Friday, October 30, 2009

halloween pirates

dond and char

new paintings by ellen, for old fashioned bazaar nov. 21

10 x 10 watercolor of blueberries
on watercolor canvass
no frame or glass needed
swedetown ski trail
16 x 20 watercolor
marquette lighthouse
16 x 20 watercolor
kids jumping on the trampoline
14 x 18 watercolor, framed

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Monday, October 26, 2009

Pumpkins

The pumpkins were a bit frozen the first time we tried so we waited several days for them to thaw. Notice the snow in the background.

trapping experience, late 40"s

when i was a young boy we owned the farm where nathan ruonavaara lives on m26 going down to lake linden. i trapped weasel on the farm. would ski down the c&h railroad grade about two miles to the farm property. my favorite sets were in old pine stumps, huge ones, some 6 foot across and rotted out in the middle. just had to set the trap (medal #0) in the hollow, add a chicken head or some other meat kind of bait, maybe a squirrel, chippy or...., and then cover the hollow with branches and leaves to prevent the next snowfall from covering the trap. up to this time i had never seen a live weasel, only dead ones in my traps. but on this one occasion i looked at this set, removed the branches, peered in and there was a live weasel caught by the tail. when i tried to club it with a stick it was too fast and kept missing. finally the weasel broke loose and i got left with a tail. i saved the tail and reset the trap. the next day i caught the same weasel. when i skinned the weasel i sewed the tail back on and was able to sell the pelt as a regular pelt. weasel usually brought about two dollars. you shipped your furs to a fur company, waited for a bid, and if you accepted, they sent a check. if you didn't like the bid they sent the furs back and you tried another company.

25 Uses For Storage Buildings


8 x 12 Building
purchase this one today $1500.00
doors going on this weekend
roger helminen or carl torola
337-2784 or 337-0144



Do you think that storage buildings are just for storing old couches, tables and mattresses? Well, think again. There are a plethora of other uses for storage buildings whether they are the solid, stationary ones, or the portable kind that can be transported across the country.

1. Store your old vinyl record collection. Keep Jimi, Janis and the rest of your 60s favorites safe and snug in a climate controlled facility.

2. Store all of your personal belongings and set off on a once in a lifetime backpacking excursion spanning two continents.

3. Pack away all of your obsolete electronics so that one day you can make a giant art deco sculpture out of them.

4. Use the space as a workshop where you create amazing giant sculptures made out of old electronics.

5. Temporary housing if you get caught up in an argument with your wife and lose, which you will.

6. Woodworking shop and tool keeping.

7. Build a robot.

8. Store your children’s toys. You know, the ones that they cried over for weeks and when they finally got them never once played with them?

9. Second garage for all of Dads playthings. You know, the ones that he cried over for weeks and once he got them never once played with them?

10. Sleeping quarters for the mother-in-law.

11. Sleeping quarters for the brother-in-law.

12. Store your parents collection of salt and pepper shakers from every place that they have ever been.

13 Store your swimming pool noodles, your floaties, your blow up islands, your rafts and your paddling flotation devices during the cold winter months.

14. Store your snow chains, snow tires, salt spreader, snow shovels, bags of gloves, thermal socks and snow suits in the hot summer months.

15. Now that you have finally admitted that you are not going to be a rock star, but you can not bring yourself to sell your equipment, go ahead and pack up your guitars, your amplifiers, your mixing board, your pedals, your mic, your drum set and all of the cables and wires that go with them and store them away until your son or daughter wants to be a rock star. They will be just like new!

16. Remember that giant stuffed gorilla that you won your son at the amusement park? Oh yeah.

17. It is a perfect place to put that pesky home gym that you keep tripping over on your way to the kitchen every morning.

18. It is an extra closet for your wifes crazy and uncontrollable purse addiction.

19. Maybe storage buildings are where all of the unmatched socks are.

20. Store the gold velvet couch here until your wife finally relents and lets you put it in the basement.

21. Use it as a meditation room and find your true purpose by looking within.

22. Store all of the kitchen gadgets you saw on TV that you absolutely had to have, such as the pancake pastry maker, the knives that cut through solid gold, and the one minute radioactive meat cooker.

23 Put away that creepy garden gnome collection, for crying out loud.

24. Books? Who needs books in there house when you have the Internet? Store those books and make room for a big screen plasma TV!

25. And of course, storage buildings are the perfect place to store your old baby items because inevitably someone, sometime, will appreciate that odorless diaper pail.

Ok, ok. Maybe some of these uses are silly and meant to be taken with tongue planted firmly in cheek, but you get the idea. Storage buildings are versatile and functional, affordable and easily accessible. Use storage buildings ! It will make your life easier

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

potato picking in the late 40's

we had a farm, (40 acres) about one mile out of lake linden on the bootjack road. it was close to judnich home place. just before judnich is a gravel road going north. we were two forties up that road. we purchased from parsiala who lived another 40 north. the road dead ended so the two of us were the only ones on the road. we raised a few acres of spuds and made hay on the 40. it had an old farm house but no barn because the barn burned shortly before we purchased. rumors had it that greek lightning took care of the barn. one day when we were harvesting spuds leo or bob drove the jukkari (truck made into a tractor) and dad maned the hiller to open a couple of rows of spuds which we promptly picked. but we had time to pick more if more rows were opened but leo or bob had to leave so we were left without a driver. dad tried me but my feet wouldn't reach the clutch or gas petal so dad tried myja. we knew that would be a disaster but dad tried anyway. dad gave myja a crash course on driving and so this is what happen in actual practice. she left out the clutch with a jerk and jammed the gas to the floor and proceeded to go diagonally across the field uprooting spuds from here and there until finally dad raced ahead and took control. it didn't work too well but it was a good try. we got to go home early for lack of a driver.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Dassel Grandparents day

George Kivisto and one of his granddaughters

Friday, October 9, 2009

at bob and joanne heltunens

sedars, koskis,isaacsons

Thursday, October 8, 2009

nicnames recalled by prune

Memorable Nicknames


The Old Gang

Ken “Lily Lully” Ollila Slim Ala responsible for this one

Walter “Slim” Ala Was actually slim as a kid

Bob “Hobby” Johnson A fast potato picker: my cousin

Daniel “Shadow Johnson Ate 28 pancakes prepared by Irene Lasanen, one sitting

Roy “Cow” Mukka CHS Ass’y: David Oja from Mohawk asked him “What do you say, Cow? “Moo” he said

Gordy “Jukka” Mukka Not really a nickname, middle name must have been “Jack”

Ken “Nipple” Holland May have taken him a long time to wean

Marianne “Squirt” nee Sturos Goes way back

Peterson

Jim “ Jebba” Peterson At least for a short time, heard Pete refer to him as this once

George “Buddha” Peterson More permanent

Helen “Lana” Torola Permanent

Bob “Bubba” Torola A tough but kind man

Allen/Ullen “Stinky” Torola Best forgotten, but truly a classic

Dave “Diggy” Jokela Smart mathematician

Lyman “Button” Oja Grandma must have thought he was cute

Fred “Joffee” Juopperi I’m responsible. Called him “Choppy Molace” after a character in a children’s story while playing street hockey under the street light @ corner of Iroquois & 7th in winter of ‘46/47. Johnny Aalto heard it as “Joffee” and it stuck.

John Paul “Dumpa” Kastelic “Who’s coming at Christmas?” “Tan-ta-ta is coming,” he said when he was about two years old

Gerry “Moonabuck” Murtonen A good one

Eldred “Junior” Mugford After more than 70 yrs, still holding down the fort @ Iroquois St.

Lawrence “Honey” Hamm A big kid, could really clobber a soft ball. Broke my bat one time, fixed it with nails and electrical tape. Broke again with 1st swing


Others from Around Town/Florida Location

Bob “Agates” Makolin

Roy “Oozie” Makolin

Don “Donuts” Laurie

Jack “Sprat” Solmonson Somewhat hackneyed but good enough

Delmar “Yummo” Phelps

Ken “Prune” Luke Thanks to me. Head shaped more like a prune than my own, natural color to boot

Gary “Porky” Brusso

Les “Lungy” Randell

Paul “Pallo” Randell

Kenny “Beggar” Ruonavaara

William “Pikku” Karien

? Snooky Korvonen Unafraid of heights


Rambaultown/Swedetown/Miscellaneous

Paul “Kirby” Frantti Steady as a rock

Jim “Jimbo” Kargela Same class ’53 in high school as Pete, Lana, Ellen and I

George “Yuffo” Kargela Jimbo’s younger brother

Gene “Puggie” Baroni Referred to by Elmer Harmala as “The flying Tackler”. We skunked Rambaultown in sandlot football with Ullen calling the plays (Can still see that front tooth peg with round knob at end, tooth missing.) Puggie made up for it on the Copper Kings

Edwin “Hybo” Harmala Youngest of six, “E’s, 3 girls and three boys in that order

Norman “Bubbles Niemi A good guy, good natured and tough. His looks belied it.

? “Aahpoo” Niemi Bubbles’ older brother

? “Yawgo” Staricha

? “Submariner” Suppelsa A kid from Detroit in our Miss Inch 4th grade, Chas. Briggs. He had a pointed chin, making him look just like “The Submariner” in the comic book, at least according to Pete and myself

James “Cuba” Crevola In Pete and my Art Nobles (I’ll box your ears off if I catch you running down the hall again) ’49 ancient history class. Pete called him this once to me; probably the one and only one time referred to as “Cuba”

Comments

“Uusii”, “Heikki”, “Kalla”, “Ikky”,etc., are too generic to even mention. But some guys are unique in that they were for the most part only recognized by their nicknames. The bicycle-riding “Hollywood” is one such example. Another is “Heinie” the German who you’d see wearing an old army uniform. You never knew if he had a load in his pants when he got on the bus. All you could do was stand back.



AGAIN, FOR THE STORY AND PICS OF BAYCLIFF HEALTH CAMP, KEEP CLICKING AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND YOU WILL FIND THE "REST OF THE STORY"
Tim, Christy and Karen singing the farewell song....we ladies were trying not to cry, but we couldn't help it. It was a great week, nice people, and was invaluable for learning to cope with post-polio syndrome. THANK YOU BAYCLIFF!!
three of our cooks and our two waiters, levi and adrian. our staff sang them the cook song...called The Cookie Song....cute! Good meals there...burp.
levi from bumbletown (one of our waiters) inspecting plum trees in the orchard where we had our friday picnic lunch
bruce, diane, carl, cliff, george and pat
yoga for post-polio people, pete was especially pumped with this class and feels that it will help him a lot. this is the instructor on the left, karen and merlyn street on the right...from chelsea, MI. both of them have had polio
more bay cliff pics....pete, joe, joanne, ellen on a walk

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Here are a few pictures from our Mountain Climbing expedition to Colorado this summer.
The first one is "Resting after a day of Climbing in Colorado"
Dave and Pat Pieti, Laura, Shannon, Brandon, Melissa, and Donny Pennala
The second is a picture of two of the mountains we climbed, Hallet on the left and Flattop on the right.
The third is Myself and son Brandon trying to figure out some directions.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

snow shoveling contract

cold weather coming in fast in the cc it came to mind how i earned some spending money in the late 40's doing snowshoveling jobs. my 8th grade teacher miss hogan put her car away in a rented garage for the winter months like so many people did at that time. lots of garages were close to the alley which made the driveway very long, about 100 ft or so. when spring came people shoveled what snow remained after a long winter. hogie's car was garaged on tamarack and she lived on seventh with her batchelor bro. i knocked on her door one spring evening and asked her if she wanted her car shoveled out. she did and we agreed on a price of 5 dollars. the driveway had about a foot of snow and was about 100 ft long. when i started the job i soon had about 5 neighbor boys, jim richards, roy mukka, fred juopperi, lily lali ollila and peter herd noticing what i was up to. they all wanted a part of the action so i hired them for 50 cents a piece. it took two nites to complete the job. when we finished we went to hogies and she was surprised that i had done the job so quickly but when she saw all the boys with me she was going to give each of us 1 dollar. i said that was not the contract agreed upon. i said i will have the 5 agreed upon. she gave me a 5'er. i asked if she didn't have some ones and 50 cent pieces. she gave me 2 ones and the rest in change. i gave each of the boys 50 cents and pocketed the rest. she didn't like that but i paid the boys as promised and we were all happy.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Friday, October 2, 2009

20 x 24 watercolor, "Pansy Bouquet"
brand new painting by Ellen

noah, erving and iidaliisa haataja, roger and trudys

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Dr. Fred (Maynard, from Marquette) leading one of the many health and help sessions. Pete is in back, on the left.
Diane, Sandy and I learning how to tie-die silk scarves....very simple and fun. We did a lot of fun things, nature walks discovering flowers and mushrooms and birds, fishing, art class, swimming, games at the fireplace, etc.
Yum, good s'mores, says Carl from Burton, Mich.
The other pontoon load started off, but discovered that the rope was stuck in the motor's blades; so Christy, our camp head ,to the rescue, clothes and all!
We went for a pontoon cruise on Lake Independence; half the crew went while the rest stayed on shore making s'mores at the bon fire. Joanne and Joe Mills are with us..from Illinois. We "hung out" together. Joanne and I took walks in the mornings while the men were attending health sessions.
Pete and I by the "frog pond"...on the shore, below the cliff where the camp is. Beautiful site, and on the nature walks, different kinds of flowers and mushrooms were discovered.
Here is Karl, Pete and Richard to relate their fishing story of the day...they said a little "too much", so we very skeptical of their story. We did fid out that Pete did catch a fish....they went the next day. too. They fished from Bay Cliff's pontoon, easy access for those in scooters.
Here we are, with our beautiful scarves. Dr. Fred's wife Kathy and her friends orchestrated the tie-dying session. ( I forgot to add rock painting to one of our fun sessions. A nice couple from L'Anse came to volunteer the painting and brought lots of rocks.)
Sue ironing her beautiful tie-died scarf