February 14, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. The Iowa Farmer.

They are farmers from Iowa.  That was enough for me to invite them to our condo for a drink.  It was the Gettysburg book that attracted me at first,  so I left my group to tell them of another Civil War book, and ended up inviting them over when I found out they raised Angus cattle.  You can't often pick the brain of a farmer from Iowa, let alone someone who raises cattle.

Tonight, they came over for a drink.  They are delightful.  We talked farming and cows and calves.  I finally had to admit that we read a lot of farming magazines but the real farming is done by our farmer friends The Jays.  But these good folks are farmers and run 200 head of cattle, selling the calves and growing corn and grains to feed the cattle in the winter.   He was involved with the political world too and is the President of the Farmers Association in their county, also serving in the state legislation for many years.

Now, their daughter and son-in-law run the farm and their three other daughters live within a half mile of each other.   He still works on the farm but now they get to take a three week vacation in Mexico.  We enjoyed  talking with them and hope to see them again.