Wright – Cromwell News

08/18/2008

Wright – Cromwell News by Jennie K. Hanson August 18, 2008

I just heard that the football team has started practicing for this fall’s season already and the Volleyball and Cross-country can’t be far behind.  So, by the time you read this, school will be starting in only a few days. This year it starts on September 2nd, the earliest date possible after Labor Day.  As far as I know things are pretty well set for the start of school.  The rooms are all cleaned and ready and the floors look spectacular!  It looks like the maintenance people have been very busy all summer sprucing things up for the start of school.  I always loved the smell of the building in the fall as it was so fresh and new. 

This school year will be my 10th year of retirement.  Oh, where did those years go?  I retired from the 4th grade in June of 1999 and this June will be 2009.  I guess I can say I really have enjoyed these last 10 years, but still love to substitute teach and will try to continue as long as possible.  After all, my aunt Irene Bolstad subbed till she was in her 80’s.  I even got to sub teach with her a few times in Floodwood a few years ago.  I still sub in Floodwood with Jiggs LaBreche once in awhile, too, and Jiggs was my high school teacher way back when!

With the school year resuming, Harvest Fest can’t be far behind.  This year The Cromwell Harvest Fest will be held on September 5th, 6th, and 7th.  It will start out with the Annual Steak Fry from 4:30 – 7 PM with the Home Football Game vs. Laporte along with Sno gopher’s BINGO and the Boy Scout Food Drive during the Steak Fry and all day on Saturday.  Saturday will be filled with special events such as Parade at 10:30 AM, Smorgasbord at 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM, Craft Sale, Vendors and Flea Market, Kid’s Tractor Pull at 1 PM for ages 4 – 11, Music 1 – 4:30 PM in the Pavilion, Horseshoe Tourney at 11 AM, and Treasure Hunt for kids age 10 and under at 3 PM.  There will also be a Chili Cook-off at 2 PM with judging at 3 PM.  Call Jeannie Weimer at 218-343-5059 to enter.

The whole community of Cromwell and Wright and probably the surrounding area are keeping little Kaleb Anderson and his family in their thoughts and prayers.  Kaleb, son of Jen and Greg Anderson, had the last of his 3 surgeries to repair his heart and is in the hospital in Minneapolis.  He is having a very slow recovery and everyone is pulling for him.

Here is a journal entry from his mom and dad as of August 14th: “A good night. No real progress but no steps backwards. So again we just need to learn the art of patience and wait. His heart rate is actually better this am. Running in the 150’s instead of the 190’s. BP fluctuates but has been stable. So, another preemie step forward? Let’s hope so. Still no urine output and they are not able to pull any fluids off yet from his dialysis. But, he looks better. Weight is up just a wee bit. I think that is about it. The nurses continue to be wonderful which is so reassuring! Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here. Have a good day....” His email address was printed wrong last week. It’s supposed to be .org, so the correct address is http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kalebanderson.

August 16th entry: Good Evening. Kaleb has given us another good day. He continues to make progress. He is looking skinnier each time that we see him! I am excited to see what his weight will be tomorrow a.m. No excitement today. We have had enough to last us a lifetime! We were able to spend about 4 hours with our girls this afternoon. God we have missed them. They are spending the night at the Ronald McDonald House. G-ma Sue and G-pa Ken are here with them. They wanted to see Kaleb and asked if there was a window that they could see him through. Break your heart, but we just felt that the girls shouldn’t see him with all the machines, drips, tubes, being sedated, etc. Too traumatizing. Just got done watching Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal. How amazing is that? It sounds like tomorrow will be a busy day with visitors. The girls will be going home later in the morning. Hope to continue giving good news. Have a good night! Jen and Greg

I got a call from Gwang Ho yesterday and he was all excited because South Korea had beaten USA in baseball at the Olympics.  I didn’t know what he was talking about because we didn’t get the game till the afternoon but then I knew.  So, I watched the game even if I knew we would lose to South Korea.  It was fun knowing that Gwang had seen it too.  It’s harder watching a game when you know how it will end up.

Gwang Ho says he has readjusted to life back in South Korea and is looking forward to attending school again, soon.  He sure sounded good, almost like he was just across the street on a phone.  And to think he was 14 hours different than us.  It was 9 AM here and 11 PM there when he called.  I guess it really is a small world!

It was great to be at the County Fair again this year and I want to publicly thank all the area businesses and volunteers for their efforts at the fair.  It wouldn’t be possible to have the fair without the countless volunteers that work in all the booths or around the fair grounds.  It also seemed that they were all so helpful and friendly.  And it is always great to see and visit with so many friends that one meets at the fair!  Even 94 year-old Grace Krogh from Cromwell spent 6 hours in the Little Red School House greeting the many folks and children that attended that building.  It takes 36 volunteer hours just to have the Little Red School House open during the fair not to mention the hours it takes to get the volunteers lined up and then the cleaning of the building ahead of time.  The Artwork at the school this year was by the elementary students of Winterquist School from Esko.  There were many wonderful comments on the art, too, as it was so beautifully displayed.

Last year, Bob and I met a wonderful exchange student from Bangladesh and we ended up hosting him for the school year.  Well, this year, AYUSA is still looking for host families to host students from around the world.  If your family is interested in hosting a student, please call 1-888-55-AYUSA.  AYUSA stands for Academic Year in USA.  There are still several students waiting for host families, so please hurry.

Jim Beatty and Irene Atwood were candidates for the most outstanding senior volunteers from Cromwell.  They were not chosen this year, but they will be this year’s Grand Marshals for the Harvest Fest Parade.  (Buy your raffle tickets now at the local businesses in town – or call Scott at 644-3570 for more information!)

This year’s Carlton County Outstanding Seniors were Richard Ramsey and Jean DeRung.  They are both very deserving volunteers from Carlton County.

There have been so many Outstanding Seniors from our area.  This program started in 1981 with Carl Anderson and Helen Benson.  Others chosen from our area are Eunice Lowry, Julia Beckman, Elmer Homstad, George Balsness, Aldur Johnson, Lydia Olesiak, Frank Hanson, Norman and Helen Loveid, Bert Bogenholm, Katharine Dahlman, Art Jauss, Larry Purcell, Ailie Costello, Ray Gurske, Bob and Yvonne Peterson, Ebba Hedin and George Tuomi.  That’s a pretty great list of volunteers from our area.

Where does summer go?  I’ve been asked that question many times, so I figured out where it went.  The Summer goes where all summers go. To “Too Quickly!” Maybe there’s a place call “Too Quickly” As It seems so many people feel it is a place and mention it so often.

That’s all the news from Lake Summergoesbytooquickly and Hello to all the wonderful volunteers at the county fair!  The Employees do a great job organizing the fair, too!