Remember Joanna Juaregui ?? Of Course We Do!!

I just found this picture of Joanna and her American family.  I do not

remember when she came to see us years later but we welcomed her

and Carol & I saw her even after that in Europe I think.

At any rate, I wanted to memorialize this visit as I lose pictures.

I can remember my shirt - it was a favorite for years.

Joanna had a "Hawaiian Songs" shirt on... no doubt her favorite too.

My Second Airplane Solo in Vancouver: Evergreen Field

My first solo was while I was in the Air Force at Offutt AFB in the early 1970's.

I just found this picture and wanted to be sure that I preserved it in my blog.

Raining Hard This Morning - Water - and the mud - Coming From the Construction Site Up-the-Street

Dang, I spent 4-hours cleaning mud from the street 3-days ago.

Now its back from up-the-street construction sites.

Send a Postcard from Faulkton to Miranda: Yesterday's E-Mail

Back on October 13, 2011, for a one penney stamp, Fred Oleson sent 

Minnie House a postcard note telling her that he would see her that evening 

at the dance - barring rain or snow of course.  October seems early for

snow so I think that he was sort of joking.  Something like, "I will see

you at the dance tonight unless I get eaten by a polar bear."

Not sure when they were married - appears that they were dating in 1911.

Otho, Kevin and Maxine Eaton - Playing Outside in 1932

I used to insist that the girls wear shoes outside the house.  Apparently no one

worried much about that in 1932.  Amazing that the kids kept all their toes when

you think about them running through the fields and around the barnyards.

  

I like this picture because it clearly shows the "typical playing conditions" of the time...

Might be nice to let the "kids go out and get dusty" - kids don't do that much anymore.

A picture of Loyd while he was probably 4-5 years old  -  1929 - 1930.

What Loyd Remembers About His High School Car Antics

In his Junior Year of High School, Fred bought Loyd a 1926 Model T-Ford Coupe for several hundred dollars so that he had a way to get to school which was 6-miles away.  Before that he would get to school by catching a ride with someone that he knew was going there.  (Last resort, stand on the highway and eventually someone would stop and give you a lift in that direction.)  He remembers distinctly that he joined up with the other boys in high school that had cars to do the “Faulkton Hideout” on many Friday and Saturday nights.  Usually all the guys with cars would have a buddy or two with them and for entertainment they would cruise around trying to find car hiding spots.  The objective was to find a hide out, watch the other guys go by several times and then leave the hide out in front of them-laughing-all-the-way.  Loyd remembers that he would cruise the alleys of Faulkton and duck his car into an empty garage.  He says that he does not remember ever getting caught.  Sounds that they had good times back then.

A Picture of Loyd Oleson and his bass that was sent to Lou & Frederica by Minnie & Fred Oleson

The above picture of Loyd was sent to family members (brother/sister of Fred) with

the Caption:  "Baby Loyd playing with the Dakotans."  I always thought that was

a cute way of Loyd's mother bragging on her youngest son that in her mind has "made
it big time in the music business."   You would ascertain that this was a pretty

big deal, learning to play music by ear without lessons, starting on the

accordion at 6 or 7 and then learning piano, organ and bass.

A funny story about Loyd's introduction into his first dance band named

the Dakotans.  Loyd went to several of their engagements and always thought

that he would be a better piano player than the young lady that they had at

the time.  When he finally worked up the courage to introduce himself,  the band leader
introduced Loyd to the young piano player.  He said to Loyd, "I would like you to meet the
best piano player in South Dakota, my daughter Marie."   At that moment, Loyd
immediately determined that the young lady was actually a very good piano player
and said as much.  (Ever the polite, respectful man is my father.)  Before the conversation
was over, the band leader asked Loyd to take the band bass home and see if he could learn

to play it since they had a bass but no one to play it.  Loyd did learn to play that
bass and joined the band a month or two later.  He also played the piano for
the band whenever the daughter had a date.     Another great Loyd story!

Speaking of Frederica - it may be a coincidence but as Carol and I were taking the 

train from Germany to Copenhagen, we stopped at a train station by nearly

the same name.  I always wondered if Frederica was perhaps named after this

town.  Our family history is somewhat sketchy as to where they might have

come from but it is an interesting idea.  Something to check out!

Loyd Played Piano in the Harry Eisle Dance Band

From left to right per Loyd during our last conversation:

Bill Dorsey, Perry Stodard, Harry Eisle, Don Lauer, Orlin Swab, Loyd & Pete Arntz

Note that Pete had his own name on his music stand - he sometimes led the band

when Harry was busy - especially during the harvest season when Harry was

working his large farm (plus he was farming his Dad's farm too).

Tim, my brother and I, would sometimes go to Harry's farm during harvest. 

I can remember at least once driving a red truck from one end of the field to the

other while Harry was on the combine.  I can also remember getting getting a lecture

from Marian Gail (his wife) when Tim and I ate too much angel food cake

as she planned it to be for supper.  Harry had one daughter and her name

was Mary Diane.  She was older than me as I recall, maybe 8 years or so.

Harry had a beautifully maintained big red truck with a large box that he kept 

in his barn and would use during harvest.  That is the truck I remember driving.  

Loyd said that as Harry passed, he passed the red truck to a grandchild.

  

I always thought about buying one of Harry's horns after he passed until Loyd 

told me how much they were worth - apparently Harry never played a cheap instrument.

Those were good old days that Loyd fills me in on as we get together.

Nobody In This Family Ever Has Fun Getting Together...

Doug (foreground next to instructor Steve) Flying Torrey Pines - Dude (Steve) took this picture and I just found it.

Curly has come out of the closet. He is hanging out in Pop's hobby room. Doesn't talk much though. OK with me.

Carol was excited to see me as she took my picture at the airport in San Diego. But then I find out the real story...

Carol took out her phone at SAN baggage claim and carefully took my picture.

Only later did I realize that she was taking a picture of Darryl Worley.  He

flew on the same SWA flight from BNA that Carol did.

Appears that Darryl was performing on the USS Midway... cool...

$100 for Tickets to See Karl Dean and the Brothers Osborne: Getting Political in Tennessee!!

Brothers Osborne obviously support the Democrat 

Karl Dean for Governor!!  We do 2!

Working their guitars hard on this song!

Both are very talented pickers...

Double Shot of Vino - Headache This Morning!

As always, we are happy to be Double Shot Groupies and we drove a couple

of hours to watch the Winery Gig.  The music was great, the wine was good

and the company we keep at the show is always spectacular of course!!

Gary during "Green River" - one of the crowd favorites.

There is always one band member that is out-of-control.  Tonight it

was that guy that beats on the drums!  (He just woke up - he plays in

his sleep - and noticed a camera in his face!) 

Cristal Lalique France - Champaign Flutes

Our friends, during our visit, mentioned that they had some antique champaign flutes

from the 1920's (likely).  They were a gift from an elderly gentleman that they knew.

The heavy (original) box and wrapping is likely required because the glasses

were heavily purchased by Americans in Paris and transported back to 

America via steam ship ocean liner.  Many of these glasses likely went

down with the Titanic as it carried this fine Cristal as a part of its 

premium elite daily service.

Beautiful Sculpture - Ross Kimberling - 1987 - 9/30

Our friends shared a few collectibles with us.  One of them is a sculpture that

I have always admired whenever we visit.  It is a very heavy, large bronze

that they have incorporated into their last house remodel.  The piece was

given to them by a mother who received it from an uncle that collected art.

Not much known about the piece - I would like to do more research on it.

Super Senior Golf Tournament Results: How bout that!

Spiderboy! Papa's little friend...

Erica must have sent this picture.  It somehow made it from Carol's phone to

my computer.  Quintin appears to be pretty happy with the Spiderman back

pack and T-Shirt that Megan and Carol sent him.  This little guy has created

quite a stir among a two generation family of "all girls".  See you soon Boy!

Panama City Girls Weekend Out: Carol, Megan and Panama

Carol invited Megan and Panama to a weekend in Panama City, Florida where

I used to work at Berg Pipe occasionally.  From the pictures that they shared

with me, it looks like they had a great time.  I cannot remember what I did

while they were gone.... oh wait, I painted the laundry room!  

Schooners - the last beach bar - was our favorite margarita joint when

we frequented together.  If you order the large, you get your cocktail

in a large plastic souvenir mug - great for taking home when you feel like

just having "one drink".

Panama happened to show an interest in this large fish as the fishing 

boat docked.  One of the fisherman asked if she wanted to hold one - 

probably thinking that she would not - not sure what kind of fish.

Panama happened upon three of her softball teammates while in Panama City.

What a small world beginning at a young age!

Great Lunch at the Torrey Pines Lodge

Doug still struggling to get into the air - his ground handling paragliding skills suck!

It is however, despite the ground handling problems, a great place to hang out.  

Lebanon is hot and humid, Torrey is Coastal beautiful, cool and windy.

We took a bit of time out to cross the Torrey Pines Golf Course off the bucket list.

(Doug has a nice golf shirt to prove that we went and had a nice lunch there.)

You can see the North and South Course Tees from this angle - both go

toward the ocean.  Half of the golfers appear to be bucket listers, the

other half are locals that are out for their $40 weekly round.

Beautiful hotel lobby as you might expect for a $350/night lodge fee.