Crest Ink · Crest Ink In This Issue ... manufacturing our stabilizer/seasoning/specialty systems...

Crest Ink

In This IssueNew Volume in Packaging page 4 10 Year Trip page 8 Music to Your Ears page 18

The Building Maintenance Department is one of the groups being featured in this Crest Ink. Although this depart-ment is small (six people including the managers), they are mighty in the amount of area they cover and how much they accomplish. For starters, they are responsible for maintaining 980,000 square feet of facilities…which means there is an equal amount of roof to maintain as well. Inside the walls of our nearly one million square feet of buildings, there is nearly an endless list of items that need tender loving care on a regular basis. Some of these items include 200 HVAC units, 10 air compressors, 5 vacuum pumps, 10 dust collectors, 12 stretch wrappers, 10 house vacuum systems, 9 elevators, 50 docks, 8 fire protection systems and over 600 lights in the warehouses alone. Throw in all the bathrooms, septic systems, wells, water heaters and parking lots and you can start to get a feel for what their to-do list looks like every morning.

Volume 28 • Number 02 April, May & June 2016 Ashton, IL 61006

Dusty Koch, Wally Karper, Brian Schafer, Jason Drew, Jeff Brecunier

Getting to Know Building Maintenance

2 Crest Ink April, May & June 2016

Everybody in this group is an expert at a number of different skills. They are also on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since the rule seems to be that things rarely have a tendency to break on a convenient schedule. Our thanks go out to the guys who wear the florescent green shirts for keeping our facilities in such great shape so the rest of us can go about doing our jobs in the best conditions possible.

Brian Schafer (Facilities Manager)Years at Crest: 20Interests: Camping and sitting around the camp fire with family and friends drinking a cold beverage or two! I’m also a Dallas Cowboy’s fan, so I like to root for them and I also root for anybody that plays and beats the Bears.Most people wouldn’t know: When I was a child growing up my grandparents helped to raise me while my mom worked 2nd and 3rd shift jobs. My grandpa had his own welding shop which I got to spend alot of time in helping him. I was only 5 years old when I was in the shop helping him weld various jobs.

Wally Karper (Building Repair)Years at Crest: 33Interests: woodworking and his grandchildrenMost people wouldn’t know: I like to cook.

Jeff Brecunier (Electrician)Years at Crest: 20Interests: camping, hunting, tattoosMost people wouldn’t know: I got married while on my 10 Year Crest Trip on an island in the Caribbean.

Dusty Koch (Building Repair)Years at Crest: 9Interests: hiking, camping, woodworking, metalwork-ing, bowling, soccerMost people wouldn’t know: I have my certification in building construction.

Jason Drew (Electrician)Years at Crest: 2Interests: Sports…specifically golf, basketball and footballMost people wouldn’t know: I’m a licensed plumber.

Marshall PankhurstYears at Crest: 3Interests: fishing for catfish, international travel, vegetable farming, my daughter’s high school sportsMost people wouldn’t know: I am a commercial bee keeper.

Ben Nelson Years at Crest: 1.5Interests: spending time with/playing with/training my cat, Junkyard Cat, golf, craft beers, volunteering, long walks on the beachMost people wouldn’t know: I am a member of Vestry at St. Luke’s Church in Dixon, where we just celebrated our 175th anniversary as a parish.

Sonny BarattaYears at Crest: 6 monthsInterests: soccer, fantasy footballMost people wouldn’t know: I lived in Costa Rica for about 6 months before moving back to Dixon and starting at Crest.

Sam McBrideYears at Crest: 5.5Interests: dogs, truck farming (growing products to sell at a farm stand)Most people wouldn’t know: About 10 years ago, I started an Urban Mushing dog sled team, where you are able to dog sled year-round (on paved and off trails instead of just snow). *see page 6 for more info

Steve HarrellYears at Crest: 1.5 Interests: cars, billiards, moviesMost people wouldn’t know: I lived in International Falls, Minnesota for 6 years. International Falls is well known for being one of the coldest places in the coun-try, reaching low temperatures of -60 degrees.

Brandon DodrillYears at Crest: 3Interests: golf, bowlingMost people wouldn’t know: I’ve bowled 19 300 games.

(C-Shift Ingredient Division Production story on following page)

April, May & June 2016 Crest Ink 3

Getting to Know C-Shift Ingredient Division Production

Sam McBride, Brandon Dodrill, Marshall Pankhurst, Sonny Baratta, Steve Harrell, Ben Nelson

We have a great C-Shift Production Team! Our production process is a relay of many elements. We start the day manufacturing our stabilizer/seasoning/specialty systems on A-Shift then pass the baton of the plant to our Sani-tarians on B-Shift for washing and sanitization of the plant and equipment, then the baton is passed back to manu-facturing on C-Shift.

Our C-Shift Production Team is a replica of our A-Shift Teams, but smaller. Smaller, nevertheless impressive. They produce a hefty amount of production a night ~ 40,000 lbs. The C-Shift Team takes staged raw ingredient batches and blends Dairy Stabilizers (buttermilk, cottage cheese, cream cheese, egg nog, sour cream, yogurt and ice cream), Seasoning Blends and Specialty Blends through multiple ribbon blenders, magnet and metal detection systems, then bags the product into 50 lb. bags. They palletize, stretch wrap, and prepare the pallets of finished products with required documentation to be shuttled to our warehouse each morning.

Our C-Shift Team is relatively new; only about 3 1/2 years old. As we ever expand with volume we are grateful to have this group that want to work on C-Shift. It’s never dull with our C-Shift Team. They are dedicated, enthusias-tic, and have fun at their work.


The first group of employees to move to the 3rd Shift in Contract Packaging on Sunday, February 28th (they will eventually be joined by about 22 more employees): Cody Matheny, Skyler Foss, Catherine Larson, Jon Larson, Valerie Serrano, Chris Bryant, Becca Dodd, Beckie Talley, April Cover, Ariel Cook, Andrew Wallace, Jim Rhodes, Becky Bearss, Stephanie Kunz, Dustin Crawford,

Angie Paul, Stina Kanaras, Vickie Monsarratt, Julie Bergman, Morgan Rains, Rick Hough

New Volume in Packaging Leads to Many Changes by Jeff Meiners

There is a scene in the original Jaws movie when the folks attempting to catch Jaws get their first look at the beast they have hooked into when Richard Dreyfus turns to the captain and says, “We’re going to need a bigger boat.” Well, the contract packaging division has hooked into their own version of Jaws and we too might be in need of a bigger boat! The ending of the movie Jaws didn’t turn out to be that great for the shark or those trying to catch it….our plan is to write a much happier ending for landing the big fish at Crest.

Our big fish comes in the form of a project that will occupy three and sometimes four high speed lines in our West Production Facility. In any given 24 hour period of time, this project will require at least four truckloads of pasta to produce over 520,000 cartons of product that will result in seven truckloads of finished product to be shipped to our customer. This is volume that is expected to be consistent year round, so multiply that by five days a week and 52 weeks a year and we’re talking about some serious volume. This truly is business that we have been working for the past forty years to secure. Is there enough volume to warrant building a bigger building? Crest does like to build buildings, but the key to doing this project well will be to do it without increasing our overhead and making some operational changes to make it all possible.

The first change we are making is to go to three production shifts for the West facility. We certainly did not make this decision lightly – we have been on two shifts of production with a third shift for master sanitation and pre-ventative maintenance for a very long time. Three shifts of production means we have to approach how we operate in a very different manner. Additionally, it is very difficult to staff for a third shift when the long term need for that shift is uncertain. In this case, a long term commitment comes with our new business and time for preventative maintenance and master sanitation have been built into our production planning. A number of experienced people in areas such as production, quality control and maintenance have transferred to this shift making the startup pro-cess virtually seamless. Our confidence level for the success of a three shift operation for this area is extremely high.


The warehouse has also gone through a major transformation in preparing to handle this new volume. The tornado may have started the process, but everything has been rearranged in order to make handling all of the volume as-sociated with this project logistically work. There are few areas in the warehouse that remain unchanged and that is a big deal when you are talking about rearranging the furniture in about 500,000 square feet of space. Despite the additional volume demands, the warehouse has never been more organized and functional.

Additionally we have are installing 3 brand new lines. These lines, once completed, will include all new equipment. While some of it will look very familiar, we are also introducing some technology that is new to Crest and plays a key role in setting up these production lines. We are utilizing x-ray technology for metal detection, the pasta is being delivered from ground level to the dump systems through a conveying system, timing gates are being used for plac-ing pouches and vacuum tooling is being utilized for our fillers. Much creative effort from our engineering and maintenance groups have gone into creating some very functional lines that have met expectations from the time we flipped the switch to turn them on.

Long term, high volume business such as this new project will prove to be the cornerstone in making contract packaging a strong part of the Crest Foods mix of business for years to come. An incredible amount of effort has gone into preparing our plant and lines to be ready to handle this volume. Many at Crest have met this challenge with the type of determination and ingenuity that have made us a valuable and sustaining resource for our custom-ers. A big thank you to all involved and we are very proud of the collective efforts of so many that define Crest Foods as a company.

New equipment and production lines at the West Facility.

In Observance of Memorial Day,

Crest Foods will be closed on Monday,

May 30, 2016.Sunday, May 8th Sunday, June 19th


When the “Great Wall of Crest” came down on September 26th, 100 Crest Foods employees were able to take home plywood and 2 X 6’s that formed the temporary wall at the Warehouse put in place after the April 9th torna-do. While employees likely used it for various miscellaneous projects around their homes, it wasn’t until we saw Sam McBride’s(Ingredient C-shift) husky trailer in the Crest parking lot this March that we wondered: where did the Great Wall of Crest go?

This isn’t just any dog trailer. Made from those 2 X 6’s and old pallets collected over time from Crest Foods, Sam’s wife Jordan (who learned everything she knows about carpentry from her late father, Douglas Golter) drew out the blueprints and got to work constructing a trailer that would hold all 6 of the family Huskies and all the equipment necessary for “Urban Mushing”. Between Jordan working on it almost everyday and Sam helping when needed, the trailer was finished in early November 2015.

It all first started back in Wheaton where a young Sam and Jordan were first courting each other, when they decided to take a BIG step in their relationship and adopt their first dog together. They went to the DuPage Animal Control where they both fell in love with an Alaskan Husky named Nina. After tying the knot they moved from Northern IL to Southern IL to a small town called Makanda (population 450) where Sam and Jordan adopted 2 more dogs. One named Nookie who was a dainty Siberian Husky female and the second one a female named Nova who’s a Husky/Black Lab mix.

The last Husky that they adopted in Southern IL was a male Husky that was hitch hiking on the side of the road one afternoon while Sam and Jordan were out driving with their three girl Huskies. He was very happy to get into a pickup truck full of Husky girls to fawn over him while Sam and Jordan searched for his owners. They did find his owner (Scott) and returned Buddy (aka Shilo) to him, only to have him call them back a few weeks later asking if they would be willing to adopt Shilo. Scott worked long hours as a forest firefighter and sometimes was gone for months during heavy fire seasons and Shilo was left to be taken care of by a friend until he got back. Scott didn’t think that this was fair to Shilo and he noticed how happy he was with Sam and Jordan’s Huskies, so of course they said yes!

Now that they had 4 huskies Sam and Jordan started training their pups to pull a sled, there was only one problem

Urban Mushing & The Great Wall of Crest

Sam McBride and Team Brave Heart The Team Brave Heart trailer parked at Crest


facing them down in the south. No snow or not enough! So Sam built his first sled with wheels and took his pups out for their first run. They loved it and so did Sam, but then came the second problem! As soon as the pups saw a squirrel, the dogs would go off the trail to chase it. It was then that Sam’s new hobby was found! Sam has been working on designing a new type of dry-land rig that gives the musher full control over the dogs instead of being at the mercy of their dogs.

Urban Mushing is the ability to “dog sled” year-round, on surfaces like pavement, grass or gravel, not being limited to snow. Using a harness, dogs are attached to a wheeled vehicle, typically some type of scooter or bike, leaving the dogs in control of where they went. When Sam took an interest in sledding over ten years ago, there really wasn’t much Urban Mushing going on, but over the years this unique sport has picked up it’s pace and now there are competitions in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Sam and Jordan had been meeting up with groups in the Chicago area to learn and to train, and realized there was a need for a safer way to mush, due to the many injuries sustained by mushers and dogs alike. Fortunately for them, Sam had already been working on it!

Sam’s new design increases safety and control of the dogs, while still allowing the dogs to run their hearts out. Sam plans to built a racing model, a highly adaptable general purpose model, and specialty models for wheelchairs (yes, there are a growing number of wheelchair-bound dog enthusiasts). The best part of this growing sport is the inclu-sion of all high energy dogs, not just Huskies and Malamutes. Any dog who loves to run and pull can be harnessed and exercised with one of Sam’s designs. Sam is even working to add pedal power for the dog loving bicyclists.

While Team Brave Heart may eventually race, it’s all about having fun with the dogs and exercising them enough. Any Husky owner will tell you they can’t exercise their dog enough, as well as many other breeds like Collies and other Shepherding dogs, or the large Terriers and Hounds. To put it in perspective, a 2 hour walk is just a warm-up for a Husky, and dogs who train for the Iditarod Sled Race through Alaska train up to 100 miles/day leading up to the race that covers 1049 miles total.

Sadly, Nookie and Nina have passed away, but if anything has been learned by the McBride clan, it’s to always keep your heart open. Buddy (aka Shilo-11), Nova (9), Coco (7), NIU (5), Bella (3), and Timber (turns 1 April 12) now make up Team Brave Heart. You may see Sam and his dogs mushing through the streets of Franklin Grove or Ash-ton, or on trails in Rochelle, Oregon, or Dixon, or maybe his dog trailer at Crest Foods in the morning. Sam is working on improving and marketing his design to this growing sport, improving safety and quality of life for people and their dogs. Be sure to check out Team Brave Heart on Facebook for further information.

We are happy that the Great Wall of Crest gets to be a part of Team Brave Heart, and can’t wait for updates on your Urban Mushing dog team, Sam!

Thank you again to Chris Land-strom of Twin City Energy Ser-vices for recognizing our good for-tune in no one being injured in the April 9, 2015 tornado by donating an oak tree to be planted at the west warehouse.

While the donated tree was planted in the fall, the pictured plaque was attached to a rock by the tree this March.


My Ten Year Trip to San Francisco

by Larry Shipman, B-Shift Mix

For my ten year trip, my wife and I went to San Francisco, California to see a 49ers game. We were there for the Monday night season opener against the Vikings. We went through the 49ers museum before the game and had 5th row seats in the end zone with a perfect view of all the 49er touchdowns. The 49ers won that game 20-3.

We spent a day salmon fishing on the ocean. I hit the limit within the first 20 minutes and kept getting bites all day. We both hit the limit with 2 salmon each. On the way back in, we were followed by a few of the famous sea lions of Pier 39 who were hoping for some scraps.

We spent a day walking all the way through Golden Gate Park to the ocean. After spending a few minutes wading in the cold ocean, we walked the Land’s End trail along the coast and all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge.

On our last day, we rented a go car and drove around looking at all the sights like the Painted Ladies and drove down the crooked Lombard Street. We took a night tour through Alcatraz. We were actually locked in solitary con-finement with a few other people for 60 seconds in complete darkness.

We also went to Madam Tussauds; the wax museum, the San Francisco Dungeons, Aquarium of the Bay, California Academy of Sciences, went on a boat tour and took a tour of a submarine. We rode the cable cars which were like a roller coaster with all the San Francisco hills.

Thank you to Crest Foods and the Meiners Family for my trip. We had a great time!

Kelli & Larry Shipman

Golden Gate Bridge

49ers Game

Sea lions on Pier 39


A few months ago when a new employee walked past the window of Ken Drew’s office at the Karlin Warehouse, Ken felt a glimer of recognition. The face was familiar but at that time a name escaped him. The same could be said true for Steve Hillman. He recognized Ken’s face but wasn’t sure he was who Steve thought he was. “I knew the name and he looked familiar, but I

was not sure it was the same Ken Drew I had worked with all those years ago. He has a little more gray hair now!”

“Steve has not changed. His mannerisms are the same as I remember way back in ’74 when we worked together” said Drew. Being that 1974 is over 40 years ago, it is amazing that these two, who had not crossed paths since 1974, still recognized and remembered each other. Ken, who is older by 6 years, said with a chuckle “I tried to teach Steve while he worked here so he would stay but he left anyway. Now he has come back to daddy!”

When they started talking about ‘way back in ’74…(1974) it felt as if it was a history lesson from way back in the day. Back in the day, the production area for Crest Foods was located in the basement of what is now the North Plant. There were only 2 production lines. Ken Drew was the Line Operator for the non-dairy coffee whitener line while another person ran the other. There were only about 12 to 14 employee’s running these two lines at that time. Steve was a dumper and stacker for Ken. The line workers at that time were all women. There was no QC person or maintenance person at that time. The Line Operator had to act as QC, sample taker, monitor weights and do change-overs and be an all-around versatility person.

“I used to ride to work from Forreston with Bernie Hillers. I also had a motorcycle that I drove sometimes. I had gotten a ticket for driving a motorcycle without a license so one day I drove it to work anyway. Then after work, Ken drove it to Dixon for me while I followed in his car so I could go get a license. I no longer have a motorcycle. Now I like to tinker with computers.” “Steve has taken some of our hand written status reports and made them computer generated. This has been a big help” added Drew. When asked what Steve had done over the past 40 years he said, tongue in cheek “I have been trying to improve myself enough that Ken would let me back in!”

Over the recent Christmas holidays, Becky Henson, Ingredient Division Quality Assurance Coordinator, received a call from Steve Caudillo, the Director at Jack Mabley center. The Jack Mabley center is a state institution for the developmen-tally disabled located in Dixon, IL. Steve had a donation opportunity. Due to tight budget constraints, the center was dire need of supplies for residents to do crafts together in their 7 group homes. The center also needed card stock for their news-letters. Several generous Crest employees pitched in their own money or brought supplies in for the cause. We were able to put together 7 totes of supplies, one for each home, that included construction paper, coloring books, drawing paper, scis-sors, glue sticks, stickers, colored chalk, and different sizes of washable markers.

Also a case of copy paper was donated from Karlin to use for the Mabley Center newsletters. The craft supplies were delivered to the Jack Mabley Center in January. The director, Steve Caudillo, was very happy and appreciative of our donation. I am sure the residents will enjoy many happy and creative hours of crafting! Crest Foods wishes to thank Becky and those employees who gave of their time and money to do this!

Becky Henson & Steve Caudillo

Do I Know You From Somewhere?

by Cheri Kemp

Steve Hillman and Ken Drew


New ArrivalsCongratulations to Matt (Production A) and Samantha Harazin on the birth of their son, Jacob M. Harazin. Jacob was born January 11, 2016 and weighed 7.4 lbs. and was 20 inches in length. He was welcomed home by big brother Robert.

Congratulations to Chris (Mix A Supervisor) and Sherry Reynolds on the birth of their granddaughter. Rowan Lee Schott was born February 14 and was 7 lb. 1 oz. and was 22 inches long. Rowan’s parents are Amber McLain (Chris and Sherry’s daughter) and Ben Schott.

CongratulationsTo Rahveon Valentine, son of Dan Brown (Lab QC Manager, Ing. Div.) on finishing 5th in the IHSA State Wrestling Championships. They were held in Cham-paign in February.

Congratulations to Wade Lyles, son of Jim (Mix A) and Celeste Lyles, on being selected to swim in the IHSA state swimming and diving competition. He will be swimming in the 400 Free Style relay. He is a sopho-more at AFC High School and swims for the Byron High School swim team.

Best Wishes to Roger Wolber (Set Up A) and Tara Lifka (Production A) on their February 22, 2016 marriage.

Congratulations to Ben Esgar (Production B) and Mack-enzie Grell on their December 24, 2015 engagement. They will be getting married on August 12, 2016.

Thank YouThanks to Crest Foods and Karlin foods for my Retire-ment Party. The flowers are beautiful and the food was delicious. I will miss each and every one of you. Take care and May God bless you! Sincerely, Guyla Pfeiffer

Thank you to Crest & Crest Employees for sending flo-wers and thinking of me. Mark Smith (Maintenance A)

Crest HappeningsDear Everyone at Crest: We’d like to thank you for your thoughtfulness as we welcomed home our newest ad-dition to our family, Jacob Matthew Harazin, born Jan. 11th at 8:39 am. He was 20 inches long and 7.4 pounds at birth. The plant is beautiful and will hopefully grow with our family for years to come. Thank you all again! Matt (Production A) and Samantha Harazin and family

Thank you so much for the emotional support that I received during the many months of my dad’s illness and then his death. Also, thank you for the memorial gift which was given to the Stone Church Cemetery in Houston, MN. They are working on renovations to a part of the cemetery that is almost 100 years old. I am so blessed to have the support of my large family in Houston, MN but also my Crest Foods family. What we have here at Crest is something very special that many people never experience. It is something that I never take for granted. Whether it was a kind word on a down day, helping out with something while I was out of the office, a smile you gave, or a prayer said – all those things are gifts with meaning beyond what can be measured. Thank you for being a blessing at a difficult time. Shirley Reif (Controller)

Dear Crest Foods: Thank you for the plant and the thoughts and prayers. The kindness that you showed my family and I is greatly appreciated. Tara (Production A) and Roger (Set Up A) and family

A special thank you to Crest Foods for the wonderful gifts and cake – and most of all for everyone showing up for my retirement. Thanks fellow employees for the card. Cindie Ruch (Production B)

To Crest Foods: “Never are we more aware of how much our friends and family mean than at the time of our sadness. Your thoughtfulness did so much to ease our sorrow.” Thank you for the beautiful lantern you sent for Mom’s service. The family of Ellen Clark

To The Employees of Crest Foods: Thank you for the beautiful plant sent to me while recuperating from surgery. It was very thoughtful of you! Sincerely, Chris Pfoutz (Ing. Div. Administration)


With Alma just a few short weeks away from the birth of their baby boy, second shift Pro-duction held a baby shower for Alma during the supper break. A potluck of food and des-serts was quickly set up in the breakroom along with many gifts for the soon to arrive baby. Manny & Alma (both of Production B-Shift) sent their sincere thanks to all those who made the baby shower so much fun. Congrats to Alma, Manny and your family!

Congratulations Alma & Manny!

Making Quite A Splash by Chris Reynolds, Mix A Supervisor

Wade Lyles, son of Jim (Mix A) and Celeste Lyles, is making quite a name for himself as a com-petitive swimmer. The 15 year old Ashton/Franklin Center High School sophomore’s most recent accomplishment was to swim for Byron High School in the 400 freestyle relay at the Illinois High School Association State Finals. Being chosen to swim at the state finals as a sophomore is a great accomplishment. He responded to the challenge by dropping a full second off his previous per-sonal best time.

Wade also swims for the Dixon YMCA. That is where he heard from some Dixon swimmers that they were able to compete for Byron since their school didn’t offer swimming as a competitive sport. Wade wanted to compete at the high school level so his Mom, Celeste, went to work to make that an option. She worked with the Athletic Director at Ashton/Franklin Center and the process was started to allow Wade to swim for Byron High School.

As you can imagine, traveling to Byron every day for practice makes for a very hectic schedule. Wade’s typical day has him at school by 8:00 a.m., after school he travels to Byron with Jim or Aunt Karen for practice, which usually lasts till around 5:30. After practice Celeste picks him up and they get home around 6:30. After getting something to eat and doing homework he might find some time to relax. His weekends are filled with swim meets or extended practices. Wade competes almost all year round and takes only a couple weeks off in the spring.

Wade is an excellent student and has been swimming in competition since he was 8 years old. His future plans in-clude going to college, where he hopes to continue his swimming career, and major in engineering. When talking with Wade you soon find that he is soft spoken, well mannered, and very humble. When asked what is his biggest accomplishment so far, his reply was “contributing to help Byron win a sectional title.” No coincidence that he puts the results of the team ahead of his personal accomplishments. At 5 feet 7 inches tall and 138 pounds Wade’s physical stature is most likely not the reason for his success. It seems like his success comes from a big desire to succeed, a lot of training, and the support of family and friends. We wish him continued success!

Congratulations Kat!Kat Rice (QA Line Tech A-Shift) was treated to a baby shower on Friday, March 11th by her fellow co-workers. Kat is excited to welcome a daughter this spring. Congratulations to Kat and her family!


Kristina StoverShipping/Receiving

West Warehouse

Brent FransenQA Line Technician

B-Shift

Stacy SinkQA Line Technician

B-Shift

Lori TalleyQA Warehouse

Receiving Technician

Adam GieseMaintenance

B-Shift

Congratulations! Congratulations to the following employees for obtaining new jobs at Crest over the past few months!

Amber OlsonQA Specialist

Jon BakenerScheduling

Account Specialist

Justin KaeckerLevel 6 Production

A-Shift West Facility

Audra ReindelWarehouse Expediter

A-Shift Main Plant

Matt DowningQA #7A-Shift

Congratulations Amy Wilcox! Congratulations to Amy Wilcox who has been promoted to the position of Production Supervisor on the first shift in the Contract Packaging Division. She will be working alongside Al Hess in the Main Plant. Amy joined Crest Foods back in 1998 as a junior college student and has spent the majority of her time in the Production Department. Please join us in wishing her well in her new position!

Eric DroegeMaintenance

C-Shift

Ryan BurgerSet Up Maintenance

A-Shift


CIP 2016 2nd Quarter Winners The Continuous Improvement Program (CIP) is a program where employees may submit suggestions on waysthey think can improve Crest Foods. These suggestions may help improve overall efficiency, employee safety, sani-tation, record keeping, maintenance and various other areas around Crest Foods. We received 22 suggestions from employees for the 2nd quarter. Thank you to everyone for participating!

Jim Reindel, Karlin Production A-Shift2nd Quarter 1st Place • $250

Regina Bonnell, Maintenance C-Shift2nd Quarter Runner Up • $150

Regina’s idea is about a better and quicker way to replace jaw casting bushings. When re-placing the jaw casting bushing a homemade tool can be used to drive new bushing in at the same time as the old bushings are being driven out. This will work on all Haysesens, and has cut a normally 2 hour task in half since being implemented!

Justin Miller, Maintenance A-Shift2nd Quarter Runner Up • $150

Justin’s idea is to measure all cones for agitator blades. By making the cones match perfect-ly and numbering them according to the fillers they are on, they are never lost and always available.

Jim’s idea was to separate stretch wrap from garbage in the Karlin Warehouse production area so that the stretch wrap could be recycled. We fill about 3-5 totes with stretch wrap per week in this area, so it will save a lot of stretch wrap from going to the land fill. This idea has already been implemented and is working great!

With the right combination of snow, ice and a warm up in the weather, the ice slid-ing off the side of the Main Plant takes on a look as if someone were shredding paper. And speaking of what weather can do! A tornado in April 2015 coupled with a high wind storm that passed through the area in February 2016, took its toll on a light pole. It appears that this light pole is hitching a ride in the back of Chris Reyn-old’s pickup truck. Imagine your surprise when you leave work and see that!

Wild Weather


Compliance Facilitator Positions by Jeff Meiners

Contract Packaging at Crest Foods creates a strange business model. We run up to 30 different production lines that change over continuously – we have limited control over the scheduling of these lines – we have limited control over the vendors who provide supplies for these lines – volume fluctuates significantly from month to month…we would not represent the standard model for a manufacturing facility.

None the less, it is the business we are in and have grown very proficient at managing the chaos associated with run-ning an operation with so many moving parts and so little control. One of our ongoing challenges is that we be-come so focused on the production floor to managing the impacts of this always changing schedule that the finesse issues that we feel define who we are as a company often take a back seat to simply surviving another day. We’re uncomfortable with that reality and are making some changes to address it.

Two new positions of Compliance Facilitator have been created in contract packaging. The people filling these po-sitions will have zero focus on how many cases we produce. They will however be focused on issues such as safety, housekeeping, documentation, GMP’s and standard operating procedures. They will spend the vast majority of their time on the floor. Their role will not be that of a police officer who points out deficiencies, but to be a facili-tator who recognizes opportunities for improvement and achieves those improvements through those who do the actual work on the floor. No one will report directly to these positions, but everyone should work with and be im-pacted by them. They will work split shifts so employees on all shifts will have access to them.

Garett Meiners will be the compliance facilitator for all areas West – Production, Mix, Crest Warehouse, Karlin Warehouse and Ingredient Division Warehouse. He has been with Crest for 12 years and has worked in Production as a supervisor and Mixing as the department manager. Dean Rhodes will be the compliance manager for the Main Plant Production Facility. He was the fire chief in Dixon for 6 years and recently has been in charge of a number of training programs at KSB Hospital. While he lacks specific Crest experience (he will pick that up quickly), his past work experience will serve him very well in his new role at Crest.

The addition of these new positions at Crest represents a significant investment on our part to gear our manage-ment style to our unique set of operating circumstances. We want to be at the top of our field and we think these changes will strengthen us in that endeavor. Please welcome Garett and Dean to their new jobs and be open mind-ed to this new direction.

While at the Seattle Airport wait-ing on his departure plane to Chicago after visiting a customer, Steve Starke (Tech. Service) ran into the guys from the TV series “Gold Rush” on the Discovery Channel. As a huge fan, Steve was pretty excited to meet Jack Hoffman, Todd Hoffman, and Andy Spinks and talk with them for about 10 minutes. All three were very friendly and were curi-ous about what Steve did for a living and who he worked for. Steve Starke & Jack Hoffman Steve Starke & Todd Hoffman


Live Long & Prosper Safety Contest Updateby Karen Yardley, Safety & Sanitation Manager

January WinnerJoe Richardson (Ingredient A)Karen Yardley, Denton Yocum,

Phyllis Ott, Kevin O’Dell

February WinnerMark Beasley (Sanitation A)

December Winner Jason Rudkin (Production A)

Safety Team Members: Phyllis Ott, Karen Yardley, Denton Yocum

Can you believe we’ve been through another six months of the Live Long and Prosper contest? That means six more lucky employees who choose to participate won wonder-ful prizes including a cool Live Long and Prosper t-shirt and anywhere from $25 to $100 gift certificates to the Crest Store or gift cards to local businesses.

In December, Jason Rudkin from A Shift Production correctly identified five safety hazards from photos we took throughout the plant.

In January, Joe Richardson, former Ingredient Division Warehouse employee, correctly completed the word search and because we met that month’s challenge of 85 entries – his prize doubled in $ amount.

In February, Mark Beasley, A Shift Sanitation, won our word scramble contest. And we also drew a winner from all of the correct entries from the last six months, a total of 372 and another Sanitation employee, Tom Baeza, C Shift, was the recipient of a $100 Casey’s gift card!

As long as employees continue to participate, we’ll keep coming up with fun ways to keep everyone thinking about safety here at home and work! Live Long & Prosper!

BIG Winner $100 Gift Card

Tom Baeza (Sanitation C)

Crest’s newest employee? Meet Kenai! Tyler Few and Gabi

McCullough (both of B-Shift Pro-duction) had some fun dressing up

their dog in a Crest uniform.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!Rod Paul of the QA Lab came to work

dressed as a ‘Labrechaun’ for St. Patricks Day!


Waste & Sustainability Wave Team Update by Steve Zera, Engineering Manager

It’s been a while since we’ve updated our progress in trying to eliminate as much sustainable waste as possible. The team of Emily Smith, Scott Storey, Randy Reuter, and I continue to look at ways to minimize the amount of waste we send to the landfill by researching opportunities to reuse, repurpose,recycle, and sometimes eliminate products from our process completely.

It’s only been a couple of years since we got serious about taking this program beyond cardboard recycling and started looking at other opportunities. Most know that we’ve been recycling cardboard for almost 30 years.

Several things prompt the need to enhance our sustainability program. Sure, there are financial benefits to recycling, some quite significant, but I’d like to think that a good part of why we do it is because it’s simply the right thing to do. Putting materials in the ground that will be there for 50 years before degrading just doesn’t seem right, especially when that material can be reused or repurposed. Also, this isn’t just a Crest thing. Being “green” is a world-wide effort and most of our big customers expect us to have a working sustainability program before they’ll even con-sider us as a partner. In some cases, we must provide documentation to customers on a regular basis proving our commitment. Also, there are county and state requirements that we’re obligated to follow.

So, let’s update you as to where we are today. We’ll just skim over the fact that we continue to recycle as much as 200 tons of cardboard a month. We’ve done that for a long time. Most know that we recycle office paper in all loca-tions as well. Stretch film is being contained for recycling in all locations, including the Karlin warehouse. We recycle all of our steel drums and shop fabricating scrap. Plastic drums, broken pallets and totes, and general plastic scrap continue to be a difficult commodity to deal with, but we’re focused on finding a home for that material.

What’s new? We’re now recycling all of our ingredient bags from the Ingredient Division and the Mix facility. Believe it or not, we’ll recycle over 600 tons a year that was previously going to the land fill. As a result, we’ve totally converted a 40 yd. trash compactor in the Mix facility (see picture) to a recycle only system!

Our latest major effort, and maybe the largest to date, captures our waste food product that would have previously ended up as trash. By now, everyone has seen totes marked “Repurposed Food Product”. We are close to having plant wide coverage with these containers. Specifically, these are used to capture all food waste from checkweigher rejects, product damaged in process, catch tubs, QA testing, floor sweepings, old age stock, etc. This food product is then separated from the pouch and carton material and is repurposed as animal feed, specifically for cattle and hogs.

We’ve come a long way in our efforts to manage and minimize our waste. There will always be new opportunities as technology advances, and we’ll continue to work hard to enhance our program.

Lucas Liston recycling ingredient bags at the Mix Facility

Francisco Garcia using the “Repurposed Food Product” container

Terrance Ross & the “Repurposed Food Product” container


In November, A-Shift Production employee Tara Lifka and her son Colten, were hit nearly head-on by an impaired driver. Thankfully her son got by with minor injuries. Tara, however, was not so lucky. She sustained many serious injuries and has had several surgeries. She is slowly recovering and starting physical therapy to rehab her broken neck and ankle.

Sherry Joos, of A-Shift QA, decided to do something to help Tara and her fam-ily. Joos, who has been a baking advocate for several years said “My goal was to raise $500 for Tara and I am nearly there. When I finish up with my current

orders I will hit my goal.” Sherry said she likes trying new recipes and making up her own. “I started making cook-ies for my family and perfected that. Then people started asking to buy them. I think I really got started into baking because I like cake! I never thought I would be doing this but now it has snowballed into cupcakes and decorating cakes, too” said Joos. Recently, Sherry burned up her oven with all the baking she has been doing which resulted in purchasing a brand new oven. In addition, several hand-mixers have bit the dust as well. “My family is really sup-portive and if there is a decoration that I can’t quite figure out, they are there in the 11th hour to help me out. One time I had a cake cooling on my screened in porch and a squirrel broke in and ate it! I had to start all over! I learned a lot on my own by trial and error as well as by watching YouTube videos.”

Sherry has often baked for other fundraisers in the local communities and continues to add items to her list of deli-cious baked goods. This fundraiser hit closest to home for her – a fellow employee in need. She has a talent she is willing to share as well as donate her time to shop for all the ingredients, then time in her kitchen to prepare it! This fundraiser started the first week in February and will wrap up the first week in March with all proceeds going to Tara and her family. No doubt Sherry’s goal of $500 will be met.

Sherry Joos frosting cupcakes

Walking Club is Back! Warmer weather means it’s time to get outside and do some walking and running! The Walking Club will be back in action starting this May, and we are excited to get some exercise and raise money for local charities! Last year, this group raised $7,920.00 for the Serenity Hospice and Home in Oregon – just by participating in local 5K events.

This year, we will be raising money for HOPE of Ogle County in Rochelle, which provides support, assistance and resources to those who are or have been affected by domestic abuse.

We will be participating in 7 events, starting with the Make-a-Wish 5K in Dixon on May 14th. Events will then take us to the towns of Oregon, Rock Falls, Byron, Ashton, and Dixon, and will support local groups like Make-a-Wish (Dixon), the Ashton Community Fund, Dixon Athletic Boosters, Dixon Main Street, Dixon Park District, YMCA Strong Kids (Dixon), the Whiteside County Food Bank, the Oregon High School Athletic Department, and Oregon Village of Progress.

Schedules and Walking Club information will be available soon at Crest. For those who are not familiar with the club, Crest will pay all entry fees, and for every event that you participate in will put $20 into our fund for HOPE of Ogle County! Crest will also be paying a $1000.00 bonus to the fund if our runners win any of the Corporate Chal-lenges at the races this year (last year, they won 1 event)!

Contact Erika Meiners (x201) or Jamie Wilcox (x270) if you need anything or have any questions, and we hope that everyone can join us this year!

Sherry Joos is Baking for a Causeby Cheri Kemp


Within the halls, walls and warehouses of Crest Foods, you find many employees who can make music. In some in-stances, the music bug has passed down a generation to the children of our employees who are working toward a career in music. In this article, we will introduce you to 5 musicians, 3 of which are Crest employees.

Meet Todd Lorenc & Jeff KagayWhen not plucking the strings of his bass guitar, Todd Lorenc, first shift Mix, can also be found playing the lead or rhythm guitar in one of his four bands. Yes, he is in four different bands, each with their own unique sound. In Chameleon, a jazz trio, Todd and his band mates can be found playing at local small venues like coffee houses, book stores and fundraisers. When Todd changes style of music to early rock and roll, like the Beatles, he can be found playing bass guitar with Jeff Kagay who works in the Karlin Warehouse. Jeff plays lead and rhythm in this 2 piece group, called Flying Fish. These two can be heard belting out Beatles tunes as well as other 60’s and 70’s music, again in small venues in the Sauk Valley area.

Jeff said when he was about 6 years old he saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan TV show and was hooked. “I knew right away I was going to be a guitar player. I would use an old broom stick to pretend I had a guitar!” Jeff also plays a little banjo and bass guitar. The birth of Flying Fish happened as the result of a fireside jam session with Todd Lorenc. “I am 14 years older than Todd so I am like his big brother. Todd was invited to a bachelor party at my house that my son and his friend were having. Todd and I started talking about music and found out that we both loved the Beatles. I told Todd I had a couple of acoustic guitars. We grabbed those and sat by the campfire for three hours and jammed. That was 10 years ago! Our first gig, which was not paid, was at The Next Picture Show Gallery in Dixon. From there word of mouth spread and we started getting paying jobs.

Todd began playing music when he was about 15. “My dad was a semi-professional sax player in bands around Chicago and Joliet so I was raised around music. He was my main influence. I did not want to play a horn but I knew I wanted to play music.” So if you are keeping score, that is two bands for Todd.

The third band that Todd plays in is called Firefly. Todd’s wife, Shelly, is also in this band where she and her best friend are the vocalists. Shelly plays drums now and then also, so music is in the Lorenc family. Firefly is a five piece band that plays pop covers. “Any of our bands are for hire for weddings, parties, family reunions, fundraisers and other events. When I play at coffee houses or Books on First, I just tell them to give me the dates they have available. Then I can see which of the 3 bands I am in can fit the schedule.”

The fourth and final band is the Abiding Word Worship team where Todd and his wife play and sing for their church services and functions along with other talented musicians in their church.

Meet Burn N’ BushBurn N’ Bush is a 2 man acoustic band, consisting of Rod Burnette (his wife Lynn works in Payroll), and Dave Bushman, Scheduling Expeditor. “We started in late 2009. We basically got together to learn Christmas songs for a Christmas party and we took off from there” said Bushman. Dave plays a 12 string acoustic guitar and sings while Rod also sings and plays a Cajon. For those of you unfamiliar with a Cajon, pronounced Ka-Hon, it is a 2 sided box instrument made of thin plywood. The person playing the Cajon sits on

Music to Your Ears by Cheri Kemp

Rod & Dave

Jeff & Todd


the top and uses their hands to keep a beat/rhythm by slapping the different sides and areas on the box to simulate a drum set. Dave had been playing in rock bands since graduating high school, but Rod hadn’t played in a band since his early 20’s, when he played some bass and drums in his dad’s country band.

They like to play sing-a-long standards, which hopefully most people recognize. Though they claim they are not the most talented band in the world, they try to make up for it by having fun. Burn N’ Bush will try to get the crowd involved by singing, dancing, laughing, whatever it takes. They can generally be found playing in local bars, festivals and other events. Occasionally they have played a few shows in Chicago or Rockford One exciting event included opening up for Bret Michaels in Rockton last summer. They are also very fortunate to have the local Budweiser distributor sponsor them for their merchandise, which gets the Burn N’ Bush name out there a bit.

As a couple of guys in their 50’s , they like to say they are well past worrying about getting rich & famous, but instead just trying to entertain and have a little fun along the way. You can catch them this summer around the area, or follow them on a few road trips! They will be doing a show or 2 in Wisconsin this summer, and also playing in Nashville over Memorial Day Weekend. Dave has passed this talent and affinity for music to his 3 sons, Tyler, Tristan (Tree) and Griffin. So the tradition continues!

Meet Tristan BushmanTristan Bushman, nicknamed Tree, (son of Dave Bushman,Scheduling Dept.) is a fresh-man at Sauk Valley College and a local singer/songwriter. He started getting up and sing-ing with his dad’s band when he was 5 years old, and started learning guitar shortly after that. By the time he was 10 years old, he was singing and playing guitar at churches, and school talent shows, and by 12 years old was playing local summer festivals, and to date has performed over 200 shows.

Tristan had always enjoyed singing, and playing guitar as a hobby, but in High School de-cided he wanted to make it more than just a hobby! His first break was making it to Los Angeles when he was 15years old, for executive casting for the TV show “the Voice”. Though he didn’t make the final cut to make the show, it motivated him to keep going, knowing that not many people make it even that far. Tristan kept playing locally, and ended up winning an internet singing contest, which enabled him to record and release his first single, and professional music video.

2015 was big year for Tristan, he released his first album of original songs in March. He was also chosen by “The House of Blues” as an emerging youth artist and performed on their stage in April, 2015. He was also chosen to participate in a National Talent Search contest which was held at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles Il., which he went on to win. This then earned him an audition for the final season of “American Idol”. Tristan did a skype audi-tion for Idol, and from that was asked to come to San Francisco for a private audition. The San Francisco audition was a long day. He had to audition that morning in front of casting executives, and they moved him on!!! Next was auditioning in front of Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, and Harry Connick Jr., so he sat there all day and it was finally Tristan’s turn to audition around 7pm that evening. He auditioned with a song, by NEEDTOBREATHE, and came out with the Golden Ticket, and moved on to Hollywood.

Hollywood was a great experience, but unfortunately was cut before group round. This again only motivated Tristan to keep pushing. He is currently playing shows, writing music for his next album, and networking with all the contacts and musicians he has met along the way, all at the tender age of 18! He has opened for numerous nationally touring acts, and one of his big shows this summer will be opening for Kellie Pickler at the Big R Country Jam in Rochelle (8/13/16). His motto is “If your dreams don’t scare you…they’re not big enough”, so he’ll keep chasing his dream. Check him out on Facebook: Tristan Bushman Music, or his website www.tristanbushman.com


Grilling with Jeff: How to Make Beer Can Burgers by Jeff Karas, Engineering Electrician

There’s nothing better than a cold beer and a hamburger straight off the grill on a hot summer day. That’s why this recipe for beer can burgers with bacon from the BBQ Pit Boys is one of the best. Using an unopened beer can, you can create a bowl like structure from ground meat, which will allow you to easily stuff burgers with things like sautéed veggies. The recipe below is from BBQ Pit Boys, but I’ve added a few variations along the way. Start up your grills and enjoy!

Ingredients:-4.5 lbs of 80/20 ground chuck -1 can of beer (unopened)-2 lbs of regular cut bacon -Ingredients to stuff the burgers (examples: cheese, veggies, BBQ sauce)

Six Steps:1 Prepare all fillings for the burgers. Before you get started on making the burgers, prepare all of the fillings

you want stuffed inside the burgers. I sautéed veggies (green pepper, red pepper, yellow pepper, orange pepper, onion, mushrooms) separately to keep the flavors separate.

2 Roll ground beef into balls. Take your ground chuck and roll it up into balls to form the foundation for the beer can burgers. You should be able to make about six 0.75lb meatballs.

3 Use beer can as a mold for the burgers. Take a full can of your favorite beer and push it into the middle of the meatballs. Push it all the way down and form the meat around the can. (Make sure the meat is cold or you will have trouble forming the burgers.)

4 Warp bacon around burgers. Wrap bacon around the outside of the burger and use it to keep the whole thing together. When finished, gently remove the beer can with a dish towel.

5 Place stuffings inside of burgers. I stuffed burgers with sautéed veggies and then topped with cheese and BBQ sauce.

6 Grill the burgers. Set up your grill for indirect heat as a medium temperature (about 300 degrees). Place the burgers on the grill opposite the hot coals. Put the cover on the grill and let them cook for about an hour.

My Southwest Airlines Experience by Joe Gomez, Ingredient Division Sales Manager, Southwest

I love the fact that my job gives me the opportunity to travel and visit with people I have met over the many years I have been in the industry and the opportunity it gives me to meet new people almost every day. I love getting to travel to a different location almost every day and many times, several locations in one day. I know travel isn’t for everyone, but for me, I love the variety the life of travel can be and not knowing what each day will bring. Most of the time a travel day can be pretty mundane; get up early, fight traffic to the airport, get through security, fly to another city, get on a shuttle, rent a car, fight more traffic. The life of travel can be one big line or traffic jam. Thankfully, most days go without incident, which is a big deal, especially if you are 40,000 feet in the air! But life isn’t perfect and things do go wrong on occasion. And when things do go wrong, it’s usually while on the ground.


Thank God for that! It seems to me the number one issue that plagues us travelers is a flight delay due to inclement weather. Bad weather doesn’t even have to be at the location you are at. It could be at a major airport hub almost anywhere in the country and it could cause a ripple affect across the entire country, delaying hundreds of flights. Or, in the case of a recent trip I made, it could be a short delay in Dallas due to fog in San Antonio.

I love Southwest Airlines. They always do their best to make your travel experience as pleasant as possible…even when the weather doesn’t cooperate. We left Albuquerque at 5:55 in the morning with one stop in Dallas before continuing on to San Antonio. There were only about 10 of us left on the plane after the Dallas passengers got off. One of the flight attendants announced that there would be a delay due to heavy fog in San Antonio. They did not know how long the delay would be so they allowed us to get off the plane if we wanted to get something to eat, drink or just stretch our legs. Most people got off the plane. I chose to stay on. I noticed the cockpit door open. Now, it’s not unusual to see a female pilot flying the plane, but this was a first for me to have both pilots of the plane I was on be female. This is another reason why I like SWA so much. They have broken the barrier between genders and have given everyone an opportunity to do whatever their skill level allows them to do! So me being the big kid I am, I had to take this rare opportunity to talk to these two pilots. I told them how excited I was to meet them and that after flying almost every week for the past 12 years I had never had a chance to step up close to the cockpit. These two incredible people were more than happy to give me a few minutes of their time and were perfect examples of the type of people SWA hires. They were professional, friendly and they exemplified the type of customer service all companies should aspire to give. Much to my delight, they invited me into the cockpit to take a selfie with them. I thought I would share that picture with everyone. Thank you Southwest Airlines for mak-ing my travel much more pleasant!

3rd Annual Garage Sale for Charity by Janet Sutton, Customer Service Manager

As you start to do your spring cleaning and make your piles to donate, please keep me in mind as we have started to take donations for our 3rd annual garage sale for charity. Remember, one person’s junk is another person’s treasure! Some of the donated items in the past have been clothes, bikes, dishes, ovens, micro-waves, TV’s, holiday decorations, picture frames, books, toys, bedroom furniture, couches, chairs, pictures, plants, patio furniture, designer pursues, tools, old trunks all sorts of knickknacks and -out-of-this-world baked goods. As you can see by the list, we take anything! Remember, I will come to you to pick up your donations; nothing is too big for us to handle. We only ask that if you donate electronics that they work.

The sale will be held during the Franklin Grove Harvest Festival. We will be open from Thursday, August 4th through Saturday, August 6th from 8 AM to 4 PM.

Proceeds will be going to the Hospice of the Rock River Valley to help fund the new hospice home. The hospice home will feature six patient rooms with accommodations for family and visitors. They will provide three levels of patient care: Routine/Residential: For patients who cannot or do not wish to stay in their home. Respite: Patients stay to allow relief for their family/caregiver for up to five days. Inpatient: Short-term pain control or management of acute clinical problems that can’t be managed at home. For more than thirty years, patients and families have counted on Hospice of the Rock River Valley to provide comfortable and dignified hospice care.

If you have any questions, you can give me a call my extension is 203. Thank you for your support!


Of Bees & Honey by David Henrikson

“Have you ever been stung?” That is among the top questions I am often asked when someone finds out I am a beekeeper. Another question is often “Are the bees doing okay?” They inquire, almost sympathetically about our favorite pollinator on which 80% of the foods we eat rely upon. Much attention has been brought to the honeybees in the last few years since the mysterious condition called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) began reducing the bee populations in many places. Many people began paying attention to the bees, and it created many new beekeepers, and bee protectors.

I began working with bees in 2007 with two colonies of bees, about the time CCD began, but no one knew what hit them yet. With our large family making our own bread from scratch, we were buying 100 pounds of honey each year. And we also found local honey to be very beneficial to our health. I stumbled across a few articles on beekeep-ing, and a friend of mine also kept bees. After considering the idea over one winter, I made the decision to take on this new venture.

Like many hobbies, one can put in a lot of time and money, and never see a financial return on the investment. But the reward is in the hobby itself. For us it is the local, raw honey for my own family and others. It is extremely fascinating learning about the bees and being an advocate for the only insect we get food from. I have also had op-portunities to teach kids in schools about bees/beekeeping, which made learning about insects very exciting. I’ll try to take you through my beekeeping year here.

So, how are my bees doing now? I went into winter with 6 colonies. This spring I have 2, maybe 3, pulling through it okay. It is not so much the cold that gets the bees, but being cooped up for long periods of time, spreading disease, and parasites, that is difficult. They are okay with the extreme cold as long as they have plenty of food (rea-son they store honey) and that they can get to it. They won’t move to a different spot in the hive where there is honey if it remains very cold for too long. Sometimes it is a mystery why they die. One of the hives I knew was weak died, and one died that I thought was strong. There is a saying in beekeeping. “If you think you know everything about keeping bees, you either a beginner, or you’re a liar.” Some things about bees we never figure out.

To bring my colony numbers up again, by the end of April, I will be receiving 2 new queens in the mail. I will take some young bees and brood (larva/pupae before the adult stage) and add a new queen to it in a separate hive box. I am also purchasing 2 nucs (nucleus colonies) which are very small and complete hives that already have a jump start on the bees working together and growing strong. After they grow larger, these should help me get my capacity back in time for the flower nectar flow which begins in June.

A bee colony is almost like one social super organism. There is the Queen, which really doesn’t ‘rule’ the hive, but does have important roles such as is spreading her scent (pheromone), letting all know things are okay, and laying eggs. Lots of them. About 2000 a day! And there are the worker bees. These are non-fertile females doing all the rest of the work. From building the comb, cleaning house, taking care of young, and of course, gathering nectar which they turn into honey. They, together, make the decisions for the colony, which also includes whether they need to ‘create’ a new queen if there isn’t one doing a good enough job. Then there are the males- drones. Their life consists of very few things; Eat, sleep and the rare, one in thousands chance of mating with a queen (outside the hive, 300 feet in the air). They don’t do any other work. The girls want them to stay out of the ‘kitchen’ since they make such a mess so they hand feed them honey. But the drones get theirs. In the fall, when resources are low, the girls kick them out of the hive to freeze and starve to death. Mating? If they had that rare opportunity, they will fall from the sky to their death afterwards.

Soon I will be getting my bee suit on, opening up the boxes, and inspecting their state of affairs. During times when


nectar is scarcer and they get more defensive protecting their stores, I may puff a little smoke in the hive with a smoker to help dispel the ‘alarm’ scent. Some say it also mimics a fire in the forest in which they focus more on eat-ing some of their honey for a possible abandonment of the hive. I lift up the frames of comb and will examine the colony for any signs of disease, parasites, strength, honey stores, and look to make sure I see signs of a queen doing her job. I may add some boxes or replace some old frames. At times I have to swap some brood or honey with some frames from another hive to help provide what they need. I’ll do this through the summer.

In the fall I hope to see enough extra honey on the hives that can be used for our home. We’ll be making more bread, using it in our teas, taking some for our allergies and perhaps use some wax or honey for cosmetic products, candles or as a burn ointment. The wonderful, natural properties of our raw honey still has the pollens and enzymes and other nutrients that commercial honeys cook and filter out. And, if after a couple months it begins to crystalize (a good sign of raw, unprocessed honey), we’ll either use some as a sugary spread on our bread or warm it carefully in a double pot until it is liquid again.

What can you do to help the bees? You can become a beekeeper, or if you are not that adventurous, you can share a bit of what you read here with others. We can all plant more flowers around our homes. As a landowner, you can leave the wild flowers on your field or edges. If pesticides have to be used, use them minimally and properly. If you see a swarm of bees where they don’t belong (their way of propagating), call someone to remove them rather than killing them. (Beekeepers can start new hives with swarms.) Bees can get a bad rap because of their sting, but many confuse aggressive wasps and hornets which can sting repeatedly. Bees, which sting once, as a last resort, die after-wards. So, help share the fun facts about bees, honey and their benefits. If you would like to know more about bees and honey I’d enjoy telling you more. Perhaps I’ll get an opportunity like this again to share more in Crest Ink or elsewhere. And have I ever been stung? Yes, sometimes lots. Probably about as often as a carpenter in the trade hits themselves with a hammer. But it’s no reason to quit. I enjoy my hobby and the bees. Besides, I’d rather get stung by a bee.

Fun facts about bees:• An average worker bee makes about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.• During the spring and summer a worker bee lives about 4 weeks. They work so hard they wear their wings out.• Fermented honey, known as Mead, is the most ancient fermented beverage. The term “honey moon” originated

with the Norse practice of consuming large quantities of Mead during the first month of a marriage.• Honey bees must consume about 17-20 pounds of honey to be able to biochemically produce each pound of

beeswax.

David inspecting(and admiring) his bees as he transfers them to a larger hive box

Maybe he will see a queen here as he inspects for bee health

Honey ripe and finished with a wax capping, ready for harvest


Mississippi Hippy, the Professional Bull Rider’s bovine giant is officially calling it a career. K-C Bucking Bulls & Blythe Cattle Company announced that they have decided to retire Mississippi Hippy following a hip injury the bull sustained during the Iron Cowboy in Arlington, Texas.

Hippy’s veterinarian discovered that the 2300 pound bull sustained a dislocated hip during a ride attempt in the first round action. It was evident something was wrong from the beginning with the largest bull in the PBR. It was deter-mined he had a dislocated hip and dislocated to the extent to where he will never buck again. It was a devastating blow to us after Mississippi Hippy fought his way back to competition in the past three months by overcoming not only a horn infection, but as well as two bouts with cancerous tumors in his eyelids.

Mississippi Hippy finishes his professional career with 34 buckoffs in four plus seasons and was only ridden three times. Hippy retires with an average bull score of 43.78 points. He also competed at the last four Built Ford Tough World Finals. We are looking forward to a full recovery for Hippy on the K-C ranch in Mt. Orab, Ohio.

Hippy loved his job. He was the PBR’s version of Andre the Giant. Mississippi Hippy is not only 2300 pounds but he stands 6-foot-4 inches to his hump. His massive frame makes it nearly impossible for opposing riders to find any room for their legs inside the bucking chute. “We rarely see a bull that big in bull riding or anywhere, even in the days before the PBR when there used to be a lot of 1,800-2,000 pound bulls” said PBR’s Director of Livestock Cody Lambert. “You rarely see one that’s close to 2400 pounds, I can only think of about three or four in the years I’ve been around bull riding. He’s one of the biggest ones I’ve ever seen in the bucking chutes.” Hippy was marked 45 points or higher nine times in his career but Lambert believes there could have been many more. “He had lots of outs where he didn’t get the score he really deserved because he bucked guys off pretty quick and he is so big and he looks like a gentle giant”, Lambert said. “There were lots of times though early in his career where he was the best bull of the night and he got scored as such.”

When we first got Mississippi Hippy, Hippy was a big mean and frightening bull on the ranch, but over time made a transition into a lovable, “big baby”. Mississippi Hippy’s evolution into a loving creature transformed into a massive following on social media. In fact, Mississippi Hippy announced his retirement on his personal Facebook page, where he has over 8,000 followers. His popularity and fame has started to slowly catch up to his massiveness in recent seasons. There has been a huge outpouring of support from other stock contractors and many of the cow-boys on the tour. The people in the PBR and Hippy’s fans have sent emails, texts and phone calls reaching out to see how Hippy is doing and offering best wishes to Hippy and in particular Kenny McElroy and his family who own Hippy and take care off him. I have been lucky to be part owner with Kenny on Mississippi Hippy.

Mississippi Hippy’s future is still bright. He may not be able to buck anymore but Hippy will be a big part of the future for K-C Bucking Bulls and hopefully me once he is healthy again. We hope in three or four years down the road we will see a bunch of Hippy’s coming into the sport. I have been proud to be a partner on Mississippi Hippy. He did all we asked of him and became one of the best bulls in the PBR Tour. It has been an honor and a lot of fun to be a part of Hippy and the ride he has taken us on.

We now hope to have Mississippi Hippy live a long and healthy life on the ranch and produce some young Hippy’s in the future. It will be hard to ever match the pride and excitement that Mississippi Hippy has brought to our fam-ily but hopefully, the future will be full of more Hippy’s.

Mississippi Hippy Update by Phil Blythe, National Accounts Manager, Ing. Div.


10 Tips to Lower Blood Sugar by Heidi McGlown, (Nurse Heidi), RN

1. Test. To master your blood sugar, you have to know where it is. That means checking 2 hours or more after meals, or schedule to have a fasting glucose check done with your nurse. Once you know, you can address it.

2. Eat your way through the rainbow. By choosing fruits and veggies from a wide range of colors, this will add more variety in your foods and nutritional value. Living with diabetes doesn’t have to mean feeling de-prived. Visit diabetes.org for some free meal ideas and recipes!

3. The “E”word- EXERCISE! Look for every opportunity to move your body during the day. Take the stairs, park further from the door, do some leg or arm exercises during TV commercials. Start taking walks with your family, take a fitness class, or join the Walking Club. The most important thing is that you find something that you enjoy so that you stick with it!

4. Get a buddy. Most of us have a hard time with self-motivation. Having support helps! Get a friend to join a fitness class with you. Get your partner on board with trying new healthier recipes. Start taking your dog on daily walks! Whatever it takes to stick with it!

5. Lose it! Lose a pound. Or 4! By lowering your weight, you’ll also lower your blood sugar and reduce after meal spikes. Even by eating a few bites less per meal, you could start the losing process! Remember: 3500 calo-ries = 1 lb. So if you want to lose a pound per week, you need to either eat 500 calories less per day, or burn 500 more per day.

6. Pretend you are at a fancy restaurant. Many restaurants start your meal out with a salad. Salads are generally low in both calories and carbs. If you fill up with salad, you may be less hungry when you eat the rest of your meal. This will help with number 5!

7. Start drinking...WATER! Stick with water and drink lots of it. It’s good for you and can help keep hunger away. Although diet sodas don’t have any calories, for some unknown reason, people who drink a lot of diet sodas have a harder time losing weight.

8. Look in the medicine cabinet. Sometimes medications taken for other ailments can raise your blood sugar. Discuss all your meds with your physician and see if there may be alternatives to control your conditions without affecting your blood sugar.

9. Chill out. We don’t need to worry about being chased by a tiger in our corner of the world! (This would cause our body to dump extra sugar into our blood for extra energy in order to run away!) But our bodies do dump some extra sugar with every day stresses such as overdue bills, being frustrated in traffic, etc. We need to make time to relax! This may mean taking a bath, reading a book, getting a massage, or finding a fun hobby.

10. Get some sleep. Not getting enough sleep can raise your blood sugar. Think of 8 hours of sleep as an-other med to help manage your diabetes. One way to help is to get all of the electronic gadgets out of your bedroom.

Don’t Let This Be You! If you don’t want a ticket for an expired license plate sticker, here is an IMPORTANT REMINDER! The State of Illinois has suspended the mailing of vehichle registration reminder notices. You may register on line for a reminder to be emailed to you by going to: www.cyber

driveilloinois.com. You will need the registration form from your vehicles in order to supply the proper information for registration. Be aware of your vehicle’s expiration date so you are not ticketed for being non-compliant!


Employment AnniversariesApril Day YearsTODD DISCH 4 5TYLER EWENS 4 5RICHARD DREW 7 2MARIA GARCIA 7 19LISA WHITE 7 19ROBERT ABELL 8 14CHARLES REYNOLDS 10 27SCOTT MOORE 11 11BLASA BRISENO 13 11ROBERT BURMEISTER 13 1REBECCA DODD 13 7TODD ENNELLS 13 1CODY MATHENY 13 7WALTER WILLSTEAD 13 7LAWRENCE EVANS 14 2RAYMOND O’DELL 14 27M. KATHLEEN PELAYO 14 9FIDEL RAMOS 16 15REGINALDO ROSAS 16 9EMILY SMITH 19 17NATHAN TIPPIE 20 8HEATHER THOMASSON 21 8DAVID BUSHMAN 24 27GERALD WATERS 24 44JERRY SIKKEMA 25 22KENNETH DREW 27 46GUY COVELL 28 13CALEB HESS 30 4

May Day YearsKERRY TUMLESON 1 15JAMES LYLES 2 22LARRY SHIPMAN 2 11JUSTIN KAECKER 5 2ELIZABETH RAPP 6 13HERBERT WYCKOFF 6 14APRIL COVER 7 14ARTHUR RUIZ 7 9KIM GALLAGHER 8 38MICHAEL PIPER 10 4RICHARD RICE 11 5

DANNY FULLER 12 2MARIA GUERRERO 12 19JACOB WISE 12 2JORDAN HAMILTON 13 3DONNA SMITH 13 12MARISOL LARA 14 9LEROY STAMBAUGH 14 9JULIE TOMBLIN 14 9KENNETH BLOMBERG 15 2AARON SHINABARGER 15 7SCOTT WEBB 15 27YASMIN FULGENCIO 17 12GLENN WHITE 17 6MARQUELL ADDISON 18 1JONATHAN BAKENER 21 4REGINA SMITH 21 32WYATT BEROGAN 22 16ANDRA MEINERS 23 5ZACHARY SPINDEN 23 5JONATHAN LARSON 24 12LORI SHINABARGER 25 18JOHN LOOMIS 26 7GAVEN MEINERS 27 8MATTHEW DREW 28 19PEGGY MESSER 28 14LOLA PAUL 28 20BERNARD IWEMA 29 9BENTON FICHTER 30 31JUSTIN GUENTHER 30 4MARK MC WETHY 30 21JOYCE MEINERS 30 21RAY SIXAYSANA 30 31LILJANA REFATLLARI 31 10

June Day Years BARTLOMIEJ BARDZINSKI 1 4MACKENZIE DEWEY 1 1JAIR GRANADOS-RAMIREZ 1 1JEFFREY MEINERS 1 36CHRISTINE PFOUTZ 1 45THOMAS SAUNDERS 1 27SARA SNOW 1 7

ASHLEY TALBERT 1 1YARELI TENORIO 1 1JORDAN WHITE 1 1BENJAMIN WORTHINGTON 1 1JEFFERY BRECUNIER 3 20JESSE MORRIS 3 3BRIAN SCHAFER 3 20MIKAYLA COX 4 4MARK JOHNSON 4 21ABBY LAHMAN 4 4AUDRA REINDEL 5 3F. MORINE SNODGRASS 5 43PEGGY BENFORD 6 16CYTLALIK CADENAS 6 5JENNIFER DREW 6 11TROY TRAVERS 6 11TARA LIFKA 7 17ROMAN KOZAK II 8 1KEITH SMITH JR. 8 10JESSICA THOMAS 8 1ZACHARY DEWEY 9 2GARY EVANS 10 7MARIA GUIJOSA 10 2NED TIPPIE 10 27JENNIFER LEBRICK 11 2MATTHEW RICHARDSON 11 15MICHAEL FINN 12 2MATTHEW GENDUSA 12 2TY LEBRICK 12 2APRIL FICHTER 13 22YOLANDA CADENAS 15 7FRANCISCO GARCIA 15 7LUCAS BURNETTE 16 2STEPHANIE EICH 16 2TREVOR FERRY 16 2TINA JOHNSON 16 2PETER KRULL JR. 16 2MAX BALLARD 17 31BRANDON DODRILL 17 3TYLER HALFACRE 17 3CARMEN REUTER 17 3NIKKI TINTORI 17 3


June Day YearsRICO VAN OOSTEN 17 3ANA HUERAMO 18 4DOMENICO MOSCATO 18 4DANIEL ESTRELLA 19 10CRYSTAL KESSEL 20 22

Employment AnniversariesRICHARD COX 21 6JOHN DERR 21 17JOSE HERNANDEZ PEREZ 21 6REGINA BONNELL 23 2MICHAEL MOLS 23 6OLGERT REFATLLARI 23 5

ANNA BARNHART 24 2LLOYD DROEGE 27 22MARIA TORRES 27 5TAMMY CROOK 29 10

Connecting to Your MassMutual 401(k) Account

Two of the most important aspects of retirement planning: ability to manage your own account, and the ability to get account information when you want it. With MassMutual you can easily access and manage your account the way you want virtually anywhere and at any time.

Accessing your retirement account Step 1: When you are ready to access your account, log onto www.retiresmart.com Click Log In. If you have

already set up an account, your Username is your Social Security Number OR the unique Username you chose previously.

Step 2: Enter your password. Your password is a PIN that is between 6 and 8 digits, numbers only. If you don’t have your password, or don’t remember it, click on “Forgot Password” After clicking on “Forget Password,” you will then be asked to enter your User ID or Social Security Number and click Submit. Scroll directly to the bottom of the New Log In Request Verification page and click on “validate your identity.” Answer the public data questions on the Participant Validation page and Validate to create a new User ID and a new password, answer two security questions and provide your email address. The User ID and Password help to keep your personal information more secure.

To change the way your current account balance is investedGo to My Account drop-down box and click Investment Selection under the tab Moving Money Around.You will be asked to choose the investment strategy that is right for youChoose the funds you want to invest in, and then click Next

To designate your primary beneficiaryGo to the My Account drop-down and click Personal Info under the tab Everything ElseSelect Add Beneficiary to enter information. Once you have entered the information, click Continue and then Save.Select Change Beneficiary to change any existing beneficiary information. You may then be asked to contact your

Plan Administrator or complete the Beneficiary Designation form.

You can use the online primary beneficiary process if you are single, or if you are married and you want to declare your spouse as your primary beneficiary. If you are married and want to declare someone other than your spouse as your primary beneficiary, or you want to change your contingent beneficiaries, please contact Erika Meiners (x201).


Employee BirthdaysApril DayJULIE TOMBLIN 1JEFF CAPES 2AARON SHINABARGER 3JON HARRISON 4PENNY INGALLS 5DEBORAH NOON 5OLGERT REFATLLARI 5JARED STUMPENHORST 5RICHART HOUGH 7CHAZ RICHARD 7JULIE PITCHFORD 10DEREK CARNEY 11TODD LORENC 11BRANDI PHIPPS 11CANDY KOCH 12WILLIAM HAND III 13ALISON KENNEDY 13KENA RIVERA 13REBECCA HENSON 15GARY GUENTHER 16AARON MEYER 16MICHELLE GRIES 17BARBARA LAWYER 17DARCY ZERA 17MICHAEL FRENCH 18MICHAEL MEINERS 18DANIEL BROWN 19CHRISTOPHER BOYSEN 20ELZBIETA CICHOSZ 20CATHERINE LARSON 20MARQUELL ADDISON 21CYTLALIK CADENAS 21ALEXANDER DUTHIE 21KEVIN O’DELL 21PAUL SIMONS 22BEN IGNASZAK 24ALLAN KVOOL 24CODY MATHENY 24RYAN BURGER 26SARAH KENDALL 26MARGE KRUEGER 26BRIANA STOMBERG 26

JAMES RHODES 27KIM GALLAGHER 29JOSEPH LOOMIS 29DANIEL MILLER 30

May DayANNA BARNHART 1NIKKI TINTORI 1JACKIE AYLING 2JAVAN CAIN 3JEREMY BUTTS 4JEFFREY HACAGA 4SUSAN MILLER 4MICHAEL SPENCER 4JAKOB ECKEL 5SAMUEL HAIGHT 5LISA WINKLER 5DANIEL OWEN 6BESIRE RAMADANI 6NED TIPPIE 7SHAD HEWITT 8ASHLEY MARTINEZ 8REGINALDO ROSAS 9SAVANNAH DEES 10SHAWNEEN ARREGUIN 11PHILIP BLYTHE 12KAREN YARDLEY 12ZYGMUNT CICHOSZ 13TAYLOR BOYSEN 14MARIA GUIJOSA 14ANDRA MEINERS 14JOHN VAN DYKE 14STEVEN ZELLERS 14BENNETT MORRIS 15KATHLEEN CONANT 16JOSE HERNANDEZ PEREZ 16JOE NEAL 16DONNA SMITH 16KATHRYN DWYER 17SANDRA YARDLEY 17TERRENCE ROSS II 18STEPHANIE ROE-QUINTON 19JEANNIE CARTER 20

BRANDON MEINERS 20LUCINDA REUTER 20WYATT BEROGAN 21JOSEPH MARONDE 21JERRY MARONDE 21BENTON FICHTER 22JESUS GARCIA 22THOMAS HEATH 22TANIA GUZMAN 23MARK BEASLEY 24LEE BRANSCUM 24RANDALL REUTER 25MORGAN RAINS 26JEFFREY ROOP 26JESSICA FAIR 27JAIME LAMPLEY 27ADAM GIESE 28MATTHEW DOWNING 29WILLIAM HENRY 29JONATHAN LARSON 29KEITH LARSON 29DELNORA MARTINEZ 29RODNEY PAUL 30DENNIS HURD 31REGINA SMITH 31ERSKINE STURGES 31

June DayJ. PETER BULLOCK 1SHAUNA CURRIER 1GERRY TEMMEN 1DENTON YOCUM 1LAVERNE DAVIS 2CAROL RICHARDSON 2GARNER STEVENS 2DAVE WICKHAM 2MACKENZIE DEWEY 4KYLE HASSLER 4NANCY DAUGHERTY-BJORN 5DAVID HENRIKSON 5JAMES LYLES 5DARRELL MICKLEY 5JERRY LAWRENCE 6


Wedding AnniversariesApril Day YearsAngela & William Paul 19 14Todd & Shelley Lorenc 26 19Andy & Marie McCannon 30 28

May Day YearsJim & Celeste Lyles 1 23Jeff & Joan Meiners 2 35Rod & Mona Bunger 4 31Jackie & Peter Ayling 6 38Tom & Penny Ellis 16 36Arthur & Linda Stark 18 16Laurie & Mike Seaton 22 34Rick & Anne Rice 24 8

June Day Years Jeff & Remona Capes 1 25Janet & Todd Sutton 3 27

John & Kathy Messenger 4 12Tom & Patricia Clayton 6 46Gary & Lisa Guenther 8 32Wyatt & Shawna Berogan 8 14Jeff & Tasha Hacaga 10 21Randy & Cindy Reuter 10 38Dawn & Dave Summers 11 22Candy & Doug Koch 12 34Bob & Dawn Pittman 13 35Nina & Charles Sims 13 30Jerry & Joanne Waters 15 42Ken & Maureen Kelley 16 43Georgia & Gerry Temmen 17 27Mark & Leslie Johnson 18 28Jeff & Shirley Reif 21 30Peggy & Jim Messer 23 43Ben & April Fichter 27 30

June DayANDREW WALLACE 6JOHN MESSENGER 7KARLA RIVERA 8DONNA LONG 9JENNIFER PITTMAN 9JESSE DENSMORE 10KATHERINE KRESANEK 10NICHOLAS BAKER 12JOY HAAHR 12ERIC DROEGE 13KATHERINE LANSFORD 13LONA BERKELEY 14JEANNA BROOKS 14ERIC FRANCIS 14JAMES HODDER 16

SILVIA MAGANA 16CELIA ARREDONDO 17MARIA JERONIMO 17SUSAN OSBORNE 17BRANDON DODRILL 18ALONZO HALL III 18JOSHUA PETERSON 18IRENE ROBERTS 18JAIR GRANADOS-RAMIREZ 20BECKIE TALLEY 20RAYMOND VAN DREW 20LAWRENCE EVANS 21ROSA HERNANDEZ 21JENNIFER HICKEY 21CONNIE SCHUMACHER 21SARA SNOW 21

MARK LEIGH 23ADRIANA PARRA 23ROBERT STONE 23RICO VAN OOSTEN 23TROY TRAVERS 24THOMAS WINDELBORN 24JASON ROWL 25ZACHARY SPINDEN 25GUADALUPE CADENAS 26STEPHANIE EICH 27DANIEL WHIPPLE 27LUCAS BURNETTE 28DALE LIPPENS 28CHRISTOPHER RENARD 28CARMEN REUTER 28F. MORINE SNODGRASS 28

Employee Birthdays


Services DirectoryHOME DECOR REAL ESTATE

A.L.M. FINE CABINETRYMichael L. Arreguin, Owner/Designer

314 N. 6th St. • Rochelle, IL 61068 • [email protected]

www.almfinecabinetry.com

CELEBRATING HOMEBringing families and homes together

Beth Kvool, Designer509 Paddock Ave. PO Box 532 • Ashton • 815-979-2621

www.celebratinghome.com/bethkvool

HAYDEN REAL ESTATE, INC.Jeff Reif, Broker

www.c21hayden.comCall Jeff at 815-766-1071 or

toll free 800-216-0005

LAWN CARE & TREE SERVICES

MISCELLANEOUS

SHERRY’S SWEETS & CATERINGCatering for small parties and desserts for

special occasions.Call Sherry Joos at 815-973-0046C & S TREE SERVICE

Jim Smith, OwnerTree Removal, Stump Grinding, Storm Clean-up, Firewood

Free Estimates, Fully InsuredRock Falls, IL, 815-632-0776

COLE’S COMPLETE TREE SERVICEDonnie Cole

Tree trimming, Stump removalLicensed, Bonded, & Insured, Free Estimates, 24 Hr. emergency work

Rock Falls, IL, 815-718-2997

MASSAGE

A TOUCH OF TRANQUILITYTherapedic Massage

Patty Ballard, BSE, MEd, LMT(NCBTMB, AMTA Member)

309 Wild Cherry Drive • Dixon • 815-652-2008

HOMEMADE DOG TREATSPeanut Butter, Pumpkin, Chicken or Beef Dog Biscuits

$3.00/dozenApple Pupcakes

$.25 each

Email Cindy Reuter at

[email protected]

to place your order

If you could like to include anything in this section, please

contact Cheri Kemp (x262).

TAMMY’S SEWINGSpecializing in cloth chalkboards &

crayon roll ups with 8 crayons, 16 crayons or 24 crayons.

“Have your items Monogrammed”, starting in FEBRUARY, I will be able to monogram fabric chalk-

boards, crayon roll ups, pillows, towels, aprons....the list is endless.”

Go to www.etsy.com/shop/tammyssewing/or call 815-757-0750

A publication of

Crest Foods Co., Inc.PO Box 371 • Ashton, IL 61006 • Phone: (815) 453-7411 • Fax: (815) 453-2646

Jeff Meiners, President • Steve Meiners, V.P. Corporate SalesMike Meiners, V.P. General Mgr Contract Mfg. • Cheri Kemp, Editor

“Crest sells quality products and service – at a profit when we can, at a loss if we must – but always quality.”

Copyright 2016


Getting older is just part of living. For me, now being past the age of 55, I feel qualified about commenting on what it is like to get older. Notice that I did not say old, just older. Getting older is a gradual process whereby things slow-ly change, but then you wake up one day and realize its happened. At that point you start to notice reality and the little things like white/grey hair; moving more slowly; telling stories of “the good old days” (like your parents or grandparents did); receiving offers for senior discounts; poorer eyesight; poorer reflexes; poorer circulation in hands and feet, etc. And I always seem to get laughter from my children and the younger crowd, when I say this, but it’s definitely true, as we age time does go by faster!

I’ve tried to remain positive about age and getting older and not think “old”. Age is a relative number and we don’t have to act our age. Of course we are all different so everyone ages differently in terms of physical, emotional, and mental change. There have always been norms for what society expects as we age, but we should, and we have the right, to live life on our own terms. Besides, by virtue of being older don’t we have the right (based on gained knowledge and experience) to make better decisions and give better advice? I say let us older folks embrace that privilege!

I see a big advantage to being older. With more life experiences (mistakes made) there is now more wisdom to make fewer future mistakes. And we get the benefit of passing on our wisdom to our children and the younger people we know. It’s a nice tradeoff and phase of life. We “seasoned citizens” do have valuable things to say.

It’s natural that as we age we lose some memory ability, energy level, and strength capabilities. However, I’ve started learning that there are ways to “cheat” these changes and definitely ways to not let these changes affect living and way of thinking. The best way to maintain memory, energy, and strength is to keep active in mind and body. That means keeping a busy work schedule and active personal life style outside of work. And by all means we must try to do the right things in regard to diet and exercise. Of course that’s true with younger people too.

I recently saw a quote (I can’t remember where or whom to give credit to - blame my older age) that said “Today we have never been older, yet never will we be younger”. We are all getting older. We should accept it and make the best of it!

The Aging Process: A Fact of Life by Al Duthie

CREST FOODS., INC. ASHTON, IL 61006

PO Box 371 815-453-7411

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED


Saturday, July 16 , 2016Crest Foods has reserved Magic Waters for Saturday, July 16th from 6:30pm - 9:30pm.

Watch for postings with ticket information. Be sure to mark your calendars & cross your fingers for good weather!

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