Opening Day

By Todd Wilkinson

Tyler and I had a good opening day..

EDITOR’S NOTE: TODD IS MARY’S NEPHEW, AND OUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR. IF YOU NEED TODD’S FINANCIAL ADVICE GIVE HIM A CALL IN PRAIRE DU CHEIN, WI.

Migraine Headaches

By Heather

I have suffered from Migraine headaches most of my life, which has had a major effect on day to day living. Most of the medications over the years have not helped for any relief and some have even made them worse. About 5 years ago my mom sent me some information on how Botox has helped relieve migraines for many sufferers. I asked my Neurologist about this and he didn’t think I was to that point, not that I was getting any relief from anything we tried over the previous 30 years. So after suffering a few more years I finally consulted a different Neurologist, Who had been giving Migraine patients Botox for 10 years with much success. Well sounded good to me and when do we start??

For the last year and a half I have been getting Botox injections every 12 weeks.

This is the Botox fresh from the pharmacy. About $2000.00 worth.

The Botox is injected into muscles on my forehead, temples, back of the neck and back of the head.

First thing they do is ground me to a machine that the needle is attached to, which makes noise when inserted into the muscle.

Once I am grounded we start in the forehead.

There are 8 injections over the entire brow area.

Then he moves to the temple area

And the back of the head and neck

The whole process from start to finish takes about 20 minutes. I do need to arrive about 20 minutes early so they can order the Botox. They will not order it until I  arrive otherwise it goes to waste and it is not cheap. It takes a couple of days for it to absorb in completely and it lasts 12 weeks. I do have to say that the first treatment didn’t help at all, and debated doing it again, but he did say it may take a couple before I get the full affect.

I am so glad I did continue, my headaches were gone! When I first started this we did it every 13 weeks but that last week I started to have headaches again so that’s why we are at 12 weeks.

I couldn’t believe the difference! I went from having a headache every day, where just the severity of them varied, to having no headache at all.

One last note, with the HIPPA Laws in place today, having someone take my own picture for me having this done is not allowed without all the proper forms filled out in advance. My Doctor, however, said he just wouldn’t notice my niece with the camera.

By Heather

Cotton

By Heather

The Indian reservation is very large where the casino is and they grow hay and cotton.

I was just amazed at the cotton. There was field after field of it and all at different stages.

This one is almost done.

Mom was grabbing me some so I could take it home to show the kids ( I am sure they will not find it as neat as I do)

Being used to Wisconsin cornfields, these cotton plants really caught my attention.  Really cool.

 Heather

Oatman

By Heather

No trip to the Mohave Valley would be complete without a trip to Oatman.The bar walls (ceiling, doorways and every other place people can find) in the hotel are covered with dollar bills people have signed. I did go in and try to find my dollar from previous visits but no luck.

I flew out here with my Nephew and his fiancée. My nephew has family in Vegas they were visiting and they were all going Oatman, so I went with.

 

This is Nettie, my nephew’s fiancée, checking out the burrows. This is her fist time in Oatman.

 

Here is my nephew, Justin, his first time here also.

 

We watched the gun fight and checked out all the shops.

 

I picked up 2 bags of the “old fashion” candy that mom likes, and apparently she is not the only one who likes it.

As I was trying to take pictures of the gun show I felt a tug on my arm. Well, the burrows ended up with the candy. One of them got hold of the bag and ate right through the bag holding the candy. It didn’t take long for them to get the candy package open .

They must have a great sense of smell because next thing I know I am surrounded by about 12 burrows all trying to get some candy. All you could smell was the anise as they enjoyed every bit of it, and I mean all of it…………some even ate the candy packaging!

One of the burrows started foaming at the mouth from eating the Lemon drops!

By Heather

Devil’s Lake (Part 2)

One of our hikes was on this rock path along the side of the lake.  There were a lot of huge rocks and it was very pretty.  It was actually a nice hike since there was a path, and not all covered by trees and in the shade.

 

I am not sure how far the path goes because we only made it as far as this Rock .

This rock is out over the lake about 15-20 feet. So what do you do at this rock.......

JUMP!!!  

This is Randy jumping off.

and next is RJ, he was so excited to jump off, but there are rocks down below so you need to jump out a bit. Since he was not able to do this my nephew, Justin, threw him off.  He did like it but once was enough.

Then it is Ali, she had fun and jumped numerous times.

Finally Mack, she went numerous times also. 

Marissa did not jump, not sure why but she didn't... neither did I. I was  busy taking pictures and video taping ( not easy doing both at the same time).  

The kids sitting on a rock on the walk back.

There is a snake at the edge of the water, and the kids are running away.

 

By Heather

Devil’s Lake

This year we camped at Devil's Lake.  We have out grown our camper so we used a friends.  It is 33', has 4 bunks, and a slide out. It is a lot more camper then we are used to. I couldn't believe all the room we had.

 


 


 


 



After we were all set up we played a few games of polish horseshoes.

 


 



Well we start the day with omelets in a bag ( slider bags do not work for this).

 


 


Then it was off hiking.  There are many hiking trails. At the office we got activity books for the kids which gives them all sorts of things to look for.








 


 



We did some swimming and made some sand castles.

 


 


 





By Heather

Cheesedays, Monroe, Wisconsin

We wanted to share this exciting news with you! Hope you all can come to Cheese Days in Monroe on September 17, 18 and 19 this fall. It should be fun. Take care!

Janice and Dennis


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


March 3, 2010

Contact: Noreen Rueckert, Cheese Days Coordinator, 608.325.7771, cheesedays@tds.net


CHEESE DAYS ANNOUNCES 2010 KING AND QUEEN

The history page on the Green County Cheese Days website is full of facts. On the timeline are various noteworthy events, famous firsts, and names of those who have served as parade marshals, contest winners, and royalty. But it is the unofficial and previously unpublished history of the festival from 1976 that tells the story of this year’s Cheese Days King and Queen.

For many years, the banks in Monroe took turns hosting a VIP and dignitary reception prior to the big parade on Sunday. In 1976, a young male employee at Commercial and Savings Bank (now Wisconsin Community Bank) was happily enjoying the complimentary wine when one of the young ladies serving as a Cheese Days co-queen (now known as ambassador) noticed he was not wearing one of the commemorative festival buttons. Call it fate or just simple Cheese Days luck, but she knew it was her job to make sure he got a button pinned to his shirt.

The bank employee and the queen both recall that the parade was nearly rained out a few hours after they met, but the sun came out almost immediately afterwards. Their story together is definitely proof of a sunny ending, as by the following festival they were engaged to be married. Now 34 years later, Dennis and Janice (Wettach) Everson have been selected to represent the festival as this year’s Green County Cheese Days King and Queen.

Cheesemaking is an important part of Janice Wettach’s family traditions. Her grandparents, John and Clara Rechsteiner, operated the Mud Branch Cheese Factory near Argyle. Her mother, Helen, who resides in Monticello, was a “cheese queen” for a June Dairy Month celebration in Mt. Horeb back in 1938.

Janice’s 100% Swiss heritage is also a proud part of the family history. Janice’s maternal and paternal grandparents emigrated from the canton of Appenzell in Switzerland and often spoke the Swiss language, particularly when adults had conversations not intended for children’s ears. The youngest of three children in the family, Janice was nicknamed “the klie” (translated from Swiss – “the little one”), and her family was active in the Old World Swiss Club. Janice works as a registered nurse at Monroe Clinic in the rheumatology department.

Monroe’s Wisconsin Community Bank has had a number of name changes since it was known as Commercial Saving Bank, and Dennis Everson has been an employee at the location since 1975. Throughout his tenure at the bank, he helped with financing numerous cheesemaking operations in the Green County area. Dennis has seen many changes take place in the cheesemaking industry. Among the most notable are the transition from basic varieties to specialty and artisan cheeses, technology and automation in the cheese plants, and computer programs that guarantee consistency in production.

During the festival, Dennis will overlook his Norwegian heritage. “I’ll be a Wettach for the weekend,” he jokes. His mother, Joan, resides in Monroe.

Throughout the years, Dennis and Janice have had many ties to various aspects of the Cheese Days festival. Janice has served on the ambassador selection committee. Dennis co-chaired the festival several times, and served as both president and treasurer for several terms each. Both are experienced at the Cow Milking Contest, and both have “done time” working at the Monroe Optimist Club deep-fried cheese curd booth. Their niece Lindsay (Wettach) Brockert was an ambassador in 2002, and niece Wendy Flanagan is the artist responsible for this year’s button design.

The couple has two children who have also been involved with the festival. “They’ve grown up with it, it has been part of their lives,” says Janice, of their sons, Erik and Kyle. As boy scouts, they rose early in the morning to help with clean up of the festival grounds around the downtown square. They often appeared in the Children’s Parade, and both were candidates in the Prince and Princess Contest. Erik is currently attending the University of Wyoming where he is working toward his doctorate in Geophysics, and Kyle is currently attending dental school at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

The Everson family’s involvement with Cheese Days did not always go smoothly. When bank president Jack Kundert suggested that his employee, Dennis, serve as chairperson of the Cheese Days raffle, the raffle committee selected a car as grand prize. Shortly after the committee purchased the soon to be infamous 1978 Ford Pinto, the news broke that the Pinto had a tendency to explode in rear-end collisions. Sales were far less than brisk, but by Saturday of the festival the car was paid off. Dennis drove it in the parade on Sunday (thankfully with no incident), and the tickets sold netted a small profit that final day.

The Eversons are currently involved in many other community activities, including the local literacy council, Monroe Arts Center, and Grace Lutheran Church; and boy scouts and the YMCA board in the past.

“We love Cheese Days, we always have, and this is like coming full circle,” said Janice of their royal appointment. Both Dennis and Janice are looking forward to celebrating with family and friends, sharing the fun with festival attendees, and adding new stories to the personal history they share with the oldest and best food fest in the Midwest.

Good Ole Yellow River

(Editor’s note: Today’s Blog was written by Yellow River camping friends Mark & Jayne.  They wrote this Blog back in the Spring, but due to some computer glitches, and the fact we were Off Line all summer, the Blog finally appears today.  Thanks Mark & Jayne, I hope my home sick tears for Yellow River haven’t damaged my computer.)

Good Ole Yellow River
By Mark & Jayne

Hey Rex & Mary,

Hope you are doing well with the heat and mice.  No flooding in Des Moines this year so we have had time to go camping.  Just want to give you a little update on what is going on in your old stomping grounds. 

First a little news on us. 
Jayne was a victim of the lousy economy and was asked to take an early retirement from the newspaper business in August 2008.  She was thinking about retiring so it didn’t take her long to find the door after they gave her a pretty good severance package.

Mark was fortunate enough to break his fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot right after Thanksgiving last fall.  All he did was stand up while going to take a leak after some beers (might have eaten to much the day before because he had only had three beers).  For the non Drs. it is called a Jones fracture and is a tough bone to heal due to the lack of blood supply to that part of the foot.  He walked on it all weekend then went to the Doc here in Indianola on the next Monday, and was sent up to a foot guy in West Des Moines who looked at the x-rays and said he does surgery on Tuesday’s.  So we went back up there on Tuesday and when we came back home that night he was on crutches, had a big boot and some extra hardware in his foot which will stay there for  a lifetime. 

 It was a good thing that Jayne had retired as she was a trooper trough the ordeal, shoveling snow, warming up the truck in the morning, walking the dogs, getting Mark off to work with his crutches in the morning and otherwise taking care of Mark’s sorry ass.  Mark finally got off the crutches at the end of January and out of the boot soon after that.

Enough about us, here is what is happing at Yellow River.

We went up there in May for Mothers day weekend.  Grace & Charlie (the camp host & hostess who are in their 80’s) weren’t up there yet as Charlie was having problems with his legs.  

We did meet up with Grace & Charlie when we went up for a week at the end of June and had a nice dinner of baby back ribs brought up from the Indianola Fairway.  Here they are starting out. 





 

Jayne also made some cheesy potatoes that we cooked in the Dutch Oven.





Here is everything cooking.


 



 


 


 


 

Here is the result, all of us fat dumb and happy.



 


 

 
If you Guys are heading back this fall we have plans for Charlie’s  83^rd birthday on September 12^th.  We are going to bring up around a 24 lb. turkey to cook over the fire (Rex has helped with the beer support for that in past years) and we have a huge potluck there at Yellow River.  We will be up there until September 26^th/27^th.

Travel well our friends and stay cool and mouse free this summer.

The girls (our rat terriers) look forward to meeting Susie-Q or having her over for lunch as the main course.

Mark & Jayne