Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Nutsy is nuts about nuts!
Photo © Sharon Paul Nault
Nutsy, the squirrel, has harvested a bountiful crop of nuts for winter!
(Scroll down for additional views on winter.)

Updates -


Photo © Kristi Indermark
Jim, Jordan, Kristi & Tyler at Siesta Key beach, Florida.

UPDATE -- family vacation in Florida
by Kristi Larson Indermark
Portage, WI

Well we finally took a "family vacation." Jim was able to take a week off work and we headed to Florida to stay with Grandma Shari Larson. We arrived on Saturday. Kelly picked us up from the airport and we went to my favorite restaurant (Roadhouse Grill).


Photo © Kristi Indermark
Nathan, Jordan & Devan in back of Kelly's truck at Mom's house.

After lunch was over, Kelly headed back to the airport to pick up Dad (George Larson). Soon after Dad arrived, Kelly headed to the airport a third time to pick up Kurt and Jeni. Finally, by Saturday evening, we were all together, enjoying the beautiful weather by Mom's pool.


Photo © Kristi Indermark
Kurt, Dad (George Larson), Devan, Grandpa Jim Miller & Nathan.

We all got to visit a lot and catch up on each other's lives. It was so relaxing. On Tuesday, Jordan got a flu type virus, which put a damper on our Disney World plans. Dad headed back home on Wednesday morning. On Thursday, Jordan was still sick so Mom stayed home with her. Jim, Kurt, Jeni and I headed over to tour the Ringling Museum. It was a lot of fun.


Photo © Kristi Indermark
Kurt & Jeni at the Ringling Museum

We did, finally, make it to Disney World on Saturday, before heading home on Sunday.

Jim, Kristi, Jordan and Tyler Indermark


Back row, left to right: Kristi, Jim, Jeni, Kurt, Mike, Kelly; middle row: Grandpa Jim Miller, Mom (Shari), Dad (George); front row: Jordan, Devan, Tyler, Nathan.



Photos © Kristi Indermark
Jordan gets her first facial, from Grandma Shari, left; first stitches, right.
Jordan pulled a pewter stocking holder off the fireplace. It hit her in the head just above the right eye. Lucky for us the emergency room wasn't busy so it only took an hour to get the stitches.


UPDATE -- signs of winter's arrival in Arizona
by Ruth Weiland Kitto
Apache Junction, AZ

Ah, yes -- dear Bulletin friends -- I just want to let you know that there are season changes in Arizona! How do I know? Lines!

We get LINES! -- Lines everywhere! Lines of cars and more cars at the stop signs where those "snowbirds" slow down to read them. LINES of people at the Wal-Mart -- inside and out! Everywhere, lines!

Get a place to park? You get dizzy going round and round in the parking lots, hoping someone will leave! And you sit and wait when some tail lights come on -- OH -- there goes one -- so I will just wait and get that one -- but swoosh! -- there comes a car from the other direction right where I wanted to park, oh well.

Lines at the check-out counters -- that's just a 20 minute wait -- and plenty of time to get acquainted with that person behind you that came all the way down from up -- where is Thief River Falls?

Then the eating places -- every one! "Oh yes, we can seat you -- in about 50 minutes -- here, take this buzzer and come back when it lights up."

Oh well, we find new side roads to get off the main streets.

And now we know it is winter -- don't need any calendar! But one of the nicest, very best things about winter -- the oranges, grapefruit and lemons are ripening! Wonderful!

What do we love about Arizona? We doooo love all the winter visitors -- the most common question now is, "Oh, where are you from?" And then the visiting starts -- new friends made.

And one more thing about winter in Arizona -- NO parka hoods, no overshoes. (Do they still make those?) No mittens, no ear muffs!

We love it here!

One more common question: "Got your garden in yet?"



Photos © Brenda Anderson Hill
Jaxon Hill is 7-1/2 weeks old! Looks like he's thriving in Dwight, ND.


UPDATE -- a visit last week -- and a wedding this week
by Diana Mellon Martin
Coon Rapids, MN

I realized while reading the latest Bulletin I received in the mail that I had failed to write and comment on my visit with Betty Droel and her delightful sister-in-law, Verlaine Weiland.

What a small world! Verlaine and her husband, Rich, live almost walking distance from Maralee and me. We had such a fun visit, and they were shown Maralee's picture album of our cats. And, the fruit basket was so good and thoughtful! I also received a lovely box of bath powder from Betty, and will enjoy that for a very long time.

Although a very nice picture of her and me, Maralee didn't think it did her much justice, but I think it was very good, and so nice to have such a picture to cherish for a very long time. We both look forward to another visit soon. I hope Ginny will be able to join them next time.

As I said in my e-mail, yesterday, my test results were not what we had hoped, but at least they were not terrible ... just elevated. I guess my doctor will have to go to "Plan B," now that further chemo is necessary, and I just cannot possibly afford the treatment he wanted me to take. This has become much harder on my family than on me ... at least emotionally, so I pray we can find something that will give us better results in the future.

My youngest daughter, Julie, is being married in a very small and private ceremony on Friday (November 17th), and I am so happy to be able to attend. I asked the doctor not to schedule any further chemo until after the wedding, which would help me out by not having any side-effects that day, and he said, "Of course."

So, we have that to look forward to. Maralee and I are going to be "dog sitting" over the weekend for Julie and Greg, so they can go up to Duluth for a couple of days after the wedding. We always enjoy having the dogs, but the cats get a bit "out of joint" with them in the house!

I wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Ours will be spent at my granddaughter's in Blaine. We look forward to that.

Love to all.......Diana



Photo © Jerrianne Lowther
Sharon Paul Nault with "chicken of the woods" mushroom in Homer.

UPDATE -- introducing Sharon Paul Nault
by Miss Kitty
Anchorage, AK

I would like to introduce my friend Sharon Paul Nault to The Bulletin readers, formally ... even though she and her photos have appeared in these pages a few times before. You might recall that last year, when Flat Stanley visited Alaska, Miss Sharon made him a parka and mukluks and helped him report on climbing Mount McKinley in Bulletin 180. And I wrote about our camping trip to Talkeetna for a visit with Miss Sharon in Bulletin 172.

Miss Sharon and Miss Jerrianne have been friends for ... oh, at least a hundred "cat" years. They met when Miss Jerrianne interviewed her for a newspaper story about Miss Sharon's job as field editor for The Milepost. Miss Sharon confided that she had "the best job in Alaska" and Miss Jerrianne said, "If you ever get tired of the best job in Alaska, please let me know."

Of course, neither of them would have guessed that Miss Sharon would get married and retire from her Milepost job seven years later and Miss Jerrianne would take over for the next 14 years! Then SHE retired from that job and now Miss Sharon has gone back to work there for the past two or three summers.

Miss Sharon spends summers in Alaska, spring and fall in Idaho, and goes to California for part of the winter. We all get together for a visit when Miss Sharon comes to Anchorage or Miss Jerrianne and I go to Homer, as happened in Bulletin 170, when we all got involved in a story about Kiteboarding.

Miss Sharon is generally allergic to cats, but she doesn't seem to be allergic to me, so we get along great. Well, we did get off to kind of a bad start back when I was a kitten. Miss Sharon and her mother were our very first visitors after I moved in. I just didn't trust strangers, so as soon as I was introduced, I made myself scarce and Miss Jerrianne couldn't find me for the longest time after they left. I wrote about that experience way back in Bulletin 75.

A few weeks ago, Miss Sharon was in Anchorage for a day and after she and Miss Jerrianne had lunch with the editor of The Milepost, they decided to visit the Anchorage Zoo. This was a spur of the moment thing and Miss Jerrianne hadn't brought her camera, but Miss Sharon had hers. She sent us a photo of her squirrel and said we could use a few of her pictures to illustrate a story about some of the animals in the zoo. Scroll down to The Miss Kitty Letters for the zoo story.


Day to Day R
With Donna Mae
Ashby, MN


Photo © Donna Johnson
Becky's home with skirting and beginning of landscaping.

Entering Home Stretch On Becky's New Home

Things are finally into the end stages at Becky's place. Beaver worked long and hard putting on the skirting. It was a process of putting framework up, insulation pieces and then two layers of the "brick" skirting. The comments were made that it must have originally been built on the site the mobile home sat last, as each piece was a different size. It ended up being like doing a large puzzle, with pieces of the puzzle broken completely off. It was a very long, frustrating job, so it's very good to see it completed!

Bridget came again last Saturday and we finished up the painting. She did another coat in the kitchen and I did the kids' bathroom. After it dried, I hung curtains, pictures and decorated both bathroom and kitchen. Other than the dishwasher still waiting for installation, things are coming together.

Beaver finished last night in the dark, getting some of the initial landscaping done. He plans to finish the rest in the spring. I'm hoping we can plant some lilac bushes between their home and the driveway, thinking that might be a pretty addition.

Dad is coming today to put up shelving in her laundry room, and possibly some in a closet, too, depending on how it goes and how much he gets finished.


Photos © Donna Johnson
Becky's newly painted and decorated kitchen and the kids' bathroom.


The Matriarch Speaks W
by Dorothy (Dake) Anderson
Alexandria, MN

Who Is This?

Let's Play a Guessing Game: Whenever it is handy to do so, we will run a picture of someone of the subscribers or staff members of our e-magazine. Tell us who you think it is -- we will let you know who was the first to guess it right -- and the correct guess -- in the following week's Bulletin.

(Send us some to run; we will line them up in our staging area to take their turn. Thanks to Ginny Dake McCorkell for sending last week's mystery picture.


How many can you identify?

Answers to last week's mystery pictures (click here to review them):

My guess regarding the picture taken by the 1937 Chevrolet has to be Bill Dake with Gertrude, LeRoy and Dorothy.

Looks like a big snow winter, perhaps 1940, considering the ages of those pictured. Maybe it could be the November 11th blizzard of 1940.

One of the most severe storms of the times, I recall it quite well; I lived in North Dakota where it was much more severe.

The day before (Sunday) was a beautiful fall day, warm and sunny. It caught people unprepared. The weather predictions then were not as up to time as today. To read more on this storm, with a photo of cars nearly buried in snow on Excelsior Boulevard in Minneapolis, CLICK HERE.

Don Anderson
Alexandria, MN

Editor's Note: Great identification ... it was, indeed, the Armistice Day Blizzard on November 11, 1940.


Well, can't miss that family! LeRoy up on the snow bank, Gertrude, Dad Dake and Dorothy standing behind the Chevy -- with snow blowing! It looks cold!

Tom Miller
Madera, CA


Ah, those people look very familiar to me, and the date is also engraved in my old mind. There is brother LeRoy, sister Dorothy, Daddy [Bill Dake], and Little Ole Me [Gert]. The picture was taken about a week or two after the November 11, 1940, Armistice Day BLIZZARD.

The Older Cousins, and Younger Cousins have been in "snowstorms," but what us OLD People went through, starting on that day, was a BLIZZARD that had us drifted in for over a week.

And our home was a refuge for a couple whose car got stalled in the drifts on the gravel road. They spent a week with us. The man, not being dressed warmly, managed to get to the house, and then LeRoy and Dad went back through the snow to the car and brought the woman to the house.

I remember vividly the fun LeRoy and I had. The snowdrifts were so deep, one was as high as Dad's old tool shed, and we dug tunnels and rooms in the snowdrifts. I remember playing outside and could hear the big Caterpillar snow plow coming, way to the north. It was so exciting for me to listen to the sound and then watch it come down the gravel road and then up our farm road. The drifts it left from plowing were really high.

You can tell that by the picture, how high LeRoy is standing beside the old '37 Chevrolet. And just think how young we were when that picture was taken. Daddy was only 40. I had just turned 8. LeRoy was 12 and Dorothy 14. Thanks for running that picture, as it was a time I shall never forget.

Gert Dake Pettit
Howard Lake, MN

Editor's Note: The story of that dramatic rescue from the storm appeared in Bulletin 77.


Photo sent to us by Gert Dake Pettit
The Caterpillar snowplow that dug us out of the 1940 blizzard.


The GUESS picture just has to be Dorothy on the tractor. Don beside her, and at first I thought it was a Dake standing in the background, but I doubt it is. It's no fun to be wrong all the time, but I usually end up being a poor guesser.

Betty Weiland Droel
MoundsView, MN


LTD Storybrooke

From The Heavy-Metal Toboggan: "There were only broken boards, stretched out wire, and a good laugh. The boards and wire belonged to a kindly, rich man -- who lived very far away.

"The laugh belonged to me."


Sheep Headquarters Map

"Gang Aft A-gley"
by Larry Dake

The ranch carpenter was a thin, middle-aged man with a blond beard and steely blue eyes. He had a zeal for guns and ammunition that struck me as a little scary, but when you could get him off the subject, he was handy with making and fixing things. Amidst grumblings, he rebuilt the feed bunks broken by the slide-away bulldozer, and under his direction the two long rows of bunks were soon moved into place on the earthen pad and anchored to the ground.

With that project completed, he set himself to unrolling the hundreds of feet of black, burst-proof waterline to all the larger outdoor pens. Each of these had a new 50-gallon galvanized stock tank. The water in the plastic pipes would freeze at night but thaw during the day from the warmth of the sun.

At night, the ewes were to be kept in the pasture on the uphill side of the feed bunks. They would continue to be moved down into the hay fields during the day. When they came back up in the evening, they would be fed haylage in the bunks.

We built six pie-shaped drop pens from rolls of wooden snow fence -- three on the west side of the lambing shed, and three on the east side. The three west pens watered in the creek, the east ones watered in stock tanks.

The ewes from the uphill pasture would be periodically "bagged." We'd run them through a sorting chute and palpate each of their udders. The ones with the fullest udders would be kept in the six heavily bedded drop pens, as they were expected to lamb first.

When a ewe lambed, she would be moved with her lamb, or lambs, into the shed where they would spend 24 to 48 hours in one of the new four-by-four-foot jugs. We had built 110 of these jugs inside, and 110 of them outside.

Each of the jugs would be hand watered daily with five-gallon buckets. The outside jugs would be used as overflow during our busiest time. Each ewe and lamb would get a freshly limed and strawed jug and a slab of alfalfa. They'd get a bucket of water once or twice a day, for five or 10 minutes at a time.

When the pair seemed to be bonded and doing well, we would move them, a few at a time, into 16-by-16-foot outdoor mixing pens. From there, they would be moved into a series of larger and larger pens, until they were ready to be turned into the pasture on the downhill side of the new bunks. They would stay there until spring.

These were the plans. However, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft a-gley."

(In the words of the 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns, in his poem To A Mouse, On Turning Up Her Nest With The Plow.)



Photo illustration © Virginia McCorkell; photo by Larry McCorkell
Munchkins salute the magician. Even the cat is impressed.
(Suzanne McCorkell and Greg Dake salute uncle Larry "LTD" Dake.)


Travelogue t

On To Albuquerque
by Weston Johnson
Maple Grove, MN

After leaving Will's and Mary Jo's house (which I should clarify is east of Colorado Springs, not west as I wrote last week), I drove to Colorado Springs, admiring the views of Pikes Peak as I neared the city. Last time I visited them, Will and Mary Jo still lived right in "the Springs," as they called it. I remembered spending evenings sitting on their porch, which overlooked much of the city, with Pikes Peak serving as a backdrop. From our deck chairs, we watched distant thunder storms thrust bolts of lightning into the mountains.

As I drove into the city, I was reminded of how dramatically the mountains loom just west of town, which reinforced my longtime belief that residents of cities such as Colorado Springs and Denver are either the laziest or the smartest people in the country. My theory is that their descendents were heading west in their covered wagons with visions of California dancing in their heads. Then, as they entered into what is now Colorado, they began to notice the mountains on the distant horizon.

"No problem," they probably said, "We'll drive on ahead right through those mountains and we won't stop until we reach the green valleys of California!"

As they pushed on across Colorado, the mountains began to look more and more imposing. At this point, some of the settlers probably started to say things like, "You know, a lot of people have already reached California, it is probably getting crowded out there," or "I'm sure California is nice, but who says we have to go all the way to California to find our fortune?"

By the time they reached present day Denver and Colorado Springs, where the snow-capped mountains jut nearly straight up from the prairie, it was settled: "Did I say I was going to settle in California? I meant to say Colorado! Besides, green valleys are overrated. I've always preferred brown, myself."

So does this theory mean the citizens of these cities are lazy or smart? I know which decision I would have made if I were in their shoes, so I'm going to go with smart!

Where was I? Oh yeah, the Travelogue...

From Colorado Springs, I caught Interstate 25 southbound, toward Albuquerque. I drove through Pueblo and Trinidad, where the road began rising into the mountains, culminating at Raton Pass, which reaches an elevation of 7,834 feet at the Colorado and New Mexico border. I began to worry that my poor Minnesotan car may not be cut out for this mountain driving, but it seemed to be holding up all right.

I reached Albuquerque early Sunday evening, arriving at my friend Phil's place, where I would be spending the night. Phil was a good friend of Coni's. He grew up near St. Cloud and went to college at NDSU in Fargo, but now lives in Albuquerque, where he teaches at a high school and coaches the track team. I had gotten to know him the summer before last when he invited Coni and me, along with several other friends, to his family's cabin on the Sauk River, south of St. Cloud, where we all spent the day soaking up the sun on his pontoon boat. He had also visited Coni and me on his other trips back to Minnesota last Christmas and this past summer, so I had gotten to know him pretty well.

After I arrived at his place, we met up with his girlfriend, Emily, at a local restaurant so I could sample "New Mexican" food. I hadn't been aware that New Mexico had its own food. Turns out it is a lot like Mexican food, except it features green chili.

As we feasted on burritos, green chili and various other New Mexican fare, I began to worry that just as my poor Minnesotan car may have trouble with mountainous New Mexican roads, my poor Minnesotan stomach may have trouble with spicy New Mexican food. Fortunately, it was not too spicy for this Norwegian. In fact, it was quite delicious, so I ate until I could eat no more, at which point Phil and Emily informed me that I had to sample the restaurant's famous sweet rolls for dessert. So of course, I had to find room for that!

After the meal, Phil and Emily rolled me out to his car. We dropped off Emily at her place, then went home and watched Sunday Night Football before turning in for the night. Phil had parent-teacher conferences on Monday morning, which was fortunate, because he didn't have to leave home until 8 o'clock, instead of 6:30, when he would have had to leave for a normal school day. This allowed me to get some extra sleep before I hit the road as he headed for work. If all went well, I would be in Phoenix by mid-afternoon.

To be continued...


The Miss Kitty Letters*
By Miss Kitty


Photo © Sharon Paul Nault
Napping polar bear, Ahpun, actually prefers winter.
(I bet you'll want a nap yourself, after the big Thanksgiving feast.)
Click here to watch Ahpun and Lyutyik live on the Anchorage Zoo web cam.

A Virtual Visit To The Anchorage Zoo

To be perfectly honest, I didn't get to go along to the zoo. After all, Miss Jerrianne and Miss Sharon hadn't planned to go, themselves, so they didn't even think about me, Miss Kitty!

"Never mind," Miss Jerrianne said. "I think you'd like the virtual zoo tour better, anyway."

She's probably right, I learned a LOT about the animals and birds at the zoo that way. I can go there anytime I want to and click on each animal to read all about it and see lots of fine pictures ... and you can, too!

I think Oreo, the brown bear, has a good plan for winter. She eats as much as she can, every day, and then she crawls into her den and sleeps all winter. Doesn't that sound appealing? Oreo used to live with Ahpun, the polar bear ... back when they were two roly poly cubs that had lost their mothers ... but when they got bigger and their roughhousing got to be a little too rough, Oreo was sent off to live with Jake, a full grown brown bear. They get along very well ... but why am I telling you all this? You can read about Oreo and Jake for yourself if you click here!


Photos © Sharon Paul Nault
Oreo, a brown bear, on the left; bet you don't know the lady at right.
(Hint: Her relatives live in Central Asia but she came here from Minnesota!)


Photo © Sharon Paul Nault
That's Tula, a two-humped Bactrian Camel, chewing her cud!
(I hope you're having a good laugh with us at our silly joke.)
If you'd like to print out a picture of a Bactrian Camel and color it, Click here!


THANKFUL
by Gregory K.

You ask me what I'm thankful for...
I hope I don't sound jerky,
But I'm really, truly thankful that I wasn't born a turkey!

To read a news story about Thanksgiving feasts in northern Alaska, click here.


Celebrations & Observances
From the Files of
5
Hetty Hooper

This Week's Special Days
November 23---Thanksgiving Day

This Week's Birthdays
November 19---Tyler Swenson
November 21---Alex Jo Marie Sigman (2 years)
November 21---Amy Elaine Printz (2 years)
November 23---Jessy Wolff
Happy Birthday!

More November Birthdays
' 
November 2---Gert Dake Pettit
November 2---Brianna Susan Lehtola (5 years)

November 7---Thomas Roland Mellon
November 7---Sandra Kay Miller Smith
November 10---Argyle Anderson
November 11---Allison Aydelotte (9 years)
November 12---Patty Anderson Henderson
November 14---Marian Miller
November 17---Zachary Myron
November 17---Mark Andrew Johnson

November 26---DeLoris Anderson
November 27---Shalana Kay Weiland (10 years)
November 30---Aaron Stahlecker

November Anniversaries
Z
November 16---Argyle and Kathlyn Johnson Anderson (43 years)
November 26---Ben and Heather Henderson (2 years)
November 29---Kurtis and Jeni Larson (2 years)

November Special Days
November 7---Election Day
November 11---Veterans Day
November 23---Thanksgiving Day

Miss Hetty's Mailbox:

Dear Miss Hetty,

Thanks for the birthday greetings. I had a marvelous birthday weekend! All the kids came home and spent the entire weekend. We hung out and the kids surprised us by taking us to The Olive Garden for supper on Saturday evening. It was truly a wonderful weekend.

Thanks again for the greetings,

Patty Henderson
The "middle aged" youngest daughter of the Matriarch
Minnetrista, MN


Photo © Rich Weiland
Curt & Patty Henderson


We happened to be out for supper tonight with Joann and Duane Kloos at the Olive Garden in Maple Grove. We were just getting ready to leave and in walks a very nice looking family. You might recognize some of them.

Rich and Verlaine Weiland
Coon Rapids, MN


Photo © Rich Weiland
Clockwise from left: Heather, Ben, Gina, Dan, Rachel, Curt, Patty & Mason.

Miss Hetty Says:

Here is Verlaine's answer to my query as to who took the above pictures:

Rich took the pictures of Curt and Patty Henderson and their offspring at the Olive Garden. Now catch this! Heather had her eyes CLOSED. Rich only took the ONE picture. But, Rich... Well... He is the magician! If you look REALLY closely... He "stole" Ben's eyes! And placed them over her closed lids! Isn't that absolutely clever? He's right up there with that magician of a Virginia! --Verlaine

I asked how Rich would feel about sharing that information and here is his answer:

That's OK if you want to publish it. I was so disappointed when I looked at it on the computer and I couldn't retake it. So I just had to do the next best thing and hope Heather doesn't mind how much Ben really does have eyes for her. --Rich

That explains it! It must be true, then, that Ben can't take his eyes off Heather!


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?

'Many Thankse
Everyone!

Miss Hetty


+ LETTERS TO THE EDITORS?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click here to review last week's Bulletin

I enjoyed Weston's writing again ... he's got the gift. Great to read about Carolyn's vacation, too, and good pictures! What a lot of work Ary does; that was interesting, too. Enjoyed learning more about Dan. Really love when we hear from such a variety of people!

Donna Anderson Johnson
Ashby, MN


Thanks for another interesting Bulletin. Love Carolyn's comments... Have to send some more pictures so you can include them in the later issues.

Tom Miller
Madera, CA


Can we spin off a "Weston Only" Bulletin? Out of all the great writers we have contributing to The Bulletin, is it snobby to say I most enjoy Weston's and my dad's writing? I wish I had a fraction of the talent those two have! Maybe it's in here somewhere; I just need to explore. I suppose it doesn't help that I spend my days writing software in languages only "we, the nerdy" understand, and documenting that software in a language that seems only vaguely to resemble English.

Weston talked about my Uncle Will's horse farm, and the fencing trip we took a few years back. It's really hard to believe that we took a vacation to help my aunt and uncle fence their land, thousands of miles away, but that's the kind of people my aunt and uncle are.

Will has always been the uncle every cousin flocked to when he showed up at a family gathering. He loves making us all laugh. His sense of humor was somewhat warped over the years by being a sixth grade teacher, which made him able to talk to us perfectly! I remember thinking about how lucky his 6th graders were, when I was stuck with Mrs. Wick! I suppose it was unfair to Mrs. Wick to be compared to such competition.

Thanks for another great Bulletin!

Wyatt Johnson
Moorhead, MN

Photo Editor's Note: One thing we can and will do is add an index page for Weston's essays, similar to the "Beaver Tales" and "LTD Storybrooke" indices ... in fact, that's probably overdue. We need a name for the Weston collection. What shall we call it?


Have been enjoying what Weston's been writing lately! He's a good, relaxed writer ... fun to read! I would also like to say that I'm glad for what Ginny does to all of the pictures ... makes it look all put together. :)

Kimberly Johnson
Long Lake, MN


Last Week's Bulletin Review JKL
by Betty Droel
MoundsView, MN

The first picture on the first page was Total Peace. It must have been taken in Georgia or North Carolina or Tennessee or some other place with mountains. So seldom we ever see a view from a train anymore. I was so shocked at how big Ethan is already. Thanks for the Update on your family, Ernie and Carolyn. You realize, don't you, that I knew you both close to the age Ethan is now. Imagine! Grandparents. Now, I call that time passing way too fast. That little Carrie is so beautiful. I love the tuckered out picture of her.

It didn't take long for Tom and Mavis to make it to their winter home in Florida. I suppose they'll be writing about the beautiful winter they're having while we pant behind the snow shovel. But for some reason we love "home," and will endure the change of seasons. No doubt we will stay in more when it gets to be the real winter time in Minnesota. Old age is not for surviving in unfavorable weather.

Wasn't that just the sweetest picture of Maralee and Diana that Bitzi created? We will be anxious to follow up further reports from Diana. She looks so good.

The story told by Larry was very easy to picture as he described the masterpiece of the pad, and the work there was putting the feed bunks together -- and I wanted to quit reading but couldn't when it kept getting worse and worse, or is that better and better? Oh, the shock to stand there and before your very eyes the bulldozer crashed right down on top of the labor of constructing those feed bunks in that weather! And to think he ended the story on that note. Thank goodness he at least told us no one was hurt. We hardly dare ask for a sequel to that, as that must have taken a lot of effort and many hours to draw up in story form. The years didn't dim the memory of THAT one.

Travelogue has had some very interesting accounts and pictures the last months. This time we get to visit the Garden Center in the Netherlands. What a lot of puttery work to display all those individual small plants so artistically and colorfully. Eye appeal is a lot of the sales power, but not everyone has the ability to create desire to purchase one or two or a dozen. It would also be fun to work with the different seasonal displays. I think of the $overhead$ to display all those articles. I saw a price on one sign, but couldn't read it. The web gallery was most interesting and just amazing at how many employees it would take to create and maintain that display neatly amidst hundreds of shoppers.

And then we come to Weston Johnson's story about the horse farm in Colorado. I must say Weston has a coveted gift of writing which we are getting the benefit of. I could just visualize it all, and almost hear the sounds and smell the smells as he wrote. Weston's heartaches would have touched Will and Mary Jo so they would want to make him even more welcome. They would have loved to sit by and see that home cooked meal devoured. Once again we are left hanging at a crucial place -- To Be Continued! Oh well, we will be very glad to wait a week for the next chapter. Thanks Wes, for being willing to sit down and share all that you did. They might never know how much that stop lifted your spirits.

Actually, I was glad The Bird wasn't included in the previous story. It deserved a story all its own. We could just follow every move being made to save that little bird. We, too, felt a pang of sadness as your uncle Will entered with empty hands and closed the door tightly against the cold October night. Another story so well written that we couldn't lay it down until the very last word. We felt we were right there beside you the whole time.

What a handsome picture of Dan and Nancy Mellon! The war experiences could have made a totally different ending to the story, but we are glad you survived to enjoy your years together now in Yucaipa, California.

Was a surprise to see the Miss Hetty letter by Arg. I just sent greetings to Kathy and Arg by a friend who is traveling to Anchorage now for Thanksgiving -- IF he happens to see them. Arg said they looked forward to receiving The Bulletin each week. I smiled to myself, as they could so easily step into their sister's computer room just a few blocks away and watch The Bulletin in progress, but they choose to be fair and wait like the rest of us for Saturday. Only Miss Kitty gets to peek.

You said you thought Betty didn't care for frogs. Well, do you see that cute little gray frog on the welcome stone? It isn't an ugly green one with big ugly eyes like some frogs I remember, ha. You have to admit this one is really cute there amongst the leaves.

Once again it was good to the last dot. For some reason I had the feeling there was going to be a nice surprise in this Bulletin #230, and there was. Some great stories, letting us see into the lives of The Bulletin "family," and we hope more to come in following weeks.

Please keep encouraged and feel an incentive by knowing your work is admired and appreciated. We keep wondering how you ever do it, week after week. Now if we all can only do our part by submitting something for you to create a Bulletin with, we can keep finding one every Saturday morning in our incoming e-mail. It's a two-way street.

Betty Droel


Photo © Betty Droel
No Veterans' Day blizzard this year -- just a light dusting of snow!

This is not California, or Florida, or Georgia, or Texas. This is MINNESOTA, and we are about to embark on a typical Minnesota winter. As I looked out of the window this morning, I saw our very first skiff of snow. I quickly took a picture out the back door before it melted away as the day wore on. But, we were excited to see it. I have a broom and a snow shovel beside the back door. Handy for whatever the need is. So far, it's only been the broom sweeping fallen leaves away. Just wanted to share this happening with you today, November 13, 2006.


CHUCKLES


Photo illustration © Douglas Anderson; photo of Mason by Rich Weiland

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Quotation for the day: Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. --Cicero

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.


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