Tailgate Time

Football season is here. For many, it's time to pack up the party and take it to the parking lot. Others may be gathering with friends around the big screen. Some will be passing snacks as they sit in the bleachers and wait for their favorite high school team's kickoff tomorrow night.

No matter the setting, snack mixes are a snap to add to an all-star tailgate line-up. Since Labor Day weekend is almost here, this Lemon Buddies snack mix says goodbye to summer with just the right combination of tart and sweet. And, if you're not a football fan, take it to pass around the campfire for summer's last hurrah.

Lemon Buddies

9 cups Rice Chex cereal
1 1/4 cups vanilla baking chips
1/4 cup butter (no substitutes)
4 tsp. grated fresh lemon peel
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar

Measure cereal into a large bowl. Microwave chips, butter, lemon peel and juice uncovered on high 1 minute. Sttir and then microwave for an additional 30 seconds or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.

Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag with powdered sugar.  Shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container. (If you want, you can throw in some unmelted white chocolate chips. Or, if you like chocolate and lemon, add M & Ms in your favorite team's colors.)

Need other ideas?

Click here for the recipes for both the Team Spirit Pretzel Snacks (above) and the Toffee Snack Mix (below.)

Below, it's School Spirit Munch. (It's rather obvious who we root for around here, isn't it?! But party supply stores and even some discount stores have colored M & Ms, so you can substitute your color of choice. For our Stafford Trojans, I would use white and red candies. You can also buy candy coating in a variety of colors.)

Or try this Peanutty Snack Mix. If you wanted to keep with the school colors theme, you could substitute colored M & Ms for the peanut  M & Ms. My family also likes this mix with Peanut Butter M & Ms.

A Labor Day Salute to the Sowers

Danforth Chapel, Kansas State Univerity

The Biblical parable of the sower resonates with me. I was born on a Kansas farm, then I married a Kansas farmer.

I've seen many stained glass windows that illustrate the parable. This one was in a Philadelphia church I explored while there with Jill for a foods conference in 2007.

I've been in the Danforth Chapel on Kansas State University's campus many times. I love the way the light streaming through the stained glass windows casts a rainbow of light on the small, intimate chapel.

But I had never really noticed the bottom central frame of the stained glass window at the front of the sanctuary until I wandered into the chapel again last week. While Randy attended a meeting, I took my morning walk on the K-State campus.

The window is dominated by the large central panel of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. But more unusual is the modern take on the "sower" panel. The overall-clad farmer is portrayed with a tractor and a modern grain elevator. (In the top photo, the farmer panel is obscured by the cross and the flowers on the altar.)

My quest to find out more about the windows came up empty. I know the windows were donated and imported from Czechoslovakia, England, France, Germany and Italy. But I don't know anything about the artists or why the more modern take on agriculture was part of a window dominated by scenes from Bible times.

A side window features this woman gathering wheat into sheaves. She's certainly not a match to the 20th century farmer on the other window. It's a mystery.

Today is Labor Day. Some people are enjoying their last hurrah at the lake. Others are watching sports on television. Some may be firing up the barbecue grill for a family cookout.

For many of America's farmers, it's just another day to actually labor. It's a day when they continue to feed and water the cattle and hogs that produce those hamburgers and hotdogs for the grill. It's a day when they harvest the grains that go into those multi-grain hamburger buns or service up the drill for the approaching wheat sowing time.

So on this Labor Day, thank you to American farmers who feed the world. And thank you, Lord, as one of those farm families, for the privilege to care for your remarkable Creation.

A Salute to Labor

I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand;

that the world owes no man a living
but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

John D. Rockefeller

In 2003, Omaha artist Matthew Placzek was commissioned to create Labor, the second largest labor monument in the country. It's located on Omaha's riverfront near the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Center and the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge.

Placzek used 250 tons of cement and 39,000 pounds of steel in the sculpture, which reaches 30 feet in height. That qualifies as labor, don't you think?

It depicts five 8-foot-tall workers toiling at a variety of tasks. Eight Omaha union locals and 26 companies and individuals donated more than $1 million in contributions and yes, labor, to bring it into being along the river.

You probably won't be able to tell which ones are the statues and which one is Randy, since they all feature sculpted sinews muscles and bulging veins and commanding brute strength.

I took the photos when we visited Omaha this past May, but I thought this Labor Day was the perfect opportunity to share them.

For most Americans, Labor Day is a time to fire up the barbecue for the symbolic end to the grilling season. (As a beef producer, I hope your menu includes some hamburgers or steak today!)

It's the chance to go to the lake for another adventure before winterizing the boat or closing the cabin for the year.

It's a vacation day ... a day to sleep late, eat what you want and spend time with family and friends.

Kind of ironic, isn't it? Labor Day doesn't have much to do with actual labor.

Here on the County Line, it's just another Labor Day. Yes, we are working today. I'm about to go out to help move cattle, then the guys will be putting on anhydrous and swathing sudan. I'll be taking lunch to the field and probably supper, too.

But before you feel too sorry for us, I have to admit that our holiday was on Saturday for K-State's 2010 college football season opener. We met the newest member of the family, Braden, the son of my nephew, Blake, and his wife, Tamara.

We ate brunch and spent time with the family. And, of course, we cheered on our beloved Wildcats (more on that later). They got a victory for 2-week-old Braden's first K-State game.


So, while I liked the John D. Rockefeller quote at the top of this post, I also had to include this one:

Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow.

Douglas Pagels

Happy Labor Day ... whether you're actually laboring or whether you're choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow.

Of course, we choose purple.