The 63rd National Sweetcorn Festival is over, less beer, fewer late nights and fewer calories this year.
We served nearly 24 tons of corn, only had extra on Saturday evening. On Monday, we were done husking the 6 tons of corn before 3 pm and were completely cleaned up and moved out by 4 pm. Usually Monday is a slow day, but not this year. The wonderful weather and lower gate price helped get more people in the park, as did the recently “lower” gas prices.
I did get to work a new job this year: serving beer in the beer tent. The crowds were never large, but you could see the demo derbies from the beer tent, so there was a steady flow all through the derbies and for an hour or so afterwards. We’re hoping for portable bleachers inside the beer tent area next year, better views than sitting on picnic tables at the edge of the fence.
On Saturday, the Illinois Jaycees president and 2 other officers from Southern Illinois were up on the husker table along with me. They asked how long I’d been a Jaycee member and, I’m not a Jaycee. On Monday, someone who is running for state president was helping on the husker. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her hard sell wasn’t going to do much good since I’m not a member….
Overall, another fun festival, but I need some time back at work to rest up from my vacation!

Yep, I’m at work, just like a little over a year ago.

That backup A/C unit sure sounds like a good idea now.

Go Cubs?

Rooting for the lovable losers already?

Thanks to great aunt Lois for the outfit, more pictures here and here.

Rest in Peace, you will be missed.

E. KENNETH BETKA

HOOPESTON — E. Kenneth Betka, 87, of Hoopeston, died at 5:50 a.m. Tuesday, April 4, 2006, at Hoopeston Com-munity Memorial Hospital.

He was born April 11, 1918, in East Lynn, the son of Raymond and Amelia (Yerkey) Betka. He married Florence E. Nelson Sept. 20, 1946, in Granite City. She survives. Other survivors: three daughters, Sue Betka of Washington, D.C., Lois Betka of Skokie and Jean (Tom) Skoza of Champaign; a son, Bill (Melva) Betka of Cissna Park; three grandchildren, Corey (Alisha) Betka of Champaign, Rachel Skoza of Champaign and Warren Skoza of Champaign; a great-grandson, Robin Betka of Champaign; a sister, Margaret (Edgar) Hurliman of Martinton; and a sister-in-law, Lillian Betka of Hoopeston. He was preceded in death by a son, Robert, his parents, twin brother, Keith, and a sister, Frances Hurliman.

Mr. Betka served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He then farmed in the East Lynn area before retiring in Hoopeston.

Funeral service: 11 a.m. Friday, April 7, 2006, at Hamilton-Orr Funeral Home, 427 E. Main St., Hoopeston; Officiating: Rev. Janet Eggleston; Burial: East Lynn Cemetery with military rites by Cissna Park American Legion Post 527; Visitation: 4-7 p.m. Thursday, April 6, at the funeral home; Memorials to the donor’s choice.

My college roommate wrote some nice photo album system and was nice enough to host an album for Robin. I’ll probably be updating that more regularly.

Some of my favorites from the last few days:

Roo with Pooh!

Great grandma Doeden

Robin in a doll chair

Great aunt Sue

Having time between awake times of Robin leads to doing some long put off tasks, like trimming down the unruly houseplants.
Alisha has had both of these plants since sometime in college. They were in a single pot purchased from a grocery store, I believe. We’ve been meaning to trim them for quite some time, but it’s been interesting watching them grow out of control.
Before:

Fred Sr. Before

Fred Jr. Before

After:

Fred Sr. After

Fred Jr. After

Huh, there’s actually a window in my office behind that plant?

Great-grandma Betka knitted the blanket and hat, Robin really likes them.

For some reason, all the pictures of Robin seem to be when he’s asleep, we’ll have to try to fix that in the near future.

(Obviously, this entry has been delayed by other events.)
Last Friday night, my parents and I went to the Lyle Lovett Acoustic Ensemble performance at the Krannert Center. Overall, it was an excellent performance to attend. Lyle played a wide range of crowd favorites from all his albums, with some wonderful solos by the individual players. Between songs, he would banter with the members of the band, including Viktor Krauss.

Being a Champaign native and a University of Illinois graduate, Viktor got a very enthusiastic reception from the crowd, though he was visibly nervous, trying to hide behind the neck of his bass and quite hesistant at first to use the mic when answering questions from Lyle. He opened up after a little prodding and got several more rousing rounds of applause.

Lyle also included some background on his song writing process, including an old college roommate that used to tell him that many of his songs weren’t about something that should be put to song, probably best embodied by Penguins on I Love Everybody. He explained the song was insipred by a girl he met in college that had her entire apartment decorated with penguin items; the curtains, the slip cover on the couch, the salt and pepper shakers, etc.

I would highly recommend the Tryon Festival Theatre for performances such as this, there didn’t appear to be a bad seat anywhere and the sound was excellent. Our seats were on the right end of a row but they were still excellent. With only 950 seats, it’s a very intimate venue with the sound quality of a much larger hall.