Bulletin 404 March 14, 2010

UPDATE -- Gary and Tara Jahnke welcome Ella Rose
by Linda Chap Zitzmann
Eagan, MN

Joe and Linda Zitzmann would like to announce the birth of their granddaughter, Ella Rose Jahnke. Ella Rose was born on March 10 at 1:54 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs. 8.4 oz. and was 20 inches long. Her mother is Tara and her father is Gary. Ella was born with a rare genetic condition that affects the face, ears and eyes. So far, the only thing affected is her ears, and she has a cleft palate. She is currently undergoing lots of tests at Children's Hospital in St. Paul.

Friday update: Ella is doing great! Her eyes are perfectly fine, her brain function is good and they say she is doing everything that any other newborn would do. Tara got to feed her from a bottle today. They are working at getting her to eat correctly, because of the cleft palate.

Photo © Wyatt Johnson
Maci makes herself at home on Wyatt & Jolene's couch.

You may have heard it through the grapevine already, but we have a new addition to our family!

A few weeks ago, a friend, Bridget Larson, posted a picture of a 3-month-old puppy on Facebook and said it was free to a good home. We had been talking about getting a puppy ever since moving into the new house but hadn't been seriously looking yet. Jolene and I both independently saw the picture, and both of us decided we wanted her right away! We asked Bridget about her and found that she had saved her from being put down by a breeder. The puppy had a minor hernia, which the vet had said should heal on its own, but since the breeder wouldn't be able to charge full price for her, they were going to have her put down. When Bridget heard this, she decided on the spot to take the puppy home and find a loving home for her.

After some messages back and forth with Bridget, we decided that we'd pick up the puppy up in Ashby on our way back from the Twin Cities on Sunday, March 1st. We decided to name her Maci and told Bridget the new name, so she could start training her. How our girls waited that entire week I'm still not sure, but they did, and they were very excited to meet her by the time we got to Bridget's house.

Maci's been so much fun already. She's half Shih-Tzu and half poodle, and 100% puppy. She's got more energy than the rest of us put together and loves playing around with the girls. But when it's time to slow down and snuggle in, there's no dog better. Her puppy fur feels like a feather duster and she weighs about the same. Instead of doing the normal dog circle, circle, circle, snuggle in, she moves in and plops. Wherever she happens to be when she plops, she's making that her spot. Our 10-year-old Pomeranian, Atley, didn't like her at all at first, but he's even getting used to her already.

Bridget already had her well on the way to being potty trained. She's had a few accidents, but she's been doing incredibly well so far. She sleeps in a kennel at night; the first time we put her in there, she squeaked a little bit, but she already knows the system and goes in there without a peep now.

For us to say thank you to Bridget hardly seems enough. But she has made this family VERY happy!

Wyatt

Photo © Wyatt Johnson
Camryn, Maci, Brooklynn & Rylie: love at first sight.

When the Sears supplement advertising lawn mowers, gas grills and patio furniture fell out of the newspaper today, Miss Jerrianne laughed right out loud. We've had back to back blizzards dumping more than a foot of snow, avalanches, temperatures dropping below zero and a neighbor shoveling snow off his roof this week. She's pretty sure she won't be mowing our lawn or lounging on our deck anytime soon.

What a week! She came home from a meeting with the bouquet at the top of last week's Bulletin. She said it had something to do with last summer's public gardening and the web site she and Miss Shannon made for our neighborhood. Click on the link under the picture to see the web site.

It snowed all day on her birthday but she slept through quite a bit of it, having been up late putting The Bulletin to bed. She missed watching the Iditarod Sled Dog Race start downtown. The dogs are racing across Alaska, headed for Nome. She hadn't been up all that long when the doorbell rang and Mai Tai and I scooted into hiding. Miss Jerrianne came upstairs with a bee-yoo-ti-ful bouquet that you can see in the picture at the top of the page. The card wasn't signed but it mentioned the photo editor so she knew it had something to do with Bulletin subscribers and thought they would like to see a picture of the lovely flowers.

Miss Jerrianne celebrated her birthday and a friend's birthday at dinners on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday we had another blizzard and by Tuesday we were officially snowed in, with a couple of feet of snow blown up against the front door. We were impressed but she said a few years ago it snowed three feet on St. Patrick's Day so this wasn't so bad. She didn't have to go anywhere, so she checked out the World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks on the Internet. There's a great deal to see on the web site. There was an Anchorage Daily News story, too, about the youngsters in the Junior World Ice Carving Championships.

There's plenty of winter left in Alaska, but don't forget to set your clocks ahead tonight because Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday, March 14, and Saturday, March 20, will be the first day of spring ... on the calendar. Even if March goes out like a lamb, it will probably be another month before we get anything resembling the first spring day. Still, Miss Barbara pointed out some pussywillows that were starting to fluff up when she and Miss Jerrianne went to dinner last weekend, so spring will likely be coming along ... eventually.

Of course, you KNOW I'm going to save the best for last, so I'm going to tell you about a web site that features a different kitten every day! Miss Shannon sent the link to Miss Jerrianne and last week they had kittens that looked just like all three of the grandkitties. Boy, were Kyra and Ken surprised! Anyway, you never know what the kitten of the day will be, but you can click the link for today's kitten. You can get the kitten of the day by e-mail, too. The directions are on the web site at thedailykitten.com

UPDATE -- on not getting caught in a vortex
by Elaine Anderson Wold
Wahpeton, ND

I really enjoyed reading Heidi's article last week about the mouse and the cookie story ... likening it to their getting a dog, which then required new landscaping and then a new truck to haul it in.

This is what one would call a "sequential vortex" ... anytime you start to do something , it sucks you into a much bigger vortex. In simple language, it means, "One thing calls for another."

In a conversation with some ladies last week, one told of a person (name omitted to protect the innocent), who bought a set of colorful dinnerware at a garage sale. However, since they didn't match her kitchen colors, it required removal of wallpaper and then new paint. Then the inside cupboards also needed paint to accent the beautiful, bold colored dishes.

In that same conversation, we discussed the trend of tearing off wallpaper and applying colored, painted walls in their homes instead of the white or light walls.

The next day in the Fargo Forum there was a full page article describing that white is the most versatile and useful color, and also that wallpaper is the new "in" again. What to do?

I look at my Antique White walls and I think how much work to redo them ... then I think some more ... then I think I will take a nap and not get caught in the vortex.

Photo Editor's Note: for a fuller explanation of a sequential vortex, use Google.com to search for "sequential vortex McManus Patrick" (with or without the quotes) and look for a link to "The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw - Google Books Result." Click it and read what you find there.

Sarah Steinhauer wearing her felted cobweb wool scarf, left; close-up, right.

UPDATE -- Sarah's blog: Where The Wild Ferns Grow
by Sarah Dake Steinhauer
Wannaska, MN

I started this blog to help keep track of my projects for my own future reference, and also to share my ideas and experiences with others who are interested. I am usually happiest when I am doing something creative and I am always looking for new things to try.

Click here to see Sarah's step by step blog post on how she crafted her scarf. Note: You can click on any picture in Sarah's blog and view an enlargement.

Photo © Donna Johnson
Carol got some assistance from Becky in the corner; the rest she did on her own.

I hired Carol Pokornowski to paint in the living room (my office) this past week. It is certainly nice to have fresh, clean walls. It had only been in excess of 15 years since it was last painted!

Photos © Jessy Chap
Grady, eating with Dad, left; Grady really enjoys his food, right.

Photos © Donna Johnson
We gave money to Rylie for her birthday & she took it along on her shopping trip to the Mall Of America. At the American Girl shop, she used some of it for a bed for her doll. She also bought matching pajamas for herself & her doll.

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. Donna Anderson Johnson supplied last week's mystery photo.

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.

Of course, that's Rachel and Damon (Olson) at their lovely wedding, and they appear to be surrounded by their nieces and nephews: Abby, Brienna, Mason and Logan (Henderson).

Well, I believe I do know who is in this cute picture! :) Brings back fun memories of Rachel and Damon's wedding ... with Mason, Brienna, Abby and Logan there to celebrate!

The GUESS picture is Rachel and Damon Olson, Mason, Brienna, Abby and Logan. Thanks to the Archives and a former Guess picture.

Memory Lane

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.

Winter In Bemidji
by Dorothy Dake
Howard Lake, MN

Plans Proceed

Easter is early this year ... it falls on my mother's birthday, March 28, 1949. I can't be there for the occasion, but I plan to go home in the middle of April, to keep my appointment with the adviser the college registrar appoints for me. They will help me arrange off campus rooming for the next year. As a sophomore, I can live off campus -- but as a walker, I am hoping it won't be too far from the area where classes meet.

Louella and I have been talking about how the "getting home" of our lives is going to go. I suppose we will figure out something. She told me today that the couple who supervise at the nurses' home said the building where they are living now (right across the street from us) is going to be torn down this summer. The nurses will be staying at a dorm on the campus until the nurses' home that is being built close to the hospital where they train is finished. She is glad she will not be living here during the transition. It is going to be a mess across the street from the ladies here ... unless, of course, they are moved by then.

And as for the ladies, they relieve lots of the boredom since they have the intercom on the phone. The ladies really like to talk a lot! Well, let's face it -- this girl likes that telephone, too. Even though it isn't always really clear reception. Tonight was one of the nice, sharp ones. I called home and got Gert. Fun! First thing she asked is, "got any new clothes -- that might be made to fit me in a pinch?"

"Nope, I am trying to get together enough money to go to school next year. Not a chance that I get any new clothes. How about you? Maybe this time I can borrow yours!"

She is one excited gal ... planning her senior year. I remember that is a fun time. But she had a little gossip (oops, news!) to report. She made me promise not to let on that I KNOW when I hear from the proper news sources. But it seems the stork is going to be one busy bird, from the spring through the fall, delivering bundles to OUR family members.

Gert says she heard Grandma Mellon and Mom visiting in the kitchen last Sunday ... and with Grandma's hearing problem, they were easy enough to listen in on. It sounded to her like both Blanche and Marcella are expecting. Now that makes a total of four family babies to arrive by next fall. WOW! I have to be a good actress and show great pleasure and SURPRISE when the official announcements are made.

Oh, well, that isn't too hard of an assignment! Really, the hard part is going to be the affording and choosing of baby gifts.

Photo © Dorothy Dake Anderson
The house where I lived in Bemidji, Minnesota, in 1949.

Travelogue t

Photo © Kjirsten Swenson
Brilliant red flower in Thailand.

Southeast Asia Extravaganza 2009
by Kjirsten Swenson
Albuquerque, NM

Thailand, before Bangkok, had been one peaceful paradise after another. We'd been forewarned by other travelers that the capital would be less so, and therefore planned to be there for only a pair of days before my friend's flight. It was everything I'd expect of a tropical city of more than 11 million: massive, very concrete, with awful traffic, unique and unpleasant smells, noisy, dirty, and terribly hot. We planned our days to minimize dealing with all of the above.

Photo © Kjirsten Swenson
Tuk Tuks wait for riders in Bangkok.

It was sweltering when we arrived in the afternoon, so we elected to take naps in our air conditioned room instead of exploring. Once the sun dropped, we headed out to an amazing dinner at a restaurant near our hostel. It was tucked into an alley far from traffic and had a beautifully designed courtyard with gorgeous flora, twinkling lights, fountains, and live music by a student from a local performing arts school.

We dined on tofu with black mushrooms, seafood with thick curry steamed in a banana leaf, two varieties of red and black rice, and strange desserts. I had taro and two other plant-based foods stewed in coconut cream, and Jeff tried something similar with beans and tapioca ... strange, but wondrous indeed! That night we checked out a happening jazz club and listened to the most impressive live music of the trip, so far.

Photo © Kjirsten Swenson
Lavender water lily.

Celebrations & Observances
From the Files of 5
Hetty Hooper

This Week's Birthdays
March 16---Samuel Alexander Cannon
March 17---Ruth Weiland Kitto
March 18---Janie Anderson
Happy Birthday!

This Week's Anniversaries
March 14---Brian and Melanie Birkholz Lehtola (8 years)
March 15---Dan and Gina Henderson (5 years)
Congratulations!

More March Birthdays
'
March 1---Betty Weiland Droel
March 2---Tom Miller (Doctor)
March 3---Donald Anderson
March 6---Jerrianne Lowther
March 6---Gwen Stucker
March 9---Kylie Grace McNeill (3 years)
March 11---Kjirsten Swenson
March 12---Jolene Johnson

March 21---Rachel (Henderson) Olson
March 23---Colette Huseby
March 23---Capt. Jack Adair
March 28---Donna (Anderson) Johnson
March 30---Mason Henderson (4 years)
March 30---Michael Steinhauer
March 31---Linda Knutson

More March Anniversaries
Z
March 3---Mike and Kelley Seaman (9 years)
March 3---Greg and Sonja Dake (4 years)

March 22---Ken and Ruth Weiland Swanson Kitto (8 years)
March 26---Stanley and Janice Dake (40 years)
March 31---Frans and Rian de Been (32 years)

March Special Days
March 14---Daylight Saving Time Begins
March 17---St. Patrick's Day
March 20---First Day of Spring

Miss Hetty's Mailbox:

Dear Miss Hetty,

In December, our son Darrel and his wife Jo, gave us a dried looking Amaryllis bulb with the instructions to plant it and water it and watch it grow.

We were thrilled when it started to grow so tall and straight and now, today, which is March 7th, we have four huge blossoms. There was a second stem which had three on it.

We do not have a green thumb, so when we see these beautiful flowers we just had to share it.

Roy and Betty Droel
MoundsView, MN

Photo © Betty Droel
Candy-Striped Amaryllis.

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

WOW -- what a neat way to do! I like the "teasers" first, then the link. It works beautifully.

We are in Arizona with Ruth and Ken Kitto. Ruth seems to be regaining every day. I am sure she will love reading The Bulletin.

Rich and Verlaine Weiland
Coon Rapids, MN

Just to let you know ... works great. :-) Looks like a big issue of many stories to read and enjoy ... and I have to go to a bridal shower so has to wait a bit....

Thanks! Love,

Barb Dewey
Ashby, MN

This new format works great for me! :)

Lori Chap Ostendorf
Rogers, MN

That link works really well -- I always had to click on the link anyway in the past Bulletin e-mails to make it display properly on the screen!

Patty Anderson
Isanti, MN

Enjoyed The Bulletin! Great picture of those good looking cousins of mine! Doug's "Duddo" cracks me up every time.

Donna Anderson Johnson
Ashby, MN

Well, it seems all has returned to a state of order ... from chaos comes order, after all.

I enjoyed your article. Strange how little I actually know of my own mother's "life story," but I guess I'm learning it now. It seems odd that teachers were required to do janitor work, in some cases ... different times.

The "running of the reindeer" actually seems intriguing ... in a really silly way. I enjoy Miss Kitty's tongue-in-cheek commentaries; she can be so "catty!"

Thanks for another wonderful read.

Douglas Anderson
St. Cloud, MN

Patty Anderson said I should mention to you that she had used the archives search to look up Lori's Artichoke/ Spinach dip to use for Eric's birthday party. She'd wanted to make it and couldn't remember the recipe, then recalled where she could find it. Made a delicious addition to the party, so we were glad she figured out how to find easy access to the recipe!

Donna Anderson Johnson
Ashby, MN

Editor's comment: What a great tip! We have some tried and true recipes in the Archives and in the recipe collections.

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

I could hardly believe my eyes. To see the first picture that was so beautiful, so spring like and so fresh, and the smile on the vase left one with a feeling of happiness. I wonder if yellow is a happy color. Photo Editor, where did you ever find such a gorgeous arrangement? I think I will print that on glossy paper just to enjoy for myself.

We never know what we will see next on that front page of The Bulletin, but we know it will be something very appropriate to the subject or season.

I am sure the family of Stan and Steve were very pleased to have gotten that picture of the two of them. They are so far apart, and never have the opportunity to be together. It sounds like they had a wonderful time.

it is very evident that Marian is not well, but "till death do us part, and in sickness or in health" has kept a love alive to be enjoyed to the fullest no matter what. A good example for us all. I recall the very special times we were in Steve and Marian's home, and observing their obedient children. An ideal family, of which we have wonderful memories.

It isn't often the sisters are together. I remember being in their family home, helping with cupboards after their young, happy, busy mother died. Four lovely ladies -- each with a story.

Miss Kitty has been busy in the office whipping off letters and updates for The Bulletin, and this one about the Fur Rendezvous was especially interesting, since we had so many links to click on, giving us more and more stories and pictures of Alaska events.

Heidi Johnson Henderson, we gasped to read that your home had been broken into. I am sure every little squeak and noise makes you alert and at attention, which is so natural and so haunting. It is such a good thing you have that excellent guard dog now. That is such an unusual name, Astraea.

It was so good to see a bit about Don and Patty, too, again. I am so curious as to what local restaurant would be considered very nice. I am rather familiar with that area, and we are always wishing we had a new and different "very nice" restaurant.

So that is what Hannah looks like now. What a beautiful dog! Will the Red Chair Antiques be opening again sometime?

I finally got to the Memory Lane portion of The Bulletin. A feature that is eagerly anticipated. We have so enjoyed following along in Dorothy's real life experiences as she stepped out into the world with all its happy and sad encounters on her own, far away from home and the safety and confines of a loving family.

It looks like she is well able to conduct herself to be respected and appreciated by her boss and the whole working staff in the Photo Shop. It was satisfying to see the outcome of the letters she wrote (with some help) for aid and eligibility to receive some funding available to polio victims.

Kjirsten, we enjoyed every word and every picture of your next chapter of the trip you made to southeast Asia. I, for one, can't even imagine biking those distances.

What a sweet picture of Levi and Kira with their snowman! Looks like there was no shortage of snow supply up there in northern Minnesota.

I enlarged the FUNNNIES, and it became really funny. I loved the vivid recall of some details like the corduroy pants, etc., and the chin as was drawn on this teacher. Glad it's to be continued. I appreciated the artistry, and yes, the story.

The Quotation for the day suggested we needed to renew appreciation now and then. I do know there is a lot of truth to that. I myself find it so easy to overlook what should be valued as it usually is here today and gone tomorrow.

Thank you again. The Bulletin came fine in this new way of sending it.

Betty Droel

FUNNNIES

See the "Stories" link for The Amazing Duddo collection -- or click here.

Click here to find out Who's Who in The Bulletin

Click here to find out Who's Where in The Bulletin

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.

Click here for past editions in the searchable web archive

Quotation for the day: Every goal has a sequence swirling beneath it like the vortex of a whirlpool. Take your first step toward that goal and you're instantly sucked into the vortex, swirled downward endlessly farther and farther away from your goal, until you've completely forgotten what the goal was, and your only concern is how to get out of the vortex. --Patrick F. McManus, The Night The Bear Ate Goombaw