Carrying my freshly-filled 32-ounce mug of iced tea from Hardenbrooks at the Iowa State Fair, I scanned the Pella Plaza looking for a place to rest a spell. I noticed an older gentleman seated on a bench by himself, so I asked if I could join him for a while.
      He was wearing a Korean War military ballcap with a medal pinned to it. He welcomed me to take a seat.
      It wasn’t long before I struck up a conversation. I’m good at talking to folks and meeting strangers seems to be one of my specialties.
        As I sipped on my iced tea, I asked the gentleman if he was in the Veterans’ parade.
        “No,” he said. “I came to watch the parade.”
     I introduced myself and he told me his name was Philip with one “L” and that he was from Pleasantville. He said his last name, but I didn’t write it down. 
        We visited a bit and by the time I was done, he had shared most of his life story with me.
        I asked his age and he said he was 91 and had been blessed with good health.
       “I have a good heart,” he said. “I’ll be 92 in October.”
     Philip was drafted into the Army as a young man and served in the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry, 3rdDivision. 
        “I was in the same unit as Audie Murphy, but just in a different war,” he said.
        For those who may not know, Audie was from Texas and served in World War II. He was the most decorated soldier in the military.
        Philip was shipped off to Camp Crowder in Southwest Missouri. From there, he rode a train to Fort Ord in California for infantry training. For Ord has since closed.
       “We were going through a mountain pass and the steam from the train would fill our train car,” he said with a smile.
     He saw action on the frontlines in the Korea War from November 1952 to July 1953, where he earned an Army Combat Infantry badge. It was pinned to his hat. He spoke highly of his time in the military, making reference to his badge a couple times. Philip spent eight years in the Army, two active and six inactive as a member of the reserves.
      After the war, he returned to Pleasantville. He said times were tough and his folks were about to lose the farm. The banker suggested he go into partnership with his parents. Philip said that wasn’t too good of an idea, saying he and his parents would have lost everything. Somehow, he stayed on and saved the family farm.
      I asked if he had married and he told me that he hadn’t. He shared a story of his first love before going to war
      “She was a beautiful girl,” he said. “We dated a couple years.”
       I could tell that it was bringing back memories from a time long ago.
      He said he saw his first love’s father one day after the war and told him that he couldn’t marry his daughter, that he needed to stay and help his parents on the farm.
      Philip said he dated different gals off and on through the years, but never married and he seemed to be fine with that.
     Well, it was time to go, so I asked Philip if I could take his photo, which I did. We shook hands and I said something about hoping to meet him again. He agreed.
    Philip was one of many people I stopped and visited with at this year’s fair. I always talk about meeting Debbie the first time at the state fair. We will celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary in September.
Prayer makes a difference
     On Saturday prior to the Iowa State Fair Queen contest, I was mingling about the queen candidates behind the Bill and Anne Riley Stage looking for the Poweshiek County Fair Queen, Miss Hailey Heishman. I found her and asked how she was doing. She said she was having a good experience. I asked if I could take her photo, which I did.
    One of the nearby queen contestants asked some of the girls if they would like to pray. A dozen or more of them held hands and prayed, asking God to bless and be with them.
    In this crazy world we live in, it was refreshing to see these young ladies, all of them vying for the state fair queen title, taking time to pray.
    I live a blessed life and am thankful for every opportunity that crosses my path. I hope you had a chance to attend the Iowa State Fair where memories are made.
Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

    I have been judging 4-H photography since 2012. I love working with the 4-H’ers and helping them become better photographers and better young people.
    This year I judged at the Davis County (Bloomfield) and Johnson County (Iowa City) fairs. I also judged fourth-graders at the Poweshiek County Fair along with open class, which I have done for a half dozen years. 
     It all started thanks to Cathy Lents, the Poweshiek County Extension Director. I had taught several adult and 4-H photography classes and was interested in becoming a judge. Cathy provided the information I needed to take the 4-H judge’s training session, which was held in Polk County in November 2011.
      Judges are asked to use their knowledge to evaluate, educate and encourage 4-H’ers. Sometimes it is hard to tell a 4-H’er that they need to do a little better or to hand out a red or white ribbon. I have given out a lot more blue and purple ribbons than I have red and white.
     My first fair was in Mahaska County in 2012. I was a nervous wreck and a little unsure of myself. But as with all things in life, success starts with a step, a shaky step, but a step. 
     Thanks to the help of some of the other judges, I finished the day and enjoyed the experience. I have since judged in Mahaska County three more times through the years. 
      I have also judged twice in Keokuk County at the 4-H Expo, where I judged creative arts one year. I also judged in Washington County and twice in Benton County. I have judged once in Iowa County and judged open class there twice in years past.
     I’ve also judged twice in Linn County in Central City, the last time due to Covid, I judged virtually. And I’ve also judged one time each in Marion (Knoxville) and Warren (Indianola) counties. I have had chances to judge in Polk, Jasper and Lucas counties, but they didn’t work with my schedule and covering the Poweshiek County Fair.
     Two years ago, I had the opportunity to judge 4-H photography at the Iowa State Fair. That was a different experience as there were no 4-H’ers to talk with about their photos. I’m used to talking to the 4-H’ers and at the state fair, I had to write everything down.
     All the photos that are judged on the county level and advance to the state level, get judged again. There are several eyes that look at the photos on display in the 4-H Building on the state fairgrounds.
Outside of taking good photos, one of the most important aspect of any 4-H project is the write up.
      “I just wanted to take a good photos,” many 4-H’ers will put on their write ups. My questions to the 4-H’er, “why?”
      “Tell me why you took and what interested you in taking this photo?” I will ask.
      I explain to them it is like writing an essay paper. Who, what, when, where and why. That is the teaching part of being a judge.
     I had one 4-H’er not only provide detail in her write up, she wrote separate stories about each photo. All the photos were taken at her grandparent’s farm, which later was destroyed in a tornado.     This young 4-H’er not only captured the memories, she told the story to go with it.
      Film was king when I first started taking photos in the mid-1970s and into the 80s. My first camera was an Argus Twin Lens Reflex camera that used Kodak 620 film. It had a bulky side-mounted flash that used bulbs. My first 35mm camera was a Konica FP-1, which I won in a weight loss bet in 1983 with a co-worker in Tulsa. It was a basic manual focus camera. I later purchased a Konica FT-1 camera. It was more advanced and gave more control over my photography.
    In community college in Oklahoma, I started with a black and white class and then advanced to color. I learned about f-stops, depth of field and rule of thirds. I took a lot of photos, developed lots of film and spent hours in the darkroom crafting my art. I then went to the University of Missouri-Columbia and learned the craft of photojournalism from some great teachers.
     Being a judge is a great opportunity and fun. I learn so much from the 4-H’ers. I’m proud of every 4-H’er that I have worked with, no matter their skill level. They are learning and growing and that is what 4-H is all about.
     Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

     I had never heard of a butter sculptor or the famous Butter Cow at the Iowa State Fair until I moved to this fine state and attended my first fair in 1998.
     Iowa is unique in that there is actually someone who is trained to make a life-size cow and various other characters from Star Trek to Sesame Street, John Deere and Elvis out of butter.
     That task goes to Sarah Pratt of West Des Moines, who spent 15 years learning the butter sculpting trade from the now late Norma “Duffy” Lyon of Toledo. Lyon sculptured her first butter cow in 1960. Pratt took the butter cow reins in 2006 and is only the fifth butter sculptor in Iowa State Fair history since the first butter cow was made in 1911.
     Pratt has also sculptured butter projects at the Kansas State Fair for a number of years. One of her most recent projects was a butter sculpture of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz characters, the Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man in 2019. Pratt even made ruby red slippers for Dorothy using red dye and moldy butter for consistency, she said in an interview.
    And in 2017, Pratt and her husband visited my hometown fair, the Tulsa State Fair, where they created a Tilt-A-Whirl butter sculpture.
     And thinking of butter sculptures, a few years ago, Debbie and I were invited to be special guests at an Iowa State Fair themed day at a summer school at Meredith Middle School in Des Moines.
     If my memory serves me right, we had offered to donate some of our books to a Des Moines teacher we met through another teacher, who just happens to be the daughter of the people who run the horseshoe operation at the Iowa State Fair.
    She passed our name along to another teacher and that led to us somehow being invited to this summer school. The teachers are all working on their master’s degree through Drake University.
    The idea was to give young people with various backgrounds and cultures from around the world who now call Des Moines home a chance to learn about the Iowa State Fair. I believe Pratt made an appearance at the school the previous year and taught the students how to make mini butter cow sculptors.
     The DM Register and local television stations were there and filmed the experience. A story in the next day’s Register mentioned our state fair book. 
    It was neat to meet the students and share our books and talents with them. We gave away a number of signed books that day. But more importantly, we shared our culture, talents and ideas with others. We need more of that in our country during these trying times.
     Life is like that. You make connections and meet people on your life journey and that can led to many good things and experiences. A last minute story idea led me to the Iowa State Fair in 2003 where I met Debbie. 
     I once drove through Montezuma on my way back to Columbia, Mo. I never had any idea that I would one day meet my wife, work and live in Montezuma. I’ve been here for 21 years.
Life is about living and making memories with family and friends. If you have a little extra time, take a trip Des Moines and enjoy the Iowa State Fair, Aug. 12 – 22.
     Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

    Having grown up in Tulsa, Okla. a city of 400,000 plus the neighboring communities, I was fortunate to be raised in the same house and neighborhood all my life.
     I knew all my neighbors and like a small town, we checked on each other and called if we needed anything. 
    My boyhood home was a two-bedroom, one-bath model. It wasn’t fancy, but it was filled with love and good memories. My parents bought and closed on the house on April 11, 1959, just five months and a few days before I was born.
    We prayed at the dinner table, ate together as a family and talked about life as it happened. My parents wanted the best for their children. They took us to church and taught us the good book. If I got in trouble at school, which I did on occasion and got a spanking, I got a second one at home. I’m thankful for every time my mom got the belt out as it kept me from a lot of trouble later in life.
    Our house featured a two-car detached garage. It included a wooden workbench with a vise and there was an attic, which I converted part of into a club house in junior high. I put carpet squares down and had electricity via an extension cord and lights. I had a bean bag chair, a radio, games, a fan and a cot to take nap. It was my boyhood cave of sorts.
      We cooled the house with a window air conditioner and fans during the day and an attic fan at night.
     My folks remodeled the kitchen in the early 1960s and added a utility room to the house in the early 1970s.
   My dad spent many summer days working the yard. He and Mom always had a small garden in the backyard where they grew tomatoes, okra, potatoes, onions, lettuce and green beans. For some years, my parents and another couple from church, grew a large garden in east Tulsa. That garden produced a bounty of goodies.
    I remember spending many summer days at the garden as my dad tilled the earth and Mom gathered the fresh vegetables. I also helped my mom snap green beans for canning and smashing tomatoes in a tomato press. I can still hear Mom’s pressure cooker jingling on the stove.
    My dad enjoyed wilted salads with bacon grease poured on top and fresh onions from the garden. Some the best advice he gave me was to slow down, chew my food and enjoy it.
   Mom was the best cook. Anything fried from chicken to pork chops, fish, potatoes and okra were my favorites. And for years, Mom baked wedding, anniversary and birthday cakes for family, friends and church folks.
     All my neighbors were like family. I was especially fond of the Belknaps, who lived next door to the north. I spent many hours playing dominos with Mr. Belknap and eating popcorn. Mr. Bell, as I called him, was from Harris, Iowa a small town in the northwest part of the state. He attended Texas Christian University where he met his wife, Madge. He was well into his 90s when he passed away in 1991. He would have been in college prior to World War I. I hope to visit Harris someday down the road. 
    The Watson family next door to the south gave me my first camera when I was in junior high school. It was an Argus Twin Lens Reflex camera that used Kodak 620 color film. I still have the camera and a box of photos I took using it.
   I will always be appreciative of the hard work and dedication of my parents to raise their boys with love, care and correction. It’s something that I take to heart in everything I do and achieve in life.
Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

    With the 2021 Poweshiek County Fair in the books, it’s time to look ahead to the Iowa State Fair, which returns Aug. 12 – 22, following a year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Last year’s state fair cancellation was only the sixth time in state fair history that the annual event has been canceled. There was no fair in 1898 due to the world’s fair in Omaha and the Spanish-American War. The fair was also a wartime casualty for a four-year span from 1942-45. Last year was the first time that the fair was cancelled due to a pandemic.
   I’m looking forward to the fair’s return and spending time with my family in the campground all while searching the fairgrounds for benches to take short naps. Of course, the state fair has special meaning to me as it was where I met Debbie in August 2003. We will celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary on Sept. 25.
Some of my favorite fair foods are at Beattie’s Watermelon Stand. In addition to the watermelon, the family-owned business serves huge tenderloins and some tasty ham and roast beef sandwiches. I’m not a big tenderloin fan, but the ham and roast beef is hard to beat.
   Another favorite of mine is a polish sausage stand located on the southside of the Varied Industries Building. My mother-in-law told me about the food stand a few years back. It’s hard to beat a polish sausage with fried onions and mustard. Top it off with an extra-large iced tea and all in the world is good.
   My favorite place to visit at the fair is Pioneer Hall. I always enter antiques in the fair and have won a number of ribbons through the years. I enjoy visiting the antique booths and listening to the music.
   Back to food, according to the state fair website, 70 percent of fair attendees come for the food. With an average of 1 million attendees, that is 700,000 plus people who bring a wallet full of bills to feed the family fair food.
   There are currently 69 food items served on a stick offered at the fair, as noted on the fair website. This includes bologna on a stick. Being from the south, I’ve never had bologna on a stick, but I have enjoyed many fried bologna and cheese sandwiches with a slather of mayo between two slices of bread. It’s hard to beat a fried bologna and cheese sandwich.
   One thing I didn’t see on the list was fried butter on a stick. I did find an article that it was first served at the fair in 2011. I can’t imagine biting into a whole stick of butter on a stick dipped in a cinnamon honey batter and deep fried, coated in a sugary glaze.
   Anyway, there is the famous Butter Cow, one of the main attractions of the Iowa State Fair. Sarah Pratt of West Des Moines is the current butter cow sculptress and only the fifth person in state fair history to sculpt the butter cow since its beginning in 1911. She spent 15 years learning the trade under the late Norma “Duffy” Lyon of Toledo before taking over the job in 2006.
   According to the state fair website, the butter cow starts with a wood, metal, wire and steel mesh frame and about 600 pounds of low moisture, pure cream Iowa butter. Once inside the 40-degree cooler in the Agriculture Building, layers of butter are applied until a life-size butter cow emerges - measuring about 5.5-foot high and 8-foot long. Each year, much of the butter is recycled and can be reused for up to 10 years.
   A real dairy cow weighs more than 1,000 pounds, but the butter version comes in at around 600 pounds. Did you know the butter cow would butter about 19,200 slices of toast and take an average person two lifetimes to consume?
   If fried butter doesn’t tantalize your taste buds, there are plenty of other foods on a stick to try. They include pickle on a stick, peanut butter and jelly on a stick, apple pie on a stick, loaded tators on a stick, deep fried Twinkies, cookie dough in a waffle on a stick, caramel dipped pecan pie on a stick, deep fried cherry pie on a stick, bacon wrapped riblet, salad on a stick, smoothie on a stick and funnel cake on a stick. And of course, one of my favorites, pork chop on a stick. There is also pork belly on a stick and pork on a stick. 
   The state fair unveiled a new list of fair foods in an email I received the other day. They include a chicken bacon ranch ball on a stick, Barney’s beef ribs, rattle snack sausage, rattle snake corn dog, Nashville fried chicken sandwich, Maytag bleu cheese dip, peel and eat scrimp, bacon, tomato and avocado egg salad with Indian fry bread chips, flaming hot Cheeto funnel cake, Tennessee Twinkies, cowboy beans, bacon pickle mac n’ cheese, pickled spicy eggs and a large Duke’s Quebec style poutine. Poutine is a dish of French fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. Another new fair food this year is Waygu beef hamburger made from a Japanese beef cattle breed. I like hamburgers. I might have to try one.
   I hope you can take time from the busyness of life to enjoy the state fair with your family and friends. There’s plenty to do, to see and to enjoy from the entertainment to the food. It’s also good place to make new friends and relive family traditions.
   Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.