Lots of Letters!
I have received several responses from folks you know and folks you don't know.
Believe it or not, this old retired guy is too busy, so publishing them will have to wait—at least until he gets his Iowa sales tax figured out and in the mail. You wouldn't want him to make the headline news because he owed the state $18.34 would you?
Keep those cards and letters coming! Your friends will enjoy hearing from you, and so will I!
A New Age for the
United States of America
Thirty-seven minutes from the time that I started writing this, our great country will have a new president.
Most who know me will probably find it no surprise that I did not vote for President-elect Obama. But I will readily admit that I have been favorably impressed with the work he has already done to make sure our country loses no time because of the transition.
The ceremonies are impressive. I might be old fashioned, but I do find ceremonies quite touching. I especially remember JFK's funeral.
I am eager to hear the inaugural address by our new president. He is such a tremendous speaker!
I wish President Obama great success, for himself and for the United States of America.
My hope is that he does not give us all the government he promised us during the campaign.
I'll post this, then keep watching.
Who Reads This Stuff, Anyway?
When I go behind the scenes of this website, I can see generally where visitors are, how long they viewed the site, what pages they viewed, and how they got to The Lime Springs Page.
As an example, I can see that there were 15 visitors from Rochester and the average time they were on the site was a minute and a half. I have no idea who they are.
But I'd like to know!
Based on the statistics I see, I am fairly confident that Wayne, Nancy, and Warren are fairly faithful checkers of this site. Why do they read it?
I don't know, but my guess is that they'd like to read news of their long-lost acquaintances from Lime Springs. Or maybe they're looking for The Great American Novel and figure they can read it here first. (Sorry, but it ain't gonna happen.)
Even though these folks have been away from Lime Springs for half a century, they're still interested in the town and the people, especially those they knew back then. It will always be our home town!
Here's the plea:
If you read this, just click the link and send an email. I'd appreciate your name, location, and the reason you even checked this site. Also, permission to publish your note and email address—if you wish to give it.
Here's the link: kaw@syntheticsaves.com
Times Plain Dealer Joins LS Herald
Effective January 1, Dan and Joyce Evans, through Evans Publishing L.L.C., became the owners and publishers of the Times Plain Dealer. I assume this is what we grew up knowing as the Howard County Times Plain Dealer.
These are the same folks who own and publish the Lime Springs Herald and four other newspapers north and west of Lime Springs. This Cresco paper should be a good fit for their business.
I think Carl would probably be rather pleased with this acquisition, don't you?
An Interesting Test
Want to have fun with a simple little test? At the bottom of this article is a link to the test.
Read the instructions very carefully. Then give it a try. If you score 100% on the first try, please send me an email and make yourself known. I'll give you all the fame (but no fortune; sorry) possible through this site, so be sure to send a picture, too!
After I hear from some of you winners and losers, I'll reveal my initial score and how long it took me to get 100%.
Here's the link:
http://www.humorsphere.com/fun/8787/colortest.swf
Dale Kitchen Ailing
Yesterday I learned that Dale Kitchen, son of Harry, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Rather than go into any details, I'll simply refer you to a great website designed to assist in situations exactly like the Kitchen family is experiencing.
The site gives a good rundown of Dale's condition and progress. Most importantly, it provides a convenient way for each of us to send messages of encouragement to Dale and his family.
Click this link and you'll be whisked off to CaringBridge: http://caringbridge.org/visit/dalekitchen
Two Die in House Fire
Tuesday morning, a house fire reported to be 11 miles NW of Cresco took the lives of two. That could be very close to the farm on which I grew up.
As I learn more about this tragedy, I'll post it here.
UPDATE:
The house was along US 63, three miles south of Lime Springs. Here's what the Waterloo Courier had to say about it today: http://www.wcfcourier.com