The Lonely Goat herd

 

 

From the newsletter we receive at work each week - this one's a gem.

 

It's about my favorite movie of all time, The Sound of Music. My college roommates - Sal, Vic and Jane also loved the movie. Once, during our college years, we traveled to the Fleur theater in DSM just to see the movie when it made the rounds again on the big screen. We also liked to play the album during our beer parties. I have a lasting memory of Russ Euken dancing to the Lonely Goatherd late, late on night. I think Marci Merrick was involved.

 

If you're from Atlantic, you might remember the Eukens - they're from Cumberland. Sherry Nichol's big sis Jill married his older brother. Another brother came along with Russ to our parties. Or was that a cousin? He was pretty cute. I always think of Russ when I hear that song!

remember how the eyelashes batted?

There was really foam on the steins in the movie...

 

Iowa Outdoors

Celebrating 25 Years of REAP

Famous Puppet Collection Protected for Generations in Mason City

 

 

Thanks in part to Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) Funds, the “lowly goat herd” – an icon of the big screen - has been preserved.

The lowly goat herd puppets were a feature of the 1965 Academy Awards Best Picture, The Sound of Music” and the creation of Mason City native Bil Baird.

As the 25^th anniversary of REAP is celebrated, one of the great accomplishments from the program has been the preservation of some of Iowa’s most iconic historical and cultural treasures such as the Bil Baird puppet collection at the MacNider Art Museum in Mason City.

Baird was one of the world’s best-known puppet masters.  Based out of his New York City studio, once a Capone-era whisky still, Baird produced such works as the “Goat Herd” marionette performance in The Sound of Music.  He also performed extensively throughout Russia and India.

Before animation, Baird’s puppets were hugely popular in the advertising and promotional world.  His clients ranged from AT&T to governments promoting healthy agricultural practice — he even commemorated the USA moon landing. Baird became friends with founding MacNider museum director Richard Leet, and in 1979 began donating his collection of wood and newly engineered plastic puppets to his hometown, where he still visited family. 

The puppets came smashed and crammed haphazardly in old dusty wooden meat boxes with no clear labeling system.  In 2008, REAP funds matched by private donations enabled museum director Edith Blanchard to contract Sarah Carlson to inventory and photograph the collection with the help of Mara Linksey-Deegan, documenting condition and repairs. Now stored one puppet per chemical-free box, organized strings and fiber-filled bags support fragile structures ensuring proper preservation. 

The museum also features a collection of Bil Baird films, interviews, demo tapes, commercials and productions that have been converted from their original 16mm film format to digital DVDs.  Edward R. Murrow’s Person to Person interview with Baird and his wife, Cora, in their studio is included.  REAP funds purchased a special freezer that safeguards the flammable self-toxic filmstrips.

“These aren’t just puppets he owned.  He made all these puppets, that’s why we’re trying to save them in the way we are and preserve them,” said Blanchard.  “Baird is uniquely Iowan, very creative and educated both in the Mason City school system, and at the University of Iowa.  It really shows what talent you have possible in Iowa and we want to preserve that for future generations.”

 

I was sad to see that Maria Von Trapp - the last of the famous singing children passed away in February.

Of course they didn't call her Maria in the movie - that would have been too confusing since the nun's name was Maria. She's beautiful. Much more so than actresses who try to hold back the hands of time through surgery. I prefer the wrinkles. (though not on myself...)

When I am facing a touch situation (like a job interview) I still like to bolster myself with a rousing "I Have Confidence". I try not to wear an ugly dress like Maria did though...
I need to get to that museum in Mason City one of these days. the puppet-master. Genius.

 

Football memories

An aerial photo of the 1976 Iowa State vs. Nebraska football game was published on Twitter recently. I was at that game.
Video Link - 6 minutes



That's me in the student section - lower level, upper right (that's the NE side) this photo is from the ISU archives

 Check out what is now know as Jack Trice Stadium - it was just a baby then. It was born a year earlier in 1975. I was oblivious to all of this, of course. I was a college freshman - the world was my oyster. They built the place for me!

I attended one game at the old Clyde Williams Field, located on the west side of Iowa State University's beautiful campus. I was with the Rodgers family and was about 12 years old. My friend Sally's older sis Cindy attended ISU, so Wayne and Anna Day (2 of my very favorite people in the whole world) - Sally's folks, took me along to the school several times as a distraction for their youngest daughter. That's when I fell in love with the school - without even realizing it! The old stadium didn't seem much bigger than the Valley High School stadium!

I've said before how one of the first things I did when I started school was meet a new lifelong friend, Vicki Gernand (now Behr) and walk to the new football stadium while sharing life stories to buy a ticket. That year they were General Admission (like they are again now) for students. That meant for big games, some students camped out all night in order to be first in line for the best spots.

You may be able to see in the photo that the stadium was surrounded by a mere chain link fence. I must have gotten up darn early that day. I'm sure it was Vic that insisted we do so. The years we lived in the dorms in Shilling House, we variously attended games with our dorm group matched up with a guys' dorm house and just on our own. I remember that game was over the top! I got a "Huck the Fuskers" sticker to commemorate the occasion. Recall I'm from Atlantic, where Husker fans have tormented ISU fans from the beginning of time.

It was November 13th. We lined up on the east side of the stadium, not far back from the front of the line - perhaps 6 deep. There were no security guards back then - so we carried in anything we wanted to. Most of us had pints of some type of liquor. I think it was some type of vodka for me...this leopard don't change her spots. As the gatekeepers began to approach to unlock the gates, the crowd began to surge, pushing those in front against the fence.

I saw people begin to get crushed - it was scary! A girl got some of her long hair pulled out and began to scream and cry. Paul told me he heard someone lost a finger (the lore!). The gates opened and people ran willy nilly (you can't tell that from the video linked) up the stairs. I saw someone drop their fifth of vodka. Tragic! We ran up the steps and found decent seats with our group.

My Junior year, ISU decided general seating was too dangerous - after several incidents like those described above. Everyone purchasing tickets got their group together and went into a lottery for ticketing location - kind of like how the adults do it. We (my roomies Jane, Sal, Vic and I) bought our tickets with Moose and Steve. We were assigned Section R. That's bad - nosebleed. Steve even came up with a cheer.

We like our Cyclone Football
We like it near not far
So F#*$ the damn computer
That stuck us here in R

I'm surprised computers had been invented! haha. We did that cheer every game. After a few years, I think the administration gave up on assigned seats. I still look at section R to see who is sitting there.

Rocking the big glasses and ISU cowboy hats and button down shirts - Hauser is in front of us - with hair!

Do I remember much about the game? Sadly not really. I have a blended memory of many games. We had those big plastic cups with soda pop and ice - perfect as mixers with liquor. We usually drank many! Those cups stacked nicely and were reused in dorms rooms and homes for years. There were not enough restrooms at the stadium then. During team warmups, the cheerleaders had big speakers on the field - no Jumbotron, sound system or fancy scoreboard. We listened to Rubberband Man and Shake Your Booty.

The Cyclones forced several turnovers and Luther Blue ran a kickoff back. Dexter Green was great and Mike Stensrud was a stud on D.

Final Score - ISU 37 - Nebraska 28. We students rushed the field. It was crazy and a bit scary. I'll never forget seeing the goalposts heading down Lincoln Way after the game - traffic parted! My freshman year was a good football year, and I didn't even realize it! I was busy getting acclimated to college. Such a long time ago. Football and I have changed a lot. We're both a bit more jaded now! I miss playing Nebraska in football - such a natural rivalry. Ah well - things change.

I can't wait to watch next week's games.

Susi and the Baby! (Uncle Harv) and a walk

My sister Susan is now an Uncle Harv. One time she told me that she worked with a guy that didn't want to be called Grandpa. So he was going to have his grandchildren call him Uncle Harv, or Tom or something like that. Anything but Grandpa. I'm not sure what little James will call Susi. Nanna, Gramma or Momo. Whatever it is...I'm sure she'll love it!

Susi has arrived in Pasadena to help with baby care! She looks like a natural.  

I took a power walk after work tonight. I'm worried about Odie. She isn't jumping - because she's sore or weak - I'm not sure which. I had her anal glands attended to yesterday to see if that might help. I'm hoping she's just still sore from that. I figure it's a bit like hemorrhoids. But today she's still not jumping. The vet yesterday checked her back and legs and they seemed okay. Wiener dogs can have back problems. So I'm worried. If it's not your wandering kids, it's your dog. Walks help relax me.

On the corner of 68th and EP True- you can see Jordan Creek Mall in the distance

I walked along Elmer P. True Parkway and let dog problems fade away. I checked out progress on the new apartments. Who will live in all those units I pondered? Then I began to think about the apartments I lived in through the years.

Our Big 4 (Sal, Vic, Jane and me) first apartment in Ames - at 230 Campus Avenue. It was brand new in 1978 when we moved in, built by real estate guru Scott Randall. We paid $80 each per month that first year - for a two bedroom (2 girls per room).  The apartment was fully furnished - plaid couch/chairs and kitchen table with vinyl chairs, twin beds. I bet they've installed dishwashers at the place by now - but back then we were washing by hand. Vic, Jane, Sally and I sure had a lot of fun there. And that's where I met Paul - he lived in the 200's and we were in the 400's. When it came time to put together a co-ed softball team, he knocked on our door. He hasn't stopped knocking since!

After life pulled the college rug out from under me - graduation is a cruel thing after one has grown used to hanging with 3 best friends daily and partying several times a week. I was fortunate enough to land a job so I didn't have to move home to Atlantic. I found a furnished apartment in Sioux Falls South Dakota. The bed had seen better days. Ick. I lived there about ten months before I moved to Omaha.

Chris Deardorff helped me look for a place to live in Omaha. We checked out several and I ended up with a nice unfurnished apartment with cathedral ceilings on 144th and Pacific. I also went to Nebraska Furniture Mart and selected a couch, a queen sized bed and bedroom furniture and a butcher block table and four chairs. Exciting! Good thing I was a single girl and had actually saved money from working. Then I got engaged to that door knocking guy. He had gotten a job in Oakland, Iowa by then.

We decided to live partway in between our jobs - in Council Bluffs. We looked at a few options for living quarters - including a home on Lake Manawa. But we ended up living at an apartment on Little John Circle. Betso even lived there with us before we got married - keepin' things legit ya know. That was a nice 2 bedroom 2 bath place nestled up against a bluff and well-maintained. That was the end of apartment life for us though - when we moved to Osage we found a house to rent.

This place we thought about buying is right on 60th and had just been re-done

It took a while to think all through this. I walked to 60th and up to Ashworth. I took photos of a place we considered buying and that cool barn - the Aldrich Barnes place. It was a good workout in the steamy heat with a few light sprinkles.

I'd never noticed this sign before - we have Aldrich relatives on the Bullock side...

This barn is now sitting on some lucrative West Des Moines property

On the back side of the barn, development is taking place - looking south at Jordan Creek Mall

 

Last I walked by St. Francis, our church before turning south again on the home stretch. It was a nice 3.5 mile jaunt. Odie has a vet appointment on Thursday if she's not better by then. Tomorrow I'm off to Cedar Rapids.

St. Francis of Assisi

 



Odie - my bambino!

Hail, Hail

Some of the gang was all here - in Ames for the ISU vs. Kansas State game. While our beloved Cyclones weren't victorious over #5 KSU (despite some great opportunities), a good time was had, as usual when we get together with these oldie but goodie friends.

First of all, a real Cyclone was forecast weather-wise, at least earlier in the week. I think those weather forecasters are just bored and were excited to get Iowans jacked up about rain and wind. It did end up raining, but the weather gods smiled down as it only misted a bit at the beginning of the game and the sun even tried to pop out a couple times. The wind they forecast didn't really even amount to much.

Pablo and I got up early - to much-needed rain in Crestonia. We headed north, arriving just before 8 a.m. Diana and I jumped into cooked eggs and heating up sausage for breakfast burritos. Moose and Kay arrived first - they came in from Chicago, but drove over to Cedar Rapids the night before. Mike and Paula Huston arrived from the LaCrosse area next, with Behrs arriving from Northfield (Kelli and Toby from Mpls) right before game time - 11 a.m.

McKims were nice enough to give us their two tickets so Mike and Paula could attend the game - the others had tickets to sit on the grass (which despite the rain, was not soaking wet). So we got to catch up with the Hustons during the first half. Mike was the Best Man at our wedding and he and Paul will go pheasant hunting in SoDak soon.

It was so cute when we arrived later than usual at the game - the guy that sits right by us (I regret I don't know his name...) said, "where have you been? I've been worried about you!" Ahhh we're missed.

Vic - first buddy I met my frosh year!

At halftime, I headed down to sit with the gang. No, I couldn't see the game too well - but that was okay. It was fun chatting. It was Freddie B's Birthday! At one point, Kelli Behr (Vic's daughter, Amy's age who brought her fiance Toby - we finally got to meet him, and yes, he passed the test) said, "Just look at this - how great, how you all have stuck together - college friends." It's true! We are the lucky ones.

One thing that helped is that Mike Huston invited us to camp at his family's farm at Ridgeland, Wisconsin to go tubing on the Apple River. So we took him up on it...for 15 years. Through those years, we got married, became young parents, and bonded for life. Our kids grew up like cousins. So even though we eventually got busy with school activities and didn't see each other quite as often, Amy and Kelli have a "thing" like her mom and I. They can pick up right where they left off, whether it was a month since they talked, or six. And now Amy has the honor of being a bridesmaid in Kelli's wedding next June.

Kel and Amy

The Wilt girls, Jaime and Alyssa are like littler cousins to the Behr girls. They went on vacation together. Our kids don't know them quite as well...but Amy did stay at their place in Chicago once. And Jud...he's a guy so he didn't try as much to bond, you know how that goes.

After the game, Mary Morman and her husband Cary came up to hang out with us. She was Kay's roomie in college. I have hung out with her in DSM. I was sorry Vic and my roomie Jane (lives in Waukee) couldn't make it. And Sal - who lives in Oregon.

But I think it's pretty cool. Aren't friendships grand?

Shout out to my Baby Girl on her Day 'O Birth. Hard to believe it was 27 years ago that she popped out (was pulled out with forceps) but then again seems like she's always been with us. We couldn't ask for a finer daughter.

Love you Amy! And so glad to Jud and Kara were able to be with you on your day.

My lover, partner, best friend

8/28/82

 

We didn't plan to have a memorable date for our wedding date...we were just trying to avoid Hawkeye (my parents) and Cyclone (Paul and me) football games! But it worked out pretty well in the end.

We met at 230 Campus Avenue in Ames

 

 

See - cute friends!

Paul and I met the first time in the fall of 1978. I don't recall being all that impressed - thinking more that his friend Scheid was cute. Besides, Paul was just back visiting that weekend - he was working that fall in SW Iowa at Forney Lake, near Riverton. My next memory of Paul is when he came to our door to sign me and me roomies up for a co-ed softball team with him and his buddies. Hmm more cute friends? And I was right - his friends Tom and Mike were handsome guys too. Not that he was dogmeat...but I'd seen him walk by our apartment holding hands with a girl with long hair.

 

 

That spring before my senior year we went on a date. I enjoyed his company but still thought it was a passing thing. That summer I became a softball groupie - his team Minsky's was pretty good, and so was he. I liked watching him play. We dated that year - he took me with him for a class project. He had to clip the nails of a vole, a little mouselike creature. He grew on me. By spring I met his sister Jean and fam, and then his parents. Then I graduated off I went to my new job in Sioux Falls, SD. Paul had started school a quarter late - he thought he wanted to be a carpenter for a bit. So he needed to finish up. He was working nights as a pre-sorter for UPS, so he fell asleep on some of our dates - sexy!

 

So there I was in Sioux Falls, all by myself. I had a few thoughts that maybe I'd meet Mr. Right there. Wrong! Paul came to visit - and without the distraction of college and roommates, we really got to know each other. We became best friends. That's when I was hooked! He wrote me the most romantic letters from SE Iowa, where he landed after graduating - trapping turkeys to transplant elsewhere. Then karma took over - and I was transferred to Omaha and he got a job in Oakland, Iowa not far away. We saw each other every weekend. In January of 1982 we got engaged, putting the wedding together in 8 short months, thanks to the Pat Bullock machine. My mom was good at that stuff.

 

 

Bridesmaids - my roomies, Vic, Jane, Sal and sis Betso. Groomsen - Mike, Tom, Fitz, Schneid with Moose and Brad as ushers. It was a great wedding, and the priest got us out of there in 45 minutes with a full mass. Paul's sis Jean played the organ and Pat McCauley played the organ. Music was gorgeous - the Sound of Music Wedding March was what I walked in to. (No...nobody sang "How do you Solve A Problem Like Leslie"). If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot. No singers, no flower girls. (Mom thought they were too dramatic).

 

 

Our friends decorated a van with a bunch of stuffed wild animals for us to ride in after the wedding - complete with duck calls. We went to the hospital to see my Grandpa Bubba. Others went to the White Rose and got drunk. There was a reception at the Country Club followed by another one at my parent's home - with roast beef my folks friends cooked for sannies. We had a keg and everyone had a great time. I got chilly and put on jeans and my mom's golf sweatshirt. Paul still had on his white tux - when we checked into the Wise Owl Hotel near I-80 the staff probably thought the groom ran away with someone other than the bride!

 

 

The next day we opened gifts at Mom and Dad's. When I walked in the door Dad said, "You look...different." Hmmm I was thinking I shoulda looked different a while ago...haha We still enjoy many of the gifts we received all those years ago.

 

 

We didn't go on our honeymoon for a few days as I had to close out month end books at my job at the grocery wholesaler in Omaha on the 31st. Then we flew to Seattle and took a Grayline Tour to Mount Ranier. Then we took a big ferry to Victoria Island, and then across to Vancouver. There Paul found out he had been hired by the federal government for a job in his same office in East Pott County. The beginning of a 30 year career.  

 

 

And the beginning of a beautiful marriage. Not always fun, but mostly. Thank God he's a patient man (a saint really). And good thing I like sports, and am able to entertain myself during hunting season. We aren't jealous types - trusting in each other. I pretty much tell him everything - so if you don't want him to know something, don't tell me. We've been through some tough stuff - our child's death, our parents' passing. I can't think of anyone I'd rather walk through this world with.

 

Happy 30th Anniversary Pablo - may there be at least 30 more!

 

And I didn't even try

I picked a great father for my children...without really even trying!

Sometimes when I talk to my oldest friends, they tell me that I talked long ago about what I was looking for in a mate. I don't recall this at all. Evidently my words had more of an impact on them than they did me! Or I was blowing smoke up their asses...

I wasn't like my roomie Sally - gorgeous blond and 5 foot 11". She always had guys lined up to date her. Othere roomies: Vic and Fred were destined for each other. Jane dated several guys (I'll never forget Stan). I'd had the HS boyfriend - the oh so nice Mike McCauley. Too nice for me. So nice that I broke up with him by our senior year, and dabbled a bit with Craig Both. He was more of a bad boy. But I didn't really have an ISU bf (Mark who broke my heart at the end of freshman year was a fairly brief dalliance). Moose wasn't bf material back then. I remember listening to sad love songs wondering if I'd ever find "the guy". Karla Bonoff - "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me". Oh the angst.

I've seen TV shows where advice is given that women should come up with a list of what they're looking for in a guy. But I don't remember doing that. Blond Catholic farm boy that will someday make a great father would not have been on my list! Somehow, despite myself, I lucked out. And so did our children.

How so? I think the best thing Paul Goldsmith does for Amy and Jud (and don't forget Patrick) is to love their mother well. In my opinion that is one thing many parents today do wrong - they elevate the children above the mate/marriage, putting too much stress on the kids. Sure the little monsters (children) might seem like they enjoy being the center of attention. But really it's stressful for them to feel as if the burden of the family depends on them.

In addition to treating me well, Paul also is a pretty darn good daddy. (Amy still calls him that and I love it, Jud opts for the traditional Dad). I expected it from the start and he came through - changing diapers, feeding the baby, getting up in the night. He was really good at the expected stuff - teaching the kids about sports, outdoors, mowing. He coached them through every sport - remaining fair to all the children, not inflating our kid's playing time. Paul is a wonderful role model, sharing household duties with me, we make a good team. Plus he's a good provider - demonstrating just what a good employee is for USDA all these years.

Now that A&J are mostly growed up, they still call Paul for advice on many things - cars, job stuff, investments, work. They call me too - it just depends on the nature of the question. I am in awe of the reliable, awesome guy he is. Sometimes I get lulled by it..taking him for granted as I'm sure our children do too.

Today, on his 25th Father's Day I am filled with appreciation that 30 years ago I was lucky enough to marry this wonderful father. Thanks to George and Laura Goldsmith for raising such a wonderful man.

Paul on last year's Elk hunting trip in Colorado

I miss my daddy David Judson Bullock. He's been gone 5 years now. I got to know him so much better in his later years than I did when I was young. He was such a friendly guy - could talk to anyone. Happy Dad's Day Dave Bullfrog!

Mom and Dad - Thanksgiving in Grand Junction one year

Past Chicago Trips

It's been many years since Behrs and Goldsmiths visited Wilts in Chi-town. Paul and I stopped there a few years ago on our way to the fam golf in Wisconsin. But no Behrs.

When Wilts first moved to Chicago, of course we had to go for a house-warming, to deliver the most beautiful crappy" orb le fleur". That's French for - real rose in round glass water-filled container that was so ancient the rose was rotted. Purty, real purty. We found it on a back shelf when we moved into our first home in Creston -the Broms weren't real thorough when they moved out.

And we were there when the guys shingled that house. We also did some sightseeing when we were in the metropolis, visiting the Museum of Natural History. Another time we took the chillens to the Aquarium.

One time (it may have been on one of the same trips, but the adult night out) we had all piled into Fred's Dad's full sized van and cracked a cold one in downtown Chicago. While driving to our selected location, some knucklehead merged into our vehicle in dense traffic, making it necessary for us to go to the police station (and stash good beer hastily back into the cooler). We parked under the L, and saw the seamy underside of the city. That may have been the night we dined at Ditka's - giant pork chops.

We ate at Dick's Last Resort on one visit, down on the pier. Barbequed ribs on butcher block paper. Afterwards we strolled along Navy Pier and saw some dickwad try to impress the chicks by pulling his giant cigarette boat away from the pier, but forgot to untie the boat first. Duh. Too many brewskis. The POlice needed to talk to him.

We're at least 10 years older this trip - but hey, we don't have youngsters to deal with, so that cuts at least 10 years off our true age, right?