Photo © Kjirsten Swenson
Dhaulagiri Icefall on the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal.
(Scroll down to the Travelogue for the story.)

Moving day, August 22nd, was a blast! We had moved a lot of boxes and smaller stuff the week before moving day. Since that day was also Camryn's birthday, we wanted to make sure we had the moving duties done so we could celebrate our baby's second birthday.

My step-dad, John, brought up his flatbed trailer with sideboards, and we used that and a snowmobile trailer with sideboards to haul the furniture, etc. We got most of the stuff in one trip; we just had to come back for the kids' play set. While most of the guys hoisted heavy stuff into the trailers, many of the women cleaned up behind us. It was a pretty efficient system, and we were completely done and unloaded within a few hours.

We now live in our dream house, but have a few things left to work on. We don't have a lawn yet, but now have a sprinkler system that was just completed today. The next step is to get some grass planted, which I hope to do in the next week. We have a couple big trees already, but probably won't plant any more until next year. So next summer will be a landscaping summer, with lots of planting, hopefully including a garden.

We will also eventually finish the basement. There will be one more bedroom, and a large family room down there. I plan to do that work on my own, in my spare time, which I hope to find by bending the space/time continuum.

It really feels like home already. I've attached a couple of pictures, one of our kitchen with our table and other stuff in it, the other of the birthday girl, Camryn!

Photo © Wyatt Johnson
Birthday girl Camryn Johnson turns 2.

Angel and Alyssa Freesemann recently spent a week with their grandparents, Tom and Mavis Morgan, who live at Hope, North Dakota. Besides helping with a garage sale, they had time to play and do some work on the farm.

Photos © Mavis Morgan
Angel & Alyssa relax in the hammock & take the golf cart for a spin.

The girls enjoyed seeing how ice cream was made by adding the extra salt and ice as it kept churning.

Nice to get the rain last night and settle some of our dust.

First of all, we would extend our condolences to you on the loss of your brother LeRoy. We will keep you in our thoughts and prayers.

Second, we thought that it was finally about time for us to give a update on what has been going on in our lives. Lately, for us, it has just been a waiting game. We are waiting to meet our beautiful baby boy, hopefully in late October.

In one way, it seems like it is taking forever for Grady to come, but in another way it seems as though time is flying by rather quickly. We think that we are about as prepared as we can be, but I'm sure when he arrives, we will feel quite overwhelmed. Even though it may be overwhelming at first, it is a great challenge that we look forward to taking on in life.

We've included a few photos of Grady's room that you can include in a Bulletin article with this little write up, if you would like.

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 and The Matriarch supplied last week's mystery photos.

Mavis Morgan
Hope, ND

Editor's comment: Yes, there are surely a couple Millers and a former Miller in the two pictures.

Thanks for the latest "guess" pictures. I recognize "the boys"! Tom Miller, Dick Miller and Le Roy Dake. I think the other fellow may be Gene McKinzie? Not sure, but the face is familiar and I'm embarrassed not to be sure.

Anita Pfingsten Weiland
Yankton, SD

I found myself groping for a good guess on the GUESS pictures. I do know that is Henry and Lenore Pfingsten with, is it Anita (my sister-in-law)? The other picture is LeRoy Dake and Dick Miller; the other two fellows, I haven't a clue.

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.

So we have had a "RED" day ... Uhhh???? Yes, in the next town near Oosterhout there is a much bigger city named BREDA.

That town had a RED HAIR DAY. In the center of this city they had for the 6th year a day for people who have RED hair.

I went together with my daughter Marloes who likes, the same as myself, the hobby of photography. As we arrived at the center of Breda, there were around 600 RED hair people. I made some pictures that I would like to show you.

Photos © Frans de Been
Beautiful "strawberry blondes" celebrate "Red Hair Day."

This event has people from all over Europe, also a camera team from UK and Italians were present to make some shots. I was also hearing that some woman came from the U.S. for some women's magazine. I put a link by this letter so you can see (if you like) www.roodharigen.nl/ in English, what and how about RED Head people.

Photos © Frans de Been
"Red Hair Day" -- doesn't it look like fun?

The was also the yearly Flower exhibition at Zundert but this is something completely different and about my area. [To view this page in English, look for four tiny round flag icons on the left side of the page and click the bottom one, which is the UK "Union Jack" icon, for English.]

I realize I may never be here again and don't even bother to protest. Actually I am excited to do this, remembering the wonderful views of our past day hike a few days ago. The guidebook says six hours up and four hours down and that is about how long we hiked.

The trail was good initially but soon deteriorated, as most trekkers elect not to do this one. We hiked past a couple of local yak herders with a tent shelter and a large herd of yaks in a small clearing. The trail here turned into nothing. They pointed us in the right direction, where we eventually found a trail up through the forest.

The climb is very steep, the trail is narrow and rugged at times, but the views of Nilgiri (7061 meters) and Annapurna (8091 meters) to the east keep getting better and better. Eventually, we reach the high ridge at about 16,500 feet and enjoy the outstanding views of the huge Dhaulagiri icefall (glacier), mountain and adjacent ridgelines, as well.

Photos © Sheldon Swenson
Not there yet, left; resting, right; Tukuche peak & ridge behind us.

This area was explored by Maurice Herzog and his party in 1953 but they could not see a safe way up the glacier. They tried to get around to the back side but were unable to get over the high ridge to the north. They eventually had to abandon their hope of climbing Dhaulagiri and instead turned their attention to Annapurna. In 1969, an avalanche in this icefall killed seven members of a U.S. climbing expedition.

After a quick lunch and a bunch of photos, we see a few clouds starting to move in across the valley (below us) and reluctantly start back down. I am thinking this would be a great place for a summer cabin but Mitzi sees a few issues (like walking several days to get there), so I will have to abandon that idea for now.

Photo © Kjirsten Swenson
All of us at once! With Nilgiri & Annapurna I across the Kali Gandaki Valley.

This Week's Special Days
September 13---Grandparents' Day

This Week's Birthdays
September 15---Carolyn Miller Dake
September 15---Shari Miller Larson
September 19---Nathanial Kurtis Seaman
Happy Birthday!

This Week's Anniversaries
September 18---Jay and Sandy Miller Smith (10 years)
Congratulations!

More September Birthdays
' 
September 2---Patty Anderson
September 2---Vicki Anderson
September 2---Stanley Wm. Dake
September 3---Jacob Mendoza Dake
September 3---Eric Printz
September 3---Charles Quick
September 4---Wiley Nelson
September 5---Genelle Mogck
September 5---Lori Chap Ostendorf
September 5---Gabriella Ruth Boltz (1 year)
September 7---Brendan Aydelotte (10 years)
September 12---Lindsay Dawn Hellevang

September 21---Jessica Aydelotte
September 23---Abigail Mae Henderson (1 year)
September 24---Wyatt Johnson
September 25---Keith Mason
September 26---Jaxon Dwight Hill (3 years)
September 26---Alexa Ann Gauderman (1 year)
September 28---Donald L. Anderson
September 30---Sheldon Swenson

More September Anniversaries
Z
September 2---Michael and Sarah Dake Steinhauer (7 years)
September 4---Ernie and Carolyn Miller Dake (38 years)
September 7---Tim and Colette Huseby (13 years)

September Special Days
September 7---Labor Day
September 11---Patriot Day
September 13---Grandparents' Day
September 22---First Day of Autumn

Miss Hetty's Mailbox:

Dear Miss Hetty,

Photo © Ken Carson
Tabasco wants to know who tattled.

I think I'm in trouble, Miss Hetty! Tabasco was very happy to see all the cat news in last week's Bulletin -- until she noticed that some of it was gossip about her! She was pretty annoyed to read that someone blamed her mishap on her wide shoulders ... and then she caught Oreo and Cheerio making catty comments about her hips, which they said were even wider than her shoulders ... and boy, did she ever resent that!

Now she's looking for the culprit, trying to figure out who let the cat out of the bag, you might say. I hear she's been prowling and growling and threatening her brothers with bodily harm ... all because I whispered her little secret in your ear and it got printed in The Bulletin. Oh, boy! You think we could blame it on Mai Tai?

Hi, Grandma A,

You have brought back many memories this past week and I only wished I could have been there with you. The Dake and Miller families go a long way back and my mind has been reviewing those wonderful times again. You would remember LeRoy and I roomed together at one time in Cokato -- I was working at the Railroad and I think he was working for the Chevy garage.

How interesting to learn that Rachel is engaged to Damon Olson! We have known his parents, Dave and Lenore, for years. Dave is a first cousin of my sister-in-law "the other Carol" Lerwick Printz. So it is a pleasure to think that we'll soon be connected another way! Congratulations!

Good morning!

We want to send a line and mention how we look forward to

It was a shock and surprise to see the Loren Sigman Family Update come up next. Mainly, because this is how I remember him and now he has children older than he was on here. I was glad to see his family, and wish him well.

Oh my -- Rachel Henderson has lifelong plans before her, and she sounds like she is the happiest girl in the world. Her friend looks like a very happy person, too, and what a great couple they will make, plus a very stable home. We get in on a lot in the pages of The Bulletin, and we hope that wedding will be in a future issue.

Lori, it is your birthday today, I see by The Bulletin. I know it will be well remembered, knowing your family, and a birthday is always fun with little folks to share it. Your lake home is a lot of work, but I already know the special times waiting for your family and friends when it's finished.

Jazmine starting first grade. A milestone in her life. She looks like she is a very sharp girl, and her brothers are coming along right behind her. I don't know where the summer has gone to, do you? Now, school starting proves it is formally over, and another phase of life is before us.

I thought that was very artistic and meaningful to have the three pictures of Rylie Johnson side by side like that ... walking right out of summer into the school season.

Jayce is still boy enough to hold and enjoy his kittens, and yet he is man enough to handle that helmet and uniform identifying him with the Ashby football team. It is such a rugged sport.

Dorothy really has a gift for telling an interesting story. I felt just like it was happening at the present time. The conversation with Ken about the travel plans was so kind of him. I feel they appreciated Dorothy very much. Oh, how I remember those crooked seams! I was thrilled to hear Louella's visitor was Lavina, and what a sweet picture of her. The long anticipated event was getting closer and closer. Can you imagine the feelings getting on the bus and heading HOME to an open house with family and friends?

Actually, the view on the picture of Mitzi and Kjirsten sipping tea looks just like a mural, not a real view of those mountains. No, Mitzi, I can't think of an appropriate word either to describe them. That narrow trail did not look inviting to me, but it sounds like it was exciting to the Swensons.

I see by the Celebrations and Observances that Lori is having a birthday today. Also, several other familiar names. Happy Anniversary, Colette.

Cinnamon and Cookie will be pretty lonesome cats when Shalana and Krista walk off and leave them as they start school again.

I was glad Miss Kitty finally took time to give us the scoop on the grandkitties, and to describe in such detail the dilemma Tabasco got herself into for having grown so much.

I loved reading a letter from Kathlyn, at long last. For sure, Twila Jo would not have any spare time, with six children to get ready for school. She would value the time her mom could come and help her out in their move.

We had Ethan Horne last week, and now we get to see how big Carrie has gotten. They are so photogenic that Bitzi can make any picture into a CHUCKLES easily.

The quotation for the day says it like it is. As long as we live, we have a contribution to make to the circle we are in.

Thanks, and hope all went smoothly for the funeral and travel and now to get back to routine. We got The Bulletin early, which was JUST FINE.

Betty Droel