A fun time at Ruth Ann's cousin reunion in Waterloo.

QUOTE from Herbert Hoover: "Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt."

I haven't blogged since July 23. Last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we went to Waterloo, Iowa for Ruth Ann's cousin reunion on her Mom's side of the family. Terry Trogstad and wife Patty were there from Atlanta, Georgia; Patty Trogstad Cooley and husband Jim were there from Eau Claire, Wisconsin; brother Roger Rain was there from Preston, Minnesota; and the co-hosts were Ron Syverud of Evansdale, Iowa and Becky Syverud Helgerson and husband Jerry of Waterloo, Iowa.

We met at the Isle of Capri Casino on Monday afternoon and had dinner together that night. Then all five cousins contributed  $20.00 in a pool and went to the hig stakes room and played $5.00 a pull on a Triple Star slot machine. They were down to $15.00 left when Terry's turn came and he hit red 7, triple star, red 7 - it was worth $600.00. They decided to spend a hundred to see if they might get lucky again, but no luck.
So the 5 cousins split the $500.00 and got $100.00 each. Not bad for a $20.00 investment and to come out $80.00 ahead in five minutes. After that it was all individual gambling.

Ruth Ann and I went our separate ways to do some gambling. About 11 PM I decided to go to the room and hit the sack. I awakened at 2 AM to go to the bathroom and noticed I was alone in bed. I figured she must have found a good machine and was still gambling. I went back to bed and awakened again at 4:30 AM. I reached to the side of the bed and it was empty, still no Ruth Ann. Now I was getting concerned. So I got dressed  and went to the casino at 4:45 AM. I found her sitting by her cousin Patty who had come to join her about 2 AM. They saw me coming and Patty said to Ruth Ann, "Here he comes." Then they giggled like a couple of a seventh girls. Ruth Ann had just told Patty, "Pete gets up early to take his morning walk and he's liable to be here any minute." So when I showed up they thought it was pretty.funny.When I told Ruth Ann I was getting concerned about her she said she couldn't leave becasue she had been winning all night. So I went and took my walk at 5 AM and returned by 6 AM and Ruth Ann was still gambling, Patty had gone to bed. Then I went and played a video poker machine and won $112.50 on my first hand. I wasn't so upset with Ruth Ann after that. The results of Ruth Ann's all-nighter is that she came out over $300.00 ahead . Ruth Ann finally went to bed at 6:30 AM and slept till 11:30 AM. My thoughts after her all-nighter and my winning poker hand is that maybe that is the time of the day to gamble. I'll try it the next time we go to a casino.

Tuesday night we all met at Ron's home in Evansdale and had our annual golf tournament. Three years ago Ron constructed a 3 hole course in his back yard. Each hole is 5-8 yards long with a tiny green that is 2 feet in diameter. Husband and wife are partners and we play best shot. Ron and Roger, the two single guys, are the other team. We play each hole twice and each is a par 3, so 18 would be par for the course. The good news is that Ruth Ann and I won it with a score of 20. We had one birdie, three bogies, and two pars. The other scores were 21, and three 22s. That is the second time we've won in the last 3 years. Again, we took home the traveling trophy. I tell you it is really hard to be humble when you have the kind of golf skills Ruth Ann and I have.

After the golf tournament we had dinner. Ronnie is a former Army cook and knows how to prepare a good feast. He fixed ribs, baked beans, sweet corn,  Becky provided  potato salad and then we enjoyed watermelon. Everything was wonderful. After the meal we all went back to the casino.

When we got to the casino Ruth Ann was so tired from her all-nighter she went to bed at 8:30. I went down to the casino floor and saw Jerry and Becky playing a slot machine. I sat and visited and saw Jerry was having good luck so I decided to try the same kind of machine. They showed me how to play and the machine got hot. I stayed at that machine  for over an hour. I put in $110.00 and cashed out $247.00. That was fun and profitable. When the machine cooled off I went to bed at 11PM, no all-nighter for me.

Wednesday, we were alone and did some more gambling. Ruth Ann continued her hot streak and when we left her profit for the three days was $560.00. My profits from Tuesday morning and Tuesday night dissipated and I went home with a  loss of $30.00.

We've been doing this reunion for five years and it gets more fun every year. We all agreed we have to keep this going as long as we can - we're all in our 60's and 70's now - so we're not exactly spring chickens.
In fairness to the others, Ruth Ann and I are the only one's in the 70's  - BUT JUST BARELY.

HUMOR for today: I met a fairy today that said she would grant me one wish.
"I want to live forever." I said.
"Sorry," said the fairy, "I'm not aloowed to grant wishes like that!"
"Fine," I said, "Then I want to die after Congress gets their heads out of their asses!"
"You crafty bastard," said the fairy.