Photo © Lori Ostendorf
McKenna Ostendorf takes a break.

The Fifth Annual Reunion of descendents of Gust and Rose Berndt was held Sunday, August 16, 2009. It was held at the former Gust Berndt farmsite where Gust's granddaughter, Sandy Thiele, her husband, Larry, and family now reside. The farm is in Richland County, approximately 3-1/2 miles northeast of Great Bend, North Dakota. There had been rain the night before but the day turned out to be nice; a little cool and breezy, but sunny.

A delicious pot luck dinner was served and eaten on tables that were under a canopy. After dinner, a puppet show enjoyed by young and old was presented by Ryan Hellevang, grandson of Tom and Mavis (Anderson) Morgan.

Elaine (Anderson) Wold and Mavis (Anderson) Morgan both presented a number of prizes.

Much visiting was done, as well as sharing of memories. The original buildings looked great and so did the yard and Sandy's awesome garden.

We would like to thank Sandy and Larry for hosting the event, as well as everyone who attended.

Hello! It's been awhile! We've been enjoying little Brienna very much. She's been such a good baby, so we've been lucky.

Mason and Logan think she's the greatest. Mason constantly is telling her that he loves her "soo, soo" much. Logan just goes and gives her head a rub and an open mouthed kiss! So for sure, they really are adjusting well with the newest addition. Things are a bit more busy around here, but I'm finally getting the normal routine back and it feels great.

I've enjoyed my mom and Patty staying with me, though. It helped me a ton! I have an awesome group of friends around here, including Gina and Rachel, so it makes it seem so easy to have a newborn and two toddlers! Things are going really well! Hope all is well with you!

Heather and crew (at the Ben Henderson's)

Since Dwight was going to California, Brenda decided that I couldn't just stay home alone, so she planned a "Mystery Trip." She spent a lot of time researching interesting things to do and places to go ... with the help of the other kids, too!

Brenda took her kids to daycare and picked me up at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, August 5th. We took the "scenic route" to Alexandria, where we had a great lunch on the patio of the Depot Express. After stopping for a very interesting tour of a shop where they made granite countertops and tabletops from locally quarried granite south of St. Cloud, it was on to The Cities, where she handed me the map and suggested that I give her a few pointers on how to get to the next place.

Excuse me? I don't know where the next place is! I can read a map just fine when I know the destination, but this was tough! So she did narrow it down to "get us to the west side of Lake Harriet." OK, I can do that!

We took a ride on a restored Trolley, watched the sailboats on Lake Harriet, and walked along the bike and pedestrian paths before going to Bachman's to look around at all the wonderful garden displays. We intended to have supper there, too, but found out that they were only open until 8 p.m., not 10 p.m., like Brenda thought. So we went to Macaroni Grill at Centennial Lakes and then walked the lighted paths, little bridges, and the grass and cobblestone maze before going to Liberty Frozen Custard for dessert. We stayed at the Sheraton Wednesday night.

Thursday morning, she decided at the last minute to go to The Egg and I for breakfast, since Rick had recommended it. Unknown to us, there are two locations -- and she chose the Little Egg. Rick had actually recommended the Big Egg. The two green doors with paint peeling and a third door with a torn screen made us pause, but the people coming and going looked like nice people and after all, Rick HAD recommended it! So we went in. It was very 50s ... not reproduction 50s, either -- original! The food and service was great -- the buckwheat pancakes, especially -- and we weren't sorry.

After that came a "10:45 appointment." We drove for a while and ended up back by our motel. Brenda suggested that "as long as we're here, we should take a picture of our motel," since we hadn't before we left that morning. OK ... so we drove into the parking lot and there, getting out of her car ... Melanie! So she threw her bags into Brenda's van and took the map -- whew! We drove some more until I saw a sign that said "Harriet Island."

To be continued...

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. LeRoy Dake and The Matriarch supplied last week's mystery photos.

I have no idea of the cute little girl in the right picture, but I'll make a guess -- Gert Dake Pettit.

Judy Riesenberg
Great Falls, MT

Tom Miller
Madera, CA

This is another wonderful old photo of Grandma and Grandpa Dake (on the left) and Grandma and Grandpa Miller (on the right). It seems there are quite a few photos of the two families as I am sure they spent a lot of time together. I can't tell who is in the background (in the door); I would guess Dad, Uncle Dick or Uncle Tom.

And if you can guess who the pretty little girl in the black stockings is, you'll figure out about how old those lilac bushes are today.

GUESS-ing game ... I happen to recognize Bill and Amy Dake on the left, and Billy and Olive Miller on the right. Could that be John in the background? It would have to be one of the older Miller boys. Then, is that little girl Dorothy? It looks like another one of her sitting outside a house in an older Bulletin that I just could not find in the Archive. Too many to choose from.

A series of recollections, of the five years when Bill and Lois Dake and their family lived in Minnesota, began with the episode in Bulletin 343. It's too soon to tell just how many parts there will be in this series, just after World War II. In Bulletin 349, I told more about polio (once called Infantile Paralysis) via two links, Polio and Sister Kenny, to minimize disruption of the narrative flow. Both documents are posted as a series of scanned images. We can't edit them or correct typos and they will not respond to font changes or printer settings as regular Bulletin pages do.

These memoirs, written by Dorothy Dake, are done in first person, present tense. That means they should be told as they are happening. However, when I am 83 and remembering things that happened 60 years ago, I do have to embroider a bit to fill in some blank spots. Everything in an episode I tell is a part of my memory -- but I need to do lots of research, I need to interview the few who may know something to help, I need to study old photos -- and then, to make it flow, I have to use my imagination.

Dorothy Dake, 20, hand tinted portrait, 1946.

Even indoors, it is very cold before sundown. There are about 30 trekkers congregated here so we have plenty of company. I check out the bathrooms and there is colored  ice on the floor all around the hole and the customary water bucket is also frozen over.  It will only get worse as night progresses. Fortunately, they bring out kerosene heaters and place them around the dining area, which helps keep us from freezing as we wait for supper. Once again we have worked up an appetite and supper is delicious. None of us drink too much tea this evening, hoping not to have to visit the bathroom until morning.

We are to bed before 7 p.m. and I awaken a few hours later to a rustling sound. My first thought is, Why is Kjirsten eating when she just ate a few hours ago?

The rustling continues and I realize we have a mouse munching on our snacks. By this time, we are all awake and manage to get our food hung from the ceiling. We awaken a few more times to hear further rustling, when the mouse checks out our packs. This was not the most restful night of our trek.

To be continued...

This Week's Birthdays
August 24---Becky Chap
August 24---Maggie Zeppelin (5 years old)
August 25---Jeff Aydelotte
August 26---Donna Richards
Happy Birthday!

This Week's Anniversaries
August 28---Ken and Merna Morgan Hellevang (27 years)
Congratulations!

More August Birthdays
' 
August 5---Austin Patrick Montford (4 years old)
August 5---Jan Smith
August 6---Sully Michael Brown (5 years old)
August 7---Melanie Lehtola
August 7---Weston Johnson
August 7---Sue Wright
August 8---Erik Huseby (8 years old)
August 11---Mitchell Allen Miller
August 13---Jeffrey Todd Aydelotte, Jr.
August 13---Roxanne Mitzel
August 16---Jason Quick
August 16---Rod McNeill
August 16---Darryl McNeill
August 19---Christopher Michael Chap
August 19---Jordan Nicole Indermark (6 years old)
August 21---Jessica Hellevang
August 22---Camryn Lucille Johnson (2 years old)

August 30---Jessica Myron Gauderman
August 30---Ethan Wallace Horne (7 years old)
August 31---Devan Alexander Seaman (7 years old)

More August Anniversaries
Z
August 5---Wesley and JoAnne Sigman (20 years)
August 5---Sheldon and Mitzi Johnson Swenson (32 years)
August 6---Ryan and Heidi Johnson Henderson (4 years)
August 9---Jeff and Twila Aydelotte (18 years)
August 10---Ryan and Jessica Hellevang (2 years)
August 15---Don and Dorothy Dake Anderson (59 years)
August 16---Eric and Leona Anderson (6 years)
August 20--- Shane and Jayna Swenson (4 years)

August 30---Chris and Jennie Dake Horne (12 years)

Miss Hetty's Mailbox:

Just a quick note to say that I did see the "guess" photo of me in The Bulletin last week, but I wasn't certain it was me. I see from today's comments that it was.

The picture of Dan holding two little girls is so precious when you try to think of what is going through Abby's mind as she looks quizzically at this baby, Brienna. Logan and Mason can't wait for them to grow up to fight (woops, I meant play) with. Will they play house or baseball? Maybe both.