life on the ground

…one of my KU shirts today. And during the cooler months, 80% of the time, I’ll have on a sweatshirt that says KANSAS. In other words, I seldom wear one in order to make a statement, so I’m always taken by surprise when a stranger starts a conversation about KU. A man in overalls held …

YAY! The Jayhawks advance to the Elite Eight. Listen to the KU Fight song! Sing along: I’m a Jayhawk Talk about the Sooners, the Cowboys and the Buffs, Talk about the Tiger and his tail, Talk about the Wildcat, and those Cornhuskin’ boys, But I’m the bird to make ’em weep and wail. ‘Cause I’m …

She maketh bierocks, that Ele Browning. And she demonstrated how to about 11 of us at a Learning Connection class tonight at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. Brown 1 pound hamburger, 1 pound sausage. Drain. Add 1 chopped onion and 1 head of cabbage, chopped. Cook until cabbage wilts. Add black pepper. Roll out (thawed) frozen …

Sarah, Kim, Tracy and Amy. Where was Marilyn? Here’s our gang, sans Marilyn (She must have been roasting another marshmallow.) Marilyn and Sarah are sisters; Kim and Tracy, sisters; Amy and I – well, we considered each other to be a sister. This past weekend, I brushed away the recluse spiders in the basement and …

Coming soon:  the color yellow.

A couple years ago, I asked the late Bill Ikerd, a local genealogical expert, about cousins and the mechanics of how cousins became once- and twice- removed. He sent me a wonderfully clear explanation of the cousins puzzle: First Cousin: the child of your aunt or uncle. First Cousin Once-Removed: If your cousin has a …

Yesterday, I stood on my porch and looked across the street at a squirrel’s nest in the leaping-buffalo tree. The nest is way up in the air. I’m not good at judging distances, but it’s probably 50 feet off the earth. So, I’m looking at this nest and wondering how the squirrels build these things. …

It seems like every time Dave and I drive past this spot, eastbound, it’s been too dark to stop. West of Strong City about a mile, on the south side of U.S. 50, there’s a small bridge with a place to pull off. Down in the ditch, is a monument, a tall, black obelisk. Often …

This is one of two old Elmdale schools. I believe this is the grade school, with a brick high school just to the east. My mother and I were in Elmdale this morning, on the sad occasion of a family funeral.