July 26th RCN

Jeff and Anita Butler had a house full rodeo weekend. After hosting the visiting royalty Friday night they did a quick turnover and were excited to have mom ( Marlene Funk), spend the night as well as daughter Ursula, her boyfriend, Nate Pohlman and their new puppy Mack. They all enjoyed cruising around town Saturday afternoon with Arlene Gilbert and snapping pics at all the fun photo opps around town. Later that day they received a call from a Darkes cousin coming thru for a funeral. Kay/Kathleen Sass has many fond memories of McCracken while visiting the Zellers. She and her husband were so pleased to have the opportunity to stay out at the Darkes-Wilson Homestead and sleep in the rebuilt bedroom of what would have been her Grandma Mayme Darkes' room. Sunday John Zeller came out for a good visit as well. Needless to say Jeff and Anita were pretty pooped Monday!

Marci Penner and WenDee Rowe’s 2nd book, “The Kansas Guidebook 2” for explorers is available at the Barbed Wire Museum in LaCrosse. It is a must, seriously. You will enjoy!!

Another Alumni/Rodeo golf tournament is in the books, from what I understand it was a good one. Thanks to all that attended. Championship Flight: First – Trent Wittham, Dylan Gross, Sean Peters; First Flight: First – Scott Foos, Jeff Werth, Taylor Yohe; Second Flight – Dennis Shell, Lance McCormick, Mike Stull; Third Flight – Kevin Anderson, Jason Pavlu, Amanda Showalter. Other players were: Tanner Higgins, Joe Dower, Dave Dwers, Zach Higgins, Clint Swan, Brent Tuzicka, Scott McKechnie, Ken Foster, Jeff Jennings, Frank Foster, John Horesky, Kody Burns, Kyle Sramek, Garrett McCormick, Chris Venegas, Chance Kuehler, David Kaster, Mike Stull, Tanner Elias, Tayler Stull, Ty Elias, Cole Kershner, Jusey Woods, Cody Lee, Jack Garcia, Dylan Gross, Zach Caresio, Dustin Bain, Cory Webber, Trent Witthuhn, Jed, Josh and Vicky Bain, Ryan Webs, Dustin Matal, Nate Tuzicka, James Webs, Chad, Crystal, Anton and Kaden Foust, Matt Peach, Tyson Pivonka, Jason Showalter, Dale Snyder, Lane Pfannenstiel, J.D. Bell, Larry Kraft, Matt Kraft, Smoky Fairbanks, Zach Schweitzer, Bryan Bozarth, Dustin Myers, Chad Oberhelman, Ryan Martin, Curtis Albers, Adrian Ramirez, Devin King, Landen Fellhoelter, Darby Schwartzkopf, Michael Felder, Butch and Tony Harp, Bryan and Treva Bergquist, Devon Ghumm, Lincoln Brungardt, Rolin Foos, Shane Miller, Jake Reifschneider, Brian Legleiter, Rebekah Gonzalez, Derek Derr, Ryan Burton, Bryan and Tanner Yohe, Bryant? Ross?, Erik Ellis, Weston Vogel, Bryan Scheib, Scott Irvin, Dustin Kibel, Erik Willer, Tyler Trauer, Kellye Irvin, Amanda Showalter, Jerrica and Melissa Berg, Matt Cantrell, John Showalter, Kyson, Sam, Clayton Kershner, Frank Seidel, Ryan Wegner, Ryan Feltwanger, John Booze, Drew and Preston Pfannenstiel, Travis Rein, Brett Corsair, Dennis Brungardt, Paul Werth, Brandt Rogers, Weston Vanderp?, Corey Liebl, Kade Hogans. Apologies for all for the mistakes in spelling names.

Winners Friday for the baseball trivia basket were Taylor Doornbos and McKaylee Day! Congratulations girls, they spent quite some time looking around the museum for the answers! Austin McGaughey was the winner of the Saturday drawing. The gift baskets were donated by Jon Birky who manages the Klema Store in Russell. Jon’s wife is the granddaughter of Dell Klema.

Congratulations to our own Kassie Pechanec on being chosen McCracken Rodeo Queen for 2017.

A huge thank you to Roy Langdon for cleaning the front of the McCracken Jail/Museum Wednesday in the 103* heat. It looks wonderful Roy.

Another small world story. Neal Power and Megan Carpenter came to my house Saturday evening, what a surprise. Neal is a friend of Gary Stark of KC who bought Sylvester Conrad’s house and Neal told Garythat his girlfriend was originally from McCracken.......She and Valerie Anderson are the same age. She had much fun visiting with Valerie.

Shirley and Tammy motored to Wichita Friday, July 14 where they attended the Neil Diamond concert. I have been a fan of his music ‘like forever’. It was a special treat. He performed at the Intrust Bank in Wichita. This Bank was designed by Brad Clark, son of Larry and the late Karen Walker Clark.

Guests of Les and Rose Diehl over the weekend were Sue Schuster, Colorado, Richard and Nancy Baker, Manhattan, Pat and Vicky Salsbury, Topeka.

Juanita Caviness, Alabama, was a guest of her sister, Pat Derr for rodeo weekend.

Shirley’s guests this weekend were: Tanner, Dave, Joe, Brodie, Zach, Lindsey, Jennifer, Lucas, Nicole, Tammy, John, Chuck, Kayla and Jerry. Bob Thompson ate with us Saturday evening, Chuck cooked ‘burgers, brats’ on the grill. Always good visiting with Bob.

Bob Thompson was a class-mate of Julius Unrein, they enjoyed the rodeo together this year.

McCracken Public Library would like to thank everyone that participated in our Trim a Brim Fundraiser. It was very successful and we will be doing it again next year with the hope of including businesses. The winners were Rylin Anderson in the Children's Division with his patriotic themed hat and Ali Ault with her Buttons and Bows hat.

University of Kansas honor roll for the spring semester included Jenna Higgins, Hutchinson.

Gary Stark donated a Kansas History Book, copyright 1914, authored by Anna E. Arnold to the McCracken Museum.

Dennis and Jamie Shell, Clinton, Blake, Harlow and Taylor Swan, Scott McKechnie, Josh and Amanda Pierce, J.J., Ben, Toby, Jeff and Liz Jennings, Gary Stark, Garret Hernandez, Samantha Stark all from Kansas City attended the rodeo.

Kevin Anderson and Chris Venegas did a fantastic job on Norma McNair’s front porch. Now if it would just cool down so she could enjoy!!!

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Patricia Petz

Hot, Hot, Hot!  That's what this past week has been like.  It definitely has not been a good time for air-conditioners to quit working.  It was nice to find a local repairman that could come to my rescue.  Apparently, I just had something eat through the electrical wiring and he was able to fix my unit fairly quickly. As I understand, many air-conditioning units have completely quit working this summer, so I should be very thankful that I was without air-conditioning for just one day! 

Friday was a very busy day for me, as I began the day by greeting the pest control guy. I have never had so many critters hit the farm as I have this year.  Earlier this summer, I was bombarded with opossums and raccoons and now the mice, moles, and rats have decided to invade my farm. The pest control guy said that many farms have been infested with these critters this summer with no apparent reason.  We set several traps in hopes of eliminating their population.  I guess, I'll have to look into getting a dog and some cats to help me supervise the area!

Friday afternoon, I picked up my mom, Mary Steitz, and we headed for McPherson.  We were needed to come to the rescue as babysitters for our grandsons, Drake and Grant Timson on Saturday. Curt and Chelsea Wells, and their children, Preslea, Paisley, and Milo from Mt. Hope, Kansas, dropped in to visit with us on Saturday morning.  That was the first time that I had gotten to see my great nephew, Milo.  Needless to say, this little guy received a lot of attention from all of us!    In the afternoon,  Angie and Trent, along with two other couples, went to a wine tasting party in Whitewater.  All of the kids and I went to the park to play for awhile and then we came back, turned on a movie and ate some popcorn.  All of the cousins had a very fun time playing together.   

Sunday morning, mom and I attended St. Joseph's Church in McPherson for mass.  We always enjoy the sermons of Father Hein Nguyen.  He reminded us that we needed to be so thankful to our farmers. They are the ones that provide our daily food that we need to nourish our bodies.  Thank-you farmers!

Instead of just mom and I returning home on Sunday afternoon, Drake came home with us.  His summer has been packed with ball games and swimming lessons, so he hadn't been able to spend time with me.  So, I'm sure we'll have lots of fun together throughout the week.  Before we went to the farm, we made a stop at De.Wayne and Vicky Foos's home.  Vicky's mother, Vernita Serpan, had passed away on Saturday.  My thoughts, prayers, and sympathies go out to her family.  May the good Lord wrap his loving arms around the family to help them during this difficult time. Rest in peace, Vernita!