Anamoose, ND

Last Saturday this story was read at my aunt, Doris Smith’s, 100th birthday celebration.  It is humorous, but true, so hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

George Carlin’s Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to Get old is when we’re kids? 

If you’re less than 10 years old, you’re so excited about aging that you think in fractions.  “How old are you?”  “I’m four and a half, going on five”! You’re never thirty-six and half. You’re four and a half, going on five.   That’s the key

You get into your teens,now they can’t hold you back.  You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.  “How old are you?”  “I’m gonna be 16!”  You could be 13, but hey, you’re gonna be 16!  And then the greatest day of your life..you Become 21.  Even the words sound like a ceremony..YOU BECOME 21.  YESSS! 

But then you turn 30.  Ooooohh, what happened there?  Makes you sound like bad milk!  He TURNED; we had to throw him out.  There’s no fun now.  You’re just a sour-dumpling.  What’s wrong?  What’s changed?  You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you’re Pushing 40.  Whoa! Put on the brakes, it’s all slipping away.  Before you know it you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone. 

But wait!!!! You MAKE it to 60.  You didn’t think you would.  So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.  You’ve built up so much speed that you HIT 70!

After that it’s a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime.  And it doesn’t end there.  Into the 90s, you start going backwards, “I was just 92″. 

Then a strange thing happens.  If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again.  “I’m 100 and a half!”  May all of you make it to a health 100 and a half!

I can hardly keep up with all the changes in Anamoose.  Yesterday Frieda Ehrman’s house was sold to a man from Wisconsin.  

Tottie Ziebarth’s house has been sold to Joe & Cheryl Linardon from California. They are here this week working on the house. 

Missy, Rick Lucas, & 2 children-Gavin & Katie-bought the Bertha Kuckich house & are busy painting, working on the yard, etc.  Gavin is showing the empty space where he just lost a tooth. 

Mr & Mrs William Wellstad from Arizona were here this past week or so working on their home, the former Ruth Helm house. 

Katie & Zach Fitzgerald & their 2 children-Cullen & Kaydence-have purchased the former Edgar Rath house & are just moving in.  Katie says everything is in boxes yet. 

I took this picture of Barb & Tony’s house a couple weeks ago when they added on a triple garage.  Ryan Bruner is carrying supplies from Heringer Lumber Yard which is conveniently located only 1/2 block away.

This past week the Catholic Church & rectory were re-roofed.  That is only 1 block from the lumber yard. 

Six ladies in Anamoose took plain T-shirts and transformed them into fashionable tops under the leadership of Janice Buchholz, today.  The July craft was a make-over of something we already had in our closets and now we have a new looking top. The participants were: Marlene Whitaker (displaying a top for her lucky granddaughter), Kathy Rademacher,Lois Rott, Mardelle Helm, Alyce Heer, and Janice Buchholz (leader).  The August Craft Class will have us making felt wall hangings - check the posters or call Mardi to register.  The classes are open to everyone - come join us!

The final touch to the new Anamoose Fire-hall was the adding of the sign last week by Midwest Graphics of Martin.  The Fire-hall is a 70×70 building located on the northwest end of Main St.  It includes a kitchen, truck bay, & meeting room. 

The equipment consists of:  2003 Freight-line pumper, 79 Chevy 4×4 Brush Truck, 88Chevy panel truck, & a 66 International tanker. 

The officers are:  Fire Chief-Jeff Lemer, Assistant Chief-Mike Rudnick, & Secretary/Treasurer-David Gienger.  There are 30 members on the roster, & 3 honorary members. 

The July 15, 2008, McHenry County Homemakers Tour was planned by the Ideal Homemakers Club of Anamoose and 27 participants enjoyed the many points of interest after coffee, juice and homemade muffins at our new fire hall. 

      The first stop was at the Otto Geigle Farm, formerly know as Moorhead Farm #2.  Otto moved to the farm in 1973.  The huge milking barn and the rock walls were very impressive as was the history that Otto shared with us.

    Our second stop was at Pete’s Tractor Salvage where everyone took a great interest in “Pete’s Toy Shed”.  Everyone knows he has the part your looking for and he sends them all over the world!!!  We didn’t get to see Pete as he was fishing but his daughter took good care of us.

    The Premium Gold Flax Processing Plant was our next stop out at the farm of Randy and Debbie Miller.  A gift of “DashO’Flax” (pre-ground Golden Flax Seed) was given as token of appreciation for coming to their fine business as well as fresh lemonade & cookies made with their products.  They were delicious.  Many of us made onsite purchases and we heard about the many benefits of flax in our diets from Debbie.  We were able to see the many processing machines and how they get everything together before shipment to many countries and states.  They plan to have Flax Cookies for sale sometime in October - we can’t wait for them to come out!!!

From there we returned to the Anamoose Bakery/Cafe for a delicious buffet dinner made by Connie Rudnick and her staff.  Everyone left there feeling VERY satisfied and full - it was an excellent meal!!   

                           Then it was back to the Anamoose School bus driven by our very experienced driver - Lisa Ponzer. 

    Our first afternoon stop was at the Lonetree Wildlife Management Area Office, where Scott Peterson gave us an overview what they are all about and what they do to preserve the wildlife and vegetation in the area.

The “After Thoughts Gallery”, where Dora Heil paints and shows her remarkable artistry in a “1923″ church was our first stop in Harvey.  Many purchases were made by the tour group.   

    From there we went to the Dakota Prairie Organic Flour Co.  The expansion project going on right now is remarkable as they acquire many more customers from all over the world.  We were given a fine tour and explanation of the whole process from the grains down to the shipping of the finished product of flour.  We all felt really cute in those capes we had to wear!

The Tour Group then proceeded to Rue 54 for some wine and chocolate tasting as well as shopping.  Sorry no pictures taken as the photographer was to busy tasting and forgot! 

We also shopped the Que’ Sers’ and “Sew Wild and Woody” while in Harvey.  The bus then returned to Anamoose with some tired passengers as that was really a FULL and FUN day of activities.  Everyone received a package of homemade egg noodles from the Anamoose Farmers market and made by Alma Rau.  Many door prizes were given out throughout the day and we heard allot of interesting answers to Phyllis Zimmerman’s ND Trivia questions. 

 Thanks goes out to the planning committee it was a great tour! 

We had our final Horizon’s celebration today at Bismarck.  All 21 communities got to “toot their horns” and tell what they had  done, either by a presentation, a display, or both.  I gave a power point presentation for Anamoose, & we had a display.  Janice Buchholz put together a scrapbook of our 18 month program, ending with our wedding of Joe & Ana Moose.  Rutland told that they have their first woman on their city board, just like here, Bonnie Dockter just started Monday on the board.  Wallhala told that “Horizons for Walhalla was like a pep rally”.  They have a Pumpkin Fest every year & had a 792 lb pumpkin.  One seed can cost up to $60-unbelievable! 

We received a large impressive plaque with a picture of our Joe & Ana Moose Welcome sign on it.  We also received our final $8500 that we will put in our Anamoose Area Community Fund.  Pictured with the plaque are:  LaDonna Goodwin, Janice Buchholz, Dr. Coston, NDSU; myself (Alyce Heer), Phyllis Zimmerman, Pam Heim, Shriley Nitz & Mardell Helm.  Back row:  Bill Goodwin, Kevin Dvorak, ND Community Foundation; Dennis Zimmerman, Tana Walker, _____, and Gov. Hoeven. 

We live to ripe old ages in our Anamoose area.  Saturday I attended Wes Michelson’s 80th birthday party.  Then yesterday I went to Andrew Striefel’s 106th birthday party, and Pauline Cartwright’s 100th birthday celebration.  They are both in the Harvey Nursing Home, but are from Anamoose.  Andrew is the second oldest person in ND, with the oldest being 107.  Pauline sports some birthday glasses & seemed to enjoy having her picture taken. 

We had our 8th annual Moose on the Loose July Fun Run/Walk.  There were about 45 participants. Winner of the 5K Run was Tyler Shaver from Chicago at a time of 20:45.  He said he came to Anamoose because he heard about our moose wedding in the Chicago paper, but I think he came to see Whitney Buchholz, Bismarck, who won the woman’s 5K.  Whitney’s mother, Tami, took 2nd place, & sister, Sidney, took 3rd place.  Her grandparents, Dorothy & Vernon Kesler, took part in the 5K walk. 

Second place winner in the 5K was Alex Holen from McClusky with a time of 21:29.  Third place winner was Scott Holen, Alex’s dad.  Scott told me to say “Alex’s old man was 1/2 minute behind & next year will catch him”. 

Winners of the 1 mile run were:  Men-Clay Bachmeier, Fargo; Women-Mackenna Bachmeier, Fargo

There were more relatives taking part..  Some that I know of were my granddaughter Honor, & her mother, Jeanne Prom, who took 1st & 2nd place in the 5K walk.   Kathy Selzler & her 2 granddaughters participated.  Kathy run the 5K Run, walked the 5K walk with me (we came in 9th & 10th), and run the 1 mile (I walked).   In May Kathy took part in the 13 mile Fargo 1/2 marathon where there were 13,000 registered runners.  Wow! 

All participants & helpers got a bright yellow t-shirt (Tyler has his on) that was designed by Pam Heim, organizer of the event.  Proceeds from the run go to the Anamoose Fire Dept. 

It’s not every day that I get to hear a presidential candidate speak.  Barack Obama was at Fargo on Thursday at the Yonker Children’s Farm.  Obama mainly spoke to the Veterans, but took many questions from the audience.  He stated “The most important thing in the 21st Century we can do to compete is to educate our children”.  He talked of our 9 trillion dollars in debt, which is $30,000 for every man, woman & child.

 I didn’t think to get up in front fast enough to shake his hand.  But later I was visiting with a minister from Seattle who we met earlier in line.  He said he had shook Obama’s hand & then shook my hand so I got a “secondhand Obama handshake”.   

We all need to listen to what our presidential candidates have to say, so we are well informed by election time. 

Who would have ever thought a mock moose wedding would bring us national notoriety!  Saturday the Minot Daily News was at the wedding, & 2 days later Janice Buchholz received an email from a friend in Fairbanks, Alaska telling her she had read about us in the newspaper By going on the Internet we discovered our wedding made national news (AP) on MSNBC,  in the Chicago Tribune, Kansas City, Arizona Republic, Boston Globe, Fargo Forum, Grand Forks, Minneapolis & a few others.  This was truly a big ending to our 18 month Horizon’s program. 

With all the excitement of our Joe & Ana-moose Wedding Day celebration on Saturday, I forgot to blog about Ana joining Joe on the Civic Club Welcome sign, & then I had to wait as we had used up all our blog site allotment.  Wednesday evening Keith Reinowski, Midwest Graphics, and his helpers put up Ana.  She looks great there with her pink top and cute pony tail and cap.