Family Ties

Wed, Aug 30 – Thurs, Aug 31…

Very short drive today, so I managed a couple loads of laundry before we left. No one there but me, and $5 covered it all (love those huge dryers). Then we headed NW to Loup City (pop  ̴1000) to visit the church Greg’s mom attended as a child. Greg had called ahead, and the secretary had the record book that showed baptismal info for Rosalie and 3 of her siblings. Then we continued farther north and slightly east to North Loup (a village of 391) and a small, quiet campground. (From here we’ll visit Greeley tomorrow.) It was a beautiful evening, so I wandered around taking sunset pics. A couple are worth posting. (You probably can't read the words on the tower: North Loup / Popcorn City. Nebraska is the top producer of popcorn in the U.S., and Little North Loup hosts an annual "Popcorn Days" festival the last weekend of August. 

Dusk falls softly on the farm.

Clouds add a bit of drama.

Dawn through a window shade.

 THURSDAY morning was just as pretty, so I was out walking again - this time venturing into the thick of the grain storage/shipping area. My childhood was spent in farming country, but nothing like the massive production here. (That circular silo is probably 60-70' in diameter.)

Geometrics

Storage Complex

After lunch we drove to Greeley to visit another of Rosalie's cousins. We stopped at the courthouse first to check out the Greeley Museum, which was a rather haphazard collection of donated photographs, news stories and artifacts spanning the 20th century. Then we walked across the street to the local "care" facility where Nancy has recently moved. (She worked as a nurse there for 30 years, and her home is just half a block away.) We visited, chatting nonstop (nothing wrong with her brain!) until dinnertime, when Nancy's youngest son (she has 9 kids - good Catholic upbringing) joined us for dinner at Whistler's Pub & Grille - Nancy's treat. (This is a very Irish town. I wish we'd been here the weekend of their Irish Festival.) I admit to not being too excited as we were driving here, even less so when I realized it was going to be a long visit - but we had a great time. It would have been absolutely perfect if Rosalie could have been here too.)

Patrick Donovan, Nancy Donovan, & Greg
(here they pronounce it Dunovan)

BlogThoughts…  So I always want to know the “why” of things. Greg’s been mentioning Loop City off and on for a few weeks. Once we hit Nebraska I actually saw it on a map… Loup City. OK. Again, without thinking, I assumed that, since we were no longer talking geography, Loup must be some pioneer founder’s name. Eventually I did the research. French trappers had named the nearby river Loup, which is the French translation of the Pawnee skidi, meaning wolf. (I can only assume that wolves were plentiful in the area.) Later pioneer settlers simply named their town after the river. So now you know, and “knowing is half the battle.” (Thank you, GI Joe.)