Photo © Donna M. Johnson
Tournament team: back, L to R: Jamie Olson, Shawn Ostendorf, Kelly Olson, Wyatt Johnson; front: Chris Chap, Todd Finkelson, Weston Johnson, Mark Johnson.

Busy Weekend in Ashby

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.)

Answers to last week's mystery pictures (click here to review them):

Visitors
by Larry Dake

When Checker and I came in after foot-bathing the fifty lame ewes, Sarah was fixing herself some noodles for a bedtime snack. Sherry had my supper waiting.

Checker had flopped down on his bed in the mud room, while I'd pulled off my muddy boots. A mud room it was! January had given us a little rain and snow, and a lot of freezing and thawing weather. Soon after the sun would come up, the ground would thaw, and there would be mud everywhere.

Two of our brother workers (our ministers) had been on their way out to see us that week, during their winter special meeting rounds. They got about five miles off the highway, on the county road we called our driveway. At that point the road became impassable from the mud. The borrowed sedan they were driving bogged down, and they could go no farther.

No doubt they felt very stranded! They were nine miles from our house and they hadn't seen any dwellings for many, many miles coming.

We didn't have phone service, so they hadn't been able to let us know ahead of time exactly when to expect them. Traffic on the highway was sparse, and on this county road where they were now stuck, several days might pass without anyone driving by. They could hardly walk, as there was nowhere within walking distance.

And they knew the winter nights were cold here in the high desert.

But, it wasn't long, and an attractive young cowgirl in a muddy, four-wheel drive pickup came speeding down the road toward them. Slowing slightly, she veered into the ditch and went on around their stranded car.

Then, swinging back onto the roadway, she stopped. No doubt she was curious to learn who these suit-and-tie strangers were. And what are they doing out in this desolate place, anyway?

The brother workers did a little explaining, and she offered them a ride on in to our house.

After the hair-raising, nine-mile ride, the workers landed on our doorstep with muddy shoes, socks, and trousers. The cowgirl, who was one of our ranch's employees, sped off to her home at the cattle feedlot. She and her husband lived about a mile farther in from the highway than we were.

Coming into our mud room, the workers pulled off their shoes and socks.

When I learned of our arrivals, and their predicament, I borrowed a tractor from the feedlot. With one of the workers riding in the John Deere with me, we drove the roughly ten miles back out to the car and pulled it out of the mud. In the process, the exhaust system became lodged in the mud and fell off.

We left the car on some high ground near the highway, with the muddy muffler, catalytic converter, and tail pipes all stowed in the trunk. With their suitcases in the tractor cab, we drove back home, arriving after dark. They laundered their clothes and cleaned their shoes. We had a good supper and a nice visit.

In the morning, after a Bible study, I brought them back out to their borrowed car. After saying our goodbyes, they roared off to town. We learned later that with help from some of our friends in town, they were able to replace the exhaust system, using the pieces in the trunk.

Greg Dake and Sonja Maness left Raleigh, North Carolina, for Shanghai, China, on January 6th and returned January 28th. It was a business trip for Greg and Sonja went along. They took extra time for sightseeing while they were there.

Pudong skyline at sunset, Shanghai, China.

Skinny Recipes  6
from Donald L. Anderson
Isanti, MN

Click here to review last week's Bulletin

Hi Everyone,

I have a question for Larry Dake: what is the incidence of black lambs? I drive by a flock of sheep and I see two darling black lambs were just born. Are they born to white ewes? I have heard that the shepherd uses one of them for each 100 sheep. Fact or fiction?

Rich Johnson
Long Lake, MN

I am dropping you a note to tell you that my Aunt Diana Martin has been hospitalized for the last couple days. She has had severe abdominal pain and the doctor suspects Crohn's disease. If surgery becomes necessary, she's hoping to put it off for a while.

The good news was that the doctor seems sure that she does not have cancer. She expects to be released by the end of the week and will be staying with one of her daughters in Minneapolis for a couple days. Her children and grandchildren are nearby, and are a huge comfort to her.

I spoke with her this evening (Tuesday) and she sounds in very good spirits. She's a dear lady and I hope your readers will include a small prayer for her.

Dan Mellon
Alta Loma, CA

Here is the photo I promised. That's the little stool Dad made (load tested up to 300 lbs.!). It is set next to the table I made for Patty in our newly designated dinette area. The two little kitchen chairs we picked up at an antique shop in Wisconsin, on our way down to Zach's Navy graduation.

The table is made out of an old round dinner table we had. I took it apart and cut it down to fit our small space. Then I built the top and drop leaves out of some of the 100-year-old barn boards we had left over from our flooring project. So you see, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Donnie Anderson
Isanti, MN

Donnie's & Patty's new dinette furnishings

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

Finally, the long awaited for Bulletin arrived, right on time, and I could not wait to read it. I knew it would be another "good" one, and it was. It is so strange how we can't seem to get The Bulletin fast enough when Saturday actually arrives. It seems to have a certain schedule, though, and that is very good. Very dependable, very predictable! We like that.

I knew the first picture was not Bitzi's this time. No pink and purple -- it seems that first picture sets the tone for the whole issue. This time it was an imported one, clear from the Netherlands. Now what Bulletin but ours would ever have that honor? It looked like someone was having a great time. I recognized some musical instruments, and some characters that are sure to thrill young and old, waving from the float. Very pitched roofs in the background. Maybe to shed the snow. Thanks for that, Frans. We loved all the pictures you sent to go along with your story. It looked cold, but that didn't stop the fun.

Then there was that unforgettable recount of the birthday for the aged subscriber -- 76 means it's all downhill from here. My dear mother made it to 100, but it's for sure I won't! Thank you so very much for all the attention you gave to the birthday celebration, and all the space to include the pictures. I really value that, and it is a keepsake copy, for sure. Just today, I had to toss the tulips that Krista had given me.

Heidi, we are waiting for those pictures you promised us of your skiing trip to Durango. Hope you found enough snow to make it worth the trip, and that you did get to Angel Fire.

Now that's the kind of friends to have. Sneaky ones like Myrna, who picked up the tab. Looks like it would have been a huge one for that table full of happy people. That little Emma was so cute, sleeping on her daddy's shoulder.

I noticed when Roy read The Bulletin that he paged through like he was skimming it, practically, but when he got to the LTD Storybrooke's "Home Alone" story, he said, "Oh, here it is," and read it slowly, word for word. He just looks forward to that each week, and we both miss it when Larry is too busy or too tired or too uninspired or too occupied to take time to write one. I must say that I couldn't picture Larry being as aggressive with the sheep as he said he was, but then I know I would have just walked off for good long ago, so we have to give him a lot of credit to be a "stayer."

I really enjoyed the "Life On The Farm," by Edward Miller. I read it with great interest, and it would have meant a lot of research to locate all that information for us. It was sad to think of the smaller mills being replaced, but that is this way of life, isn't it? It was especially interesting, being it was about relation to some dear friends I know.

The Travelogue held our attention this week, too -- you'd think we would be familiar with it all by this time, but it just keeps getting more and more exciting, as Greg and Sonja face the unfamiliar so square and brave, even to strange areas and even stranger foods. We also check out the links, which make it even more realistic.

The fierce Bengal cat would have been glad to take on the troll, so Doug, don't you worry, you won't have to tackle that old fellow all by yourself. You have friends, and we hope we are two of them. Don and Dorothy's family have become our family.

I could not even believe that I forgot Jerrianne's birthday. Imagine! The photo editor, and we totally let her birthday slip right by. I am so ashamed and sorry. BUT, that ain't all ... I still have to remember Don's, I think, or did I send you a card, Don? I am hopelessly forgetful. That comes with age, and I am getting old and older.

I was thrilled to see Tom Miller (MN) wrote something. He is such an extremely busy man that even that much was quite an accomplishment for him to send out. I think I told you before that when he fell down on the frozen driveway on his way to school one day he gashed his knee, and that I helped rush him to emergency to stop the bleeding. I was already in my 30's, but now it hardly seems there is that much difference in our age.

Doesn't sound like Diana has gotten her home sold yet, from the sound of her LTTE.

Well, I have hardly stopped spinning since seeing Jack Adair writing a letter in The Bulletin. He (as Larry, too) are so quiet appearing to us, that I couldn't believe he actually wrote that. I thought I was acquainted with him, and with Ginny, but I learned something from his letter, and that is, he goes by Captain Jack Adair. I would so love to hear him play his guitar and sing, but we never get to. It is so beautiful, and he writes songs, too ... hope he does elaborate more in future issues.

I am prone to skin cancer on my nose, too, and am just paranoid about being out in the sun unprotected. So, it was very informative to read of the skin graft in Texas.

I knew Grandpa Ernie Dake when he was just a little older than Carrie Horne is now.

We need an update from Miss Kitty pretty soon. Mostly about the new fridge that moved into the Lowther home ... refrigerators in Alaska -- a winning story.

This is going to have to be edited and a lot deleted, I'm afraid, to ever fit into the LTTE section of The Bulletin. Thank you again for letting us be subscribers, and for all you do to keep us coming back for more. We appreciate all your hours of work and dedication to never let it get ho hum or hum drum or ordinary.

Betty Droel

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.