Monthly Archives: August 2011

A little of this, a little of that

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A week ago, my mom and I were at the Iowa State Fair, admiring quilts, cross-stitch and cute goats.

We watched a grape stomp, rode the fair tram and photographed the butter cow.

We also saw a whole lot of guys in bib overalls. I think it must be an Iowa thing!

It was our first visit to the Iowa State Fair and, for the most part, I’d say it’s almost on par with the Minnesota State Fair. It lacked a foot-long hot dog stand on nearly every corner, and it doesn’t have a DNR pond filled with big fish. Yet, it did offer a Parade of Breeds in the livestock barn, which was really cool.

My favorite fair activity is to see the projects — the needle arts and the photography, especially — and I was not disappointed. There are some talented people in Iowa. (Yes, I said it in print!)

Anyway, it was a fun day away from the office. We did a lot of walking and only a little sampling (no fried foods — not even the Red Velvet funnel cake, one of the new foods featured at the Iowa State Fair this year).

If you plan a trip there next year, be sure to check out the butter cow exhibit. I looked everywhere to find out how many pounds of butter were used in the display (it features a cow, calf, boy and girl — all carved out of butter), but I couldn’t find any details until after I returned home and looked it up on the Internet.

As it turns out, Iowa uses a metal, wood and wire-frame in the shape of a cow and then smears on approximately 600 pounds of butter to make it look like a cow.

Those of us Minnesotans familiar with the Princess Kay of the Milky Way butter head display at the Minnesota State Fair might say they’re cheating.

Here in Minnesota, our display features Princess Kay (Mary Zahurones of rural Pierz was crowned Wednesday night) and the 11 Princess finalists. Each of them will get their likeness carved out of a 90-pound block of butter during the Minnesota State Fair.

If you recall, we have a pair of sisters from rural Heron Lake who were selected as Princess Kay finalists this year. Chelsey and April Johnson are the first sisters to be named finalists in the same year in the history of the Princess Kay program.

April, who was named a Princess Kay scholarship winner during Wednesday evening’s ceremony, will get her likeness carved in butter on Sunday, Sept. 4, while Chelsey’s turn is on Monday, Sept. 5, the final day of the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

If you make the trek to the State Fair on Labor Day weekend, be sure to visit the butter sculptures in the Dairy Building, located at the corner of Judson Avenue and Underwood Street.

* With Hurricane Irene set to hit North Carolina this morning, I’m a bit worried about how the Outer Banks will fare.

The Outer Banks has been at the top of my dream vacation list for more than a decade. Anyone who has watched the chick flicks, “Message in a Bottle” or “Nights in Rodanthe” surely has developed a love for the beautiful scenery offered off the North Carolina coast.

In addition to experiencing the Atlantic Coast, I want to visit the five lighthouses that grace the Outer Banks, including Cape Hatteras, the tallest lighthouse in North America.

Ideally, I’d prefer to journey to the Outer Banks in September. There are two problems with that — it’s hurricane season, which makes planning impossible; and it’s a busy time at the office.

I keep saying, maybe next year, and I’ll keep hoping that hurricanes like Irene don’t completely demolish the Carolina coast.

* Just an update from last week’s blog: St.Anthony hasn’t helped me find my lost hardanger embroidery pattern book yet. I have given up my search, finished my only other UFO (unfinished object) in my hardanger stash, and have now moved on to a new pattern from a hardcover book.

A call to St. Anthony

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After working in a tiny newsroom for four years of my journalism career, I came to know a bit about Catholics.

I was surrounded by three of them in a four-person newsroom and — as the lone Lutheran — I had an opportunity to ask questions.

“What’s with the smoke and pungent smell coming from those things the priest carries around at a Catholic funeral?”

“Why do you kneel?”

“What is the purpose of the water bowl at the entrance?”

Sometimes the Catholics would laugh at my questions. Sometimes they shrugged because they didn’t know the answer; and sometimes I’d solicit their Catholic connections to help this lost Lutheran.

Well, not that I was ever lost about religion. I was baptized a Lutheran (Missouri Synod), confirmed a Lutheran, transferred to an ELCA Lutheran church in Redwood County, and then returned to a Missouri Synod Lutheran when I moved back to my hometown.

The lost Lutheran, in my case, refers to this Lutheran losing something — and that’s where my knowledge of Catholicism kicks in. They have St. Anthony — the patron saint of lost items.

I learned all about St. Anthony when I worked in the tiny newsroom in Wabasso. St. Anthony was called upon to help my co-workers find anything that was lost — from car keys to teenage kids.

From time to time, I asked them to solicit St. Anthony for me.

I could use those women in my life right about now.

For more than a week, I’ve been digging through every nook and cranny in my house looking for a particular book of hardanger (Norwegian embroidery) patterns. I started a doily probably five years ago and, now that I’m finally over my bout with tennis elbow, I intended to finish some of my UFO’s (unfinished objects). The trouble is, I can’t stitch any more on the doily until I find my instructions.

While you could say the lost item is a direct result of my age (I did turn 40 in January, after all), my excuse is the same as it often is when I lose something. Simply put, I found the pattern book in my home office months ago. I knew that it wasn’t the proper place to store such an item, and promptly put it in a safe place to be found when I needed it.

I just can’t remember where that safe place is!

Thus, I’ve emptied out all three of my bookcases and searched through both of my needlework storage towers, two binders filled with hardanger pattern books, my box of fabric, a container of stitched doilies, closets, drawers, tote bags and storage baskets. I haven’t yet reached the breaking point where I throw up my arms and scream in disgust — but I’m getting close!

My poor mom, who has to hear about my lost pattern book, says, “It will show up when you least expect it — don’t worry!”

Clearly, I did not inherit her patience!

And so, I shall turn to St. Anthony for help. I’m not sure he helps Lutherans, so if any of you are Catholic, I’d appreciate any requests you could make to your patron saint of lost items.

I found a prayer on the Internet to help guide us all, and modified it for this particular situation.

“Tony, Tony,
look around.
Julie’s pattern book is lost
and must be found!”

Care for some tater salad?

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I’ve never had a reason to make potato salad before, and that has been just fine with me.

Mom is the potato salad maker in our family. She’s made it for summertime gatherings, grandchild graduations and perhaps even a funeral or two at church.

It isn’t that I dislike potato salad. Mom makes a pretty good rendition of it, actually. I’ve just never felt the need to whip up a batch.

I envision a single-serve salad might call for one small potato, a hard-boiled egg, a dollop of mayo, a small squirt of mustard and a dash of salt.

Making potato salad for one seems almost not worth the effort. Potato salad for the crowds who flock to the 4-H Food stand at the Nobles County Fair, well now, that’s a different story.

Early Friday morning, our Ocheda Beavers 4-H Club was on food stand duty. As a 4-H mentor to four of my neighbor kids, I was responsible for getting them to the fair with their hats atop their heads and their brand new 4-H T-shirts on their back.

The four, slightly giddy 4-H’ers were at my back door by 7:15 a.m. (who could possibly be giddy at such an early morning hour?) and we drove out to the fairgrounds to begin our shift. Two were waitresses, one was in charge of beverages, and the lone male in the group was to keep an eye on the pies and pastries.

As for me, I was put in charge of making a double batch of potato salad.

Do you know how much food goes into a double batch of 4-H Food stand potato salad?

Well, let’s start with the 20 pounds of cooked potatoes that had to be peeled and diced. My cousin’s wife graciously volunteered to peel the spuds while I sliced and diced, and sliced and diced some more. It took forever!

Next, I added in four dozen eggs, running each one through a handy-dandy little egg slicer twice to create just the right size egg bits for the salad.

I should have looked at how many ounces were in the industrial size plastic container of Miracle Whip, but because I didn’t I’ll just say I’ve never seen a jug of salad dressing that large before.

The rest of the ingredients were measured with a cup of this and a cup of that, tablespoons and teaspoons — amounts most household cooks typically work with.

By the time I finally combined all of the ingredients, the really hard work began — getting it all “stirred up good.”

My hand, wrist and arm gave out before they should have, but the master cook nodded in approval and my big batch of tater salad went into the cooler. The next 4-H Club on duty had the task of scooping it into single-serve containers.

Depending upon Friday’s popularity of potato salad, diners at the 4-H foodstand today will likely get a chance to sample some of my so-called cooking efforts (I didn’t boil the eggs or cook the potatoes.)

Feel free to give accolades to the chef (just kidding!) or, better yet, leave a little extra cash or coin in the 4-H tip jar at the end of the counter. I’m sure the money will go toward a good cause in 4-H.

The Nobles County Fair continues through Sunday, so you still have plenty of time to come out and see all of the projects on display in the 4-H and open class buildings, as well as all of the livestock and poultry in the barns.

The 4-H Beef show is this morning, with the Ribbon Auction slated for 3:30 this afternoon. During the auction, the Rolf and Joan Mahlberg family of rural Worthington will be recognized as Nobles County’s Farm Family of the Year. Congrats to the Mahlbergs — and thanks to Rolf for being one of my favorite ag teachers!

Happy 95th Grandma!

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About a dozen years ago I found a book in a quaint shop in Walnut Grove that I had hoped would shed some light on a bit of family history.

The book, “Grandma, Tell Me Your Stories”, was kind of like a Page-A-Day calendar. She could flip the page each day to reveal a new question and fill in the blank space with a story.

Well, Grandma has told me several times since then that she’s not much of a storyteller. Then, clearly to change the subject, she’d say, “I don’t know where you learned to write stories — it certainly didn’t come from me!”

On Mother’s Day this year, I found that little book amid Grandma’s things that had been moved to her new home in an assisted living facility inWillmar. Most of the pages were still blank, to my dismay.

So, as we sat there in her small apartment — Mom working through boxes of photographs and asking Grandma to identify people in them from time to time — I opened the book and started asking questions.

Had I not left the book in her apartment (I was hoping she’d get bored and start writing again), I would have shared some of her stories with you today — on this, my Grandma’s 95th birthday.

 Grandma Elizabeth — don’t call her Liz or Beth, she doesn’t like either — ought to have plenty of stories to tell about growing up in a farm family in South Dakota and Minnesota, but these days she can’t remember many of them.

There is one story she shared with us back in May that still makes me laugh. Mostly, it’s because I can’t imagine my sweet little Grandma being a devious older sister.

One day, annoyed by her little brother Otto and his incredible sweet tooth, my then-teenage Grandma took a trial-sized package of ex-lax from that day’s mail delivery and fed it to the chocolate beggar. The secret spewed out a couple of hours later when Otto’s tummy ache spawned questions from their mother. Grandma told me it was the one time in her life that she remembered “getting into trouble.”

Most of my memories of Grandma date back to my childhood. I can still remember her teaching me how to do a chain stitch in crochet, and convincing me to practice my embroidery with “smaller stitches.”

Grandma had to endure my bout with chicken pox when Dad was in the hospital, and she had to help me weigh my 4-H lambs — again when Dad was in the hospital several years later. When I went on my first job interview for a reporter position, it was Grandma who tagged along with me out toSturgis,S.D.We made stops at Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug and theBadlands— all places she had never visited before, nor since.

Grandma has told me several times that it’s the pits to get to be as old as she is. Her statement had much more to do with lost friends and family than it did with health — she’s still doing well for her age. Outliving her husband, brothers, sisters, neighbors and friends has made for some lonely times.

But, she still has her family — three children, nine grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and, just within the last year, her first, second and third great-great-grandchildren. We are all proud of her 95 years, even if we can’t all be together to celebrate her birthday today.