Fins up fellow Parrot Heads. Here is my first attempt at this monthly article, that I have been directed to write. All I can say is “Who the H*LL’S idea” was this anyway. And of course I’m late with it, as usual. I had a great Memorial Day weekend, weather aside. Hope everyone honored all the Veterans that sacrificed for all our freedoms. Being a veteran myself, I am proud to have
served my country for 21 years (4 Active Duty and 17 Reserve), and am lucky that I have never had to be put in harm’s way.
The weekend started for me with my wife and I meeting up with fellow Parrot Heads at the Copacabana on our way to Uptown Friday Nights. At the Coop, I thought City had an ordinance that allowed only hens in your coop. There were some hens, but there was an over abundance of horny old roosters. One hen there was celebrating her birthday. Her old rooster mate adorned her with some bling to wear for the evenings.

After a quick beverage there, off we headed to the park for Uptown Friday Night.  They ID everybody at the gate. They should hire one of those Carnies that guess your age. He*l all he has to do is look at me and see I’m over the legal drinking age. The band playing was The Swing Crew. Nowhere did I see a swing. It looked like it was one half of the Smothers Brothers with two guys he picked up off the street. The drummer was one drum away from just beating on a box. Had a great time and saw a lot of fellow Isle of Iowa PHC members that I hadn’t seen in a while.

After Uptown Friday Nights, the rest of the evening, was spent with friends drinking and keeping the guy in the booth next to us entertained.

Saturday, I did the usual and put my wife’s love for me to the test. After a day of running around, we headed down to Cajun Fest at the Amanas. Ate some gumbo and jambalaya, and drank a few beers. Here we are listening to some Zydeco music when low and behold they were having a beer belly contest. My wife looked at me and could see that gleam in my eye. She did her best to hold, me back, but the cell phone rang and she had to go outside to talk. Like a flash, I was gone. After all they were giving away free cozies to all entrants. It was a tough contest, but thanks to the audience support I came out the winner. For my victory I came away with a couple cans of automotive products and a shirt that is way too small. The rest of the evening as we walked around, I was greeted by
people who recognized either me or the belly. Thank god for a loving wife that puts up with my antics.

Well the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. Smoked some ribs and pork loin on Sunday and finally got the hot tub cleaned out and some yard work done on Monday.

Have a great month and I’ll be back next month.

Too hot to go outside? Turn the air up and start baking. Why don’t you try one of my favorite recipes that is a true taste of Summer.

Rhubarb Strawberry Coffie Cake
3 C flour

1 C sugar

1 C butter

Crumb Topping:

3/4 C sugar
1 t soda

1 t Baking Powder

1 t salt

1/2 C flour
1 C buttermilk

2 eggs beaten

1 t vanilla

1/4 C butter

Recipe filling:

3 C unsweetened rhubarb
16 oz pkg frozen sweetened strawberries (thawed)
Cook friut covered, for 5 minutes

Add 2 T lemon juice.

Combine 1 C sugar and 1/3 C cornstarch. Add to fruit mixture.
Cook and stir another 4 to 5 minutes until thick and bubbly.
Cool

Stir together 3 C flour, 1 C sugar, soda, baking powder & salt.
Cut in butter until it looks like fine crumbs. I add 1/4 t of  cinnamon.

Beat together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and add to dry ingredients.
Stir until moisten. Spread 1/2 batter into greased 9 x 13 pan.
Spread cooled filling over batter. Spread remaining batter in small mounds atop filling. Combine crumb topping, sugar and flour and cut in 1/4 C butter to make fine crumbs. Sprinkle atop batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.

The original recipe doesn’t call for cinnamon, but I like to change things up a bit (if you know me . Makes ya feel like your in Jamaica. Hey I mean the Cinnamon they add to a lot of recipes, not anything eles.

Hope you like. Now you need to go dance it off this Saturday with the CIB from 1 to 5 in Marion. Hope to see ya there!

Deb Rassler

Wow, where did the year go? This has been a fun year! I would like to thank the current board for all of their support, help and
guidance in keeping this club successful! Gerald, Deb, Steve, Bart, Randy, Gordy, Doris and Cindy have been wonderful to work with! One thing they will
never forget about working with me this year is ….”Keep it Positive!” Something I plan to keep for the new board so some of you are not rid of it yet.
I would also like to thank the members of this club without each and every one of you this club would not exist! It is your passion, heart
and soul that keep this club moving forward and making a difference in our communities! Whether your passion is spreading the word about the club through
walking in the various parades, being deeply involved with our bigger events or helping out with smaller projects like sending care packages to the troops, it
is all appreciated and helps to get our cause out there! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKYOU!!!

The birthday party was a lot of fun and thanks to those who made it to help us celebrate another milestone! At the Birthday party several
members were recognized for their valuable contributions to this club, big or small it is greatly appreciated. Those recognized were: David Becker, Ed &
Julie Nealson, Robert & Tracy Witcraft, Stacy Wellington-Stiffler, Garry Joseph and Steve Douglas. We also named our Parrot Head of the Year! It was exciting
to announce this person and watch the expression on their face, not only were they surprised but extremely appreciative and proud to have this honor! An
honor, this person has earned through their hard work in the club and a dedication to moving the club forward. I am pleased and proud to announce that
Parrot Head of the Year for 2011 is Bob Randklev!

Congratulations and thank you Bob.

Now I am happy to announce the new Board of Directors for the Isle of Iowa Parrot Head Club 2011-2012:
Deanna Steggall ~ President

Gearald Ptacek ~ Vice President

Deb Rassler ~ Secretary

Steve Robe ~ Treasurer

Bart Mason ~ Membership Director

Randy Havlik ~ Social Director

Heather Sexton ~ Member at Large

Gordy Smith ~ Member at Large

Tom Whiting ~ Member at Large

This should prove to be another great board in a long list of great board! I look forward to working with all of these individuals and keeping this
club on the forward path.

As always here is My final thought: always remember to *SMILE*, It’s contagious and makes the world a brighter place and remember to Keep It Positive!!

On the Road Again, Making Memories With Our Phriends

With great anticipation to see many old friends and meet some new ones, on March 25, Sandie and I headed north to the Twin Cities for another “This Hotel Room” phlocking at St MinneSomePlace.  Also, making the trip from the Isle of Iowa were Doug & Deb Rassler, Randy Havlik Mike, Paula and Sam Sion, Teresa Becker, Lori Sexton and Jim Roman.

The original location of the phlocking was the Ramada Inn, but a storm hit the hotel and the roof was damaged. The St. MinneSomePlace group scrambled and changed the location to the Northland Inn. What a great job they did to pull off this switch within a couple of weeks of the event!

The party started out Friday night with great entertainment from Jambo and Amy (Mustache & Miniskirt), Jim Hoehn, Matt Wahl and Dave Herzog in the local hotel bar.  Jerry Gontang from Stars on the Water and our own Doug Rassler joined them on stage. The bar was packed and rock’n all night. The bar however under-estimated the drinking capabilities of Parrotheads! They ran out of LandShark in the first hour, ran out of Captain Morgan and by the end of the night you were drinking whatever beer was available!

Saturday night was a fantastic party! Jerry Gontang and Stars on the Water were outstanding and we danced the night away. They had a bunch of silent auction items and the live auctions were great. One of the items was a beautiful hand-painted Adirondack chair.

We made it around to some old friend’s hotel rooms which have been a tradition of the Phlocking. The first room was Bernie’s. Bernie is known for his famous “Berndog’s Parrot Piss” which is served out of a gas can. Yes it is HIGH OCTANE and tastes like gas! I believe there may be some moonshine in that one! After that you have to try a maraschino cherry. These cherries have been soaked in Everclear for 6 months. Wozza, feeling no pain after a few of them good old cherries!

We finished the night in the hotel room of good friends Mike and Pauline Grogan. They are always serving great drinks (one big ass Margarita blender) and great food. Pauline made a big pot of jumbo that hit the spot after a night of drinking. Earlier in the evening Mike was serving “Slurricanes”. This is a fantastic little blue shot with a hell of a kick! The drink creates some great memories or lack of…thus prompting Jambo to write a song about it. As Jambo says, “It’s as harmless as a live hand grenade”. Check out the song at http://www.jamboacousticmusic.com/presskit.html

The weekend is capped off Sunday morning in Dave Carlton’s hospitality room with our ‘northern phriends’ that we have grown to treasure. Dave always has a fantastic Bloody Mary bar with all the fix’ns!  The Bloody Mary time allows us to reflect on the weekend, spend the last few minutes with good friends, sharing fond memories and making plans for the next get together.   Hugs and farewells send us back to Iowa.

Thanks again to all our great northern Parrothead friends for another awesome “This Hotel Room Phlocking”. Sandie and I want to encourage our Isle of Iowa Phriends to make the journey next year.

Check out some photos at: http://www.st-minnesomeplace.com/THR__2011.html#Pool (It’s a slide show about have the way down).

Jan 2011 Revised Newsletter

Dec 2010

Nov 2010

Oct 2010

Sept 2010