Cantaloupe without salt and pepper? You must be kidding.
I thought e-v-e-r-y-one used salt and pepper with cantaloupe and watermelon.
Boy, do we miss our garden this year. Harold Gress is getting near lawn planting time on our ex-garden plot on the corner, so we've settled for a few tomato plants around our house.
I don't know whether it's wise to have a garden. I'll sure miss the sweet corn crop (and trying out everyone's idea on the best seeds). We'll buy enough corn to enjoy ourselves, but it's sure going to lack the hoe-in-hand touch.
Up on the North 40.
Welcome to the Bob Wilbur family. Bob is one of the nuclear power plant people from Brownville. They have become active in Nebraska City events and seem to enjoy the town.
Also, work is under way on the Garry Ailes home and Garry has been giving the construction the anxious checkover.
It doesn't seem possible, but in a few more weeks we will have lived on the North 40 for 10 years.
Best wishes to Gary Gray and family.
We're going to miss Gary, Teresa and their husky young son, Matthew Gray, when they pull stakes later this month for New Mexico.
I was always going to turn Gary in to the county assessor for not reporting a two-car garage. Well, maybe he was right. It wasn't built as a two-car garage, but anytime you can get two Volkswagens into a single car garage . . . that's a two-car garage.
The Grays will load their possessions into a truck and be joined by relatives for the drive to Las Cruces, N.M., where Gary will work with the University conducting workshops and classes for teachers of the deaf.
He will travel several states in his new position.
Nebraska City swimming enthusiasts will have an opportunity Monday at 7 p.m., to try out for the swimming team at Steinhart pool.
Mrs. Mary Blackburn, who will coach the team, said she is hopeful many swimmers will compete for the team.
"They just have to be good swimmers," she said.
Assisting Mrs. Blackburn will be Dennis Venema, Syracuse, a new lifeguard at the pool. Venema is a student at Kearney State college.
Bill Oberdieck is watching the skies and his cherry crop. The annual harvest will start late this week, Bill guesstimates.
The cherry harvest is an opportunity for a lot of people of all ages to earn some money. They get to the orchards shortly before 6 a.m., many sleepy-eyed, toting their lunches and transistor radios. The still of the orchards is disturbed by the blaring of music for the young.
Bill keeps up with the youngsters and it's a pretty pleasant situation . . . but I wonder what he'd do if a worker showed up one day with an ice cream freezer . . .
A lot of people were on the banks of the Missouri river and on the bluffs the other day to look at the ex-Navy minesweeper which was towed to Omaha.
The U.S.S. (that means United States Ship, in case you landlubbers don't know) Hazard was tied off on the Iowa side much to the disappointment of many spectators.
We had hoped to get a closer peek, but the towboat skipper tied her off on the 'tother side while he resupplied his boat before continuing upstream to Omaha.
A minesweeper is just what the name implies. During WWII the ships were used to skim over suspected mined areas, search out the mines and destroy them.
The minesweepers were loaded with electronic gear, but were built as "light" ships so they wouldn't "draw" much water . . . in other words, float on top of the water or as near to the surface as possible to avoid the mines.
They did a successful job during the war and the efforts of the minesweeper crews saved many lives of servicemen.
Congratulations to Ray Ott on his promotion to plant manager of Morton House Kitchens, Inc., at Nebraska City.
Mr. Ott has been associated with Morton House since 1928 and was elevated from assistant plant manager-operations effective July 5.
He's a well known man and I'm sure popular with the folks down at the plant. We had an opportunity to work with him for some time in the Toastmasters club where his favorite saying always shook the speech classes:
"You're murdering the King's English."
Best wishes and much success to a friend.
Otoe county fair.
Marvin Hoffman, Otoe county extension agent, stopped in the office the other day with a bale of papers that when finished will comprise a 100-page Otoe County Fair book.
The fair will be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (August 23-24-25).
Among the features of the fair will be rodeos Sunday afternoon, Sunday night and Monday night after the Veterans parade.
The Grand Champion steer and heifer and the parade of purple ribbon livestock will again be held on Tuesday night. The 4-H horse show has been changed from Monday night to Wednesday afternoon.
The big 4-H style revue will again be held on Wednesday night. Special entertainment will be provided by the Browning family which has appeared in the area several times.
The annual 4-H and FFA livestock sale will be held Thursday, August 26.
The Nebraska City Jaycees are going to have the annual stag June 25 at the Carl Wademan cabin along the Missouri river. The Jaycees are hopeful the membership, prospective members and "exhausted roosters" will attend. An exhausted rooster is an ex-Jaycee over 35 years of age. (A few of us are included).
We suspect that the Jaycees want the exhausted roosters to attend so the younger bucks can take away our pocket change while fattening us on Rocky Mountain Oysters and Mr. Wademan's Hamms products.
Oh . . . you dirty old men.