Photo © Jerrianne Lowther
Fireweed, gone to seed, Anchorage, Alaska.

These pictures show digging the hole for the basement, pouring the footings, putting up block for the basement, moving the house over and setting it down on the foundation. Moving the house onto the foundation was very interesting. The house mover rubbed bars of dove soap onto the two large green I-beams and just pushed the house over the basement using two skid loaders.

Sorry I didn't have time to arrange these better. I worked a 12-hour shift last night, went to school and I'm heading off to work another 12-hour shift.You can pick and choose what you would like to use; hope you can make sense out of them. I have lots more and hope to find time to put them on my Facebook page ... someday!

Photos © Melanie Lehtola
First step: digging a hole for a basement for the house they moved.

Adam, Joshua, Caleb, Joseph (all four of my sister's Lisa's boys) and William (my daughter Shea's boyfriend) are the guys knee deep in mud and responsible for the basement being completed for cost of materials only! Adam is in charge and works after his regular day job and on weekends. It's a slow process, but he is doing, and has done, a great job!

Photo © Melanie Lehtola
Preparing to pour footings for basement walls.

We are hoping to have the basement floor poured next week. We are waiting for the plumber to show and do his thing with the plumbing first. Hurry up and wait! I've stripped the wallpaper (all SEVEN layers on the walls and THREE layers on the ceiling) from the two first floor bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen. We took up the floor covering (linoleum & carpet) in those rooms, too, and found hardwood floor, but I'm not sure if we will be able to salvage the floor in the bathroom.

My sister Linda was a tremendous help working with the kitchen cabinets; she removed the doors and hardware and was able to get most of the cabinets/doors primed. I will try to get pictures of inside the house ... someday!

We were hoping to have a big housewarming party this past summer ... right now I'm thinking we'll be lucky to have one by next summer! Click here for web gallery with more photos.

Photos © Melanie Lehtola
Putting up block for basement, left; moving house onto foundation, right.

Photo © Wyatt Johnson
The Johnsons' new home with new grass & trees.

UPDATE -- landscaping Wyatt & Jolene's home begins
by Wyatt Johnson
Moorhead, MN

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. Verlaine Weiland supplied last week's mystery photo.

I meant to guess last week, as I knew Steve and Duane, but I forgot. So I'm going to do it right away this week.

Oh, those were the days of fun and games! We were playing dress up and pretending we were grownups! We were at Verlaine's parents' and grandparents' farm.

I'm quite sure that Edith Anderson took that picture; she was great at taking (and making) memories.

The GUESS picture makes me disgusted. I should know all of those children, but I can't think of a single one, except the second one must be Anita Pfingsten Weiland. I am trying to make Glenda and Jim out of two of them, and maybe Tommy Miller.

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.

Photos © Kjirsten Swenson, left; © Sheldon Swenson, right
Mitzi & Sheldon, Annapurna South, left; Mitzi heads for fancy teahouse, right.

Photo © Sheldon Swenson
Mitzi & Kjirsten gaze upon Machepuchare, sacred "fish tail" peak.

This Week's Special Days
October 12---Columbus Day

This Week's Birthdays
October 11---Jay Smith
October 12---Muriel Wold Rodriguez
October 12--- Tami Anderson Hunt
October 14---Douglas Anderson
October 14---Verlaine Weiland
Happy Birthday!

This Week's Anniversaries
October 17---Troy and Marlee Morgan Freesemann (15 years)
Congratulations!

More October Birthdays
' 
October 1---Brooklynn Ann Johnson (5 years)
October 1---Carolyn Amy Horne (5 years)
October 4---Wesley Sigman
October 4---Anita Weiland
October 5---Leona Anderson
October 5---Steven Miller
October 7---Steven Anderson
October 10---Hannah Aydelotte (8 years)
October 10---Greta Veronica Shockey (2 years)
October 10---Cody Printz

October 18---Lori Anderson
October 18---Adriana Stahlecker Brown
October 18---Dan Mellon
October 20---Wade Morgan Printz (10 years)
October 22---Rich Johnson (from MN)
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 (4 years)
October 4---Don and Patty Bratten Anderson (12 years)

October 27---Don and Gert Dake Pettit (19 years)

October Special Days
October 12---Columbus Day
October 31---Hallowe'en

Miss Hetty's Mailbox:

Kathlyn Johnson Anderson & Betty Weiland Droel.

The picture of Grandpa Mellon holding me in this issue reminds me of something ... I see the ring on his left hand, and I actually remember being fascinated by it when I was small. Aunt Dorothy, do you know anything in particular about it? Seems like I remember the stone being black, as it appears in this picture.

I learned that this Sunday when Don Anderson handed me a copy of THE BULLETIN. We were out of town so did not get it as per usual, and I had planned to read it first thing when we got back home. But, to my shock and surprise, Don left Dorothy long enough to make a trek to our motorhome to hand me a copy of The Bulletin. They had just arrived and brought the copy, hot off the press, with them. Now, I would call that a friend in deed!

Of course, I immediately looked at what the photo editor's choice of picture for the first page would be. A beautiful lakeshore in Anchorage, Alaska. That could have been in northern Minnesota, except for the mountains in the background. Fall is truly a beautiful time of year, and our Creator has placed all colors together so it makes for a magnificent sight to drive along and see the woods in its display of every color green and red and orange and brown.

Nice to have an introduction to Ashley, who will become another fortunate bride in the Johnson family. What a very nice luncheon for the happy bride-to-be. A one of a kind cake, that is for sure.

I live in Minneapolis-St. Paul, but I had not heard about the NAMIWalks that were mentioned. What a very kind gesture, to be a part of that walk!

I was so thrilled to read the writeup my sister had sent from their time in Mandan, North Dakota, visiting their son, Jerry, who is a veterinarian. I have a picture I will add to this, if it is approved by the photo editor.

The photo by Sarah of the garter snake was one I quickly passed over, but am sure lots of folks thought it was great. Imagine those children learning right in the midst of nature in that woodsy area.

Thank you, Jerrianne, for the update on making the median ready for winter snowdrifts. The Gazanias had their day, and certainly did a great job of brightening up that drive.

Shawn and Lori's "cabin" is making progress, and we know there will be many picnics and special days there soon. What a mansion, compared to a camper! It looks like a very lovely four season home.

Now, Donna Mae, why did you think of Betty when you saw the Garden Gnome? You were supposed to think of Doug! He's the one who chased The Bulletin gnome away. I wish we could get him back, even for a short visit. How about it, Doug?

MEMORY LANE, at last. I love that story Dorothy is sharing with us of her good, old days. I am so amazed that she can start right out where she left off like it was just yesterday, and now we get this vision of the wonderful meal. Am sure Dorothy's thoughts went back to that meal many times in lonely moments in BERmidji. It was so much fun to witness the directing by Grandma Mellon. I felt like I was right there, helping to decide what Dorothy should pack. That lovely coat with the fur collar was quite a gift, and most useful for a winter in Bemidji. I was so touched at the felt liners from Mom and Dad.

Thanks, Dorothy, for not skipping over the snuggies. I think we oldies all can remember them, and the cotton lisle stockings we wore were the orangy-brown tan ones.

Very descriptive recipe for the Kentucky String Beans. One home in Northfield, Minnesota, we were in served those very beans. VERY well done, and bacon and onions in the pressure cooker. They were addicted to them, being from the south.

I am afraid we are getting to the end of this trip by Sheldon, Mitzi and Kjirsten, but hopefully it can be stretched out for several more Travelogues. It is good that they had taken the pictures when they did, as it doesn't stay the same very many minutes. The pictures taken of them at dawn looked like they were surviving, with an eagerness to get on with the show.

Every Bulletin shows the little folks growing all too fast. I never expected Kierra to be sitting at a table like that already. Caity would be an honored guest, for sure.

Honestly, the CHUCKLES just gets better and better. Our son is an orthodontist. I should show him this picture and ask if there is any hope for that bite? That was a darling picture. Should share that with the Pepsodent company.

What an appropriate Quotation for the day this time! The poplars are flaming torches, lighting the way to winter. On our way up to Eagle Bend, Minnesota, there are masses of poplar trees, and they were all aflame in their colors, which were surely like torches as we drove along.

This is the best I can do this time. I have a million things wanting me to see to, but actually, until I write my Letter to the editor of thanks for another special Bulletin, I can not take time or interest in it. We do value every moment you work on it, knowing it is day and night and usually crowding a deadline.

Betty Droel