We've come and we've seen

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(The Shepherd’s Staff)

I’ve done a poor job of letting you know about our tours. I always get behind when I have to go someplace to use the wifi~~I get here and can’t remember what I was going to do.

We are on tour for this project, and at first we thought there would be nothing to see, but then we (Bob!) looked under the surface and discovered that Colby has a museum that would rival a town three times its size. It (the museum, not the town!) covers 24 acres, and at first we allotted 1 ½ hours to tour the building and grounds, and eventually we extended that by another hour, with the thought that people that want more time can come back! The main building is very large, and filled with organized displays, and then there are historical buildings on the grounds~~a sod house, an old church building, and the Cooper Barn, which is one of the 8 architectural wonders of Kansas, mostly due to its size. It was a wonderful morning.

Our second week we drove to Selden, about eight miles away, where two brothers operate the Kerperich Bookbindery. It was started 40 years ago by their father, and is one of only 27 such operations in the country. They employ 7-10 local specialists to restore old Bibles, or any book that needs it, and hard bind anything from legal reference books to newspapers to genealogies to class yearbooks.


Week three found us back in Colby at the sunflower plant~~I know you’re doubting that sunflowers are made in a plant, and you’re right! It processes sunflower seeds. The basic setup reminded us of the sugar beet plant in Sidney, or any grain elevator you’ve been in. The young man that gave us the tour was full of information, and very entertaining! This plant’s main operation is in Fargo, ND. This plant cleans and ships sunflower seeds and also the sunflower kernels. We were also introduced to Sun Butter, which is peanut butter made with sunflower seeds. I think it’s really good, and it would be delicious to anyone who is allergic to peanuts. It’s manufactured in Fargo. If you get a chance, try it; I found it in Wal-Mart, and they have smooth and crunchy! I’d like to use it to make cookies. For anyone who has a peanut allergy, this would be as welcome as gluten-free bread.

All in all, we’ve had successful tours! Bob is super-good at coming up with tour ideas, and he enjoys doing it. I’ve included pictures of the tours as well as our location and group.

We’re still working in the house; the master bedroom is finished with the wall and ceiling paper, and most of the ceilings in the house have paper on them; there’s plumbing, and would be running water, but they’re still waiting for the water heater; the kitchen, hallway and downstairs bathroom all have new flooring, the kitchen and hallway woodwork (including eight doors!) have been sanded, primed and double-coated with cream paint, the kitchen sink and dishwasher have been installed, downstairs bathroom has a new subfloor and linoleum, the tongue-and-groove wood that was removed from the cellar ceiling was cut to make a wainscotting for that bathroom, the upstairs bathroom has a new subfloor, the master bedroom has paper on the ceiling and walls, with chair-rail and a border along the top, the kitchen has wallpaper, the upstairs hallway ceiling has paper, and all the upstairs bedroom ceilings have been stripped of old paper; off-site the doors to the main center have been stripped, sanded and beautifully varnished, and the windows there have been re-glazed and painted. We accomplished a lot! And inspite of all the work, we still found time to learn to operate the old milkshake machine!

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Photos

Our Shepherd's Staff Group....
Don & Marilyn (IA), Glenn & Joyce (leaders..PA), Don & Ethel (MN), Us.

Week one Tour:
This is a small company that does rebinding of old books (that family Bible that you don't want to get rid of) and also binds new manuscripts. They do a big business in binding old law books, and school yearbooks.

First stop for new manuscrips,
or books that they're rebinding. They sew the pages in groups of about 25 pages, joining the new pages to the previously sewn pages.

The cover is glued in by hand,
before the book goes to to the presser.

Not a high tech looking machine,
but a necessary one. After the covers are made and applied, this machine forces the crease into the front and back covers, by the spine of the book. (does that make ANY sense?!) You can see the dull blades that push into the covers.

Week two Tour:
in Colby. They're harvesting sunflower seeds around us, but we haven't seen it happening in the fields yet. Trucks are lined up in the mornings waiting to dump their seeds~~reminds us of sugar beets!

This shot was taken looking into one
of the machines that throws the seeds into the air, so the shots of air can blow the trash away from them. This is done a minimum of three times, and the conveyor belt that hops them along is lengthy...I stink at estimating, so I can't tell you how long, but probably 12'.

The white bags are filled with
2,000 pounds of sunflower seed kernels! And this part of the warehouse had bags stacked along both walls (two deep & two high).

Chuck explained the grading of seeds
through the sample taken from the delivering truck. Not unlike handling grain.

Because tour "must" include a meal
or at least ice cream, we came back and used the camp's old fashion shake machine to make milk shakes! Hey, it's protocol!