Uncle Rudy

We haven't heard a lot about Billy lately. Not because he died or anything like that.

Billy has a lady friend and because of that I have not been invited into the Von Crippe home lately. More info on the girlfriend when I am allowed to meet her. Actually Billy is kind of shy and is not one to be premature in showing off his new love.

My uncle Rudy worked with Billy's dad at the Amana Meat market and actually got Otto hooked on the infamous Raleigh fags. Well Doug worked at the Amana Meat Market at about the same time....in fact he rented an apartment from Uncle Rudy. Actually he lived in Uncle Rudy's house in the apartment above. He would sneak down to burn a Raleigh with his landlord and on more than one occasion would be invited down to the cellar where Uncle Rudy would have his home made Rhubarb wine, locally know as Peistengal or as Doug would refer to it simply as Pie.

This week Doug was passing through on his way back to his ranch in Wyoming and he decided to make a pit stop in Amana. Doug moved away in 1976 and has only been spotted back in Amana one or two times since. (Doug has an uncanny resemblance to the late Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes fame. He is often approached in airports being mistaken for Ed.) He now is retired and tells us he is a self proclaimed deer whisperer. He hangs out at his mountain cabin communicating with the deer. Probably still smoking an occasional Raleigh and sipping on some whiskey. His stash of Uncle Rudy's PIE has long been depleted. Perhaps , it was this yearning for some Pie that caused him to stop for a visit.

Since he had sold his house to Billy's landlord, we called them over for a spontaneous visit. We were all sitting around the bar giving our political opinions when I spotted a bottle of Uncle Rudy's Pie. We estimated it could be 60 plus years old and since we had been primed by other elixirs, it was decided to break open the slightly rusty screw cap and partake of the well aged potion.

Well, as they say, the rest is history. All present felt it was the best and smoothest Pie they had had ever.....so much that we had to try a second sample just to make sure our taste buds were not playing tricks on us.

I have posted the only picture I have of Uncle Rudy. It is from an old Amana Postcard. He is the one on the left. The others are Uncle Chuck and Gawkovich. All are now dearly departed.

As my friend Barbara says, "record your history"

Better Late than Never

About 3 weeks ago the Ex Club threw a birthday party for one of their former past presidents, The Hopper. The destination was Myers Grill in Williamsburg, but the guest of honor failed to show for no particular reason.

We retried the dinner party and this time he actually showed. He arrived in stretch limo piloted by an old friend who shall only be disclosed as JJ. Also in tow were his newest best friends, Joe and Trixie.

We started out at Bruceless with a little lubrication and then all crammed in the limo for the birthday party.

The limo driver zig zagged us to our detination and somehow got the stretch into a parking space that was designed for "compacts only".

We again had the Sarah Palin lookalike as our personal server. After being trained by our sommelier, Cheryl on the ins and out of operating a Rabbit, we were again able to quench our thirst while awaiting the skillful preparation of our entrees.

Dr. Joe got bored with the wait and built a wall in the center of the table, maybe to protect from overspray.

The food was served just in the nick of time and then the celebrant ordered us back into the limo for the ride home.

What goes on in the back of a limo...stays in a limo.

We think next time we throw him a birthday party, he'll be there.

Outtakes

Sometimes the outtakes from the weekend are just too good to be left on the cutting room floor.

Here you will find a hodge podge of what you missed if you were not in the Amana Colonies this weekend.

There was Sunday dinner with my favorite cousin from Waterloo after we had our Moser cousins reunion.




There was a photo opp at the back of a vehicle that was just too hard to pass up






There was proof positive that beer will help facilitate over exposure.










We ran into the Puzzler who has Football tickets to this weeks Buckeye game. He wants to give them to a victim of the Cedar Rapids flood. But after some reconsideration figures those people have already suffered enough.










And then there was Billy's landlady who we caught red-handed.

Lemons, Lemons, Lemons

Every year just as sure as the swallows return to Capistrano, the Lemon Sisters return to the Oktoberfest in the Amana Colonies. I guess its been about 18 years in a row that they have made the trek from their homeland to partake in the festivities.

The Amana Colonies Oktoberfest, which began in 1965, was started by the Amana Colonies Jaycees. That group is now defunct, but the festival continues. It has taken on different formats over the years but the main ingredients are still a parade in the morning, bratwurst, beer music and lemons.

About 18 years back this group of women, all related either as sisters or cousins or mothers and daughters decided to do a weekend getaway and instead of going to Las Vegas stopped short of that goal and landed at the Oktoberfest instead. They were ssinging in the beer tent that very first visit when some old codger remarked that they sounded like the "lemmon sisters". He was thinking of the Lennon Sisters of Larry Welk's TV show....but the moniker stuck and the next year they were all decked out in yellow lemon shirts and hats. The following year lemon earrings were added and so on and so one. Each year they would out do the next. One year they has a Lemmon Sisters Quiz Show for select audiences.

This year with diesel topping four bucks, the big motorhome was not here and several lemmons have been sidelined with illness or other commitments. The headcount this year stands at 15.
One of the charter members, Carrie even showed up in a wheelchair since she is still recovering from surgery. God Bless her. Head Lemmon organizer Cindy had again whipped them into shape for the adventure. You will note that only first names are disclosed for obvious reasons.


The Lemmons participated in the Beer drinking, Brat Eating, Dancing and even the Beer Keg roll and Balance beam competition.

This years' near perfect weather contributed to the record attendance and a good time was had by all.

Ex Club Visits the Fireside Winery

Every once and a while we feel the need to party. Of course it needs to be in a time slot that will not interfere with a Buckeyes game. So September 19th was chosen because the Buckeyes were to play in Pittsburgh the following day. It was also a milestone for one of our former, past presidents, The Hopper , as it was the 65th anniversary of his birth. So it was decided, we would throw a grand traveling birthday party for him. He and his bride failed to show....but we partied anyway.

We hired a motorcoach and headed north towards Willaimsburg where our first stop was the Fireside Winery which had music and wine for our consumption.

Papa Marcos was sporting a very retro leather sport coat which seemed to have chick magnet characteristics. Even the funeral mourners couldn't keep their hands off.

After awhile it was decided we should make an unscheduled stop at the Sundown Lounge since our tables were not yet ready for dinner. We soon made some friends at this drinkatoriium and enjoyed the outside deck.

The magic time arrived when we would venture back to the bus for a very short ride to Myers Grill. We appreciated the local police escort which allowed for our safe exit from the motorcoach.

Our hosts Mike Myers and the Sarah Palin lookalike, Tammy Strudthoff did not let us down. After a quick trip back to the bus for supplies we sat down to Prime Rib Dinner. Some of the Ex Clubers brought in some wine from our first stop and others settled for a much "needed" pre-dinner cocktail.

If you have not visited Myers Grill , I would highly recommend it. I'm not sure if they have the kitchen in the dining room or you simply dine in the kitchen...It just doesn't matter as this all takes place in the owners garage. (Where does he put his cars?)

After anyone who wanted to leave a message on the walls or ceiling, we jumped back into the motorcoach for our return.