Bulletin 421 July 11, 2010

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Sunday, July 11, 2010

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Photo © Jerrianne Lowther
Coral pink peony, Alaska Botanical Garden.

UPDATE -- Greta Shockey gets a little brother!
by Melanie Anderson Shockey
Hutchinson, MN

Porter Alexander Shockey was born at 8:00 a.m. on June 18. He weighed 7 lbs., 9.5 oz. and was 20.5" long. We're so happy about our new addition and are adjusting to life as a family of four. Greta, 2-1/2, loves her baby brother, although sometimes a little too enthusiastically!

Photo © Larry T. Dake
Harlie Mae Harrison on 4th of July (one month old).

July 2, 3 & 4, 2010, Earl & Bergit Swenson hosted a Swenson Family Reunion in conjunction with the Oklee Centennial Celebration & Oklee All School Reunion. All but one of Earl & Bergit’s extended family were present. (The missing one is soon to bring yet another grandchild into the world.) Congratulations, Earl & Bergit.

Family picture taken at Shawn’s high school graduation in May. Back row: Scotty holding Trinidy, Angela, Tracer, Shawn (newest addition to our family); front row: Trenton, Trevor.

FAMILY UPDATE -- the Robersons, in Hico, Texas
by Angela Stahlecker Roberson
Hico, TX

It seems that every update I send starts off something like this: "We have been so busy..." And, yet, here I am again thinking, "Wow, we have been busy!" Besides the usual baseball stuff, finishing the end of another school year, and fun summer activities, we've had a couple of additional events that have added to the cheerful chaos around here.

As of Easter weekend, we added a family member. A student that I taught had been having difficulties in an abusive home and, for the last year, had been staying with various families in the community where I teach. When we got back from the senior trip on Easter weekend of this year, he came home to find that the family he was staying with could no longer take care of him, due to their own financial situation. So, Scott and I agreed to take him temporarily.

Well, a couple of days turned into a couple of months, and now this young man is a part of our family. He moved to Waco, having graduated in May, and plans to attend a technical school there with his best friend from high school. However, as I type this, he is visiting for the weekend. It seems that he has benefitted from having a stable environment where he is cared for (my kids love having an honorary "big brother" to play with) and where my family, in turn, has learned to let our hearts expand to include another person into our family. It's been a true blessing to have this young man become a member of our family, and I hope that it's been a good thing for him, as well.

Family picture taken at Trenton’s Kindergarten graduation, where Shawn was his escort. Back row: Tracer, Shawn, Trevor; front row: Angela, Trinidy, Trenton, Scotty.

The other event that has made this summer extra crazy is that I decided to apply for a teacher research position at Texas A&M University and got accepted. So, I was there for four weeks in June, working in a research lab on multiple sclerosis. I met scientists from all over the world, including places like the Congo, Iran, South Vietnam, Scotland, Great Britain, India, Germany, and Guatemala. I missed my family, but had a great experience while I was there and learned a lot about MS and about the studies being done to find its causes.

Other than that, we've been up to the usual stuff. Baseball is just now finally over, and all four kids played this year, so we are all glad for a break. Scotty is busy trying to grow his business. And, I am just now starting to enjoy my summer. Although, while finally home for the first time this week, I am recovering from a wicked staph infection in my arm ... which isn't enjoyable at all!

Anyway, that's what we've been up to. I like to call it "cheerful chaos" because, honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Trenton & Trinidy of the Hico Hunters baseball team, left; Tracer & Trevor, each on a different Hico Tiger baseball team, right.

Photo illustration © Virginia McCorkell
Click here to see what's up on Ginny McCorkell's Bitzidoodles blog.

Photo © Sarah Steinhauer
Kira & Levi Steinhauer, dancing in the rain.
Click here for the latest on Sarah's blog, Where The Wild Ferns Grow.

Sherry went to be with our daughter and the new grandbaby and came home with a new kitty. "Sophia" makes it into the "Ox and Dog Blog" because she was an orphaned kitten raised by a dog -- along with three puppies. -- read more and watch Sophia's "top dog" video on LTD's Storybrooke Ripples blog.

Photo © Donna Johnson
Camryn, Brooklynn, Rylie, Jayce & Jolene at their garage sale.

Caity, Jayce and I brought up some things to sell at Jolene's garage sale, leaving Thursday night to set up. We had a lovely day for the sale, nice breeze and just the right temperature to stay comfortable. Our help at the start of the day was Camryn, Brooklynn, Rylie, Jayce and Jolene. We managed to get rid of a fair amount of "stuff," so we were all satisfied.

Jessy, Chris and Grady were invited to join us for a delicious pork loin meal, grilled by Wyatt. It was so tasty! Jolene was busy baking Snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies and Special K bars ... all of which she makes top notch! (These were sampled by all, but also for selling at the sale, with Rylie running the cookie money.)

Photos © Donna Johnson
Caity supervised Grady while he played with "Big Guy," Brooklynn's Siberian tiger, left; Camryn also found a friend, right.

A group of us enjoyed the day and into the evening at Lori and Shawn's cabin on the 4th of July. As usual, great food and visiting; along with fishing, bubble blowing, lawn games, sparklers, fireworks and bonfire with Dairy Queen ice cream cones by Lori's friend Amy Johnson and S'mores by Weston. A beautiful, relaxing and wonderful day!

Let's play a guessing game: 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.

Last week's Guess picture

Judy McCalla & Gert Dake Pettit supplied last week's mystery photo.
Send us some mystery photos; we will line them up in our staging area to take their turn.

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.

What a cute picture! The only two I can guess are the second from the left, my brother Steve (Miller) and fourth from the left, cousin Carol (Dake Printz). Thanks.

Well, the one second from the right is me, Judy McCalla, but I don't know who the others are. I'm sure this is at Bill and Amy Dake's house, right? I don't know what we were all there for, but it looks like we're having a good time.

Editor's comment: That certainly is our home place. Those are mostly all cousins to you and they are all related to me! --DMA

Think I know some, but not all in this picture. Second from left looks like Steve Miller, next is Stan Dake and Carol Dake. Can't quite figure the other three out!

My lovely picture discovery -- I found this copy of the group of "my babies" in the photo albums that Gert brought for me to enjoy when she came for a visit this spring. I was so glad to see it again. You see, I had made a very silly choice when I first saw the picture in Judy McCalla's albums when she came to see me last summer. She had this one and another pose of the children all sitting nice and minding their moms by being nice. So I chose to copy that one. After Judy went home, I wished so many times that I had gotten this one copied, too.

This is who they are, reading from left to right: Dan Mellon, Steve Miller, and Stan Dake (all born in the Cokato hospital with Vonnie Dake as their delivery room nurse); Carol Dake, Judy McCalla (born earlier than the three boys, in a Breckenridge, Minnesota, hospital), and Tom Mellon (the one who, as a baby, I tended one day in July of 1946, during the days immediately before I came down with Polio). He was born in a Minneapolis hospital.

There is so much in the picture to be told about. The old cars (new then) that Don recognized, the special gate that Dad made so Mom could get through the pasture of sheep to the hen house. The relationship of all of these little gremlins to myself, and on and on. I was not there the day they all came to visit, as this was taken in spring of 1950. I am not sure where I was or what I was doing. There is the possibility that I may have gone for a visit to the Wahpeton-Breckenridge area. I'm not sure.

Dorothy said that the GUESS picture this time was one of her favorites of all the little ones together. Evidently, she knows who they are, but I sure don't. I won't even take up room here to make a guess. I will be thrilled to find out who they are next week. I am sure I know them all as adults.

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.

Summer 1949 -- No Dull Boys Here
by Dorothy Dake
Howard Lake (and Dassel), MN

I was just thinking of that saying -- a ll work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!

We certainly work hard enough around here. There is not one person in our family who isn't really loaded down with work this summer of 1949. But if you think we spend every minute of our day working, then you are vastly mistaken. Such a lot of imagination goes into the left over time.

Probably the best entertainment planners are Blanche and Lois. They have more experience in this kind of thing and they have a little more resting time to research. But it was the guys who found our first entertainment. You see, it was this way...

Both Jim and Bill keep an eye peeled for anything having to do with World War II. They have been reading that some people, under the direction of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, have been doing a combat film using the films taken during that war. In May of this year, it was finally completed and ready for general viewing. It is called Crusade in Europe.

In the next few weeks, we watched for more information as to where we could get to see the film. And then it was announced in the Minneapolis paper that it was going to be run on the TV station there. (I don't know which one -- but Grandpa Mellon did.). So, all summer, we have had a standing invitation to bring something for lunch and Grandma would have coffee and Kool-Aid to drink and we could watch the Crusades on their TV every Thursday evening. It is to be finished before long now.

The most exciting week we watched was the one that recorded the preparation for the invasion of France. The photographers had recorded the boys getting ready for the invasion. The company they were showing had a bunch of soldiers giving each other some very non-military haircuts. (Mohawk comes to mind.) We all had to laugh, but then Bill let out a whoop -- he recognized the fellows! Then he told us he had watched that group of soldiers as they let off a little of the tension by getting ready to meet the enemy.

Bill had noticed the photographers, but he surely never thought he would be seeing those pictures that were taken at South Hampton, England, of the boys in the Ambulance Company. (He was a Sergeant in that company.) Before they were through recording the scene, they panned one of the ambulances that was in his motor pool. I must say that was one interesting watch!

They won't be finished showing the rest of the story until into the later fall, so I imagine I won't get to see them all. Maybe it will be shown in St. Cloud, but I doubt the reception would be very good. The men here have to fuss with the "Rabbit Ears" every time, and even then it gets pretty "snowy," at times.

Really, we ladies do not watch every minute of the film, as scenes can be very disturbing. What seems therapeutic for the men just upsets us. We find a lot of entertainment watching the two great-grandkids. Grandma has a lot of toys and playthings in boxes on the back porch and Tom and Carol are busy finding the most interesting things available.

The last night we were there, Carol found a sand pail that was just big enough to use as a seat to watch TV. It was hard to keep from laughing and spoiling the show. You see, she turned it upside down and then backed up to sit on it. The trouble was, the top of the pail was so small she missed it and slid off ... first one side and then the other. Finally, she did get seated and watched a minute or two, then moved it to where she could see better, and went through the whole show again. Finally, Gert and I couldn't help breaking out laughing. She looked around at us to see what we thought was funny. She started laughing, too. Of course, she really wasn't sure what was funny, but she didn't want to be left out of the joke!

I have run out of time for telling, but I have some other entertainment features for future telling. As they say on TV, "Just keep tuned in for the next episode!"

We hiked and zip-lined through morning drizzle back towards civilization. There we found the next group of blood donors waiting. We marveled at how innocent, clean, and dry they seemed. They were more dismayed than grateful when we shared our wealth of leech removal knowledge. I discarded my decaying running shoes (which must have smelled like flowers, as bees loved them), waved goodbye to the bashful gibbons, and boarded the Land Rover for the trip back to Huay Xai.

We arrived in time for me to catch a boat across the Mekong. On the Thai side, a health worker determined I wasn't febrile (the flu scare was underway in Southeast Asia by now) and a border official wrinkled his nose and stamped me in. After a three hour bus ride to Chiang Rai, a tuk-tuk deposited me at a guesthouse, just as the monsoon rains descended again. I spent the evening sipping Thai iced tea (I'd missed it in Laos!) and watching the water rise in the very flooded courtyard.

And now I'd come full circle; I soon found myself back in Chiang Mai at the same guesthouse where we had stayed for a week the previous month. I spent a final two nights there before boarding the first of three flights that took me back to San Francisco.

Photo Editor's Note: Kjirsten hasn't posted any photos from the Gibbon Experience because she lost her camera. We'll tell you about that next week.

This Week's Birthdays
July 13---Zach Bratten
July 13---Ginny Adair
July 15---Brienna Lyn Henderson (1 year)
July 15---Tom Morgan
July 15---William Earl Dake
July 15---Sherry Dake
Happy Birthday!

More July Birthdays
'
July 1---Suzanne McCorkell
July 1---Jim Smith
July 1---Zachary Elliot Smith (6 years old)
July 4---Brian Lehtola
July 5---Jennifer Dake Horne
July 6---James Miller
July 7---Kimberly Johnson
July 8---Trenton Loredo Roberson (7 years old)

July 18---Callie Printz (9 years old)
July 19---Patricia Dake Meyer
July 19---Marlee Morgan Freesemann
July 19---Devon S. Stewart
July 20---Michael Miller
July 20---Susie Miller Smith
July 24---Donna Jacobson Anderson
July 24---Chuck Anderson
July 24---Jeni Larson
July 26---Tytus Joshua Myron
July 27---Wyatt Timothy Mellon
July 29---Heather Henderson
July 29---Colleen Mellon Scott
July 30---Justin Printz
July 31---Tim Myron

July Anniversaries
Z
July 2---Ken and Amy Dake Harrison (3 years)
July 8---Shawn and Lori Chap Ostendorf (4 years)
July 19---Dan and Nancy Mellon (41 years)
July 21---Capt. Jack and Ginny Adair (48 years)
July 27---Larry and Sherry Dake (32 years)
July 29---Charles and Ardis Sigman Quick (38 years)

Photo © Ken Hellevang
Merna's friends gather to lay her youth to rest in her 50th year.

There was a "surprise" service held in my honor recently, for the purpose of laying to rest my "youth." In funeral fashion, the guests assembled, having signed the book and received a memorial folder, complete with photo, program and obituary. Somber violin strains were played as I was brought on the scene, followed by viewing the remains of my youth in the carefully prepared coffin.

Two of my friends came in late, dressed in their old lady wigs, teeth and attire and humorously interrupted the flow of the service numerous times. Several family and friends gave eulogies, the coffin was closed, and I was asked to put the final nail in the coffin.

A traditional "pot luck" funeral lunch was served, including open-face Cheez Whiz with sliced olives sandwiches, plain red Jell-O, and bars and cookies served in cereal boxes, laid horizontally with the side cut open and lined with wax paper. What a memorable 50th birthday celebration!

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?

WE HAVE A WINNER! On Saturday evening, no less! Congrats, Auntie, you are one sharp customer. Please send your mailing address and thanks for playing! --Doug Anderson

I LOVE your comics ... can just see you little beeps playing tricks on one another! I hope you are staying cool on this nearly 100 degree day!

Editor's comment: That’s a quickie… I remember Elaine asking me if I had read the book on the first ladies, as she and I had been reading the complete biog of the presidents ... then we did the first ladies. I found them even more interesting. I don’t remember who did them, but they were short stories on every president. Did you have that book in your closet library, Elaine? Anyway, they were fun reading. Congratulations -- you will like the CD -- it is great! --DMA

You are correct, but you are also the second guesser, and unfortunately, the first guesser (my Auntie Elaine) was right. Thanks for playing, hang in there, you'll get it next time. I'll see you get honorable mention! --Douglas

The flower-filled median of Pioneer Drive in Anchorage, Alaska, is no small miracle. Can you imagine planting and caring for all those flowers with the cars whizzing by on each side, plus the expense involved in replacing them, as well as someone taking responsibility for their even being there? We know one person, our Photo Editor, who has worked very hard and long and diligently to make it look so impressive to anyone who will pay attention.

Fourth of July, being such an important day, was worthy of the variety of red, white and blue flowers. Here's to Happy Birthday, America. We had earned the independence from the British to be a free and separate country, and fought valiantly through the years to keep it one of the most remarkable nations of the world, but it could so easily be destroyed. We can not let it be.

That said, now we can enjoy a special holiday from the work routine, and as of this afternoon, it is almost over for another year.

We were home enjoying the peace and quiet and beautiful weather here in Minneapolis, except for a special time on Saturday when we went to Steve and Marci Weiland's for a great picnic. They have a huge, manicured yard, and are very sharing. Many families with children were there, making use of the activities they had arranged for the occasion. For instance, kiddy pools and water balloons and tennis court (?) I think tennis, while some lounged leisurely in the shade. Mounds of gourmet pot luck food and chat.

I had never heard of the flamingoes project, but how nice to have included Elaine's yard. Wasn't that a lovely yard, as was pictured with the birds AND the very lovely garden? It looked like a meticulous gardener was the caretaker.

The Update about the landscaping project by Wyatt was very complete and detailed. We could almost feel the weight of those rocks that had to be hauled in and distributed just the right way. No one will ever know all the work it was to make it that way after it's all finished. Just to see it and admire it will be the reward for those days and weeks of hard work.

Nice they had such good help with their girls, who are able to be working with them now. Will be a nice memory for the girls every time they look out the window to see what THEY had done. That patio was unique. So different, and saving all the work of doing it themselves was a wise move.

We had seen the house in the beginning stages, so it was most interesting to see all the work that had been done now, outside as well as inside. Hope they can enjoy it to the full.

Very thought provoking to see the picture Beaver sent in of the tree that had been struck by lightening. Hardly anything to even make matches out of. What a disaster when the forces of nature flex their muscles, expressing mighty power on huge trees that have stood for ages!

THAT was a shock to see the Update Lorraine Tabor wrote of our life-long friendship only becoming even tighter during her serious illness of polio in our teenage years. I wonder now at my dad and mother letting me drive all the way across Minneapolis and St. Paul to the hospital where Lorraine was in the iron lung at Rosemont. One didn't even fear doing that many years ago, but certainly not in today's world. My little brother, Rich Weiland, was like a mascot to my girlfriends, and they loved his humor and loved entertaining him. He sent his little doodlings on my letters to Lorraine this article said, but honestly I can't remember that.

Isn't that photo illustration by Bitzi from Bitzidoodles just the most darling little girl? Actually, I know a little girl almost exactly like that; her name is Zoie (I think that is the spelling) Hickock.

Well, Sarah's felted scarf was a new one to me. I had not ever heard of that craft, but leave it to Sarah to try it out.

The oxcart looks like a project that took skill and patience. I hope there is a little fun now after all that planning and work.

Miss Kitty does very well to keep us up to date on what goes on in Anchorage, Alaska. This time she chose some very lovely blossoms to prove that there really are beautiful days in Alaska between snows. I think you have to congratulate Miss Kitty and Mai Tai for insisting they just enjoy their cat naps, rather than what they could be doing out in the rain. I don't suppose they are much help anyway.

Our lilacs have been gone so long I hardly remember them anymore. It is always so exciting to see the first evidence of spring flowers as the lilac bushes burst their buds. I am sure Alaska would have a later start than we, as is pictured.

What a dear family picture of the Johnsons. Another special event in the Johnsons' new room. I am sure you wonder what you ever did before you added that room, Donna and Beaver.

Was nice seeing Jayce's family, too, and he and his grandma do resemble one another. Another nice family picture was the one of Wyatt and family. That precious picture of the two girls in sepia color, posed as they were, looked professional, and I was actually surprised that it was two girls we knew. That is a most extraordinary picture. Did Bitzi get ahold of that and create that masterpiece?

So, we did get the story of the disaster at the canning factory, but it was not nearly as bad as I had imagined it would be. I just knew Dorothy had hurt herself seriously with that corn cutter job, and was very relieved to find out that not even the skin was torn. Thanks for the complete description of that experience, Dorothy. Of course, it would have been most unforgettable to the smallest detail.

The Travelogue is still sharing Laos with us. I tried to picture the zip-lined travel to the tree house. For sure, one would have to be young and adventurous, which Kjirsten truly is.

Nice to see the picture of Suzanne with her friends and her birthday gift dessert. I was curious as to just who you met at Post Falls that were your McCorkell relation?

The Little Beeps cartoon gets more complicated and challenging every week. I thought I had done so well to figure out who that President was, but I wasn't the first one to send in the right answer. I am still pouting.

I loved the common sense the Quotation for the day afforded this time. I am overwhelmed at the moment with several projects I should be doing, but would so much rather finish this LTTE. I told myself that it would still be there tomorrow, and we didn't need it until then, so not to fret. I like the eating a cookie idea ... hhhhmmm.

Now, this has taken me about three days to get this far. We had a 4th of July big day, and a full day Sunday, and today was a visitation for Connie Moldenhauer, but I am finally going to end this with our thanks again to the editors for their dedicated, constant work, producing The Bulletin for us.

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: Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. --John Wooden, American basketball coach

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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