Summer Night

One of the best things about summer

Charter Oak has pretty much the last LOCAL fair in Iowa. Before they go to the County Fair next week, 4H and FFA kids show their livestock and exhibit their projects down at the city park at. The Methodist Church cooks and sells home made pie, the Commercial Club sponsors BINGO and there's even a petting zoo with lamas. It's one of the best parts of small town living here in Iowa every summer.

Charter Oak Achievement Days continues to grow. Two more flagpoles were added as memorials next to the show ring, so that the American flag and the FFA flag are now flown along with the 4H flag. But a greater example of growth is that there were 30 more head of swine exhibited this year than last year. EmCee Lee Stence, CO-U Agriculture teacher, said that this was the most pigs and presenters that he'd seen in the past 15 years.

No tractor ride, pedal pull, horseshoe pitch or duck races and the bake sale auction and BBQ were moved to the Community Building on Main Street due to torrential rains Sunday morning that flooded the park. Charter Oak received almost 6 inches of rain between 8 AM and noon. The "lake" at the city park had to be pumped out to be ready for Monday morning.

July 12-16
Monday- Rabbits, Poultry, Sheep, and Swine
Tuesday- Dogs, Horses, and Cattle
Wednesday- 4H Style Show, Pride of Iowa and Talent presentations

Charter Oak Achievement Days Ads

Local friends and business owners,

We're putting together our annual Charter Oak Achievement Days edition which will be published on July 23.
I will be making phone calls to area businesses and regular supporters of the Achievement Days edition this week. So don't be surprised if you hear from me.

Our sizes include:
3x3 $84.50
2x2 $52
Sig $27

I hope you'll consider showing your support for the 4-H/FFA Achievement Days again this year. Please let me know as soon as you can.

Give me a call at the PRESS office at 712-881-1101


Thank you,!

Local Interest

It's about time I wrote about something other than politics, don't you think?

These pictures were part of the 4th of July weekend kick off to Charter Oak's 60th Anniversary Achievement Days 4H&FFA Fair and livestock shows- Charter Oak Achievement Days was featured in last month's Wallace's Farmer magazine! These parents and kids work SO hard to maintain this fantastic part of our community, they really deserve our appreciation. Thanks neighbors!


Just south of Charter Oak, a line of 36 tractors form a parade through the countryside on Sunday. COU student Aaron Baughman organized a tractor ride as a 4H project for this year's Achievement Days. The caravan left Charter Oak around 12:30 Sunday afternoon south on L51 to Nelson Park Road where they rode east to Dow City and took the Kenwood Highway back to Charter Oak. In spite of the heat and the price of gas, plenty of curious onlookers enjoyed a drive out into the country so that they could watch the long line of red, green, and several orange antique tractors cut through the hills.

Holy cow; adventures in agricultural photography

Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper — Schleswig Leader, Thursday, July, 19, 2007 – Page 3

It’s not always easy to get pictures of kids and their animals. The critters generally aren’t good posers. They kick up dust that catches the flash and shows up in the picture as mysterious glowing orbs. Inevitably pictures can be blurry, eyes are closed or beasts are baring their worst sides.

The first year I covered the livestock shows at Achievement Days I struggled to get the best possible shot of the kid’s face. Being born in a city I didn’t know any better. After the NEWSpaper came out, my farm native wife explained to me that the whole point of a livestock show is the livestock. Live and learn.

In order to guarantee the best possible shot, I usually keep the subjects there for an eternity so that I can take at least three pictures in hopes of getting at least one that will turn out.
This year I kept one young lady even longer and took four, just to be on the safe side.
There was this group of boys sitting on the gate behind the show ring. They were giving the presenter a hard time, urging her to ask me to take yet another picture.

I recognized at least one of them from Boyer Valley where I teach. These are the kind of middle school kids who wear their boots to school even on field day and wear Carhart jeans even when everyone else in school have on shorts because it’s 100°.

They don’t walk they saunter and from the way they speak you’d guess they were from Oklahoma, Arkansas or Texas, you’d never guess that they’re Iowa born and bred.

“He won’t care, he’s-” something something. I wasn’t sure what they said to the girl but I was sure it was about me. I didn’t know what the problem was but I knew these ornery eighth graders were lucky I wasn’t going to see them in school on Monday because it was summer.

Of course, eventually when I was processing the night’s pictures on the computer I realized that they weren’t just giving me or the girl a hard time. As it turned out the Heifer was relieving itself in all but the last photo.

Later that same night, my Iowa native wife had another nugget of wisdom for me; don’t wear a red shirt and get into a ring full of cattle. Incidentally, our mascot at my high school, Shadow Mountain back in Phoenix was the Matador. I however don’t enjoy being charged by animals that weigh over half a ton.

Now as a photographer I’ve been hit by basketballs, volleyballs, referees, and have even had a couple of near-misses with football players. But I have a real respect for these kids in 4-H and FFA who look like they should have separated shoulders the way their cows and steer pull them around.

At that moment when two black beasts tried to start a mini stampede I was frozen. What I should’ve been thinking was “now’s a good time to jump over this fence next to me.”
The over-riding impulse of a really GOOD photographer would have been “now’s a good time to take a picture, what a great action shot.”

I’d like to say that either of these thoughts came into my mind at the crucial moment. Heck, I’d like to say that I was thinking either “boy, I hope one of these Dads and 4-H leaders who make their livings handling these creatures everyday can step in and get control of them before any of these kids or I get hurt.” They did of course, (in fact I think that they probably never got closer than five feet to me, but that’s not what I was thinking.

As a matter of fact, I can’t tell you what I was thinking because this is a wholesome family newspaper.

I can only tell that there was plenty of it around in the show ring and all the holding pens.

Dan the man Kuhlmann cleaning up my thoughts. Say, that "honey wagon" reminds me of an old joke. Seems like William Jennings Bryant was campaigning once and a crowd was so big that he had to climb up on a farmer's manure spreader so that people could see and hear him. He started off "This has to be the first time that a Democratic candidate has given a speech from a Republican platform."

COU FFA teacher Lee Stence just misses an interview with a champion market steer and his pet boy. "Mooooo"

Here's a couple of great recipes to getya ready for the Iowa State Fair:

Iowa Beef Sundae
1 package (17 ounces) refrigerated fully-cooked beef tips with gravy ( can substitute left over pot roast or browned hamburger)
1 package (24 ounces) refrigerated mashed potatoes

Toppings: Shredded cheddar cheese, dairy sour cream, cherry or grape tomatoes
Heat beef tips with gravy according to package directions. Heat mashed potatoes according to package directions. Using ice cream scoop, place 2 scoops (about 1/3 cup each) mashed potatoes in each of 4 individual sundae cups or serving bowls. Divide beef tips evenly over potatoes in each dish. Sprinkle with cheese and top with dollop of sour cream, as desired. Place 1 tomato in center of each serving for a “cherry.”

Pork chop-on-a-stick
8 6-ounce boneless pork loin chops, about 1 inch thick
1/2 cup bottled Italian dressing
Peanut oil
8 8 x 1/4-inch-thick wooden skewers or dowels
Honey mustard or BBQ sauce

Place chops in a resealable plastic bag set in a shallow dish. Pour salad dressing over chops.; seal bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour, turning bag occasionally. Preheat oil to 350° F. Drain chops, discarding marinade. Insert a wooden skewer into a short side of each chop. Fry the chops, half at a time, for 5 to 8 minutes or until 160° F. Maintain oil temperature around 350° F. Remove chops from hot oil and drain on wire racks. Serve chops with honey mustard.

CommYOUnity; Charter Oak Achievement Days

Even in a drought I love living in small town Iowa. Sure, the sweet
corn and the home grown tomatoes may be hard to come by this summer,
but it's not just about the food, it's about the people.

If you're reading the Charter Oak- Ute NEWSpaper it's pretty obvious
that there's a lot of coverage of the Charter Oak Achievement Days
this week. If you're reading the Schleswig Leader, I'm sorry because
you're really missing some fun pictures.

When our late publisher Mike Lyon started running this column on page
three, which the Leader and NEWSpaper share, he suggested that I try
not to focus too much on too local of subject matter, so as not to
alienate new readers in Schleswig. I've tried, but I just have to
talk-up the Achievement Days a little bit this week. The thing is,
it's the kind of volunteerism and community that makes all of rural
Iowa so wonderful.

The fact is that these three papers have a lot of territory to cover.
The Press serves Castana, Smithland and Danbury, not just Mapleton.
Between the Newspaper and the Leader, we also have to cover Soldier,
Ute, Charter Oak and of course Schlewsig and everything in between
(which I guess is Ricketts).

That being the case, I want to once a gain make a plea for your
contributions and participation, not to mention your patience. Jackie
Pester did her best to cover both Ute and Charter Oak and Karen Soukup
certainly represented Ute well being from there. In their absence
we've been advertising for someone to cover these areas. I've got only
a few more weeks before I go back to school.
Schleswig has Elaine Teut but I for one really think that you lost as
much as Mapleton when Bonnie Schoreder left our staff. The point is
that most of our content for all three papers has always been
submitted by you the community anyway. Please keep up the good work.

When your community has a big event like the Charter Oak Achievement
Days, let us know. Call, E-mail or fax the office in Mapleton and let
Ann Collins know that you'd love to have someone come out and cover
it. If they can't, you can. Take some pictures and jot down some facts
and names. You don't have to be a great photographer or a wonderful
writer. You just have to care about your community.

When you travel around the Midwest, you rarely find towns as small as
ours that even have newspapers, let alone papers of the caliber of
these three. There are a few ways to keep them and keep them as good
as they are and most of them involve you.
Obviously we need your subscriptions. So please, renew, encourage
other people to subscribe or renew, and give subscriptions as gifts.

I know it's tough sometimes, but please advertise. Believe me it's not
easy to sell ads, not everybody is made of money and certainly with
things like school sports or 4-H and FFA Shows folks figure they can
support the kids in more direct ways, but let me tell ya, if you want
to see them covered in the paper, the paper needs to be able to afford
the room they commit to those activities.
But above all, contribute. You don't have to have a digital camera and
E-mail, you can loan the paper prints that they can scan and scribble
down some notes that they can type up. If the paper doesn't have
someone available to cover an event that you think is important or if
they just don't know about it ahead of time, they rely on your
submissions.

As the old saying goes, "If it's going to be, it' s up to me."
Now, end of plea. Let me tell you about some folks who do just that,
they make things come to be.
As a resident of Charter Oak, I can't tell you how impressed I am with
my friend Peggy Staley. I don't know how the idea for "Arts at the
Arboretum" got into her head, but I'm glad it did. She's to be
commended for all her time and effort spearheading the event as are
all the volunteers who made it happen.

Charter Oak is lucky to have such a terrific facility and I fear that
too many of us take it for granted. Featuring local talent in a
picturesque picnic like setting may be just what we needed to draw our
attention to it so that we take better advantage of it and take better
care of it.

I'd also like to recognize Charter Oak-Ute Agriculture teacher Lee
Stence. Of course, he'd be the first to deflect the publicity and
offer it to all the parents, kids and volunteers that put so much work
into the livestock shows at the heart of Charter Oak Achievement Days
and he's right.

There are very few individual towns in Iowa that still have a local
fair event like we do. As a matter of fact, there are many county
fairs that aren't as nice or that have fewer animals in their shows.
Some may be nostalgic for "the good old days" when it was even bigger
and better, but as a transplant, I for one am always wowed. From an
annual alumni banquet, rather than each class having to be on their
own, to the Methodist food stand, the FFA, the 4-H clubs, the Fire
Department, the Commercial Club, the Clubettes, the Youth Groups and
anyone else I failed to mention, a whole community has to come
together to put on such a summer spectacular.

So pat yourselves on the back. And please, keep up the good work. And
don't be afraid to share some ideas. As good as we have it, we can
always do better. We can all make a difference with removing litter,
maintenance, weeding and gardening. And there are always resources
that we've overlooked.

Late Summer Loose Ends

School was supposed to start this past week for Boyer Valley, I think that Charter Oak-Ute resumes this next week, Maple Valley has postponed school until September. If you hadn’t heard, both BV and MV built new facilities this summer and they’re both having some trouble getting everything finished and ready to go for the new school year.

Usually, most teachers like to get into their room and do some planning in the weeks before school. Needless to say, that hasn’t been happening for many of us and it’s led to a feeling of being unsettled. So this week I’d like to tie up a few loose-ends that have been bothering me. Consider this my way of trying to accomplish some sense of closure.

Way -back in the Fourth of July column, a few of you may have been confused. Which is a shame, because several people shared with me how much they appreciated what it said. I signed the column “R. Saunders.” People have been asking me who that is and what that meant.

Richard Saunders was Benjamin Franklin’s pen name. As in “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” Franklin’s famous periodical that was full of homespun humor and sage advice. The thirteen virtues that I had Saunders expound upon were Franklins- perhaps one for each of the original thirteen colonies. I thought they’d be especially poignant for the Fourth, considering the polarized political rancor that seems so prevalent lately which the Presidential election has seemed to exacerbate.

I made two mistakes in my column praising the Charter Oak Achievement Days. I reported that one of the Welner brothers had told me about the Methodist food stand. It was actually Loren Straight who put me on to how old the portable building was. Sorry about that. Having been married into the town 13 years ago and now living here for five, I still can’t put the right name with the right face. I also said something about the new shelter house being air-conditioned. Someone since then told me that that’s not the case. I guess I’m not sure either way, I hope my saying that it would be didn’t make any difference.

I finished ‘Catcher in the Rye.’ I figured out what the title means, it doesn’t have anything to do with baseball. It has something to do with that old song, “when a body meets a body coming through the rye” and trying to save people who are lost in life. You really have to read it for it to make more sense and to do it justice. I highly recommend it.

John Grisham’s ‘the Bleachers’ is also well worth the read, even if you don’t like football. If you’ve ever played football, you’ll regret not reading it. Haven’t got my hands on ‘Home Grown Democrat’ yet, I may wait till it comes out in paperback.

I’m not sure why I haven’t been in the mood to write about politics lately. Probably because it looks like any one who’d bother voting has pretty well made up their minds and aren’t too open to changing it. And I for one am sick of the mud slinging and the anger. It’s not worth getting myself worked up and I hate having other people angry at me or thinking I’m somehow inferior to them or crazy or something.

I have to get one political issue off my chest quick. A Bush supporter recently reasoned that it’s not wise to change Presidents in the middle of a war. That just confuses me because if they’re talking about “The War on Terror,” that was being waged even before it was declared and it will probably be a reality that we have to live with for decades to come. If we declare Marshall Law or suspend elections, then the terrorists win. If they’re talking about the war in Iraq, it seems to me that the President announce “mission accomplished back in March and Sovereignty was transferred at the end of May, a day or two ahead of schedule. So isn’t that war over? Or did I miss a memo?

Please forgive me if that made you angry or if you think I must be crazy or ignorant or something for being as confused as I am. Don’t forget to vote November 2, even if it’s not for who I’d like. If don’t exercise our rights, the Terrorists win. Democracy is like muscle- “use it or lose is.”

Sadly, I have to report that Noah’s Ark has been dry-docked. We really needed around 12 kids. 6 three year olds and 6 four year olds. We had commitments from about 7 but would’ve needed to combine the ages, which would very be difficult. One of the big appeals of the new public preschool is the convenience for working parents of running all day. For Noah’s Ark to have done that involved new and different licenses which would’ve taken more time and raised costs. It was a difficult decision, but eventually, we had to give up the dream.

It’s a sad loss for the community and a shame that St. John couldn’t sustain such a blessing of a ministry to young families, but life happens and the only constants are God, death and taxes, so we grieve and move on. We’re sorry to those of you who were looking forward to Noah’s Ark continuing.

I’m not sure my daughter Ellie grasps what it means for her yet. As far as she’s concerned, she’s going to ride the buss to high school next week She doesn’t turn three till December, so we’re not going to put her on a bus for a while. I’d still like her to get that Christian foundation, so maybe we’ll look into St. Matthew’s preschool in Mapleton next year.

Kids still say the darnedest things. The other night over supper, Ellie announced-

“Mom, Dad…”

“Yeah, hon?”

“Mom, Dad, Gwacie…”

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“Mom, Dawd, Gwacie…I have to tell you something…”

So we set our forks down, anxiously awaiting her important announcement.

“I have to tell you somtin’, um, Mom, Dad…”

I thought that what ever it was had to be important or profound because she was working so hard to get it out.

“Mom, Dad, Grace…We eatin’ supper.”

Yep, she may be under the delusion that she’s fourteen, and she may still be pretty hit-and-miss with the potty training thing, but at least she has a firm grasp on the obvious.

It’s not FAIR that it’s over

The weather on Sunday and Monday of Achievement Days was typically sweltering, but Tuesday and Wednesday we absolutely beautiful. We’re really fortunate in Charter Oak to have the Achievement Days. I enjoy them a lot more than any County Fair, and I’ll tell you why.

They’re a lot cheaper, they don’t smell near as bad, you know almost everybody there, and you don’t have a heart attack if you lose track of your kids for a few minutes- what’s more, it’s harder to lose your kids in the first place- or for them to lose you for that matter.

If you happened to miss the Achievement Days, July 11-14, you might not have heard Dan Kuhlmann announce at the livestock show that the Charter Oak Boosters is the largest 4-H group in Crawford County. And the Ute Explorers are the biggest in Monona County.
According to the law of averages, therefore, you probably saw projects and livestock that will be winning ribbons in Onawa and Denison soon, and no doubt on to Des Moines for the State Fair too!

Don’t quote me on this, but I believe someone told me that 2004 was the 57th year for the Charter Oak Achievement Days.
Ron Welner told me that 2004 was the 50th anniversary of the building used by the Methodist Church for their annual food stand. How about that? Come to think of it, looking up at the canvas roof, I was kind of reminded of the Korean War era hospital tents on M*A*S*H.

Imagine, every year they fold the thing up and store it in the old garage behind the Church. After this year, of course it will be retired since the Methodists will be able to borrow a portion of the much anticipated new shelter house.

I realize that the shelter house hasn’t been without it’s share of controversy- which you notice I’ve deliberately steered clear of in this column. Ya never like to lose trees, but rumor has it the ones that came down proved to be pretty sick after all. Between our park and the arboretum across the highway, we still put many another town to shame as trees go. And it will sure be nice to enjoy 4H exhibits in air conditioned comfort next year.

All I know is, those Methodists always have some wonderful pie and everyone who volunteers at the food stand is friendly and cheerful- you can’t always say that about the service at some county and state fairs. I for one really appreciate their dedication.

And we’re incredibly lucky to enjoy the Alumni BBQ and the Clubettes’ fishing pond (box), and the popcorn, cotton candy, root beer floats, games, face painting, auction and Bingo games too! I hope that as a community, we know how lucky we are and appreciate all the hard work that so many volunteers put in.
I don’t know of many towns as small as Charter Oak that have as nice a children’s playground as we do. Not to mention our pool, tennis courts and phenomenal Softball team!

Maybe I wasn’t in there long enough or was there when it was relatively cool, but I swear our livestock “barns” smell a helluva lot better than any I’ve been in at county and state fairs.
Of course live stock is gonna be fun with my girls.

“Hi big cows! Hi big cows” my two year old, Ellie waved to all the cattle as we walked through the stalls. She’s so friendly.
But I’m a little worried about her older sister Grace’s tastes and sense of aesthetics. As she crouched down to look at one hog through the fence, she mused “Oooh, he’s so CUTE! He Beuootiful!”