Life Lately

 

How many years is a generation? 

What's your favorite piece of equipment?

How much is it when you add your two ages together?

 

Inquiring minds want to know - at least, inquiring minds in Mrs. Kylie Meyer's second grade classroom wanted to know! 

 

(Mrs. Meyer - after politely asking if we minded sharing our ages - had the students do a little mathematics on their own to come up with the answer. Now that's a good teacher! (And ... mental math has never been my best skill.)

 

Randy and I spoke to the Stafford second graders Monday on Farming: Then and Now.  We have visited the second graders for several years now. As with any quality teacher, Mrs. Meyer gave us an assignment. She wanted us to compare the "then and now" of farming. The second graders are learning about comparison and contrast. Mrs. Meyer helps to illustrate the concept by inviting community members with different backgrounds to talk about their professions or interests and compare them, then and now.

 

Every year, I'm thankful to my mom for putting together family history books for all the grandchildren. She made my job creating the PowerPoint easy because of the old farm photos she compiled in a three-ring notebook. I added some old photos from Randy's side of the family, along with some from our farming days. (There are examples of the photos in this blog post.)

 

This reporter was thrilled to see a few of the students had actually jotted down a note so they could remember their question during the Q-and-A time.  

It's always a pleasure to see the current "crop" of second graders. This year's class is small, but they were polite and inquisitive. 

 

STAYCATION

 

 

Last Thursday, we went to Dodge City for a Kansas Wheat event at Boothill Distillery. Randy had reservations to play golf the next morning in Dodge. But a sprinkly, foggy day changed the plans. (We won't complain about rain. In fact, we'd like to order some more.)  

 

So, instead of golf, we took the round-about way home and drove to Greensburg's Big Well Museum. Anyone in Kansas will remember, but for others: The rural Kansas town of Greensburg was virtually destroyed by an F5 tornado on May 4, 2007. While most of the town's buildings were reduced to rubble, the town decided to build back using "green" construction - appropriate in a town called Greensburg, right? 

 

These are some of the signs collected and saved after the tornado.

 

Both Randy and I remember visiting the Big Well on school trips when we were students ourselves. The Big Well, an engineering feat, was completed in 1888, with its 109-foot depth and 32-foot diameter originally serving as the town's water supply.

 

During our school field trips, we also remember seeing that "1,000 space rock" advertised in the salvaged sign above.  Now, the world's largest pallasite meteorite has a place of honor in the new museum. The meteorite is a blend of olivine crystals and metal.

 

The current site is much more impressive than the original. Now, the museum tells the history of Greensburg, along with the story of the tornado and the rebuild. For an empath, it's hard to see and remember the destruction and the lives lost.  But it's an inspiring story and an inspiring museum - good for a day trip.

Looking up

Looking down

We also ate lunch in Greensburg and toured the museum (home to a soda fountain) and the library. (I didn't take any photos there.)

 

FAMILY TIME

 

I've posted to Facebook about some family events recently, but I wanted to have the record in my blog posts, too. We treated the whole family to supper at The Blind Tiger in Topeka to celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary. We were so glad everyone could be there. 

 

Bonus event: This was the same weekend the girls had regional 4-H Club Day. Both had qualified for presenting at the regional event after getting top blues at the county 4-H day.

 

 Kinley's multi-media presentation was on dog shows. She got a purple.

 

 

Brooke's was a demonstration on making crafts with air-dry clay. She also earned a purple ribbon. 

After lunch, Brooke and I had a side trip to Barnes and Noble. (I tell her parents I'm glad to accommodate Brooke's book habit. They also visit the library, but we have fun at the book store, for sure!)

 

 

BIG BIRTHDAY

After all that excitement on Saturday, we couldn't have a regular old day on Sunday. We helped my dad celebrate his 91st birthday with a pizza party, cake and ice cream.

 

 

Kent, my dad, me, Lisa and Mom. Darci was in Pratt County a couple of weeks ago.

After the dessert, my dad was looking for his cowboy hat that he used while on the 1953 Kansas State University Livestock Judging Team. 

 

 Success! 

 

A LITTLE BASEBALL

 

We met Randy's sister, Kathy, her husband Dave and daughter Emily and cheered on the K-State Bat Cats in their baseball game vs. the Wichita State University Shockers last week. It's always fun to see lots of scoring. We did. K-State was triumphant - 13-10. And popcorn for supper? Yes, please!