The weekend ended on Charlie smearing A&D cream all over her wooden rocking horse while I was on my hands and knees with a magnifying glass picking up literally 1,000 tiny little microscopic rubber bands for her hair that she had gotten ahold of and dumped all over the house. I’m pretty sure Beastro the...
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Equestrian Excellence: Maren Egging honored at Iowa Horse Show Association

From the time she was a little girl, Maren Egging has always loved horses. The 12-year-old daughter of Phil and Rachael Egging of rural Galesburg can think of no other place she’d rather be than on the back of a 1,200-pound powerful and beautiful equine.
The Eggings do not own a horse of their own so...
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The Wooden Spoon by Shelly Rankin – 2-19-15
I often get asked the question, why do you like to cook?
(CUE OMINOUS MUSIC)
“I’ve been cooking long before anyone paid me to cook anything. I didn’t do it to be cool. I didn’t do it to make a statement. It’s not about farm to table, but it’s not about being wasteful either. You just got...
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The Wooden Spoon by Shelly Rankin – 2/12/15
A few observations from the week:
Flu makes you humble. Immediately.
Flu with a toddler or a toddler with the flu is an entire new ball game.
Bath tubs have a hot and cold faucet. Someone needs to invent an inflatable mattress “faucet” so you don’t have to drag yourself to and from your bedroom every time.
Hot tea...
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The Wooden Spoon by Shelly Rankin – 2/5/15
I hope you all enjoyed the musings from Jonny last week. A few edits from the article: I’m not called the Scrumptious Lady, ever. He does still talk about NASA all of the time. I may or may not harass him for it. I have captioned for NASA before, and they invited our family down...
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The Wooden Spoon by Jonny Rankin – 1/29/15
My lovely wife Shelly, aka the Scrumptious Lady, has challenged me to write this week’s Wooden Spoon article. For all you “How I Met Your Mother” viewers out there, challenge accepted!
As most of you know, I am The Dashing Gent, whatever that means. To clarify, the only reason I’m called this is because my wife...
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The Wooden Spoon by Shelly Rankin – 1/22/15
This week has consisted of:
“Coughing, sneezing, snot, we wondered where you’ve been.
This cold says, I could show you incredible things.
Snot, Kleenex, orange juice
The germs saw us there and then they thought
Oh my gosh just look at that face
You look like a great mistake.”
Okay, enough of the Taylor Swift madness, but seriously, we have been very...
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