Restaurant open once more
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
I got out of my car and was about to enter our office at the bank when the scent of fried chicken wafted through the early-morning air, and it stopped me dead in my tracks. I knew immediately that the Ramona Café was up and running again and Reign and Marlene were already preparing Sunday dinner for folks.
In a small town like Ramona, there's an impact when one of the businesses shuts down, even for a few weeks. And seeing Reign and Marlene's maroon mini-van parked in front of the café again brought a sigh of relief. Aaah, life had returned to normal in Ramona.
On Tuesday morning I caught up with Reign, working over at the old Cheever house which Reign recently bought. He was scraping the outside of the house and repainting. "I'm painting it gray and plan to put black shutters on it," explained Reign and we walked around the house. "So are you having knee surgery?" I asked, since it was a knee injury that caused the Andusses to close down their restaurant recently. "Not now," said Reign. "I'm just taking it easy. I was lifting and hauling too many heavy things lately, plus I did some bike riding and those all are 'no-nos' for somebody with arthritis in their knee," smiled Reign.
So come on down to Ramona some weekend and taste the wonders of Reign's fried chicken or Marlene's cherry pie, the Ramona Café is open again.
David Staatz has been beautifying the north end of town lately. David and Jane are our neighbors just west of us and they're putting up an impressive fence around their property. "With our two little grandkids we wanted to enclose our yard so the little ones could play and we wouldn't worry about them getting into the street," said David. He's even started landscaping in front of the fence.
David recently installed small lights along the fence line and I walked out on my porch at about 10 p.m. one dark night and wow — it was downright gorgeous seeing the reflection of those lights on the fence in the blackness of night.
David showed me, on Monday, a new flag he was going to fly on his flagpole in his front yard. "This is from my brother, Kenny," said David, "who just returned from the war. This flag flew on his ship."
Kenny Staatz of Herington has been in Kuwait as a medic in the Navy Reserves. When he gave his brother the flag, he also presented a certificate which read: "Certificate of Flag Presentation presented to David Staatz in tribute to the men and women of the United States of America, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom onboard Camp Patriot, Kuwait Naval Base, the United States Flag accompanying this certificate is presented to you. With this flag you will carry the memories and experiences of a grateful nation. The accompanying United States Flag was flown onboard CAMP PATRIOT on the 4th day of July 2003 and presented on behalf of a grateful nation." Signed Commodore Donald Cook, Captain, U.S. Navy, Commander CTG 51.8.
David said the Staatz family gathered at Kenny's house in Herington recently to celebrate his safe return. Kenny brought each of his brothers a souvenir from Kuwait — a typical headdress men of that country wear. David even modeled his for me. "It's hot to wear it!" said David with a grin.
Speaking of beautification, other Ramona-ites have been busy improving their homes and property — especially on the west end of town.
The Thompsons, the new family who recently moved here from California, are doing major remodeling to the home they bought on "B" Street. When I stopped to chat with them on Monday, Jim was up on the roof, tearing off the old shingles over the kitchen area of the house. On closer inspection, when I peeked in the kitchen door, all the walls were gone on the north side and the floor removed! "It just had to go," said Jim, who spends his days working on getting the house ship-shape.
"So where are you cooking?" I asked Jim's wife, Terry. "Oh, in the dining room," she said good-naturedly with a grin. Terry has just started working nights as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at the Hillsboro hospital. Jim, a computer technician, previously worked for the school district in California, troubleshooting and repairing the district's computer systems. For the time being, however, Jim's full-time job is remodeling the Ramona house they purchased from the Lorei family a month ago.
The Svobodas live just west of the Thompsons and they've been doing some remodeling, too. Sandra, with the help of Yvonne Burhoop, laid a new ceramic tile floor in the bathroom. Sandra said the kitchen got a makeover too — wall and the cabinets got a refreshing coat of paint and next will be a new floor. "We'll be putting ceramic tile in the kitchen as well," said Sandra. "That'll be a winter job."
Across the field from the Svobodas is the Wiles' house. They, too, have been remodeling their kitchen. Stan gave me a tour the other day and I'm always curious about their house since my grandparents — the Schuberts — lived there when they moved off the farm. It was to this house that I returned each summer to play with my cousins and eat my grandma's chocolate chip cookies.
Every time I walk into Stan and Deb's house I'm amazed at how small and compact it was (before the Wiles built some additions). As a child, the house seemed so large. I can recall huge family gatherings around the dining room table and now when I stand in the living room I wonder how we all got around the table.
Stan and Deb just installed wainscoting around the kitchen walls, repainting walls and cupboards in a delicious light creamy yellow, and building an island area for eating, slicing, and dicing. When I oohed and aahed over the island he built, Stan replied, "It's easy, anybody can do it," and he proceeded to explain how quickly one could assemble such a unit. Stan, and others gifted like him, forget that such projects are not as simple for some of us who are "mechanically challenged."
Stan and Deb are avid antique collectors and their kitchen is like a walk through a museum. On several walls, about a foot from the ceiling, Stan installed a beautiful oak shelf where their antiques are on display.
My sister Pat and our pseudo-brother Tooltime Tim returned Sunday from a major remodeling job in California.
Originally Pat and Tim headed to Pat's California home (where Pat's daughter and husband reside) to pull up the carpets in the house and replace them with wood floors.
But as they started one project, it led to another. "We painted the walls, put in new floors, did some wallpapering, tore out a shower and installed a new one," said Pat when I called them in California. "And I'm cleaning out more of the closets and bringing back a truck load of my things to Kansas," she concluded. To which Tim replied, "Where exactly are you putting all of this!" Tim's already made a couple trips from California to Kansas with our belongings and knows there's not much room left for storage.
When the work was done, it was time to play, so Pat, Tim, and Jana (Pat's daughter) drove from the Napa Valley down to southern California to visit Disneyland. Before Pat and Tim departed for California they had decided to take in Disneyland as the reward for all their hard labor. "It won't be any fun at Disneyland without you," said my sister. (I was staying in Kansas while she went to California — somebody needed to keep the Ramona life spinning.) "Besides," continued Pat, "I think it's time we take Emily to California."
Now, our little neighbor girl, Emily Staatz, has wanted to visit California ever since she was old enough to say the word. Whenever we'd come to Kansas in the summer and return home after a few weeks, Emily would always say, "Someday I want to go to California with you."
David and Jane, Em's parents, told Em she'd have to be older before she could take such a trip. As the years went by, Em never forgot the desire. A couple of years ago, Pat even bought Em a little black suitcase and when she presented the gift she said, "Em, this is for your trip to California someday."
When Emily heard that Pat and Tim were headed that way, she wanted to tag along, of course. Instead we proposed that she fly out to California with me for two whirlwind days at Disneyland. Em started packing for her California trip about 10 days before we departed Aug. 12. As our departure approached, she'd ask me every day if I had packed yet.
The morning of the 12th, she walked across the street to my house, pulling her little black suitcase behind her. "This is the suitcase Pat gave me — and I'm finally using it to go to California!"
When Em's folks said she could take the trip, the first question out of Em's mouth was, "Do you think I'll get to see Micky Mouse?" Not only did she get to see Micky, she got photographs with Minnie Mouse and Tigger, too! If we'd been patient enough to stand in a line, she could have had one with Piglet as well.
There were a lot of "firsts" for Emily on this trip. First time out of Kansas and first time on an airplane ride.
Having never had children myself, I was getting a first-time experience, too, — at being a Mom. First off, I never realized how many questions kids can ask — but, of course, how else do they learn. There was explaining the whole procedure of checking our baggage, clearing security checks (without making her fearful), making sure we had seats together, water, food, bathrooms. I was so busy thinking about these "parental" things as we walked toward the plane to board, I forgot that taking pictures was one of my primary duties.
Thankfully, the HUGE grin on Em's face reminded me to grab the camera. I'd never seen such a radiant smile on a child's face and I secretly prayed the flight would be flawless and "bumpless" so her smile remained.
As the plane lifted off the ground, Em was transfixed and still grinning. "Are we flying yet?" she kept asking. Emily wanted a window seat and she kept her eyes glued to what was below her. As we climbed in the sky, her exclamations continued, "We're higher than the clouds!" About 30 minutes into the flight she asked, "Are we flying over cities and towns right now?" I told her we were. "Well, it sure would be nice if they had signs up here so we'd know," she said with a serious look on her face.
Once we landed in California, Em was barraged with more first-time experiences: seeing mountains, riding an elevator (we don't have many two-story buildings in Ramona), seeing palm trees, orange, avocado, and lemon trees, freeways, smog, non-stop sirens, houses and buildings crawling over the landscape, and of course traffic jams.
After two days of frenetic activity at Disneyland, even I had "cultural overload." I've never seen so many people in my life!
Late Wednesday evening, as we headed for our appointment at Splash Mountain for the log ride, we had to hold hands just to navigate the crowd and not get lost from each other.
On Friday, Em and I got back on the airplane to head home, while Pat and Tim began the long drive back to Kansas. Em and I landed in Wichita late Friday evening and, on the drive home, we rolled down the windows and let the night breeze soothe our souls. Em was exhausted and I finally convinced her to recline the seat and sleep. Every 20 minutes or so, she'd bolt up and, half comatose, she'd say with relief, "I'm SO glad to be home!" I couldn't have summed it up better myself.
How soothing to drive a mile and not see another car. What a comfort to live in a town where a "crowd" is three or four folks talking in front of the café. What a relief to breath clean air and look heavenward at night and see stars. And of course, what delight to be back in Ramona where a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
