REFLECTIONS

I have a nervous condition called “eating too often and too much.” It’s a condition that settles the hunger pains that we deal with often. 

County fairs have come and gone in Minnesota’s 87 counties. The State Fair is upon us and that’s when this strange eating sensation is at its worst. Since I had a serious accident that put me on the shelf at the Blooming Prairie Manor Care Center, I thought I might not see another county fair or state fair. I proved that premise wrong. 

With the help of the Prairie Manor staff, I was able to board a Prairie Manor bus in Blooming Prairie with my wife, Judy. Our destination was Owatonna, the site of the Steele County Fair.

Our goal was to treat that eating disease with some great medicine:

• Cheese Stick
• Footlong Hot Dog
• 2 Pecan Logs
• Chocolate Malt
• Soft Pretzel from Connie and Scott Evenson’s traveling food stand

We consumed this collection of food treats in 2½ hours. It was then back to the Prairie Manor bus. Oh, I must admit that Judy and I also had to take along some Tums (six) for dessert.

Sixteen of us from Prairie Manor made the trip. Before we left the site of the Steele County Fair, our bus driver, Aric David Christopherson, had to take Betty Qualls at 95 years young for her first ever ride on the Ferris wheel. 

The gruff-voiced Betty said with pride: “This was one of the most thrilling experiences I have had.” Aric agreed. 

Fair time often signals school is around the corner. My hunger pains have become less, and that’s because of all of that good “food medicine.”