Thursday Again

Well it is Thursday again and that means Lodge night. Arcadia Lodge had a very special event tonight. Kyle Loftin is our newest member. His father, Mike, is one of our Brothers and he asked if it would be possible to "speed up" the degrees for his son who would be home on leave from the Navy for Christmas.

We decided that yes, we could do that for him and so tonight Mike was on the sidelines to see his son Initiated and Passed in Arcadia Lodge. In between so that he could take his Masonic Enlightenment Course we had Sloppy Joes for supper that I made yesterday. If you make them the day before the flavors have a chance to meld and they are much better. They were well received. I saw Brothers take two of them and then go back for more.

Recipe
8 pounds of 93% lean ground beef
browned with 6 sweet onions
Mixed with 8 cans of chicken gumbo soup
Add Ketchup, Mustard and Worcestershire sauce to taste.
Serve on buns with cheese.

simple and filling. We had chips to go with them.

We are not used to calling from Labor to Refreshment yet but we managed and the degrees were well put on. Brother Don Shedd came over to put on the Middle Chamber lecture and while he always does a great job tonight it was outstanding. We were all impressed once again.

I got to do something I had not done for 20 some years. I served as Sr. Warden in the opening of the Entered Apprentice Degree. Because we were doing two degrees we started early and some of the Brothers were a little late getting there. We also have dense fog in Ames right now and our Master was held up a little in getting back to Ames. (He works in Des Moines) We were legal however because we had a quorum and one of the three principal officers was in his station. So I took the West and it was fun. Maybe I'll ask to go through the line again. HA!

I have been very sore today and just as I was leaving Lodge I got a kink in my back. Believe me I played the fall for all it was worth. You should hear me describing how I fell and had to crawl on bleeding hands and knees up the driveway (over the ice) through the concrete garage (thank God the door was open) and up into the kitchen where I was able to haul myself up on a chair and then because of the adrenalin I was shaking (actually I left that part out - just thought of it as I was writing this) I mean all it was worth. didn't get much sympathy - (probably can't afford the orchestra) Oh well I will take some more aspirins when I go to bed. Took some in the middle of the night. I will be ready for tomorrow night when we go his Third Degree. Thanks for reading this. Hugs, j-bear