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Sunday, September 26, 2004
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Updates -
BIKING UPDATE
by Beaver & Donna
Sunday afternoon, Caity and I went bike riding on the new paved trail near our farm. We made the long, hard pedal uphill and against the wind to Melby, and an easy coasting trip back. All that pedaling made Caity hungry so we drove back to Melby in the pickup to get her some chicken strips.
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When we got back to the farm, I asked Jayce if he wanted to go on a bike trip. He has a brand-new, shiny red bike with 12-inch high tires and training wheels. After a lengthy process of selecting just the right helmet, we were off! When we arrived at the trail, Jayce said, "Grandpa, you ride your bike up and down the trail where I can see you while I sit on the pickup end gate and watch." I did that for a while, and then suggested that it was his turn. He looked me in the eye and said, "We should wait until I’m older." I eventually talked him into getting on the bike. He insisted on holding tightly to my shirt while I walked alongside, pushing him along the trail. The plan was to practice steering now and pedaling later. After some time we progressed to having Jayce steer with both hands while I kept a tight grip on the back of his shirt so he wouldn’t feel like he was tipping over. After about fifteen minutes, when he decided we should go home, he was hardly ever going off the trail! Grandpa Beaver |
Jayce is becoming quite the little gentleman..
His mom asked him to pick up a hanger for her the other day and he answered, "It would be my pleasure!"
Thursday his teacher stopped in to visit with him. She questioned him as to how he was enjoying school, so far. (He's in preschool again this year.) He seriously replied, "Very much so!"
I gave him something the other day and got, "Thank you, Ma'am!"
Keep up the good work, Jayce :-)
Grandma Donna
STUDENT PICTURES UPDATE
On Saturday afternoon of last week, when Marlene's family came for a visit, Kim had some copies of her senior pictures. She chose not to do them at a studio so she, Marlene, and her new camera took several hours, several different days, and came up with some very interesting, attractive pictures... I thought you might enjoy seeing a few of them....
Proud Grandma Anderson
Kim Johnson, senior photos, two views
Day to Day R
With Donna Mae
Ashby, MN
by Weston Johnson
Guest Columnist
Donna & Beaver Johnson at Mount Vernon
During our time in D.C., we didn't rent a car, forcing us to quickly become adept at using public transportation. This was especially true on Thursday afternoon, when we took a combination of trains and buses to reach Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington.
The home was
originally built in the early 1700s, with several additions built in the
later part of the century, but is still in amazingly good condition. Much
of the furniture and other items in the house were original, including
the bed in which Washington died, which is still in his original bedroom.
I thought the coolest room was the main dining room, which had bright
green walls with intricate molded white plaster designs on the walls and
ceiling. This room was where Washington hosted foreign dignitaries and
other guests. The tour guide explained that Washington was a very good
dancer, so after dinner, he often moved the furniture aside and rolled up
the rug, converting the room into a dance floor.
Many of the out buildings surrounding the main mansion, including the
summer kitchen and the horse stables, are furnished with original
equipment. Much of the work at the plantation was done by slaves, whose
quarters are also still present. Behind the house is a spectacular view
of the Potomac River.
Mount Vernon is far enough removed from the D.C. metro area that very little development has occurred in the area. The view from the back yard must still be very similar to the view enjoyed by Washington, himself.
On Friday morning, we were scheduled to take a tour of the White House at
8:30, so that morning we got up early and took the subway to the White
House, arriving about 15 minutes early. We were still able to enter right
away (after passing through security similar to airport security).
As we entered the White House, we began walking through a hallway divided down the middle by a velvet rope. As we walked in one side of the hall, a whole troop of tall, beautiful women walked by, each dressed to the nines. I commented to my dad that it looked like we just saw the Miss America pageant. Later, we were told by a secret service agent that the women actually were the Miss America contestants. Now I wished we'd gotten to the White House even earlier, because they were leaving just as we were arriving!
We were able to view the majority of the first floor of the White House,
the area that is open to the public. This consists mainly of rooms used
to hold ceremonies and entertain important guests. The President's living
quarters are on the second floor, while the Oval Office is located in
the West Wing, which is closed to the public.
Within each room were
secret service agents who doubled as tour guides, providing interesting
facts about the House and its furnishings, many of which date back to the
early presidents. One of them mentioned that the House was not completed
in time for Washington to live in it, but all of the presidents since
have lived there. So, counting our trip to Mount Vernon the previous day,
we had visited the homes of all 43 presidents in less than 24 hours -- an
amazing feat!
Beaver, Weston, Donna and Lori at The White House
Labels to save for Caity's class fund:
Box tops saying "Box Tops$ for education," Campbell Soup and all other Campbell related products, Kemps, Tyson, Simple Pleasures and Land O' Lakes. Any local shoppers can save Service Foods or Sunmart receipts. Pop tabs are also collected by the school.
December and May will be the times they collect them, so if you would continue to save for Caity during the year, she would appreciate the help.
Thanks to all who have already sent: Ruth Herness, Bridget Larson, and Eric & Leona Anderson. Caity was pretty amazed at your contributions!
Travelogue t
The Bolivian Beat
By Mitzi Swenson (Kjirsten's mom)
Kjirsten returned to Bolivia at the end of July, and in August her older brother, Shane, and his friend Jayna Lee from Santa Barbara, California, and Kjirsten's younger brother Derek, and I joined her for almost two weeks. We spent time with her Bolivian host family in Cochabamba, visited the village of Morochata where she's been volunteering, and traveled to La Paz, Copacabana, Lake Titicaca, Sucre, Tarambuco, Potosi and went to a huge Bolivian festival. I'm filling in for her until she resumes writing. Currently, she's off on a vaccinating adventure in some isolated villages with the hospital team.
La Paz Square, Night
We saw the most beautiful church in Bolivia, but it doesn't compare with many I've seen in other places. Later we toured a museum of history with lots of info about their independence, presidents, etc. Tomorrow we return to Cochabamba to fly to Miami on Friday. This has been an incredible trip and I have no fear traveling in a third world country now. We're pretty healthy, noses a bit stuffy in the morning, but most of the places we stay are damp, etc. Our tummies are a bit funny but OK most of the time. We're not losing weight or anything desirable along that line. Kjirsten has a nose for ice cream and hot chocolate cafes so we keep our caloric intake adequate. We walk miles most every day, too.
I've never seen so many varieties of beggars. There are no social programs for the aged, disabled, orphaned, homeless, etc. so even in a cafe they'll come asking for money or food. If we helped everyone we'd be broke in a day. This afternoon when I dozed on a park bench, they all made their rounds before affording us peace. The kids are sad; some want to shine our tennis shoes or Kjirsten's sandals. She figures if they have parents, they're abusive and probably the kids are orphans.
Alternatively, many kids are nicely dressed in their school uniforms, happily going to and from school when we see them. They are often playing together well with little to play with. I can't imagine why their uniforms often include a white coat with their primitive laundry situations.
The weather is improving, see you soon!
Mitzi
La Paz at night, left; street with our hotel, right.
More Bolivia Trip Photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/7swensons/1
LTD Storybrooke 
It's Thursday morning. I'm vaguely aware that the world outside our motel room has come alive. The drapes on the window are pulled tightly shut and Sherry's purple dress is hanging over the sliver of light where the drapes meet. It blocks any ray of sunshine that would have wakened us at an earlier hour.
The Interstate Highway is nearby. I can hear tires slapping the pavement and diesel trucks cruising by in overdrive. There are occasional hushed voices outside the window. A trunk lid slams. Car doors shut. An engine starts, and vehicles drive away.
I'm lying in bed and wondering what vista lies just beyond the closed drapes of room #12, here at the Hillsboro Inn, in Hillsboro, North Dakota.
Pulling the covers up under my chin, I think back to about 1976, waking up one day right out in the bright midday sun. I was lying atop the tender-car of a steam engine. I could hear automobiles rushing all around us. And I could hear Spanish speaking people walking by and talking excitedly.
My traveling buddy, Rodney, and I had arrived by passenger train at the Los Mochis, Mexico, train station sometime well after midnight last night. We were surprised that the station wasn't in the city. Many taxis were lined up out front offering us rides -- to where in Los Mochis we didn't know. Rodney and I decided we didn't want to spend any money on a taxi ride to "somewhere." So we declined the drivers' offers and walked out a side door to see if we could find a place to sleep.
Just the previous morning, we had been awakened in the wee hours by a policeman tapping on our heads with a stick. We had been sound asleep in a bus station in Chihuahua. So we weren't going to risk sleeping in the train station tonight, only to be disturbed by a policeman with a stick.
We wandered behind the train station in the dark, checking out various box cars and level spots for a place to sleep. We were concerned that a freight train might leave while we were asleep, with us in it. And we weren't sure about snakes or bugs if we slept on the ground. But around the other side of the station, a good distance from the box cars, we found this old steam engine that clearly hadn't gone anywhere in a long time. Along with its tender-car, it was sitting on a short piece of track.
There wasn't room in the engine cab to spread out our blankets, but on top of the tender-car was a nice flat surface about two feet wide. It ran around the top edge of the empty tender-car box. On the outside edge of this catwalk was a side board, just high enough to hide us from any policeman.
If we lay real flat.
We went to sleep on this narrow walkway listening to the mysterious sounds of the nearby jungle. The taxis were gone and all else was quiet.
Now, in the rising heat of this Mexican morning, I peeked over the side board. We were surrounded by parked cars, none of which had been there the night before! And many more cars and people were rushing to-and-fro from the train station. I lay back down quickly and looked over to where Rodney was sleeping, on the other side of the empty tender-car box.
"Psst...hey, Rodney!"
"What?"
"Look." I gestured over the side board.
He rose up on one shoulder and peered sleepily over the side board. Seeing we were in the middle of a busy parking lot, he quickly lay back down.
We lay flat as pancakes and discussed our predicament. We decided the only thing to do was to make a sudden exit. We threw our packs and blankets over the side, jumped off the tender-car, gathered up our belongings in our arms, and disappeared into the traffic. As quickly as two fair-skinned American boys could.
But today is Thursday, 2004, and this is no tender-car catwalk my wife and I are lying on. This is the Hillsboro Inn, the only motel between Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota. Sherry and I arrived here late last night, in the dark, and carried our carload of stuff into our reserved room.
I throw back the covers and crawl out of bed. Hanging Sherry's purple dress over a chair, I pull open the drapes.
My first observation is that there aren't any hills here in Hillsboro. Just a very wide and flat panorama. Across the motel parking lot, the landscape is interrupted by the back side of a Culligan Water Softener Building. A few empty plastic barrels, a crooked stack of pallets, and an overturned row boat. I assume the boat is for delivering water softeners when it rains. The land is so flat there's no place for water to run away from here.
I can imagine an early pioneer throwing off his covers, crawling to the tailgate of his covered wagon, and pulling open the canvas curtains. He sits in the wagon, stroking his beard, and looks out over this same vast, flat prairie. His eyes settle on a gopher, busy digging a burrow in the early morning sunlight. Pushing up hills of dirt.
A half hour passes before the pioneer hollers back over his shoulder to his wife, "Hey, ma?"
From under a blanket at the front of the wagon, his wife answers, "Yes, pa."
"Let's call it Hills Burrow."
"Right, pa," answers the weary pioneer woman. "Hillsboro, it is."
She then falls back to sleep. The first meeting of the Hillsboro City Council was adjourned without further debate.
This and That
6
by Elaine Wold
Sweet memories were recently recollected when we had a fun day of making cookies together. Our dear Aunt Lollie, the only one left of our mother's family, called DeLoris and me one day to see if we would like to help her bake cookies. Lollie has always enjoyed baking, but she's not so young anymore, so we thought we could have a day of baking cookies together.
Not only did we make over 600 sweet, tasty cookies, both regular and man sized ones, but we also had the most interesting afternoon, recalling memories of past years when our grandparents lived on that farm and we stayed with them when we were children. Grandma had a cookie jar in the pantry with her usual two kinds ... sugar cookies and molasses cookies. The recipe Lollie used is very tasty and I would like to share it with others.
Lollie's Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Mix together:
1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 beaten eggs
Dissolve 1 tsp. soda in 2 Tbsp. hot water and add it.
Then add:
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt,
3 cups oatmeal
1 pkg. chocolate chips.
Flour to stiffen (close to 2 cups)
Make a sample cookie to test for thickness; if spreads too much, add more flour; too much will make them dry. Bake at 360 degrees. I find 350 degrees a bit slow, and 375 degrees too hot; ovens can vary.
I like this poem too ... This poem is old ... many mothers today work out of the home ... but making a batch of cookies together during the weekend, or of an evening, can bring the satisfaction of having cookies, as well as making for family time together.
The Cookie Jar
~Author Unknown~
A house should have a cookie jar
for when it's half past three,
And children hurry home from school
as hungry as can be.
There's nothing quite so splendid
in filling children up,
as spicy fluffy ginger cakes
and sweet milk in a cup.
A house should have a mother
waiting with a hug,
no matter what a boy brings home,
a puppy or a bug.
For children only loiter when
the bell rings to dismiss,
if no one's home to greet them
with a cookie and a kiss.
Celebrations & Observances
From the Files of 5
Hetty Hooper
This Week's Birthdays:
September 28---Donald L. Anderson
September 30---Sheldon Swenson
Happy Birthday!
October Birthdays:
'
October 4---Wesley J. Sigman
October 5---Leona Anderson
October 5---Steve W. Miller
October 10---Cody Printz
October 10---Hannah Aydelotte (3 years old)
October 12---Muriel Rodriguez
October 12---Tami Hunt
October 14---Douglas Anderson-Jordet
October 18---Lori Anderson
October 18---Diana Martin
October 18---Dan Mellon
October 20---Wade Printz
October 22---Richard Johnson (Rich in MN)
October 24---Eric Shockey
October 26---Ardis Quick
October 27---Marlene Johnson
October 29---Samantha Jo Larson (10 years old)
October Anniversaries:
Z
October 4---Donnie and Patty Anderson (7 years)
October 17---Troy and Marlee Freesemann (10 years)
October 27---Don and Gert Pettit (14 years)
October Holidays & Observances
O
October 11---Columbus Day (Observed)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miss Hetty's Mailbox:
Thanks for the birthday wishes! (Rylie LOVED the card ... of course, I did, too!)
No pictures to share; we had a nice day, though. For lunch, I went to Mexican Village with some friends from work to get my free meal there. The luncheon fajita was enough for lunch AND dinner. Unfortunately, I'm a sucker for a free meal, and Jolene and Rylie took me to Paradiso for a second free Mexican meal for supper. The burrito was ALSO enough for lunch AND dinner. Now I'm home, and a little worried about the noises coming from my stomach.
We were guessing the baby would come on my birthday, but there's nothing
going on, so it looks like it will wait for another day!
Thanks again for the birthday card!
Wyatt
Miss Hetty Says
Students -- I just saw that the boss is showing off pictures of Kim. Now that is one good idea. Why don't the rest of the seniors in our audience sit right down and send me one of your pictures? I really think a little paragraph about yourself would fit in here nicely, too! Come on, don't be shy! I needed a photo this week and the boss let me run this one of Kim.
Kim Johnson, another view
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?
Everyone!
Miss Hetty
+ LETTERS TO THE EDITORS?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good job, everyone!
Elaine
It is Monday and I just finally got to The Bulletin. It was a wonderful read. That auntie of mine is a regular Roberta Frost! Her poem was very well written and full of stunning visual imagery. I hope we will see more poetry in The Bulletin.
Jerrianne's Concord Grape Pie sounds delicious and unique! I don't think it sounds a bit "down home" and would even fit well into The Chanticleer's lineup.
Sounds like Donna and crew are enjoying Washington, D.C., and learning a lot about war memorials and things.
I think Weston should pick on a reptile his own size, and I hope we see a story from Larry soon.
Thanks for another awesome issue!
Doug
A note to Heidi... I don't actually remember Grandma Dake wearing many pins, but if you talked to your Aunty Gert, I bet she could find a very pretty button from Grandma's button box that could be worn.
A request to All... I am trying to find any clippings, pictures, or memories of Grandpa Alonzo Mellon. I especially want to put together information on his political career and when he owned the store in Waverly. Thanks a bunch...
Ardis
I saw in The Bulletin that Heidi would like some brooch pins of Amy's. I have four here, and I wonder if she would want them. Some were Grandma Cleo's. Maybe they are not exactly what she wants, but I don't use or want them... What is her address -- so I can send them to her.
Elaine
Heidi's reply, forwarded to her Great Aunt Elaine:
I would be thrilled if I could have one or some (whatever Elaine feels like giving up) of Grandma Cleo's brooches/pins. My address is:
Heidi Johnson
110 Five Hills Drive
Tijeras, NM 87059
Heidi
I have been very busy lately at work ... and being away most of the time that I didn't have to work. Helped in my aunt's house with painting and new wallpaper; it's almost finished now and this week you'll get more information from the Netherlands.
Next week we start building up the Christmas show in the shop. Will be ready in 4-5 weeks.
Greetings from the Netherlands,
Ary
CHUCKLES
Sent to us by Elaine Wold
After many days of continuous clouds and rain, the sun finally appeared very brightly today. I just had to chuckle when I got this from Muriel just now...
Look! Look! Look at the sun! It is bright. It is yellow. Dick likes the sun. Jane likes the sun. Sally likes the sun. I like the sun, too.
We will have to watch so we don't get blinded or have sunstroke!
THE STAFF OF THE BULLETIN
&
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.