Pot O Gold Bread (Pat's delight)

I might have mentioned before that I pledged my head, heart, hands and health to those wonderful gals, the Glad Girls of Grove 4H Club. Is that for life?

Better living through the letter H!

When I was fortunate enough to get a horse, I joined a 4-H club in order to show that horse and win ribbons. Sally Rodgers and Jennifer Deter were in my club. That organization had rules. Tough love for this girl. To be in 4-H and show my horse I had to, gulp, also be in Food and Nutrition. That meant cooking. And other stuff like decoupaging a recipe box.

Last weekend I frantically dug through all my recipes looking for one for beans. No luck on that - but I did find this.

It's cheese bread - baked in seasoned clay flower pots. Mom cleverly tied a cloth ribbon around the pots - to make the loaves attractive when serving the bread. Yeah - Mom did more of the work. As I said - I was in it for my horse. The bread (and Mom) earned a blue ribbon but no purple and no State Fair. I didn't come from the right "family" for that. (4-H Mafia) haha. The horse show was fun!

I don't look all that happy

More Horse talk

Sometime after we got settled into the horse condo, known as "the barn", Jennifer Deter's folks Don and Jane bought a stall for her, along with a small sorrel horse that she named Drifter. Jennifer is a couple years younger than I am, but our parents were friends and we were on swim team - so we were friends. I convinced her to call the horse High Plains Drifter, after the Clint Eastwood movie.

Wayne Rodger's daughter Sally was the person that introduced me to the world of horse ownership - I had ridden her little pony a few times before I got Frosty. Ron and Jackie Guttenfelder's daughter Susie lived in the house by the barn. Girls and horses - they go together.

The cast of characters:

• Zandy - Wayne Rodger's chestnut gelding. Wayne spent way more time working with horses than he ever did riding them.
• Miss Viscosity (Vissy) - her parents were Pony Adair (Wayne's brood mare) and Croton Oil. I think the name was very clever - viscosity is a way to measure thickness of a fluid (in this case, oil). Vissy was Sally's bay mare, and my gelding Jack - though he was technically not really a "he" was in love with Vissy. Jack would nicker and pine for her when she wasn't nearby.
• Pistol Pete - Susie Guttenfelder's very tall sorrel gelding. Susie rode him from the time she was very little.
• Misty Moon - formerly Anna Day Rodger's Tennessee Walking Horse, but by this time she was owned by Leroy Nelson, who I believe was an employee of Walnut Grove. I rode Misty a few times. She was training in the smooth gate of that breed. You didn't neck rein her, and didn't kick her. Instead, when you wanted her to move out, you just said, "Get away, Misty!" and clenched with your knees, urging her forward. It was like gliding!
• Dean - had a buckskin. Can't remember much else.
• High Plains Drifter, followed by Sweetie Bar Sweet (just saying that name made my teeth rot) - I don't think Jennifer Deter's mom ever did tell Don what Sweetie set him back...$$! She was a great Western Pleasure horse.  
• There were some other horses that would move in and out. I still think I'm forgetting someone.   

I spent a lot of happy hours at the barn - grooming Jack, mucking out his stall, messing around and riding. The indoor arena was great for riding during cold weather. There was also a larger outdoor arena available. Jennifer's grandpa made her some wooden jump standards - so we could pretend to have jumping horses. It was fun to put an English saddle on my horse and put the stirrups up high like a jockey.

We didn't ever wear helmets back then - and are probably luck to be alive. Though I rarely fell off. Jackson (as Wayne called him) was not a jumper - he probably went 18 inches at the most. Most frequently we rode the horses down Guttenfelder's gravel lane to the dirt road just west of their place. There were fields nearby and the dirt road ran north, then turned east and ran along a narrow field that flanked the Nishnabotna River. The famed, and somewhat decrepit 8-cornered house was at the end of the road, with a gravel road that ran north on the far side of the house. I could get all the way to Robyn Bredensteiner's house going that back route!

Before the crops grew, that was where I could kick Jack into high gear - and feel the thrill of his top speed. Girl and horse - one with each other. If I was by myself, I would sing. No iPods back then. Gordon Lightfoot. I'm sure Jack found it soothing. ha! A few times Jack shied (jumped suddenly because he was startled) due to pheasants flying out of tall grass. That was when I nearly lost my seat in the saddle. He must have lived his early years someplace dry, because he was very suspicious of puddles and water. When he came across a puddle - even in the parking lot of the barn, he would gather himself and leap across it. I had to be ready!

When I didn't feel like going the rural route to ride, I could head south, down the gravel road past the lumber yard (before it burned down), towards the hospital. Before HyVee was built, there was a field with a path that led to the old fairgrounds and barns that were a part of that complex. That was where we kept the horses before the move to the Barn. My classmate Candice Drake's dad was the Frito man - his warehouse was in a building there. One time, when Frosty was still there, I spent many hours making friends with a dog with pups out there. Another time Sally and I popped open the door of the old fair office and found ancient calendars and fair info. If I was feeling brave, instead of heading across the field, I would cross Highway 6 and go up the hill towards the hospital, riding on top of the flat hill.

When I got Frosty, my first horse, I joined 4-H with Sally. We were in the Glad Girls of Grove! Grove Township - that was our group. I was like a fish out of water, with a mom that wasn't much help...bless her heart - she was a Girl Scout Leader. We knew nothing about this organization. I remember having bad dreams that I showed up at some event with the wrong spoon. Even back then I was feeling inadequate and it manifested itself in my sleep! I registered for Saddlebred classes instead of the ones I should have...it was a struggle. And they made me do a project in Food and Nutrition. All I wanted to do was show my damn horse!

In the end though, 4-H did serve me well. I learned about Robert's Rules of Order - something used in many groups I've been a member of. I kept a Record Book, which was a lot of work, but taught me a lot about keeping track of projects. I still remember every project I did. One time Marci Rodgers tried to drive Sally and me out to Blake's house  for a 4-H meeting after a great deal of rain. She took a dirt road shortcut. Bad idea! We ended up in the ditch, but were close enough to walk the rest of the way.

Wayne Rodgers had a horse trailer and truck, so he hauled us to horse shows. Not only did we go to the 4-H show that was held early in August each year, we went to lots of other area shows - Anita, Cumberland, Audubon - places like that. Back then horses were popular. The classes we were in, Junior Western Pleasure, were often packed full - 30 to 40 participants. We got to know several other kids out on the horse show circuit - like Jody Zellmer, Geneda Jessen, Scott Westphalen and Tammy Rutherford (her dad did our horse shoeing) with her blue roan. There were kids from other towns too - like those old-fashioned looking girls from the Audubon area we called the Campbell Soup twins. It was a great way to spend weekends.

I'm sure Wayne was pretty sad when Sal and I grew up and thought we were too cool to hang around horses. I'm afraid I was the oblivious "cool" one. I kept Jack all through high school, but I didn't give him enough attention. It was a sad day when I sold him and the stall to a woman - I can't remember her name, but I think she was Susi's classmate. She didn't keep him too long, and then the Wickman family purchased him and he went to live at their farm. One time I took Paul there to see him. When he was about 16, somehow he got out on the blacktop and was hit by a car and killed. Too young. Jack was a good guy - such a personality!

Horses are a great deal of work and responsibility. They are expensive and can be high maintenance. I wouldn't advise anyone who isn't ready and willing to accept the responsibility to buy one. But if you have the chance to get to know one - you are a lucky person. Like I am.

I almost made the Olympics

In my own mind anyway. With all the Olympic talk lately, I can't help but turn on way-back machine...back to when I competed for Atlantic's Swim Team. The first time was when I briefly went with my big sisses as a real youngster of perhaps 8 years of age. Coach Drew Pellett needed somebody - a warm body who knew strokes - to help fill out the team for a home meet.

So Susi dragged me along. Cindy could have never talked me into it - she who said things like, "your hair looks like Captain Kangaroo's". But I'd do it for Suze! I must not have been a future Michael Phelps at that time...because she didn't insist I immediately join the team permanently.

Why you can hardly tell this body has a sex...

The next time I joined, I was around 12. The town mothers must have been looking for ways to occupy us during the summer because they dutifully took turns delivering us to Sunnyside Pool so Coach Drew and later Clark Pellett could put us through practice paces and wear us out. With swim team we had a summer purpose in life! I remember being so excited when I got my official team Speedo - black with a gold stripe down the sides. It was during those modest times when The suits were designed with a discrete panel across the crotch so womanly parts were disguised. But man - in those Speedos the boy's junk was pretty much on display. 

Atlantic was part of the Southwest Iowa Swim Association (SWISA). Other towns included Villisca, Clarinda, Creston, Shenandoah, Hamburg? I'm not sure who else. It was like a conference and we had a schedule where we had dual meets and big meets with multiple teams. There was a pool in Council Bluffs we frequented a lot called Town & Country. Shen's pool was huge, and it had a "dock" in the middle. I remember going to AAU meets in Jefferson and someplace in Nebraska - we had to swim 100 meters (like the Olympics...) at those meets instead of our usual 40 yards. That was a killer! I started out strong but faded.

Unlike school sponsored events there was no bus. Moms usually got stuck driving us in - and the vehicle of the era, the station wagon. Tylers, Deters, Rodgers and Bullocks all had wagons - so we piled kids and gear in. Our team even had a tent similar to what people use now for tailgating - to keep us out of the sun.

A lot of people had this era wagon...

Here are some of the cast of characters on the team - Relay teams varied depending on age groups. Back then it was 11/12, 13/14, and 15 and over
Mike and Pat Allen
Ron Tisdale
Ned Becker
Ted Simpson and Todd Pellett - it was fun to have a group of guys to irritate and entertain us
Clark Pellett
Barb Hutchinson and sister Diane - Barb was our backstroker, Diane a couple years older - not sure what she swam.
Marci Merrick - mostly freestyle, but good at everything. Her sis Cindy was a couple years older. Those four made up a great relay team!

Sally Rodgers
Robyn Bredensteiner
me
Sue Tyler
Sherry Allen
We had some awesome relay teams!

Jennifer Deter who was a bit younger - not sure who she was on relay teams with...

Besides relays, we were entered into a certain number of individual events - there was a limit of course to the number each person could be in of course. My specialty? Breaststroke. Perhaps it stunted the growth of my breasts...

I was good. At least in our little corner of the world - and broke the pool record for breaststroke at Sunnyside for 11/12 and then 13/14. Of course it was for 40 yards so meant - nothing - really. And I had one big rival from Council Bluffs, Margaret whom I enjoyed nipping time and time again. But my fave was racing in the relays, and putting our team in the front position. Very satisfying. One time a stroke checker tried to disqualify me. He said I'd used an illegal scissor kick - AS IF! Pat Bullock and Betty Lou would never allow me to do that. He backed off. I must have been a big mumbler as my name was announced as "Lisa Black" (instead of Bullock) quite often over the loudspeaker as the winner.

The other thing I remember is the fun we had hanging with those other kids - during those rides, during the days (we'd take comic books, play cards and just talk) and then after the meets we'd get to go out to eat. Back then there weren't any McD's. We went to places like Berning's Motor Inn in Creston for a burger and malt. Our sainted parents had to deal with rowdy kids for hours at a time - I began to understand what that was like after have children myself. I'll never forget Sue Tyler bringing jello packets to dip her fingers in for energy before racing for a "secret weapon". Green tongue freaked opponents out! A predecessor to goop that marathoners use?

My swim meet years were essential to forming the person I am today. Thanks to the Pellett family and matriarch Betty Lou for all they did for swimming in Atlantic! And here's to you fellow swim team members. We share a bond that can never be broken. I'm thinking of you during the Olympics!


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Girl's State Tourney Memories

Iowa Basketball star Denise Long of Union-Whitten - scored 32 field goals in a game

It was Iowa Girl's State Basketball Tournament week in Des Moines. Creston didn't make it, as usual. Creston girls haven't been good, well since I was in high school (I attended high school at conference foe Atlantic) and Eldon Gammell was the Creston coach. It was the era of Roxanne Sammons and Sue Tindle - in the Panther Pit.

That was back when six on six basketball ruled Iowa and there was only one class. The small schools dominated because they had been playing girl's ball for years (sometimes in uniforms that looked like skirts). The big schools were playing catch-up, as they had just figured out that we girls were "robust" enough to play such sports.

When I was in high school, girls basketball players at state were my rock stars! I wanted to be them. The Girl's State Tourney provided just the venue - the pageantry to a get the attention of a young athlete like me.

Atlantic didn't start girl's basketball until 1973/74. I was a sophomore, and had never had formal coaching on shooting technique - nothing. A real project. Just like most of the 60 or so girls who went out for basketball that year...I was in seventh heaven when I made the junior varsity squad. Of course our team was horrible - as was I. Still it was so much fun, playing at that level and cheering on the varsity. We had such fun, and won a game or two over other teams just starting up.

The Atlantic Trojanns (yes - a dumb team name - but it's better than Lady Trojans...or IS it?) were one and done when it came to playoffs of course. Mom offered to take a couple friends and me to watch state games during the week at Vet's Auditorium. Sally Rodgers and Jennifer Deter were the lucky two. Frosty Malt anyone?! Of course the traditional Girl's State blizzard slammed Des Moines so we secured a room at the Howard Johnson's on Merle Hay for the night - no luggage.

Later that week we headed back for the Championship game. Atlantic High School had an organization call the Girls Recreation Association (GRA). About the only thing the club really did was to transport us each year in school buses to the girl's state tourney. At least 40 girls headed to the big city for a day of shopping, and then the finals.

We'd arrive and park at Vets - then head east to the downtown Younkers and other area stores and restaurants. I remember seeing girls from other towns in their letter jackets. That was about the time the "petless"leashes were all the rage. People had these starchy leashes with a little collar at the end. The leash would stick out in front of them like they were really walking a dog - but here's the funny thing. There was only air there. haha. Glad I didn't invest in one of those! One year, some of the girls (not me) chose to attend the movie "The Exorcist" before the basketball game. Those chicks freaked out all the way home on the bus.

When it was time for the game, we were seated in the cheap seats - a number on plywood in the endzone. Under the Iowa map with the lights for the towns that were playing. You had to make sure to sit by your pals and be sure to get all the good stuff - frosty malts, peanuts, soda. They used to play a consolation game first. I remember spying Adel star Julie Goodrich in the crowd awaiting the final game - signing autographs. I worshipped her. I would read the program cover to cover - as if I could absorb basketball skills by reading about the girls on these teams.

The best part of girl's basketball were the friendships forged. Even today, many of the people I'm friends with on Facebook are the girls I played ball with. Pam Nelson Jepperson, Sally Rodgers, Marci Merrick, Chris Watson, Becky Nelson Case, Sandy Larsen Alleman, Mona Jones, Carrie Williams Wehrli, Sue Tyler Rawlins, Cathy Hjortshoj Larsen, Dawn Stangl, Jennifer Deter (and anybody I'm forgetting). There is a special bond that comes from practicing and competing with a group of young women.

Our team had a couple big victories. I recall one game in when Hjort made a shot in OT to win at Red Oak. And another when Sal banked one in against rival Carol Winter and Clarinda to win right at the end. The joy was fabulous! Our coaches were wonderful people (at least in hindsight) - I'll never forget the relationships with Dale Allen and Sharon Leslein. They put a great deal of effort into trying to make a group of raw athletes into a basketball team. When Dale Allen explained the Pick and Roll play to us the first time - I thought the guy was  freakin' genius. Who knew there were plays involved in basketball...that you didn't just, well - play?

You won't catch me wishing to go back to the days of six on six though. It was a sport that's time has passed. I was all for it when Creston went to 5-player ball fifteen or so years ago. The girl's state games today don't have near the pageantry of the olden days. Or the attendance. Who is to say the six-player game would have good attendance now either.

Times change. I haven't seen anyone with a petless leash lately either...

Fried, but in a good way!

I'm fried tonight, so pardon me if this isn't my most scintillating post. I've been traveling the state of Iowa again, with a motley crew of co-workers, auditing Environmental Management Systems at solid waste agencies. Cast of characters:My supervisor

• Jennifer - her husband and 9-year old daughter were at home, where Molly only ate the carbs out of her school lunch
• Becky - a mommy who left her husband in charge of a couple kiddos. Becky actually partially dressed sleeping Trent the morning she left, and left a reminder note about "show and tell" Ah I remember those days... 
• Jeff - partner Nick was left in charge of pooches Leia and Lucy.

This week we visited Cedar Rapids Linn County and the Waste Commission of Scott County in Davenport.

Scenes from the audit, Scott County - wow, doesn't this look exciting?

Jen, Jeff and Becky look over the recycle beetle located at the CR Linn Landfill

They're doing good things for the environment at those places, despite what you might think about trash and landfills! I enjoy getting out and talking to the people that are on the "front line". The ones that run the dozers, collect household hazardous materials, pick up litter and run the scale.

But man, being on the road two days, and having to be "on" all the time. It's quite wearing. I drove about half the time - thank goodness Jeff shared with me. The traffic across I-80 is a bitch!

The scale operator keeps the bad stuff like chemicals and other hazardous things out of the landfill...plus she has Milkbones!

These are the types of projects our participants are doing - setting goals to sell composters and rain barrels and surpassing them - continuous improvement!

I was glad to get home to Joan's yesterday evening. The furnace guy was there - to the tune of a new motor for $600+. Joan was not a happy camper for a 7 year old furnace..

Paul returned home Wednesday evening from a successful hunt in South Dakota. He was with Mike Huston and Tom Sullivan- college buddies. Next - a weekend trip with my High School homegirls - Chris and Paula!