AT THE FARM IN SOUTH LYON

Dear Family,

We spent a couple days at the farm in South Lyon.  Bryan has fixed up the property and it is lush like a state park  It was really cold the first day we went out there and here we are bundled up taking a look at the property in the old green machine, now about 25 years old.   The house had severe water damage this last  winter.  There was several feet of snow in the driveway and the fuel trucks could not get through.  Fuel ran out, pipes froze and when it warmed up, the pipes were busted everywhere and the place was flooded, There was extensive damage to the entire house.  Bryan is fixing this up now.

Here we can see that Bryan has knocked out the walls so that  the dining room, living room and kitchen will one big space.  They are currently plastering the kitchen area.  The down stairs was also ruined and all walls have been knocked out and bathrooms will have to be replaced.  It will be great when finished.  Could not help but notice the nice eight point buck that Bry shot up in Breer's hunting property up North; this is just as nice as the ones Rob and I got in Texas.

Bryan moved his huge new Bobcat to his back forty.  This is what he used to open the long driveway under four feet of snow.  This one has air conditioning, HI FI,  and many comforts.  It is a beast!

I spent a morning cultivating this huge plot with the John Deere tractor and six foot power take off cultivator at the base of the hayfield from  one edge to the other. Bry plans to plant a hug plot of corn and sunflower seeds. That is the dog, Pepper, in the foreground.

 

Paul came by with Al and some kids.  We helped butcher one of Al's lamb.  Paul did well as this was a training experience. Paul has sworn off meat for awhile. I used to do this when we had sheep on the farm.  Nothing better than fresh lamb.

After this, I went with Al and Clara to visit her friend, Gabrielle a short distance away from the farm.  She was a nurse in Germany and is suffering from a cancer.  Even though she is not a member, She asked Al about getting a Priesthood Blessing.  I did my part in German and she appreciated that.  Al mentioned she had forgotten I was fluent in another language.  She asked Gabrielle what I had said in German and she replied, "That is our secret!"

It is always great to be at our old farm and now Bryan's expanded farm.

Birthday luncheon for Mom's birthday celebration in Michigan in Mary's home.

Love, Dad and Mom

AL HAS HER BABY BLESSED

Dear Family,

Back in Michigan for a visit.  Al and Paul brought their new little girl (#9), Naomi Suzanne Fredenberg over to the Bloomfield Hills ward to do her blessing.  Paul did s great job and the moment of the naming and blessing was sweet.

Here we are outside the Bloomfield Hills Chapel after the blessing.  There is Opa,  Maryanna (hugging Opa), Henry Oma, James, Clara, Paul holding Charlie, Al holding baby Naomi, William, George and Peter.

Normally, Al likes there birthing at home but this time the little gal got stuck and they went to the hospital and had Naomi through a Cesarean Section.  Everything went eel and we have a great granddaughter  and a healthy mom.

  Paul's parents came to the blessing as well.   We gathered outside for the picture.  This is grandchild #81 and we are so happy she is here.

We went out to their farm in Munith.  Here is Maryanna with one of their new Nubian Goats.  The place has all sorts of animals now and they are thinking of getting a small pony.










Here is one of their new animals. William is holding a Bernese Mountain dog named Oskar.   This is a breed of Swiss dogs that are found on almost all Swiss farms .  They are big enough to pull carts and sleds which is the plan.  This dog is just a pup.

He reminds me of all the times similar dogs chased me when ik was doing Missionary work in Canton Bern, Switzerland.  We tracted a lot around Zollikofen, the site of the Swiss Temple, and we were chased off plenty of times by these large dogs.  They do not get as large as a St. Bernard but they do get big.

At they farm, there is a very well planned list of all duties that the kids follow.  Al had them organized to help during the pregnancy and recovery.  It is worth for mothers to click on this and see how to organize a home so Mom does not have to do everything.  William admitted they followed it pretty well but not always 100%.

Then there was supper.  I was placed in charge of cooking a huge Standing Rib Eye Roast.  This was from their Angus heifer that was butchered and aged.  That meat cost a fortune at Harmons..I saw sirloin steaks going for $30.00 a pound for similar meat.

I cut some of the steaks off this roast and still had a roast that weighed over 10 pounds  We drove to a produce store in Ann Arbor and picked up a roasting pan for that size and here it is coming out of the oven perfectly cooked.

This was better than the rib eye cuts we used to get at the Bloomfield Open Hunt Club.  Al said it tasted like meat candy.

Al and her family are doing well at the farm and have made good progress in her home school.  James will take the ACT test soon.

It is always great to visit them at their farm

Love to all, Mom and Dad

MORE BEAR HUNTING PICS

Dear Family,

Since this hunt was unusual, I would like to show more pics that Rob took with his iPhone.  This is  a shot of the Salmon river we crosses just outside of Lewiston, ID.  There is a huge wood processing plant there and the whole area has a peculiar pungent smell.

This is the view from the winding road over the mountains.  You can tell the weather was not too hospitable  but everything was beautiful green.

This is another ground blind.  This is a two man blind but pretty tight.  You have to be careful what you eat for lunch in this blind.  Hunting usually starts at 3PM and you sit there for 5-6 hours trying to be still and not talk.  Rob and I whispered.

Here is another blind or hunting seat.  That is the Dad inside in the pouring rain.  Rob cut garbage  bags for my legs but it was still pretty wet. Guns got soaked.  Was this fun?  It is always great to be in the woods on a hunt.

These bears have an attitude.  One hunter parked his 4 wheeler and walked into his blind.  A bear circled around behind him and ate the seat of his four wheeler and distributed pieces over a 100 yards over the road.  Rough ride back to camp.

Bears found that little two man blind the day after our hunt and tore it to shreds  They tore it up and they destroy anything they find made by man.  Kinda reminded me of the elephants in Zimbabwe.

The cook played the bagpipes and banjo and when he started this picking, got  little nervous.  We were in the wilds of Idaho.

We had a great time and it was an unusual experience.  May be getting too old for this stuff but it was interesting

Love, Dad

IDAHO SPING BEAR HIUNT, ROB AND DAD

Dear Family,

Rob and I had a most excellent bear hunt in the wilds of Idaho.  It was a lot harder than I thought it would be; it looks easy on the youtube of hunt videos that you can watch.

Here we are on a "Blind" waiting for the Bear to come to the bait. This is an open blind with no protection and we got soaked in these blinds.  I've got the Casull pistol in hand because last week, A bear came right up to a hunter in this blind, grunted and walked off leaving the lone hunter in a state of shock.  We were ready but did not see a bear that day.  The weather was poor with run, hail and cold weather so they were not moving.

The hunting area was abut two hours from Lewiston, ID.  The directions were great; Drive to Lewiston, cross the Salmon river and keep going.

Go along and turn right at the dog bread and breakfast and there it was, dog shaped bread and breakfast with the doggie cabins in the back.  We drove up this mountain to 4500 feet on a narrow, one lane road with hair pin switch bak turns, sheer drop off on the right.  The closest town was a place called Cottonwood ID.

We found the camp which was packed with hunters and a bunch of family, They had no room for us in their cabins.

They had a storage hut that Rob is standing in front of which they cleaned out and we were there for a couple of nights.  It had a propane stove on the all that leaked.  The good cabin is the one on the right.  They brought in a bed for Rob and Rob brought his great recliner for me.

The main cabin was a converted school house where we all ate.  Speak of eating, I lost weight there.  Here is the Bear Hunters diet I followed because I could not eat some of the food.  Breakfast sourdough pancakes, really good, with sourdough biscuits.  Lunch was a little more problematic so I had broth, a biscuit and jello.  Had to be careful about dinner but the Elk Ravioli was good as were the pies.  I lost two inches of waist as there were no snacks or drinks.  I told Mom that I should go again to lose weight.

When hunting on a bait, you have to be quiet and not move.

 Here we are in another open blind on a sunny afternoon.  On the fourth day we were in such a blind and it started to pour and I did not have any Goretex rain gear so retreated to Rob's truck.  Rob went back down the trail and sat there playing chess on his iPhone, looked up and saw a medium sized Bear on the bait. He took a picture with the iPhon and then put in a shot with the 450 Alaskan lever action. He hit it but it launched itself into the woods.  There was a good trail but it was raining and getting dark and the trail disappeared. They tried to find it that night but could not.  The outfitter and Rob tried to find it the next morning but .the trail petered out and the hunter felt this was a slight wound and the Bear appeared to be alright.  The week before, the hunters were only able to recover 50% of shot bear which is not  great.

We stayed another day on a different blind, 150 yards away.  A great Momma Bear came to the bait with two cubs.  This was a beautiful blond, big  rolly polly bear  unbothered by the two of us and she and the cubs picked the bait dry and the hunt was over. That bear was tempting but illegal to shoot with two cubs even though the cubs were of good size.

It was interesting to be up there with hunters who were experienced bear hunters.  Only two bears were taken for about seven hunters so many struck out.  It is always great to be in the woods no matter what.  We had a great experience.  Rob was very helpful and kind all the time and we had a good time in site of the weather and dearth of bears.

Now on to Michigan, Love,

Dad

MY BOSTON MARATHON DAUGHTERS

Dear Family.

I need to comment on my three daughters who ran the Boston Marathon, Cheryl, Mary and Becca.  They looked forward to this for a year and trained rigorously.  They kept track of why they ate, how far and fast they would run and competed in several local marathons. But what is interesting is that they haver 16 kids among them.  Husbands took care of the families and these lovely ladies met in Boston.

I say lovely because looking good while you are running seems to be important as well.  Here they are in their matching outfits.  I think Cheryl arranged for the outfits.  Bryan got them the shoes all which  matched.  The girls did not train in these shoes because they did not want them dirty for the race.

Those cards had a computer chip in them so you could go online and see where they were and check their times.

They did not run for time but all ran together three abreast and the crowd would yell, "Way to go ladies!"  Mary saw several people she knew in the crowd.  Here is Mary delighting the crowd with her Mary Poppin's jump.  They were having a ball.  They took their time but believe with coasting, they made it under four hours,

Here they are finish line.  You gotta admire these  Moms who trained so hard and had a ball at the Boston Marathon.  Way to go gals!

Love, Dad

CATHY'S LITTLE BUSINESS GUY,, PHILIP

 Dear Family,

Cathy and Pete's nine year old boy, Phillip, is a real character and interested in saving money for his mission and college.  hHe takes it very seriously and seems to have a knack for it.  He saves every penny and accounts for it all.

He is constantly dreaming up money raising projects.  One night Cathy and Pete invited friends and their kids over to dinner.  A little girl goes up to her Dad and asks for 25 cents,  "What do you need 25 cents for?"  "Phillip is selling me one of his rocks". The Dad says, "You should get two rocks for 25 cents".  Phillip then goes to his dad, "Do you have a hammer?"  ""What for?"  Then Phillip understanding cost and profit says, "I need to break a rock in two".

Roy dropped off a huge industrial blow up jumping house for the kids.  We thought Cathy would have more use for it.  Phillip came up with this great money making idea.. he would organize a fair and charge admission.  He asked his teacher if he could leave a flyer in each students box at school.  He drew up the invitation shown above.  Click on it and blow it up, it is great.

He charged two dollars admission and gave five tickets for the jumping station, cotton candy,  popcorn, snow cone, knock the ducks over shooting range etc.  You could buy extra tickets as well.  He asked his parents if they wanted to help him for $2.50..they said well...."Don't you want to earn extra money?".  The Olsen grandparents said they would help for free and the parents were then fired.

'Lots of kids came and two girls brought $10 each which was quickly spent a the backyard fair.  They all seemed to have fun and Phillip had a ball.  The Dad kept the purse but at the end Phillip grabbed the wallet and went to one of his favorite activities, counting the money.

That little nine year old entrepreneur made $80.00 in two hours and had a lot of fun doing it and indeed all had fun.  This went into the college and mission fund.

I told Cathy, she should spot him a little money and tell him about the stock market and see what happens.  This is one serious little guy and he is a riot.

Love, Dad

EASTER CELEBRATION

Dear Family,

There is so much going on in in April, I did not have time to write about it all.  We of course had the Easter celebration.  It starts on Saturday before Easter with Mike and Rayanne's traditional  egg hunt for the little kids.  They hold this in their backyard which has this beautiful view of the mountains.

The kids poured out of the house and searched the grounds for plastic eggs containing candy.  They went nuts and everyone filled their bags.

It is a little like Halloween but all had such fun.

Rayanne laid on a great lunch with her home baked bagels, (the best bagels in Utah) and all the fixings.  it was fun to visit in Mapelton again and thanks to Mike and Rayanne for a great morning.

There must be a tractor gene in the family.  Mike bought Roy's Kabuto tractor now that he has an extra five acre plot.  Here he is getting ready to cultivate their expansive garden for planting.

After that Suz and her family, Mom and I went over to BYU Art Museum to visit the Karl Bloch paining exhibit. There is an app for the iPad that you can download called, "Sacred Gifts" that you cab download free that shows and describes the paintings that came from Denmark for display.

Mom started a craft with several of the family.  She went back to making sugar eggs with egg white and came out with these cute Easter eggs.

This is one that Madeline decorated with frosting and gets the prize for the best Easter egg.  that project made a mess bigger than the carmel popcorn but it was fun.

We had an easter dinner at home with a barbecue and a great group was there.  Roy and his family were here as well.  Roy made the hamburger patties and Doug flavored them and they both ran the grill.  All food was consumed to the last potato chip.

We are grateful for the gift of Easter and the thoughts of a resurrection and continence of the happiness and joy in a more perfect state.

Love to all, Mom and Dad