The Bulletin
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Browse The Bulletin archive index
| Home | About | Archive | Recipes | Stories | Galleries | Who's Who | Where |
Updates -
The Cousins Reunion 2004
Front, l to r: Ardis, Kathleen, Peggy, Melanie, Shari, Genelle, Carol & Ginny
Back: Marvin, Steve, Donny, Wes, Lisa, Donna, Duane, Ernie & Doug.
(Patty Henderson arrived later.)
I believe Carol and Steve would win the "oldest cousin" awards.
(Looking good though, ya'll.)
UPDATE
Story & photos by Donna
All the cousins would surely join me in sending you a huge THANK YOU, Gert, for creating such a wonderful day for us to get together. Without all your efforts, it would not have actually happened. We loved it!
Even the rain (the tent was a HIT) and the mosquitoes could not dampen the light hearted banter and the good conversations and catching up done by all. Some of the cousins had not been seen for absolutely decades!
Then there were various ones of the younger generation that we got to meet for the very first time -- that was fun! We appreciated seeing the ones that traveled for such distances to join us -- thanks for your efforts, too.
The word is next year it's at Duane's ... so, start making your plans! Maybe some of those that couldn't join us this year can make that reunion -- it's something to look forward to!
Cousin Reunion 2004's Chaperones and our main organizer, Auntie Gert
Don & Dorothy Anderson, Gert & Don Pettit, Jim Miller
Uncle LeRoy with Aunt Vonnie
UPDATE
by Janie Anderson
We had a good trip to Wisconsin. We left after Dwight got home from work Thursday and stayed with Melanie and Eric Thursday night. They have a very nice one-bedroom apartment overlooking a swampy area where they see deer, raccoons, birds, etc. So it doesn't feel like they're even in town!
Friday, after Eric went to work, we and Melanie went out for breakfast and a little drive ... to see where Eric worked, etc. We left Oakdale about 1PM for Wisconsin.
There were the following of our family there: Dwight and I, Brenda, Nathan, Jazmine, and Summer, and Eric and Melanie.
Our motel in Wisconsin was in Plymouth, but we went to Jason's parents' home in Elkhart Lake for supper and then to the fireworks display on the lake. It was really great! Jazmine LOVED it! I was holding her and she leaned back against me and watched every bit of it. Every now and then she'd clap. I'm not sure if it was a sign of appreciation or just for something to do!
Saturday morning we went to the Supper Club where the reception was to be held to decorate, and then went back to change clothes, before returning for the dinner/ reception at 1 PM. There were 130+ people there. It was very nicely done and the food was delicious! We had our choice of stuffed pork chops, beef tenderloin, or chicken cordon bleu.
After the reception we cleaned up the decorations and went to the Hunts for supper. In the evening the Hills and Shockeys went swimming. The Hills' room was right next door to ours (not planned!) and Melanie and Eric stayed with us.
Sunday morning we all went to meeting at Hunts' and it was a big meeting - 57 people! They had a potluck afterwards and then we left. We stayed with Melanie and Eric again Sunday night after watching fireworks in Oakdale. This is the first year we've gotten in on TWO fireworks displays!
Yesterday we had a late breakfast at Perkins with Melanie and Eric and then came home.
Day to Day R
With Donna Mae
Ashby, MN
We spent the 4th (and evening of the 3rd & part of the day on the 5th) at Duane, Ingrid & Ashley Miller's, receiving their WONDERFUL hospitality. We also got to see Penny & her husband, Jason, and daughter, Abigail; also Candice & her friend, Jerod. Brother Jay showed up, too. Ingrid had her mother, Theresa, her youngest brother, Giovanni, a niece, Katrina, & nephew, Kiavanni, and their mother, Lucy. Others were Ray & Shari, Uncle Jim and Steve.
Joining us for some parts of the 4th were Donna Richards, Anita & Michael Wolbrink & Yoel and Charlie and Ardis. Along with Jayce, Caity, Beaver and me, it made a nice sized group to have a kick backed and very relaxing day, and a super weekend for those of us that stayed the longer stay.
Thankfully, the weather was good to us and it allowed hours of pool time for the young ones, which meant much laughter watching their antics in the pool and their braver and braver runs down the deck and splash landings into the pool. While watching the kids enjoying themselves so immensely, we got lots of visiting and stories told while lounging around in the shade of the umbrellas, to prevent burning ourselves. We also watched them swinging, ate fresh peas from the garden, played with some of the 65 bunnies the Millers own, watched the fireworks, enjoyed the two Macaws that Ingrid has trained (she even brought them outside on little leashes) and, of course, we ate & ate! It was a refreshing getaway!
Caity and Kiavanni being supervised by Duane (left); Jayce's Array (right).
Swinging high on the 4th of July
Caity loved this swing -- it went way out over a drop in the lawn and I'd guess it would give a pretty scary sensation the first time out!
Travelogue t
The Bolivian Beat
By Kjirsten Swenson
For four days of last week I was with driver Luis, Dr. Juan, dentist Karina, and an annoying nurse from Piusilla Hilda, vaccinating and providing medical attention in several communities reached by winding along bad roads for 3-4 hours in the Cordillera high above Morochata. This is a land of alpaca, llama and very poor people.
It was a great adventure! These days the peaks are snow-capped, and in one pass we all tumbled out of the ambulance to fight for a while. The roads don' t reach the actual populations, so we hiked for between half-an-hour and an hour to reach each one from the road's end. At night we slept on mattresses on classroom floors. The "mayor" was always in charge of "attending" us, and each evening brought cups of "tea" (hot water mixed with sugar, usually) and bread. Lunch was too many potatoes and eggs.
Though the afternoon sun is strong, nights were frigid! On the last morning we crept outside to find our washing water frozen solid! After three days of washing with icy water, my knuckles were chapped and bleeding and still haven't healed. The rooms were small, and we literally slept shoulder to shoulder in order to stay warm. No electricity here ... Each night we crawled under the covers around 7 and played kacho (nearly Yahtzee) and laughed a lot until Dr. Juan fell asleep, thus providing the silence that allowed the rest of us to shut our eyes, too.
Today is a beautiful day, so we're cooking outside! Actually, lunch is cooking under the ground. We're eagerly waiting for the panpaku to be done. A few hours ago, Luis and Francisca dug a big hole in a resting field. We lined the hole with bricks and then built a fire on top. More bricks and stones were heated in the fire. Once the fire burned out, we separated the heated bricks and threw out the ashes. In the center was placed a covered pot containing chicken, onion, spices, water and one of the heated stones. We spread potatoes around the pot, and covered it all with a layer of bricks. After arranging a layer of oka (sweet potatoes, sort of) and habas (like lima beans, but tasty) and another layer of bricks, the whole mess was covered with dirt. In a while we'll uncover it all and eat lunch!
The holiday of San Juan on the night of June 23 is responsible for the latest flight changes. Apparently everyone in Bolivia makes a campfire, roasts sausages, and drinks hot api on what is supposedly the coldest night of the year. Lloyd Aero Boliviano predicts that the smoke from the fires will reduce visibility sufficiently that they'll have to cancel the next morning's flights. Fine, but the festival date never changes, so I don't understand why they couldn't anticipate a bit earlier... *sigh* ... but I'm in Bolivia and frankly am not surprised. People here live in the moment, not in next week or next month, and certainly not in the next year, as I think we tend to in the states. It's lovely, but often means that planning/ thinking ahead doesn't happen the way I expect it to.
Sad that I'll miss the San Juan festivities... I'm told that people in the campo celebrate the day of John the Baptist by "baptizing" their animals. They paint their cows' and chickens' heads with red paint to symbolize the ritual of baptism in another fascinating example of the incorporation of Catholic symbols/ festivals and indigenous rituals and beliefs.
I'm off to drink tea and pack.
Kjirsten
Laundry Day (left); House With Adobe Oven (right)
Photo Editor's Note: If you wish to see more of Kjirsten's photos, these are from her Bolivia and Bolivia 2 albums posted here: http://community.webshots.com/user/kjswenson
A Garden Center in the Netherlands
by Ary Ommert, Jr.
After my first 2 episodes I had a busy time at work and because of that not time to start writing a new article. Now I have my holidays and time for writing a new episode.
In this article I want to tell more about advertising, it is very important that you make people aware of new products and articles who are on sale. Every 2 weeks we have a sort of small magazine that comes by mail to all the people in the district of our garden center. In that magazine are products from all the groups we sell.
In spring most of the products are garden furniture, tools, seeds and outside plants with special prices. In summer we advertise barbecues, fish for your pond and sales on garden furniture. In fall we have interior decorations, house plants and of course Christmas articles. In winter our pet shop gets attention and we have a sale after Christmas with a 40% discount on everything that's left in the Christmas shop. You should see how busy it gets in that week; some people even wait till that time to buy Christmas articles. It will take a year before they can use it again.
About 8 weeks before publishing an article in our magazine we get a list from the organization. On that list is for each article how many of them you get automatically. You can order more if you think many people will come to buy it or order less. After 2 weeks we get the final list.
When house plants are in the magazine we get the plants delivered on Friday so we have time to place them in the shop. Normally I order enough plants to fill at least half a table and these tables are always direct along the main routing in our shop. Easy to find for the customers. The advertising period starts on Monday; in the morning we place a sort of arrow above the table with the text from our magazine. From a distance people can see where the sale plants are. Sale prices expire the next week on Thursday. We remove the pins with the arrows and plants left will be sold for the normal price. Next Monday a new magazine will start.
I don't want many plants left from a magazine so it's important that we order the right number of plants. Sometimes it doesn't work and we have a big leftover and other times we order too few and the plants are sold by the end of the first week. In that case I try to order extra but it is not always possible to do that.
For the house plants we have our busy season in January and February and in September after the holiday season. Many plants will have died during the summer.
One more week of holidays to go for me; my colleague runs the house plants now. It will not be busy this period and she doesn't have to water extra because of the cool summer in the Netherlands. Last year was different, sometimes we had to water the plants every day in that tropical period.
In the picture you see the succulents; these are ideal plants for a sunny place and don't need much water. At the moment, plants from this group are very popular in Holland. Every week I order more plants in this group.
Since we started with the magazine 3 years ago, it has proved to work; most products in the magazine are sold in big numbers and people like to read it.
If you have any questions about this article, please write to aojrmsl@kabelfoon.nl
Summertime in the Garden Center
This and That
6
by Elaine Wold
Wahpeton, ND
WONDERING
Ever wonder about those people who spend $2 a piece on a bottle of Evian water? Try spelling it backwards: NAIVE.
Ever wonder why croutons come in airtight packages? Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?
Wonder why the number 11 isn't pronounced onety one?
Wonder if Lipton Tea employees get a coffee break?
I wonder if its true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?
If lawyers are disbarred, clergymen defrocked,, shouldn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?
Celebrations & Observances
From the Files of 5
Hetty Hooper
This Week's Birthdays:
July 13---Zach Bratten
July 15---Tom Morgan
Happy Birthday!
More July Birthdays:
July 1---Suzanne McCorkell
July 3---Vonnie Dake
July 5---LeRoy Dake
July 6---James Miller
July 7---Kim Johnson
July 18---Callie Printz
July 19---Marlee Freesemann
July 20 ---Susan & Michael Miller (twins)
July 26---Tytus Myron
July 30---Justin Printz
July 31---Tim Myron
July Anniversaries:
Z
July 29--Ardis and Charles Quick (32 years)
July Holidays & Observances
O
July 4---Independence Day
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celebrations Noted
Happy 82nd Birthday, Uncle Jim!
Steve , Duane, and Shari help their Dad celebrate.
Miss Hetty Says
The editor tells me that she added five new subscribers to The Bulletin e-mail list this week: Steve Miller (Jim's son), Carolyn Dake, Ginny McCorkell, LeRoy Dake, and Frans deBeen -- probably the most in a week for a loooooong time...
The Bulletin keeps getting bigger and better! Who knew that reporting on extended family birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, engagements, weddings, reunions and other social events would prove to be even better for circulation than gossip? Guess what! It's more fun, too! And we get pictures! Pictures were soooo hard to get for those juicy romance rumors.
Keep Us Posted!
Please drop Miss Hetty a line and tell us who, and what, we've missed. And how about a report (photos welcome) of YOUR special celebration?
Everyone!
Miss Hetty
+ LETTERS TO THE EDITORS?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Was so good to see everybody!
I have a copy of your bulletin that Donna forwarded to me ... guess you'd better sign me up! :) Will save her needing to forward it.
Please sign Dad up as I am sure he would enjoy getting it too.
All for now ... my assignment for today is to load Windows XP on our computer and see if we can eliminate some of the problems we have been having... :P Computer work is more often than not very frustrating and verrrrry time consuming!
Great to see ya'll :)
Ginny (McCorkell)
It was GREAT seeing you at the picnic. I think that get together was just what the family needed. Renew and reconnect.
We had a good time in New London too. I am so glad to see my Mom doing so much better. She is walking with a walker again and we successfully took her out of the nursing home 2Xs.
Much to do after a week away. I was pretty tired at work today but a couple good nights' sleep and I will be right as rain again.
I look forward to hearing and seeing your Bulletin letter.
I am not a good letter writer -- not even e-mail, so if you don't hear often.....sorry.....
Carolyn Dake
Editor's Note: Carolyn is the wife of Ernie Dake, my nephew -- DMA
Donna
Hello Dorothy,
Yesterday I got a mail from Frans de Been and some time ago I told him about The Bulletin. I did something that I'm not supposed to do and mailed Bulletin 107 to him. He liked it so much that he asked me to let you know that he wants to receive the Bulletins, too.
Hope you forgive me for sending The Bulletin without asking you.
Greetings from the Netherlands,
Ary
From: Dorothy M Anderson
To: f.debeen@wanadoo.nl
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2004 9:28 PM
Subject: Your Order
Frans,
Ary tells me you wish to receive The Bulletin -- you do know that means you owe me a letter or such as your subscription price. :-)
I will put your name on the mailing list and you should receive your copy Saturday night...
Thanks for your order.
Dorothy
Hallo Dorothy.
Nice to hear from you. Yes, It was nice to read and see all those nice people again after 4 years ago that I visit your family. And now I am pleased to hear that you will put me on the list BUT big problem. I am just at home from 5.00 A.M. Now it is 21.53 in the evening. Tomorrow I must be at 07.00 A.M. in Essen, Germany, where they waiting to see a container. (Just a short night.) What I am trying to explain. Please give me some more time before I deliver the copy to you. BUT I will do my best to make for you a letter. Now I go.
Have a nice day
Frans
CHUCKLES
Equal Opportunity Employer
A local Publix was looking for office help. So, they put a sign in the front window: "HELP WANTED. Must be able to type, must be good with a computer, and must be bilingual. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer."
A short time later, a dog trotted up to the window, saw the sign and went inside. He looked at the receptionist and wagged his tail, then walked over to the sign, looked at it and whined.
Getting the idea, the receptionist summoned the office manager. The office manager looked at the dog and was surprised, to say the least. However, the dog looked determined, so he led him into the office. Inside, the dog jumped up on the chair, and stared at the manager.
The manager said, "I can't hire you. The sign says you have to be able to type."
The dog jumped down, went to the typewriter and proceeded to type out a perfect letter. He took out the page and trotted back over to the manager and gave it to him, then jumped back on the chair.
The manager was stunned, but then told the dog, "The sign says you have to be good with a computer."
The dog jumped down again, and went over to the computer. The dog proceeded to demonstrate his expertise with various programs, and produced a sample spreadsheet and database, and presented them to the manager.
By this time the manager was totally dumb-founded! He looked at the dog and said, "I realize that you are a very intelligent dog, and you do have some interesting abilities. However, I still can't give you the job."
The dog jumped down, went to a copy of the sign, and put his paw on the sentences that told about being an Equal Opportunity Employer.
The manager said, "Yes, but the sign also says that you have to be bilingual."
The dog looked at him straight in the face and said, "Meow."
New subscribers: Steve Miller, Carolyn Dake, Ginny McCorkell, LeRoy Dake, Frans deBeen
To search a name in Who's Who: use CONTROL F on a PC or COMMAND F on a Mac. To search for a second occurrence of the name, use CONTROL G on a PC or COMMAND G on a Mac. (This works on ANY web page with text, unless the text is converted to an image. Chances are, it works in your e-mail, too. I know it does in mine.) HINT: Search by first name only, as most entries list the family name once but do not repeat the last name for each family member.
EDITOR'S POLICY: If you wish to subscribe to The Bulletin, simply send me a statement of that fact. If you wish to keep receiving it I hope you will contribute to one of the columns that are running in this family epistle (at least occasionally!). My e-mail address is dma49261@juno.com
This Bulletin is copyright Dorothy M. Anderson; the contents are also copyrighted by the authors and photographers and used with their permission, and the contents are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the explicit consent of the creators.