Our weather continues to go from the sublime to the ridiculous! It was so chilly and cold all spring that it hardly felt like spring. Suddenly we have a change in the weather that gave us an opportunity to leave our jackets in the house. It actually felt like summer. Needless to say, I think it is about time! The other day I heard them giving dates for future entertainments and would you believe the dates were in October! At that rate we had better enjoy our summer weather now.Melba Boeve attended the ceremony to present the Boy Scout Eagle Award to David Boeve, son of Brian Boeve, in Sioux Falls, S.D., Sunday afternoon. This is a very special award. Former Steen Reformed Church pastor Roger Punt and his wife, Judy, from Sully, Iowa, were Tuesday dinner guests in the Jo Aykens home. Joyce Aykens was also home to visit with them. Last weekend guests in the home of their mother were Joel and Carla Overlander from Circle Pines, John and Julie Springman, Forest Lake, Brian Boeve, Sioux Falls, and Ron and Cheryl Hup, Hills. Sunday, July 10, Beth Sakurai, Joyce Aykens, Worthington, Ginger France, Sioux City, Iowa, Bill and Bertha Bosch, Steen, Linda and Les Hengeveld and son David, Valley Springs, S.D., Paul and Carole Aykens, Orange City, Iowa, Don and Mike Bonnema, Rock Rapids, Iowa, and Jo Aykens enjoyed dinner together at the Pizza Ranch in Rock Rapids. Beth Sakurai from Japan returned to her home in Japan on Wednesday after spending several weeks visiting relatives here. The Dick and Laura Aukes family reunion was Friday at the Luverne City Park. The couple are Orrin Aukes’ parents. Mildred Keunen spent several days this past week visiting in the home of Ginger France in Sioux City and also with her houseguest, Beth Sakurai, from Yokahama, Japan.Bill De Yager had an auction of some of his tractor collection this past week. It was a very good sale but be assured everyone, he still has more tractors and will be enjoying them.The Steen softball team will play at Steen on July 22. They will play Northwest Iowa on Tuesday. Steen will be at Lester, Iowa, on July 26. Most of us have been busy planting our gardens and now they are up (and so are the weeds). When I saw this article titled "While You Work in Your Garden," I thought what a great opportunity to get some thinking done. I know our thoughts will not be the same as are printed in the article. However, we know that we are all different, so our thoughts will be also!While You Work in Your GardenBy Wilferd A. PetersonThe next time you are out turning the soil in your garden think about the following beautiful words written by Hobart Franks:"Today I picked up a clod from my yard, broke it, and as it sifted through my fingers, I realized for the first time that this was more than just dust: this was really a tiny piece of America!"I owned a rare treasure — a bit of the only soil left in the world today where a man can stand free and unafraid. I was standing on a piece of America, a few feet around and a thousand miles deep! Here alone in all the world could I build my future knowing that it would be secure; and rear my children with the assurance that they, and their children, could enjoy that same security. "I could stand on my piece of America, think freely and say what I thought, do what I pleased, shrink from no man, and call upon whatever God I chose. "Three deeds protect my land. One is locked in my strong box — a purchase deed. The others are enshrined and locked in the hearts of every American — the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution."I am a fortunate man, the indisputable owner of my own life, and of the land on which I live it. "I am an American!"
