We arrived just west of Iowa City, in Oxford, Tuesday afternoon. My cousin, Gwen, drove there from Nevada, Iowa, to visit, and we had such a wonderful time laughing and talking and eating watermelon. Gwen brought her grandson, Bradley, who is nearly 12; and her great nephew, Ozzie, who is 16. Very interesting young men to talk to. Bradley plays first chair trumpet in the honors band; Ozzie had a summer job this summer, pulling the silks off corn. We learned that if you pull the silks off the new corn cobs, the stalk will make 2 more ears of corn. He worked for Monsanto, who grows the corn for non food grade purposes, like ethynol. He had to wear protective clothing, like face and eye shields, and long sleeved shirts, because the corn stalk leaves are very sharp, and can cut you as you walk by. The boys went swimming in the pool, and we just caught up on news of the family. Gwen told us about the overpowering Iowa winters in her old farmhouse, and trying to keep warm. Gwen told us several interesting places near to where we were camped, and we decided to go to Amana Colonies on Wednesday.
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