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Sunday, January 24, 2010
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Photo © Lori Ostendorf
McKenna, Riley & Jayce go sledding at the Ashby farm.

Updates -


Photo © Lori Ostendorf
Kierra Ostendorf celebrates first birthday with cupcake tower.

UPDATE -- Kierra celebrates first birthday at Lobster Lake
by Shawn Ostendorf
Rogers, MN

Lobster Lake was the place for Kierra's first birthday party. The birthday party featured a cupcake birthday "tower" that everyone seemed to think looked pretty neat and unique in comparison to the traditional birthday cake. Everyone also loved the taste of said cupcakes ... that is, except the birthday girl herself. She doesn't have much of a sweet tooth and is more of a meat and potato kind of person. I think she would have preferred a piece of wheat toast and a T-bone.

In addition to the cupcakes, Kierra was spoiled by all the presents she received from her birthday guests. She was assisted in opening them by her sister and both had a thrill with all the new toys that they would be able to play with. Thanks to all who came and all who gave gifts to Kierra! We enjoyed our time with all of you and Kierra had a great time, too!

 
Photos © Donna Johnson
Jayce gets a bowling cake & presents for his 11th birthday.


Photo © Donna Johnson
Brooklynn & McKenna play a board game with Lori.


Photo © Donna Johnson
While the guys were working on the flooring in the sunroom, Beaver took some of the kids out to sled. That proved to be a big hit!


Photo © Donna Johnson
Carol Pokornowski had a wedding to attend in North Dakota, so stayed with us at the farm. When she saw I could use some help, she stayed and did so for many days, before and after the weekend. Such a sweet gift! She did thorough cleaning in several rooms and helped me put away the Christmas decorations and organized many other areas. What a blessing that was!



Photo © Janie Anderson
DeLoris, Don & Dwight Anderson & Elaine Anderson Wold.

UPDATE -- Don teaches his siblings about poaching
by Janie Anderson
Wahpeton, ND

Don did a demonstration of microwave egg poaching Thursday morning at Elaine's house. They were delicious! The brunch consisted of eggs, English Muffin toast, German sausage, Danish rolls, Norwegian coffee and orange juice. At the conclusion of the demonstration, Don presented each of his guests with a poacher. The picture shows Don and three of his siblings who enjoyed the time together.


Day to DayR
With Donna Mae
Ashby, MN


Photos © Donna Johnson
Duane Miller & Carol Pokornowski with Sadee, left; Chris, Grady & Jayce, right.

Christmas Comes To Ashby Farm

We had our belated Christmas get together with the entire family last weekend. It was great to have everyone together and getting to spend time with the little ones. Grady has grown so quickly, it is hard to believe. He is a big boy! (100th percentile weight, 99th height!)


Photo © Donna Johnson
Jessy brought several containers of goodies to share with all. YUM! We are still enjoying them, as they left enough for everyone. She surely knows how to spoil all of us!


Photo © Donna Johnson
I so enjoy watching the little ones playing and listening to their chatter. Camryn and McKenna gave me several laughs. They are at the talkative stage and come up with such cute things! Sweet, how they enjoy each others' company.



Photo © Donna Johnson
On Saturday, smaller things were removed from the sunroom and furniture was pushed to one end. Wyatt set up his saw & got things ready.


Photo © Donna Johnson
When the other guys were ready, the flooring was laid...


Photo ©
Donna Johnson
... & the trim put up.


Photo ©
Donna Johnson
The sunroom is finally completed!


Photo ©
Donna Johnson
Although we have enjoyed it on many occasions already,we are very glad to have this last step done. Thank you Wyatt, Weston, Shawn, Chris & Ben; without your willingness to help, it would not be finished.


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

Update On The Editor's Fried Computer

I just received a letter from Dell that says my new computer was sent to the shipping department Thursday. They set a new date of arrival -- Wednesday, the 27th. Rich Weiland has gotten a copy of their letter. Our plans are for him to come on Thursday and set my system up and he will also put in a memory card for Don.

So we hope to be back to business as usual next week, if Rich can find an intact copy of the mailing list in the old machine. But in the meantime, the way to find The Bulletin is on the web. If you know subscribers who might not find it on their own, please send them a note.

After Donna sent notices to her list, she received this reply from Bridget:

I was going to ask you about The Bulletin, and now I know!

Thanks for the update!

Bridget Larson
Ashby, MN

And here's another reply, from Mitzi to Jerrianne:

I actually prefer reading The Bulletin through the link on the archives. It's such a large file that sometimes my inbox goes over the limit. It's the highlight of Saturday morning so I never miss it!

I was sorry to read about both of your computers. We've crashed several computers through the years and it's always a painful experience to get a new computer set up and recover all the lost files.

Mitzi Swenson
Dickinson, ND


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. Gert Dake Pettit supplied last week's mystery photo.


How many can you identify? What's going on?

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

Editors' Note: Correct guesses appear in bold face type and incorrect guesses in normal type ... generally in the order we receive them, so the first guess received is on top.

The mystery picture is my Grandfather Miller, Aunt Lenore and Uncle Henry [Pfingsten]. What great memories this picture triggers!

Shari Miller Larson
Litchfield Park, AZ


The photo is of Uncle Henry (Pfingsten) and Aunt Lenore (Miller Pfingsten) and Grandpa (Bill) Miller. Where it was taken, I haven't a clue!

Steve Miller
Coral Springs, FL


The picture is of my parents, Henry and Lenore Pfingsten, and grandfather, John W. Miller. I think it was taken in fall of 1976, and not too long before he died, which was in January of 1977. I keep this picture in my Bible. It brings back some very precious memories.

Anita Weiland
Yankton, SD


Well, Thanks for the "mystery" in the last Bulletin! I was very touched because it brings back lots of thoughts about my family. The picture was made on December 27, 1976, at Lenore and Henry Pfingsten's dinner table.

Dad [John W. Miller] had not been too well and was staying with Lenore and Henry. Dad went to the hospital on the next Friday, December 31st, for hernia surgery on January 6th. He passed away January 16, 1977.

I have the original picture so have all the info, even some 33 years later.

Tom Miller
Madera, CA


I felt such nostalgia as I saw the GUESS picture this time. Dear Lenore was a very good friend, also Henry Pfingsten, and Lenore's dad, Billy Miller, a while before he died. That bowl of healthy fruit on the table looks like Lenore's doings. She was so thin and wiry and happy, although we knew she really didn't feel that way sometimes. A huge family of boys and one girl who became my sister-in-law.

Betty Droel
MoundsView, MN


Memory Lane

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.


Dorothy Dake, 20, hand tinted portrait, 1946.

Winter In Bemidji
by Dorothy Dake
Howard Lake, MN

Some Weeks Are Astonishing

This week started out like it might be going to be a great one. January is half over and that is pretty good news. The snowstorm that came this week wasn't bad at all. Just enough to make it look freshly white. We usually have lots bigger drifts than this back home after the storms roll on in the winter. And then I got an astonishing letter from LeRoy. It is always nice to hear from them.

LeRoy and Vonnie have been living in Greely, Colorado, for almost five months now. I have heard from them several times since they arrived there. LeRoy accepted the job he had gone there to check out and I understood that farming in Colorado was not like in Minnesota. So much time is spent on irrigation and, of course, the milking operation takes lots of hours on your feet -- it sounds almost like a factory job.

Vonnie is nursing and has shifts that vary so sometimes it gets a bit frustrating for her, too. I can tell, by the detailed reports of her days, that she is finding the work extremely interesting. I knew she would do well, just by her attitude about her field of work. It sounds to me like she likes the baby floor the best -- but she talks lots about the surgery, too.

They have made friends with a young couple from near there -- Ernie and Grace Hayer is their name. It is nice for both couples, as there are not all that many people in that area. They have lots of similar interests and Ernie seems to be a big help to LeRoy, helping him get adjusted to the dry farming winter routine and to the milking that is done in assembly line style. But that is not what the letter was about this time ... as a matter of fact, you might say it is pretty much NOT what it is about.

It seems they got a letter from Ercell Smith (Louella's dad) and he had heard news that he thought they might find of interest. (I think that is probably the understatement of the year.) He has found a farm for the kids to buy. There is a farmer who lives near the Smiths. That is near Collinwood Lake. (You may remember that is south of highway 12 and half way between Dassel and Cokato.)

Anyway, to hurry the story up a bit, Ernie Nyman, who lives near there, has been farming his mother in law's farm for her. She died last winter and Ernie is finding he really wants to sell the farm. So he talked to Ercell, who told him about the kids wanting to get a farm ... and now they are dealing on it. It looks like they will be coming home by March to look it over, and to complete the financial planning that they have been discussing. I would suspect they will bring all of their belongings back with them, as it sounds very much like they will become residents of Meeker County before another three months goes by.

Some Weeks Are Disappointing

Yes, this is the same week I was talking about in the other half of this week's entry. I braved the cold last night after I came home and read the letter from the little table by the door of my rooming house. I just put my coat back on and ran across the street to tell Louella the news. She was home and in her room ... so I knocked and waited for her invitation in.

Well I should have guessed, Louella knew all about the chance of LeRoy and Vonnie coming to live in Meeker County. After all, her dad had been the one who set the whole thing up. She was just not supposed to tell it as her dad thought it was only fair to let LeRoy and Vonnie do their own announcing. BUT that wasn't quite the end of the astonishing news.

Louella informed me that the kids were not the only ones that are going to go home to Meeker County. She informed me that she had just sent off her letter of resignation to the nurses director. She plans on moving home for the summer. I have not officially been told what her intentions are beyond that ... but I have a feeling I will be getting an announcement from her before so very long.

I have to admit I went home feeling pretty low. Things are always changing. Just when you think it is all set for living, you find that time stands still for no one and everything has changed around again! Now what is to be next for me? I WANT TO KNOW!


Photo © Dorothy Dake
The Sport Shop & Photo North, winter of 1948-1949.


Travelogue t


Photo © Kjirsten Swenson
Wat (Buddhist temple), Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Southeast Asia Extravaganza 2009
by Kjirsten Swenson
Albuquerque, NM

On Friday we tried to visit a tribal museum that was closed for the holiday -- so we explored a park instead and visited an important Wat (Buddhist temple). The afternoon was sweltering, perfect for cold Thai iced tea. Everyone else indulged in cheap Thai massages, but I elected to shower and read in my air-conditioned room before heading out to the night market for street vendor chicken yellow curry and mango sticky rice for dinner. A medical school friend was celebrating her birthday, so celebrate we did until the late hours. She and the other Baylor crew left early the next morning for Bangkok.


Celebrations & Observances
From the Files of
5
Hetty Hooper

This Week's Birthdays
January 24---Marloes de Been
January 30---Whitney Johnson
January 30---Madilyn Mae Larson (3 years old)
Happy Birthday!

This Week's Anniversaries
January 24---David "Beaver" and Donna Anderson Johnson (16 years)
Congratulations!

More January Birthdays
' 
January 3---Brandon Hellevang
January 3---Virginia (Dake) McCorkell
January 4---Harry "Junior" Anderson
January 4---Nathan Hill
January 5---Jayce Michael Chap (11 years old)
January 5---Krista Rae Weiland (10 years old)
January 6---Sean Thomas Cannon (11 years old)
January 6---Kierra Elizabeth Ostendorf (1 year old)
January 7---Logan Benjamin Henderson (2 years old)
January 8---Rosanna Miller
January 8---Lelan Elaine Brown (1 year old)
January 11---Brandon Harvey Lehtola (7 years old)
January 13---Russ Riesenberg
January 15---Shea Ashley Birkholz
January 19---Trevor Jayce Roberson (9 years old)
January 22---Timothy Mellon

January 31---Larry McCorkell

January Anniversaries
Z
January 24---David "Beaver" and Donna Anderson Johnson (16 years)

January Special Days
January 1---New Year's Day
January 18---Martin Luther King Day


Miss Hetty's Mailbox:


Photo © Lori Ostendorf
Kierra Ostendorf contemplates cupcake.


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

In a recent issue of The Bulletin, I submitted my letter regarding our great winters over the years.

I think a favorite toy I had as a youth should be mentioned.

Our father, as a young man, built a miniature bobsled. Now, for you young folks, a bobsled was two pairs of runners pulled in tandem, with a platform on it.

I believe I'm remembering correctly that Dad said he built it in about 1918. I remember, as a young boy, it hung in the garage in Dwight, in bad condition. Later, Dad rebuilt it and gave it new life once again.

With this sled, I used to haul corncobs from the sheller at the Dwight elevator to different homes for heating their homes. I made a makeshift box to haul all I could pull through the deep snow.

Then, if I wanted to have some fun, I'd remove the box and go to the riverbank and slide. It accommodated three riders. It was known as the fastest and best in Dwight. Every kid that grew up in Dwight back in the late '30s will remember "the bobsled."

Also, I recall hitching rides behind horse drawn sleds as they prepared to drive to their respective farm homes. We would ride out as far as we wanted and drop the rope and walk back to town to "hitch" another ride. (We had to walk back.)

We would sit and wait by Hamerlik's Store for a driver to come out to go home. I remember as many as five sleds hooked on. The farmers seemed to enjoy having us hitched and would get a bang if one overturned.

Later on, it was brother Dwight's sled. I think he could tell a story about it, too. His five children, I am sure, have had fun with it. Another generation coming up will no doubt have their turn.

Upon retirement, it hangs in the machine shed on Dwight's farm and is placed on the wall in a neat fashion to display it. I am sure he will give anybody interested a rundown on its history.

Now snowmobiles have taken the place of snow fun. But I am sure most of folks of my age will fondly remember "Donnie's sled," as it was referred to back then.

No kid today would lug it up the slopes; they prefer a gas powered "sled." Certainly, times have changed in snow fun.

Don Anderson
Alexandria, MN


Sorry about your computer and I can feel for you to be "down." I was down for several days this week, and with all the goings on in Haiti, it was a real problem.

Hope you are up and running real soon.

Tom Miller
Madera, CA


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

I was very glad to see The Bulletin did get published yesterday morning, even with the fearful reality of the Editor's computer problems. That is pure dedication, and we can't even imagine what a feeling it must be to not have the information from your files, or even your computer, Dorothy.

A good lesson for us regarding virus. You seemed to do all things right, and still you lost it, so now all you can do is "rise up from the ashes."

The fried eggs for the first picture was typical of the situation. Thanks to the photo editor, Miss Jerrianne, for all she did in spite of the upset to help get this Bulletin #396 in our e-mail boxes. It does take a united effort to keep this going, especially for the subscribers to contribute their items of interest so there is something to publish.

The Alaskan ice carvings were the real thing. Right there in wintry, icy Alaska. So interesting to see that, and thanks for all the cold walk it took to provide the several photos.

We loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa holding the new little Great Grandson, Grady. He is not so little, and there's Weston, hoping he grows up fast enough to accompany him to some games. Weston is the kind that will never grow old, so it just might happen.

Sounds like Harold and Carol are having their turn at concern over Harold's mother. Hospice is a caring facility, and relieves the family from the responsibility as the end nears. No age gap in The Bulletin pages.

Eric and Leona wrote such a detailed interesting letter about their life and work and the new addition to their family named Stella. And, the brand new car is quite a news item, too.

We needed that explanation of what happened to your computer, Dorothy. Thank you for telling us just how it happened so we can be wary of our own system.

MEMORY LANE is still captivating with all it's good and bad news picked out of a good memory since 1946. I am sure you nearly cried to think those lovely gloves were GONE. I wonder if you might have seen that waitress wearing them on the street, if you only knew who to look for. The rude awakenings you had on life in the real world, Dorothy, prepared you for your life of living with the effects of polio, still with a smile on your face.

This is one of my favorite sections of The Bulletin, but I suppose someday it will have told the whole story. So, just know that until it is ended, it is appreciated so very much. It is a true story from the heart of a dearest of friends, our Editor.

Even the mini section of the Travelogue about the night market in Thailand was so welcome. Just another little touch with a far away place we will never see. The sky was so reddish in the picture, and did I see the moon or sun in the upper left?

It was really fun seeing what others had written in the Letters to the Editor. I guess Doug is getting the message that we all think his contribution fun and fascinating, never knowing what he might think of next to offer to the pages of The Bulletin.

The crossword puzzle should be easy, but for some reason I find only a few I can fill in. I had to laugh at Cap'n Jack's passion being one of the questions. We can all think of that 6-letter word with an S on the end.

Last, but not least, being the Quotation for the day: Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans. That is so absolutely true. Right now, in fact, life is passing by very quickly while I wind up the LTTE for this week, but in the back of my mind I visualize the laundry and the grocery trip needing to be done. All too soon the day will be gone. At least I will have completed the thanks to the editors from the Droels.

Betty Droel

FUNNNIES


©
Douglas Anderson-Jordet

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To search a name in Who's Who or Who's Where: click on the link to open the page, then 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.) 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. In Who's Where you can search on state or city names, too.



Quotation for the day: There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter. One is the January thaw. The other is the seed catalogues. --Hal Borland

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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