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Sunday, October 3, 2010
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Photo © Jerrianne Lowther
Autumn along the Little Susitna River in Alaska.

Updates -

UPDATE -- Julia Sigman has
passed away at 102

On Sunday, September 26th, Julia Sigman passed away at the age of 102.

Julia was born August 27, 1908, in Emmet, North Dakota, to George and Emma Kingsnorth. She is survived by three sisters, Mary Reimers, Ester Kingsnorth and Ann Jorde (the youngest at 91), her children: Loren Sigman and Yvonne Boettcher, grandchildren: Ardis Quick, Lori Sigman, Howard Sigman, Heidi Hackbarth, Roger Boettcher, Sandra Boettcher and Darlene Boettcher. She also leaves seven great grandchildren: Jason and Travis Quick, Kenny and Lauren Hackbarth, and Elisa, Colin and Karl Boettcher.

Services were held in Minot, North Dakota, on Wednesday, September 29th.


 
Photo © Curt Henderson

Abby with parents Dan & Gina Henderson, left; with Auntie Rachel Olson, right.

UPDATE -- Abby Henderson celebrates 2nd birthday
by Gina Henderson
Watertown, MN

Thank you so much for remembering Abby's 2nd birthday! The birthday girl was pretty excited to have birthday cake and to sing "Happy Birthday" with all of her favorite people. She is fully stocked on fun new toys now, as well ... baby dolls and accessories, kitchen toys, puzzles and more! We're looking forward to the changes that a year with a growing toddler might bring!

Another change we're anticipating is an addition to our little family. We're expecting baby #2 on March 28th. We can only begin to imagine life with two little ones! :)

I forgot to say thank you for the sweet baby e-card, too!


Photo © Gina Henderson
Abby with grandparents, Curt & Patty Henderson.



Photo © Ben & Ashley Johnson
Christina Lake view from our new home site.

FAMILY UPDATE -- Ben and Ashley build a new home
by Ben Johnson
Ashby, MN

Our lives have been very hectic this summer, in March we decided it was time to think about changing from a trailer house to an actual house that doesn't have wheels or a hitch. So we went on the search for financing. We immediately found our secondary financing but could not find a bank to help us with a construction loan until three weeks ago, which is why our summer has been hectic!

So during the last three weeks we have been getting our ducks in a row at the bank as well as starting to prep our building site for our project.

On the 11th of September, Dad came up and helped us cut down 14 trees to clear off our building spot. We then had the stumps grubbed and the dirt work began. I spent two days with a skid loader and Dad's pay loader, stripping the dirt and clay to prepare the site.


Photo © Ben & Ashley Johnson
Dad (Beaver) felling one of the basswood trees.


Photo © Ben & Ashley Johnson
Our row of felled trees with our view of Christina Lake.

We then realized that our current house will be in the way of the construction process so we started to pack up our belongings to get rid of the old and make room for the new. Last night Mom came over to help us pack and hauled a load of boxes to her house to store until we are done with our new house. While she was here, a couple from Evansville showed up to look at our house to see if they wanted it, and they called back tonight to tell us they will take it!

We are going to move it on Sunday so we are going to be busy finishing boxing and moving our belongings. Our next step then will be to finish paperwork at the bank and with any luck we should be starting to build by mid-week. So that is what has been consuming our spare time for the summer.

Other than that, it has pretty much been the same old song and dance for us. I am still working at the Co-op in Ashby, which kept me very busy this year as we had extra spraying, due to a very high number of soybean aphids this year.

I also completed my EMT classes that I started in January and passed my national registry test in May. Since then, I have been voted onto the fire department, which in Ashby isn't very busy, but I did go on my first fire a few weeks ago when a barn started on fire a few miles out of town.

Ashley is still at the clinic in Elbow Lake, doing medical coding and billing. They are implementing a new computer system that has kept her on her toes.

Well, I suppose I should help Ashley finish packing up stuff, so I will go for now but I will keep you up to date on our building progress.


Photo © Ben & Ashley Johnson
Ben moving dirt with the Pay Loader.


UPDATE -- looking forward to winter in New Mexico
by Heidi and Ryan Henderson
Albuquerque, NM

Sorry that I haven't done my fair share lately! I am keeping really busy with work and school. I am working at the same charter school that I was at last year and I am also taking three classes (Anthropology, New Mexico History and Public Speaking) so I feel like a chicken with its head cut off some days.

In the little free time that I do have I finished the top of my first quilt and now I will have to attempt to bat it and back it and quilt it. Hopefully it will be done before it gets warm again!

It's finally cooling off here (75-80 degrees) so Ryan and I are getting antsy for the ski season to begin. It was so hot here this summer that I wouldn't mind skipping Fall and going right to Winter.

Sorry for the hodgepodge of thoughts, but it's time to make dinner and it's been a long week!



Photo © Brenda Hill
Jaxon Hill blows out four candles on birthday cake.

UPDATE -- Jaxon Hill turns 4
by Brenda Anderson Hill
Dwight, ND

Thanks for the birthday greeting you sent Jaxon! He seemed to have a lot of fun on his 4th birthday! Nathan re-did an old bike to be a "Bobcat" bike.


Photo © Brenda Hill
Jaxon Hill with his new "Bobcat" bike.


UPDATE -- company and grandkids' birthday parties
by Carolyn Miller Dake
Duluth, GA

September is almost gone! It has been a busy month for Ernie and me. We were fortunate enough to spend three of the four weekends with our kids. We were to Alabama one weekend for Ethan's 8th birthday party, which was a lot of fun -- with an inflatable water slide, super soakers and 13 little boys. Last weekend we were again to Alabama to celebrate Carrie's 6th birthday. It was a tea party with Grandma's china, flowers, lace and lots of tea party food. So FUN!

Suzanne McCorkell and Connie spent Sunday and Monday nights with us this week. We spent over three hours at the table, talking, Monday night. It is always great to see Suzi.

The highlight of the month was two short visits from Steve Miller. Who would not enjoy a visit with Steve? He stopped on his way north through Atlanta and again on his way south. Ernie and I took a vacation day and we all went to Stone Mountain park. The amusements at the park were about 90% shut down but it was a great day, just walking around and spending time with Steve. Makes it doubly comfortable, as we both know him so well from our younger cousin days together.

Our little William Richard is 8 months now and more cute in life than in pictures! Is that possible? Because those pictures are adorable! (Grin) He is just a bundle of joy! I hold him every minute I can because I know those days are short lived. He is already much more interested in his toys than cuddling.

We love every issue of The Bulletin. Thank you for all your hard work. Hugs.


 
Photos © John Adair
Bird bath ... or squirrel feeder?

UPDATE -- how clever...
by "Capt. Jack" Adair
Coon Rapids, MN

The problem was putting up some sort of watering dish for the birds, near one of their feeders and close to the protection of some lilac bushes. This was a four-hanger feeder staff, of which only two were in use, one thistle seed, one sunflower seed.

First, I took a plastic hanging pot that was unused, and hung it from one of the hooks on the staff. Next I took a discarded styrofoam "dish," used under flowerpots to catch draining water, I think. Anyway, I inserted the "dish" into the top of the hanging flowerpot, placed a brick in it to stabilize it and filled it with water. It was fun to see the birds enjoy a drink and/or a bath.

How clever?

No, not me, the unexpected guest, who bypassed the squirrel guard and jumped from the lilac bush.

 
Opportunist grabs a free meal.



Photo illustration © Virginia McCorkell
Lavender & green...

Click here to see what's new on Ginny McCorkell's Bitzidoodles blog.


Sophia the Cat Gets a New Name...


Photo © Larry T. Dake
Soapy & Squeak.

Alas, our two orphan kittens are both tomcats. So Sophia the Cat is now called Soapy; the kitten is still Squeak. Here they are --- hanging out.

The other day Squeak was missing. I called Harry the Dog and he came from the barn with a look of guilty-pleasure on his face. I found Squeak in a cubbyhole about five feet up on the barn wall, where he had no doubt escaped to, when I called off the dog. Peaches the Pony was checking him out.

Harry likes to pick up the cats and drag them around like stuffed animals.

Click here for the latest news on LTD's Storybrooke Ripples blog.


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

Who Is This?

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 pictures


Last week's mystery photos are from Donald B. Johnson's memoirs.
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.

The first guess picture is my dad, Donald Johnson, with his dog Perley. It was taken during the 1930-31 trapping season, when skunks were worth about $1.50 each. I remember Pa talking about getting in trouble for smelling "skunky."

In earlier years, he sometimes checked traps on the way to school. Farm boys smelled like cows, while town boys smelled like skunks, he said.

The second picture is of the family Model T, with pelts Donald trapped during the same trapping season.

Beaver Johnson
Ashby, MN


Here I had just commented in my last LTTE as to who would ever skin out a skunk, and there is the picture of several skunks skinned out. I am thinking that the GUESS picture of the skunk skinner is Donald B. Johnson. That vehicle may be too old for his era, though, but that will be my guess.

Betty Weiland Droel
MoundsView, MN


This week's Guess pictures

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


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.

The Andersons Meet the Dakes
by Dorothy Dake
Howard Lake, MN

Don and I have thought it would be nice if his folks could meet mine before our wedding. So, after discussing it with both of the sets of parents, it was decided that the 4th of July would be a very nice time to have them come.

Today turned out to be lots cooler than the 4th of July usually is. We had our usual pot luck 4th. We decided to have it right here at the farm, and because it was cool and we have so many people that can't do real "picnics," we just set things out on our huge oval dining table and went around it and then took our food wherever we wanted to for the eating. There were folding tables in the house or picnic tables outside. Or some of the kids sat on the steps going upstairs ... as they make a nice handy table -- that way your lemonade isn't so apt to get upset.

It seemed to me that everyone enjoyed the day. But I can hardly wait to see what Don's folks think of our Minnesota farm. The acreages must seem really strange to his dad, as they farm by the quarter or the half section. I think in all they have three quarters. I think my folks farm 120 acres in all. We do much more diversified farming here than they do in the Valley of the Red River of the North where the Andersons farm. I am not so very much into the specifics, so if I have made a mistake, then Don will have to set me straight.

They couldn't stay very late as there were chores at home, and the drive is kind of tiring. Before they went home, we did get a couple of pictures. The one is of Don and his family and the other was of most of the two families together.

In another month, we should be getting this group together once again. We are getting the wedding plans almost complete. In the month left, Don has a trip to make back here and I have one to make up there. Plans take arranging, you know!


The Anderson family: Harry (Dad) and Mavis in the back and Cleo (Mom) DeLoris, and Don in the middle and Dwight in the front.


Total of two families, from left to right, back row: Bill holding Stanley with Grandma Mellon behind him, Lois holding Carol, Gert in the back with Grandma Greer and DeLoris ahead of her, Coy Nell in the back with Cleo and Dwight ahead of her, Mavis with Harry and Junior ahead of her, Amy with Blanche and Steve ahead of her, then Don and Dorothy with Bill ahead of us.


Celebrations & Observances
From the Files of
5
Hetty Hooper

This Week's Birthdays
October 4---Wesley Sigman
October 4---Anita Weiland
October 5---Leona Anderson
October 5---Steven Miller
October 7---Steven Anderson

Happy Birthday!

This Week's Anniversaries
October 4---Don and Patty Bratten Anderson (13 years)
Congratulations!

More October Birthdays
'
October 1---Brooklynn Ann Johnson (6 years)
October 1---Carolyn Amy Horne (6 years)


October 10---Hannah Aydelotte (9 years)
October 10---Greta Veronica Shockey (3 years)
October 10---Cody Printz
October 11---Jay Smith
October 12---Muriel Wold Rodriguez
October 12--- Tami Anderson Hunt
October 14---Douglas Anderson
October 14---Verlaine Weiland
October 18---Lori Anderson
October 18---Adriana Stahlecker Brown
October 18---Dan Mellon
October 20---Wade Morgan Printz (11 years)
October 22---Rich Johnson (from MN)
October 22---Candice Lynn Miller
October 24---Grady Michael Chap (1 year)
October 24---Eric Shockey
October 24---Ken Kitto
October 26---Ardis Sigman Quick
October 27---Marlene Anderson Johnson
October 27---Rich Weiland
October 28---Derrick McNeill
October 29---Sami Larson
October 29---Tom Miller
October 30---Anne Mellon Montford


More October Anniversaries
Z
October 1---Keith Mason and Lori Anderson (5 years)

October 17---Troy and Marlee Morgan Freesemann (16 years)
October 27---Don and Gert Dake Pettit (20 years)

October Special Days
O
October 11---Columbus Day (observed)
October 31---Hallowe'en


Miss Hetty's Mailbox:

Dear Miss Hetty,

Thank you for both the anniversary and birthday card. They are so nice to get.

Carolyn and Ernie Dake
Duluth, GA



Photo © Sarah Steinhauer
Grandma Sherry Dake & Harlie Mae Harrison.

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


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

It was with trepidation that I turned on the computer this morning, hardly expecting The Bulletin to be there, as I knew how very busy the photo editor, Miss Jerrianne, was. I realized that to finalize The Bulletin would take more time than she had, BUT, there it was in the e-mail right on time. Thank You to the Editor and Photo Editor for once more performing a miracle -- we were anxious to get Bulletin #432, and you did it again.

The beautiful Fall first picture was from Alaska this time. Very appropriate for our cool pre-winter feelings here in Minnesota. Out came the jackets yesterday.

We had definitely wondered just how that house was coming along since we watched it being moved about 100 Bulletins ago. We thank you for sending in that update, and the pictures. It looks like it will take a lot of time and labor yet to make it like home, and do keep us posted.

Donna Richards had such a disastrous experience in breaking her leg like she did. We had heard about it so the update now was great knowing she is on the mend and back online. It won't be very nice to head into winter with that handicap.

The hiking story was scary with the blustery weather as well as the lovely days that must have been, but I was not familiar with the family that were hiking. I was wondering if that was Richard Johnson, Don and Twila's son, in the pickup? (Indeed, it is -- and the hikers are his wife and sons, Wiley and Arbor. --Photo Ed.)

To take advantage of youth and strength is an excellent idea. One gets beyond that eventually, but those folks will have special memories as they rock back and forth someday.

Camryn is 3. Not so long ago she was joining the family. Where does time go? That was such a sweet picture of the matching sweater and flowers and her smile.

That baby William Dake is certainly changing, too. Sounds like he will have lots of fun playing with all the animals on the farm as he grows up. With all the chores associated with that farm the family won't be making any long trips for awhile.

Wonderful picture of the Miller family in Reed City, Michigan. Again, I am wondering the connection to the Millers I know. (Mitch is Steve Miller's son and the grandson of Jim Miller and Blanche Dake Miller. --Ed.)

To protect the trees from the beavers seems like a lot of work, but what a loss to find the forest being vandalized by the little creatures.

Oh, Bitzi, what next? How could you ever create such a colorful unusual illustration as this one. Did you use props or -- oh, don't even tell me. You'll spoil the mystery.

And LTD has an update on Squeak. What a good name! It saved its own life with a squeak only a dog could hear.

Grape stomping is a brand new attraction at least to my notice. I think I would stick to the pork chop on a stick, too, Donna Mae.

Every single Bulletin shows our little girls growing and changing, and McKenna is so sweet and cute. Kierra is following her leader, too, you can see that.

I was so thrilled ...yes, thrilled ... to see the picture of Kathlyn with our Editor, Dorothy, when she stopped by to visit that day. I am hoping to see her next week, too. MAYBE.

Memory Lane held some familiar comments, too, like letting a film get old in the camera, etc. I have a camera here with just a couple pictures left to take, but with the digital camera we ignore the other one.

So now we know about the school teaching job, and you can dig back into your treasure chest of memories to tell us more and more about your classroom. We are not ready to give up on Memory Lane yet.

As a suggestion, you could tell us about your first home together, and your first child, etc.

Caity looks like Lori in this picture.

Thanks for the picture of Harlie Mae and Amy. We needed the update on that new baby girl.

The Quotation for the day was thought provoking, but somehow the leaves turn so slowly and surely that you could never watch them. We can hardly believe the trees that are already coloring up, and it is a reminder of another Minnesota winter just ahead.

Thanks for all it meant to get this great Bulletin out again. We do not take it for granted.

Betty Droel


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Click here for past editions in the searchable web archive



Quotation for the day: Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, it is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy that we can scarcely mark their progress. --Charles Dickens

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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