Vanderburgh County 4-H Fair
The 87th Annual Vanderburgh County 4-H Fair was being held the week of July 23-28, 2007. Summer time and country farm life is what the residents of Jacob’s Village prefer, the great outdoors. What would Summer be without attending a fair? County fairs are another of life’s bonus adventures that need to be experienced so, the guys of Jacob’s Village (JV) went to the animal fair hoping the Cows & Pigs would be there. The JV bunch of Mike, Michael, Scott, and Home Coordinator Barry left for the fair at 5:30pm, Thursday evening just in time for another rush hour. Add rush hour to the widening construction project of Diamond Avenue and one should allow plenty of time for arrival to any destination. Highway 41 is a busy thorough-fare any time of day but more so when there is an event being held out at the Vanderburgh County-Scott Township 4-H Fair Grounds. The traffic was slow with bumper to bumper conditions of a snail’s pace all the way out to the Main Gate off of the Boonville-New Harmony Rd. The JV bunch, playing follow the leader, traveled around the grounds and found cars & trucks parked in every venue on both sides of the drive not leaving a patch of grass to be seen. Finally, being directed to the West side of the arena’s Grandstand, a few open spots were sighted. There were all kinds of activities going on around the 4-H Center and in the arena on this night were various pull competitions. Michael, not having been to a live tractor pull, was fascinated with the good-looking paint jobs, raw power, noise, and different types of units pulling the weight sled. With engines blaring, sparks, and flames shooting from exhaust pipes, the antique, modified, and kit tractors were bringing cheers from the crowd as well as the pickup’s and large semi-trucks. The live-stock barns were near by and seeing the Cows, Pigs, Goats, Chickens, and Bunny Rabbits were at the top of the list. They didn’t make it to the Horse barn, but while strolling through the other barns and inspecting the livestock, Barry was snapping a few photos. Mike wanted a picture of him petting a Cow, Michael wanted one with a Pig, and Scott wanted a group photo with a train that was rolling along Hwy 41 behind them in the background. The Bunnies were some of the biggest and the Chickens were some of the funniest looking they had ever seen. The JV bunch finally made it to the Goat barn and happened to see Angela Goedde, and her two children Rachel and Michael, hanging out with Jack and Sharon Krohn’s Goats. They had a new-born, 7-day old baby Goat that wanted to be in a JV photo and it sure was nice of the Krohn’s to allow the baby Goat to be in the picture. Angela is the Activities Director at Woodbridge Healthcare Care Unit & Rehab in Evansville and a FOJV. She stops by JV with her kids and Karaoke equipment sometimes and provides a little music for the residents. Other times, she just stops by on her way from one place to another to say ‘Hi, how ya doin’?’ Across the way from the livestock barns, Young McDonald’s Farm had a menagerie of baby farm animals to get close and personal with in addition to a couple of Llamas and Alpacas to pet. The JV bunch found some antique tractors, equipment, machines, and cars to look at; that’s always a preferred attraction. A few of the models on display were some they hadn’t seen before. As crowded as it was on this night, there is usually 2 or 3 times the people walking around during ‘The Frog Follies’ that are held the last weekend of August. The JV bunch didn’t feel like riding any ‘Roller Coasters or Swings’ so the Midway wasn’t explored. The Exhibit Hall drew an interest for reasons other than the fair, but while in there, they did check out all of the 4-Her’s arts, crafts, and vegetable projects. Some big and colorful vegetables were on display, photography exhibits, good-looking plastic models, wood working craft designs, knitting, sewing, and clothing patterns could all be seen with their respected placement ribbons to the side. There were so many people entering and exiting the building, the doors should’ve been left propped open as much as they were swinging. Darkness was near, and the JV bunch had seen most everything they wanted to see, and it was time to journey back home. Heading back towards the van, walking past the last food stands, a Nutty Ice-Cream Bar vendor couldn’t be passed by. On a warm Summer evening at the 87th Annual Vanderburgh County Animal Fair, in which the Cows and Pigs were there, a Nutty Bar for Mike, Michael, Scott, and Barry was a good way to sit back and watch others at a picnic table.
Jacob's Village Garden and Diet
Since moving into Jacob’s Village in the Fall of 2004, Mike H’s garden has provided some fresh vegetables for all to enjoy the past three Summers. The vegetables usually harvested from his garden crop are: Carrots, Radishes, Onions, Cucumbers, Cabbage, Zucchini Squash, Egg Plants, Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Banana & Bell Peppers. When there is an abundance of a certain kind of vegetable and the residents cannot eat them all or have them stored, he’ll give them away. This is where an assortment of recipes comes in handy for vegetables, say for instance Zucchini Squash, to find out how many different ways it can be prepared. One can grill it, fry it, dress it up to change its appearance in a casserole, bake it in a cake or bread, and/or even cover it up in a salad. No matter how you cut, slice it, or dice it, a Zucchini Squash is still a Zucchini Squash. The Jacob’s Village bunch has had it many ways and the Home Coordinators could write a book, 101 ways to prepare Zucchini Squash plus…a dozen casserole recipes, yeah, always looking for some new ideas. Home Coordinator Barry prepared a meal of Ratatouille one Sunday, a pasta linguini dish, to use up an assortment of vegetables from Mike’s garden. Ratatouille, by coincidence, is an animated movie by the same name now playing in theatres, bringing an old southern French recipe back to a new popularity. As odd as it is, the story line is about a young rat named Remy. He lives within the walls of a famous Paris bistro and he has dreams of becoming a chef but is hindered by his family’s skepticism and the rat-despising staff and patrons of the restaurant. Remy overcomes all the discriminating adversity and becomes a World renowned chef; a pleasant, enlightening movie. This linguini Ratatouille recipe that Barry was following, sort of, consisted of a blending mixture of: tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, peppers, garlic, onions, basil, parsley, oregano, and olive oil, which made it into a vegetarian dish. Although, Italian Sausage could be added for even a heartier meal, it was a tasty dish the way it was. If you have been keeping up with the journal, activity blogs on the Jacob’s Village Internet Web-Site, you can be rest assured that the dining cuisine prepared for the residents are just as many, varied, and enlightening. Jacob’s Village is dedicated to enriching the lives of the residents by providing them with another side of life to experience. Since Wanda, Donna Kay, Debbie, Scott, Mike, and Michael have moved into the new homes, each Home Coordinator has prepared their many favorite healthy dishes for them. Not intending to leave any of the Home Coordinators out, Gloria is a down home country girl that prepares Southern style meals, Ham, Beans & Cornbread, Catfish fiddlers and for desert, Banana pudding with Vanilla Wafer cookies. Carol, accustomed to preparing meals for many boys, is a Roast-Beef meat, potato, carrot and vegetable soup kind of girl with an assortment of Jello mixtures. Janice, prepares meals for the bunches that includes all vegetables, Turkey Burgers, Meatloaf, Chicken Lasagna and for desert, easy bake cookies. Joe, believing he’s a Super Italian Chef-Boy-Ardee, tries to impress upon with his different types of pasta dishes or his grilling ability. Toss in some others such as Spaghetti & Meatballs, Bratwurst & Sauer-Kraut, and on special days such as St. Patrick’s Day, Corned-Beef & Cabbage, additionally, Spaghetti Squash, Taco dishes, and Fried-Rice dishes. Then Barry reaches back into his Californian archives and prepares a Shrimp Scampi, and now Ratatouille with Ambrosia for desert. The residents have a sample taste of the world’s best recipes prepared for them and what’s the old saying? A variety is the spice of life. Well… come see for yourself, the Jacob’s Village residents have it.
Mary Ellen Posthauer, Consulting Registered Dietician, volunteer’s her time to oversee and monitor the resident’s diets of Jacob’s Village. She assists the Home Coordinators in scheduling well balanced meals and menus that follow their dietary guidelines upon evaluation. Not everybody prefers their food prepared identical, but there is always a choice…sometimes an alternative. The residents of Jacob’s Village are very well blessed out here in their own little corner of God’s Green Earth.
'Revelations' - A Rock Opera
Saturday evening, July 21, 2007, a Rock Opera was being held at the American Baptist East Church (ABE), located at 6300 Washington Ave., in Evansville at 7:00pm. The ABE and the Divine Essence were presenting Revelations: The Rock Opera, for two weekends that began Thursday, July 12-22. They did have matinee performances on Sunday afternoon, but the only date the Jacob’s Village bunch of Wanda, Mike, Michael, Scott, and Home Coordinator Barry were able to attend was the Saturday night showing. They loaded up in the van and left Jacob’s Village about 6:00pm to give them enough time to travel across Evansville. The ABE is about as far East in Vanderburgh County as one can get without entering Warrick County and still be in Evansville. When the Jacob’s Village bunch arrived, The ABE Saturday evening 5:30pm service was just ending. The Jacob’s Village bunch had a group photo taken of them in front of the ABE’s carport entrance where a small self-contained waterfall fountain is located. A small foyer entrance room was filling up quickly while the tickets were being taken and the crowd had to wait around for the stage crew to make final preparations for the ‘Rock Opera’. Inside, the ABE is a new looking contemporary church with a stage up front and three or four different levels around the walls, a couple wide enough to walk around the room on. In fact, that’s where they had two lighting crews, spot lighting played a major role in the show and they had one on both sides in the corners along with many high wattage ceiling lights directed towards the stage. The room sat approximately 200 and a little more than half of the seats were filled. It was an inter-active show that Seth Davidson, Artistic Director for the program, had put together with a cast of about 15 members. There was a four piece band, ensembles of Angels floating along the parapet ledges on the wall, demon creatures dressed in solid black creeping through the aisles and pews grabbing and pulling at the audience, satanic horsemen dragging balls & chains and Louis Ifer, the co- conductor. Seth Davidson had selected a few scripture verses from the Book of Revelations that were an integral part to the telling of his production from a power-point presentation on a big screen. It was a Rock Opera with many familiar rock-n-roll songs being performed. At one point, Louis Ifer jumped up on the pew in front of Wanda singing, reaching out for and inviting her to join him. Wanda was enjoying the show but knew better than to follow Louis Ifer. An interesting one-hour interpretation of the Book of Revelations, and the Jacob’s Village bunch was glad they seen it. Thank you ABE.
