The Great Remote Heist

This is Dylan in a very short video taken with my new camera.

Dylan is 15 months old and is a joy  & delight

to all of us, as is his big brother, Drew.

Over Christmas, the remote for the TV disappeared.

Dylan was last seen with it, but we could not

find it.    No biggie, we had another one.

But I was sure curious as to what happened to it!

I looked under the bed and under the dresser;

I pulled out the couch and took of the cushions.

I looked in the kitchen under the stove.

I looked in the cupboard and under the table.

I checked out the garbage in each of the rooms.

I even looked in the toy box, just in case.

[While looking for this remote, I vacuumed under the

furniture and ended up cleaning up pretty good!!]

Then I decided he must have put it in the garbage 

that was already picked up.  

I pretty much figured this had to be what happened.

Then yesterday, I had a minor sewer backup and I 

thought, "what if he put it in the toilet?"

I was imagining all sorts of sewer problems,

but assured myself the remote wouldn't have flushed down

without a problem.

So today  I had given up on finding

the remote.  Like I said, no biggie - I was just curious.

I sat here remembering how sweet Dylan was, standing

by the tree, taking off the tinsel and ornaments

and putting them back on.

Aha! [as in a lightbulb going on]

  Could he have put it the tree somehow?

I couldn't see it, but went in for a closer look

in the branches.   And there...it...was!

I don't know how it sat there so perfectly since Saturday,

but I am sure he decided to help trim the tree

with the TV remote.  

Makes perfect sense to a 15 month old, right?

Mystery solved!!

Close-up shows the remote nestled in the branches.

I had to put the camera in the branches for this shot.

Christmas 2012

The typical after-opening-gifts scene - toys & paper everywhere!

Uncle Lee & Dylan

Dylan & Drew wearing the pajamas I made for them.

Checking out the tinsel.   I hadn't put the old-fashioned

tinsel on the tree in many, many years.  I guess I was feeling

nostalgic for my childhood Christmas this year!

Uncle Lee came from California to spend Christmas with us,

and we are so glad he did!   Here he is reading to his godson, Dylan.

Drew is hanging up an ornament that his little brother took off of the tree.

Such a helper, he is!   He even helped me make the meals.

Such a sweet pose for a sweet boy.

\

Lee lifted up Drew, and Dylan was impatiently waiting

for his turn.

Now, you may ask where are the pictures of the others?   ha ha!   They

were not as cooperative! 

Merry Christmas to all!

PARISH CHRISTMAS PARTY

Our Parish Christmas party was this evening....

A delicious supper was served.....

Followed by a LONG table of Christmas goodies,

done up the Scandinavian way!

A Christmas skit by our resident actors.....

 Pastor Mark making sure the 12 Days of Christmas

was done correctly - what fun!

Just HAD to take a picture of the tree in the sanctuary.

It is beautiful!

Merry WMF Christmas 2012

This year, our WMF Christmas party was held in the chapel

of the church. 

The food was plentiful, in true

Scandinavian style!

Sitting at the round table after a good luncheon.

Hotdish, Swedish Rice and of course.....Jello!

Did I mention we are Lutherans, after all?

The ladies were asked several questions of the

Christmas story to see how much they remembered.

(They did good!)

 The tree in the chapel was beautiful!

A Circle of Thanks.

Thanksgiving.

Today we are thankful for all we have:

Family and Friends
the many blessings of our relationships.

We give thanks for our homes

and hoards of other material things we have been blessed with.

We are thankful for our church

for our Savior,

and  the many spiritual blessings we have.

We are in gratitude for our jobs,
for our bank accounts,
And all the financial provisions we enjoy.

But then I started thinking...

How about the not-so-good things that we have in our lives?

Should we be thankful for those things, too?

Financial worries

Failed relationships

Bad decisions

Arguments
Broken dreams

and many other things we have been faced with.

Perhaps we ought to be thankful for the lessons learned from
tough experiences, also?

I think the hard things we go through shape us and

often give us:

humility

compassion

patience

love
understanding

contentment

and...

thankfulness.

Kind of like  a circle of thanks, isn't it?

My turkey is on the table!   

Puzzling Puzzle

Last January, when remodeling the bathroom, there were

several things found between the upstairs & downstairs floors.

One of the things was an envelope with torn pieces of

paper.  Trying to put them together is quite a project,

but I made a little headway today!

The story is written on 5 or 6 small sheets of

paper, each page is about the size of a postcard.

    I do have my suspicions as to which of

my brothers did this!

The story begins with Brad Jones, who is

at the box office of a burlesque show.

Bits and pieces are giving me a general

idea of the story, but I will wait until I

have finished putting it together.

So far, I haven't seen anything that is so terrible

that the paper had to be shredded and hidden under

the bathroom floor, but of course back in the day,

writing about a guy going to a burlesque show

might have been just a tad scandalous,

especially if our parents had seen this.

I wonder who wrote this??

November Sunset

The other evening, I was talking on the phone and happened to look out

the kitchen window.   The sunset was just gorgeous!  

Still talking on the phone, I grabbed my little camera

and opened the back door & snapped a couple of pictures.

There is no way no captivate the beauty of the sunset 

with my camera, but I still think they are pretty cool.

Summertime

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took this summer.

Just as we were leaving Ten Mile Lake Cemetery, I "had" 

to take this.    The sun was soon setting, and it was a

gorgeous evening!

Oh, I am missing summer already!!

(For those who don't know - my sister and I have

been taking pictures of tombstones in the area for

the Historical Society.   We completed 9 cemeteries.

Grandma's farm

My grandma & grandpa's farm, just south of Dalton.

My mom and her 6 siblings grew up here.  The barn

still stands, but the house has been replaced.   The

smaller building in the foreground behind the trees is

the chicken coop.   I remember the chickens scratching

around the yard.  The lake in the lower corner is Hansel Lake.

Christmas at Grandma's circa 1953-55.    From left to right are:

Carl Synstelien, Palma Synstelien, Esther Dahlager and Grandma.

Pretty stylish living room, huh?   The curtains were PLASTIC, 

but matched the wallpaper.   But I'm lovin' the Christmas tree

with the larger lights and tinsel - they don't make tinsel like they used too!

The Black Tin Box

My grandfather, John Dahlager died in 1936, long before I was born.

He had a little black tin box that locked.

He kept some important papers in there.   

In 1921 Grandpa bought a Maxwell (car).

This is the receipt for the tax and registration.

He hated the car, by the way.

In 1955 Grandma wrote to her church in Norway to get

a copy of her confirmation certificate.   She

kept it in the little black box of grandpa's.

It is interesting to note that the day of her birth is shows as March 28, 1872.

She always said her birthday was March 29.

Wonder who was right??

The mortgage note from their place in Des Lacs, North Dakota.

They moved to Dalton in 1908.

Grandma did not like living in North Dakota.

This is the document in the "Matter of the Estate of 

Christopher J. Dahlager"  (my grandpa's father)

One of the notes regarding the payment to Lewis Bothun.

Grandpa purchased his farm south of Dalton from him.

The note is marked, "Paid in Full" and is dated March 19, 1908.

When my grandparents decided to move back to Dalton from

Des Lacs, North Dakota, they had an auction sale.

This is the actual list of the items sold at the auction

and how much they sold for.  This was in 1908.

Grandpa was an auditor for Tumuli Township.

This page is one of several that shows the name of the

resident and the amount of tax.

Other things in this tiny black box:

A handwritten obituary about my grandpa's death.

Many bank notes marked "paid"/

Records of baptisms and confirmations of grandpa's siblings (written in Norske).

Mortgage Deeds.

Promissory Notes.

Memorandum of Agreement (following the death of my great-grandma).

Signatures of both Grandpa & Grandma are found on many of these items.

Interesting stuff....worthless, probably....but interesting!

Great Grandparents

This is Christopher Dahlager - my great-grandfather.

Mom told how she thought her grandpa was so special.

He had fun with his grandchildren, teasing them,

tickling their faces with his mustache.   Mom also said she was

so proud of her grandpa when he would read Scripture or

lead the Sunday worship service.    He was diabetic and saved all the little bottles

of his medicine to give the grand-daughters to play house with.

In  1918, at the age of 64, Great-grandpa died of complications

associated with diabetes.

This is great grandma Sigrid Dahlager on her 85th birthday.

Sigrid came to American from Norway when she was 16.

Considering she was young when she arrived, it is

surprising that she never leaned to speak English very well.

Norwegian was spoken in her home and both English and

Norwegian were spoken in my Mom's home.  (Both my

parents spoke Norwegian very well.)

Sigrid died in 1943.

Sigrid  (aka Sigri) and Christopher had 10 children.

All of their children have long passed away, but there

are quite a few grandchildren still living,

and a ton of great-grandchildren.

Some Old Family Photos

Esther & Mabel Dahlager

I had not seen this photo before of my Mom & Esther.

I think I found it in Esther's stuff.

From Left to Right:  Noble, John & Ole Dahlager

John Dahlager (in the middle) was my Grandfather.

Looking Back

Main Street in Dalton - Early 1900's.

Although it looks different now,  most of these

buildings looked pretty much the same into the 1960's.

Actually,  I think the town was better looking then!

My little blog is acting up a bit today -

the number of pageviews has re-set itself for some reason!?

Oh well!

Sarpsborg

Replica of Sarpsborg Church 

Organized in 1872 - Destroyed by fire in 1986

Replica was built by Gilbert Odegaard and

was presented in memory of former Sarpsborg members.

Sarpsborg Church - this is the second

church building - built in 1892.

I have strong ties to Sarpsborg -

I was baptized there.

My great-grandparents, grandparents,

uncles, aunts and Mom were all members there.

My parents were married there.

I always considered Sarpsborg my

"Second Church"

The Women at the Well

 This photo is from the early 1900s

This well was in the backyard of Nels Johnson, located on the NE

corner of Main Street & Central Avenue.  You can see the back steps of

the house in the far left.

The Johnson's well was shared with others in Dalton who did not

have decent drinking water.   By 1910, the Johnson well showed

signed of "giving" out and water drawn from the well was limited.

It is interesting to note that these women are getting water, but they

are each carrying a cup rather than a bucket to bring some home

to other family members.

Does anyone from Dalton remember the well out in the

back yard of the Johnson place?

Dalton had a "town well" but the water was of inferior quality

and residents were advised to boil the water before using it.

It was also reported that the water in Dalton contained iron to 

an "astonishing degree."   One resident said,

"Give me whiskey, give me kerosene, water rusts my stomach!"

[from an article in the Fergus Journal]

OLD PICTURES

This house in Dalton still stands.   The other day when I looked at this picture again, I noticed a large building on the left (north side)  Does anyone have any idea of this one?    I think it may be located where the fire hall used to be, and I also know that at one time there was a hotel somewhere in that vicinity.  Funny how you notice stuff!  And if you don't recognize the house in the picture, it is located on South Central, second house from the corner.

This house was located 1 mile west of Dalton - it no longer is standing.

Some of you may remember it as being the Weiby place - when I was young

there were 2 Weiby sisters who lived there.   

Notice the sod roof!   This is an OLD photo!

[Click on photos for enlargement]

The River Inn

On Thursday night, my sister Dodie and I went on a

"Mystery Tour" of Fergus Falls, hosted by the

Otter Tail County Historical Society.   

The tour began at the River Inn, which was of 

interest to us because our Mom worked there for a

short time before she was married.

The early photo above was in Mom's scrapbook from an

article in the Fergus Journal telling about the history

of the River Inn. 

 I don't believe she is on this picture, but it is

interesting to see what the restaurant looked like

in the early days.

The River Inn Hotel in Fergus Falls opened on Feb. 2, 1929.

It was a "plush" hotel and hosted many banquets,

especially at Christmas-time.

Politicians and performers,  including Adlai Stevenson, 6 Minnesota

governors, an opera singer, and a country western star came to stay at the hotel.

In the early days, The River Inn boasted of 100 beautiful rooms.

Then there was the coffee shop, Inca Room, dining room,

banquet hall, ballroom, dress shop, and beauty and barber shops.

The staff included bell boys in uniforms, a chef and two cooks,

a pastry cook, kitchen help, a salad girl, ten waitresses

and four maids.

During the depression, waitresses received $35/month.

The River Inn is now an apartment building,

and there is no restaurant on the main floor,

which is too bad.   It would make a nice 

restaurant with the view of the Otter Tail River

and the Fergus Falls in the background.

Wouldn't it be nice to bring back the "plush"

to Fergus Falls??

Dalton Opera House

Many years ago, Dalton had an Opera House

Many exciting & fun events were held there.

There were meetings and political speeches given there.

There were dances and movies.

There were many plays and the best actors & actresses in 

town took part in the popular presentations!

This is the cast from the play, "Between Two Lives"

presented in 1916

Another pose from "Between Two Lives"

Pictured, back:  L-R:  Ida Johnson, Noble Dahlager, Palmer Bergerson,

John Utne, Henry Johnson, Neola Skrove, Arthur Hanson.

Fromt, L-R:   Clifford Torgerson, Martha Skrove, Nels Fossan, 

Palma Rovang, Ben Johnson, Ada Torgerson

I think this one is from a little bit later, but I am not sure.

Nels Fossan is seated on the left, but I do not know who

the others are.

Here is the old Opera House, also known as the town hall,

photo was taken some years ago.

This is how the Dalton Opera House looks

today.  It has been restored and will

hopefully have some good concerts 

and maybe even some plays there again!!