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Sunday, October 26, 2008
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Happy Hallowe'en!


Photo © Lori Ostendorf
McKenna checks out pumpkins in the patch.

Updates -


Photo © Wyatt Johnson
Front row: Caity, Jayce, Rylie, McKenna, Brooklynn, Jolene, Camryn, Wyatt; middle row: Eric, Leona, Weston, Joanna, Lori, Shawn; back row: Jessy, Chris, Ashley, Ben.

Update -- brothers and sisters visit the pumpkin patch
by Wyatt Johnson
Moorhead, MN

This weekend was our annual fall "brothers and sisters" weekend in Moorhead. We were joined by Shawn, Lori, McKenna, Chris, Jessy, Weston, Joanna, Ben, Ashley, Eric, Leona, Caity, and Jayce. I guess we were also joined at various times by Tate, Ozzie, and Paisley (see if you can match the dogs with the owners!).

Friday night, Jolene hosted a party for Lori and the men and kids mostly stayed out of the way, playing games downstairs, surfacing upstairs once in a while to graze on the tasty food being prepared and served up there.

Saturday, we all looked forward to eating lunch at Bertrossa's. You may remember my birthday lunch from a month ago, the unbeatable Italian Beef with Sausage at Bertrossa's. Lori, Shawn, and McKenna had slept down at Chris and Jessy's house, and we were going to meet them at Bertrossa's at 12:30. As we were getting ready to leave our house, my phone rang. It was Chris, and they were already there. Much to everyone's dismay, Bertrossa's is only open on weekdays! So we went to Pizza Ranch in Dilworth, which the kids liked better anyway.

After lunch, we headed east on Highway 10 to the Buffalo River Pumpkin Patch. It was a beautiful fall day, and there were a lot of people there, with smiling kids everywhere. I think even the adults would admit to having a pretty nice time there!

Sunday, everyone stuck around to watch the Vikings, and then headed home. We had a great time, fairly low key and relaxing. Next weekend is the woodcutting weekend at the Ashby farm, so we're all looking forward to some more family fun!

Wyatt


Photo © Wyatt Johnson
Another generation: Brooklynn, Rylie, Camryn, Caity, McKenna & Jayce.


Photos © Wyatt Johnson
Ben & Ashley, left; dads Wyatt with Camryn & Shawn with McKenna, right.



Photo © Wyatt Johnson
Joanna & Weston at the Pumpkin Patch last weekend.

Update -- Weston introduces Joanna Eklund
by Weston Johnson
Maple Grove, MN

My coworker, Jessica, stopped by my desk at the end of the day, as we were both preparing to head home for the night.

"I have a random question for you," she said. "Are you dating anyone right now?"

I answered her loaded question with a hesitant, "Umm, no, not at the moment."

"Would you be interested in meeting my friend, Joanna?"

We all know set-ups never work, but I figured I didn't have much to lose. Jessica and I came up with a plan. She and her fiancé, Andrew, would meet Joanna and me at Champps for dinner one evening after work. We figured a double date would take the pressure off, compared to a regular blind date.

As the day approached, Jessica filled me in on some of Joanna's particulars. About average height. Light, curly hair. Grew up in Braham. Went to the University of Minnesota. Big Gophers fan. Smart and very competitive. That all sounded good to me (especially the part about being a Gophers fan)!

A few days later, we followed through on our plan. By the time I got to Champps on the agreed upon evening, Jessica, Andrew and Joanna were already at the table. We had a nice dinner and made the usual first date small talk. After dinner, Joanna and I exchanged phone numbers, and yes, she gave me her real number.

Our first solo date was a 4th of July Twins game, after which we watched a great fireworks display over the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. Since then, we have continued to get together on a regular basis. We've taken a Segway tour of the Minneapolis riverfront, caught a comedy show and a couple of movies and enjoyed many more good times together.

In September, she accompanied me to my cousin's wedding in Alexandria, where she encountered a seemingly never ending stream of introductions to various friends and family members. I figured if that didn't scare her off, nothing would, but she took it all in stride, and even claimed to have had fun!

In fact, she agreed to meet even more family members the next day, when we stopped and visited Grandma and Grandpa Anderson at their apartment. Grandpa snapped a picture of us, and Grandma was eager to publish her new scoop in The Bulletin. However, I asked her to wait, as Joanna and I weren't an "official" couple at the time. I wouldn't want to jinx it!

Since that time, things have continued to go well, so I thought it was time for Grandma to follow through on her big scoop and formally introduce Joanna to The Bulletin readers. Actually, her introduction was overdue, and I figured I better do it now to avoid mass confusion as to the identity of the girl sitting next to me in the picture from Wyatt's pumpkin patch write-up. Now that mystery has been solved, and Joanna looks forward to meeting many of you at future family get-togethers!


Photo © Weston Johnson
On a Segway tour of the Mississippi River area in downtown Minneapolis.



Photo © Ty Myron
Five Generations:
In the center in pink: Baby Alexa Gauderman
Her parents on the right: Jeff and Jessica (Myron) Gauderman
Her grandparents on the left: Tim and Char Myron
Her great-grandparents standing (center): Sharon and Duane Myron
Her great-great grandparents seated: Doris and Bob Myron



Photo © Dan & Gina Henderson
Dan & Gina Henderson's new home in Watertown.

UPDATE -- new home for Dan, Gina & Abby
by Gina Henderson
Watertown, MN

Thank you for the sweet baby card and new home card. Thought I should send a little update on the last few months.

We started looking around for a house this spring and finally found just the right one in Watertown, Minnesota. Dan and I were interested in moving out of the cities to an area a little more like where we grew up. Watertown is a cute little town and we are only a 30 minute drive from the cities.

So we closed on the house at the end of August -- just two weeks before our baby was due! So we hurried to get moved in and do some painting and other touch-ups before life became even busier. We were able to get quite a bit accomplished before Abby arrived. The rest will come, little by little. The house is on a cul-de-sac in a friendly little neighborhood. There are walking/ biking trails close by that I know we will enjoy.

Grandma Patty so kindly updated The Bulletin of little Abby's arrival; otherwise, the news might just be arriving now! Hard to believe she is a month old already. These last four weeks have been some of the happiest, most overwhelming, and most exhausting weeks of our life! :)

Abby is a sweet little baby. She's growing fast ... she had gained a whole pound by her two-week check-up and she looks like she could start smiling at us any day!


Photos © Dan & Gina Henderson
Abigail left; Dan & Gina & Abby's new home, right.


UPDATE -- a new job for Eric
by Eric Anderson
Maple Grove, MN

Greetings from Maple Grove, Minnesota, to all of you Bulletin readers out there! I know it's been a long time since my last update, but not a whole lot has happened since I lost my job back in July. That's part of the reason why I'm updating now. I got a new job! Finally...

On Monday I start at Free Spirit Publishing. If you'll remember, I used to work for another book publisher called Lerner; they did children's books. Free Spirit also publishes kids' books, and they're all of five blocks down the street from Lerner. Sure, it's just coincidence, but it seems a bit odd to me.

In my new position, I'll be an Accounting Clerk. They call it that, but it's actually going to have a lot of receptionist duties associated with it. I'll work at the front desk and answer the phones, along with greeting the few visitors who come to the offices. I'll also be the front line customer service person, and I'll have daily and weekly accounting tasks when I'm not working on those other things. It should certainly keep me busy, and from what I've seen of the offices, it seems like a fun place to work. It's a smaller office in a neat building right in the Warehouse District in Minneapolis.

Wish me luck! Starting a new job is always a bit stressful.

On a different note, this past weekend we spent some time up in Moorhead with a bunch of our cousins and their families. It was a really fun time and you can read all about it in Wyatt's write-up of the event. On the way up, we stopped in Alexandria to see Grandma and Grandpa Anderson for lunch and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of tasty Culver's burgers and good conversation. We talked about politics over ice cream and generally agreed on most everything. It was a great way to start a really fun weekend!

Keep up the great work with The Bulletin!

Eric


Photo © Eric & Leona Anderson
Dorothy, Don, Eric & Leona Anderson.


FAMILY UPDATE -- grandparents move to Breezy Point
by Colette Anderson Huseby
Breezy Point, MN

What a fall it has been! The color this year was glorious and I am sad to see it go. Erik is in second grade, still in the multiage program, so he is an "older" in his classroom this year. His classroom theme is the "Lueckville Sluggers." (His teacher is Mrs. Lueck). The scarecrow they built for the school courtyard was a baseball player. Ashley is in kindergarten and thoroughly enjoying it. Her teacher, Mrs. Duoos, has a bright personality, much like Ashley's.

I am happy to say that Mom and Dad [Argyle & Kathlyn Anderson] survived the move here and so did my wonderful husband [Tim Huseby], who flew to Anchorage, loaded them up, and drove with them all they way to our house. Yesterday they rented a house that is just a short drive or a long walk from our house, so they will be close at hand for sessions of lefse and truffle making! And it will be fun, especially for the kids, to have Thanksgiving at our house this year with all their grandparents.

I'm still working in Brainerd and Tim is busy trying to finish up various projects around our house, as well as cutting and stacking plenty of wood so we can enjoy cozy winter fires. He's anxious to get everything caught up so he will have time to use the fish house he and his dad just acquired with another friend. He claims I will enjoy it as well ... hmm, we'll just have to see -- I haven't even seen it yet.



Photos © Wyatt Johnson
Riding the barrel train at Buffalo River Pumpkin Patch.


Day to Day R
With Donna Mae
Ashby, MN


Photo © Donna Johnson
New sunroom addition looks nearly done from the outside.

Reviewing an earlier Bulletin made me realize I had not answered Betty's questions. No, we won't be able to use our new sunroom this winter, much to my dismay. Our builder is too busy; he has to frame up two houses and our little job has been put on hold. So near, yet so far! We are planning on having either an electric or gas fireplace at the far end of the room, between the two end windows. Any suggestions, from anyone, as to which is better?


Photo © Donna Johnson
Inside, it's clearer that this project still has a long way to go.

I will also share my work area, with a picture of my new desk. It took me quite a while to save enough to pay for it, but it was well worth the wait. I love it. Everything is organized now and easy to find. Space to spread out and work, which I thoroughly enjoy. Being I spend many hours a week working here, it's a good thing I do like it! Working at home beats going out during the Minnesota winters!


Photo © Donna Johnson
Donna's work area, with a picture of her new desk.


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


Photo © Gina Henderson
Don & Dorothy & Abigail Mae Henderson

On Tuesday of this week we met our newest great granddaughter -- Abigail Mae Henderson -- for the first time. Gina and her mother, Grandma Kathy Edwards, were on their way to Fargo to visit Abby's Aunt Leah. They stopped by to introduce Abby to us.

A special bonus was that I got a nice little warm smile from our newest Great Grand, but we didn't catch that on film. It was so nice to be formally introduced to the Princess!


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. LeRoy Dake supplied last week's mystery photo.


How many can you identify?

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.

ON the guess, I think it is Lois Dake's sister -- Coy Nell.

Mavis Anderson Morgan
Hope, ND

Editor's comment: Wrong, but a very sensible guess ... right family, wrong generation.


I know this lady! Carol Elaine Dake Printz. I'm sorry that I didn't remember the guitar but I know her dad did a "little plunking on the strings"!

I wonder who was in the crib? Maybe James Thomas Dake? I remember the "knotty pine" paneling on the back wall. Do we know the year?

Tom Miller
Madera, CA

Editor's comment: No, I do not know the year ... as to the crib in use, the possibilities are probably James or Patricia. Perhaps Carol will tell us more.


The picture is of our dear niece Carol (Dake Printz). Hope she could play the guitar as beautifully as she can sing.

Gert Dake Pettit
Howard Lake, MN


The mystery photo looks like my Aunt Carol (Dake Printz)!

Adriana Brown
Granbury, TX

Editor's comment: It surely looks like it to me, too ... hope she writes about it.


I don't have any memory of the occasion of the picture (but it's me, all right). I'm sure that would have been Patricia's crib in the background, just because of how old I look in the picture. I was about 12 when James was born and 18 when Patricia was born.

The picture was taken in our house on the farm at Valley Mills. I learned to chord just a little on our dad's guitar when I was a teenager ... but it was not an electric guitar, as the one in the picture is. However, our cousin Dick Beeman had an electric guitar, I believe, so it was probably his. Stan played (and still does) the steel guitar. The hand that shows in the picture looks like Stan's to me. So probably he and Dick and I were "jamming" together, singing and playing piano and guitars.

Carol Dake Printz
Sidney, NE


I would like to make a photo guess. Maybe, more correctly, I should say a photo identification. This photo was taken at Christmas time in probably 1963 or '64. It was taken at Uncle Bill and Aunt Lois's house on the farm at Valley Mills, Texas. It was taken from the kitchen looking north to the front room with the living room to the right. Jim Hamilton had brought a recorder that produced vinyl (or plastic of some kind) records that could be played on a 45 rpm record player.

In this photo, Carol Dake Printz was the vocalist! If you look closely, on the bottom right you can see Stan's hand, holding the microphone. As you have probably figured out by now, I took the photo. Somewhere in my "stuff," I still have one of those green plastic records.

Steve Miller
Coral Springs, FL


The GUESS picture could be Cap'n Jack with the guitar (joke), but on second thought it must be Lois Dake.

Betty Weiland Droel
MoundsView, MN


Homesteading Days at Effie, Minnesota, as toldby Bruce McCorkell

Larry McCorkell sent us a manuscript he transcribed from his father's tape recorded memories and made it available to The Bulletin for a series of excerpts. These stories were originally tape recorded by Bruce McCorkell of his growing up days on the homestead near Effie in northern Minnesota. They were recorded from a period of the mid 1980's until the early 2000's. These are Bruce's words of happy, sad, funny, good, and hard times.

DEER RIFLE

Whenever and wherever we went, we always carried the deer rifle. If we went fishing, we had the deer rifle lying in the boat. If we went berry picking, we always carried the rifle with. We always carried the rifle wherever we went. If we went in the woods, we carried the rifle. It's just something we did.

RESPECT FOR PROPERTY

There was a lot of respect for property in those days. I can't tell you how it is in relation to today, but I know my dad and my uncle Walter wouldn't go in or touch anybody's property and I was with Uncle Walt a lot. If there was a car sitting on the road, "Don't touch it, don't leave any foot tracks by it, nothing; just stay away from it."

But there was the usual amount of thievery. People stole gas and stuff like that.

We were taught to be very careful to respect other people's property, I know that. One time we'd been out there picking plums and were coming from Riley Brook walking through the woods and came by this building that had been built that summer. It was a frame structure built of lumber, maybe twelve by fourteen, or something like that. It was a fairly good size little shack in the woods. It had tarpaper on the roof and on the walls. The door was open. They very seldom locked them.

Dad wouldn't go in. He wouldn't go near. We walked right by it, but we didn't go in it. We didn't look in the window or anything. Nope. Of course, he was pretty wise in the ways. There was a lot of moonshining because that was in the Prohibition. He didn't want to become snoopy around someone's still or anything.


Travelogue t


Photo © Sheldon Swenson
View from top of Mount Pisco, 5,748 meters high (about 18,800 feet).

Climbing Mount Pisco
by Sheldon and Mitzi Swenson
Dickinson, ND

Once on top, the view is unbelievable. We are surrounded by peaks in all directions over 6,000 meters (19,685 feet) high. The sky is clear with just a few clouds here and there so the high peaks are all visible. About 15 miles away, the highest mountain in Peru, at over 6,700 meters (21,981 feet), is clearly visible. In a different direction, the mountains of Santa Cruz and Alpamayo, the focal points of our treks three years ago, are clearly visible. We take many pictures, hoping at least a few of them will turn out. We find that walking down is much faster and easier than walking up.

A good rest and lunch at the bottom of the glacier and then a trudge back to camp and our adventure is over. Kjirsten and I are excited; Mitzi's comment is simply, "Never Again."

If I had known how difficult this was going to be, I am not sure I would have agreed to go. For sure I would have voted for extending it out to three days, even though it would have been more work carrying gear up to high camp. Now that I am rested, I am willing to consider going back sometime. There is a peak of over 6,200 meters (20,341 feet) across the valley that they say does not require technical skill. That line sounds familiar.


Photo © Sheldon Swenson
Mitzi descending from Mount Pisco with ice ax, crampons & ropes.

Mitzi's Journal

After lots of photos in the freezing wind, we were re-roped for Victoriano to belay us down the initial steep descent. We encouraged Sheldon to hurry so we could get off the glacier before the heat of the day. It was warm, sunny and we enjoyed the descent and being able to look around. Going up, our eyes were totally focused on the next step on the trail.

When we got back to our stash of hiking shoes, our only injury was a solitary blister on my heel. We ate and hiked back to our campground, arriving at 1:30 p.m. We rehydrated by drinking tea, soup with bread and hot chocolate and we were delighted to tuck our weary bodies into bed by 7 p.m. I strike climbing mountains off my life list of things to do. Later I hear Victoriano telling Sheldon that there's another mountain in the same valley that we could climb "next time." I can see Sheldon has not struck climbing mountains off his life list of things to do.


Photo © Sheldon Swenson
Mitzi, Sheldon & Kjirsten, hiking out.

We hiked out and transported back to Huaraz after breakfast of hot chocolate and bread. Once again we are anxious for showers and a good meal. We found another Swiss restaurant and ate a great dinner there.

The next day was spent wandering around the market and reading books at Café Andino. On this trip we've enjoyed reading several great books: Seven Summits, Addicted to Danger, Left for Dead, High Exposure, Touching the Void, Nepal -- True Stories of Life on the Road and The Violet Shyness of Their Eyes.

We ride a bus overnight to Lima and check into our hostel. There are several neighborhoods to explore and we begin in the historical center of Lima, which is a Cultural World Heritage Site.

Lunch is at a fantastic restaurant in Chinatown and we enjoy wandering around the streets. We spend the afternoon at the Larco Museum which has the most gorgeous row of bougainvillea I have ever seen.

After a great seafood dinner, at a restaurant built on a pier in the ocean, we're exhausted. The last day, Kjirsten and I walk several miles exploring neighborhoods and visiting a couple of small museums. I spent the afternoon with a serious intestinal problem while she and Sheldon went shopping and ate sushi. A couple of doses of Cipro enable me to survive the flight back to the USA and in a couple of days I'm ready to go again!


$  A Long Time Ago   !


Photos © Jerrianne Lowther
"Burma Shave" sign, left; trek completed on Bromley Mountain, right. We appreciate the work of the crews who built and maintain the trail -- and especially the bridge builders. (Walking on this bridge of rocks, Keeps the water from my socks. --Burma Shave)

Appalachian Trail Trek: October 1973
by Jerrianne Lowther
Anchorage, AK

In Pennsylvania, on June 28th, the 100th night of our hike, Mic recorded an anxiety-filled dream:

"We were in Phoenix, just leaving for a wonderful summer's walk of the Appalachian Trail. The preparation was over and the exciting moment had finally arrived. We drove to Amicalola Lake, put on our packs, and walked up the trail with bounce in our feet and joy in our hearts.

"After a short time, an hour, or maybe a day, Jerri stopped.

"'This is just too hard,' she said. 'It's no fun at all. I'm going home!' And so we went home, and our adventure ended....

"Then I woke up. Across the Susquehanna. Halfway along the Appalachian Trail."

On October 19th, the 213th (and last) night of our hike, it was my turn to dream. I dreamed that we had reached Bromley Mountain, overjoyed that our Appalachian Trail trek had been successfully completed, only to learn that there was lots more Appalachian Trail we hadn't even known about -- hundreds of miles of trail, somewhere to the north, perhaps even in Europe.

I awoke in Bromley Cabin, more relieved than I could express, to realize we had, in fact, finished. But had we? Imagine my surprise when I recently discovered that now there really is more AT!

"The International Appalachian Trail is a hiking trail which runs from the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail at Mount Katahdin, Maine, to the northernmost tip of the Appalachian Mountains at Belle Isle, Newfoundland and Labrador."

In 1973, Mount Katahdin truly was the northern terminus of the trail, but now it's getting longer!


Photos © Jerrianne Lowther
Kyra, 11, unfurls bandana flag one last time on observation tower at Bromley Mountain, left, and poses with arrows suggesting our "ends to the middle" approach to trek, right. Kyra is back in full winter gear, including the tassled cap she crocheted before we began. At the time, she was the youngest person to hike the whole trail in one hiking season.

"Dawn. Honking geese. Sunshine in clear blue sky. Snow had melted on contact around us but peaks wore white. We would walk through a day of winter to the finish.

"'This is perfect,' Jerri exulted. 'We started in snow and we'll end in snow. It's everything I wanted!'

"Peru Peak rose in front of us, 3,429 feet. We climbed to a faint dusting of snow, then pushed on as it deepened to several inches. Snow hung in trees, tumbled down our necks as packs struck the branches. We hardly cared. We walked as though weightless, not feeling our packs or the cold.

"We were almost there.

"Nothing could stop us anymore.

"We gained the summit, passing through incredible sunlit scenes, recalling wintry days on Roan Mountain and Cheoah Bald. Had we met such a storm on Katahdin, we would never have been able to finish.

"We crossed Styles Peak and to the south saw Bromley Mountain. We climbed it, too -- one last 'Ascend steeply' for one last peak -- and stood atop its observation tower.

"The view from The Big B looked bleak, barren, and brown. Snow frosted trees on upper slopes. A forest of bare branches swept on to mountains we'd left behind. Every leaf had fallen. Even trees in the valleys were bare.

"Jim Morrisey met us for the final two miles downhill. We passed the signpost at Bromley Cabin in mid-afternoon, completing the Appalachian Trail. Jerri and Kyra cheered and turned down the path to the cabin.

"'Tell me, sir,' Jim said, thrusting an imaginary microphone into my face, 'how do you feel about finishing your long walk?'

"I could not think of one thing to say." --from Walking North, by Mic Lowther.


Celebrations & Observances
From the Files of
5
Hetty Hooper

This Week's Special Days
October 31---Hallowe'en

This Week's Birthdays
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
Happy Birthday!

This Week's Anniversaries
October 27---Don and Gert Dake Pettit (18 years)
Congratulations!

November Birthdays
' 
November 2---Gert Dake Pettit
November 2---Brianna Susan Lehtola (7 years)
November 3---Art Mitzel
November 7---Thomas Roland Mellon
November 7---Sandra Kay Miller Smith
November 10---Argyle Anderson
November 11---Allison Aydelotte (11 years)
November 12---Patty Anderson Henderson
November 14---Marian Miller
November 14---Cara Swenson
November 17---Zachary Myron
November 17---Mark Andrew Johnson
November 19---Tyler Swenson
November 20---Jeff Gauderman
November 21---Alex Jo Marie Sigman (4 years)
November 21---Amy Elaine Printz (4 years)
November 21---Judy Riesenberg
November 23---Jessy Chap
November 26---DeLoris Anderson
N0vember 27---Shalana Kay Weiland (12 years)
November 30---Aaron Stahlecker

November Anniversaries
Z
November 3---Rich and Verlaine Weiland (46 years)
November 16---Argyle and Kathlyn Johnson Anderson (45 years)
November 26---Ben and Heather Henderson (4 years)
November 29---Kurtis and Jeni Larson (4 years)

November Special Days
November 2---Daylight Savings Time Ends
November 4---Election Day
November 11---Veterans' Day
November 27---Thanksgiving Day
O

Miss Hetty's Mailbox:

Dear Miss Hetty,

Thanks for the birthday card! Nancy and I are going to dinner and a movie tonight. We almost never go to movies anymore, so this will be a treat! Anne and the boys will be here tomorrow. I'll try to get a good picture. The kids are the photogenic ones.

Dan Mellon
Alta Loma, CA

Your cousins are going to enjoy pictures of your grandbabies, for sure ... but Dorothy is going to want to see one of the rest of the family, too! --Miss Hetty



Photo © Muriel Wold Rodriguez
Erma Syverson & her children: Ryland, Marilyn, Sheri, Lynn & Erma.

When one is 90 years old, many of one's friends and relatives have passed on, but a very large crowd gathered on October 19 at the Dwight, North Dakota, church to help Erma Anderson Syverson celebrate her birthday. Erma is a first cousin of the editor's husband, Donald.

All of her children and their families were in attendance including Ryland from Grand Forks and Marilyn from Wahpeton, both North Dakota; Sheri from Colorado, and Lynn from Maryland. Also attending was her only sibling, Earl, from Portland, Oregon, who is 88 years old. Erma does not show her years, but remains very active in various activities.

After the death of her mother, she graduated and then moved to Washington during World War II to work in a lumber business. She was married to a soldier from her home area; they returned to North Dakota and had their family. A sudden heart attack left her a widow with four children to raise.

She worked for many years in the school system as a school cook. Upon retiring from that, she worked a number of years as a motel maid, just retiring from that a few years ago. Maybe keeping busy is the secret to keeping oneself young!

Elaine Wold (a First Cousin)
Wahpeton, ND


Photo © Muriel Wold Rodriguez
The First Cousins in attendance: Dwight Anderson, Elaine Anderson Wold, Mavis Anderson Morgan, DeLoris Anderson, Earl Anderson & Erma Anderson Syverson.

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

Just finished reading The Bulletin. Thanks, once again, to both of you, for your dedication in working on this each week. I appreciate your efforts!

I enjoyed the fossils and arrowhead story. I would have been thrilled to find them as a child. (Well, I'd still enjoy it, actually!) I even sent away for some fossils at one point. They intrigued me. I'll share a picture of a rock, found on this farm, that was more than likely a tool of the local Indians. Makes an awesome paperweight!


Photo © Donna Johnson
Stone hammer found on Ashby farm.

Mitzi and Sheldon's latest adventure made me shudder! No thank you, very much! Scary and miserable come to mind. How they stuck it out, makes me wonder!

Ary's environment looks much more inviting. Thanks for sharing, Ary!

And, I want to send a big thank you to Lori and Keith; I enjoy when they share. I've never been to California and it's fun to hear about the fun things they have to do in their local area. Thanks!

Donna Anderson Johnson
Ashby, MN


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

When I stepped out our back door, I saw beautiful bunches of grapes like the first picture of our Bulletin this week. Roy pruned them all back to practically nothing, which he says is necessary for fruitfulness for the next season. The bluebirds ended up cleaning off all the vines of grape clusters so there was no grape juice or jam for the Droels.

It seemed very special for Lori and Keith Mason to share their last trip with us, including pictures and details of the vineyard and the apple orchard. Looks like they were enjoying their turn in the stocks at Riley's Farm. What fun to make a trip like that, but just being together would have been so enjoyable when they both work all day, every day.

The update on the retired greyhounds was very interesting, being we had never even wondered what would happen to the dogs when they got beyond being able to participate in the races. The children would love having them when they proved gentle and tolerant of kids.

Oh, Oh -- Rylie Johnson will have the fun (?) of her baby teeth getting loose and coming out. I actually remember that myself, and I am in the late 70's.

So Brooklynn is 4 years old. Everyone loves a birthday party. In fact we just came home from one at Steve and Marci Weiland's for Rich and Verlaine Weiland turning 65. They are seniors now. What is a birthday without presents to open? Brooklynn didn't tell us what she had gotten. Four years old means fun and games.


Photo © Betty Droel
Rich & Verlaine Weiland

McKenna has already had quite an education. Her mom and dad see that she gets to learn a lot of things, including riding a pony. Maybe that was more fun for the dad than it was for his little girl.

Well, I could use one of those spiral eye needles! I'm almost to the place where threading a needle is pretty time consuming, and I can tell that needle would be like instant threading.

Special to DOUG:

I was looking for something in the archives when I ran across this comment on Doug. So, Doug, we would like very much to hear from you again. We have sincerely missed your input.

"I can not get over the gift for words that Doug has... What a writer! ... just enjoy it so much ... the pictures and graphics are nicely done, too. Great job!"

It is always good to read of the old days in Bruce's Homesteading Days story. The well experience would have been a vital part of their living at that time, and very serious to not have it be successful. Interesting what he found down that hole. You will always wonder whatever that copper was used for. Finding arrowheads and fossils being an ordinary find sounded like it was pretty wild country at one time.

Then came the Travelogue again, telling more of the story of the Swensons climbing that last difficult mountain. All that stuff pictured on the ground would have to somehow be packed onto someone's back. I can't take it in. I guess we wouldn't have blamed them for turning around right there and heading back down, by the sound of how exhausted they were and how dangerous it was. Thank you for all the excellent photography on that hike, and for the exciting, breathtaking details of your finally reaching the summit.

What a memory it would be to have done that, and so nice Kjirsten was able to take that much time to be with her family and chalk such a hike up to the accomplishments so far in her young life.

Then came A Long Time Ago, and the picture of Kyra stopping to talk to the cow in New England made me laugh. Poor Kyra. It was such a long, lonely trek that even a conversation with that cow was welcomed. Just look at the size of that backpack. And, the amazing part is that we don't ever read of her being out of sorts that she had to be along. I wonder if her teacher saved that diary she had kept for her school project? Too bad we can't read it.

The Tooth Fairy must have felt that this little girl was deserving of quite a bit, but probably couldn't find the pillow to put it under. It was in some backpack somewhere, I suppose.

I admired Kyra so much for having such a humorous take on things like tossing the milkweed seeds into the air, etc. instead of being grouchy. And another thing -- can anyone visualize this 11-year-old crocheting "granny squares" in her pastime? I know I can't. I wonder if "Mission Control" ever realized where they had come from? I hope someone saw the messages she left on the leaves.

Thank you, Don, for what you added to The Bulletin in your Observations. I used to love Washington state, and wondered how anyone would live in Minnesota, but Minnesota was where my family was, so no matter what it was like, that was where I wanted to be when the time came that I was to leave Washington.

So, Don, that was good for you and Dorothy, as well as your family, for you to have returned to your roots. Ten great grandchildren. You will never get lonely. Someone will always be coming to see you.

The pictures of the red, red maple leaves were so beautiful. A picture hardly does justice when you see them with the sun shining, making them vivid and actually looking like they were on fire. But, we will settle for pictures, and thanks, Janie.

The photo by Lori Anderson of Keith and Lori, where the CHUCKLES usually is, looks like the essence of truest happiness. This will be another keepsake issue of The Bulletin for them.

Friendship is a slow ripening fruit ... that is a true Quotation for the day, and I value those who have proven to be a friend.

Thank you, Dorothy and Jerrianne, and everyone who has submitted something so this Bulletin can be provided to the rest of us. We really don't have a clue at all the background work that goes into each and every issue, but we do know our thanks helps to keep you motivated.

Betty Droel


CHUCKLES


Photo © Wyatt Johnson
A grandmother pretends she doesn't know who you are on Halloween. --Erma Bombeck.


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: Fear is nature's warning signal to get busy. --Henry C. Link

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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