Opening Day

I have lifelong friend who is a talented writer. He wrote this essay and shared it with me. He has permitted me to post it here. I've added a few photos. 

He's capture the spirit of this annual event perfectly. I am fortunate to have a friend with whom I've been able to share it. Enjoy "Opening Day" by Craig Kirsch.

Opening Day

In this small central South Dakota town, it’s the biggest day of the year.  Bigger than the high school’s homecoming, bigger than the Fourth of July, and even eclipsing Christmas in terms of visitors and traffic.  It’s the opening day of pheasant season, in the heart of the best county of what is regarded as the number one state for ringneck hunting.  The city of Winner, located in Tripp County, a normally quiet community of 3000 residents, can boast of a proud tradition of excellence on the high school football field, as well as being the childhood home of Notre Dame legend Frank Leahy, but it's the area’s consistent abundance of the colorful game birds that it is most famous for.

The second or third Saturday of each October will find the small burg transformed into a thriving metropolis for hunters.  The normally tranquil town thoroughfare is packed bumper to bumper with four-wheel-drive pickups toting dog kennels, and drivers and passengers clad in blaze orange caps and vests.  Every motel room in town is occupied, and seats in restaurants are tough to find for that morning’s breakfast.  Come noon, however, the streets are silent and eateries unoccupied, for everyone is in the field awaiting the noon whistle, signaling the start of the hunting season.

A Bird in the Hand

My son Alex has a friend who, when they were in high school, had never hunted pheasants despite living in the "Mount Rushmore State" his entire life. So we decided in the fall of 2006, it was time for Joe to shoot his first rooster. So, on a crisp Saturday afternoon in October, we took Joe with us in pursuit of the South Dakota ringneck pheasant.

After an hour-long trip to our hunting property, we met our hunting partners, did the obligatory hunting safety session, loaded our weapons and spread out across the first field of the afternoon.

In a scene familiar to any pheasant hunter, we were making our way through a field on a line with those on the ends slightly ahead of the rest to give them a chance to shoot at a pheasant that might try to make its way out the side.

Joe was strategically positioned at the far right end of the line in hopes that he might have a better chance to get a shot there. It seemed that all the birds were getting up and flying straight away from us into the wind.

Finally a rooster pheasant got up in front of the left side of the line and veered to the right giving everyone a chance to shoot at it. Everyone did shoot at it and as it flew across the line of 10-12 hunters from left to right, shooters unloaded their guns at the bird.

South Dakota Speed Goats

After several years of threatening an antelope hunt, and a couple years of applying for tags, Alex and I finally got tags for a 2016 South Dakota antelope hunt. We had applied for Butte County tags because the number of tags was great and we could stay in our cabin.

Butte County borders Wyoming on the west and sits just north of the Black Hills. The Belle Fourche River winds through the middle of the county. There is some irrigated hay and corn along the river but it is almost completely pasture land when you get away from the river. Cattle (mostly black angus) outnumber humans 5 to 1 in Butte County (50,000 to 10,000).

Since neither of us had ever hunted antelope before, the research began shortly after notification that we had gotten tags. Butte County had two antelope units and I found that there was plenty of public land and walk in access for us to hunt in the unit for which we had tags.

We couldn't hunt the opening weekend because I planned to attend the 2016 Ryder Cup in the Twin Cities. So we made plans for the second weekend of the season. We drove out to the hills on Thursday evening after work and got in late Thursday night.

On Friday morning, we took off early for southern Butte County. We were a 45-minute drive from our destination. Armed with GPS and Google maps on the iPad, we were set. Our entire weekend hunt would be in the shadow of Bear Butte.

Bear Butte could be seen throughout our hunt.

We found some Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land that looked good to us and parked the truck. We loaded up our gear and walked about 2 1/2 miles and sat on hills looking out over the flat area adjacent to the Belle Fourche river. We would sit for a half an hour and then move on to another hill.We saw nothing. So about 10 AM we headed back to the truck to find a new area to hunt.

Having Husker Genes

I grew up in a Husker house. Anyone who did knows what I mean by that. My Dad, "Husker Harry" as he was known to his friends, was born and raised in Howells, NE and found his way to Lincoln in the 1954 where he earned degrees in business administration and "Husker Fever". It was a virulent strain of the fever with which attempted to afflict everyone around him!

Harry, Alex and me at Notre Dame vs. Nebraska game in 2001

I think I first realized the consequences of this Husker affliction when I was a young boy and went pheasant hunting with him. South Dakota pheasant hunting is a whole different tradition (which I have discussed before) but my Dad liked to mix them - Husker football and SD ringnecks.

Dad would walk through the corn fields in pursuit of the "wiley ringneck" with headphones on so he could listen to the Husker football game. Now, I'm talking about the early version of radio headphones that were the size of shoe boxes on each side and weighed about 10 pounds. He never hit many pheasants with those on but he never MISSED a Husker touchdown. We'd be walking through the field and, all of a sudden, he would start whooping it up, celebrating the latest Husker venture into the end-zone.

I was ten years old in 1970 when the Huskers made a big trip to the west coast to play the USC Trojans. Dad and Mom invited some friends to our house to listen to the game on the radio. The game started at like 9 pm Central Time and Dad told me I could sit up with them and listen to it. We sat around the kitchen table as the reception faded in and out (needless to say, out at the most inopportune moments!) into the wee hours of the next morning. It was a classic and ended in a 21-21 tie.

Later that season, Dad and Mom took me to the Nebraska-Oklahoma game in Lincoln. We were guests of then Husker head coach, Bob Devaney. We stayed where the Huskers players stayed the night before the game and I remember what a thrill is was to see those guys walking through the lobby. I still have the sweatshirt (though it is closer to pink now than it is "scarlet"!), game program and ticket stubs from that weekend.

The Huskers won a hard-fought battle over the Sooners that day, 28-21. But the outcome wasn't decided until the final play, when Husker defensive back Jim Anderson picked off Jack Mildren's heave aimed for Jon Harrison in the end zone.

Nebraska finished 10-0-1, its first undefeated regular season since 1965, and ranked No. 3 in both wire service polls, behind two unbeaten and untied teams: No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Ohio State. The UPI didn’t conduct a poll after bowl games, so Texas was its national champion for 1970.

Notre Dame upset Texas 24-11, and Stanford staged a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat Ohio State 27-17. Nebraska learned of the latter result during the Orange Bowl’s pregame warmups.

The Huskers took care of business with a fourth quarter rally over the LSU Tigers in the Orange Bowl that night and captured their first national title. My Dad smiled for a month about that.

Then, after running the table on the first 10 games, Nebraska’s 1971 season came down to a single game at Owen Field in Norman, OK on Thanksgiving Day. The #1 Cornhuskers played #2 Oklahoma in what still is regularly regarded as college football’s "Game of the Century".

Both teams entered the game undefeated and untied. Nebraska had the nation’s top-ranked defense. Oklahoma had its most productive offense.

The cover of Sports Illustrated (Nov. 22, 1971) published the week of the game included photographs of Nebraska linebacker Bob Terrio and Oklahoma running back Greg Pruitt, nose-to-nose, beneath the headline: "Irresistible Oklahoma Meets Immovable Nebraska.’’

My family was in Omaha for Thanksgiving that year where we celebrated with my Dad's family. We all gathered at my Uncle Ron (Dad's younger brother) and Aunt Diane's house for Thanksgiving meal and then the football feast. I was impressed with the fact that they had a "Go Big Red" toilet in their basement complete with Husker toilet paper! There must have been 25-30 Knusts packed in to that basement for the game. I took a front row seat with my cousins.

Nebraska's Johnny "The Jet" Rodgers opened the scoring less than four minutes into the first quarter with a 72-yard punt return, As Lyell Bremser shrieked from the radio "Holy Moly! Man, woman and child did that put them in the aisles!", bedlam broke loose in the Knust basement. There were high fives everywhere. I knew it was a big deal when my 70+ year-old grandmother was jumping up and down in the back of the room.

The game was one great play after another. The highlights can be seen below and the entire game can be seen here. (The old ads are worth a look!) Nebraska won 35-31 as Jeff Kinney scored the winning touchdown on a 2-yard plunge, the 12th play of the championship drive, with 1:38 remaining. 

The two teams went on to crush the state of Alabama in their bowl games. Nebraska won its second consecutive national championship by beating Alabama, 38-6, in the Orange Bowl. The Sooners crushed Auburn, 42-22, in the Sugar Bowl.

Those fifteen months, starting with the Huskers tie with USC on September 19, 1970 and culminating with that win over Oklahoma on Thanksgiving Day, 1971 pretty much cemented my life -long affinity for Nebraska football. 

Like everything else he did, my Dad rooted for the Huskers with passion and enthusiasm. The quickest way to have him befriend you was to pledge loyalty to the Cornhuskers. I have said many times that if we didn't watch the Huskers on Saturday, we didn't get to eat dinner. If they lost, it wasn't served!!

Harry's last Husker Game with daughter Sarah

Over the years, Dad and I made many pilgrimages to Memorial Stadium together. Often we would introduce someone new to the pageantry of Nebraska football. Our last trip together came in October of 2010 to see the Huskers beat Missouri 31-17. He made Husker fans out of my wife, Judy, and all three of our kids.

Husker football is certainly one of "Husker Harry's"legacies. I'm happy to have his Husker genes!

The Fish Warriors

I grew up a block from some of the best walleye fishing on earth. As a kid, I loved to fish. Up to
about age 15, I fished a lot. Almost all of my fishing was off the rip rap (rocks) just in front of our house.

I would walk down to the river with my fishing rod and reel, tackle box and minnows and fish until (at least) dark. Building a driftwood fire was part of the experience so coming home smelling like smoke (and fish if I was lucky) was a regular occurrence.

I cannot remember my Dad ever fishing with me. He loved to check in on me when I fished and would always brag about the fish I caught. But he did not have the patience to fish.

So when I bought a guided fishing outing for two at a benefit auction, I had a plan to have my son, Alex, and my Dad do the fishing while I played videographer to capture the memories. It was perfect for both because our guide provided all necessary equipment, baited the hook and even took the fish off the hooks. All we had to do is show up at the marina on time!.

I knew Dad would agree to go because it meant he got to spend the day with Alex. He was a typical grandpa - whatever he could do to spend time with his twelve year-old grandson was a worthy activity.

So on a crisp May morning in 2001, we headed to the marina to meet our fishing guide. He was unloading the boat as we arrived and we were on the river and fishing less than twenty minutes later.

The video shows it better than my words can describe it but what you will see here is a grandfather and his grandson (both dressed in the obligatory Nebraska Huskers gear) enjoying a South Dakota tradition.

My only regret is that this is the only time these two did this together. Though they spent quite a few days together afield pursuing the South Dakota state bird, this was their only day together walleye fishing on the Missouri River.

Jimmy Houston may have more dramatic fishing footage but he doesn't have anything that comes close to this video to me.

My Quest for the Perfect Cocktail

One Manhattan is alright, two is too many, three is not enough.

The Manhattan is the king of cocktails. My golfing buddies, the Cahoonas, turned me on to the drink a long time ago but my appreciation for the cocktail and its complexity has grown as I have gotten older and wiser. The Manhattan can be stirred or shaken with ice and strained into a cocktail glass, where it is garnished with a Maraschino cherry with a stem. But Cahoona Pat taught me how to make the drink served on the rocks in a Old Fashioned glass and so that has always been my preferred method. He also taught me a little secret that I will reveal a bit later in this post.

So I have been a sucker for any tavern that fancies itself as making a good Manhattan. If they feature it, I'll try it - as long as there is a cocktail shaker involved. If the bar tender isn't using a shaker, he/she is a beer tender serving cocktails.

In February 2010, my wife and I were in Orlando for the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention. We were there over Valentine's Day and so I took her to dinner to commemorate the occasion (and our very first date which was on Valentine's Day 1977!). We decided to eat at one of the restaurants in the J.W. Marroitt Hotel in which we were staying.

We commenced our evening's festivities with a pre-dinner cocktail. As luck would have it, the bar featured a Manhattan on their bar menu so I ordered one. I noticed the bar tender "shaking" drinks proving to me that he knew what he was doing.

My Manhattan was good (an 8 on a 1-10 scale). When the drink was gone, however, I tasted nirvana as I popped the dark cherry into my mouth. It complimented the complex tastes of the Manhattan so much better than the regular maraschino that normally accompanies the drink.

I asked our server about the cherry and she informed me that it was a very special cherry that was "contraband" in the U.S. I inquired about that and she told me you could not buy these cherries here. She told me they were Amarena cherries. You could only buy them in Italy. That sounded like a challenge to me - and the cherries in the cocktail were worth the challenge.

As luck would have it, our son Alex was studying in Florence, Italy that semester. Our daughter, Rachel, and her then boyfriend, now husband, Andrew, were going to Europe to visit Alex over Easter. I thought that would be the perfect opportunity to score some contraband cherries!

So I told them to forgo the Italian leather gifts, the fine Italian ties or other traditional gifts from Italy and bring me some Amarena cherries. That's all I wanted - some cherries for my Manhattans.

As the three of them traversed Italy, they looked everywhere for Amarena cherries. They had absolutely no luck in finding the cherries. Even Alex's mentor, Fr. Bruno, could not help them find the rare fruit. They did find a variety of maraschino cherries which Rachel and Andrew brought back for me (in lieu of leather or ties!).

But I was not going to take no for an answer so my quest for the scarce cherry took me where I should have started - a Google search. The second result - right after the Wikipedia entry - was Amazon. On Amazon, I found several different brands and sizes. Paydirt!

I ordered the cherries (in the gallon size) and they showed up two days later. I wanted to go straight home (at noon) and park behind my bar and experiment with my new swag. I exhibited an incredible amount of self control and waited until mid afternoon.

Now a gallon of cherries is a lot of cherries. They came in heavy syrup and so I had to separate the cherries from the syrup. I needed some containers suitable for the task. While I stumbled through the whole process the first time, I now have a system complete with the perfect containers.

As I mentioned above, Cahoona Pat had a "secret" ingredient to make his Manhattans special. That secret was a bit of cherry juice mixed in with the whiskey, vermouth and bitters. The syrup that the Amerena cherries came in would take that secret to another level.

As I mixed my first Manhattan with Cahoona Pat's recipe and my cherries, I found that I had a magnificent new twist on a great recipe for a classic cocktail. I could not wait to share it with the Cahoonas on our annual week-long golfing trek to Minnesota.

So I bragged about my new-found mélange to the boys in the lead-up to our trip. They told me that if it was as good as advertised, to be sure to bring plenty! So about two weeks before our trip, I ordered a gallon. I left it sitting on the basement bar so I wouldn't forget it.

That year we left a day early and played a round of golf in Sioux Falls and had dinner at Cahoona Mark's house. After dinner, the requests for one of these new Manhattans mounted as cigars came out. The bar was set up, all it needed was cherries - the cherries that were sitting at home on my bar, where I had placed them so I wouldn't forget them. There would be no special cocktails that evening.

As I took a relentless razzing for my absentmindedness, I was furious contemplating how I might salvage the the bar setup at the "Tiger Woods" cabin at the golf resort in Minnesota. I struck on an idea - Amazon had rescued me before, perhaps it could do it again.

I whipped out my trusty iPhone and brought up the Amazon app. I bucked up for the overnight delivery and placed and order for a $90 gallon of Amarena cherries. I was able to drown my concerns about the cherries in some fine whiskey that evening. There is always fine whiskey when you're with the Cahoonas!

The next day when we checked into the resort north of Brainerd, MN, there was a package for me already waiting. The cherries had beaten us there! I've been an Amazon fan ever since. Amazon.com - the remote bar tender's best friend!!

The relentless abuse stopped later that evening when the pre-dinner cocktails came out. The Cahoonas agreed that the cocktails were better than advertised and showed their appreciation by swilling them down non-stop for five straight days.

The Amarena cherry Manhattan has become a staple of the Cahoona trip, a signature drink at Rachel and Andrew's wedding and a trademark drink at the Knust family bar - even when it's on the road.

Here are a couple of tips for making this delectable blend. The syrup that the cherries come in is very heavy. I have learned to cut in by mixing one part water with one part syrup. I have also discovered that taking about one quarter of the cherries and soaking them in some good whiskey for a couple weeks makes a luscious bar treat.

But the most important tip I can offer is to use good whiskey or rye - whatever your preference. Life is to short to drink bad whiskey!

World Famous Knust Amarena Manhattan

1 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
4 oz bourbon or rye whiskey (my favorite for Manhattan is Maker's Mark)
1 dash Angostura® bitters
1/2 - 1 oz Amarena cherry syrup (I like 1/2 oz; wife likes 1 oz, depends how sweet you prefer)
2 Amarena cherries (unless it's an after dinner drink, then add three)

Combine the vermouth, whiskey, bitters and cherry syrup with a cocktail shaker full of ice. Shake gently. Place the cherries in a chilled Old Fashioned glass and pour ice and cocktail over the cherry or, even better, strain the drink into the Old Fashioned glass with a "bourbon ball" ice cube. The cherry juice will give the cocktail a deep maroon tint.

I have found that a good cut of beef (like a Cowboy ribeye) or a herb-crusted rack of lamb go well with the Manhattan. But nothing pairs with the "King of Cocktails" like an after dinner cigar and some stories from the day's golf game!!!

Cheers!!

Updated 7/26/2018

Tying the Knot with Teen-age Boys

I have mentored a group of 6th-8th grade boys, the Explorers,  since 2001. Several years ago I began teaching them how to tie a necktie. They are old enough that they need to wear a tie for vocal or band concerts and contests, athletic events and other special occasions. I believe that if you're going to wear a tie, you should tie it correctly, make it the right length and pair it with appropriate clothes.

So it has become an annual tradition now that we spend the first two meetings after they come back from holiday break learning to tie a necktie. We recently finished our tie tying lessons and I can report that they did a fine job.

I first tell them that you cannot just "hang" a tie on yourself to be a "well dressed man". You must combine shined, hard-soled shoes, dress slacks (not cargo pants) and a nice dress shirt (preferably white or blue) with the tie to complete the package. This brings some vocal skepticism that sneakers or basketball shoes don't go with every article of clothing that they own!

I teach them the four in hand knot the first week and the double windsor knot the second week. I emphasize the details - length of the tie, shape of know, dimple, etc. While not every knot is perfectly shaped and dimpled, I know that they can do much better if they get a chance in front of a mirror. They seem to embrace and enjoy the sessions.

I also tell them that the girls love it when the guys dress up. It makes them look older and more handsome. While the smiles sheepishly creep across their faces at this report, it is easy to detect the wheels turning in their minds. Research also tells us that young men are more confident and behave better when they are well dressed. I don't tell them this part. This is my secret!

I believe part of the reason that these guys don't like wearing a tie is because they know that wearing a "clip-on" tie is somehow inherently wrong and that asking your dad or mom to tie your tie for you isn't something a teenage boy wants to do. Once they know how to tie their own neck tie, it "liberates" them to wear a tie when they are asked to or when they see fit..

When our sessions are done, I think most leave self-assured and satisfied that they are ready for a great new wardrobe frontier beyond t-shirts and sneakers! (Though I know it won't take them long to revert!)

When I go to a high school concert or see any of the former Explorers dressed in a tie for some other event, I often get a comment from them or a question about how their tie looks. My answer is always the same - YOU LOOK GREAT!!!

Charred to Perfection

In the spring of 2007, we did a backyard project that included a new wood fired pizza oven. I love outdoor cooking so this addition was right in my wheelhouse. I couldn't wait to start making pizza in the new oven...and so I did.

Looking back now, I made some awful pizza. The fact that people ate it and I actually got some positive reinforcement is a testimony to making them wait to eat and serving lots of beer while they're waiting!

My last several efforts, however, have shown some real promise. I recently made six pizzas for my daughter's 17th birthday party. Teenagers will eat ANY pizza (including the frozen stuff served on a cardboard crust), so I let their compliments go in one ear and out the other.

But I ate a couple slices and they were pretty good (if I say so myself!). I am becoming particularly fond of the chicken pesto we now make.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I thought I would post some photos of the most recent effort:

This is a photo of several crusts ready to go. I tried several different recipes (including a whole wheat crust) before I finally landed on this more traditional recipe. The secret here is the flour. My crusts were always tough and chewy until I bought Antico Molino Caputo pizza flour. It is used in most Pizza Napoletana restaurants. This special finely ground flour yields a tasty crisp crust with a moist interior.

The next important ingrediant is a hot oven. You can see my fire here is about 800 degrees. I like to cook in a 700 degree oven. That will cook the pizza in 90-120 seconds. It takes a good hour to 90 minutes to get the oven to this temperature. The roof of the oven is white and the flame will peek out the top of the mouth of the oven. This fire is ready to go!

Here is a cheese pizza (the kids' favorite) cooking. It needs to be turned about 4 times during the 90-120 seconds that it is cooking. I like to finish the pie off with the "Jimi Hendrix" method. I take the pizza peel and "Kiss the Sky" (hold it about 5 inches from the top of the oven) to brown the cheese across the entire pie.

Here is a pizza after about one minute in the oven. It is a little black on the near side (too many photos and not enough turning of the pie!). "Charred to Perfection."

Here is a chicken pesto pizza in the oven. Time to put the camera down and start spinning the pizza!

Here is a chicken pesto pizza still on the peel and ready to be sliced and consumed.

Here is another chicken pesto pizza. It has been sliced and it appears someone got a piece before I got my picture!

While I have found that red wines go pretty well with pizza (cab with cheese pizza, a big zin with pepperoni, pinot noir with the chicken pesto, etc.), nothing goes with pizza like beer. For me, the hoppier the beer, the better it compliments the pizza.

So after six years, many experiments and some undeserved compliments, my wood-fired pizza is finally ready for "prime time". I'm still making them wait and serving plenty of beer while they wait, but now the pizza is worth the wait as it is "charred to perfection"!

Working With Our Future

Thanks to Shandra Thomas of the Chamberlain/Oacoma Sun for the article about the Explorers. I have been fortunate to work with the Explorers for 12 years. It is a great privilege to work with these young men. I enjoy watching them grow up, most right before my eyes as they progress from 6th grade through 8th grade as Explorers.

I have eleven photos hanging in my store near my office - one of each year's Explorers group. If you look closely at some of those first few photos (the first year is shown below), you will recognize very young faces of men around our community and our state who are taking leadership positions in our communities. I love when people ask me about those photos and give me a chance to tell them about the Explorers organization.

I have had a lot of help from parents along the way. So many parents have helped out in so many ways - from driving, chaperoning trips and dances, buying whatever the Explorers may be selling, having their cars washed (sometimes in the rain) among many other things. Teachers and school staff have been very supportive of the Explorers in many of the same ways. The community has supported the Explorers as well. 

Inaugural Class of Explorers 2001-02

The Explorers have raised money for projects including Explorers Field, the scoreboard, the lights, the trees and picnic shelter, the playground equipment and the soccer field, fencing and lights at Explorers Field complex; the fishing pier at American Creek campground; the slides at the Chamberlain Public swimming pool; the renovation of Avenue of Flags Park; and a variety of A/V equipment for the Chamberlain Public Schools. They have also helped several individuals and groups in the community.

Though Shandra was generous and gave me more credit than I deserve, you can see there have been many people who have had a hand in the success of the Explorers.

I look forward to more years with the young men of our community. I hope I can give back to them a fraction of what they have given me.

Update 3/6/2013: Thanks to St. Joseph's Indian School for recognizing the Explorers here.

Fireworks, Featherbones, Family and... FREEDOM

As Independence Day fast approaches, I look forward to our annual family festival. I have always loved the 4th of July. But when our oldest was born on the Fourth (during the re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1986), this day took on a new significance. Our July holiday is filled with tradition and is a day I truly look forward to as it brings our family back together.

We have always made the Fourth of July a huge celebration. We celebrate a family birthday, our country's birthday and the apex of summer. Our day is filled with activities from morning until night; we love to cram as much fun as possible into the holiday. 

July 4, 2010

The day usually begins with the traditional posting of the flag on the front yard family flag pole. We don't always fly the flag but we do on the Fourth. It seems like a great way to set the tone for the celebration to follow.

My wife usually pulls the ice cream maker down from the attic before breakfast. We received this appliance as a wedding gift (some 29 years ago) and it has reliably churned the ice cream ever since then. She often makes two flavors - plain vanilla and some exotic "Ben & Jerry's"-type flavor. I always opt for the vanilla no matter how tempting option two sounds. Her vanilla ice cream is the best and it is goes well with cupcakes or cake to celebrate our daughter's birthday!

There is usually some family fireworks involved. As the kids have grown older, there is less of that. But since fireworks are legal in South Dakota, there are plenty of fireworks stands and the prices are pretty competitive. The front yard fireworks seem to bring out the kid in everyone. No anthill is safe when the Knust fireworks infantry opens fire! I have vivid memories of my father lighting fireworks with his five and six year-old grandsons and sprinting away from the pending explosion as if he was running the 40-yard dash at the NFL combines. I hadn't seen him run in 25 years!!!

"Krawdaddy" 

Because we live on a beautiful reservoir of the Missouri River (Lake Francis Case), boating has always been a traditional part of our Fourth of July celebration. We have had several boats through the years, but we had a 65 foot pontoon boat for ten fun-filled summers. If those ten Fourth of July celebrations on "The Krawdaddy" were the only ten times we had used that boat, it would have been worth the investment. We usually had 5-6 families with us on the river all afternoon before heading to the slip in the early evening to cook on the grill. After dinner and cleanup, it would be time to watch the community fireworks display from the top deck of "The Krawdaddy".

Our days on the river are now on our sailboat. "The BlewJay" offers a new angle on boating fun on the Fourth. We spend several hours on the water, usually in shifts, before returning home for the family Fourth of July cook out.

I have always enjoyed preparing a special cocktail for the Fourth. Whether margaritas or sangria or vodka lemonade prepared in volume or mint juleps fashioned individually, it is fun to prepare a special summer cocktail that is refreshing and relaxing. On occasion, there has been an extraordinary amount of relaxation!

It's time for the feast!

Perhaps my favorite Fourth of July tradition is to fire up the grill. We always have extended family, family friends and/or our kids' college friends celebrating with us. I enjoy cooking for a large group and especially enjoy grilling and smoking food. For years, the menu has included smoked featherbones and burgers as the main course. I usually smoke 15-20 pounds of featherbones in the days leading up to the holiday. Depending on the mood of my assistant chef, the accompaniments may include corn on the cob, baked beans, potato salad, watermelon and other delicious summer delectables.

Finally, we sit on our backyard patio overlooking the town and river and watching the community fireworks display. Because we live at the extreme western edge of the Central time zone, our fireworks don't usually start until after 10:00 pm. Often set to music, it is a fine show. On a calm night, you get the extra effect of the fireworks' reflection on the water. There is nothing like a fireworks display over water.

Our view of fireworks with an assist from Mother Nature.

By this time of the evening, mosquito repellent may be a very important part of the holiday festivities. If it has been a wet early summer, the aroma of sunsceen is replaced by the scent of Deep Woods OFF.

So each year on the Fourth, our celebration includes fireworks, featherbones and family. But let us never forget the most important part of our celebration - FREEDOM. Without it, there would not be a celebration.