Ace Wisdom

Your Mom slipped and bruised her ribs last week. For those of you that have experienced rib injuries, you know it affects breathing and generally any shift of the body hurts. Grasshopper No.1 brought her special nutritional offerings to speed up healing including mushroom soup. I have been warned to stay away from “her” mushroom soup.

We replaced our front door. It is amazing how the Sun ravages a door over 20 years. When the door was replaced, the house was “opened up” for a few hours. Since the installation I have killed flies, mosquitoes, moths, and little brown “field” mice. We had our version of a “critter open house”.

The UW Badger game at Lambeau Saturday against No.5 rated LSU promises to be bigger than regular Packer games. ESPN is holding their Saturday morning “kick-off” at Lambeau with Lee Corso donning a Badger costume or a Tiger costume depending on his pick for the victory. The published ticket price for most seats was $101. My guess is scalped tickets are obscene. UW Badger students holding a beer party at Lambeau. What possibly could go wrong?

If you want to double your pleasure, Harley Davidson is holding an anniversary party in Milwaukee this weekend. They are expecting 100,000 bikers on the Lake front. Harley bikers celebrating in the “Beer Capital of the World” for 4 days. Could anything possibly could go wrong?

Finally, there is a 5 day festival called “Burning Man” in the desert city of Black Rock, Nevada. It is dedicated to several principles of improving contributions to mankind. It creates a temporary airport for those wanting to fly-in. If features the Orgy Dome. My guess is that there are more offerings than beer. Again, what possibly could go wrong?

It is Labor Day weekend. Summer ends. Kids are back in school. Lots of ways to celebrate. Enjoy!

Love,

Dad

 

 

I notice that the Post Crescent newspaper ran an article on the final demise of Ripon Foods company. Any remaining cookie production has been sent to other bakeries around the country. A final auction of equipment from the Ripon, WI plant was held several weeks ago. The doors are closed.

It is interesting that the foremost memory of Rippin’ Good cookies was the Outlet Store. Buying imperfect cookie 2nds was the ultimate triumph. Lost cost cookies that were scrumptious. Ripon Foods considered closing the Outlet Store many times because in theory “every 2nd cookie sold detracted from selling 1st cookies at normal prices”. The reality of the situation is that making every cookie perfect is almost impossible and selling the “imperfection” through the “2nd store” was a good promotion.

When the history of Rippin’ Good cookies is recounted in the newspapers, the mention is of Treehouse Foods, ConAgra, and Ralcorp (a division of Ralston Purina). Each company tried to integrate Rippin’ cookies into their businesses and each failed. Those efforts account for the last 15 years. Before that was 75 years of a family business. Horace Bumby bought the cookie business in the late 1930’s, grew it steadily and passed it on to future generations of Bumbys. The genuine concern for employees came from a caring family.

The ultimate demise of the cookie business was the health food craze. Mom and Dads have transitioned to treats with less sugar, less fat, and lower calories. Even the “bigs” like Nabisco and Keebler have seen big drops in their cookie business.

A funeral can be held for Rippin’ Good cookies and the world can bask in sadness, or the world can rejoice in the joy and satisfaction that came with 75 years of delectable treats. Good memories. Rejoice!

Love,

Dad

Grasshopper No.4 took his JV North High School football team to Menasha this week. His team came away with a 38-0 victory. Maybe it is the start of something great?

You know I am not a fan of social media. Sometimes it can have interesting results. A young lady married the white knight in her life. She found out several days after the ceremony that her knight in shining armor was having “affairs” with other ladies. Our young lady was outraged and began immediate legal action to void the marriage. She needed $2,500. Being a creative young damsel, she put her wedding dress for sale on eBay to sell to the highest bidder. She made sure that her story of being betrayed was told (i.e. social media). Bidding started at $2,500 for the dress. At last check, she had an offer of $85,000. There was one caveat to the sale. The wedding dress needs to be dry cleaned to remove the “stench of betrayal”.

The Olympics is over. The last event was rhythmic gymnastics. It consists of five young ladies dressed in fairy costumes dancing around holding a stick with a ribbon that is swirled around in patterns. It seems like a stretch to call it “an Olympic event”.

In the future, I understand that video game competition is under consideration. I know there are national conventions for popular games held in an arenas with big TV video boards to follow the competition. Maybe that misguided little son or daughter sitting their a– on your couch and playing games video games on x-box all day long will win Olympic gold. Really?

Packers 2nd last pre-season game in San Francisco tonight. 9:00 PM kick-off. It should be over by 1:00 AM Saturday morning. Yeah, right! Has any playing on first string played yet?

This will be the last weekend in August. Whoa!

Love,

Dad

Unconditional Love! Children can share their troubles with Mom. After all, if you can’t trust Mom, who can you trust.

Ryan Lochte, the Olympic swimmer who went on a “binge drunk” at the Rio Olympics, became a raucous bully at a gas station. He kicked in bathroom doors, broke mirrors and generally trashed the public rest room. The incident went unreported until the next day. The police were not called. The International Olympic Committee was not told.

Ryan, being the good little dude, shared the incident with his Mom. I think it has something to do with “releasing guilt feelings”. Mom was comforting as always and pledged her support. Wouldn’t you know that Mom, as she was waiting for a bus in front of the hotel, shared Ryan’s story with an innocent looking man from Fox News. The first version of the story told to Mom was embellished with Ryan having been robbed at gun point. Whoops. Mom, you couldn’t! You shared Ryan’s confidential conversation. Mom broke the universal law “you can trust me”.

Ryan lied. As the story of what happened grew, Ryan’s nose grew.

Mom was embarrassed for betraying the shared secret (even though it was wrong).

Here is my question! Why would you tell your Mom and Dad anything? If I told my Mom about doing something bad, she would eventually tell my Dad and then I would get my a– kicked. Nothing good happens from telling Mom and Dad about bad things. Let them find out for themselves. Let Mom and Dad live the illusion they are raising the “perfect” child. Just saying.

Thank goodness all of you Grasshoppers told your Mom and I everything!

Love,

Dad

 

Grandson Mitchell, who is starting his freshman year at Iowa State University, might tryout for the football team as a “walk-on”. Your Mom and I would have to drive a long way to watch a Big 12 game.

Grasshopper No.2 is officially homeless. She sold her house. Selling a house seems so simple and is always so hard. Where does all the “stuff” come from? Now No.2 can breathe.

I happened to be in Ripon this week visiting a good friend. It was the same day that an auction was being held for the final sale of equipment used for baking cookies at Rippin’ Good Cookies. Ovens. Mixers. Packaging equipment. The era of baking cookies is officially over.

Your Mom and I headed for Fort Atkinson yesterday. The Fireside dinner theater was featuring “Singin’ In the Rain”. It is a comedy and features Lina Lamont who is a Hollywood star with a stunning body and a “10 cent” screeching voice. Grasshopper No.5 can do an amazing voice imitation of Lina. The screech in Lina’s voice sends chills up your spine.

Here is the question. Our courtesy subscription to Sirius Radio runs out in October. We turned on station “05” yesterday on the way to Fort Atkinson. “05” is steady 1950’s music. Your Mom and I listened to 50’s music for several hours. It sounds like we are getting hooked. Could this be addictive. What are we going to do with the subscription runs out? What are we going to do?

Packers still undefeated. They haven’t played “first stringers”. No major injuries. Two remaining pre-season games. So far, so good.

Love,

Dad

Cirrus satellite radio which is installed on our newly purchased car is not free after all. $240 per year. There is a discount if you buy 2 years. $420 for the two years. Now what do we do?

Grasshopper No.2 sold her house at an opportune time (that is a good thing). The term “bubble” is beginning to creep into more discussions. The cost to finance a home is probably as low as we are going to see. Mortgage rates are under 4%. Rates that low, encourage people to buy a new home now because they can afford the payment. Whoops! Because rates and payments are so low, it encourages people to buy a home that is more expensive than they can afford. When interest rates begin to rise (and they will), there will be people owning homes that they cannot afford. The “bubble” occurs when people try to sell the home they over-extended for and find because of rising interest rates, nobody can afford to buy.

Your Mom and I had lunch at the recent Kruschke reunion in Moorhead, Mn. with a relative. He had bought a home near Las Vegas because his wife had COPD (Nevada has dry weather). He paid close to $400,000 for a home in a new development. It was purchased before the financial crisis of 2006. His wife has “passed on” and he wants to sell his home. He can’t find a single interested party for $290,000 or even less. That is an example of a “bubble”. Be aware of “bubbles”. Just saying!

I see that Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers of the Green Bay Packers are being investigated for use of  performance enhancing drugs. If they don’t cooperate, they will be suspended indefinitely by the League. Now there is a picture. The Packers could begin the season without the two best outside defensive ends in the league. If it isn’t an injured Jordy Nelson, it is drug accusations. It is tough to make a buck! Even ownership of the Packers comes with risk!

Packers Thurday night. Lambeau. Oakland Raiders. Matthews and Peppers probably wouldn’t have played anyway.

Love,

Dad

 

Apparently we have the “purchase” that keeps on giving. The “used car” we bought recently has a “built-in back up camera” which was a pleasant surprise. On our trip to Fargo-Moorhead recently, we discovered we also have Cirrus satellite radio service. Yep, there it was. Over 150 stations of “static free” being delivered with our favorite music. Station No.19 is Elvis Presley, 24 hours per day, broadcasting right from Graceland without advertising. Whoa! And it is free! I’ve been told to not get too excited. Cirrus radio is known to install service on a car as a trial and eventually we will need to pay for the service or lose it. Grasshopper No.3 went through the same experience. Then again, because the car is used, maybe the previous owner paid for several years of service and the gift will keep on giving (yeah, right). The question is “is 24 hour availability of Elvis, worth $15 per month”?

In viewing the Rio Olympics, it was disclosed that young people searching for love used the “tinder” app.  I guess e-harmony.com is “old school”. If you are hip, “tinder” is the place. What puzzles me is that e-harmony is designed to find you a “life pardner”. What is the “tinder app” designed to do? It sounds like a one night stand.

We had “the greatest show on earth” last Friday. We had two, 3-stories high, arborvitae trees removed. They were encroaching on our garage. I’m sure when they were planted, they were 3-4 feet high and certainly “non-threatening”. The tree service company arrived at 10:50 AM. They left 20 minutes later. They have the sharpest chain saw I’ve ever seen. They have a humongous tree grinder that gobbles up tree trunks with ease. Now all I’ve got to do is find the cash to pay for all the entertainment.

Packers play first “real” exhibition game tonight. The emphasis seems to be to go through the motions, test young people, and do not risk hurting key players. Why even have exhibition games? Dah! Big TV revenue!

Love,

Dad

 

During the Kruschke reunion recently, the simplicity of how the family of Otto and Ellen Jane evolved became quite clear.

Each morning when I got up early and walked outside the motel, I would watch trains rolling east and west (tracks were within 100 yards of the motel). Trains roll constantly with coal and oil from western North Dakota to Minneapolis and Chicago. During the night there was a constant rumble from trains going by.

Dah! The whole Moorhead-Fargo area was determined by the railroad being built to service farms along the track and ultimately mining in western N. Dakota. Otto Kruschke came to the U.S. in the early 1900’s at age 14 from Germany. He joined an Uncle who had immigrated earlier. $40, boat passage, and a train ticket got him from Germany, to the east coast to Moorhead, MN. Otto ended up being a farmer with 9 kids. Farms were always in close proximity to railroads

The DNA of Moorhead, MN. is railroads, farmers, grain elevators and CO-OPs that service the farms. It is hard to deny that your Mom’s family was a “farmer family”.

Today the railroads are busier than ever running oil from the rich Bakken oil shale fields in western N. Dakota to cities in the east.

Farms are getting bigger. Many small farmers are selling out to big farms and they are retreating to the city.

It is amazing how many of your Mom’s cousins have become school teachers as they left the farms. Many, many school teachers. Most of those teachers are retired living off lucrative teacher pensions. The “farmer label” for the family is in the rear view mirror.

So the Kruschke clan which began with a simple farmer has been absorbed into the American fabric. But, the memories remain. That is what the reunion was all about. You could smell the farms. You could hear the trains. You could see the grain elevators.

Love,

Dad

 

Last weekend the Kruschke reunion was held in Moorhead, MN. The descendants of Otto and Ellen Jane Kruschke came together. Most attendees were grandchildren of Otto and Ellen. Your Mom is one of the Grandchildren.

I have heard stories from Nana and Grandpa George about farm life. Towns like Wahpeton, New Ulm and Fairfax get mentioned. Forget all that. The Kruschke clan grew up as farmers around Breckenridge, MN. Breckenridge is 45 miles south of Moorhead MN. The reunion included a Cruiser bus tour by 40 family members to the Breckenridge area on Saturday. Early farms were visited. “Later” Farms were visited. Schools were visited. Children of Otto and Ellen slowly moved to city living with Breckenridge being the popular choice. Homes in Breckenridge were visited. The Kruschke cemetery in Breckenridge was the final bus stop.

Nana lived on a Breckenridge, MN farm with many siblings. Across the nearby Red River, there was a farm occupied by the Steger family. Yep, Grandpa George (and his booze producing family during Prohibition) lived across a small river from Nana. The rest is history. George and Lyla (Nana) got married. It took about 6-7 years for them to say “I do”. Things happen slowly on the farm.

I guess there are two important things to remember about the Kruschke family history. First, Breckenridge, MN is where it all began. Second, farms played a predominant role in early family history.

I still have “juicy” personal stories about the Krusckes to retell.

Love,

Dad

 

Your Mom’s side of the family gathered in Moorhead, Minnesota last weekend. The Kruschke clan came together “in mass”.

The thing you learn quickly is that there are a lot of Kruschkes. Your Mom’s Mom (Nana) was one of nine kids. Those nine kids had kids of their own and “so the explosion of future generations” goes.

Otto and Ellen Kruschke had nine kids. One remains. Lois Kruschke and she was the “caboose” of the family (kind of like our Grasshopper No. 5) and she was celebrating her 90th birthday. She looks like Nana. She has the same values as Nana. She talks like Nana. There was amazing resemblance.

So the reunion really consisted of the Grandchildren of Otto and Ellen Kruschke returning “home”.

The nine children of Otto and Ellen were Amie, Armie, Nana, Orville, Minerva, Harold, Caroline, Marvin, and Lois, in that order.

The senior Kruschkes that remain (are 65-80 years old), and are the Grandchildren of Otto and Ellen. Your Mom is one of the remaining “seniors”.

Most of the “senior” Kruschke descendants (not including your Mom) grew up around Moorhead and have farming tradition in their DNA’s. So they talked, talked, talked and talked some more about the good old days back on the farm. They all gave themselves permission to “go back and relive the good old days”. They enjoyed themselves. They allowed me to witness.

Love (more on Kruschke’s reunion next time),

Dad