Bulletin 443 December 12, 2010

The Bulletin
Sunday, December 12, 2010

Home About Archive Recipes Stories Galleries Who's Who Where

Photo © Jerrianne Lowther
Children's playground after snowstorm, Anchorage, Alaska.

UPDATE -- welcome, Mason Walker Indermark
by Kristi Larson Indermark
Litchfield Park, AZ

What an eventful week we have had! Our 4th child, Mason Walker Indermark, arrived on November 30, 2010, at 1:23 p.m., weighing 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 inches long. Jim, Mom and my good friend Jenny were able to be here for the birth. We are both doing really well. Mason is so calm and quiet, even in our loud household.

Photo © Muriel Rodriguez
Elaine (Anderson) Wold celebrated her 81st birthday on December 4th with a few friends & family members stopping by. Here, she enjoys (and appreciates) identical cards, with varied birthday wishes inside, from daughters Muriel & Mindy.

Photo © Donna Johnson
Camryn, Brooklynn & Rylie keep Beaver company in the hospital.

UPDATE -- Beaver recuperates after knee surgery in Fargo
by Beaver Johnson
Ashby, MN

Tired last night, sleeping by 8:30. Woke up at 4:30, feeling great! No pain so far, must be getting good stuff through the IV. Waiting for room service to open so I can order breakfast. No food cart at this hospital -- you just order off the menu. Had a very nice chef's salad for supper, followed by Jessy's wonderful cookies.

Editor's comment: I hear that Beaver is being properly spoiled. But he has truly earned it!

UPDATE -- rule breakin' potato lefse -- it's delicious!
by Mitzi Johnson Swenson
Dickinson, ND

Last year we learned to make "rule breakin' lefse." When Paul Haakenson said he'd like to make lefse, I was looking forward to the prospect of eating a hot piece while someone else did the work. Then he proceeded to break every lefse rule in the book!

He used red potatoes, cut them into 1/2" cubes and boiled them without peeling them first. Next he whipped them with the mixer without ricing them, and dumped in the melted butter, sugar, salt and cream without measuring. I was shocked!

The next day, the lefse he made was just as delicious as mine ... but he had spent only a fraction of the time preparing the mixture. Our kids didn't believe it was possible, so we tested Paul's method when we were all together at Shane and Jayna's. They also declared it a success.

Photo © Mitzi Swenson
Rule breakin' lefse, with bits of Yukon Gold potato skin in it.

This fall, when one of Shane's co-workers wanted to know how to make lefse, I directed them to Mia's Recipe and YouTube videos to see how it should be done, but sent instructions for the time-saving method, too.

This morning, I made lefse with Yukon Gold potatoes, using the easier method. It's delicious! Happy holidays -- and may your lefse be tender and tasty!

Photo © Mitzi Swenson
Griddles bake lefse ... delicious with butter & brown sugar!

Photo © Mavis Morgan
Seated, left to right, are Tim & Char Myron, Kayla Copeland, Janie & Dwight Anderson, Ashley Morgan, & Laura Duke.

UPDATE -- Thanksgiving with the Morgans in Hope
by Mavis Anderson Morgan
Hope, ND

Even if the weather was questionable on Thanksgiving day, the Morgans were happy to see all of the invited guests make it to Hope, North Dakota, and share a wonderful time together.

Photo © Mavis Morgan
Left to right: Zach & Ty Myron, Lindsay, Ken & Merna Hellevang, & Tom Morgan.

Photo © Mavis Morgan
We cannot have thanksgiving dinner without the treat of Carl's lefse, which is bought every year from the students at Wahpeton Schools as a fund raiser. The children of Dwight & Janie Anderson have been our source in the past and now it is their grandchildren who are taking over the fun. Thanks to the Andersons for bringing it up this year, plus enough extra to last us most of the winter.

Photo © Mavis Morgan
The turkey, carved by Ken Hellevang, is coming in the upper right hand corner & we must give Zach Myron the credit for mashing, seasoning & dishing up the potatoes. We almost needed a bigger bowl.

Photo © Mavis Morgan
Mavis, Tom, Ashley & Laura. We felt very fortunate to have Ashley & Laura as our special guests this year, as they came from London, England. The Hellevangs came from Fargo, the Myrons from Thompson & the Andersons from Wahpeton.

Photo © Mavis Morgan
Robin, Ingrid & baby Oscar Johann Ramso, with Robin's dad, Anders Ramso, from Norway.

Recent visitors with Tom and Mavis Morgan were Robin, Ingrid and baby Oscar Johann Ramso, along with Robin's dad, Anders Ramso, from Norway.

The Ramsos spent a few weeks here at Hope, North Dakota, where they have dwellings. They come often to spend vacations here. Oscar Johann is the fifth generation of the Overland/Ramso relationships we have enjoyed through the years. Tom and Oscar Johann's great uncle, Arnold Overland, were the best of friends during their growing up years.

Scout the Ox Meets Grandbaby Harlie Mae

Photo © Larry T. Dake
When our grandbaby came for a visit, Scout the Ox was polite about meeting her, but quite taken with the toys on her car-seat! Maybe I should string some toys on a wire in the barn for Scout to play with. (Scout's blaze orange ribbon was for safety during hunting season.)

Photo © Donna Johnson
Donna Richards, a longtime friend of the Anderson family, is gravely ill, due to complications that arose after breaking her femur in a fall last spring. Besides being friends since she and Donna Mae went to the Hutchinson Tech together, she has been a subscriber to The Bulletin for most of its existence. Donna's sister has opened a Caring Bridge web site for friends to read updates on Donna's condition and leave messages for Donna in her guest book.

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 pictures

Last week's mystery photos were supplied by Donna Johnson & Kristi Indermark.
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.

This week's GUESS is no guess for me on the first picture, for sure, so you might not want to count it. The two "cheerleaders" are Bailey Funkhouser and Caitlynn Chap, right before the performance of Grease. The other picture is Kristi [Larson] Indermark and her son Alex (I almost said Tyler, as I still think of Alex as a baby ... but, I do believe that is him!) Congratulations to Kristi and Jim on their new little addition, Mason Walker!

(Editor's comment: Yes, that's Alex -- helping his mom finish off a plate of Shipwreck Casserole in Bulletin #411.)

The first mystery picture is Caity and a girlfriend; the second is my daughter Kristi Larson Indermark and her third child, Alexander, enjoying a plate of "shipwreck" hotdish.

The only young girl I recognize is smiling Caity Chap, with her dark hair, in the Ashby uniform. :-)

Well, that is Caity in that first GUESS picture, and we had the second picture with a story not too long ago. I will have to look back in the archives to see just who that is.

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.

June has finally arrived. I have not made an entry in my journal in the last several months. I do think I want to bring it to a conclusion. You see, Don is coming home. No one but me knows that he will probably return during this first week of June. His papers are being processed. He wants his arrival to be a surprise. He is getting out too late to do the farming on the Wolds' farm -- the land has been rented out, but we can live in the house there for this summer, while we look for what our next step will be.

I am so very thankful that this school year is finished and I am now at home with the Harry Anderson family, rather than shut in by yet another snowstorm ... spending my time in a perfectly nice bedroom of the Reinhold Stoltenow family home. Alice was a good cook, and a fine woman, but she wasn't a visitor, and she wasn't very demonstrative. I think maybe the word to describe her would be taciturn. The kids were not allowed to visit me, except to carry messages. We did not eat together as a family, and I was not invited to spend time with them.

You probably remember that the kids at St. Cloud said we lived in Pinore's Prison. They need to be locked in by one continual snowstorm after another for four solid months. I pulled the book The Long Winter, by Laura Wilder, off the library shelf and read it to the kids at school. They agreed that we really had a nice time compared to the people of that era. However, we took to calling our ordeal the long winter. The last week of April, a big storm dumped deep snow on us yet again and the officials of the county warned that if there was another storm they would not be able to remove snow any longer, even using the rotary plow they had used that time.

At least the farmers know now that moisture can indeed fall and that more than likely there will not be a return to drought in the near future!

Letters have played a big part in keeping depression at bay. I think I surprised Alice with how many different people I heard from. Of course, she knew I would hear often from Don, so she wasn't surprised at the many letters from him. But I did get lots of family mail from my relatives. Lois is one I hear from quite often. Right now I am keeping track of their search for a "ranch." Oh, they know they probably won't find a huge one all outfitted with a "herd" ... but they are hoping to get back to the land. I hope they do, too. I am like Lois ... a farm is not so special but it is OK if it is a home for my hubby and me and any family that might follow.

One other thing that has happened these last few months. I have been able to completely pay off the loan to St. Cloud Teacher's College. What a nice feeling! I have even opened a checking account at the Wahpeton National Bank. I have decided that teaching a country school is "not my cup of tea." I tendered my resignation on April 1, as required by law; that way, they have time to look for a new teacher. It looks like they will be hiring Mable Quamme. She is an older lady who has taught for several years, and being she lives in Dwight, she should be able to get there easily ... IF we do not have another long winter!

I have reached the last page of this journal, and I think the end of my growing up days. I have now assumed all the responsibilities for my own choices, and am waiting for the beginning of starting married life in earnest. My "better half" will soon be home and I hope we will be able to find our place together for life! So come and see us any time ... as we are "people" people!

Don helped his dad farm that summer, and we lived in the Wold farm home. That fall, we moved to a little apartment over the grocery store in Dwight and took jobs in Breckenridge ... he as a taxi driver and I as the dispatcher. I think of that with nostalgia ... we were so happy and the job was FUN, with a really nice boss. He paid fairly well, and Don did earn some tips. Of course, it was not a lifetime job, but it was fun! The only down was that we had to find a new owner for Hector. George and Phoebe Huisman were looking for a dog and they decided Hector was just the one ... so that worked out well, too!

I bought a 1949 truck like this in 1959 from a dealer in Cokato, Minnesota. It was used for hauling sweet corn by Cokato Canning Company. It was in very rough condition. I gave $150 for it. The cab was about to fall off, it had only four wheels & the tires were worn out to a point you could see the air in the tires! I rebuilt the engine in the winter of 1959 in the back yard, then did the body work at Main Motor Sales in Howard Lake, where I worked. After a nice paint job, blue with a white top, it looked much like the picture. I put on a 16-foot flat bed and installed better tires. I hauled tractors from North Dakota with it. I made many trips there & it never once left me stranded on the road. It is one of the best buys I have ever made in my business ventures.

Scandinavian Heritage Tour: Oslo, Norway
by Jayna Swenson
Salt Lake City, UT

Hello, Oslo! Well, apparently the overnight cruise from Copenhagen to Oslo should be renamed the party boat. Despite going to bed at 9:30, I last checked my watch at 12:30 a.m., when I got up to get my ear plugs because there was a group of Danish guys who decided to party in our hallway. For three hours. And the club on the level below us, with its European house music, only stopped thumping at about 3 a.m. I think I fell asleep for a few hours and woke up in the middle of the night when a little girl went running down the hallway. And then, 10 minutes later, the lady on the speaker announced that it was 8 a.m. and we were arriving in port in an hour and a half. Hmmm. Let's hope that tonight is a better night.

Photos © Mitzi Swenson
Kjirsten meets formidable nose, left; views paintings on a wall, right.

We went out to eat our breakfast in the lounge and watched the Norwegian towns go by, with cute little light houses, villages and beautiful trees that are brilliantly changing colors. The fall trees here are in full form. We made our way to the main train station in downtown Oslo, stored our bags in a giant locker, and started our Rick Steves' self-guided walking tour. We saw churches, city halls, rivers, waterfalls, sailboats, and cemeteries, under bright yellow and red falling leaves. We went to the National Gallery and saw Edvard Munch's The Scream. Cameras were not allowed, so in true Cam Jansen style, I had Shane say "click" and take a mental picture. We stopped twice for chocolate and coffee. And now we're eating chocolate for dessert.

I awarded Shane a Nobel Prize in the giant mural-filled City Hall and then ate the most calorically rich lunch in what looked like the inside of an old boat. I had seafood chowder (lobster, crab and mussels), Kjirsten had the special lamb stew with new potatoes, Mitzi had salmon with salad, and Shane had whale on a board. We thought it was a translation mistake, but nope, it really was whale. It was cured and dark red like dried beef, and tasted like wet beef jerky with a touch of sour rags. Shane gobbled it up on thin crispy crackers, topped with rich sour cream that he later ate with just a spoon.

After a long day of sightseeing, we collected our bags and hopped on a bus to our hostel, a few miles outside of town. Our guidebooks spell O$lo with a dollar sign, and we were only able to find reasonable (ish) lodging a little farther away. The directions said to walk 5 minutes uphill to our hotel, but we took a walking path uphill and then found ourselves in the middle of the university campus, with no sign of the street we were looking for.

Luckily, there was a campus security guard driving by and Shane asked him for directions (!) and he said we were close, but had to go this way and then that way, and then through a tunnel and then over and it's right there. A few minutes later, we saw him again and he offered to give us a ride. Ten minutes later (in a very aggressively fast Suzuki), we arrived. Who knows if we'll be able to make it back here tomorrow? I should have left a bread crumb trail.

We are borrowing a series of power adapters to "MacGyver" a power source for the laptop, so we have power for now. We have to go down to the lounge to try to check our e-mail and see if we have directions to meeting tomorrow. Wish us luck in finding our way out of this place.

Photo Editor's Note: With no captions attached to this week's photos, I'm just sort of winging it (hint, hint). As Jayna observed earlier in her blog, from which the text was taken, "I do not get paid nearly enough as a tour guide for accurate tours ... and although the tour guests questioned some of my facts, they have no room to complain."

Photo © Mitzi Swenson
Kjirsten & Jayna, in matching outfits, in cruise ship lounge (?) with Shane.

This Week's Birthdays
December 12---Sarah Lynn Dake Steinhauer
December 13---Larry Dake
December 13---Derek Swenson
December 14---Kathleen Dake Stahlecker
December 16---Avery Hope McNeill (2 years)
December 17---Char Morgan Myron
December 17---Austin Printz
Happy Birthday!

More December Birthdays
'
December 3---Twila Aydelotte
December 4---Sonja Dake
December 4---Carol Dake Printz
December 4---Elaine Anderson Wold
December 7---Aunika Swenson
December 11---Ryan Henderson
December 11---Makaila Belle Gordon (3 years)
December 11---Wyatt Wm. Meyer (11 years)

December 19---Barb Anderson
December 19---Lisa Boltz
December 20---Jay Pierre Miller
December 21---Melanie Anderson Shockey
December 21---Jonathan Glen Hill (6 years)
December 24---Ken Hellevang
December 24---Arbor Johnson
December 24---Beaver Johnson
December 25---Angela Stahlecker Roberson
December 26---Koen de Been
December 29---Mitzi Johnson Swenson
December 30---Travis Quick

December Anniversaries
Z
December 20---Eric and Melanie Anderson Shockey (8 years)
December 23---Harold and Carol Dake Printz (43 years)
December 27---Earl and Kathleen Dake Stahlecker (36 years)

December Special Days
O
December 7---Pearl Harbor Day
December 21---First Day of Winter
December 25---Christmas Day
December 31---New Year's Eve

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?

Each week I read The Bulletin, planning on commmenting, as I always appreciate it so much! The presentation, pictures, stories and interesting offerings are always very enjoyable.

Another beautiful picture from Jerrianne, lovely! I'm glad Betty commented so nicely on last week's photo, as it was so beautiful.

The stories sharing with us about the old "H" and the new Bobcat were fun too. Amazing the work that old "H" has done! Best of luck with the new Bobcat; may it be as good to your family!

It was fun seeing how DeLoris got to celebrate her 80th birthday. Very nice! I'd tried calling her on her birthday, but didn't catch her in time.

And the photo Sarah had taken of her mushrooms makes them look delectable. In fact, I copied both recipes provided this week right into my cookbook (you fill in the recipes yourself), as they both sounded delicious.

I'm also really enjoying Jayna's accounting of their trip; I am most definitely an armchair traveler, so truly is fun to see it through their eyes and pictures! She does a great job of writing, had me laughing a couple times. Thanks to Mitzi, for providing pictures.

I continue to enjoy Mom's sharing her early years with us. I've learned many things over the course of her story. Also enjoyed Dad's contribution and the photos that went along with his story.

Betty is right, hoping others do answer Don and Patty's request for more "old time" stories. They are so interesting!

I'd like to thank Betty for her interesting comments; she does do such a great job of covering the highlights! Thanks, Betty!

I think I have just enough time before supper here to start this. It is so much more fun to write our thanks for The Bulletin as soon as possible after we read it.

The first picture is right out your back yard area, isn't it Jerrianne? You have taken several from different angles with that church and the mountains in their various stages and seasons.

I forgot all about DeLoris Anderson having a birthday, and of all things, the eightieth one ... 80, does that seem possible, DeLoris? I remember when you were a young lady working in a doctor's office, but that is all just pleasant memories now. You look very nice for being 80 years old. Such a colorful, nice dress, and a cake decorated in blue, which might just be your favorite color.

Looks like young-appearing family with you on the picture. Sounds like you had lots of well wishers and gifts.

I immediately thought I recognized Kaye Braaten, and yessiree, it WAS Kaye. I thought for a moment that Sarah Palin had been there, but I see it was Beth.

Thank you so much for sharing those pictures with us. We are always so glad when subscribers take time to update us with recent family pictures.

What a special cake for Alexa for her second birthday. You would hate to cut into that unless you each had a segment of that worm? How fun!

I was glad for the picture of the pheasant hunters, being Jeff Swenson was on there. He was here just before he left to go hunting, and had anticipated a success. By the picture, that was a lot of birds!

I was wondering how they could actually part with the "H" Farmall tractor, as it sounds like they replaced it after many, many years of service. The new equipment will be much more useful, I suppose, being it can handle the snow that is inevitable in North Dakota.

I was curious about the fact that Nathan had gotten an employee discount. Is that the same company Gwennie Bergh worked/works for?

I could see some Bobcat drivers anxious to grow up to reach the pedals in that family picture with it.

Stuffed mushrooms with Feta cheese. Now, I can just about taste those. They would be worth a try, as soon as I can get the ingredients.

Bitzidoodles never becomes exhausted for ideas and creative designs. I like to be able to "click here" and see all the newest ones.

Then Larry has his "click here," too, that takes you to an entirely different kind of site. The blaze orange ribbon would be a lifesaver, for sure, during hunting season.

Memory Lane stays very interesting. This time, with Don having a second round of service, hardly seemed fair. Especially, when he had been injured in the Navy. Wouldn't be very easy to have that upset to your living conditions after being so newly married. No way to do differently, though, when following Uncle Sam's directions.

We were so close by Fort Lewis in Washington that we could hear the practicing, etc. That was a long ways from North Dakota, but looks like Don was doing well at his post.

The combine driver story was quite a contrast to the other stories in The Bulletin this time. To think of that young boy driving that huge rig seems impossible, but only a sign post being a victim was remarkable. Six hours driving was a long long trip, wasn't it?

Copenhagen news kept us wondering and imagining and visualizing and almost tasting, as it was so well written. Thanks for the picture of the travelers wrapped in their robes and jackets and mittens on. Nice!

The Quotation for the day mentioned the garden of the mind's eye. That is the one we have to settle for, as we are beyond being gardeners now.

Thanks again for another one-of-a-kind Bulletin, #442, and I know Roy wants to be included in thanks, as he enjoys reading it as much as I do.

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.

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

"We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September"
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.
--Oliver Herford, I Heard a Bird Sing

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.

Home

About