The Bulletin
Sunday, February 22, 2004
Browse The Bulletin archive index


Updates -

FAMILY UPDATE
by Kristi Indermark

Sorry I haven't written in so long. Life has been so busy around here. Jordan is now 6 months old and a perfect little angel! She just got her two bottom teeth (with only a few sleepless nights). She is now 16 pounds and growing. She loves her Johnny Jump Up! Best toy ever invented. Jordan sleeps from 7pm to 7am. I am not sure how I lucked out but I did.

Mom and I went shopping today while Grandpa (Jim Miller) and Ray worked on the house. We had so much fun, a day of shopping that was not interrupted by cell phones or work! I did get a dress for the wedding, and Mom got some shoes! (You can never have too many pairs of shoes!) Jordan was along and didn't cry once. She is a shopper in training.

Happy Valentines Day!

Love,

Jim, Kristi, and Jordan Indermark


STUDENT UPDATE
by Dan Henderson

Well it is sure is nice to see hope of spring up here in the north country. We have seen temperatures surge as high as 10-30 degrees ABOVE zero. School has been going well. Being that we are well into this new semester, I have been hit with quite a few tests. However, I don't mind the tests -- I just don't like having to know what's on them. Gina and I used this last three-day weekend to catch up on some studying we had to do. It was a nice little day off but we look forward to spring break, which lies about mid-March. Gina will be heading off to Cancun for break, and I will be going back to a place just as nice, HOME. It's nice to go there and relax.

I thought I might just add a bit about Gina too. She has been doing well in class, learning more about the human body. I too am learning because I quiz her often with note cards. I am becoming an expert with note cards!! She has much better study habits than I do. She also works at the school in International Programs for "work study."

Well that is about all for now but I thought I would make a habit of putting in quotes from the college life: here is my College Quote of the Day:

College professor--someone who talks in other people's sleep.

Dan


Travelogue t

The Bolivian Beat
By Kjirsten Swenson

I'm back to Bolivia as of last night! Getting here happened without incident. Since then it has been wonderful to be with my family here, exchanging stories and trying to eat all the food they insist I eat :)

Apparently rainy season arrived; Cochabamba has been transformed into a green, blooming city. It's lovely here, but apparently the road to Morochata is a disaster. I have a phone date in an hour with one of the doctors so will have the real scoop soon. It seems it may be best for me to wait until the ambulance brings a patient to the city and then get a ride back to Morochata with the computer. I won't stay there for more than about 10 days this time before I leave for Carnaval in Oruro. It's by far the most spectacular fiesta in Bolivia and culturally probably one of the very most interesting in South America. I'll spend a long weekend there with one of my Bolivian sisters.

Kjirsten


Richard unhitches the Scout
We Had To Unhitch The Scout And Drive It Separately
(Photos © 1975 Jerrianne Lowther)

North To Alaska!
By Richard Johnson

Part 4 of 5

January 14. The truck started OK and I let it warm up while I fixed the lights some more and checked the U bolts on the back springs. I had to check the nuts on those every day, as they were a little short with the spacers in. I shut the truck off while we had breakfast and got ready to go, etc. When we were ready to leave, it wouldn't start again. It won't start unless it's dead cold. We talked a guy into giving us a boost from a spare battery he had in his pickup and that worked. The service stations charge exorbitant prices to do the same thing. The kids we helped in Haines Junction would have had to pay $30. We saw our friends who had been in the ditch near Haines for the last time, as they were taking the other road -- to Fairbanks.

We started out and had problems right away, because the Scout wouldn't steer in the cold weather. It was only 20 degrees below zero, but we hadn't towed the car in cold weather without driving it first until then. It warmed up presently and all went well for a while -- until we hit an icy curve too fast. The ice was rough and the Scout started fishtailing. It was a right hand curve and I saw the whole side of the car in the left mirror. you're only supposed to see that on sharp turns to the left.

We stopped, after everything straightened out, and found that the hitch ball was almost torn out of the truck. The welder who installed the hitch ball in Phoenix was celebrating New Year's Eve and we were glad we hadn't gone to him an hour later. It might have caused the Scout to be pasted onto both sides of the road and the back of the truck behind a cold, lonely mountain.

We had to unhook the car and it started all right, even though the engine was covered with snow that had blown in off the road. However, we couldn't get any action at all out of the heater-defroster fan. Jerrianne prepared herself for 200 miles of driving at 20 degrees below zero with no heater and the window open and we started out. We stopped after a while to fill the car with gas at Gakona and it thawed out there. I had thought it was an electrical problem. I almost froze my fingers solid trying to fix it and it was just frozen up. We were awfully glad it started working, though.

We stopped at Eureka Summit [130 miles east of Anchorage] and took cold medicine, because we were both plugged up by head colds we had caught from little kids on the ferry and we had 40 miles of strenuous mountain driving ahead of us. We mixed hot water from the Thermos with snow for chasers. We made it through the mountains all right, following a slow semi, but we were glad for the Sinutabs as the altitude changes still made us feel miserable and affected our hearing so we couldn't shift by ear.

The road got icy coming into Anchorage. Jerrianne started sliding around, so we got her into 4-wheel drive at our last weigh station, where I explained for the last time that I wasn't hauling Ortho mattresses. I hadn't noticed any slipperyness while driving the truck, but I found out when Jerrianne stopped suddenly for a yellow light at the first traffic signal coming into Anchorage. I stepped on the brake and the wheels stopped but the truck didn't, for a while. The truck stalled and I couldn't let off the brakes to restart without hitting Jerrianne.

Jerrianne didn't realize I was stalled until the light changed and I didn't follow, so she had to go a mile to the next stop light and turn around on the divided highway. While I was trying to start the truck, a moose -- the fourth one we'd seen -- crossed the lighted intersection. I couldn't catch him or I would have hitched him to the truck. Jerrianne came back presently and we tried the booster cables, but that didn't work. This time we pushed the truck with the front of the Scout to start it. The front of the frame on the car and the back step on the truck lined up perfectly. That was the fourth time we started the truck by pushing or pulling with the car. Lucky for us, most of the traffic was going the other way.

We made it to Mic's apartment without any problems because Jerrianne didn't dare make a wrong turn with the mood I was in by then. Mic had shoveled out the whole back yard to park the truck in. We would have needed a big shoehorn and grease to make the turn into the yard, so we parked it across the street. We made six dentists unhappy the next morning when they didn't have a parking place, but nobody towed it away. Jerrianne and I were both glad to unwind and find a warm place to recover from our colds.


Mic's Welcome To Alaska (where's my electric blanket?) Ortho Express Cake.
(Mic wore Richard's parka with wolf fur ruff; our Scout wore pink earmuffs.)


Where We Stayed
Cayman Islands J
by Kim Johnson

Hey ... I think I might start sending some pictures because you all insist :) I think I'm only going to send one picture at a time so it doesn't take forever to load and such. And maybe with each picture I'll explain something about the trip.

This first picture shows where we stayed. (thanks to the Hendersons :)) It was fantastic. When we flew in, it was pretty windy so we got to see quite a bit of the Island itself from the air. We landed on a landing strip that practically connected with the water on both ends of the island ... or so it felt. Everyone crowded off the airplane and it felt pretty awesome (coming from Chicago).

We found our bags ... and tried to hunt up a rental car, but came up short and ended up with a taxi because all of the rental cars where being used by other folk spending time in the Cayman Islands for Christmas. It was pretty odd driving on the left, and I don't think any of us got used to it by the end of the week either! But we made it to the resort, found our room, and found the beach too (if you can imagine that :)) more later....


Read all about it!

The Miss Kitty Letters*
By Miss Kitty

Fur Rendezvous -- Anchorage's Best Cabin Fever Cure

Things are looking up! All winter the sun has hidden behind the neighbor's roof for most of the day, but by Valentine's Day it runs right along the top and shines in our eyes. That really helps with the cabin fever and Fur Rendezvous, Anchorage's big 10-day winter carnival, started this Friday. That helps, too. Fur is something to celebrate, you know ... I simply couldn't do without mine, all soft and silky and warm.

One thing that DOESN'T thrill me about "Rondy" is the big emphasis on dogs ... like the North American Sled Dog Championship sprint races, the Weight Pulling Contest and the Rondy Mutt Show. That's a lot of emphasis on dogs, it seems to me. And then the Iditarod Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome starts as soon as Fur Rondy ends. I hope those classy sled cats from Oregon enter the Iditarod and have a great run.

There's a cat show next weekend ... the Purr Rendezvous ... but I don't suppose I'll get to participate. Unlike the mutt show, the Rondy cat show is for pedigreed pussycats. I've got everything else ... youth, svelte shape, charming personality, winning attitude and great fur ... but if I ever had one of those pedigree papers, it got lost when I did. I haven't missed it. You can read all about Rondy here: http://www.furrondy.net/

We skipped the opening fireworks display tonight. We'll probably miss the Rondy pancake breakfast, too. We might get to see the snow sculptures and a few other highlights. I'm hoping to avoid the events with dogs, though Miss Jerrianne says some dogs are really quite well behaved and treat pussycats with proper respect. You can't prove it by me. I'm still pretty mad at Sam for last week's sneak attack. Miss Jerrianne says he's a Rottweiler and Black Lab mix and hasn't gotten over being a puppy yet so I shouldn't expect too much. I'd sentence him to obedience school, if it was up to me.

I don't know whether you've been reading The Country Scribe by that nice Mr. Eric Bergeson in Fertile, MN, but Miss Jerrianne reads it regularly. She tells me that he went to the pound and adopted a gray cat with green eyes last week. The cat's name is Nemo and he's busy training his new housemate (Eric) to do things his way. A cat's life is far more pleasant with a properly trained staff. If you aren't familiar with The Country Scribe, do take a peek: http://www.countryscribe.com/weblog/

For more Miss Kitty adventures visit my web log:

http://www.jlowther.com/Pages/kitty/index.html

Miss Kitty


From the Files of 5
Hetty Hooper --
the Family Snooper!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notice: Hetty is headed for Northwestern Minnesota where a new Guinness world record is being attempted -- as she and other snowmobilers head to Roseau for Frostbite Days. There is an attempt being made to get 1,000 sleds moving at the same time.

The Roseau event began at 11a.m. today (Sat. the 21st) on a 30-mile loop north of that city!

More news next week!!


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

The Bulletin just keeps getting better! Who would have thought you would have correspondents from Alaska, Bolivia, and Holland? Travel, adventure, gourmet cooking, humor, family updates, gossip, history, it's always a great read. I laughed out load at Janie's letter about her name -- sounds just like something I'd do.

I had a classmate in high school whose name was Christopher Dave. He went by Dave, but one of our teachers insisted on calling him David and calling me Dave, which caused endless confusion. That must be how he got to be valedictorian of our class, I'll bet he got credit for some of the fine work I did in high school. Not! He went to school until he got a doctorate in forestry, and now prefers to be called Dr. Chris. Because he had long, skinny legs and a big head, through most of our high school career, I called him Cotter Pin. If he shows up for a reunion sometime, I suppose I'll have to call him Dr. Cotter Pin.

Beaver


Thanks to Elaine for her "favorite things" list. It brought tears to my eyes!

Marlene


Don Anderson, a contributor to the last "Letters to the Editor" column complained that the "punch line" was removed from his letter. First how it was published:

If I have to go uptown, I go up about noon, the temp is up to zero then. When it gets to zero, folks here wash their cars. Talking about "car washing" I had to pay $6.00 for a wash here. You would think with all the lakes and water it would be less expensive.........

This is his version:

If I have to go uptown, I go up about noon, the temp is up to zero then. When it gets to zero, folks here wash their cars. Talking about "car washing" I had to pay $6.00 for a wash here. In Missouri the most I paid was fifty cents! You would think with all the lakes and water it would be less expensive.

Sorry about that!


CHUCKLES

THE FUNNY THINGS KIDS SAY

sent to Chuckles by Donna Johnson

Annie had taken her two children, Kerry and Paul, on an educational visit to the museum. After they had walked around the Egyptian mummy section, Paul asked, "Did they wrap the daddies, too?"


Tina tells about Cameron, a child she cared for. He was 3 at the time and eating an ice cream cone. Tina's husband asked him to hurry up and eat it. Cameron said, "Mr. Darren, you don't eat it. You wick-it (lick it)!"


Casey, 6, was watching a television program about earthquakes. With a very serious look, he turned to his mother, Traci, and said, "Boy, I sure am thankful we don't have 'earth breaks' in Tennessee!"


Jeremy does not enjoy punishment, and always tries to throw the punishment back at his parents. For instance, if they say "No TV for you tonight," then he will say, "No TV for YOU tonight!" His mother has tried to set down a rule that when toys are not put away at the end of the day, she has the right to take away the toy for a set period of time. One day, she noticed that Jeremy had, yet again, left a bag of marbles scattered all over the living room floor. As she cleaned them up, she angrily told Jeremy, "That's it! You're losing your marbles for a week." He responded with "No, YOU'RE losing YOUR marbles!" Jennifer and her husband couldn't keep from breaking out in laughter!


When Lena's children were age 2 and 3 she tried to teach them about their conscience. "Kids, do you ever get a feeling deep inside that tells you to do or not to do something?" she questioned, as they looked at her with eyes that seemed larger than the plates that were holding their snacks. Then Lena tried another approach and said, "Chaz, do you understand what Mommy is talking about?" He thought, circled his eyeballs several times, then shrugged his shoulders. Lena looked at her daughter and she, too, had a blank stare. As Lena continued her attempt to explain "conscience," her daughter exhaled a huge sigh of impatience and yelled, "I know, I know. It's the wittle voice that I don't wistin to!"


Now: A Caity Chuckle
 
I told Caity it was time to measure her, to send the measurements off to the woman that is making her outfit for Shari's wedding. When I came up to her with the cloth measuring tape dangling from my hand, her eyes popped and she said, "Whoa, I don't think I'm going to be THAT LONG!"

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY: To get the full value of a joy, you must have somebody to divide it with. --Mark Twain


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.