Slow Boat to Asia.

      The USS Pickaway was the liberty ship that transported our battalion of Marines from San Diego to Okinawa in 1961. She wasn't fast, about 13 knots top speed, but she was steady maintaining that speed 24 hours a day. That's why the trip to Okinawa, with a brief stop in Hawaii, took 28 days. 

    Much of the ships crew of 300 was new to sea duty and the 1200 Marines didn't have their sea legs yet so motion sickness abounded. Two mid-west farmers managed to avoid the illness; Ed and Al. Some Marines got queasy standing on the pier and watching the ship's gentle roll. At least one was still sick two weeks later when we reached Hawaii, though he made the mistake of staying in bed. Had he moved topside for fresh air likely he'd have recovered earlier.

    Yesterday's post about sugar cane in Hawaii made me think about how we got to the island. Trough the magic of the internet this history of the ship surfaced.  Not a very large ship to transport 1500 men. 

 USS Pickaway was a Haskell-class attack transport that saw service with the US Navy in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. She was of the VC2-S-AP5 Victory ship design type and named after Pickaway County, Ohio. Wikipedia

Length: 455′

Construction started: September 1, 1944

Launched: November 5, 1944

Beam: 62′

Takk for alt,

Al

Recommended Reading

          Not much sugar cane is grown in South Dakota. Until enlisting in the Marines my horizons were pretty narrow.  First the Marines took me to California and then to Asia. On the way to Asia the ship we were on stopped for a few days in Hawaii. That is where I first saw fields of sugar cane and smelled the burnt sugar odor of cane processing. Much sugar cane is grown in Thailand and trucks piled 10 or 12 feet high with cane are a common sight on the roads. There's even a special cane truck made in Japan that has no doors on the cab. Still I knew little about its cultivation.

      When Natalie Baszile, editor of  WE ARE EACH OTHER'S HARVEST: CELERATING AFRICAN AMERICAN FARMERS, LAND AND LEGACY  wanted to write a novel about African American farmers she chose sugar cane farming in Louisiana as the location for Queen Sugar. With some familiarity with farming much of the story is familiar to me. However, I knew nothing about farming sugar cane, but now I do.

       The book began a bit slowly for me but trusting MJ, who gave me the book and recommended it, I persisted and am very glad that I did. The protagonist, a young African American widow who grew up in California relocated to Louisiana to operate an eight hundred acre sugar cane farm she inherited. She brings with her a daughter age 11, and joins extended family who never left the South.  Racial and family dynamics come together for an intriguing read.

    Yes, I'm very glad I read it...thanks, MJ!   😀

Takk for alt,

Al

An experience common to farmers!

       It's impossible to have everything one needs in the shop. My small debacle yesterday with my sprayer broke the valve needed to control the  water pressure.  Bypassing it didn't work. A quick drive, 40 miles round trip, to Running's Farm Supply in Brookings netted a replacement valve. This morning when I tried to replace the valve I found that it needed an adaptor. Why didn't I try replacing it yesterday?  😖 So it was back to Running's this morning for an adaptor that cost $4.04! but 40 miles of driving. Countless farmers could tell countless tales of similar experiences. The adaptor was essential for the operation of the sprayer.

    This experience reminded me of the Benjamin Franklin quote below. 

Benjamin Franklin > Quotes > Quotable Quote

“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”

― Benjamin Franklin

Yes, I have such serious problems! 😄

Takk for alt,

Al

Good and bad.

      With a machine shop on main street it's hard to hide. When something goes wrong there are witnesses. Embarrassment follows, but that's indication of undue pride. So, that's the bad side.

    Now for the good. Why did Micky decide to drive his tractor with a loader to visit the butcher shop today? Just as there was need of some serious lifting he exited the butcher shop, mounted his tractor and drove across the street to give me a lift. Had the problem occurred in the field where would help be found? Then a farmer, Tim, exited the bank supplied the muscle and know-how that was needed. Yes, the good far out weighs the bad!  

   Harvest news: One of the BTOs has harvested some large cornfields in spite of high moisture corn. Why? The drought has made corn susceptible to ear drop. The corn plant, under stress from the lack of moisture, channeled its energy into the ear of corn away from the corn stalk. The stalks are fragile allowing ears to fall to the ground and thus be lost.  So the choice is harvest wet or lose ears. 

Takk for alt,

Al

Ash Trees.

      South Dakota is not known for trees. Driving through Wisconsin I've often been known to remark "way to many trees." Prior to white settlement this area had trees only along rivers and streams. Those were mainly cottonwood and willows. On the open prairie the trees the fires didn't destroy bison would. 

     With the suppression of fires and the elimination of bison settlers planted trees. The climate is not conducive, at least wasn't prior to climate change, for many varieties of trees. Green ash are well suited to this climate. Consequently, a large percentage of the mature trees are ash. 

     Ash are conservative, slow to leaf out in the spring, able to withstand dry spells, and early to drop leaves in autumn. Not spectacularly beautiful, like red maple for instance, they do have a pretty yellow as their leaves prepare to drop.

     With the preponderance of ash trees here the approach of the emerald ash borer creates dismay. There are too many ash in too many places to allow individual treatment of trees. Fortunately, in addition to many ash trees, Sinai has many hackberry trees. They do not boast beautiful colors but they are reliable; i.e., not susceptible to disease.  The view from my dining room table is of two large trees; a hackberry and a catalpa. 

Takk for Alt,

Al  

Ash trees viewed from the front step of The Little House, picture taken today.

Ducks

      This is the first day of the South Dakota duck hunting season. The reason I don't hunt ducks is the same reason I don't hunt deer, "I'm afraid I might get one!" Then what?  Neither eating venison nor duck appeals to me. Kaia and I were out in the grasslands this morning. Two dams, distant from roads and secluded, held flocks of mallards. They were fun to see but I wished them well and didn't endanger them. Kaia, unlike Trygve, has no need to plunge into any slough she finds which spares the hassle of needing to shower her. Water, carried in the truck, slakes her thirst. 

    These days are offering perfect harvest weather. 

Takk for alt,

Al

Tending Graves.

       Joanne's family had a tradition of placing flowers on family graves every year at Memorial Day. That was not my family's practice. Joanne decision to be buried in the Sinai Cemetery gives me regular opportunity to visit...think several times a week.

     In my regular wanderings in the cemetery I'm always gladdened to see graves that show signs of attention from loved ones. Many receive no such attention as family are distant both in time and miles. That  saddens me.

    A couple of days ago a worker from a monument company was attending the markers for the Engelsgaard family. In the 'early days' the Engelsgaards and the Negstads were on neighboring farms. Immigrants from Norway they were good friends, Marit, whom we knew as grandma Engelsgaard tended my grandmother, Sigrid Negstad, when she was sick with diphtheria.  Their houses were a half mile apart across the fields.

    Grandma Engelsgaard was widowed in 1925 and lived with her son and daughter-in-law on the farm, that is until her son, Erik, died in 1939. Erik had six children, the youngest of whom was one, when he died. His widow moved the family, including her mother-in-law to Sinai, where she successfully raised the six children.

   Grandma Engelsgaard lived until 1961, and died at the age of 100. She was blind for many years, all the years that I knew her. During my high school years in the fifties our youth group from church would Christmas carol her. One of the six children, the late Glen, and I were high school classmates and friends. Joanne was distantly related to the Engelsgaards.

    Her grave marker shown below shows the work the monument employee did. The three surviving children of the six all live out of state. Likely one of them contacted the monument company to do the restoration, a sign of enduring love. 

Takk for alt,

Al

                    Bless our mother's memory.

Harvest News.

       Harvesting is picking up speed with ideal weather. Soybeans are the primary crop being harvested. A local farmer said that his "beans tested at 56 pounds."  What does that mean?  It means that if a bushel container was filled with his beans it would weigh 56 pounds.  Technically a bushel is to weigh 60 pounds but 56 is in the sweet spot. The current price of beans at the Volga Soybean plant is $12.43 per bushel. So, a farmer receives $12.43 for every 60 pounds delivered to the company. 

     Testing at 56 pounds also means that the bean crop is very good quality in spite of the prolonged drought. The dry conditions might have caused shriveled beans which would be light weight bringing the test weight to a lower number. 

    A few farmers have begun harvesting corn. The moisture content in corn kernels at harvest is critical. If corn is delivered for sale with a moisture content above 15.5% the buyer discounts the price to avoid buying moisture and encountering storage problems. One rule of thumb for the safe storage of corn so it will not spoil in the bin is as follows: 15% to store until June 1, 14% to store until the next harvest, and 13% to safely store for a year. 

    When corn is harvested with a higher moisture content than these figures farmers dry it before putting it in a bin. Farmers have their own dryers which use propane and electricity for drying. Drying can cause some drop in the quality of corn and adds to the cost of storage. Corn will dry naturally on the stalk but waiting too long runs the risk encountering inclement weather.   

    Well perhaps you knew all this but somewhere there may be a city reader to whom it's news.😀

Takk for alt,

Al

                                   A field view.

Falling into fall.

        With the temperature in the mid 40s the house was chilly this morning. The internal debate about turning on the furnace or not ended with "Yes, turn it on." It's hard living without adult supervision. So it was on long enough to remove the chill. The harvest moon was out in all it's glory last night. 

       At  the bankers and butchers lunch, see the entrée picture below, Keith, the butcher reported. He doesn't do anything with feathers. Most of his clientele are either cattle or hogs. He has processed sheep, goats, buffalo and  even a lama. A local farmer raises camels but has never brought one to Keith. 

      With a couple days of dry weather likely the combines were busy harvesting soybeans. 

Takk for alt,

Al

                    The entrée at today's Bankers/Butchers dinner 

                                            A shy local camel.

Chickens have flown the coup!

         Well the title about "chickens have flown the coup" is a bit misleading. What has really happened is that they have moved away. The chicken lady, who lived across the alley from The Little House, has moved away and has taken her chickens with her. The flock of 20+ hens and 3 roosters were allowed free range. Feeding in the yard of The Little House was quaint and the sound of roosters crowing nostalgic. Roosters crowing was not only a part of my childhood but in Thailand I'd awaken to their greeting of the new day. Neighbors were not so fond of the messes left by the chickens so were happy to see them go.

      There is more chicken news. Two eggs have been found in the nesting boxes so the family's six hens have begun to lay. How fun is that? 😀 Soon six eggs a day will provide a regular source of protein and gifts for friends and neighbors. 

Takk for alt,

Al

This picture of Angor Wat popped up on my computer. In my first visit there in 1994? there were no tourists present. 

Harvest redux!

     There was a mistake in yesterday's blog post. The trucks lined up to unload at the local soybean plant are not farmers emptying their bins. Those are new harvest soybeans from this year's crop being delivered. When a local farmer was asked the increase in price for a bushel of beans due to the local processing plant he had a definitive answer. The presence of the local processing raises the price 70 cents per bushel.  Wow! That's a significant difference.

     My late brother, Richard, was a significant player in getting the processing plant built. He leveraged his contacts and experience as a county commissioner, state representative and senator to move the plant's construction. There is a picture of him on the wall in the office. 

    The soybean processing plant is located on the east edge of Volga which puts it in the geographical district of The Chicago Board of Trade. There is a distinct advantage to that placement that I don't understand. If had been placed on the west edge of Volga, 2019 population 1926, it would not have been in the CBT district, thus it's placement on the east. 

     Today's rainy weather has halted bean harvest for now. Ripe beans are very susceptible to absorbing moisture. My rain gauge shows .2" so far. 

Takk for alt,

Al

Harvest begins!

     It's the moment for which farmers wait from the end of last season. Harvest has begun and now the questions about crop yields given the drought will soon be answered. Two BTOs (Big Time Operators) have begun combining (harvesting) their soybeans. The initial report is hopeful with yields of over 40 bushels per acre....60 is considered an excellent crop here. With that yield and a good price, $12.64 per bushel at the Volga Soybean Processing Plant, farmers should make a profit.  Many trucks are lined up to empty at the soybean plant, which, I'd guess, is from farmers emptying bins prior to harvest. The presence of the soybean plant, which crushes the beans for oil, raises the price local farmers receive several cents a bushel. Without the local plant farmers would be at a competitive disadvantage because of shipping costs to other markets. If you sell 100,000 bushels of beans and gain 10 cents a bushel...you do the math. 

Takk for alt,

Al

Good vs Bad Theology

        My seminary education was far from perfect. Preparation for the practical aspects of ministry was a bit hit and miss. On the other hand grounding in solid Biblical theology was superb. Since my graduation I've always been grateful for the solid theological education I received.  Living in and through this current pandemic much of the popular theology is appalling. Perhaps bad theology can be illustrated by this imagined dialog with God.

COVID patient in ICU:  "God I thought you'd protect me from COVID."                                                   God replies: "I tried! I offered you three choices of COVID vaccines but you refused to be vaccinated."    

Takk for alt,

Al

                                       I'm with Earl (Grampa). 

Weavings....

      In my final year at Augustana College I lived in an apartment in First Lutheran Church, Sioux Falls. Working as assistant custodian and night watchman. Mary was the church secretary, a very full time job in that large congregation. Mary married Sam when he graduated from Luther Seminary, St. Paul. Sam's and Mary's entire ministry was spent in South Dakota. Sam now lives in Watertown and Mary died a few months after Joanne making us fellow travelers in the land of grief.

     Sam came to visit today. Taking chairs we sat in the cemetery by Joanne's grave. Sam delivered prepared remarks. He recounted the influence of Joanne's father, Rev. Oscar C. Hanson. Oscar who was president of Lutheran Bible Institute, Minneapolis, which Sam attended after high school. Sam credits him as an important mentor in his spiritual development. 

      When my late brother's widow, Mary, remarried, her new husband,  the late Judeen, a retired Lutheran Pastor, was best friends of Sam. So, Judeen and I had mutual friends in Sam and others. We stopped at Mary's in Volga for coffee after lunch at Nick's Hamburger's in Brookings. Sam was also at Augustana College with my cousin. He was baptized at Singsaas Lutheran Church, Hendricks, MN., where Joanne's great-grandparents are buried. There are numerous other ways in which our lives are woven together. This is a day I'll long treasure. 

Takk for alt,

Al

This comic is reminiscent of SE Asia. In restaurants there food will come from the kitchen in the order it's prepared...dessert may come first and salad last, e.g. I learned to order one item at a time to ensure proper sequence. 

No comment.

Recommended reading.

      Beginning to read my way through the shopping bag full of books that MJ sent home with me I began with a farming book. It is a book unlike any I've ever read. It's actually an anthology of articles and poems about Black American farmers. Natalie Baszile's, WE ARE EACH OTHER'S HARVEST: CELEBRATING AFRICAN  AMERICAN FARMERS, LAND, AND LEGACY  is a tour deforce.  Most of MJ's astute and erudite book notes are a single page single space. Her notes on this book are four pages single space and here I'm trying to tell the tale in a couple of paragraphs. JUST READ IT!

     MJ quotes The Washington Post. "The celebration that Natalie Baszile refers to in her (book) is leavened by hard truths and cruelties of efforts to run Black farmers off the land. For decades the might of the United States Department of Agriculture systematically tried to wreck Black farmers' livelihood..." It's not easy reading but many of the essays tell the stories of farmers who have persisted even though the deck is often stacked against them. 

      Baszile has also told the story in a novel, Queen Sugar.  That's next on my reading list.

Takk for alt,

Al

PS Asked in a comment what is meant by "critters"  the facile answer is "it depends."  Typically in farm country critters refer to livestock such as cattle and swine. Keith butchers cattle and pigs. When I see him I'll ask if he does sheep and goats. It's unlikely that he does fowl; chickens, ducks, turkeys or geese. Some butcher shops will clean pheasants and process deer and other wild game. After next Wednesdays Bankers/Butchers dinner I'll report back.  

Surprised me!

     "What surprised you?" is a question I often ask. The answer to that question is revealing of the person being asked expectations. Well today at the Bankers and Butchers Dinner I asked and was very surprised by the answer. Keith is the butcher. I knew that he stays busy and the grapevine had suggested that to get a critter processed an advance appointment was necessary. What's your guess about the lead time for an appointment?  A month? Six weeks? Two months? My expected answer was in that range. Here's a verbatim of our conversation. Al, "Keith, if I wanted you to process a critter how long would I need to wait?"  Keith, "Five years."!!!! He was serious, his clientele have standing, annual appointments! Occasionally he can work another critter in to the mix. But almost all of his work is arranged years in advance. 

    He has no need to advertise! An advertising budget is not part of his overhead. It is clear that he stays busy and is often at the shop late into the evening. But I was clueless about the realities of his work. Yes, I'm glad I asked, 

   Today's menu, you ask? Grilled beef shish kabobs. 😀

Takk for alt,

Al

      Two businesses remain on Sinai's Main Street. There is a bank and a butcher shop. My machine shop is next to the butcher shop. Every Wednesday's the bankers and the butchers have a noon meal together in the bank. Noon meals here in farm country are called 'dinner' and the evening meal is 'supper'. There are four bankers and usually a banker's spouse.  One to three butchers appear depending upon the week. They've given me a standing invitation to eat with them, which I do if I'm in town.

     My role is tell stories about Sinai because I'm by far the oldest and also have much longer perspective in the community. Only the banker's spouse has long familial connection to the area. One of the bankers grew up in the Philippines so we talk about places I visited when I was stationed there, long before she was born.

    The butcher provides the meat for the meal, a banker grills it, and they rest of the meal is provided by the bankers.  It is truly a 'dinner' and not a lunch.  It's a highlight of my week.

Takk for alt,

PS An inch of rain yesterday.👍

                                       Kaia on squirrel watch.

Roberta (Enger) Southam, 5/7/36-9/11/21

     About two years after we moved to Mohall, ND., Jack and Roberta Southam came to town. For Jack it was coming home to buy City Drug from his father, Clair Southam. Both Jack and Roberta were registered pharmacists and they operated City Drug, which also was a well stocked gift shop, until their retirement in 2000. After their retirement they travelled and divided their time between Mesa, AZ and ND. Jack preceded Roberta in death dying in March 2021, after 63 years of marriage.

    Jack and Roberta were good friends. After we left Mohall, it was with Southams we'd stay when we came back to visit. After Joanne's retirement she'd travel to Arizona while I was in Thailand. A visit to Southams was always included in her AZ stay. While I hadn't seen them for some time we visited often by phone and the last call with Roberta was about two weeks ago.

    One of the realities of  my age is the loss of family and friends. Even while Joanne was alive I remarked to her that "we know more persons who are dead than those who are alive." May God bless the memory of Jack and Roberta Southam...rest in peace, good and faithful servants.

Takk for alt,

Al

Company!

       Miriam is a year older than I, and one of seven surviving grand-children of Olai and Minnie Bergh. She's also my cousin, always fun to be around and she's my house guest. Over blueberry pancakes this morning, amid peals of laughter, we had an opportunity to catch up with each other's histories. Living in Mesa, AZ., she returns to South Dakota every summer but this is the first time she's been my house guest. Though, she was one of the 4 cousins who stayed in The Little House while I was in Iowa. The cousins, with whom I grew up, are as close or closer than many siblings.  Precious moments!

Takk for alt,

Al

Facing North
by Dan Gerber

Ninety billion galaxies in this one tiny universe—
a billion seconds make thirty-two years.
No matter how many ways we conceive it,
this generous wedge called Ursa Major
more than fills my sight.
But now, as I turn to put out the lights
and give my dog her bedtime cookie,
my eyes become the handle of the great Milky Way,
and carry it into the house.

Gift Book

       "At the very same time that America refused to give the Negro any land, through an act of Congress our government was giving away millions of acres of land in the West and the Midwest--which meant it was willing to undergird its white pheasants from Europe with an economic floor. But not only did they give them land, they built land grant colleges with government money to teach them how to farm. Not only that, they provided county agents to further their expertise in farming. Not only that, they provided low interest rates in order that they could mechanize their farms. Not only that, today many of these people are receiving millions of dollars in federal subsidies not to farm, and they're the very people telling the Black man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps. This is what we are faced with, and this is the reality. Now, when we come to Washington in this campaign, we are coming to get our check."  Martin Luther King, WE ARE COMING TO GET OUR CHECK,  1968.

      My grandparents, Negstad, purchased the rights to complete a homestead in 1885.  By the time that Grandpa, Lars, died in 1919, he owned 480 acres of land and had enough money in the bank, $28,000.00, to buy another 160 acres. Each of his four children received 160 acres. This is my legacy, for the land on which I grew up was the 160 acres he homesteaded. 

     When I recently visited Ed and MaryJane, she sent me off with a shopping bag full of books. The MLK quote above is from one of those books. WE ARE EACH OTHER'S HARVEST: CELEBRATING AFRICAN  AMERICAN FARMERS, LAND AND LEGACY, by Natalie Baszile, author of  Queen Sugar.. The book is an eyeopener about the discrimination Black farmers have faced. It also causes me reflect on the advantages I've experienced as legacy of the Homestead Act and other benefits flowing to my grandfather and father. 

    I'll have more to say about the book after I've finished reading it.

Takk for alt,

Al

In the words of Emily Dickenson

 Besides the Autumn poets sing

A few prosaic days
A little this side of the snow
And that side of the Haze—

A few incisive Mornings—
A few Ascetic Eves—
Gone—Mr. Bryant's "Golden Rod"—

And Mr. Thomson's "sheaves."

Still, is the bustle in the Brook—
Sealed are the spicy valves—
Mesmeric fingers softly touch
The Eyes of many Elves—

Perhaps a squirrel may remain—
My sentiments to share—
Grant me, Oh Lord, a sunny mind—

Thy windy will to bear!

Emily Dickinson

     A couple of maple trees on main street are showing a touch of red, harbingers of fall coming soon. Frequently a deer comes to drink from the pond across the street. His antlers are still covered with velvet. The pad of pelicans that spent the summer on a slough west of town are gone...migrating or to a better feeding water? Egrets stalk the shoreline of the little pond which is now much shrunken from the drought.  Occasionally I've found myself chilly with night time temperatures in the fifties. Yes, we're 11 days from the end of summer. Time certainly passes on quick feet. 

Takk for alt,

Al

Since 2007...

      It began with my retirement in 2007.  Our Iowa friends had made frequent trips to Minneapolis to visit us especially for special occasions. After I retired I said now it's our turn to travel to Iowa. Joanne and I did beginning in 2007 and continuing through 2017.  In 2018 and 2019 I made the trip alone. COVID intervened in 2020 but now I've again completed the trip. As always I encountered amazing hospitality.

    What is even more amazing and a total gift is that they continue to welcome me! Go figure. Perhaps...no I won't go there. Suffice it to say that the trip; the hospitality, the conversation, the welcome restored my soul. Thank you Ed, MaryJane, Ken, Barbara and Jenine.

   A friend who challenges me to consult my driver's license to remember my age, remonstrated with me about being surprised I was tired after driving 500 miles. 😀  She's correct of course, I should just be grateful that I can do it.

Takk for alt,

Al

The Little House

       Believe it or not Iowa is very scenic. Driving north from Iowa City to Decorah took me on, what Least-Heat Moon, called "blue highways."  Those are the roads that are marked in blue in the atlas, county roads and lesser state highways. Decorah is mostly north from Iowa City and there are no interstates or four lane roads between them.  So it was two lane roads that often ran through small towns, many of which I'd never heard.  It was a beautiful 130 mile drive to have an early lunch with Jenine.

     The Interstate 90, to Interstate 29, is efficient but soulless but it brought me to Brookings by 5:00 p.m., for a joyous reunion with Kaia. She'd been a good girl at the kennel and now we're mellowing out in The Little House.. For some reason driving 500+ miles today leaves me a bit weary. We're both glad to be home after a 1144 mile road trip, interspersed with fabulous hospitality!

Takk for alt,

Al

IA City redux...

    A driving tour of downtown Iowa City with its mixture of the University of Iowa is the type of high energy site that would make a fascinating site for living. The University and downtown meld into one and provide a fascinating  mixture of shops, residences and university buildings. Presiding over it all is the historic state capital building from yesteryear.

   Then we motored our to Solon, IA, an exurb for a lovely lunch out outdoors under the locust trees. Given the level of meals here I've suggested that I move in permanently the fright reflected in my host's eyes suggested that they didn't think much of the idea. So, tomorrow, I'll head for The Little House of the  Prairie.

Takk for alt,

A;

Today, Labor Day!

   Another wonderful day in Iowa City

Takk for alt,

Al

New location, Iowa City, IA

    Continuing the good life but now in Iowa City, IA.  😀

Takk for alt,

Al

A pipe fitter and a theologian.....

    Sounds like a lead into a joke doesn't it "A pipefitter and a theologian...?" A pipe fitter and theologian set out to hang a screen door, all for the sake of two cats. The first hinge...no problem. The second hinge on the wrong side, upside down, upside down and right side up and on the correct side on the 4th try. Best the two stay with their day jobs and not go into carpentry...that is if they were still employed. But try, try, try and again to get it done. Let's hope the cats appreciate the effort. and the door now opens nicely.

Takk for alt,

Al

The royal treatment!

       San Diego, CA, was the scene, or more specifically Marine Corps Recruit Depot, is where it all began in 1959. Ed and I were assigned to the same platoon. Sharing seats on the Greyhound Bus back to the mid-west on leave, we separated in Omaha after being seatmates for 24 hours. During that trip we had time to really get to know each other. Two farm boys, one from IA and the other from SD, found we had much in common. For the next three years we shared living quarters and office space. Out of that, thanks to the Marines, we became life long friends.

     In 1980, Joanne and I moved our family to Davenport, IA., 25 miles from Ed's farm. With that proximity to continue our friendship, Joanne and MaryJane, Ed's wife, also bonded into soul-mates. Ed's three children and my two were very close in age.  The eight years we lived in geographical proximity added layers of glue to our relationship and provided countless memories of times together. 

    Many times over the years Joanne and I lived in MN, Ed and MaryJane came to visit. When I retired in 2007 I said to Joanne "Now it's our turn, lets go visit Ed & MaryJane." We did beginning in 07 through 2017. After Joanne died in April 2018, I visited in 2018 and 2019. COVID intervened in 2020 but here I am again in 2021.

    Ed and MaryJane are generous to a fault having only one discernable weakness: stubbornness! They will not allow me to pay for anything.😞  As, I was saying, "generous to a fault."

    MaryJane is an avid reader so we share books, though she does most of the sharing...generous you know. Her analysis of the books she reads are worthy of being published in The New York Review Of Books. I will leave with a whole shopping bag of books to read! Thanks MJ!

Takk for alt,

Al

The AmericInn, DeWitt, IA

     Too tired to say more!

Takk for alt,

Al

Wat Klong, Ayutthaya, Thailand.

      Last night I wrote about the construction of the new school building at Wat Klong. There was another construction project that occupied several of the years that I taught there. The main temple is across an open area. Forming a quadrangle are the old school faced by the temple to the east. To the south, at the end of the open area, is the new school facing north to a monk's prayer/meditation chapel at that end of the open space, the construction of which I observed.

    The senior monk gave me a tour of the chapel after it was finished. The money for the chapel was raised from a donor he visited in Singapore, good karma no doubt. Apparently monks don't like boats or to get their feet wet. The chapel and the main temple are connected by an elevated walkway, of which the only use is by monks during episodic floods. The walkway is enclosed with chain link fencing and is also roofed. Quite an elaborate structure as the pictures below illustrate. There are only a handful of monks at the temple and the chapel is quite large. Never did I see monks going or coming from it while I was at the school. Perhaps it's an early morning venture, though at 6:00 a.m., they all go begging for their day's food. While monk's take a vow of poverty the temple does not.

    Now I'm relying on memories of Thailand.

Takk for alt,

Al

                                           Monk's chapel.

                                       Elevated walkway.