End of October, 2013

I thought I would add a little color to this blog.  After all it is fall and the trees are turning colors.  We have had a number of heavy frosts here but so far no snow, not even flurries.  Of course the farmers want more nice weather.  Evidently there is a rather good crop of corn in this area and, while many seem to have their beans out now, there is still a lot of corn out in the fields.  Being from a farm I know how they feel.

Another week has passed and I continue to enjoy my work here in Norfolk.  The Sisters are very good to me and I enjoy working with them.  The nursing home personnel are also very friendly and I find myself getting attached to some of the residents.  Like this morning I visited many of the patients, probably most of those who were awake.  Three of those I visited were 100 or more years old.  All three of them seem to have good use of their minds yet and can carry on a conversation.  One of them who is quite poorly just grabbed hold of my hand with both her hands and didn't want me to leave.  I told her "God loves you very much" and her response was "I love God too."  

On Thursday of this past week Father Tom Greisen took me out to dinner.  He has an assignment in the Archdiocese as "servant priest."   He goes around throughtout the diocese to visit the priests, listen to them and tries to help them.  He spent most of last week in the this part of the archdiocese.  It was very good to see him again  We had a nice dinner at a restaurant and then it was my bed time.

I still get up every morning about 4:30 AM.  Use that early morning time for prayer while having a good cup of coffee and then I go over to pray morning prayer with the Sisters, followed by Mass for the Sisters at 7:00 AM and then at the nursing home at 9:30 AM.

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Two pictures of fall taken from the back door of my

house.  The sidewalk and steps you see lead to

and from my house and the Monastery.  You can click

on the picture to enlarge it.

Just today I received an e-mail from Paul Moser.  I had not had contact with him for a long time.  A few weeks ago he visited his sister Eva and her husband in Salisbury and I asked Lillian to send me his e-mail.  So I wrote to him and today I got a return with a lot of news in it.  He and I were classmates all through grade school and he is also 80 years old this year. Of course he is also a cousin.  His grandmother (Eva Reichert) and my grandfather (Matthew Reichert) were brother and sister, and his grandfather (Keida Moser) and my grandmother (Frances Moser Reichert) were brother and sister.  To quote a brief part of his e-mail:

I spent 2 1/2 years in college, 4 1/2 years as a Navy  pilot, 6 years as an air traffic controller, 23 years as a pilot for Pan American Airlines and 10 years as a  flight engineer for United Airlines.

 I have 5 children, 14 grandchildren and one great grand-daughter..

He said his oldest sister, Eulalia, is 94 years old and lives with her daughter in Illinois. 

It was so good to hear from him.

Hope you are all well.  Have a blessed feast of All Saints on Friday and remember all the faithful departed on Saturday.

Interesting Week

The past week has been a rather interesting week.  Seemed like there was a lot going on.  First of all, on Wednesday, October 16, my brother Harold arrived.  His son Steve and Mary brought him up here on Wednesday from Kansas City.  We had an enjoyable few days together visiting, walking, going places and even shopping.  On Thursday I took him to the Benedictine Missionary Benedictines at Schuyler, Nebraska.  That is only about an hour from here by car.  We went out to eat a couple times and other times fixed our own meals here at the house where I live.

Top row:  my Dad and Mother, then Raymond and Mary Jane,

Harold and Dee, Jim and Vera, Fr. Kenneth and Ed.

Harold and I are the only two still living, plus Vera, 

Jim's wife.

On Saturday Harold's daughter, Diane and Randy, drove up here.  We went out to eat and then visited here in the house.  They had arranged for a room at the Holiday Inn for the night.  This morning they all came to my 9:30 AM Mass at the Nursing Home and then left for Kansas City.  Harold called me this evening to tell me that they got home about 5:00 PM. 

On Friday evening Abbot Gregory arrived.  He had been in North Platte, NE to give a workshop.  When that ended about noon on Friday he drove on to Norfolk.  We went out to eat Friday evening, and then he left to drive back to Conception on Saturday morning after breakfast.  It was good to see him and visit with him.

Weather of course continues to go up and down.  The lowest I have seen it so far was a couple days this past week when it got down to the upper 20's and lower 30's.  

This coming week Fr. Tom Greisen, a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha, is coming to visit a while and we plan to go out to dinner on Thursday.  Fr. Tom worked for a number of years in our seminary college as dean of students and vice-rector.  He had gone to school at Conception as a seminarian.

So much for this week.  Have a great week and may God bless each of you.

Fr. Kenneth
e-mail:  kenneth@conception.edu

COOL FALL WEATHER IS HERE

Finally had to turn the heat on in the house yesterday, October 5.  We have had rain off and on the past week and the weather, especially the last two or three days, has been very cool.  Saturday morning my thermometer had 39 degrees and this morning 40 degrees.  And I always thought that Conception had a lot of wind, but I am beginning to believe that Nebraska even has more windy days than we do at Conception.

At any rate all is still going well.  It seems that the days pass by very fast.  Of course I am pretty busy until about noon with two Masses and then visiting the residents in the nursing home.  Most days I get back here to my house between 11:00 and 11:30 AM.  The afternoons also seem to go fast as I spend the time reading, working on the computer, and preparing homilies.  I give a brief homily everyday at both Masses.

The abbot has informed me that he will be up in this area October 18-19.  He will be in Grand Island for a workshop and then stop by here on Friday afternoon, but has to leave again on Saturday morning.  My only living brother, Harold, who is now a widower, also plans to spend a few days with me beginning on October 16.  One of his children will drive him up and another one then come up to take him back home.  I am happy he is not trying to drive that distance all alone -- he will be 87 years old in December.

Many of you probably heard on the news about the tornado the other evening at Wayne, Nebraska.  That is not far from here but we had nothing at all that evening.  Two or three of the Sisters from here live and work in Wayne, but they were not in the tornado.  I guess there was a lot of damage. On the radar you could see how the storm went to the north of us.  We do get a few television stations from Sioux City and so they were giving full time to the storm and tornadoes that night

The days are certainly getting short.  When I first arrived here it was daylight when I left the house to go to the monastery about 6:00 AM.  Now it is still dark but fortunately there is plenty of lighting around so I can find my way.

Ever so often I like to put some older pictures on my blog site so here are a couple for this edition.

Back in the days when I was growing up we all did our own butchering.

The picture above shows my Dad (on the left) and two of

his brothers, Matthew and Otto helping to butcher a hog. 

This has always been one of my favorite old pictures of

the five boys in our family.  In our bib overalls and

straw hats.  Left to right:  Jim, Harold, Ed, Raymond and me.

My brother Harold and I are the only two still living.

Have a good week and God bless each of you.

My e-mail:  kenneth@conception.edu

My photo site:  http://http://kennethosb.smugmug.com/