Recipes for Living Barry and Lori Henrichs

I am the oldest of five kids born to Bill and Jan Short. I was born April 2, 1964 in Des Moines. At that time Mom and Dad lived in Newton, where Dad was the Associate Director for Extension Service of Iowa State University in Jasper County. Mom worked at Maytag at one time but while she and Dad were raising us five children, she was kept busy at home. She was expecting the twins when Dad became Clarke County Extension Director, and we moved to Osceola in Apri11965. David and Deanne were born in October of that year, Doug was born in August 1967, and Lynne was born in August 1969.

Our family has always lived at the same address where our folks are living now, 730 So. Park. In the three-bedroom house, we three girls shared a room, the boys had a room, and Mom and Dad had the other. Two bathrooms for seven people often seemed like not enough. We have been amused that since we have been grown and gone from home, Mom and Dad have built on, but they remind us that when we all come home, extra space is needed. The family has increased to include four spouses and nine grandkids. The entire family usually gathers at least twice a year, once sometime during the summer and at Christmas. Local ones get together more often, but Lynne is in Georgia. She sometimes comes in the summer but always at Christmas. All of us grownups and older grandkids play various card games, and then we play some games in which the smaller kids can get involved.

I started kindergarten in August of the year Lynne was born and went all through school in Clarke Community Schools, graduating in 1982. I was active in music and drama and very active in Shirley Woods' youth group when Rev. Bys was here. We had such a large group and did so many things like the Easter Sunrise service every year. The youth led the worship service at least once during the year, and we always went on the CROP walk. There were several we knew who had houses at Sun Valley, so we sometimes went water skiing in the summertime.

Barry was also active in Shirley's group but he was several years ahead of me. During his time, Brad Waller, Denise Holt, Abbie Allen, Bill Eddy, and others were active. In addition to what we did, they went to Eureka Springs to the Passion Play and to Cubs baseball games in Des Moines. Barry graduated from Clarke Community in 1975 after which he went to DMACC (Des Moines Area Community College) for two years. One of his best friends was his cousin Kevin Dorland. One year the two of them invented a pickup with front and back steering, the wheels turning independently of each other. They demonstrated it that year in the 4th of July parade and it caused a lot of curiosity.

After graduation, Barry worked at Querrey Motors as a mechanic. In the spring of 1982, he began farming full time with his Dad, Ivan, who died last year-November 2001. Barry has continued to raise cattle, beans, com, and hay. At the present time he has 800 acres of row crop and 67 in his cow-calf herd.

Through the years I babysat until I was 14, when I was old enough to start working at Pizza Hut. I continued to work there all through high school. That was where I became acquainted with Barry. He and his friends hung out at the Pizza Hut and we started dating. After I graduated, I went on to SWCC (Southwestern Community College) for two years and in 1984 received an Associate Degree in nursing.

My first nursing job was working for Dr. Spencer when he first came to town. After a few months, I began working full time on the 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. shift in a nursing home in Winterset. In September 1985, I started working part time at Clarke County Hospital, so there was awhile before we were married that my work at the nursing home and at the hospital overlapped.

Barry and I were married in November 1985. Compared to some, ours was a rather modest wedding. We each had four people stand up with us - Deanne (Dede) was my Maid of Honor, and attendants were my sister Lynne, Jamie Kentner, and Faith Bowlsby. Barry's Best Man was Bruce Kentner, and his other attendants were his brother Mark, Kevin Dorland, and Jeff Jones. We were married in the Osceola United Methodist Church by Rev. Cliff Haider, and the reception was in the fellowship hall. Barry was in the process of combining corn, so we delayed our honeymoon trip until we went to Colorado the next summer.

I soon discovered that living on a farm was very different from growing up in town. Barry made fun of me for always having the radio or television on because it was so quiet! However, now that we have our boys I wouldn't trade this life for any other. They can be outside and we don't have to worry about traffic or other things town families have to think about. They love to ride the tractor, take care of animals, and all that goes with farm life.

Both our boys were born by C-section - Kurt on May 16, 1990, and Lance on October 22, 1993. Kurt was a good child who hardly ever fussed. When he was little, I worked the 3:00 to 11:00 shift at the hospital, and he was good about staying up late at night and sleeping-in the next morning. He always could entertain himself and didn't require someone to keep him busy.

However, Kurt has been our accident prone child. Three times he has had to have stitches. Just a couple days before Lance was born, Kurt fell out of the grocery cart and broke his collar bone. I remember that he was so mad at me for leaving him to go have Lance. When Lance was three weeks old; he developed a real high fever and had to be in the hospital. Once again I had to leave Kurt because I was nursing Lance, so again he was mad at me for not staying with him. The most recent accident which called for stitches was when he in second grade. He jumped on the couch and fell off, hitting his head on the coffee table.

When it was time to think about school, even though we are closer to New Virginia and in the I-35 school district, we decided to open-enroll the boys in Clarke Community. We had that option with no tuition and it has worked out well.

I started as school nurse in Clarke Community in the fall of2000, following the retirement of Virginia Ogan, and I have a contract for next year. I have what is called an "extended contract," so I work an extra seven days beyond the school year. In the fall I do in-service for teachers, teaching First Aid and blood born pathogens, having to do with protecting them from hepatitis, HIV, etc. In the spring, records being brought up to date, preparing for sixth graders coming over to seventh, takes more time than I can give it during the regular school year when I probably see from 60 to 80 kids a day with minor illnesses, headaches, cuts and scrapes, and P.E. (physical education) injuries. Some kids come in to confide in me if they feel more comfortable talking with me than with a counselor. Or maybe they see both of us to see if we agree.

Kids have it harder these days than when I went to school. There were very few of my friends who didn't have both parents at home. It makes a difference. I know that it is partly because of the background of our home life as I was growing up, but I am always surprised at how kids say and do things I wouldn't have said or done. They are more disrespectful. I wouldn't have talked back or said the things to teachers that some of them do. There are more temptations now, and not resisting can get them into deeper trouble than in my day. But they feel so invincible. They have the attitude that "something might happen to other kids, but it won't happen to me." I remind them occasionally that I was a teenager once.

Kurt is in sixth grade with Mr. McFarland as his teacher. His extra curricular activities include 4-H, and I have started helping as a 4-H leader. All of us kids were in 4-H, and I suppose it is natural because in 1967, Dad went from being the Clarke County Extension Director to being a multi-county 4-H and youth leader. In 1969 he took that position for the Creston Area.

I consider 4-H to be a wonderful program and I am so glad that Kurt is interested. He showed his first calf at the County Fair in 2001. He and I have sewn together-last year we made a pajama outfit. Kurt was the only boy that modeled in the Fashion Revue, but he modeled those pajamas and got a blue ribbon. This year we are sewing a pair of pants, a shirt, and pillows. Mom is an excellent seamstress. She used to make our clothes, and I’ll never forget her sewing Barbie doll clothes for us. Those little tiny garments! I am learning along with Kurt, but I never expect to be as good as Mom.

Kurt has also done woodworking projects with his grandpa-specifically a bird feeder and candle holder. He has done several baking projects - a couple different cookies, and baked a cake. He is very good at photography and has entered some of his pictures at the County Fair. For most of his entries in all these different categories, he has gotten blue ribbons, and some red.

Lance is still too young for 4-R He will not be eligible until he is in fourth grade. He is now in second grade, and his teacher is Mrs. Wishmeyer.

I am working toward my four-year degree through Grandview College in Des Moines. I took a couple classes at SWCC last year and will attend Grandview at night this summer, hopefully just one night a week.

The boys go to church and usually sit with Grandpa Bill and Grandma Jan. Lance's Sunday: School teacher is Martha Snell and Kurt’s are Bob and Cathy Cutshall. Preparations are being made now (2002) for the summer program fm which they are building an Amazon jungle with a river. The boys attend Vacation Bible School every summer.

I remember something from when I was 3 ½ years old. When Lance was born in the hospital, we ordered pizzas. The delivery man brought them and set the container on the floor. I probably didn't know, and maybe wouldn't have cared, that there were other pizzas in the container. I stomped on the boxes, and he was very unhappy.

I started to kindergarten with Mrs. Sitzman, and I had trouble getting on the right bus. I didn't always go the same place and that made a difference in which bus I would take. Some days I would go home and some days to the sitter's, Miry Buesch. She is really nice. My first grade teacher was Mrs. Tokheim, second grade Mrs. Aschan, third Mr. Helgeson, fourth Mrs. Helgeson, fifth Mrs. Ellis, and this year, sixth, Mr. McFarland.

In fourth grade I went into the Extended Learning Program (TAG) with Mrs. Boldon. Kids are chosen according to scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. It is an accelerated program in which we do research and have projects. My favorite is reading, particularly fiction and adventure fiction. I have read all the Harry Potter books, first, second, third and fourth. The fifth will come out this summer, The Order of the Phoenix. Harry is a Wizard in training and he goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardly. He is entered in a tri-wizard tournament in which three schools compete. There are three school champions, one from each school and they have to complete three tasks - first they have to get a golden egg and get past a dragon, second they have to go deep underwater and rescue a friend, and third they have to get through a maze to get the champion's cup. Harry is the fourth champion and he and the other Hogwart school champion touched the cup at the same time. It was a port key that transported them somewhere else.

I also have math, science, and social studies. Math is my least favorite: I am in chorus and band, in which I play the trombone. That is like a baritone. I have just started in Taekwondo on Monday and Wednesday nights from 7:00 to 8:00 in New Virginia.

Mom says I am a curious boy. I like to take things apart to see how they work. When I was two years old, I got a screwdriver and took my crib apart. My folks say they hope Dad can put things back together as fast as I take them apart.

Mrs. Paul was my kindergarten teacher, and then I had Mrs. Berwitz. In first grade I had Miss Novak, and now in second, Mrs. Wishmeyer. I have liked all my teachers and they liked me, but Miss Novak is really nice. I stop almost every day to see her, and she is interested to know what I am doing.

In kindergarten, we learned letters, vowels, and sounds, but I learned to read in first grade and I love to do that now. I have had math all the way through, and I like it most. In kindergarten we had numbers and counting. In first grade we had pluses and minuses, and this year we are learning about three digit subtractions. This coming Monday, we will start multiplication. We also have spelling, and I like it. And we have science and language. Now we are doing verbs, like action verbs and helping verbs. One of my best friends in school is Cole Kerwin. We have been in the same class since kindergarten, and we usually play together at recess.

This year for the first time, I started wrestling. I have gotten three firsts, three seconds, and one third. There are tournaments all the time. We could probably go somewhere nearly every weekend beginning in January and they last until the end of March. Some of the tournaments are all day long. It is fun, but some of it is pretty funny. Kids can start when they are three years old. These little tiny kids look like they weigh about 20 pounds! There are some parents that go nutty! This summer (2002) I will be in the Summer Ball program. Our team is the Cardinals, and we will play a couple times a week in May and June.

I want to be a farmer when I grow up. I will learn some things about it in 4-H. Cattle will be my favorite. I helped Kurt feed his calf to get it ready for showing at the Fair. I also like to ride the tractor and combine.