PAUL RAYMO BROADCASTING WITH JON PANZER PRESIDENT OF THE SWIFT COUNTY FAIR BOARD FROM THE SWIFT COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS IN APPLETON. JON PREVIEWS WHATS COMING UP AT THE SWIFT COUNTY FAIR THIS WEEK.
RAYMO’S RAMBLINGS -WHY WE LIKE CAMPFIRES
WHY WE LIKE CAMPFIRES
Summer is just about over and that means that sitting around a campfire is soon to end for another season. I have always enjoyed sitting around a campfire. Since I was a child, I have fond memories of sitting around a campfire on family vacations, scout campouts, youth groups, weekend camping.
So I did a study on why we like campfires and what it does to us. I found out campfires relax us and our blood pressure decreases. Of course campfires go way back to the stone ages when early humans would have associated the flickering light, crackling sounds, warmth and distinctive smells of campfires with relaxation and friendship. And it is still like this today. It’s still a social event to sit around a campfire.
My favorite memories of campfires were when Roxie and I started dating as freshman in high school I started going out to their family cabin on Enemy Swim Lake near Waubay, South Dakota. Every evening after a full day swimming in the lake and doing lake stuff, Roxies’s mother and aunt would usually start a fire on the beach. The family would then gather around the campfire and tell stories, talk about the day, tease each other and laugh and laugh. They have a family tradition of throwing old shoes, and other things besides wood into the fire to burn. Such fun memories.
We took our children tent camping for a number of vacations. Yellowstone, the Black Hills many times, Montana, Wisconsin Dells, and the North Shore. My four kids loved camping and having a campfire. They talk about those vacations often.
And of course if you have a campfire, you must have a pyromaniac in your family and hands down that would be my wife, taking after her mother. She loves to start a fire and play with the fire!!! I have started campfires and my campfires are big campfires!! My wife always said when she would walk around the campground she knew where our campsite was every time. Because of the size of the campfire. I was banned for a few years from making campfires.
The best campfire ever was when our youth group went out to a friend’s farm to roast hot dogs and marshmallows, sing Kumbaya and have a Bible study. Well the campfire, became a bonfire and a huge one at that! We couldn’t even get within 30 yards of the fire to roast our marshmallow’s because of the heat. Lots of laughs that night.
Now my campfires are in my backyard, I put wood in a steel fire pit and it’s very peaceful. I just sit in my chair and enjoy watching my wife continue to be the family pyromaniac! It always brings a smile to my face watching her trying to start the fire and trying to keep it going. Standing over it, watching it like it’s a life or death situation if it goes out. I just thought of something. Another favorite fire is the Christmas Yule log on TV Christmas Eve! Oh how I look forward to that!
STEVENS COUNTRY FAIR MORRIS EVENTS FOR FRIDAY
PAUL RAYMO VISITS WITH STEVE STORCK PRESIDENT OF THE STEVENS COUNTY FAIR BOARD. STEVE TALKS ABOUT THE FAIR AND WHATS HAPPENING ON FRIDAY AUG 11TH
RURAL SOLUTIONS SHOW WITH JOHN AND THERESA
JOHN AND THERESA WITTE OF RURAL SOLUTIONS INC. TALK ABOUT TECHNOLOGY CAREERS.
RAYMO’S RAMBLINGS – MUSIC
MUSIC
I think every community should have a Music in the Park night during the summer months. I have attended Appleton on Tuesday nights and this past week for the first time went over to Canby. Something about sitting in a city park in the summer with others in your lawn chair or sitting on a park bench and listening to someone play music. The community really comes together in some special way.
I was so impressed with the crowds that both Appleton and Canby get at this Music in the Park nights. Usually a group is selling ice cream, or serving popcorn. As was the case Monday in Canby the snow cone guy was there with his snow cone vehicle. Children were playing on the playground in the park and running around. All different generations are represented, but mostly it’s an older crowd, of which I am included now turning 60 next month.
Attending these music events with your spouse or with friends makes it that much more enjoyable. Sitting in my lawn chair for over an hour and not swatting one mosquito was nice too. The reason for my blog is to discuss the subject of “music”
Listening to all the different kind of music has been interesting. I remember attending Music in the Park one night and hearing polka. Now I have never cared to listen to polka, or Waltzes, it all sounds the same to me. Bluegrass music on another night, now again I have never cared to listen to Bluegrass. Last Monday it was the Big Band era music, which I must admit, I really don’t care for either. But for some reason on Monday I really enjoyed listening to it for the first time.
I will say this after sitting in a city park with a good number of people and hearing Polka, Bluegrass, the Big Band music and other type of music, I have really come to like it now. As a matter of fact, while sitting at my computer typing this blog I am listening to Big Band music. It can be relaxing. So a good number of you are probably wondering, “I wonder what type of music Paul enjoys listening to?”
My favorite music is 60’s and 70’ music. The Beetles, Monkees, Beach Boys, Tom Petty, The Carpenters, Elton John, and the list of groups from the 60’s and 70’s is long. That is the music we play on KLQP during the day, and I love it. I also enjoy listening to today’s Christian music from Newsboys, DC Talk, Big Daddy Weave, Casting Crowns, Matthew West and more. That is music that speaks to my soul. It’s comforting music and can lift your spirits.
Those are my favorites. So I don’t know if Big Band, or Bluegrass, or even Polka will ever reach my list of favorites. But I can tell you this, attending the Music in the Park evenings has exposed me to that music and recently has me listening more and more to it. So if you see me out walking and I have my earbuds in, I just might be listening to Bluegrass or Big Band or yes, even Polka. Maybe.