Blessings

I feel terrible that my blog for last week is just now getting posted.  We had such a busy week.  Is it just me or is Summer more hectic than the actual school year for everyone?

I had so many ideas for this past week for posts.  The more I think about how much I love this town, the more things just jump around in my mind that I can blog about weekly.  Some of those things require me to be camera ready at any moment, and this week I found myself unprepared for those amazing snap shots.  I can tell you that there is so much to come and I hope you will keep visiting us.

This past week was a special one for me.  My birthday was on Friday, July 20th.  I had no real plans to speak of.  I had work that day and received my first birthday blessing right there at work.

I work at the local retirement community as a cook.  I really enjoy spending the days with the folks  there and doing what I love - cooking and baking.  After my shift was over, I was getting ready to walk outside when I saw one of the residents, Allen, sitting in the main living room.  We sat and talked for about 30 minutes about life here in NW Kansas back in the day.  I loved the conversation and I think he did too.  I wonder if people understand the value in the older citizens like Allen?  They are a living history!  There time for being an important part of society is far from over.  It is my hope that more people will look for the life that is still going strong in this age group.  After all, how do we as a society know where we are going if we haven't taken the time to see where we have been? Well, my time with Allen was my first birthday blessing.  

Before leaving, I sat and watched the residents work through some exercises with large inflatable balls.  To hear them laugh and watch them play like kids again was absolutely beautiful!  Never did I expect to find myself working in this type of environment, but I am so thankful for these blessings that the Lord is giving to me.

After leaving the "Village", I went home for a short nap and then time with my family.  The gifts were great and so was the quality time.  My beautiful sister had the most thoughtful gift for me.  I thought I had received the greatest birthday yet!

The night ended and I had a cake to make for a neighbor of mine.  I do some in-home baking for friends and family.  Baking is my passion, so baking a cake that was not my own was not a terrible way to end my night.   Here is a quick picture of the cake that I finished.

Cake finished and the night ending after midnight, I drifted off to sleep.  Back to work in the morning but plans with "the girls" to go out to the movies for my birthday.  I hurried through the day because who doesn't love a girl's night out after all?   My sister arrived and off we went.  We had to stop to "pick up" my good friend, Lace.  But as I enter her house, there are several women there and I was excited to see that the night was going to include more than just the four of us that I thought were going out.  Hey, the more the merrier, right?   Well, the surprise really was on me!  My amazing friends had put together a surprise party for me AND had ME to make my own cake!

We had such an amazing time and I can say that the greatness of the weekend was due to the people that were in it.  What you find in a small town like our town is amazing people that see you as more than your friends, but as your family.  They become your sisters and brothers, your grandparents that you never knew, and the neighbors' children are your children.  People here don't just live here.  They live the community and the people.  We don't have our 6 foot fences up to keep everyone else out.  You find that you know nearly everyone in town and though that can sometimes backfire because everyone knows what you are doing ALL the time, they also know what is important to you, your hopes and your fears, just like family.  

I hope that next time you see a senior on the street or your neighbor walking into their home that you will stop and chat with them.   Find the blessings in those next door or those who think their time of usefulness is over.  If you can't find anyone in the city that wants to look outside of their door, just come here, where everyone is family!

Bones, Battlefields and Buffalo

I often wonder how many people realize the value of this great community.  There are many things to do and see right outside your door.  My family really values our life here.  I am beginning to see that this great place is raising our children!

Yesterday, the boys and I took a little trip, just east of the town where we live, to the town of Wallace, KS to learn a bit about the history of our quaint community.   Our field trip took us to an amazing museum located right here in our county.  Right in our own backyard is an amazing wealth of history.  

 If you haven't ever been there or maybe haven't been in a while, you must go. 


Wallace is located within Wallace County.  In its hay day, Wallace, KS was the home of a booming Midwest community.  With a population of 3400 in 1869, the town of Wallace was actually bigger than Denver at that time. It is the location of the historic Fort Wallace, which served as a headquarters for US military ordered to protect travelers that were making their way west.  This was a time when things were very volatile between the government/people and the Native Americans.  Battles between the two happened all the time.  Many soldiers, settlers and Native Americans lost their lives in this land.

As of the 2010 census, the population is a mere 57 people.  Though this is a small community, it is big with history..

 To be honest, I thought the boys might be a little bored with all this history.  Well, to my surprise, I was wrong!  Each of them were excited by the treasures they found around every corner!  I had a hard time keeping up with them shouting "Momma, look at this!"  "No, come look at this!"  I guarantee you will feel like a little kid in this place too.  There are so many ooohs and aaahs that you could spend all day and not really see all the treasures within this museum.

Though both of my boys were riveted by the old clothes, guns, and Native American artifacts, they were shocked to see the prehistoric bones from a time gone by.  I have to admit, I was a little excited to see them too.  Here are a few of my favorites:

It is hard to picture a Woolly Mammoth roaming the prairies out here, but here lies a hip joint to prove that they once called this land their home.  

I must admit that when I saw this jawbone of a prehistoric marine reptile, I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that this beast wasn't roaming our water ways today.  Those teeth just scream danger! 

This museum housed so many different things that I had a hard time trying to decide what to highlight and what was my favorite part of our day.  Neither of my boys seemed to have trouble choosing their favorite area though.

Sam, my middle son, found his first love at this museum.  Trains.  The Kansas Pacific Railroad was the line that ran through this area long ago.  The museum now houses the original Railroad Depot that was located in Weskan, which is within our county as well.  This was such a unique building with lots of interesting things to see.

Look at that happy face!  He was just loving this moment.  Ready to buy his ticket!

My boy feeling like the king of the world!

This is the Railroad Depot.  They moved this building 20 miles from its original location to the museum grounds.

 We found a little piece of TN right here in NW Kansas.  We arrived 149 years and one day later than this soldier's ticket.

Our last stop of the day in the museum was the favorite of my son, Gavin.  Within the grounds of museum is a large metal barn that held many antique vehicles.  I was excited to see the old firetrucks from Sharon Springs, old carriages and even covered wagons!

Sharon Springs Fire Department.  How sweet is that!

The boys and I loved being able to see these wagons.  It made your imagination run with ideas about how life must have been traveling in these across the country.

I thought this was a really special find.  The Hennick family is still going strong here in Wallace County after all this time!

What a great day we had taking a walk through time.   We have so much more to tell about Wallace, but the heat was taking us over and our feet were getting tired.  I encourage you to come take a walk and let Wallace, Ks tell you its tale.  It is one that will spin you through time from dinosaurs to battlefields.  

You'll know you are there when you drive on HWY 40 in Kansas and spot the wired buffalo.  He's famous around these parts!

Small Town, big movies!

This holiday had me so busy baking, cooking, a picnic and so much more.   Sadly out here in western Kansas it is so dry.  There is a burn ban and our chamber of commerce made the executive decision not to have the fireworks this year on the 4th.  The fear of fires is just too great.  We had a blast anyway!  That's just how we do things in a small town. How did you celebrate?

So, with all the holiday fun, my first special highlight of our quaint little community took a little longer that I had expected.  

Let me tell you about one of the great treasures out here in Wallace County, KS.  To say our local movie theater is small would be an understatement.   But what it lacks in size it makes up in other areas.

The Strand has only one theater.  Yep.  You heard me right.  Makes those city theaters look enormous.   I am not sure when the theater first opened but information that I located said it has been opened since at least 1926-1929.  Back then they had performances on the stage in the theater.  The seating capacity today is 195.   Our little community cinema just recently (this year actually) converted to Dolby Digital projection.  We can actually watch 3D movies now!   Before that, it was reel to reel projection.   Don't let any of this scare you.  The movies are current releases so we aren't really missing out on anything.


This theater is community owned and community run.  Since the theater is only open on Saturday and Sunday each week, volunteers (yes, I said volunteers) rotate every weekend to run the concessions and clean up at the theater.  We typically work in teams and only work one of the days out of that weekend.  We are paid with a free ticket to the next movie of our choice, we get to watch the current movie we are working after the concession customers are through, and we get a free soda and popcorn.  Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.  


There is one paid employee.  The ever faithful Jim.  Pictured below, he spends every weekend except I believe 2 weekends (not consecutive weekends either) throughout the year running the theater and projection.  When the reel to reel projectors were in place, Jim had to run upstairs anytime there was an issue with the projection.  It was an art all its own to see him splicing the film together at just the right spots.

Our admission prices and concessions are probably the least expensive you will see nearly anywhere.  Typical prices in cities for a movie are around $10 - $11 per adult and $7 - $8 for children.  Our prices are $5 for adults and $3 for children (ages 4-11).  Tell me, when was the last time you saw those prices in the city?

Our concessions won't break your pocket book either.  Check out these prices!

A family of four (2 adults / 2 children) at a movie here in Wallace County can spend around $25 or less for admission and snacks.  When I lived in the city, we never got out of the theater for less than $60 - $70.

The drawback of a small community cinema.  Limited movie choices.  Here in small town USA, the benefits are so many!  Prices, prices, prices!  Sitting around people you know - no such thing as going to the movies alone here!  We talk and laugh in the concession lines and no one is in a hurry.   I love to watch everyone chatting to the people behind them, in front of them, next to them, or 3 rows down, about things like harvest, girl scouts, 4H, fair, and family.  When our theater is packed, no one has to come up and down the aisles to ask you to move over so others can find a seat, they move on there own to accommodate you or you just go sit next to your friends, even if it means you are separated from the group you came with.  We are all family here!

Come by and hang out with us at the movies.  You won't be sorry you did.  Be sure to say hello to Jim!

Wishing you many blessings from the God Lord above!

Why a small town?

                              
I am beginning the blog to answer the undying question that I get from everyone these days it would seem.  "Why on Earth would you move from Nashville to a small town in Northwest Kansas?"



Why did we make that 1000 mile move?  One easy answer, for the love of our family.


Here is a little look at the statistics of Wallace County, KS.

County population in July 2009: 1,408 (all rural)
County owner-occupied houses and condos: 516
Renter-occupied apartments: 158

% of renters here:	23%
State:	15%

Land area: 914 sq. mi.
Water area: 0.1 sq. mi.

Population density: 2 people per square mile

(very low).

That is what you will find online about our community, but they are just numbers.  Wallace County and other small towns like it are more than numbers.  They are places for family, starting out, starting over, growing up and growing old.  They are the places "where everybody knows your name".  They are home.

I want you to take a journey with me through our little community from my family's perspective.  Maybe you will decide too that small town life is just what the doctor ordered for you too.