After a long, cold winter, when spring arrives and the temperatures soar above freezing, everyone gets excited and begins looking for the first flowers peeking through at us so they can begin to get ready for the warmer days ahead. However, in the fall, when temperatures drop below freezing, it is a different story. I am not sure but I think it was Friday night when temperatures dropped down into the middle 30’s here and in some places they did have frost. When we hear about this we somehow are not anxious to have the colder temperatures return. Especially this year when we have had a cool summer. However, it doesn’t matter as it is still so early in the season. We can control many things but the weatherman continues to have the weather his way!I can’t get very excited about covering my plants and bringing them in for the winter and I can remember all too well how to scoop snow. Oh Well! It is early yet so we can all hope for the best and that we have a late fall. Congratulations to the Steen softball team who won the regional competition at Sioux Falls on Saturday, Aug. 21. They placed first in the regional and are qualified to go on to the National Tournament. The Steen team is under the leadership of Myron Sandbulte of Hills. The National Tournament will be played at Hastings on Sept. 1-6 which is Labor Day weekend and causes a conflict for the Steen Labor Day Tournament. However, under the circumstance, I am sure they will work something out. Good luck to them.Margaret and Orval Harberts, George, Iowa, were Thursday evening callers in the Henrietta Huenink home. Florence Sandstede, who recently underwent surgery, was able to leave the hospital and is now a resident of Tuff Home in Hills where she is having therapy. We wish her a speedy recovery. Malena Boeve and her son, Brian Boeve, and his family which includes Sarah, Melissa and Daniel, had lunch together Friday noon to help Melissa celebrate her 20th birthday. It was also a farewell for Brian’s son, Daniel, who received a four-year scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh. He left for college Tuesday. He will major in math and computers. Congratulations to him. Rich and Lois DeBoer, Sioux City, Iowa, were visitors in the Joy Aykens home Sunday afternoon. Bernice Aukes accompanied her brother, Jerry Hoff, and other relatives to the wedding of Robert Weglet and Julie Sasse at Watertown, S.D. Friday evening. Julie is the granddaughter of Otto and Gladys Van Wettering. The couple will live in Sioux Falls. Her parents are Dick and Janice Sasse. The Teune family reunion was Saturday evening at Luverne Pizza Ranch with 16 family members present. Those from Steen who attended were Harvey and Gertrude Rozeboom and Orrin and Bernice Aukes. Seven Bosch, son of Dries and Laura May Bosch, Minneapolis, visited in the home of his parents five days this past week. Mildred Paulsen and Eloise Wolford from Luverne attended the Southwest District United Methodist Women meeting at the Red Rock Church at Sanborn on Saturday. Materials were available for the coming year. The new study is Prayer, Policy and Politics. There were 62 members present. It was a good day with a good speaker and information for the coming year. Art and Dot DeBoer, Pella, Iowa, were Sunday morning visitors in the Jo Aykens home. Back to School signs greet us no matter where we are, shopping, reading the paper or just visiting. "Back to School" reminds me of many happy days and of course, a few that were not so happy, but it certainly brings back memories of the times when "Back to School" meant us. Many things have changed. I can still remember taking a sack lunch. I never ate much at breakfast so should have been hungry by noon. However, and I hate to admit it, I threw my lunch into the garbage more times than I ate it.I began my education in a one-room country school where we sang "Good Morning, Dear Teacher" every morning and also repeated the Pledge of Allegiance. I remember recess time in good weather when we could go outdoors to play although there was no playground equipment. We did have a ball that we played Anti-I-Over with and I wonder if anyone today knows how to do that? We also played other games with the ball. We had double desks in our schoolroom so we always had to share everything with each other. I am sure most of you have many memories of those school days also. So, I am hoping to bring some more memories to you with this poem, "Country School House" written by Helen E. Milton:"Do you have a little red school house safe in your memories? With an iron stove and an outside pump, and a shady apple tree. There were well-carved desks and a water pail and shaggy books,A round world globe, a few shelves and at the back, a row of hooks. A long black stove pipe ran the length of the roughly finished room,And a coal lamp on a swing chain helped dispel the gloom.A blackboard graced the whole front wall. There was always lots of chalk. You used a slate and your chalk squeaked and no one dared to talk.The modern schools are large and grand and beautiful to see.But how many love the country school treasured in our memory?"I am sure we all have lots of favorite memories we would like to share as school was very special to all of us those years.
