Nine members of her class along with some of their spouses got together for a private lunch at a restaurant in Hiawatha. A lot of time was spent discussing the changes in family and lifestyle and a number of other things. One of her classmates has spent part of the last two winters about fifteen miles from where were staying in Texas. He is planning to be there next year so maybe we can do something with him sometime. I have not been on the farm since 1960 and listening to some of them that are still in farming was very interesting. I think that I learned more about modern farming in the last few days than I have in the last twenty years. There were so many conversations going on at once that I would have liked to listen to that I really had to pick and choose. So most of the time I listened to farming talk and to those who were telling about the ornery things that were done in high school. There is no question that a lot of that is done in every school, but I almost think they had more fun than most places. It was interesting too that some of the things that I heard about the girl that would become my wife were quite complimentary. It was evident from what was said that she was both a fun person to tease and a person that was respected. We had a great time at the reunion. There was even one of the teachers from her classes. He had taught in the school for forty years.
On Sunday afternoon while I was working on the computer and about to fall asleep we got a phone call with an offer. The granddaughter of some of our friends wanted to go to the zoo. They remembered that I had said I would like to go to the Tropical Rain Forest at the zoo. So we were asked if we would like to go also. I recommend that if you ever go to the zoo make sure that you take a couple first graders. It will put a whole different twist to the experience. It will be a lot more fun and you will remember more things about what you see at the zoo. They can think of things that a adult would never think about. Some of the things that they say may be so funny. There is an advantage in the fact that first graders are ready to go home earlier than an older child would be. You don't have to spend too long at the zoo. I had never thought about mice in a zoo. In the Tropical Rain Forest there were a bunch of little mice that were very evident in one of the displays. They would run out to the trays of food that were set out for the display animals and have a feast. There were also several fruit bats inside. This is the only place that I have seen bats on display. There was several birds that were very colorful too. We had a great time.
ONE OF THE MORE COLORFUL AND FANCIER BIRDS
THERE WERE SEVERAL FRUIT BATS
We went down to see my sister and had a enjoyable time with her. While she took care of some things we went on down to Ottawa and saw some friends there for a couple hours. And then we drove on south to Princeton where I grew up. I always enjoy driving by on the highway near my folks home. I have not been up to the house since they left the farm and really don't have a desire to get any closer. We always said it was a quarter from the highway to the house. The last time I was by there the fields were planted to soy beans that were ready to harvest and now the fields are wheat that will be ready to harvest in about a month I would guess. The pasture where we ran our cattle were changed over to crop fields some time in the past so it looks rather strange to me. A bit further up the road there is a farm where I worked several times. There was a large (to a small boy) barn where I had helped with the haying several times. I photographed the barn a couple years ago. At the time it was falling down and I figured in another five years there would be nothing left that even looked like a barn. How wrong I was. The owner has done extensive repairs and the barn now looks like a new barn. There are several things about it that is too much like the old barn to be a totally new barn. I hate to see old barns fall to neglect and most of them do exactly that. It was great to know that this old barn has a new lease on life, so to speak. When you look at the how bad the barn had become it is very hard to believe that anyone would restore it. But they did.
THIS BARN HAS BEEN TOTALLY RESTORED
Till Later This is Uncle Duck
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