just by chance

i just happened to go to dannabrog ... nothing going on in shelton and i thought i should go there before i left nebraska as it is the home of roger welsch who used to be on cbs's sunday morning. so, they were having a tractor meet in the little town of 325. i took lots of pictures. there were not lots of tractors, but they were interesting. i walked around of course, and checked out a couple of stores looking for a souvenir. hopefully something made in dannebrog, or something danish.

the first store had stuff that seemed to be shipped in. but a bought a little old time replica of a wringer washing machine....one dollar. had little seed pearls for bubbles in the machine.

in the next store i found some paper danish christmas harts and stars made by the residents and some straw cones and stars made in sweden. good prices. one dollar for 4 hearts and one dollar for 4 stars . the straw ornaments were 5.

there was also a stack of books by welsch so i bought one. as i was waiting in line (one person in front of me) i spied what i thought might be roger sitting in front of the store. he was probably there when i walked by. i was busy taking pictures of tractors. i asked the store owner if it was roger, he said yes, i asked if he thought roger welsch would mined if i asked for an autograph. the owner said he wouldn't' mind at all. i rather gathered that mr. welsch would enjoy it.

i asked him, and he talked my leg off. i mentioned that my grandfather was a blacksmith....that was why i bought a book on horse trading. mr. welsch not only told me the background of the book but about other blacksmiths he knew. he also talked about helping shoe big horses. etc. he could have told tales all afternoon. but his friendliness is probably how he collects all the tales in the first place.

and he did sign the book.

the train crew

the first picture shows all the crawlers on the track that seem to be checking bolts, fluffing gravel, checking plumb, etc. all i know is that in the spaces you can see the sky through the machines there are men sitting and doing something. behind one of the crawlers another crawler with a magnet was sweeping the gravel for metal something and putting it in a cart.

the other three pictures show a 10 or 12 car set with yellow cars on either end. the cleaner cars seem to be the beginning. but most interesting were the 4 or 5 blackened cars in the middle with strange looking mechanics. you can see through the sets to the sky on the other side. i saw men walk through the openings. there seemed to be two cars where men could work or live and 2 or 3 fuel cars. non of the cars really look like engines but i am sure it moves up and down the track doing something. it must be important because i am guessing the whole thing is very expensive. it reeks money.

graduation

what i learned this year

1. never wear high rise undies with low rise jeans.....sigh (not me!!!! someone else)
2. don't sponsor the senior or junior class at the same time as being registrar
3. triple check everything
4. running away to town with your new fun car doesn't make work go away.....sigh
5. true colors of students rise quickly to the surface when grades are final
6. even though you are graduating...ie four years and retiring .... you are not the star or even a twinkle
7. sticking it out in a dying organization is not always the best choice for everyone, if your young get on your horse and ride out of dodge
8. we are all dysfunctional, some a lot more than others
9. if you can affect someone's future, they are very nice to your face, can't really be friends with those who are dependent on your evaluations
10. young people take technology and many other things for granted ( i learned to type on a manual typewriter and cranked the telephone to make it ring three short and a long instead of speaking a name)