The Bulletin
April 28, 2003
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Updates -

UPDATE
by Ben Henderson

Hope you are all having the nice weather we are having! Seems like summer has finally decided to show up ... actually this is really our longest streak of nice weather probably since last fall. It is nice to see the sun again; all the WHITE people have decided it is now OK to come out of their various caves and join the real world!

Things are going pretty good up here. Really busy with only two weeks of school left. There is really a push to get that last test in ... which isn't fun for us students, and then finals the next week. Oh well, will make it through, just hope it is better than I am thinking it will be.

There isn't much news from up here. I will be working in the cities again this year, which I think I already mentioned. I will have to move out of the apartment pretty soon . Then next year I will be rooming with Dan, which I am really looking forward to! Well, I have to go lift some weights so I can start my day! Have a wonderful day...

UPDATE -- Wedding Plans
by Eric (and Leona)

I thought I would give you an update on how the wedding is progressing. As of now we have a date set for August 16th at 4 p.m. (Don't worry, invites will be coming shortly.) with an open-house type reception afterwards. The wedding will take place at Dad and Patty's place, which is looking great by the way. Everyone will be very impressed with all the improvements.

We have a person to perform the ceremony for us. Her name is Dr. Christa Landon. The great thing about her is that she gave us a lot of materials and we were able to create a ceremony just the way we want it. It should be very lovely.

Leona and her mom are hard at work on the details end of things. They are about to get started on Leona's dress and they have centerpieces picked out already. We're going to set up a big tent like Dad and Patty had and then get big, round tables to put under it after the ceremony.

At the reception, we're going to have a roast pig and various other tasty dishes. It should be a lot of fun, and honestly, that's what we really want. We want to have a fun day and we want every person who comes to have a fun day, as well. We can't wait 'til August.


Bossy In A Seat Belt?
By Beaver

When we brought the cows home from in the fall, one cow stayed in the pasture. She had just calved, and she stayed with her calf most of the time, but came home to eat with the other cows in the evenings. She was a rotten fence jumper, so she just plowed through the fence to get in the cow yard, and got out the same way, usually in a different place.

I was getting pretty tired of fixing fence behind her after a couple of days, but didn't know where she had her calf, so there wasn't much I could do about it, except watch for the calf to show himself so I could bring him home.

After this had gone on for most of a week, the old blue heeler and I were going down a field road in the pickup when I spotted the calf, in the tall grass right next to the road. He looked pretty nervous about things, so I just hopped out and grabbed him before he could run. He was a little livelier than I figured, so I just opened the passenger side door and shoved him in before he could get away.

He and that doggone blue heeler immediately decided to take a dislike to each other. As I hustled around the front of the pickup, I could see calf and dog going round and round in the cab, grinding the gearshift. I made it around the pickup before they got it into gear, opened the door, threw the dog out, and got in before the calf could run over me to get out. We headed for home, with the dog loping along behind.

Unfortunately, the cow had finished her supper and decided to go back to her calf, so I met her in the driveway. I figured she would go nuts and make more holes in fences if she didn’t find her calf where he was supposed to be, so I stopped the pickup, reached across and opened the passenger door, and pushed the calf out, thinking he would hit the ground just about the time she got to the pickup.

Instead of going peacefully out the door, the calf got his front legs braced inside of the door, refusing to go out. Then the ungrateful little bugger commenced to bellow for his ma. In less time than it takes to tell, I had the calf in my lap, with the cow halfway into the pickup by way of the passenger door. She was trying to bunt at me, but having trouble getting her shoulders through the door. Her head was very big, pretty much filling the passenger side of the pickup.

The blue heeler was coming up behind. This was not going to help matters any. I had a vision of being forced to bail out of my side of the pickup, with the cow following me through, taking calf, shift lever, and steering column along. I was reaching for the door handle when she backed out to confront the dog, and the calf decided to follow her out.

Naturally, they both took off up the road, and the next time I saw the calf it was a mile further from home than it had been the first time. Winter was coming, and they would just have to have it their way until the cow got sick of plowing through snow and brought the calf home herself.

And did she bring her calf home?

Yep, one morning after several inches of snow fell, she showed up in the cow yard, having made a hole in the fence for herself and her calf to get in.

When the calf was ready to wean, I "put wheels under the cow," as they say in ranch country -- in other words, sent her to market. I thought she had just a tad too little respect for fences.


The Family Cookbook
Culinary Heirlooms
by Doug Anderson

      Here's a summertime classic that really needs no introduction, but will get one anyway. I'm sure the author is as surprised as anyone to see her recipe in The Bulletin, since we obtained it in a covert action completely unbeknownst to her. Our agents are everywhere. Splash on some Sea & Ski and enjoy:

Muriel's Classic Cole Slaw

Combine:
One half head of chopped cabbage
4 chopped green onions
1 package crushed ramen noodles
4 Tablespoons sunflower seeds
(Or sliced almonds)

Combine, in a bowl:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons white or wine vinegar
3 teaspoons sugar
Flavoring packet from ramen

Combine both mixtures. Store in lock-tight plastic container. Invert and shake before serving.

      If you want to go way overboard, you could add carrots or a little purple cabbage, but you might want to save such flashy accessories for when Princess Margaret is coming to dinner or you have to cater an office picnic for NASA, or something.
      Thanks for your contribution Muriel, I'm only sorry we had to break and enter to get it!

      Next week: Something daring from Donnie!


Memory Lane

Growing up on the Farm
by Weston Johnson

When I think back to growing up on the farm, my best memories come from the summers when I was old enough to play outside unsupervised but young enough to avoid having to do any real work. Wyatt, Ben and I got to spend three months each year entertaining ourselves on a farmyard filled with all kinds of things to do and trouble to get into.

I remember spending hours at a time on my hands and knees pushing trucks around the sand box. When your dad has his own gravel pit, you get to have the best sand box of any of your friends. The three of us would build roads and a gravel pit and run our own gravel hauling operation. I think we got along and cooperated better playing in the sandbox than at any other time during our childhoods.

I suppose those old toys could have been worth money if we hadn't used them so much, but I think the time spent in the sand box was worth more.

We'd spend a lot of time playing with the cats. Back then we had at least 15 cats around at any given time, and each one had a name. I think my favorite names were Buddy (a female) and Chunk. As we got older, we stopped naming the cats and referred to them by descriptions based on color and level of domestication ("the friendly orange cat" or "that gray scared one").

We used to pick apples right from the tree and eat them, unless there were worms or rotten spots in them, in which case we'd throw them in for the pigs or see how hard we could throw them against a wall of one of the buildings. The real rotten ones would splat and stick to the wall.

We usually had a garden full of carrots, spinach, etc, that we would pick and eat. I think that's why I never disliked vegetables as a kid -- we got them straight from the garden.

When we were really lucky, dad would let one or more of us ride along in the gravel truck while he hauled gravel. We'd even get to ride on the loader as he filled the truck in the pit. I always liked when we would drive through town -- I figured I was pretty cool riding in that big truck. None of my friends ever got to ride in anything like that.

After supper, I can remember playing catch with a baseball with Wyatt until it got too dark to see the ball. Ben joined in when he got old enough to play. Considering all the time we spent throwing I still can't figure out why none of us are pitching for the Twins today.

Rainy days we'd mainly spend indoors making my mom crazy. After the 20th "we're bored" of the day, she'd suggest that we help her make a batch of cookies. Of course with our "help" it took all afternoon to make a batch of cookies that would have taken her an hour by herself. They always turned out good, though.

Those are a few of the memories I have from the farm. When I went to college, I remember telling a city-raised friend that I wouldn't trade growing up on the farm for anything. He looked at me like I had two heads. The way I figure it, his entertainment consisted of Nintendo and cable TV. I had a sand pit and an entire barnyard and woods to explore. I think I got the better end of that deal.


I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Proud To Be a Teacher
sent to me by Brenda Hill

"Where are the heroes of today?" a radio talk show host thundered. He blames society's shortcomings on education. Too many people are looking for heroes in all the wrong places. Movie stars and rock musicians, athletes, and models aren't heroes; they're celebrities. Heroes abound in public schools, a fact that doesn't make the news. There is no precedent for the level of violence, drugs, broken homes, child abuse, and crime in today's America. Education didn't create these problems but deals with them every day.

You want heroes?
Consider Dave Sanders, the school teacher shot to death while trying to
shield his students from two youths on a shooting rampage at Columbine
High School in Littleton, Colorado. Sanders gave his life, along with 12
students, and other less heralded heroes survived the Colorado blood bath.

You want heroes?
Jane Smith, a Fayetteville, NC teacher, was moved by the plight of one
of her students, a boy dying for want of a kidney transplant. So this
woman told the family of a 14-year old boy that she would give him one of
her kidneys. And she did. When they subsequently appeared together hugging
on the Today Show, even tough Katie Couric was near tears.

You want heroes?
Doris Dillon dreamed all her life of being a teacher. She not only made
it, she was one of those wondrous teachers who could wring the best out
of every single child. One of her fellow teachers in San Jose, California,
said, "She could teach a rock to read." Suddenly she was stricken with
Lou Gehrig's Disease, which is always fatal, usually within five years.
She asked to stay on the job -- and did. When her voice was affected she
communicated by computer. Did she go home? Absolutely not! She is
running two elementary school libraries! When the disease was diagnosed,
she wrote the staff and all the families that she had one last lesson to
teach -- that dying is part of living. Her colleagues named her Teacher of
the Year.

You want heroes?
Bob House, a teacher in Gay, Georgia, tried out for Who Wants to be a
Millionaire. After he won the million dollars, a network film crew
wanted to follow up to see how it had impacted his life. New cars? Big
new house? Instead, they found both Bob House and his wife still teaching.
They explained that it was what they had always wanted to do
with their lives and that would not change. The community was both
stunned and gratified.

You want heroes?
Last year the average school teacher spent $468 of their own money for
student necessities -- workbooks, pencils -- supplies kids had to have but
could not afford. That's a lot of money from the pockets of the most
poorly paid teachers in the industrial world. Schools don't teach values?
The critics are dead wrong. Public education provides more Sunday School
teachers than any other profession. The average teacher works more hours
in nine months than the average 40-hour employee does in a year.

You want heroes?
For millions of kids, the hug they get from a teacher is the only hug
they will get that day because the nation is living through the worst
parenting in history. An Argyle, Texas, kindergarten teacher hugs her
little 5- and 6-year-olds so much that both the boys and the girls run up
and hug her when they see her in the hall, at the football games, or in
the malls years later. A Michigan principal moved me to tears with the
story of her attempt to rescue a badly abused little boy who doted on a
stuffed animal on her desk -- one that said "I love you!" He said he'd
never been told that at home. This is a constant in today's society -- two
million unwanted, unloved, abused children in the public schools, the
only institution that takes them all in.

You want heroes?
Visit any special education class and watch the miracle of personal
interaction, a job so difficult that fellow teachers are awed by the
dedication they witness. There is a sentence from an unnamed source
which says, "We have been so anxious to give our children what we didn't
have that we have neglected to give them what we did." What is it that our
kids really need? What do they really want? Math, science, history and
social studies are important, but children need love, confidence,
encouragement, someone to talk to, someone to listen, standards to live by.
Teachers provide upright examples, the faith and assurance of responsible
people.

You want heroes?
Then go down to your local school and see our real live heroes -- the
ones changing lives for the better each and every day!


From Elaine (Muriel)

It's soon skeeter time!!! Muriel sent this to me ... thought would be good to share in The Bulletin.

To help prevent West Nile Disease...

Use Bounce Fabric Softener ... Best ever used in LA and great for babies.
A fisherman takes a B-1 Vitamin once a day from April to October.
One uses Vicks Vaporub.
Plant marigolds ... the odor repels them.
A marine likes Avon Skin So Soft, mixed half with rubbing alcohol.
Another says clear, real vanilla ... good to fight ticks, too.
Or you can get a frog to eat them!


From Elaine

So many have such good writings in The Bulletin ... there are many gifted
writers in the family. Have you noticed some of the words they use ? They have such good vocabularies!

There are many "D"words that we do not like to talk about ... debt, doubt,
disease, disaster, discouragement, depression, decay, disorder, danger,
defeat, difficulty, discord, deception, disappointment, distrust,
disagreement, dread, dejection, destitution, and desolation.

We certainly enjoy writing and reading about the "P" words. ... Peace,
prosperity, plenty, power, pluck, persistence, purpose, promotion,
possession, proficiency, progress, perseverance, prayer, and paradise.


+ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Editor:

I enjoyed Dad's piece on the presidents! It had the same tone as Andy Rooney on Sixty Minutes, although I don't know if you're familiar with him.

Doug


Our Present Staff:
EDITORS: Mom, Grandma, Dorothy, etc.
COLUMNISTS:
Beaver------Ashby Correspondent
Doug -------St. Cloud Correspondent
Rich---------Mr. In-A-Jam(b) &
Kim------his assistant
Donna------Researcher for Memory Lane, etc.