Yipee ti yi yo, Ramona folks visit Prairie Rose
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
Sometimes the newspaper just doesn't have enough room for all the news — that's why you didn't see the Ramona column last week. I hope that two weeks' worth of news will "double your pleasure."
When the van and cars lined up on Ramona's main street last Thursday, we resembled a wagon train, except for the fact that we were driving in air-conditioned comfort. Don Bird, driving the lead van, even had on his cowboys boots so he could be an effective "wagon master." Twenty-two folks from the Ramona area were heading for the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon supper, located near Andover.
It was the monthly "adventure" sponsored by the Ramona Senior Center. The cowboys and cowgals from Ramona who took to the road were Norma and Don Bird (Norma's the senior center president), Norma Weber, Jeannie Weber, Fred and Marguerite Utech, Treva Schneider, Reign and Marlene Anduss, Al and Darlene Sondergard, Bob and Rita Brady, Dale and Barb Wingerd, and little ol' me.
Folks from other neighboring towns also joined the roundup. They were Velda and Jim McDiffit, of Herington, Tom and Dee Duggan of Tampa, and Larry and Delores Svoboda from Lincolnville.
The moment our vehicles drove into the Prairie Rose Ranch, folks in western garb just fairly tumbled out of houses and buildings to welcome us. Guys on horseback, complete with holsters and guns, guided us to parking spaces. By the look in the horse's eye, I would have sworn it thought we were a calf in a cutting contest. I've never seen a horse "direct traffic" so effectively.
The chuckwagon supper wasn't going to be served until 6:30, so we had about an hour to explore the Prairie Rose complex. Some folks settled into a comfy seat in the air-conditioned movie theater, which showed non-stop Roy Roger flicks — with free popcorn!
Other adventurous souls explored the grounds via a train or wagon ride. Jeannie Weber, Norma Bird, and I, paid a buck to ride the train and even got a picture with "Lucky," the conductor.
"So how did you get the nickname 'Lucky' ?" I asked. "I have one eye and nine fingers," he said with a twinkle in his glass eye. When I asked how he lost a finger and an eye he replied, "My dog bit off my finger, and I lost my eye in a BB gun accident when I was a kid."
That was just the beginning of an amazing evening full of colorful characters, a barbecue, and wonderful music by the Prairie Rose Wranglers, who recently performed in a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
"The Prairie Rose is a neat place," said Delores Svoboda. "My favorite part was the music." "I liked the wagon ride," said Treva Schneider. As for me, I was just in awe of the whole set-up, especially when I heard the story of how it all started.
I was calling Pat every few minutes on my cell phone. "You should see this place, Pat! It's a working cattle ranch and it's got teepees and train rides, a church with a real cemetery, a Hopalong Cassidy Museum, movie theaters, and wagon rides!"
Pat couldn't come along on the excursion because she and Tooltime Tim were leaving the next day for a "working vacation" at Pat's California home in the Napa Valley.
One thing for sure, the visit to the Prairie Rose sure kicked up a lot of dusty memories. Seemed everybody had a favorite cowboy from their childhood. On the drive home, I asked the folks in my car who their favorites were. "Gene Autry," said Lawrence Svoboda. "Rex Allen," replied his wife. "Roy Rogers," said Treva Schneider.
"We should have dressed in costume," said Jeannie Weber, when we saw some folks arrive in full western gear. Oh, well, next time.
Which brings us to the next Ramona Senior Center trip. It's Aug. 21 to the Ringling Brothers Circus at the Kansas Coliseum near Wichita. "We can all dress up as clowns!" enthused Jeannie Weber, who came up with the idea for the excursion. "I've got clown noses," I added, for those folks who would care to dress more conservatively.
Other senior center events are game night this next Sunday evening at 5 p.m. and the noon potluck Aug. 21. If you want to go on the circus excursion, call Norma Bird at 785-965-7135. "I know you girls are terribly busy," said the voice on our answering machine, "but we wondered if you had time to go with us to see "Guys & Dolls" at the Great Plains Theater in Abilene?"
Clear the calendar! Change appointments! It's time for a night out on the town! What to wear? Do I own anything besides shorts? And where are my high heels?
When Tom and Dee Duggan of Tampa rolled up to our house July 22 to take us to dinner and a show, Pat and I felt like Cinderella walking out to the awaiting carriage.
"You look gorgeous," I said to Pat as we left the house. Neither one of us has been dressed in anything more fancy than shorts and T-shirts lately. On this occasion, Pat was wearing a stunning black outfit she purchased several months ago at a Dillard's sale.
"Where will I ever wear this?" she commented to me in the dressing room as she tried the pantsuit on. "We'll just create a reason to wear it," I replied, always a sucker for elegant evening wear and a pair of high heels. Tom and Dee provided just the perfect event.
When we hopped in the Duggans' car, we quickly deduced that Tom and Dee were celebrating a special event because Dee was wearing an impressive corsage of white roses. "So what's the occasion?" I asked Dee. "It's my birthday!" she said, beaming, "a gift from my daughter, Debbie, in Herington."
I discovered that Dee shares her July 22 birthday with one of her daughters and also her maternal grandmother.
Dee also has something in common with President Eisenhower. Both Dee and Dwight have their signatures and birth dates inscribed on a paddle at Mr. K's Farmhouse Restaurant in Abilene.
Mr. K's has a tradition that you get your entrée for 1/2 price if you can prove it's your birthday. But while you pay less in one way, they make you "pay" in another — because before you leave the restaurant they bring out the "birthday paddle" and give you a gentle whack on the behind. The finale is your signature and birth date written on the paddle for posterity.
Dinner and a show! Wow! Pat and I felt very lucky to be invited to share in this magical moment. I'm sure that's how Cinderella felt as she rode to the palace for the gala dance. How were we so lucky? But, like Cinderella, don't question the Fairy Godmother about how you got there — just sit back and savor every minute.
We sat in our front-row seats at the Great Plains Theatre, waiting expectantly for the curtain to rise on "Guys and Dolls." Amazing! The production would have knocked my socks off, if I'd been wearing any! (I don't even wear nylons for dressy occasions in this summer heat!)
Any Great Plains Theatre production where you see Michelle Meade as one of the cast — go see it! "She's like seeing Broadway in Abilene," said my sister, Pat. When I read the playbill I noticed that Michelle actually moved her career and her husband from New York to Abilene in 1994 to create the Great Plains Theatre. Who would have thought it — a taste of Broadway, just 30 miles from home!
Since Pat and I didn't know it was Dee's birthday when we accepted the Duggans' invitation, we didn't have the chance to even get her a card. So the next day Pat created a beautiful basket of fresh produce from her garden.
When we delivered the basket to the Duggan home in Tampa, we didn't plan on another "party." But once inside, Dee presented cookies, iced tea, and ice cream, along with scintillating conversation about the latest books we've been reading.
One of Dee's birthday presents was the new book just released, "A Pictorial Tribute: Attractions and Events."
The book features pictures, events and history of towns in the Tri-County area. Norma Mosier of Herington has done a remarkable job creating this tribute to the towns in Marion, Morris, and Dickinson counties.
Ramona has two pages in the new 126-page book. One of the pages was sponsored by our bed and breakfast, Cousin's Corner. There's even a picture of our guest house — but, surprise, surprise, somewhere along the way the name of our B&B got changed, because next to the photo it says Country Cousin's B&B instead of Cousin's Corner B&B.
No, we didn't change the name. I'm not sure how the incorrect name got printed, but I know these things can happen. Several months ago in a press release, our bed and breakfast got called Country Cousins by mistake — and now here it is again. Just shows the power of the printed word!
Sometimes one erroneous piece of information leads to another. So I thought I'd put it straight for the record: "Cousins" because we originally bought the house for our cousins so they had a place to stay for reunion each year; "Corner," because the house sits on the corner of 4th and D in Ramona.
My weekly column certainly isn't a 126-page book — and yet there are errors and omissions that still require correcting. I got an e-mail from the Rev. Eugene Hicks of Herington, adding yet another revision to the Telfer family story I featured in a recent column.
Helen Telfer McRae LIVED (not worked) in the house just north of the bank long before it was the switchboard. She WORKED at the switchboard's first location — the white house just east of the post office. "The switchboard wasn't moved to the building north of the bank until 1949," wrote Rev. Hicks.
Rev. Hicks is the expert, in my opinion, on the Ramona Telephone Company. After all his parents, Wilford and Marie Brunner Hicks, were the managers/operators/lineman for the company.
Helen Telfer's parents lived in the house west of Betty and Harold Ohm, according to Rev. Hicks (today, it's the Cheever residence). He remembered 'old man' Telfer giving a flag to all the kids who marched in the Memorial Day parade.
"On Memorial Day, a parade would form in front of the post office, a color guard and children marched to Lewis Cemetery," said Gene. "I would clutch in one hand my little bouquet of flowers wrapped in a wet rag, and in the other hand a tiny American flag," that came from Mr. Telfer.
You may wonder why it's even important to mention where folks used to live in this little town. But on several occasions I've seen cars driving slowly up and down the streets and I know the folks are "out-of-town'ers."
When I inquire what they are doing, I often hear this response: "Oh, we're just checking out all the places you write about in your weekly column. Just getting the lay of the land."
I even had someone send an e-mail asking us to embellish our website with a sketch of the streets in Ramona along with photographs of the houses and notations as to who has lived in the house over the last 50-100 years. I rather like the idea — it's on my "to do" list.
Reign Anduss, owner of the Ramona Café, added something new to his "to do" list this last week — "investigate knee replacement."
Reign is a man on the go with projects lined up like airplanes on the runway for takeoff. But last Thursday, when he was working at the house he recently purchased from Harry Cheever, Reign's knee began to swell.
"It's been coming on for 20 years," said Reign's wife, Marlene. "He's needed a knee replacement for a long time, but he never stops long enough to have it done."
Reign is able to walk with a cane, but until his knees get taken care of, the restaurant is closed.
July 13 was Norma Bird's birthday and her daughters Julie, Cindy, and Fern, threw a first-class birthday bash for their mother at the Ramona Senior Center. "My birthday is July 17 and my granddaughter Rachel's is the 15th, so we celebrate together," said Norma.
Cars surrounded the senior center and a table was heaped with presents. Another table had several birthday cakes. "I got so much perfume, I'm going to smell good for a couple of years," laughed Norma.
Norma's party preceded Game Night at the senior center. In addition to Card Bingo and Mexican Train Dominos, there was a silent auction to help raise funds for the new air conditioner at the center.
Outside of the old air conditioner, which went for $75, the baked goods at the auction racked in the most dough. Darlene Sondergard's angel food cake went for the highest price of $11.
Gertie Schubert's 85th birthday was last Thursday and one way or another it was going to be celebrated at Butch's Diner in Tampa.
The morning of Gertie's birthday, Hank offered to take her to Butch's for lunch, but she said she'd rather wait until the first Tuesday in August, since that's when they feature ribs and sauerkraut — Gertie's favorite.
About an hour later, I called my aunt Gertie and said, "Pat and I want to take you to lunch at Butch's and celebrate your birthday?" She could have it all — a party and ribs and sauerkraut in a couple of weeks.
Instead of a party hat, we gave her a corsage, invited Lauren and Orvell Brunner, as well as our mother Martha Ehrhardt, and off we went for lunch. This week, Gertie and Hank will celebrate again, because the first Tuesday of the month has rolled around at last.
The Hare family, which lives on the northwest corner of 4th and B, had guests for 10 days, beginning July 7. Deborah Hare's brother Steven Green, his wife Lynn, and two daughters Stacy and Kelly came to visit from New York.
"This was my brother's first visit to my home here in Kansas," said Deborah. "I went and saw him last year at his home and up until that visit, we hadn't seen each other in 16 years." Deborah has three other siblings, all of whom live in New York.
"How did you get to Kansas?" I asked. "The military," she replied. Once in Kansas, she met Robert Hare who became her husband and the rest is history.
Ramona has a pair of lovebirds! Really, truly! It all began when Norma Bird and Norma Weber introduced Suzie and Ricky.
Who are Suzie and Ricky? Two Cockatiels who are just head over beaks in love with each other. "I bought my Cockatiel at a garage sale last week," said Norma Bird, who frequents lots of sales since she's owner of Norma's Attic antiques. Norma's husband Don was heard to utter, "Just what we need — a bird!"
Norma Weber also owns a Cockatiel — his name is Ricky and he was a gift from her son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Jeannie.
Norma Bird and Jeannie Weber got to talking about their Cockatiels one day when they both were having lunch at the Ramona Café. "We thought it would be fun to get the birds together and see what happened," said Jeannie.
Norma B. brought Suzie over to Norma W.'s house so Suzie could meet Ricky. The moment Ricky saw Suzie, he swooped down to sit on Suzie's cage. It must have been love at first peck because when Norma B. decided to return home with Suzie, Ricky protested quite effectively.
"Jeannie lifted up the cage with Suzie in it, and was going to help me take her out to the car," said Norma B., "and Ricky looked more like a goose than a Cockatiel — he squatted down and hissed, charged at Jeannie, and flew around her head."
"He hasn't acted quite the same since," said Jeannie. Seems Ricky is quite depressed now that Suzie has "flown the coop" and returned to her home on "F" Street. His little head drooped for a couple of days. "But we're planning on getting them together again soon," reports Jeannie.
And that's the news from Ramona where romance of any kind is great gossip, and a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
