Blasts

Are you ever truly amazed by the way a thought will blast into your mind?

What made me think about this was a comment someone made about hot chocolate. I don't even remember what the comment was, but the instant it was made, the image of an old white enamel coffee pot invaded my every thought. I had to stop and ask why.

When I was a child, one of the treats we had as a family was hot chocolate. Typically, it was prepared on a Sunday evening, and again typically it was served with something like chili or chipped beef gravy on toast. Sometimes it was creamed eggs on toast, which I hated, but my sister loved. I guess it was a way to learn compromise, but with that I always felt I had lost. By the way, my sister didn't like the chipped beef gravy. No small amount of conflict, here. Anyway, hot chocolate softened the blow of not having exactly what we liked for dinner. Both my sister and I knew when the old coffee pot came out, it was going to be hot chocolate. This was before the days of heating water in a microwave, opening a pouch, and suddenly - hot chocolate. This involved heating milk, adding sugar and cocoa, and being careful to avoid scalding the whole thing while trying to get it hot. It was a process. Yes, and all of this came streaming back at me with a conversation about hot chocolate.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. As I started up the on-ramp to the interstate to go to work, I looked to my right and what should be sitting in the parking lot of the motel but the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile. A whole new set of blasts from the past. I thought about the Weinermobile and all the times it was shown on television, advertising different events. I thought of the small plastic whistles they made to support the advertising plan that has now gone on since the first was created in 1936. Those have been around for eighty-three years now. Simply amazing. All of this came back in a flash. And, just by the way, there is now a Wienermobile app so you can keep track of where the Wienermobile fleet is and make sure you don't miss them in your town. Who knew?

The thing that really brought this all to the forefront for me is twofold. First, my hometown, Sigourney, celebrated their 175th birthday last week. From all I can see, the entire week was very successful. Although I wasn't able to get to the event, I appreciate the photos and updates coming out of the community and the event. It really made me remember, Sigourney is my hometown. I need to get there in the next few months. Great work, everyone. Thank you so much for everything you did.

Second, I hope you had fun with family and friends over the holiday. My kids and grand-kids were all home, and we celebrated Independence Day together. This seems to happen less and less as everyone gets more and more busy. Time goes by so quickly and before we know it another generation is grown. It just happens so quickly.

Finally, coming up this weekend is the 2019 Corndog Kickoff. This will happen Saturday evening, July 13, at the Varied Industries Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. This fun event raises a great deal of money for the State Fair. It began in 1997 and to date has raised $6.2 million which is used toward fairground renovations.

One item on the silent auction this year is "Nick" a palomino rocking horse I built at the Toybox. I would suggest if you have a child, or a grandchild in the age a rocking horse is something they would enjoy, get thyself to the fair Saturday night and buy yourself a rocking horse. And if that does not work, be patient as I intend to offer the horse out on my Etsy page as well. I just need to get it done. Of course, like all of us, I can say that about a lot of things.

I hope you are having a great week. Reach out and send me a note if I have talked about anything you enjoyed here.