Dwight stopped by and said he's grandpa again! Eric and Melanie have a girl, born Wednesday evening. Her full name is Greta Veronica Shockey. She was born October 10th, weighed 6 lb. 13 oz. and was 19 in. long. There is a picture on Melanie's blog.

Dwight and Janie plan to go this weekend sometime to see them.

Editor's Note: We found a picture and more on Melanie's blog:

Update -- New Home Base For Rich & Marlene
by Dorothy Anderson
Alexandria, MN

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Photos © Kimberly Johnson
Discarded chairs make elegant recovery.

Update -- chips off the old block find treasure in trash
by Kimberly Johnson and Rachel Henderson
Fargo, ND

Update -- Brooklynn turns three
by Wyatt Johnson
Moorhead, MN

Photo © Wyatt Johnson
Brooklynn on one of the "rides" at Chuck E. Cheese.

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Photos © Betty Droel
A stunned songbird nestles in Roy Droel's hand.

Caity, Becky, Beaver and I made a trip to Wanamingo last weekend, to attend Caity's nephew's fifth birthday party. We all had a wonderful time!

I'm sorry that I am late this week but we have been at our mountain cabin since last Friday and I just now got to seeing the mystery picture. That looks like Leslie Benson and his wife (I think her name is Doris). Anyway, I had to send in my guess, even if it was late...

We went to the cabin on Friday (October 5th) and had some rain at about the 3,000 foot level. The temperature was 33 degrees and it started to snow. Only 12 miles yet to the house, but a climb of 2,500 feet and the snow continued. Glad for 4-wheel drive! Snow continued for almost five hours but the ground was dry and warm so it melted very fast ... only got about three inches deep but lasted on the trees until noon the next day. Took some pictures and if they are any good I will send some.

Tom Miller
Madera, CA

Photo © Birgit Swenson
Sherry, Sarah & Amy bottle-feeding orphan lambs.

As I returned my seat back and tray table to their upright and locked positions, Loretta Lynn's bawdy tale of a wild night in Portland was stuck on repeat in my head. I wouldn't say that the song is a favorite of mine, and I could probably think of a few definitions of love that don't involve alcoholic beverages or Northwestern metropolises. No, the imprint of this song on my brain was due to the fact that the Northwest jet on which I was seated was preparing to touch down at none other than the Portland International Airport.

I figured we must have been nearing Portland when Mount Hood became visible through my window on the left side of the plane. It was an odd sight to be at eye level with solid earth from a plane that was still flying high above the clouds. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the beauty of the mountain, whose snow-swept summit was framed by the crisp blue sky.

Soon, however, the plane descended into the clouds, which accomplished the Copperfieldian task of making an 11,000-foot mountain disappear. "Bye bye, blue sky," I thought to myself as the previously sunny morning was replaced by Portland's perpetually gray April skies, "see you in a few days!"

About two and a half days, to be exact. The plane touched down at 10:30 on Wednesday morning; I would be in the Portland area until Friday afternoon. My company had been hired by the City of Gresham, a large suburb immediately east of Portland, to perform a feasibility study for a youth sports park. In the past, I would have worked under a manager on this type of project, performing the day-to-day research while my superior handled all of the client interaction. However, this project marked my first opportunity to lead my own study, which necessitated my travel to the great Northwest.

The majority of my first afternoon in Gresham was spent meeting with representatives of the City's Parks and Recreation Department to kick off the project. Because this was my first project management experience, I was a bit nervous about meeting with the clients and attempting to convince them of my expertise in the field of youth sports complexes since, in reality, I had relatively little experience with this particular type of project. However, I was relieved to find that my contacts with the City were all friendly and seemed comfortable with my credentials.

Following the initial afternoon of meetings, I checked into my room in Gresham's Pony Soldier Inn, a Best Western hotel that was apparently named in honor of the cavalry soldiers of the region's pioneer days. The name "pony soldier" conjures somewhat less intimidation than that of the buffalo soldiers, but I suppose they were courageous and heroic all the same.

While the Pony Soldier Inn offered pleasant accommodations at a reasonable price, I didn't really want to spend all evening in its cozy confines. As luck would have it, the Twins were in Seattle that evening for a game with the Mariners, whose games are carried by the Fox Sports channel in Portland. I found a restaurant near the hotel and watched the game, enjoying a taste of home with my supper.

Thursday morning brought more meetings. I spent most of the day interviewing representatives of local youth sports organizations to learn about their needs and expectations related to the park. Each individual, whether speaking on behalf of soccer, softball, baseball or volleyball groups, expressed a dire need for additional fields and facilities at which to hold their practices and games. The tricky part would be separating those whose needs were legitimate from those whose wants were not really all that pressing.

After a long day of these meetings, I had a free evening on Thursday. When I have time to kill in a strange town, I always like to check out the local sports facilities, so I decided to make the drive to PGE Park in downtown Portland, where the Class AAA Portland Beavers would be squaring off against the Sacramento River Cats.

The game time temperature was in the low 50's, the kind of cold, early season evening that generally causes would-be fans to stay home and wait for the warmer evenings that are more suitable for the summertime sport. Tonight was no exception. The crowd was sparse, save for several hundred rowdy college-age kids, who I presume were there primarily to partake in the discounted beer prices offered on "Miller Lite Thursdays." Now, Loretta Lynn's voice returned to my head, but I imagined her singing from the perspective of these collegiate revelers:

"Well Portland, Oregon and Miller Lite
It ain't love, but that's alright."

Or maybe:

"Well Portland, Oregon and Miller Lite
It's cold out here but the price is right!"

These are the types of things I think about when I'm sitting at a baseball game by myself for three hours, especially a game at which only a few of the players' names are even vaguely familiar.

As the contest pressed toward the middle innings and darkness enveloped the areas not illuminated by the ballpark's flood lights, I began to wish I had worn something warmer than a polo shirt with a light windbreaker jacket. Despite the cold that had already caused my bones to begin to shiver, I decided then and there that I would stay for the entire game, just to prove that I could do it. Some people run marathons or climb mountains. I test my endurance by staying to the bitter end of baseball games, even when the initial warning signs of hypothermia are making their presence felt before the seventh inning stretch.

At one point, I was distracted from the cold when someone grabbed the baseball cap I had been wearing. I suspected that one of the aforementioned drunken college kids may have been the culprit, but when I turned around I found myself face to face with an anthropomorphic beaver. I had been pranked by the Beavers' mascot, who proceeded to return my hat to its rightful place (although backward) and slap me a high five.

It was only after he began to descend the steps in front of me in pursuit of more mischief that I noticed the name sewn onto the back of his oversized jersey: Boomer. Boomer? The fact that a team named the Beavers would name its mascot anything besides Beavis was incomprehensible to me. They are missing out on a comedy gold mine! (Again, these are the things I think about when I'm at a baseball game by myself).

Anyway, back to the game. As I said, I had decided to stick around for the whole game, so of course, it was tied entering the bottom of the ninth. As I debated whether sticking around for extra innings would result in the loss of any of my extremities to frostbite, the Beavers mounted a rally and plated the winning run, much to the delight of the 20 fans who remained in the stands.

I returned to the hotel room to thaw out and get some sleep, before returning to City Hall on Friday morning for more meetings. Soon, I was headed to the airport to catch my flight back home to Minneapolis. Five months later, I would make my triumphant return to Gresham.

To be continued...

This Week's Birthdays
October 14---Douglas Anderson
October 18---Lori Anderson
October 18---Adriana Stahlecker Brown
October 18---Dan Mellon
October 20---Wade Morgan Printz (8 years)
Happy Birthday!

This Week's Anniversaries
October 17---Troy and Marlee Morgan Freesemann (13 years)
Congratulations!

More October Birthdays
' 
October 1---Brooklynn Ann Johnson (3 years)
October 1---Carolyn Amy Horne (3 years)
October 4---Wesley Sigman
October 5---Leona Anderson
October 5---Steven Miller
October 7---Steven Anderson
October 10---Hannah Aydelotte (6 years)
October 10---Cody Printz
October 11---Jay Smith
October 12---Muriel Wold Rodriguez
October 12---Tami Anderson Hunt

October 22---Rich Johnson (from CA)
October 24---Eric Shockey
October 24---Ken Kitto
October 26---Ardis Sigman Quick
October 27---Marlene Anderson Johnson
October 28---Derrick McNeill
October 29---Sami Larson
October 29---Tom Miller
October 30---Anne Mellon Montford

More October Anniversaries
Z
October 1---Keith Mason and Lori Anderson (2 years)
October 4---Don and Patty Bratten Anderson (10 years)
October 5---Tom and Lou Miller (34 years)

October 27---Don and Gert Dake Pettit (17 years)

October Special Days
O
October 8---Columbus Day (observed)
October 31---Hallowe'en

Photo illustration © Virginia McCorkell; photo by Donna Johnson
McKenna Ostendorf hopes to play with Kira Steinhauer.

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

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Click here to review last week's Bulletin

Just enjoyed The Bulletin again and thanks so much to all of you who put so much time into it to make it so very interesting!

Mavis Morgan
Hope, ND

Dear Aunt Dorothy,

I haven't forgotten your request ... just haven't had a chance to write something for The Bulletin yet. I'm working now, and we've had a number of visitors (including Eric) the past few weeks, so couldn't seem to fit in other things. But I will get an update on our family activities done before long.

Carol Dake Printz
Sidney, NE