Monday, February 1, 2016
Pat and I have been away from the farm for a few days, spending the last Saturday to Saturday in a special basketball ‘pilgrimage’. We traveled to Iowa City to watch our Purdue Boilermakers take on the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday, January 24. On Wednesday, January 27, we were in Minneapolis to watch the game with the Minnesota Gophers. “The Barn” was a walk into nostalgia…and it was great pleasure to be there. Then, on Saturday, January 30, we were back home at Purdue to see the Boilers’ game with the Nebraska Huskers at Mackey Arena. Even though Carver-Hawkeye and Williams Arena are spectacular in their own special ways, nothing could compete with the intimate ‘feel’ of Mackey Arena, and the electric atmosphere was second to none! (IMO). The “Boiler Brass” pep band kept the crowd tuned into the exciting game. During halftime, the 3-peat B1G championship teams of ’94-5-6 were introduced along with their hugely popular coach, Gene Keady. So special to be in Mackey that afternoon/evening. I must confess to being a little sentimental when I hear the crowd sing “Hail, Purdue”.
Interspersed among the basketball, there were opportunities for other activities, too. We toured the John Deere tractor and engine factories, and spent some hours touring the gigantic Mall of America. We spent some time with my best friend of my Purdue student days, Roger Opiela of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. And lastly, we got to share the game at West Lafayette with my sister and brother-in-law.
What fun!
Even though our team didn’t get the win, we were happy to see the game in beautiful Carver-Hawkeye Arena. What an impressive place.
Carver-Hawkeye. A super place to see a basketball game! The ice cream was popular, too. We could not believe how the Iowa fans lined up in LONG lines to get their ice cream!
What a nostalgic old place– Williams Arena, aka “The Barn”. And the weather was not the sub-zero stuff we expected, but 40ºF at game time! Ice cream was popular with the Gopher fans, too.
This historic venue was built in 1928, and its voluminous interior still captivates the imagination.
Pat and I were joined by Sheila and John for the Nebraska game at Mackey
We were greeted by “Purdue Pete”!
There are no ‘bad’ seats in Mackey, but our view for this game was pretty good! This was during the pre-game warm-up. The place was sold out for the game!
One of AJ Hammons’ 7 crowd-energizing dunks during the game. His 34 points and 12 rebounds earned him B1G Player of the Week. (3rd time this season)
Some of our other stops along the way included:
JD Pavilion in Moline
Tractor and Engine Museum in Waterloo, IA
Mall of America in Bloomington, MN
Time with our good friend, Roger in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
It was a great trip, at least for us Boilermaker fans, it was! It’s good to be back on the farm today and get back into the groove. I waded through the pile of mail today, and got the bills caught up. Had to make a trip to the bank, and to the local FSA office. I’ll have a couple meetings tomorrow and our small group will meet here Thursday. We are back in the real world!
While we spent a week away, Brandon single-handedly filled 3 contracts of corn deliveries to GPC in Washington, Indiana. We’re glad the weather was favorable for that to get done. Ross continues to monitor the markets and sell chunks of our remaining corn and soybeans when it is appropriate.
We had no days here when we had thunder during January. Therefore, we should not have a flood in June– at least according to the old lore…
The weather is not typical or average today, in the mid 50s, following low 60s yesterday! I think some rain or storms are predicted for tomorrow, with cooler days after that. We will see what February brings. Hard to believe it was time to flip the calendar page again today. My, how the days speed by! 9-10 weeks until the planters roll!
