Reunion

Perry in the old elevator.

The old grain elevator with some of the reunion attendees.

Carter Schieler, Carter Klopfenstein & Carter Knobloch (with his dad, Jake.)

Thank you, Judy, Dave, and everyone who helped, for a wonderful, memorable family time! posted by Carol

Since we're on the subject of pies, but NOT to try to rival Aunt Ada's pie (it looks absolutely yummy and there's not much I like better than peach pie), I had to post this photo of mango pie that we had last night! It was really good too!

Aunt Ada, sorry we will miss your pies at the reunion this weekend. We'll miss all of you. Have a great time!

YUMMY

Just practicing . . . does it whet your appetite?

Buyer Beware!

Yesterday we drove by a farm advertising fresh sweet corn. Yum!! I had Dave check it out and they were sold out at the moment, but more corn would be ready in about 20 minutes. I returned about 2 hours later to buy myself a dozen ears. The woman and her 2 sons were selling out of the back of the pickup and I was getting the last dozen of the day. When she took my $4 (which I thought was a rather high price) the litle boy next to her whispered, "Should we tell the lady, Mom?" The mother quietly shushed him, and handed me my bag and I left. Wonder what it was the little boy wanted to confess?

Maybe that the second picking of corn was really next week's prime ears. Of the 12 ears I got, about 4 of them needed at least 3 -4 more days of ripening, and the rest were really puny and not ready at all.

Oh well.

Family time in Kansas

Most of the grandchildren at the Arboretum.

Ellie and Alice together at Brandon & Maria's.

Brandon & Maria hosted and did an excellent job! All 24 of us were together, much to Perry & Carol's delight! We drove out Wednesday morning and returned Saturday.

Moving to Anderson

Well, the die has been cast. My folks have a contract on a patio home here in Anderson and will be moving in the next couple of months. They've been looking off and on for about a year, and this home - complete with furniture - fits the bill. So now you will have another reason to come by Anderson, SC!

Wade received Reserved Champion in Jr. Showmanship Class.

2nd in is young heifer class.
Talking with Alan Miller for some last minute notes before entering show ring. Alan helped a ton with getting Wade ready for showing.
Wade showing "Blockhead" in the Young Angus Heifer class at the Livingston Co. 4-H Fair. Received 2nd in his class.
Mara (and Casey) showing in the Pee-Wee Showmanship class.
Wade with his Reserved Champion ribbon - first time in the show ring (for him and the heifer).

Sister Sick

Would appreciate your prayers for Mike's sister Maureen. She is in intensive care with pneumonia and probable pancreatitis. She's doing a little better today but is still quite sick. Thanks.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

The July 15, 2010, GRIDLEY VILLAGE TIMES had a couple interesting paragraphs you might enjoy reading.

From 80 YEARS AGO - JULY 10, 1930:
Ward Hiserodt, W. A. Freed and E. J. Klopfenstein took a ride on Tuesday in a boat on lake Bloomington. The boat was operated with a motor owned by Mr. Hiserodt.

From 70 YEARS AGO - JULY 11, 1940
The first oats of the new crop arrived in Gridley on Wednesday, being delivered to Klopfenstein's elevator from the Tom Kinsella farm, south of town. They were very good quality, weighing 38 to 39 pounds to the bushel.

Pics from Eric's House

Here are a few pictures of our fun weekend in Olney. The weather was perfect!

Knobloch House update

Rough grade around house

Brandon Witzig building stairways
Finishing floor trusses
Wade's heifer "blockhead" fair starts this week

Klopfenstein's Office Products & Teaching Supplies

Cleve took this picture of our store in 2005 so we are due for a more current one. Our latest project is the construction of a website. It is beginning to "take shape." If you would like to watch our progress, our address is www.klopfensteinofficeproducts.com Carol

TREASURE!

Some friends found this as they cleaned out their basement and gave it to me. I LOVE it. It is a real treasure to me. Our home seems to be maintaining a consistent 71 degrees!

Monday's Swimming Adventure

I worked all night and slept from 7:30 - 11:00 this morning. Then the thought process started:

"Should I go to the pool and swim?"

"I only have a couple of hours, maybe I'll skip it."

"It only takes 25 minutes to swim the 18 laps."

"I'm still pretty tired, maybe I'll just lay back down."

"I need to go...and the sun is shining!"

"But I might not have time tomorrow, and Wednesday is the funeral, and it might be rainy the end of the week, so is it worth it to go for just one day?"

"Just put on your suit and go to the pool!"

Lap 1 - Breathing heavily.
Lap 2 - Gasping for air.
Lap 3 - Breast stroke, good, I can catch my breath.
Lap 4, 5, 6 - OK, 6 laps down, maybe I'll just stop at 9.
Lap 7, 8, 9 - That's 1/4 of a mile, maybe that's good enough.
Lap 10, 11, 12 - Well, now I'm catching my stride and I'm sure I can do 3 more.
Lap 13, 14, 15 - Aw, shoot, I've already done 15, just as well finish it up.
Lap 16, 17, 18 - Done!!

On about lap 14, I came up to find some young bathing beauties soaking their legs on the side of the pool, right in my path. I reached the pool edge and rather awkwardly turned around to start the next lap, as they just sat there, unperturbed. Did I say anything to them to get out of my way? No! Did I kick extra hard as I pulled away from the side to get them a little wet? Ummmm, yes I did!


There's something going on in our house that involves crash dieting and $300, but that's a story for another post...

ALL DONE

Happy Monday Morning everyone! The sun is shining brightly now, but the forecast for the day is not too good - so we'll see. "They" don't always hit it right. I had a fun day with Kelsie yesterday - she needed a little pink dress for a sorority thing when she goes back to school and since she couldn't find what she needed, we made one. Turned out really cute. I didn't take a picture - maybe Angela can take one and post it sometime.

Here are a few pictures of our new bathroom which is finally finished and usable.

This was a loooong white wall until we hung towels and added pictures.

View from the door by the hot tub. Bathroom is long and narrow
with an entrance here and one from the furnace room.

View from the door in the furnace room.

We've got a busy day ahead. Jerry invited his coffee buddies and wives to dinner tonight. Some of them helped him with the bathroom, so this is payback. He's going to grill pork chops, we're going to get some Illinois-grown sweet corn, hashbrowns and fresh fruit. Desert is still undecided - have to see how ambitious I get today.

19 Days and Counting

Only 19 days to the first activity of the EJK family reunion. Have you let Judy know you're coming? (Judy didn't ask for this!)

I'm looking forward to the various activities that are planned.

See you July 30!

And the lucky winner is....

ME! But I don't know who, what, when, or why! I have been expecting 750 videos to be delivered to my door for the hospital, and sure enough, yesterday a heavy box was on my porch. Dave brought it in...too heavy for me to get them to the hospital easily, so I got a smaller box and was going to deliver the videos in a couple of trips. So today I opened the box, and VOILA! it is 50 lbs. of Luna protein bars! Now who is the Luna fairy??

My Babies are One!

One year ago today, our family was doubly blessed with the arrival of Riley Faith and Gavin Arthur. Today they're happy, healthy children with very different personalities, and yet they're the best of friends.

It has been a tough year, and yet it's also been a fantastic year. I can't imagine life without my sweet babies. We're finally starting to emerge from the fog and live life a bit more.

I'm proud to say I'm still nursing. I didn't make it this far with the other girls for various reasons, which I regret. But this time I'm letting them drive the bus. We'll see how long this ride lasts.

We had their family party on Monday. Here are some pics.


Riley at 1 year


Gavin at 1 year


Then...


...and now


Gavin enjoying his cupcake


Riley enjoying hers


Cupcakes are awesome!

Monday Morning Memories

Okay, last night I couldn't sleep for awhile and kept remembering things from the '60s and early '70s.

I remember. . .

--Ada's wedding being one of the hottest days of the year; Judy and Linda took turns playing the piano for the entrance and for a solo.

--when the LCK family would come to IL, we would set up cots in Grandma's living room for the kids. Sometimes David and Cathy would stay there too and it was a regular dormitory in there.

--when Uncle Perry worked in Chattanooga, he would occasionally drive to Athens and stay with us for a weekend. It was a "big deal" to have Uncle Perry come see our family. I believe that that was soon before he returned to IL and was converted - is that correct?

--Judy and Dave's wedding in Chicago - they were just "dippy" about each other (to use a good Grandma word) and it was a fun reception at a big hall of some sort in Chicago.

--Grandma's fried cube steak, smooth cottage cheese, and apple pie.

--the day before Perry and Carol's wedding, we went to visit Aunt (?) Klopfenstein who also lived in Portland; Cleve was along, and she gave him something, I believe it was glassware of some kind, as a gift for his upcoming wedding to Kathleen. For some reason I remember strongly him saying "Oh, she'll love it!"

Well, this list includes a lot of wedding memories! Don't know why. Thought I'd share on a hot Monday morning, but now had better get onto a list of projects that is waiting for me, including re-framing some pictures we want to hang.

Knee High By the 4th of July

On the way to Comlara, we got out of the car to see how tall the corn is. VERY TALL!!

4th of July

The weather is beautiful this morning and predicted to be a nice week-end for the
4th of July. We are headed to Olney, Il to Eric and Retta's, about a 3-hour drive. Looking forward to some time with family. Putting up a couple of tents...should be interesting! I remember camping out on this weekend before and the fireworks tend to continue throughout the night. Booms and bangs just when you're getting back to sleep from the last burst!

Hope you all have a great weekend!