Monday, September 11, 2006

softball, 4-H and the York Rodeo


Yesterday was our monthly scrapping day. Nancy, Becky and I and our three grown daughters Amy, Nicole and Miranda get together once a month and scrap. I LOVE scrapbooking with these women! They are all strong, creative, entertaining women. We talk, laugh, eat, encourage and inspire one another.
Amy has started giving us monthly challenges and last month it was to scrap about our childhood summers. She just emailed us our Oct. challenge and I can't wait to blog about it!
So I began to think back on my summers growing up on a farm in WI... easy... softball, 4-H and the York Rodeo.
Softball was huge... fast-pitch softball. None of this slow-pitch stuff. I loved watching the men's fast-pitch games. I loved playing the game. I loved the hot buttered popcorn, the cool night air and cheering in the stands. I wasn't a very good hitter. I didn't have a very good arm, so I played 2nd base. But I could run fast. And I was very competive! This pic is of our softball team riding in the York Rodeo parade. I'm on the hood of the truck, on the driver's side.


4-H consumed a majority of my time during the summer months. We would enter the exhibits we had been working on all year long in the Jackson County Fair. I would enter various sewing garments, jars of canned goods, leather craft items and knitting projects to be judged. I still have all my ribbons and several outfits I sewed from those 10 years in 4-H. We would take shifts in the 4-H food stand throughout the 4 day event. I loved the atmosphere, the rides, the cattle barns, the cute carni guys, the hot carmel popcorn, the grand stand shows (even the tractor pulling contests) and seeing our fellow 4-Hers from other clubs. Our club was named the Northfield Go-Getters!






And then the summer ended with the Annual York Rodeo. Our farm was a mile from the little town of York. (pop. 32) York was "Home of the Biggest Little Rodeo in the U.S.A"! I still have the very T-shirt with that very saying on the front. People came from far and wide to see the parade, the rodeo, the garden tractor pull, play bingo, ride the shetland ponies, eat grilled chicken, watch softball and sit in the dunk-tank. The York Rodeo was a big deal in our little town and still is to this day! Did I mention my love for hot buttered popcorn!!

Well, there you go... my summer memories. What are yours?

3 comments:

Amy T Schubert said...

linda ... now all you have to do is cut and paste this into a word document and print it on cardstock ... make Miranda help you .. your page is SO CLOSE to being done!

Anonymous said...

I love the halter top and short short! Look who has some great legs!

Anonymous said...

Hey, I can attest to the awesome girls "FAST" pitch teams, and to the good times @ the York Rodeo....I came from Pleasantville, and I think maybe we had even fewer people than York! Linda and I were great pals from 7th grade when we both bussed to "town" for middle school, and we didn't get to see each other much in the summer, except for those softball games and town celebrations...If Linda doesn't visit me next year on her trip back to Wisconsin, I am going to take it personally....good memories of good friends...

Hugs from Wisconsin, Naomi