Fun at Clay County Fair in Spencer, Iowa

Bright sunny day here in Clarinda, IA at 11:00 am Wednesday - 76º with predicted high of 88º.

Have had a very entertaining and enjoyable time since last Friday when we took Patty Steckelberg with us and pulled the trailer to Spencer, IA and set up on the campgrounds Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights.  A few sprinkles on us as we got to Spencer and set up the trailer and then it rained in the evening, all night and into Saturday morning.  Before noon the rain had quit and rest of the day was enjoyable.  Sunday and Monday were bright sunny days.  CLICK HERE for info on the Clay County Fair,  Reputed to be the largest and best County Fair in the US.  It covers something under 60 acres of land.  

2021 CLAY COUNTY FAIR BY THE NUMBERS

YOUTH INVOLVEMENT - 767 4-H and FFA exhibitors from 42 counties in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska participated in livestock and human sciences events at the Fair.

Approximately 1,300 third and fourth grade students from 16 regional schools visited the Fair as part of the AgCiting and SciCiting field trip programs coordinated by ISU Extension Clay County.

FAIRGOER SPENDING - Fairgoer spending on food, beverage, specialty concessions, and carnival rides totaled $2,676,516.97, breaking an all-time record set in 2017.

Fairgoer spending set three single-day records for the first Sunday (Sept. 12), Wednesday (Sept. 15), and the second Saturday (Sept. 18).

GoldStar Amusements set single-day records for carnival ride revenue eight of the nine days of the Fair, including an all-time single-day record on Saturday, Sept. 18.

EXHIBITOR PARTICIPATION - 456 commercial exhibitors, concessionaires, and vendors showcased at the Fair. With at least 150 ag-specific exhibitors, the Fair again hosted the largest farm machinery and ag equipment show at any fair in the United States.

1,376 exhibitors participated in various open class livestock and non-livestock competitions.

ATTENDANCE - The Sleep Number Grandstand attracted 18,585 fairgoers to multiple stage performances and dirt events. The top two attended events were Skillet with special guest Ledger (2,763) and Josh Turner with special guest Dillon Carmichael (2,698).

 CLICK HERE   for story on Leroy Van Dike.  The primary reason we went this year was to see the Leroy Van Dyke Country Gold Show on Monday night.  

The show was about 2.5 hours long with each entertainer performing 5 to 7 songs and several of the band members from The Auctioneer's Band entertained individually also.

Us at the Country Gold Tour show

At left - Chris Malpass, Jimmy Fortune, David Frizzell, and Taylor Malpass.

At right - David Frizzell, T. Graham Brown, with Taylor Malpass.

At left - The Malpass Brothers (Chris & Taylor) with Mandy Barnett.

At right - Leroy Van Dyke -- it was his show, Country Gold Tour.  CLICK HERE for story on Leroy.  He will be 93 years old in October, talked considerable about Sedalia, MO where he grew up and graduated from High School.  He is going strong.  His youngest son plays in his "Auctioneer Band".  He wrote and sang "The Auctioneer" in 1956 and it has been a top song all these years.

We got a lot of walking exercise - here are some pictures of some of the things we saw and did.

Got some sandwiches in a little eatery, Jones Lunch on Monday.  Little place - note the apron curtains.

Had some pork one day.

Played some Pegs & Jokers

at the trailer.

Quite a K-9 Disc Connected show.  These are all trained, rescued dogs - headquarters in Florida.  Think he had about 5 or 6 dogs.  Click HERE to get some background on them.  Amazing work, this guy is almost a "dog whisperer" 

Lots of photos --- and a lot that I took and have not posted.  Fun 3 days, with a lot of exercise -- more walking than we are used to.

I will add this that I just read:  

What true love is:

"My parents were married for 55 years. One morning, my mom was going downstairs to make dad breakfast, she had a heart attack and fell. My father picked her up as best he could and almost dragged her into the truck. At full speed, without respecting traffic lights, he drove her to the hospital.

When he arrived, unfortunately she was no longer with us.

During the funeral, my father did not speak; his gaze was lost. He hardly cried.

That night, his children joined him. In an atmosphere of pain and nostalgia, we remembered beautiful anecdotes and he asked my brother, a theologian, to tell him where Mom would be at that moment. My brother began to talk about life after death, and guesses as to how and where she would be.

My father listened carefully. Suddenly he asked us to take him to the cemetery.

"Dad!" we replied, "it's 11 at night, we can't go to the cemetery right now!"

He raised his voice, and with a glazed look he said:

"Don't argue with me, please don't argue with the man who just lost his wife of 55 years."

There was a moment of respectful silence, we didn't argue anymore. We went to the cemetery, and we asked the night watchman for permission. With a flashlight, we reached the tomb. My father caressed her, prayed, and told his children, who watched the scene, moved:

"It was 55 years... you know? No one can talk about true love if they have no idea what it's like to share life with a woman."

He paused and wiped his face. "She and I, we were together in that crisis. I changed jobs ..." he continued. "We packed up when we sold the house and moved out of town. We shared the joy of seeing our children finish their careers, we mourned the departure of loved ones side by side, we prayed together in the waiting room of some hospitals, we support each other in pain, we hug each Christmas, and we forgive our mistakes... Children, now it's gone, and I'm happy, do you know why?

Because she left before me. She didn't have to go through the agony and pain of burying me, of being left alone after my departure. I will be the one to go through that, and I thank God. I love her so much that I wouldn't have liked her to suffer..."

When my father finished speaking, my brothers and I had tears streaming down our faces. We hugged him, and he comforted us, "It's okay, we can go home, it's been a good day."

That night I understood what true love is; It is far from romanticism, it does not have much to do with eroticism, or with sex, rather it is linked to work, to complement, to care, and, above all, to the true love that two really committed people profess."

Peace in your hearts.

Author: Unknown

Until next time, Lynn

Dad's birthday

 Well, 118 years ago yesterday my Dad was born in Pana, Illinois - in 1904.  When he was about 10 years old his family moved to Huron, SD where they lived in town for a while and ended up on a farm, I think to the north, northeast of Huron, where he grew up.  With the drouth and depression in full swing in about 1932 he, and a brother, went south into Nebraska where they hired out and picked corn for 1 cent per bushel, shucking by hand and working pretty much sunup to sunset.  When he went into the town of Callaway, NE to call home, he went to the Central's Office to make the call.  My mom was operating the switchboard at the time.  They were married June 6, 1934.  Since Dad was 39 years old when I was born I didn't know him as a younger man, seemed like he was always a little old.  They lived just south of Callaway when I was born, and moved to the place where I grew up about 7 miles south of Callaway to a ranch and farm that he lived

on for the rest of his life.

He passed away in March of1978 at age of 73 years.  Photo at right was last photo I took of him, and Mom when we were home for a visit in January that year.

He used to talk about how things had changed during his lifetime----what would he think about all the changes that have happened since 1978?

Later, Lynn

Great Bluegrass Music Festival in Macon, MO

 Welcome back!  Been a while since I have written.  For our first outing (not counting drives to doctors) since Phyllis' knee surgery, we went to Macon, MO last Tuesday.  About a three and a half hour drive from here with our trailer; arrived in Macon at noon to eat a bite at Hardees in town and then went the mile or so south of town to Macon County Fair Grounds.  A lot of people had come early and not too many spaces still available in the regular campground.  They were starting to put them on the grass area away from the buildings where the music was to be performed.

Our site.  Tuesday afternoon, after setting up, we didn't do much.  On Wednesday evening we listened to several people jamming.  One group around some trailers, and one group at stage #3.

CLICK HERE for Walter Matthau on #1 & #2

The Festival ran from 10 am each day until 10 pm, with three stages running all the time for three full days.  We spent a lot of time with a lot of shows.  Among our favorites were Terry Smith, the Baker Family, Duke Mason, Mike Hughes, Mike & Tesa Hildenbrand, Big John & Connie, Jacob Austin Band, Josh Daniels, Vance Monday backing up many performances on his Pedal Steel Guitar.

 Duke Mason put on several hours of entertainment.  He is so full of energy and can sing anything.  Delightful fellow.  We have heard him in Texas and also last year at Macon.

Vance Monday on the Pedal Steel Guitar has to be one of the best in the country.  He accompanied all of Duke Mason's performances as well as many others. He is from Chillicothe, MO.

Duke performing with Terry Durr on the drums and David  Elifrits on guitar.

Enjoyed many hours of The Baker Family.  We have seen them many places, including in the Rio Grande Valley.  They are scheduled to be at Kenwood in January.  They chat very little between songs and play, play, play.  The little gal, Corina, has a terrific voice.  They boys do well, also.

Of course, Terry Smith, from Nashville

is one of our favorites.  Have followed

him for years and he has been in

Texas, though not for the last few

years.

Terry Smith

Tesa and Mike

Hildenbrand from

here in Southwest

Iowa with Mike

Hughes accompanying them.

Mike Hughes, from Oregon, MO had many performances of his own and backed several other performers.  Here his sister, from Albany, MO sang one number with him.

Jacob Austin has really long hair, wears a neck collar, rings on ten fingers, arm bans; but

plays a mean mandolin and sings

a variety of songs.  He is

accompanied by his mom & dad. 

We had weak cell phone signals--none inside the buildings--and not enough signal to use the phone for a hot-spot to power the computer to write up a blog.  Could only get 4 channels on over-the-air TV, PBS channels, but we didn't spend much time trying to watch TV.

Until next time, Lynn

A jellyfish bad day

 

 

Bob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers in Louisiana. He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs. 

Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to radio station 103.5 on FM dial in Indiana, who was sponsoring a worst job experience contest. Needless to say, she won. Read his letter below:

~Hi Sue,
Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother. Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you've been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it's not so bad after all. Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job. As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It's a wet suit. This time of year the water is quite cool. So what we do to keep warm is this: We have a diesel powered industrial water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose.
Now this sounds like a darn good plan, and I've used it several times with no complaints. What I do, when I get to the bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the back of my wet suit. This floods my whole suit with warm water. It's like working in a Jacuzzi. Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it.
This only made things worse. Within a few seconds my ass started to burn. I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done. In agony I realized what had happened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit. Now, since I don't have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn't stick to it, however, the crack of my ass was not as fortunate. When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my ass.
I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically. Needless to say, I aborted the dive.
I was instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression stops totaling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the surface to begin my chamber dry decompression. When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brass helmet. As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my butt as soon as I got in the chamber. The cream put the fire out, but I couldn't take a crap for two days because my ass was swollen shut.
So, next time you're having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your ass. Now repeat to yourself, 'I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.' Whenever you have a bad day, ask yourself, is this a jellyfish bad day?
Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift

A tad of rain, still warm in August

84º and a little muggy with bright sunshine - had .3" rain in gauge this morning, which included a couple good sized bugs--maybe .25" rain overnight.

 A big and a little rabbit by the hedge at back of our lot.

Been 

getting some

tomatoes

from the back

yard.

The new Hospital's Therapy Building

has all the exterior windows & doors

on it.

Aired up the

tires on the pickup

and trailer, then

put about 10 gallons

of fresh water in trailer.

Should have full hook-up

in Macon, MO next

week, but carry a little.

Back yard.

What is a Pessimist?  The real-world dictionary defines a 'pessimist' as an optimist with no experience.

What do you call a typo on headstone?  - A grave mistake.

Later, Lynn, st

You may not have known this about Martha Raye

 

It was well recognized that Martha Raye endured less comfort and more danger than any other Vietnam entertainer. Don't let the sun go down without reading this about Martha Raye.

The most unforgivable oversight of TV is that her shows were not taped.
I was unaware of her credentials or where she is buried. Somehow I just can't see Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton, or Jessica Simpson doing what this woman (and the other USO women, including Ann Margaret & Joey Heatherton) did for our troops in past wars.
Most of the old time entertainers were made of a lot sterner stuff than today's crop of activists bland whiners. The following is from an Army Aviator who takes a trip down memory lane:
"It was just before Thanksgiving '67 and we were ferrying dead and wounded from a large GRF west of Pleiku. We had run out of body bags by noon, so the Hook (CH-47 CHINOOK) was pretty rough in the back
All of a sudden, we heard a 'take-charge' woman's voice in the rear.
There was the singer and actress, Martha Raye, with a SF (Special Forces) beret and jungle fatigues, with subdued markings, helping the wounded into the Chinook, and carrying the dead aboard. ‘Maggie' had been visiting her SF 'heroes' out 'west'.
We took off, short of fuel, and headed to the USAF hospital pad at Pleiku.
As we all started unloading our sad pax's, a 'Smart Mouth' USAF Captain said to Martha,
“Ms Ray, with all these dead and wounded to process, there would not be time for your show!"
To all of our surprise, she pulled on her right collar and said,
“Captain, see this eagle? I am a full 'Bird' in the US Army Reserve, and on this is a 'Caduceus' which means I am a Nurse, with a surgical specialty, now, take me to your wounded!"
He said, "Yes ma'am. follow me."
Several times at the Army Field Hospital in Pleiku, she would 'cover' a surgical shift, giving a nurse a well-deserved break.
Martha is the only woman buried in the SF (Special Forces) cemetery at Ft Bragg.
Hand Salute! A great lady. I did not know this about Martha Ray. I thought you might like it.