Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend started for us by deciding to go down to Des Moines to join the volunteer efforts of Meals From the Heartland which packages and sends meals mostly to third world countries where many people die from hunger related causes. Some food is also sent to Iowa and another state here in the US. We did this last year, and we thought it an excellent cause and something we could do to help. It is done assembly style. One person put in a vitamin tablet in a pouch attached to the bag in which the food was inserted. In the bag went one cup of a soy product, a tablespoon of dried veggies, and a cup of rice. The bag was weighed, and if there wasn't enough they added more rice, and if there was too much they took out some rice. Then the bag was hot sealed and put into a box. Each box held 36 bags of food. It was taped up and sent to the area for storage until it is taken to its destination. We packaged 15 boxes, and since each bag feeds 6 people, we helped feed 3,240 people. For the weekend, it was reported that the efforts of Meals From the Heartland will help to feed over 4 million people. They received extra monetary donations to buy more food so they were able to exceed their goal for this year. This is an annual event, and hopefully we can do even better next year. I think it's a great effort.




On Friday, Bob and I drove down to Boone to visit my good friend, Pat, who joined us to package meals on Sat. She hosted us while we were in the area. She was a very gracious host. It's always fun to visit friends.

On Sat., after doing the Meals from the Heartland, we met Bob's daughter, Cari, and her husband, Dave, at Famous Daves where we enjoyed excellent food, great company, and very interesting conversation. We always enjoy our visits with Cari and Dave.

Before returning to Pat's, we stopped in at Marilyn's to return some things she left when she visited in Aug. We also had a very nice visit with her.

Next day, on Sunday, Pat's son, Wayne, and his family invited us to go boating at Saylorville. We were very excited to go. Unfortunately the boat battery was not working. Wayne went to buy a new battery, but it was the wrong size and didn't fit the boat's area for it, so it ended up that we didn't really get to go boating. Instead we drove back to Boone and had a nice afternoon picnic and fun time at their house. It's not what you do, but being with friends and family that really counts.

Here we are waiting.

See the water?


Waiting.

No boating. OK. Then trampoline fun.

Picnic in the back yard.

Kiana playing a few pieces for us. She really likes jazz.

For Monday, we were planning to go back down to Des Moines and volunteer for Meals From the Heartland, but I got really sick Sunday night, and it lasted through all day Monday. So I pretty much slept all day, some at Pat's house, some in the car on the way home, and at home. I'm feeling better today. I hate being sick. Don't you?

While Bob was trying to entertain himself in Boone while I was sick, he went to eat at Hy Vee. While there, he ran into two former students who were there for the car races. They were Tyler Welander and a Mr. Carlson, from Georgia. They were there to watch Tyler's brother race. They had a nice visit. It is a small world.