Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

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The central-Iowa cornfield in these photos was planted on April 30th or May 1st, later than normal due to this spring’s wet, cold weather. The photos were taken Sunday, May 15th.

In the photo above, Jackson is pointing to a corn plant in the VE (emergence) stage. The first leaf collar is not yet visible; it is below the soil surface.

In the middle photo, the two little green spikes toward the top of the photo (you can see them by clicking on the photo) are also in the VE stage. Closer to the bottom of the same photo, the plants are in a more advanced stage. (The early stages are determined by the number of visible leaf collars.)

An explanation of corn growth stages, including leaf collars, is here. Photos, with explanatory captions, of corn plants at varying stages are here.

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The article excerpt below offers an explanation of early corn plant growth. The article makes reference to growing degree units/heat energy.

An explanation of GDUs is at this site. Included is a comparison of the average daily accumulation of GDUs in Spencer, Decorah, Boone, Atlantic, and Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, from 1996-2010 at key times during the growing season.

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(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

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Another make-me-a-kid-again time with Jackson has come to a close. With family times involving different combinations of family members and a combination of being in Iowa and Texas, I got to be with Jackson from May 6th until today.

On the way to the airport Jackson asked me why I paint my hair brown. (Sometime within the past few days the topic of painting hair was discussed.) I told him I “paint” it because I’m not ready to have gray hairs. He told me that little kids have brown hair so they don’t need to paint their hair. Then he informed me that in order for me to have brown hair without painting it, “Nanna, you need to go back in birthdays.”

Hmmm. That made me wonder. If I could “go back in birthdays” to any time in my life and stay there temporarily, what age would I choose? Glimpses of younger stages of my life flitted through my brain. While I don’t like wrinkles, nor the fact that my joints will never creak any less, I just couldn’t think of any stage I’d prefer over how my life is now. How thankful I am.

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I’ll soon get back to posting more frequently, including a sprinkling of Rolfe-related posts. I’ll also post more within the next month about Mother’s (Marion Gunderson) watercolors.

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

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Yesterday I was blessed to be with Abby, Jackson, Bill, Katie and Joe. We celebrated Jackson’s birthday with several of his little friends and their parents. I highly recommend the octopus float!

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(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

This Rolfe vs Twin Rivers basketball game was played at the beginning of the 1971-72 season. I was a junior. 1971-72 was the year following our team’s trip to State. This was also the year we were ranked 8th in the state of Iowa at the end of the regular season. We finished post-season tournaments with a 24-2 record.

For the videos below the descriptions of Rolfe players in red uniforms are as follows. Forward court: Karen Brinkman (45) short medium-brown hair; Julie Brinkman (21) short blond hair; Carol Wiegert (35) short dark-brown hair. Guard court: Michele Pomerenke (13) upper hair pulled back into a semi-ponytail, medium-brown; Joyce Baade (33) short bangs, medium-brown hair; Louise Gunderson (53) long dark pigtails.

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For this game we had three officials. It was the only time we EVER had three officials. The story I heard is that for the double-header games (one boys’ and one girls’) that night, the men who showed up to officiate were subs for subs. One had never seen a girls’ game; the other had seen only one girls’ game.

Due to the lack of seasoned girls’ basketball officials, someone (I think our coach, Al Van Houten) had considered protesting the game. However, Al Gilbertson (then Rolfe’s high school track coach, athletic director and one of our math teachers) was in attendance at that girls’ game. Usually during our games Mr. Gilbertson was officiating games in gyms of other school districts. However, that particular night he was at our game because he had earlier sprained his ankle and therefore couldn’t run up and down the court to officiate.

When Mr. Van Houten saw Al Gilbertson in attendance at that TR game, Mr. Van Houten said he wouldn’t protest the game if Al Gilbertson would stand at half-court as a third official.

I remember as players we were told that Mr. Gilbertson would be at half-court. The made-known plan was that he would not call anything unless the game got rough. My recollection is rough, it was, and call, he did!

You can see the roughness in both clips in this post. In the clip below you can see more of Mr. Gilbertson at center court, including him calling a fowl on the TR player guarding Karen Brinkman.

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By the way, in all the fuss about the 1970-71 Rolfe girls’ basketball team going to State, we never mentioned that as a coach, Al Gilbertson not only led teams to State, but coached two Iowa championship teams. Those were track teams. The Rolfe high school 1967 girls’ track team was the 1967 Iowa Federated State Indoor Track Champion team. The Rolfe high school 1968 girls’ track team was the Iowa outdoor championship team.

Below is a photo* of the entire 1971-72 Rolfe Community School District high school faculty. Bill Hutchinson was the superintendent; Paul Strickfaden was the principal. Al Gilbertson is in the middle row (behind Dick Barrett in the plaid jacket) in the upper right photo.

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*This image is taken from the 1972 Rolfe RAM yearbook.

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

Here is the radio broadcast to the fourth quarter of the 1971 Rolfe vs Manson girls’ basketball district final game at Fort Dodge: 1971 Rolfe Girls’ District Final Basketball Game 4th Quarter

I posted the first quarter and  second quarter and third quarter audio earlier this week. The game went into overtime. Unfortunately I do not have the audio from the overtime. But by winning 84 to 79 we earned the right to play in the Iowa Girls’ State Basketball Championship!

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

Here is the radio broadcast to the third quarter of the 1971 Rolfe vs Manson girls’ basketball district final game at Fort Dodge: 1971 Rolfe vs Manson Girls’ BB District Final 3rd Quarter It is approximately 16 minutes long.

I posted the first quarter audio on Monday, and the second quarter yesterday. I’ll post the fourth quarter tomorrow. The game ended in overtime. Unfortunately I do not have the audio from the overtime.

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

The 1968-69 school year was my 8th-grade year. For a few years, including 1968-69, Rolfe’s 6th-, 7th- and 8th-grade attendance center was the DMT (Des Moines Township) building about five miles northeast of Rolfe. (For any of you who aren’t familiar with rural Iowa, five miles NE of Rolfe does not mean DMT was located in suburbia. We were out in the country. We had the world to ourselves!)

Lyle Foster was the coach for the girls’ team and the boys’ team. I’m not sure if it will be be before or after our April 16th celebration, but in a subsequent post, I’ll include a little more about DMT and also a little about Coach Foster.

The students pictured below were freshmen and sophomores when the Rolfe girls’ 1970-71 high school basketball team qualified for the state tournament in 1971.

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+Designates member of the 1970-71 Rolfe girls’ state tournament basketball team.

=Designates manager of the 1970-71 Rolfe girls’ state tournament basketball team.

^Designates member of the 1970-71 Rolfe high school girls’ JV basketball team.

All of the players designated with a + or ^ were on Rolfe’s 1971-72 varsity girls’ BB team. Also, Mary Martin was a manager for that 1971-72 team. The 1971-72 team finished with a 24-2 record. No trip to State that year, but the atmosphere all season long was positively charged!

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I’m working on my April 16th-related to-do list. I should have another basketball-related post by Friday or before…Saturday at the latest.

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

Last night Katie, Joe, Bill and I went to the West Des Moines Rock Bottom Brewer’s Annual Crawfish Boil.

The ad billed the event as follows:

If you’ve ever been in Bayou country you know what fun this is…then again, we’ve ben boiling ’em up for years.

Crawfish, Andouille Sausage, corn on the cob, potatoes, onions and garlic all boiled up together and thrown down on the table for your enjoyment.

Wash it down with our delicious craft brews! We’ll feature a pre-tapping Irish Red Fire Chief Ale, Heartland Light Lager, VolksWeizen or Illuminator [Doppelbock].

The crawfish concoction was served on Rock Bottom’s plastic covered pool tables. Those in attendance stood around the tables as we cracked open our crawfish, ate and consumed our beverages of choice.

There were about twelve people at our table. While we interacted the most with our own tablemates, the evening was fun with hearty cheers throughout Rock Bottom’s pool room.

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To enlarge the photos, click on them.

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Rock Bottom’s regional brewmaster Eric Sorensen (at right, below) was very personable and conversational as Bill picked his brain about brewing, including tips for growing hops.

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The dark beer in the photo immediately below is the Illuminator Doppelbock that was tapped just before the dinner. The lighter beer is the VolksWeizen. I liked both beers. Since I figured the Doppelbock had a higher alcohol content, and because a little of it went a long way with me flavor-wise, tonight I leaned more toward the VolksWeizen.

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Finished!

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

A year ago I posted about the 3rd annual Beer ‘n’ Bread event at Iowa’s Living History Farms. If you want details about the event, you’ll find them at last year’s post.

On Saturday Bill and I attended the 4th annual Beer ‘n’ Bread. While the event changes a little each year, the basic premise of sampling many varieties of bread and beer (home brew and microbrew) remains consistent.

On the Living History Farms’ web site, the description for the 4th annual event is this: “Over 30 Iowa micro-brewed beers will be on tap to sample from such breweries as Court Avenue, Millstream, Madhouse, Olde Main, Peace Tree, Racoon River and Doll Distributing, plus home brews from the Iowa Brewers Union and Beer Crazy. Stay to sample artisanal bread from South Union Bakery, Great Harvest Bakery, The Beer Bread Company, La Mie Bakery and cheese from Cabot Creamery, while you talk to the brewers about their craft.”

While this year I did sample so many delicious breads, I focused more on the home brews supplied by the Iowa Brewers Union (IBU). I also sampled some of the microbrews.

My favorite of the day was the Vanilla Caramel Cream Ale brewed by IBU’s Andy King. I’m not much for incorporating sweet, chocolate, coffee or fruity ingredients with beer, but the Vanilla Caramel Cream was surprisingly smooth, light…..and de-lish!

These photos show a walk-through of the afternoon focusing on the IBU’s selection. Clicking on the images will enlarge them.

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Not the greatest photo, but here are the voting results toward the end of the afternoon for approximately 20 varieties of Iowa Brewers Union home brews as well as Beer Crazy’s. I could be wrong, but here it looks to me like the Vanilla Caramel Cream brewed by Andy Kind got the most votes. (I promise I voted only once!)

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For information on joining the Iowa Brewers Union, click here. Annual dues are only $25, or $10 (due to being prorated) until June 30th, 2011.

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)