How can this be????

My calendar shows that Jennifer (Korkowski) Majhess is 45 today, but how can that be? Think it was only a few years ago we brought her home from the hospital as a newborn! Happy birthday, Jen....you look maaavalous, daaling!

How are you going to do on this 'test'???

And, another 'funny' from the files...this time, Cliff forwarded one to me:

Retired Person's Mental Fitness Evaluation 

This test is to ascertain your current mental state. If you get one question right you are doing OK - if you get none right you had better go for counselling (I'll meet you there!!) 

There are four questions. Don’t miss any. 

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator? Stop and think about it and decide on your answer before you scroll down. 


The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way. 


2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator? 


Did you say: "Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant and close the refrigerator"? 

Wrong Answer!! Correct Answer is: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions. 


3. The Lion King is hosting an Animal Conference. All the animals in the world attend ...except one. Which animal does not attend? 


Correct Answer: The elephant that is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory. 


OK - even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true mental abilities. 


4. There is a river you must cross but it is notorious for crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage to cross? 


Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across. Haven’t you been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Conference. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes. 

It's worth seeing again.....

Recently, Annette sent this to me, and since it's been years since first seen (and it does seem a bit different than the original), it's worth making it your 'laugh of the day'......

The Pillsbury Dough-boy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71. Dough-boy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth , Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Dough-boy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded.
Born and bread in Minnesota, Dough-boy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions. Dough-boy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.
If you smiled while reading this, please rise to the occasion and pass it on to someone having a crumby day and kneading a lift.

Hey, we know her!

No names were given in this page appearing in the July issue of the Sr.Perspective paper, but we know that's Jennae (Korkowski) Stadsvold doing her job every day.  Now, when does she get a Hollywood star?

With a bit of 'research', I did find the colored version of this snapshot!  And, yup, that's still Jennae :)

Birthday girl for the day....

Today's birthday girl is Lila Murray (Ray & Melissa Korkowski Murray) who turns 6. Hope your birthday is 'fairy tale princess' all day long....happy birthday, Lila!

Two more.....

Another two birthdays again today....this time, we have Hailey Evenson (Tom & Jody Korkowski Evenson) who is 11......

and Benton Stadsvold (Cory & Jennae Korkowski Stadsvold) who is now officially a teenager (#13).....

Happy birthday, kids....enjoy these days of summer as we're starting to see those ads for school shopping!!

Introductions are in order.....

May we present....Nevaeh Skye....who arrived early today.  She weighed in at 7 lb. 13 oz. and is 22" in length. Her mama Jill Korkowski is very happy she's finally here!

Gray hair? No problem....we are THE bomb!

In reading the recent copy of the AARP magazine (any of you 50 and above know what this is!), the editorial was most interesting as he talked about those of us with gray(ing) hair. First of all, there are 100 million of us over the age of 50, and very soon, we will control more than 70% of the disposable income in the US.  (Now, it wasn't all that long ago where teens were in the spotlight for a similar statistic.)  Seniors buy 2/3 of all new cars, half of all computers, and a third of all movie tickets!  And, we spend $7 billion (with a 'b') a year shopping online (that's why we need all those computers).  For traveling, more than 80% of all premium-travel dollars are put on our credit cards.  
So, why then, are the seniors of this country almost ignored by marketers formerly focused on the youth of this country?  Only 5 percent of advertising is directed towards seniors...5 percent!  And, yet we are the ones who have the most discretionary money. It's pretty darn impressive when you mull this information over.  
Think we'll go look at a new car, check out a new computer, and take in a movie while we're at it......

Coming in pairs these days....

Lots of doubling up these days for celebrations....today it's birthday greetings for both Nate Zuidema (#41) as well as Avery Morrissey (Kellen & Felicia Peterson Morrissey) who turns 6.  Happy birthday to Nate and Avery!

Got an old dresser....and no space for a garden?

When I saw this idea recently, it seemed like the perfect use of an old dresser for those who don't have the space for a garden...and want to keep the weeding to a minimum :) This looks like something for next spring's gardening ideas.....right by my deck....and all the herbs in one spot.  Genius!

Cousins share the day.....

A double dip day today as we send 'happy birthday to you' greetings to Paul Korkowski (#46) and to Brenda (Magnuson) Dupont (#42).  Our guess is that one of you will celebrate by riding a bike....the other, maybe not? Happy birthday, Paul and Brenda!

Let's play ball..

Saturday night at the Alexandria-based Blue Anchors baseball game, it was 'Douglas County Car Care Program' night, with pre-game sales going to the DCCCP. It was a perfect night for a ballgame with a warm breeze, beautiful sunset, and NO mosquitoes or bugs! The proceeds for the DCCCP came to $1140....not bad for the first year's attempt at raising some money. Prior to the game, which we won by the way!, a car was donated to a young woman named Alyssia who badly needed some better form of transportation than she currently had...she was thrilled with her new 'wheels'! And, shown in the pictures....Cliff Korkowski making an announcement about the program in general, and also announcing who would receive the used car at that time. We had a 'Korkowski' cheering section, and best of all, we had a 'Korkowski' singing the national anthem....Deb Korkowski....who sings regularly at St. Olaf's Catholic Church in DT Minneapolis. It was a fun night...especially with the win!

Cliff talking about the DCCCP prior to game start (and that's Deb in the background!)

This gal finally has a usable car!

It's all hers now....

Summer birthday party....

Another birthday today....Jack Murray (Ray & Melissa Korkowski Murray) turns 9 today, and we're guessing a party is the activity of the day.  It's going to be HOT, so stay cool and enjoy your birthday!  Happy birthday, Jack....

The one-year mark.....

If they have the top of their wedding cake in the freezer, it's time to bring it out and take a bite....because today it's the one-year anniversary for Caleb & Jessica Peterson.  Sending you happy anniversary wishes on this special first year......

Anyone, anyone????

The following email from Norb and Donna.....can anyone help on this?

Norb was wondering if you could put on the blog to see if anyone has Justine's old dressing recipe

We're back to a birthday celebration......

Another long dry spell is over, and we finally have some celebrating to do.....Kelsey Stadsvold (Cory & Jennae Korkowski Stadsvold) has 9 candles to blow out today. Wishing you a star-spangled birthday celebration, Kelsey!

Farewell to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary

It seems that we've reached the end of the line with pictures that you may find interesting and enjoyable, so unless a particular one pops up that seems 'news worthy', this will be the end of our online journey.  This first picture is such a special one to our whole Korkowski entourage.....we all had a wonderful time, and we'll never forget our time together...whether over our daily happy hours to discuss the day's events, or traipsing thru puddles wearing our protective garbage bags rain coats, or trying new foods.  We only wish all of you had been able to experience it with us!

Left to right:  Theresa Krentz; Sr Cordy Korkowski; Derald Krentz; Deb, Cliff & Bev, Chris & Dennis Korkowski

Not quite a garbage bag....but close!!

Can you tell I am ECSTATIC that all the 'red tape' was cut thru and we were finally going to leave Hungary??  No further talk of thinking we'd never see our 'motherland' again :)  We're going home......

My kind of diet......

Check out this diet....be sure to read thru to the end!

First communion in Poland.....

With several of us grandparents on the tour having just celebrated first communion with our grandchildren, we couldn't help but notice an abundance of little boys and girls dressed in their white finery during a particular week of our tour.  And, the strange part of it seemed to be that we kept seeing them during the week days...not Saturday or Sunday... with their entire families. It just seemed a bit out of the norm, but when our guide asked several moms about it, we got the 'scoop':  

In Poland, it's the custom to celebrate first communion for a WHOLE WEEK!  That means going to different churches every day...in their white outfits.  And, since we encountered rain nearly every day of our visit, we inquired as to how the mothers kept the clothing clean.  Well, they washed the dresses/outfits every night so they'd be bright and clean the next day!  At least they were getting their money's worth out of the special event items :)   The little girls' outfits were almost identical to those we see here in the US, but the little boys I saw had on white pants and shirts with a white cape, similar to Superman, that was edged with gold braid, although there were boys with little dark suits on as well. And, these children were extremely devout....no smiles, no poking each other, etc.  It was really quite amazing!

This shot and the one below were taken at the site of the Black Madonna.

In this church, it looked like everyone, including the boys, wore white.

Minnesota's finest......

Since many in the Korkowski family are employed by Rochester's Mayo Clinic, we are all very excited to read today's big news about the services they provide....

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- U.S. News & World Report has ranked Mayo Clinic at the top of its 2014 Honor Roll of America's Best Hospitals.

Mayo earned the number one ranking with 29 points. Mayo edged out Massachusetts General Hospital which received 28 points.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital came in third.

Mayo Clinic ranked nationally in 15 adult and nine pediatric specialties.  The clinic was ranked first in eight adult specialties.

The annual ranking covers about 5,000 medical centers.

See the complete break down of Mayo's rating in U.S. News & World Report's latest edition.

Altar flowers, European style.....

The women on the tour were always interested in how churches decorated their altars, but even Fr. Steve was impressed with the 'only time I've ever seen a martini glass used to hold flowers on the altar'!

Odds and ends from Poland.....

Today it's just some odds and ends of pictures taken....things that caught our eye on a particular day when the skies were cloudy and rain penetrated our clothing :)

Sculptures abound...

Beauty even in the colors and pattern of ground pavers!

The finials on a metal fence....

Interior of a church....

View of a church ceiling

See the crooked middle spire on the top of this?  When the person asking for this piece to be done did not pay the artist, the artist got revenge by making that particular part crooked!

What was that???

We all know that eating too much on vacation is always the case, and during this past week, Amy and I wondered if we had really overdone it!  Every day, the wooden swing in front of the cabin was a nice resting place, usually with a libation in hand, during the late afternoon.  One day, I was sitting there, slowly swinging back and forth, when Amy came to join me.  As she sat down, the bench part simply fell apart!  My end was on the ground while she was suspended somewhere in between.  We were momentarily stunned, wondering what in the world just happened?  And, then we got the giggles!  But, it was no laughing matter that it completely destroyed my fresh margarita!  After getting up off the ground and dusting my posterior off, we decided that swinging was no longer in our foreseeable future......

We use the finest glassware on vacation!

The scene of the crime.....

Would you like red or white???

There are a few more days to come of pictures from our Eastern Europe trip, and today's are of wine pouring as none of us had ever seen before!  (The pictures aren't as sharp as we'd have liked, but it was evening and in a dim-lit restaurant.)  This guy was the wine server, and he had a container of red wine on one side and a container of white on the other, rather like a yoke on an oxen.  He'd ask which you wanted, and he would then shoot it out of the appropriate side and into your glass.  We never saw a drop hit the floor or table, and sometimes he was a foot or two away from the glass.  Wonder how many gallons went by the wayside as he honed his skill?

You can see how he covers the ends of the 'spigots' with his fingers, aiming and releasing when a guest requests their wine

An Olympic sport?

While we were at the Canary Beach Resort this week, Derald & Theresa Krentz came out one afternoon for a few libations and dinner, but not before we tried some shuffleboard!  The young kids initially called it 'the game for old people', but after watching us oldsters play a game or two, they wanted to try it and loved it.  And, if you haven't tried it in years, believe me, it is NOT as easy as it looks!  There were lots of hoots and hollers as the 'grs' (the two grandmas) were pitted against the 'kids', and in the end, the younger generation did beat us....but not by that much :)

Evan and Amy Oxentenko, Derald Krentz

Derald showing us a little sway action on that push off!

Theresa Krentz planning her strategy

Can we catch a ride, please.....Mr. President?

While vacationing last week in the nation's capitol, Joe & Jen Majhess were out for a walk near the White House when they were suddenly told to stand back and were cordoned off.  Well, well....guess who just happened to drive on by in a few minutes?  None other than President Obama.  Second picture shows him in the back seat with his 'shades' on and obviously headed to something important.  Now, Joseph Majhess seems destined to be near the man as it was just a couple of years ago he was pictured with the president when he visited the Boca Raton area (see picture below).  Next stop, stay at the White House???