an inch in several places.

A trio had done a terrific job of the Star Spangled Banner about 5 minutes before six; the Dixie group was introduced and did one song before things were suspended.

Dixie Union was only scheduled for one hour yesteday, so they had short engagement.  The Little Roy & Lizzy Show was missed but they perform twice today.  By 8 pm the rain let up some and there was no lightning in the area so they started back up.  We went down to our chairs -- with the slight drizzle for another 20 minutes and then quite a bit for the 50 to 65 foot old-growth trees around/above us to have the leaves gave up their moisture for another 15 or 20 minutes.

Ralph Stanley II is the son of Ralph Stanley who was popular in the 1950's with his brother Carter Stanley - the Stanley Brothers.  He brought up a lot of history and did songs of his father and uncle's era.

We got back to the trailer about 10:45 pm.

Sun is now out, I have the various plastic sheets we used to cover the chairs drying out in the back of the pickup and we will head down afterbit to the stage area.

Later, Lynn