Wednesday Study Club has end of year meeting

The Rosebud Wednesday Study Club met on Wednesday, May 12, with 21 members and guests present.  

Beth Allen, President, called the meeting to order.  

Annette Engel led “A Collect for Club Women” and the flag pledges.  

Engel then introduced Mary Frances Glass who gave an entertaining book review from “How to Shovel Manure and Other Life Lessons for the Country Woman” by Gwen Petersen.  

Glass related how the author led her readers through the trials and tribulations of country life.  She told how farmers nurture the earth and are stewards of the land. She noted that each season has its own ups and downs and appropriate jobs associated with that time of the year. Spring brings on the muddy season along with the duties of birthing calves during the middle of the night.  

Other farming activities, on a daily basis, include all of the dealings with chickens:  chicken-house cleaning and manure, egg gathering, setting hens, butchering and plucking chickens, and hatching eggs.  The Country Woman may also have pig duties including feeding and farrowing, and it takes a strong woman with a big stick to carry a bucket of grain through a shed surrounded by very hungry 500-pound sows.  

Other duties include taking care of the garden, which means planting, weeding, picking, shelling, canning, and freezing, in between trips to town for parts when the tractor breaks down.  Sometimes help is on the way when the Country Wife’s husband hires an additional helper.  Yet, it is too good to be true because the helper complains of a hurting back, needing a haircut, or has teeth issues.  

He might even spend a night or two with the local bartender and you must retrieve him and then he is in need of a bath.  So sometimes it is just easier for the Country Woman to be the “Instant Hired Hand.”  She might have to drive the tractor, vaccinate calves, or heaven forbid hold and “watch the gate” while her husband drives a thundering herd of cows and calves toward it.  And then there is branding day when the Country Woman must cook a meal for all the workers in between vaccinating and overseeing the tally sheet, the disinfectant, the scour pills, the blood stopper powder, and keeping track of the dehorning.  

Finally, the least welcomed guests to the farm or ranch are the two-legged visitors who stop by in the summer on their way to a national park, World’s Fair, or if you own a saddle horse.  Those city people want to do something country like riding, roping, or shooting, but they never want to stack hay, irrigate, or shovel manure.  

When it comes times to sell the cattle, the Country Woman’s husband is worried about the price and whether you can survive another year on the profit.  At the end of the day, you and your husband look out over the pasture and realize it is a fine sight to see next year’s income happily munching away.  So that is the life of a Country Wife.

Sharon Skupin then introduced the new librarian, Kelly Hughes.  The library is now open with no appointments necessary.  To better accommodate patrons, new library days and hours have been designated.  The D Brown Library is now open Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

Carol Stock read the minutes from the last official meeting, March 2020’s field trip, Strolling on Main Street Rosebud.  Skupin’s treasurer’s report noted expenditures for the yearbook, supplying bottled water during the ice storm, and an Easter egg hunt contribution for the Parks and Recreation.  The Williams Foundation also made a donation to the Wednesday Study Club. 

The printer in the Memorial Room attached to the computer that runs the microfilm needs to be replaced.  Skupin, Hughes, and Diane Pagel will search for a replacement.  

Librarian Hughes will have a summer reading program consisting of local leaders in the community reading to children at designated times.  The program will run 4 to 6 weeks and the WSC will help with refreshments for the children.  The local school will be notified to get the word out to children and parents about the summer reading program.

With the generous donation from the Williams Foundation, new books will be added to the library collection.  The book committee of Candy Fikes, Judy Smith, and Barbara Springer along with Hughes and Skupin will begin compiling a list.  To be included will be memorial books for Martha White and Patsy Fischer, past WSC members who have passed away in the past year. 

Skupin has been approached that individuals and groups would like to visit the Memorial Room.  Pagel and Mary Ann Mitchell are designated contact hostesses.

Acting City Administrator, Kenny Murray, was introduced by Skupin to update the group on the water situation in Rosebud.  Murray told about the updating of the water cutoffs around town.  It will take several days without water to accomplish this goal, but the days will be spaced out over several months.  Once completed, there will be 5 water districts in Rosebud that will allow only sections of the town to be without water at any given time whenever there is an outage. Zipped asphalt from the Highway 77 repaving is being laid on numerous streets to help fill potholes.  

The traditional oak table, centered with an arrangement of wildflowers, held an array of salads brought by all the members.  Several lettuce, chicken, broccoli, seven-layer, and cucumber salads along with deviled eggs filled the table.  Desserts included banana pudding, cheesecake, and chocolate torte cake.  Hostesses were Linda Bernsen, Allen, Engel, along with Norma Burns.  September will start the new year of meetings.

 

The Rosebud News

251 Live Oak St
Marlin, TX 76661
Phone: (254) 883-2554
Fax:(254) 883-6553