On Friday nights, for those who enjoy country music, and especially for those who also wish to play and/or sing as a part of the program, Cottonwood emma chaseFalls, Kansas is the place to be! We have visited this tiny community many times over the years and especially enjoy the free music gathering that takes place there each Friday. Cottonwood Falls is located just to the south of US50, on Kansas highway 177. The cafe is an old, restored building with a country style menu and a small gift shop in the adjacent building. The Emma Chase Cafe has become the center of action for the community on many occasions and draws both listeners and musicians from long distances. It is a tradition at the Friday music programs, to give a small gift to the visitor who has come the furthermost, and over many stops there we have never been closer than second with our Texas address!

We have several relatives who attend regularly and even a few who bring instruments and join in. It is quite common for members of local music groups to stop in and participate and even occasionally there is a member of some nationally know group or band who stops by. The gentleman who  acts as MC is a retired country gospel singer/composer who is extremely talented and who has performed all around the country. While not every person who joins in is of top quality in performing, there are very few who are not talented and some are surprisingly so. The program begins at 7pm and if weather is good everyone just puts a lawn chair in the street, and when weather is bad they push back the tables inside and everyone just packs in close. If you have never participated in a gathering of this kind, this is one that you should not miss. If you travel near the area, check the schedule of events at the Emma Chase, as there are other programs that they sponsor which may be of interest and the food is very good and for a most reasonable price. Everyone there is just as friendly as can be, so if you stop be sure to introduce yourself to Sue Smith and the staff there.

paintingThis morning I went back to the shop and finished phase 1 of the portable barrier project. I have now completed the painting of the barriers that are still in good condition. I did most of it yesterday but had to get the spots left to allow for paint to dry. The volunteer coordinator is in the district office in Tulsa for the next few days so I am on my own for now. It took a couple of hours to complete the painting so I was finished in time for an early lunch.

 After a break for lunch I went out to address the problem of brush that has overgrown some of the signs around the park. We see many indications that there has not been much trimming of trees or cutting back of brush around the parks here for quite a number of years.  I believe that the volunteer program is prettyobstructed sign new here as yet and the staff could clearly use more help.

There really were not too many signs that brush has interfered with as  most sign clearhave been placed in areas that are mowed for a wide area, but those in need were mostly obstructed. The worst were around one of the boat ramps where it was impossible to read two of the signs until vehicles were nearly past them. No wonder that folks didn't always pay their fees or observe the rules! 

I spent about three hours working with nippers to remove and pile the brush from two signs and then patrolling the parks for other signs where brush is a problem. There were a few others with some encroachment, but nothing very bad and it took only minutes to clear the problem with those. One more task has now been accomplished for the park.

Our swimming beach here can be very busy at times and yesterday was no exception. Actually, this beach is in a park that is presently closed for beachremodeling and it seems that our feathered friends have chosen to take advantage of that. Looks as though there are plenty of life guards on duty there also!

 Yesterday I began a project of repair and replacement of the portable barricades that the Corps use to block roads and campsites around the lake. It seems to have been a long time since they had any repair or replacement work and some of them are in pretty poor condition. I went through them all and selected some for repair, some for trash and others just need a little attention.

I then spent the next few hours scraping and painting the repairable ones. I'll finish that part today and that should get them by for a while until I can get some reconstruction and replacement done for the others. It was a good start but the construction is really what I like best. I don't mind some painting, but that really isn't my favorite thing to do. I suppose that I am still a boy at heart, as my favorite job in the shop always seems to involve noise and sawdust! But I happen to be very skilled at the creation of both of those two items! Off to work now as it is much too quiet over at the shop.

musicOne of the best things about many rural communities is that they often have entertainment that is provided free to all who come. Council Grove is no exception. Each Sunday evening in the summer the local arts council sponsors musical programs in the city park bandstand. Everyone brings their own chairs and the program is fee, with popcorn and drinks available for a donation of your choice. This was the first such program of this year and the attendance was about 150 people. Everyone knows each other and so they are also very aware of visitors in the crowd. Like all good rural hosts, most of them take the time to introduce themselves and to make you feel welcome. We were not the only ones to have come in from the campgrounds at the lake. 

Although this group was local talent, they were very professional and played a wide variety of music, all from the 1800's as that is their specialty. They mostly do the kinds of music that was common in this part of Kansas at that time, but also an assortment of other music and particularly music that came from the civil war. It was a great time and the weather was perfect. The show begins at 7 pm and lasts for about two hours. Local programs are a big part of what we most enjoy about our lifestyle.

We have now been here officially for almost a week and have been busy, but little actual work. After the painting was complete we were told to just take the rest of the week off, since the volunteer coordinator was gone. We visited my cousins and uncle. We took some time to explore around the lake and to look over all of the parks here and also did some general exploring.

Thanks to the latest adventures, Pam has now visited a few of the towns where I went for various reasons in my boyhood years. She has now toured the towns of Dunlap, White City, Wilsey and Alta Vista! What I really find to be most fascinating as we traveled from one small town to the next, is just how close together these communities really are. As a boy, I thought that to travel from the farm where I grew up to Council Grove (the county seat) was a real adventure. It was 18 miles away and the town was large enough that it even has a swimming pool.  The other towns mentioned were all places where the teams of Dwight High School went to compete in football(six man version), basketball and track. It was often a trip of 10 to 20 miles! On occasion we actually took school buses (our school had two of them) all of the way to Harrington, a trip of more than 30 miles, each way.

This visit is a bit nostalgic and I will post pictures as time goes along. Some of the smallest towns are difficult to take pictures in because there is so little there to take a picture of. Of the towns above, only Council Grove still has a high school and neither Dunlap nor Wilsey have any businesses at all today. It is sad to watch these little communities die and disappear. I suppose that it is progress, but it is still sad.

On June 1, we began our newest volunteer experience, meeting the ranger who is volunteer coordinator and getting a few projects to headquartersstart off with. We went to the lake offices first, as we had a 2 pm appointment, but it really was not determined just where we would meet. Experience has taught us that rangers are most easily caught when fist new kioskgoing on duty, and Abby was to come on at two. We met several of the staff and have found them all to be very pleasant and friendly.

Our first task here was to paint a new information kiosk that is located in a park just to the north of us, perhaps 1/2 mile, in the next campground. That particular campground is closed for remodeling as one of the projects of the federal stimulus money. They have been installing 50A power to the campsites and rebuilding some of the older facilities. The new kiosk is paintedlocated next the the swimming area of the park. The ranger brought all of our supplies over to us last night so about 9 am we set to work. While painting isn't really my favorite job, it went well and we were able to complete the job by early afternoon. 

The only ask for 15 hours single of twenty hours /week from a couple, so the hours are not long. We took a short break for lunch and were back to our site before the day got too warm.  We plan to work some tomorrow and then head off to do some shopping.

             flags

We chose to spend our morning today, at the Dwight Cemetery,  where the local American Legion chapter holds a remembrance each year for those who have fallen in service to our country. As a family of veterans, we have actually been quite fortunate, as we have had family members in uniform for every conflict that our country has experienced since early history, yet have lost only two members to combat casualties. One of the earliest of them lies in this cemetery, as my great grandfather served with the 35th Michigan Cavalry under General Sherman. He was medically discharged due stoneto pneumonia in the early stages of the march to the sea, but he still lived to a ripe age. Also this is the location of the graves of my grandparents and my parents as well as several others.  legion

We visited graves of family members, placing flowers on those of my parents and sister, and also got to see a lot of people from the local community where I grew up. At 10:30 am the color guard arrived and the memorial began. It was a very nice ceremony and the weather was perfect. There was a large crowd even though the town is less than 500 people.

After the service we went into Dwight where the Presbyterian church ladies were serving lunch.  This was the church in which I grew up so that too was a bit of a nostalgic experience. As I write this we are sitting here at the lake, under the shelter, looking across at the lake and listening to the birds sing. All is clearly right with the world!

On May 27, after a brief stop in Wichita to visit friends and family, we arrived at our new home for the next two months. We are going to be with the site 1US Army Corps of Engineers at Council Grove lake, near the town of Council Grove, Kansas. We do not officially begin our duties here until June 1 so are just enjoying our visit for now. We have a very nice site here. It is located in heavy shade with only about an hour at mid-day that is not completely in shade. The site has full hook-ups but only 30A electricity so the shade is a good thing as we may not be able to use both air conditioners at one time. The park is in process of upgrade to add 50A power, but it won't happen here before we leave.

For now, we will be spending most of our time involved in my fiftieth high school class reunion, an alumni association gathering for the now gone, high school and  visiting friends and family. The weekend began with a meeting with the other classmate who worked with me to put the reunion together, then some visiting relatives, and general running about doing those last minute things that always seem to crop up.

On Saturday those of us from class who could, gathered at the little cafe in downtown Dwight, Kansas for aclass lunch, before we then attended an open house at the school. The gym is the only part of where we attended which still remains as it is now part of the elementary school.  The old building is long gone and the town is even smaller today sharonsthan it was when we all were growing up there. Saturday evening we met in Junction City (the big town!) at a hotel for a banquet for all alumni of the old high-school. 

On Sunday our class gathered once more in Council Grove at a local restaurant for lunch and then at one classmate's home for social time. By doing so, three more of our class were able to join us. We graduated with 15 students and three have passed on. All but two of the remaining members were with us for the reunion. It was a truly great event. It is amazing just how close we have become after so many years apart! Of the class, I think that I had seen only three of them since graduation, fifty years ago.

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