Bulletin 439 November 14, 2010

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Sunday, November 14, 2010

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Photo illustration © Virginia McCorkell
Winter is coming...

UPDATE -- Scandinavian adventure begins
by Mitzi Johnson Swenson
Dickinson, ND

Kjirsten called and asked her dad if he'd like to go to the International Emergency Medicine conference in Stockholm in October. He had to decline because of pheasant hunting and work commitments, but said he didn't mind if I went without him. I didn't waste any time buying my ticket before he reconsidered!

We flew to Copenhagen and met Shane and Jayna at our hostel to begin our heritage adventure, which would also include Oslo, Helsinki and Stockholm. Walking from the train station, someone asked me something in Danish. The only word I understood was "train" so I nodded and pointed in the right direction. Kjirsten was surprised at my instant command of the Danish language. She was also asked for directions a couple of times so we decided she must look like a Dane (our kids are Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, English and German), though she was shorter than most of the Danes -- they are the second tallest people in the world, after the Dutch.

Photo © Mitzi Swenson
Jayna, Shane & Kjirsten partake of bakery breakfast in Copenhagen.

Photo © Kjirsten Swenson
In Copenhagen, Danish pastries are simply called "pastries."

Photos © Kjirsten Swenson
Bicycles, left; Shane walks a rail, right. Soon afterwards, a little kid did it faster.

I'm way overdue for an update to keep my Bulletin subscription current so I figured I'd check in. I've been keeping pretty busy, as usual. After not having any work-related travel for a couple of months, I took two trips within about a week's time.

I spent one day in Detroit two weeks ago, kicking off a new project. I had never been to Detroit before, other than a few layovers at their airport. After reading so much about the problems that city has had in recent years, I was pleasantly surprised by the areas of the city I saw. The downtown area seemed pretty nice, especially the waterfront and their sports and entertainment district with the baseball stadium, football stadium and several theaters. I traveled out to a couple of distant suburbs as well, and apparently managed to avoid the more blighted areas, as it seemed about like any other major city.

Last week I traveled to Portland, Maine -- my first visit to Maine, as well. I was supposed to fly out early on a Tuesday morning, stop for a brief layover in Detroit, then continue on to Portland, arriving at noon. Unfortunately, my flight out of Minneapolis was delayed, which set off a domino effect: I missed my connection in Detroit and was re-booked on a flight to LaGuardia in New York, where I had a two-hour layover before flying from there to Portland. It ended up being a long day of travel, as I didn't arrive in Portland until 5 o'clock. It wasn't all bad though, as I enjoyed the view of Manhattan while descending into LaGuardia.

The descent into Portland was also beautiful, with the setting sun illuminating the fall colors and the ocean waters. Despite my late arrival, I was able to meet with my client that evening and made it to my presentation the following morning. The flight home was a little less eventful. My flight out of Portland was delayed, but after a brisk walk/jog through the Detroit airport, I caught my flight to Minneapolis in the nick of time. I hope the guy next to me on the plane didn't mind having a temporarily sweaty travel companion!

Other than my travel adventures, I've been attending all of the Gophers football home games. The team is having a disappointing season (to say the least), but it's always fun to get together with friends and spend a fall afternoon watching football, especially with the perfect fall weather we've had!

I was also able to attend the Vikings game this past Sunday with three of my friends. The Vikings fell behind for much of the game, but managed a big fourth quarter comeback to force overtime, where they kicked a game-winning field goal. So I got to spend a fun afternoon with friends, and better yet, the Vikings managed to avert disaster and save their season (for one more week anyway).

Photo © Earl Stahlecker
Michael coming in & Adriana is to right of the balloons ... she finished a few minutes ago. This photo was supposed to be part of the Stahlecker race story last week, but we didn't get it in time.

When Miss Jerrianne went to feed Chang Pah this afternoon, she took her camera along in case he was in the mood to have his picture taken, but when she got there, she discovered that Gretchen had returned from three weeks in China within the hour. Chang Pah was very happy to see her and he was also happy to see Miss Jerrianne. Whenever she had put the key in the lock, he would start meowing to encourage her to enter quickly and get his dinner on the table. And then they would play.

With Gretchen home, they visited instead and she showed her Chang Pah's pictures in Bulletin 437. Gretchen was quite surprised that Chang Pah had become a celebrity with his picture in the paper! She laughed at the picture of Chang Pah rolling over and over with his catnip toy.

When Miss Jerrianne got home, she thought it would be a good idea to photograph one of us instead, as she wanted a picture of a cat drinking water to illustrate a link to a story. Well, she was a little bit disappointed that Mai Tai and I wouldn't cooperate. We're camera shy and we know a hundred ways to keep pictures from happening ... as we happily demonstrated. But we agreed that it's a really cool story. If you would like to read about how a team of engineers figured out exactly how cats drink liquids and see the video, the link is right here. There's even a fun story about the drinking story here.

Photo © Sarah Steinhauer
Heirloom Calypso (also known as Yin Yang) dry beans from my garden.

Photo © Sarah Steinhauer
Heirloom Painted Pony dry beans from my garden..

Photo © Sarah Steinhauer
Heirloom Hidatsa Shield Figure dry beans from my garden. They were originally grown by the Hidatsa Indians who lived in North Dakota in the Missouri River Valley. I only got about a pound from this year's crop, so I'll probably save most of them for planting next year and hope for a big crop then. I originally got the seeds at www.seedsavers.org

Photo © Larry T. Dake
Scout the ox celebrates first birthday; Levi feeds him "birthday" cake.

Here's a fun video on an easier way to peel bananas -- looks like we've been doing it "wrong" for years.

Let's play a guessing game: 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.

Last week's Guess picture

Last week's mystery photo was supplied by Kelly Larson Seaman.
Send us some mystery photos; we will line them up in our staging area to take their turn.

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.

Another good Bulletin, thanks, and now for the guess picture! I would like to say it is Blanche and Jim Miller with three of their grandchildren celebrating someone's birthday, or maybe it is a joint birthday party. Gathered around their loving grandparents are Kelly, Kurt, and Kristi -- daughter Shari's three children. The children look like they are thinking "Let's be good and get the picture over with so we can have the beautiful cake."

I had spent so much time trying to figure out who was who in the GUESS picture last week, and spent just as much time this week trying to put the names to the children. Now, that was taken many years ago, but a treasure to have.

This GUESS picture is Jim and Blanche, but the children must belong to Shari. The middle boy is now a dad himself -- and the girls are moms.

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.

Don finds it hard to believe that anyone should try to keep track of what her first cousins are doing. You must understand that it would take him a really long time just to count all of his up, let alone think what each was doing or even where each one was living! When he starts naming and cataloging his, I go glassy eyed.

But then I have only three of these rare relatives so they are to be enjoyed and "known."

My mom has one sibling -- her brother, Everett Mellon, who with his wife Daisy has two children -- Roland and Diana. My dad has one sister, Elizabeth McCalla, who is no longer married. Her son has lived with Grandma Greer and gone to school in Smith Lake with us for several different periods of time. Gilbert and I are very close to an age ... he is just nine months older than I am. Needless to say, we are good friends.

Now all of that introduction is just to let you know why I wish to have them in my journal.

Four generations of McCallas: Gilbert & Jean McCalla with his mother, Elizabeth, in the middle; Judy on Grandma Greer's lap.

Since Don and I moved into the Wold farmhouse, across the road from his parents, we have had Wahpeton as our mailing address, but really we live by a small town called Dwight. We had talked to Gilbert about their present home, which is another small town ... but it is across the river in Minnesota. Don is sure he knows just where it is in that little town where they live.

So this last Sunday we took our usual afternoon drive (we like to end up at a little grocery store in Breckenridge where they have huge ice cream cones for 15 cents). Well, that takes us to the highway that leads out from Breckenridge and passes through Campbell, Minnesota, where the McCallas live. So we went exploring. We were sure we had the right house. (It wasn't very hard to find it in that huge metropolis of fewer than 100 residents.) Nobody was home, but we wrote them a little note and invited them to come and see us ... and left it pinned to the door. This evening we called them and invited them to our house for next Sunday afternoon.

They are coming. Jean tells me that Judy is a talker and a walker already, so I guess we will have to have the Andersons over, as a couple of them really love little kids ... and I would guess Judy will have a sitter for the afternoon!

Diana (behind screen door) with her parents, Daisy & Everett Mellon, on their 25th wedding anniversary, left; with her parents & her brother, Rolly, in 1944, right.

I just heard from Mom that we are invited to come to their house for Gert and Loren's wedding. I asked who all would be there. It is then I heard a bit of news I hadn't known about. Grandpa and Grandma Mellon, Everett, Daisy, and Diana would be there, too. But it was disappointing to me to hear that Rolly, Marcella and the boys are not planning to come.

It appears that they are not going to be Waverly citizens much longer -- as a matter of fact, they are in the process of moving, and here is how it happened:

I have told you about the locker plant that has been built onto the back of Grandpa's store. It is interesting, and the time I helped Grandpa look for some meat he had put in a basket with the wrong number on it, it seemed to me that it had the temperature of winter in Siberia.

Well, that part of the store appealed to one of the other two grocery store owners in Waverly. If I remember right, his name is Murray. And he decided they would all do better if he bought Roland (and Grandpa's) store and turned it into a meat market --with perhaps some simple groceries -- and then he will make his store more complete. He is now signing papers and paying out the required money to make their store become his and then there will only be two grocery store owners!

My understanding is that Roland has found a job already. He is to be working in the Greyhound garage where his dad (Uncle Everett) works. It is really hard to find housing and so he and his family may have to stay with his folks while he's looking for a place.

They are taking a little family trip in between being the owner and the resuming of being an employee. It has been really hard to get much family time when running a business, so for now, he will let someone else run the business and he can go home at night and be with his family. (Well, most of the time, anyway. Greyhound buses break down at night, too, and the mechanics have to take their turns on being available!) Anyway, I am sorry not to touch bases with them again at this coming family event.

Oh well, I will get a chance to hear more of the details from Diana ... or maybe the older folks ... and will have to be satisfied with that. I do hope things work out well for all of us young marrieds.

This photo was from when LeRoy was about 12 to 14 years old as he is the one sitting on the ground next to Grandpa Mellon. This is in the first house that I remember them living in ... almost 10 years before the time my memoir is covering. Clockwise from Grandpa: Grandma's brother Curtis Doyle, then my dad & mom, Bill & Amy Dake; sitting on the porch, in the back, are Everett & Daisy Mellon, Grandma Mellon, then Ollace McKenzie & his wife. (Don McKenzie would probably know her name ... I thought it was Hazel, but I am not sure.)

This picture was also in LeRoy's file, but it was also sent to me by Don McKenzie. It shows many of the same people, but more of them. I do not know all of them. Start with the kids: that is LeRoy again and then? And then Gert, ? holding Diana, then just take them all straight across: Ollace, Curtis, Bill, Amy, Alonzo with Roland peeking over his shoulder, Grandma, Uncle Everett, Aunt Daisy, Ollace's wife & last is Blanche. I think I am one of the two in the back row, but I really can't tell.

Alonzo S. Mellon & great grandson Tom Mellon, 1947 or 1948. I took this snapshot of my Grandpa Mellon in front of the store, holding his first great grandson, Tom Mellon.

Over the years, due to moving and changing computers, I fell off your list. My brother asked me to tell you about Waverly. I was very young -- here is all I remember.

Editor's comment: Yes, I know, and in addition I had a major computer virus episode and lost many addresses, too. You are now back on my list. I hear you have retired -- so now you can open the archives and look up some of the issues about the Mellons and their relatives. Thanks for the information I requested.

I do have a few of my mother's old box camera photos. One with me on my dad's knee with his foot on the running board of our '32 Ford; with him in his leather/ sheepskin Air Corps jacket. One of my great grandfather holding me in front of the market when I was less than a year old; and one, taken in '48 or '49, sitting in my fire engine, with Sport laying across my path to block the way.

I've never mastered scanning into my PC, but I think my son Tim will be here this week. I'll see if he can help me and I'll send you the photos. And please put me back on your e-mail list.

My dad returned from World War II in February 1946. I was three months old. I don't know how soon we moved to Waverly, but it was very soon. I also don't know for a fact, but I know Dad and Mom had no money ... so I suspect his grandfather, seeing his situation with a young family, may have financed him into the market. A.S. was the mayor of Waverly (or had been the mayor prior to this time).

My great grandfather ran the "locker" plant next door to the market. For your younger readers, in the days before good refrigeration, storing large amounts of meat was difficult. When a farmer butchered a steer or pig there was no place to store the meat. The locker plant was like the scene in "Rocky" with sides of beef hanging everywhere. Only Grandpa didn't let anyone in to beat up the beef.

We lived in an old farm style house on the edge of town, I believe near the lake. It was a large lot on a moderate hill with the house on top. Like many old houses, its design was, for reasons unknown, poor. The most direct way to enter the house and reach the kitchen from the easiest parking area was to enter into my parents' bedroom and walk through the house to the kitchen.

So every two or three days the ice-man would arrive in the wee early hours of the morning to deliver a block of ice for the ice-box. He walked through my parents' bedroom and said, "Good morning, Rolly, Marcella." They would say good morning back to him. I believe his name was Earl. Then he would go on to make his delivery and walk back through their bedroom to leave.

I also have found memories of my dog, Sport -- a black and white combination Lab and Springer Spaniel. Sport was my great grandfather's dog; he named him, but he was getting too old to take care of a big dog. So he gave him to me; eventually I had to share him with my little brother.

Now the town doctor in Waverly had a German Shepherd named Major. Sport and Major had a major feud going on with each other; they would fight whenever they caught sight of each other. The old timers who hung out at the Barber Shop would come out into the street to watch whenever they met.

There was no telephone in our house. So if my mother needed to give my dad a message, she would put a note under his collar and send him into town. But she knew if Sport and Major met, the note would never make it to the store. My mother, being very resourceful, knew how much Sport loved Wheaties. So she would put the cereal box in his mouth and then send him on his way. When he arrived at the store, my dad would put the Wheaties in a bowl for him and write a return message and repeat the Wheaties process. He would never put down the box to fight with Major and risk not getting his Wheaties.

The other recollection with Sport was on the hill in front of the house. About 1947, I received a red pedal fire engine for Christmas. I loved to coast down the hill in it. But Sport thought when I did that I was in danger so he would run and throw his body in front of me. I'd crash into his ribs, but stop. Then I would yell at him, but it did no good.

Sometimes Sport would disappear for one or two weeks at a time. He would go on expeditions in the woods and lakes and live off the land. When he had enough he would come home. His fur would be matted into huge clumps. They couldn't be combed out. Dad had to just cut them off. Once he was having so much difficulty he didn't realize he was stabbing Sport with the point of the scissors, but Sport never made a sound or tried to run away, I remember Dad feeling awful about that.

This Week's Birthdays
November 14---Cara Swenson
November 17---Zachary Myron
November 17---Mark Andrew Johnson
November 19---Tyler Swenson
November 19---Nancy Mellon
November 20---Jeff Gauderman
Happy Birthday!

This Week's Anniversaries
November 16---Argyle and Kathlyn Johnson Anderson (47 years)
Congratulations!

More November Birthdays
'
November 2---Gert Dake Pettit
November 2---Brianna Susan Lehtola (9 years)
November 3---Art Mitzel
November 7---Thomas Roland Mellon
November 7---Sandra Kay Miller Smith
November 10---Argyle Anderson
November 11---Allison Aydelotte (12 years)
November 12---Patty Anderson Henderson

November 21---Alex Jo Marie Sigman (6 years)
November 21---Amy Elaine Printz (6 years)
November 21---Judy Riesenberg
November 23---Jessy Chap
November 26---DeLoris Anderson
November 27---Shalana Kay Weiland
November 30---Aaron Stahlecker

More November Anniversaries
Z
November 3---Rich and Verlaine Weiland (48 years)

November 26---Ben and Heather Henderson (6 years)
November 29---Kurtis and Jeni Larson (6 years)

November Special Days
O
November 2---Election Day
November 7---Daylight Saving Time Ends
November 11---Veterans Day
November 25---Thanksgiving Day

We had birthday pumpkin pie with Erik and Ashley and Colette and Tim to celebrate. It is really enjoyable to have our daughter and son-in-law and grandkids close enough to share the traditional birthday pie.

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?

To all of our friends from days of yore -- I am just reveling in The Bulletin I just finished reading.

The memories! Sigmans, all of them, and so many more -- think there will be time "tomorrow."

At present, Ken's fractured hip is healing well. We have been "homebound" for quite a while now.

And I just drooled over all those green peppers on Sarah's table. My, she was one busy gal!

Every week I look forward to The Bulletin. It is always interesting, and we have really enjoyed reading about your younger years, Dorothy. Keep writing.

I have still been enjoying The Bulletin each week. I especially liked your series on how you and Grandpa met and the events leading up to your engagement and wedding. A lot of what you wrote about is pretty universal, I think. People from any generation can relate to so much of it: feeling interested in someone and hoping the feeling is reciprocated, wondering if your friends will grant their stamp of approval, the nervous anticipation of the first time meeting the whole family. It was fun to read your take on that whole process. I hope you'll keep up the good work, and keep the Bulletins coming every week!

Oohhh, what a precious, cute little girl there amidst the clock faces, reminding us in no uncertain terms that we gain an hour in the morning.

Of all the illustrations in the Bitzidoodles blog, how did you ever find this one that was so very appropriate to use for our first picture?

I happen to know a little girl that looks almost exactly like this one. Her grandpa is Dave Hickock, and her name is Zoe, but I forgot her last name. How I wish I had a picture of her to show you the likeness.

AT LONG LAST. We have an update from the Stahleckers with recent pictures of all the children. I find it hard to keep up with the way these children are growing up. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were reading about them being born, etc., but time passes and we are glad to see these updated pictures.

Then the story about the athletes. Makes me tired thinking about it, but then youth has an advantage, we must admit. Congratulations and admiration for your energy and never-ending perseverance toward the goal you have in mind.

Even if I don't comment on every little thing, I want you to know it was read with interest, and some laughs and gasps at some of the things, for instance, all that MUD.

Mavis, we were so impressed with that old roaster. It would be nostalgic, all right, to be using it for your relation that would have remembered it from years back. I also see some lovely pans ... looks like the kind that you use very little water in ... and the beautiful stove. Oh dear, what fun to cook in that kitchen! That set of knives was pretty impressive, too.

Any lady would have fun shopping in that used clothing department ... always nice to find something new to you that fits.

Next we get to the Steinhauers' leaf raking episode. We all can relate to the leaves. Nice the old red truck is still in use. Lucky Kira, she just gets to watch this year.

Mercy! Leave it to Bitzi to color up the picture like the horse. Just a tempting sample of the many, many on her blog.

Oh yes, and then LTD come through again with an interesting link for The Bulletin readers.

For some reason, I thought that was very special having a picture of Beaver and his sons working together, plus Shawn, too, now. Donald B. Johnson would be so proud of his family staying close like that.

What a great account of the wedding and the quilt and the gifts, etc., with the pictures that brought back familiar memories to me ... having known the folks on the picture best in that era.

To see Mrs. Forsland gave me a start, as she has been gone so many years. Incidentally, she married my mother's uncle in the last years of their lives ... Vern Rowland.

That ADORABLE picture of Kira and Levi could easily be on a calendar. It is so sweet. It is "awesome," as they say.

Nice you could find a quotation for the day regarding daylight saving time -- leave it to our photo editor to produce just the right theme at just the right time. Of course, Miss Kitty probably helped.

We eagerly looked forward to The Bulletin this time, knowing it would be something fun about the change of clocks, and it was. Thanks to all who contributed to making one more Bulletin ... and #438, if you can believe it.

CHUCKLES

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: A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. --Herm Albright

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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