Bill and I saw this manure spreader a few miles north of Arcadia, Iowa. With all of the fiscal cliff talk taking place, I bet most any constituent can appreciate this photo! (Click on image to enlarge.)
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(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)
Just today I ran across this article my dad (Deane Gunderson) had saved from 2000 until when he passed away in 2010. While I know what his general views on politics were, I am curious as to what specifically triggered him to clip and save this.
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Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.
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Today I saw this holly, jolly Santa in the middle of nowhere. I was on my way from Lohrville, Iowa, to Rolfe when I just couldn’t help but smile when I saw this Santa…and the car and other decor. My, my … unusual. And, entertaining!
Clicking on the image will enlarge it.
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(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)
To see the Freedom Rock painted by Ray “Bubba” Sorensen, about a mile south of I-80 in Iowa, take the Greenfield/Guthrie Center exit.
Ray paints the rock every year with new images, except (according to a WHO TV report) the painting of the Huey helicopter (seen in some of the photos in this post) stays the same. Ray said, “It always stays because it has the ashes of 30 different Vietnam veterans mixed into the paint and I add more ashes every year.”
Bill and I stopped to see the Freedom Rock one Sunday last summer. Bill had seen the Freedom Rock before; I never had. What we both experienced for the first time was the treat of having Pearl Harbor survivor Clarence Pfundheller there to tell us of his Pearl Harbor experience. What a classy, friendly gentleman.
I’m posting on the fly. For more information I’ll let you peruse the photos I took in July and the web sites to which I’ve linked in this post. There you’ll find more information about Clarence, the Freedom Rock and Ray.
The Freedom Rock web site: http://thefreedomrock.com
Information about Clarence (same as linked to above): http://wobmam.com/pearl-harbor-survivors-share-stories-of-attack/
Information about Ray Sorensen and the Freedom Rock: http://whotv.com/2012/05/20/freedom-rock-painter-finishes-mural/
To view the photos below in larger sizes, first click on any of the thumbnail images. Then, at the lower right, click on “View full size.” From there, because when the mouse hovers over the image it shows as “+” sign, if you click on the image again, it will enlarge even further.
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Pictures of Clarence are posted with his permission.
(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)
Tomorrow (which by the time you read this, will probably already be Saturday) and Sunday (November 10 and 11, 2012) prints of Mother’s (Marion Gunderson) watercolors will be on display and for sale at Perry, Iowa’s Art on the Prairie.
The location for her prints is the lower level of the Carnegie building. This building is across the street from the Hotel Pattee.
The hours for tomorrow (Saturday) are from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM.
Sunday’s hours are 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM.
Profits from all the print sales go to the Rolfe Public Library where Mother worked for thirty-vive years. To date, approximately $4,400 has been given the library. I get so excited when people want to purchase Mother’s artwork, and when I can deliver their checks and cash to the librarian in my home town. It’s like Christmas for the library!
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Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.
Ninety-four years ago today my dad, Deane Gunderson*, was born in an upstairs bedroom in the house (then) at the southwest corner of Section 24, Roosevelt Township, Pocahontas County, Iowa. That farmstead is pictured immediately below.
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September 16, 2012. Ninety-four years ago today my dad was born on this farmstead. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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Four years earlier, on Halloween 2008, my dad and I were in the same corn field (as pictured above) during harvest. Near the bottom of this post is a little video of my dad that day. The video will probably appeal to family members more than anyone else, but I love it so much I’m posting it. (I still have the ears of corn he picked for me that day.)
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Halloween, 2008. My dad and me in Section 24 during harvest. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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Enlarge any thumbnail image (below) by clicking on it.
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*In addition to the house that was at this location at the time of my dad’s birth (and is now long gone), there was also a barn located here. In 1982 Roger and Dan Allen had the barn moved into the town of Rolfe. It is now known as their “Bud Barn.”
**An image of a brace root during the growing season is in this post.
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(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)
Paul Rhoads and the ISU Cyclone football team enter Jack Trice Stadium … Enjoy!
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(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)
The following video is of corn harvest in Section 13, Roosevelt Township, Pocahontas County, Iowa. This field is about three miles southwest of Rolfe, Iowa. The video starts with a view to the west. At two or three points in the video my hometown of Rolfe is seen on the horizon to the northeast. To the east is the farmstead where I lived all my life until heading off to college at Iowa State.
The footage isn’t great, but for my family (and anyone else who wants) to watch, it’ll do the job to help us visualize this year’s harvest.
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In a previous post I wrote about how fortunate Pocahontas County is to have, so far, mostly avoided this year’s severe drought or other yield-reducing effects from the weather. Of course, there won’t be a collective sigh of relief from farmers until all the crop is harvested. But, as of now, the yields in several counties in northwest Iowa are looking much higher than in many other parts of the state and Midwest.
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(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)
July 4, 2012. West Lake Okoboji, Iowa. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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I’m rooting for Iowa State today. But, as a mom of a Division I First Team Academic All-American athlete, I remember the agony associated with any injury during her athletic career. So, for both Iowa State and Iowa, I hope none of the athletes become injured today. (And, I hope everyone associated with both teams is on best behavior!)
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(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)
This is Page 1 from a speech my dad gave in April of 1968 in favor of Nelson Rockefeller. More explanation about this is in the previous two posts. The other five pages are also below. (Click on image to enlarge.)
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Happy and Nelson Rockefeller. (From a page in my dad’s scrapbook. Otherwise…source unknown.)
As promised in Part 1, here is my dad’s (Deane Gunderson) speech given to his “Fellow Republicans” at Iowa’s state Republican convention in April 1968. The purposes of the speech: 1) to be selected as a delegate to the national convention held later that year and 2) to promote Nelson Rockefeller, the G.O.P.’s candidate in the 1968 presidential election. (For those of you perhaps too young to recall, Richard Nixon won the nomination and the election, and later, under duress, resigned from the presidency.)
In the spring of 1968 when my dad gave this speech, I was in 7th grade. I remember nothing from that time pertaining to this speech or to my dad attending the convention (as an alternate delegate) in Florida. I do, however, remember in later years (late ’70s? early ’80s?) sitting with my mom at the round oak kitchen table as my dad (on the school board at the time) presented to us, his “school board” audience, at least one persuasive speech. To some of you readers, the topic might ring a bell. It had to do with the then Rolfe school’s superintendent named John Harrington. Remembering my dad’s passion to get that speech perfected in order to convince the school board, I can only imagine the drive and passion he put into his G.O.P. “delegate” speech.
To see a photo of Iowa’s 1968 delegation, including my dad as an alternate delegate, click here. In that same post is an audio clip of my dad briefly telling about his involvement in politics.
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To enlarge the thumbnails below and/or to view them in slideshow view, click on any one of them. After clicking on any thumbnail, to enlarge it even further, click on the “View Full Size” link.
I think what my dad says about the press on Page 5 and continued into Page 6 is particularly interesting.
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(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)
Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter) 