Overheard Don Martin say something the other day about getting a sack of potatoes. Apparently Don is a garden farmer and he's getting ready for planting.
I don't know about the Farmer's Almanac, but friends tell me you can plant potatoes now, the rule being any time after Good Friday.
And if you have any question about whether you're getting started too early, watch the want ads in the paper and for someone advertising garden plowing. That's a good sign of spring.
Sports fans were pleased to read the other day in Len Hoskins' column that Ron Wagner, successful Syracuse Rocket Coach, may be back in the coaching field at the school.
Sev Sorensen and his FFA boys (with the help of the Chamber) will hold the annual FFA banquet Tuesday night at the Bethel United church of Christ.
The banquets are always interesting because they show how FFA boys conduct meetings and manage a program. This year several of the boys will present the entire program, eliminating the need for a speaker, who usually talks at most FFA banquets.
If you want to see something different, you ought to attend a parliamentary procedure contest of FFA boys. They really go at it.
I recall one event where the topic was opening a window because fresh air was needed in the room. You've never heard such a clever group of boys palaver over a topic. They made it humorous to show how Roberts Rules really work, and then gave a more serious demonstration.
A number of years ago Stan Sipple and I attended a session of the Young Republicans in Omaha. Parliamentary procedure was strictly adhered to at the session and if you didn't know the proper rules (about like the late Sam Rayburn method) you didn't stand a ghost of a chance of being heard.
I still have my FFA pins somewhere at home for the four years I participated under the guidance of Irving Peterson, my FFA adviser in Washington, Kans., since that first day I was tapped a Green Hand.
There's a closeness between FFA boys and the adviser that doesn't always exist in other school activities. You've almost got to be a former FFA member to know that feeling.
Although I was unable to attend the Junior High band concert the other night at Senior High auditorium, observers told me Bill Jenkins should get a pat on the back and his youngsters should be equally commended . . .
We agree. We l i k e the music of the boys and girls. And we're a bit jealous that we can't play an instrument equally as well.
DIDYA EVER WONDER
. . . how Dean Duncan can memorize four or five (perhaps more) different meal orders, pour the coffee, put out the silverware, serve the right meal to the right person and when you walk to the cash register, he has the total memorized including the (tip for Nobby)?
And what's more interesting, he's got an uncanny memory for knowing what you ordered for breakfast the last time you were there.
I've learned that a sign of two fingers from a sleepy-eyed breakfast customer means bacon, two eggs (over easy) toast and coffee, and strawberry preserves. (I threw that strawberry preserves in there, Dean).
Joy Thornhill, the City building inspector, can tell you quite a story about junked cars in Nebraska City. He opened a lot of eyes recently when he reported something like 300-plus wrecks parked around Nebraska City.
And he knows where they are parked. And we learned also that in many cases, he knows how long they have been parked.
He's got quite a project going and as soon as that car crusher sets up operation at the City dump, there will be business - aplenty, according to the City inspector.
AROUND TOWN: Salvaging crews are razing the old Arbor Theater and former Norman's IGA store on Central parking lot. The property was donated to the city by the Novak Family . . . Nebraska City rescue squadsmen are starting groundwork for a money-raising campaign to buy a new rescue unit. The volunteers are handling all emergency and convalescent cases and they say they need a new unit to handle the additonal calls. They have the original white International unit and the old black Cadillac ambulance . . . A Nebraska City industry is looking into the possibility of building a new plant at a different location and hiring an additional 50 employees.
By the time you read this, our family will be spending the Easter holidays with friends in Boulder and Denver. We will stop overnight w i t h Jim and Alice (Tomlins) Roberts and daughters in Boulder and then drive to west of Denver to be with Bob and Betty Toler and children, former Nebraska Citians.
Mrs. Roberts and my wife became acquainted when they sailed to Hawaii during the Korean war. We've kept in contact and try to see each other occasionally.
This Easter will be a particularly happy day at the Toler home. Their daugher, Laura, arrived while they lived in Nebraska City and only recenlty they made a trip to the courthouse in Denver where their son, Richard, legally became a member of the Toler household.