The "book" is off my shoulders for the time being. I have submitted the edited text and Nan and John helped me choose pictures from my albums, Nan did her magic with Photoshop, and now all have been electronically submitted, too. Now, it gets cobbled (Priscilla's word) into book form and I will get one more chance to check it out before HistoryLink publishes it.  I'm just along for the ride.  I haven't a clue...  The whole thing is so improbable to me...

    John, the wheelchair, and I had a great time on the past two Wednesdays.  This time, I bundled up more so I was cozy.  I got a little chilled last week.  He pushed me all the way over to West Beach.  I loved it.  I can see more fun ahead with it, like a visit to Woodland Park Zoo, or the Aquarium, or the Conservatory at Volunteer Park.
    I can walk about a block with the help of my wheeled walker, but more than that I cannot manage, so the chair opens up new vistas. 

    Mid March brings birthdays for Nancy, Hildy, and Dan.. all within a few days of each other.

Hildy

    Nan had told me her idea for the way to celebrate was to visit as many of the scenes of her childhood as possible… so that’s what they did. I have asked Nan to write a little about that day.

    John and I picked up my Mom, Carolyn, early and we drove to Spanaway, to Bethel Jr and Sr High Schools. The door happened to be open at the high school, so we went in and wandered the halls. It hasn't changed much in 32 years.
    Then we drove to Bonney Lake, to the site of the 80 acre Welsh Pony Ranch and lake that Mom and Dad (Carolyn and Dale Putnam) purchased just before I was born in 1959. They moved most of the old house and turned it into a bunkhouse. They left the old living room and big fireplace, and built a new house onto it. We had heard that the area was being developed, so I was ready for the house to be gone, but it was still standing, although surrounded by new mounds of earth and 3 new houses. The barn, bunkhouse, and outbuildings are gone. No one was home, but we peeked in the windows, and they've remodeled the inside, and covered my favorite part - the herringbone brick floor, with new tiles. The small woodstove is still there in the dining room, the one Dad used to make sourdough hotcakes by the dozens on the weekends.
     Then we wandered towards the lake, and John and I searched for the treehouse that Dad and Mom built shortly after we moved there. Sure enough, part of it was still there - perched up in a gigantic fir tree which must now be nearly 5 feet across at the bottom. The orchard by the lake is overgrown, but the fruit trees are still there, and no remnants remain of the original little stone house where the first residents of the property lived.
    After we left there, we drove to Bonney Lake Elementary, which is nearly identical to when I left, except the shrubs are tall with huge trunks, instead of short and round.
    We drove back home with Mom, and John made a fabulous fondue dinner for us, and my sister Deb, and Dorothea came, too. It was a very wonderful 50th birthday!!    

John at Ranch House

Remnants of tree house

Nan in the overgrown orchard with Rhodes Lake behind

Fabulous fondue dinner - Nancy, Carolyn, Debra & Dorothea

    I  thought you would get a kick out of this....  HistoryLink received a communication from a reader who asked how to get in touch with me as he had something he wanted to say to  me about my story about Doc Maynard that is up on the website.  They sent me his e-mail so I wrote to him. 
    My story mentions the time a young couple came to Doc, who was a Justice of the Peace,  asking to be married. It was obvious the girl was not 18.. but Doc was sure they were truly in love so he wrote 18 on a couple of pieces of paper and had her put them in her shoes so he could swear she was "over 18". They were duly married.
    The man who e-mailed me is the great-great grandson of that young couple.  They stayed married all the rest of their lives, something like 60 years.  Old Doc's instincts seemed to be right on.
    I was so pleased to get his note and learn the rest of the story..

March 15

    Seattle weather has been a real puzzle today.  There was a bit of snow on the ground early this morning, which was washed away by heavy rain before noon, when the sun came out.  That lasted about 15 minutes, just long enough for Dan and me to get over to Norse Home to see Vern.  As we got out of his car, the sky opened up and we got pretty wet walking the few steps to the entrance.  After the visit.... more sunshine, interrupted by rain.  Dan is  interested in all things "weather", so I learned this was some kind of cycle that comes around every few years and is the basis for the "March comes in like a lion..."  I am sure ready to see it "go out like a lamb". I feel like knitting sweaters for the daffodils that are brave enough to be blooming.

    Let me introduce you to Nan’s Mom, a good friend of mine. With her big dog, Lady, Carolyn lives in a house she built herself near Yelm.. a 3 story dwelling that seems to lean against a steep hill. It has solar panels in the roof and wood burning stoves on each level.  She finally had an electricity line brought in to run her computer, with which she is very competent. During the worst weather, she now can hook up an electric heater. She used to work for Xerox as a repair technician, and can fix just about anything if she puts her mind to it.
    Her view overlooks a big garden, where she grows almost everything she needs, to a small barn for milk goats (she makes goat cheese, too) and a chicken yard, a thriving orchard, and a few acres of woodlot.  One of her lady goats just gave birth to three little boy goats, so she gave two of them to a friend who keeps a herd of goats and a shepherd dog that he rents out to clear land where they don't want to use machines. That will relieve her of the chore of bottle feeding two of the babies, a chore the recipient was glad to take on.
    She is a very self sufficient lady and I admire her very much.

Carolyn and Lady

Cuddles and Patches

    St. Patrick’s Day was a joy.  I had thought John might come over on Wednesday and stay over, as he has been doing, so supplied myself with a piece of corned beef… planning to do a corned beef and cabbage dinner … It would be a day late, but that wouldn’t matter.  Then, they tell me he and Nan are planning to come on Tuesday, stay over, and bring the makings of a St. Paddy’s feast.  The upshot was, we pooled our provisions, had the joy of smelling corned beef simmering all day and sat down together to what has got to be the tastiest feast  in the world!  Tender, spicy corned beef with creamy horseradish sauce, and big wedges of  cabbage, carrots and potatoes cooked in the broth from the corned beef.  There were three happy, piggy smiles around my table…
    As a finishing touch, we watched the old classic starring Humphrey Bogart, “The Maltese Falcon”.  I enjoyed the film, even though I couldn’t figure out where the plot was going half the time.  I had the same trouble with it the first time I saw it so many years ago. (No, I didn’t expect the movie to change…. I just thought I might have grown smart enough to “get” it this time.  So much for that! )

    Just received the following from Grandson Russ, Dave’s oldest boy  He and Jana work for a company that helps make incorrigible kids take another look at their lives while taking care of themselves ‘way out in the wilderness… with leaders, of course. Russ and Jana provide some of that leadership.

Hi Grandma!

Just got out of the desert after a crazy week! Had a kid run from the program and make it all the way to Saint George. We caught up with him four days later

Other than that things are good. We are going to be in Flagstaff for three years or so while Jana gets her nursing degree at NAU. I'm working on getting some of my own outdoor courses started in conjunction with the company we work for - more on that later. Hope all is well back home - I'm always reading the dixie press keep  'em coming!

Love,
Russ

(Editor’s note:  I hear Flagstaff is a lovely place.  It was one of the places Vern and I always planned to "do" an Elderhostel, but never got to do it)

My response to Russ:

Thanks for your note.  Will it be okay for me to post it to Dixie Press  just as you sent it?  If not, please let me know.
I wish you could see what a softie your Dad has become over that cute kitty.  He brings her to see me when he comes and takes her over to see his Dad.  Vern would sure like her to sit on his lap, but she doesn't have time to do that. Too many new, strange things to investigate.  Dave and she play hide-and-seek when they are here..  He goes around the corner into my hall and then ducks back to peer around the corner and catch her in the act of stalking him... so he chases her until she hides under something from where she can jump out at him....To me, he looks about 12 years old and playing with our cat, Tiger.  What fun.

Pi'ilani

March 19 (from Ken and Kat in International Falls, Minnesota)

Hi Dorothea,
I think we've survived the long harsh winter, thanks to family and friends. A week ago Tuesday and Wednesday we got 4 inches of snow  then another 19 , then 26 below zero and a lot of wind. The neighborhood was very noisy and busy both days snow blowing. Ken and I both say we have never seen it that bad.
Since the snow storm and bitter cold it finally warmed up a bit, record warmth. Local lore has it that after the gulls get back we'll have 3 more snow storms. Well, the gulls got back last Sunday and the weatherman says snow for tomorrow. Kat saw a robin last Sunday also, it must have flown back with the gulls. Oh well it's a good sign of spring, we hope.
Kat thinks she'll only have patio plants this year due to her ankle. Afraid to be in the garden, with loose soil, it would be easy to twist that foot. She can't wait for snow to go so she can look for all her flowers. Hope they all made the winter.
Hoping all is well with you and yours, keep in touch.

Ken and Kat

Editor’s note: It amazes me… the strength and fortitude that keeps folks living in such harsh weather conditions.  They grumble… but, I’ll bet you couldn’t get them out of there with a block and tackle! 

From Nan, thanks to her Uncle Bob:

    A photographer for a national news magazine was assigned to get photos of a big forest fire. Smoke at the scene was too thick to get any good shots, so he frantically called his home office to hire a plane. "It will be waiting for you at the airport!" he was assured by his editor.
    As soon as he got to the small, rural airport, sure enough, a plane was warming up near the runway. He jumped in with his equipment and yelled, “‘Let's go! Let's go!” The pilot swung the plane into the wind and soon they were in the air. "Fly over the north side of the fire," said the photographer, "and make three or four low level passes." "Why?" asked the pilot. "Because I'm going to take pictures! I'm a photographer, and photographers take pictures!" said the photographer with great exasperation and impatience.
     After a long pause the pilot said, "You mean you're not my instructor?

                             *          *          *          *

    I have been honored again this year to be nominated for an award by AKCHO (Associated King County Historical Organizations).  It surprises me that my simple memory stories are historically important.

    Of course, everything and every day of this month is overshadowed by Vern’s rapidly deteriorating condition.  I am grateful for the constant support of our wonderful family.  God bless them. Always there when I need them.

Thought for today:
“Compassion for myself is the most powerful healer of them all.”
                                                       -Theodore Isaac Rubin

Dixie/Dorothea, Senior Editor

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