Find the Bean

1984

We now jump to 1984 with a completed Carlson family saying goodbye to dad and Dean as they prepare to board a plane headed for the Philippines.

eRR Favorite Link List...

Per A-Rob's wish, I did a little research and figured out how to add a list of favorite links to this blog site. You should see it in the sidebar on the left. Here's how to add to the list...

• Go to the Dashboard by clicking on the B in the upper left corner of the blog.
• If you're already signed on, sign off.
  
• Sign in as the e round robin administrator. Mark sent this user/password a long time ago in one of his invitation emails. (I'm not going to post the user/password here.)
  
• Click on the Change Settings icon.
• Click on the Template tab.
• You will see a window with html code. Scroll down a little more than halfway and you will see a line that says:
  <!-- Begin #sidebar -->
• Just a little further down, you will see a line that says:
  <h2 class="sidebar-title">Links</h2>.
• To add another link, just copy and modify the line that says:
  <li><a href="http://www.zippythepinhead.com/">Zippy the Pinhead</a></li><!-- This is DeanTheBean's link -->

I was thinking... Maybe we should start by limiting the number of links per user to one.

I also made one other little change. I set the comment settings to show up in a popup window instead of the full screen. I think it's nice to be able to see the blog while viewing/creating comments. Agree?

Al & Marge

I'm pretty sure this picture was taken on one of mom & dad's fall tours. Does anyone recognize the town in the background?

Holly

Holly is doing fine in Perth. She told us in an email that she was in a photo of workers at the Kaio coffee/clothing store. There is a little about what they are doing on the
Kaio webpage.

VISION OF KAIO Kaio is a coffeehouse and clothing shop located in the city of Perth created for young people. The name is a Greek word which means "to light" or "to burn". The word righteousness is derived from the word Kaio and that is the heart of this ministry, to be a righteous light and to reach this generation!

Chloe

Dance-s'more asked to see Chloe. Chloe's the one on the right.

Nellie

This is one of our little females.
Nellie is the one who plays the piano at 3 in the morning to let us know she wants to go outside. Also, she often goes on walks with Chloe and me at 5 in the morning.

Thank You Heidi Brottlund!

Hats off to Heidi Brottlund! (Though you might want to hide your hair in the process.) Heidi Brottlund has stepped up to the plate and admitted that she was the one who criticized her mom's hair. This took a lot of courage, especially in light of the solemn injuction of Scripture to "honor thy father and thy mother".
But more to the point. . .take that DeanTheBean, I was right and you were wrong!
Though to demonstrate my humility I must confess that examining the situation from a logical perspective, all clues pointed towards a Quick rather than a Brottlund. (The following statement was in no way a comment on any family members hairdo - past, present or future)

Sex and the Kitty

Earlier someone asked about the kitty that ended up at the Lindstroms. Well the kitty now has the name Pepper and is doing fine. But I have another puzzle based on the pictures we posted. When I brought the kitty to the vet for its first checkup, the receptionist asked whether it was male or female. I said we weren't sure but my brother thought it might be female. The receptionist took one look at the cat from 10 feet away and instantly said, "Oh, that's definitely a female." Here's the puzzle. How could one tell this cat is a female with only a casual look? (Dean can't participate cuz I told him the answer)

Family Meeting

It's been three months since brother Mark began this site. Enough time for a number of issues to come to mind.

1. First, I think brother Mark deserves a hearty Thank-you for starting the e-round robin. The family blog is a great idea that fills a void.

2. I am also thankful for whoever made this Blog Spot on the WEB. I still can't believe they give us unlimited space to post whatever we please. . .for free! They are not doing this because they like us. What's in this for them? And I have no idea.

3.There is a thought that came to mind with the confusion over which Heidi thought her mom's hair was wierd. . .specifically . . . should we even allow people to issue comments anonymously? I'm on the fence here, but I know that technically we could flip a few levers and people would need to create a Profile before they could comment or post. A few advantages would be that it would eliminate all spam and we wouldn't have to enter a code each time we made a comment. Personally I figure the more participation the better and we should stick with anonymous. But the question is. . .would anonymous comments further or slow-down the participation of all.

4. Also concerning the Heidi fiasco. . .there is a tender issue which has the potential to open up a can of worms. The question of which Heidi issued the criticism gets us into the touchy area of which lady had the silliest hairdo. Well, it doesn't take a genius to see that has the potential of blowing up the entire family dynamic. I don't suppose we can resolve this by simply issuing the decree that everybody had a silly hairdo back then and most of us look even sillier now? Perhaps we could defuse this tension by moving the question beyond Lois Ann and Jean. As I have looked at all the old pictures posted on this site, I have frequently thought about the silliness of the hairdo - including my own. Perhaps we could search our photos to find other examples and give some kind of award for the silliest hairdo in the family.

5. This is something DeanTheBean commented on somewhere - how is it that Steve, Greg, Jean and others are able to post and yet they don't seem to have a Profile? I thought you had to create a Profile before you could post? I'm glad they're posting but I'm confused about the Profile thing.

6. Has anyone else noticed that both Greg and Steve posted once and then fell off the face of the earth?

Grain Elevator Strike

The reason for all the ships in the lake was the grain elevator strike of '79. I remember the strike well - I was one of the few that voted "no". It set me back a bit as I was trying to raise money for my last year of school.

Candid... ...Posed

Wood Pile

Do you all have your wood for the winter? If not, I wouldn't be surprized if there's still some in Duluth.

Heidi or Heidi?

This post used to start with the following paragraph. . .
This is a half-welcome to Heidi. She made a brief appearance to criticize her Mom's hair, but notice that the signature was not "Heidi" but "Anonymous". Methinks the Brottlunds need a profile. Somebody give us Heidi and Josh's e-mail address and we can invite them to join. (I suppose I could try her old e-mail address. I like to welcome new people with a photo, but all she gets for now is a hint of a picture.
BUT DeanTheBean has entered some comments (see comments below) convincing me that Anonymous could as well be a Quick as a Brottlund. So will the real Anonymous please step forward?
Note: A few days after this post I did get an e-mail from Heidi Brottlund asking to be invited to join the e-round robin so that is one point on the side of Heidi B. By the way. . .I'm so unobservant that I do not even know if both Heidi's took their husband's names or not.

Brookston Bridge

Things to love about this photo: Dick's pants, white belts, Ralph's sideburns...

Welcome, Heidi! Did everyone notice Heidi's comment about Saturday's post?

Women With Smiles

Since Dancestoomuch guessed correctly (I think) with "Somebody's House" (see post from Thursday), I present this picture as his prize.

Jean, you can, perhaps, make this gift complete by telling us who everyone is - there are three or four I am unsure of. (And welcome by the way.)

I See Carlsons and Tuckers - LIFTOFF!

Welcome Jean and Ralph, Erika and Joe. I don't want to move to quickly here, but now. . .let's see if you can post pictures of two little Celts? Also if the regulars haven't noticed, Jean has gone through October posts and peppered them with comments. And for Erika: Alaska Robin is Mark, Dean the Bean is Dean, Northberger is Paul and Dancelot is Dan.

This is work??

I want some more!!

We are having turnaround. We work for about a month of straight 12 hour night shifts. In order to make it more like home we are cooking eggs, bacon, sausage and potatoes.

For tomorrow we are seasoning 40 lbs of prime rib on the right. There are about 24 of us operators eating on night shift.

During day shift they do most of the work, thankfully. We are usually too full to do much at night.

First snow

It has been a pretty late start for winter. This was taken about 14 hours ago from our bedroom window. I love how the snow sticks to the branches. It looks like a Jackson Pollack painting.

Grampa's Flowers

Four Generations

What happened? Nobody says anything for a week and then everybody wakes up on the same day. What's up with that? I should've been in bed an hour ago, but I end up reading everyone's posts and have to add some of my own. We really need to spread this out a bit.

Sir Dancelot Steps Up To The Plate!

A few weeks ago I submitted a photo puzzle. Within minutes of my publication Little Brother Paul publicly humiliated me with his quick response. Well now the tables have turned. Little Brother Paul has submtted a photo puzzle and now it is my turn to publicly humiliate him. I am, of course, referring to the question. . .what is the name of the restaurant?

The first clue relates to the person on the right near the window. Clearly that person is smoking a cigarette. Any civilized person knows that smoking is banned in any respectable eating establishment. . .ergo. . .this place is NOT a respectable eating establishment.

The second and third clues relate to a photographic effect. . .specifically that a window behind the consumers reflects other frequenters of this establishment. When you zoom in to the upper left you see a shiny can that could be anything but is most likely a CAN OF BEER!!!!!

What sort of establishment is this? Anybody who pays attention knows that smoking and drinking in reputable restaurants has been banned for years. Ergo. . .this place is not a reputable establishment. To pound the nail into the coffin here allow me to present a blowup of a liquid resting on the table in the uppper right of the photo.

A clear liquid. What else could it be but GIN OR VODKA!!!!! This is not good. And then if you will draw your attention to the lower right portion of the picture we have in our view a young woman who can only be described as. . .A TWO-BIT FLOOZIE!!!!!!

My sensitive scruples caution me to stop here. This is not a pretty picture. And the squeemish may choose to stop here, but I now draw your attention to a pale young child. An innocent creature who appears to be coughing, hacking uncontrollably. What could be the cause of this ailment? It could be anything, but following the clues, the most likely reason is a debilitating chronic cough caused by frequent exposure to SECOND HAND SMOKING!!!!! The truly pathetic thing here is that all these people were aware of this pathetic child and could find nothing better to do than to laugh.

So, in summary, we can conclude that this is an establishment of ill repute. But Little Brother will not cough up the reward unless one of us Names the name of this tawdry place. Well. . .look again in the upper right where the window is reflecting back on the place. There is a single "gentleman" (and I use the term loosely here!) who is persuing a menu. If one zooms in on the menu one will find the name of this "restaurant". And it is a name I will not repeat amongst civilized people. Case closed. What is my prize?

Thanksgiving at the Lindstroms

We'll keep a running tally here of what's what. It's starting to take shape, but what in the world is a "Galettes"?

WHO'S GOING TO BE THERE?
1. Dan Lindstrom
2. Jo Lindstrom
3. Peter Lindstrom
4. Jon Lindstrom
5. Dean Stynsberg
6. Kurt Rentschler
7. Jean Carlson
8. Ralph Carlson
9. Ryan Carlson

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO EAT?

• A Local, Free-range, Organically Fed, No Anti-biotic, No Hormone Turkey (Dean and Kurt)
• Mashed Potatoes (Dan and Jo)
• Rutamaten (Dan and Jo)
• Squash Galettes (Dean)
• Dried Corn Casserole (Kurt)
• Salad (Jean and Ralph)
• "Regular" Stuffing (Jean and Ralph)

THANKSGIVING

Dear Everyone,

There's a bite in the air and the leaves are falling. Time to think Fall, specifically - Thanksgiving. Do people have plans? If not, you're all invited to Thanksgiving at Dan and Jo's. Consider this a blanket invitation to all Stynsbergs, Carlsons, Lindstroms as well as kids and the kids of kids and other various and sundry friends and relatives.

There are five requirements:
1. Let us know if you are coming.
2. The sooner the better.
3. Bring something to eat.
4. Let us know what you plan to bring.
5. The sooner the better.

RSVP with a comment here or by e-mail or phone. If you want to use the blog site and haven't established a Profile or are having problems. . .ask Mark, Dean, Paul or Dan what to do.

By the way. . .it has entered my mind before that we should remember this WEB site can be accessed by anyone anywhere in the world and we should be a little careful about giving out info like addresses and phone numbers here. Right? E.g. as part of a joke a week ago I gave our address. I'm going to go back and edit it out right now.

John and Heidi

A while back i just jokingly said that John and Heidi lived on the same lake as Bill Gates, and that they could probably see his house. Well it appears that the point on Fairweather Bay blocks their view, as well as the floating bridge which is highway 520. John and Heidi live on the left side where it says Juanita Bay.


Here is a closer photo of the place John and Heidi are renting. In the corner you can see that it is as if you were 310 feet above it. The Alaska pictures are not this clear and Minnesota is a little better than Alaska. I won't say which one is theirs because i am not certain and also for 'privacy?' matters. I wonder what is private anymore? Also what does the $400 program show?

Does anyone remember the name of the spy movie from 5 or 10 years ago that used a lot of these satellite images?

Google earth

Today i downloaded google earth.... A M A Z I N G !!!!!!!!!
Next time i have some free time i will have to fly to everyones neighborhoods.

Young Brother is watching you.

Dinner

If anyone can remember what restaurant this is they win.

Holly and Ericka

Big Beards, Broken Bones, and Baseball Bats

I can't remember how mom broke her leg... Does anyone remember?

Mr. & Mrs. Lindstrom

The Line Up

Great Grandma

Clues Seven and Eight

I think we're finally getting to the end of clues regarding the whereabouts of the kitty. These two "clues" are clues that Paul proposed to get his number of clues up to six. Both of them are, to my way of thinking, disputable.
First there is the paper cutter. In one picture the kitty is to the right of a school-type paper cutter. Paul simply states that the cutter belongs to Dan and Jo. Without further explanation I must confess to skepticism. It does indeed belong to Dan and Jo, but how many people would know that? I challenge Paul to present a convincing case for this knowledge or we feel compelled to conclude that he is "padding his resume" with wild guesses. This is not presented to in any way denigrate the amazing accomplishment of Paul, but simply out of consideration for The Truth.
Second there is the Green Bay Packers blanket. Well. . .need I say more? How could anybody guess one family member over another based on a love of the Green Bay Packers? EVERYBODY loves the Packers! Right?

Crosswordese Word of the Day

DOWN
8) French friend
Answer

Ice Cream with the Magnusons

Jean, perhaps you could update us on the Magnuson family...?

World perspective

I do not know if we want to get into politics etc. in this blog, but i ran across some interesting statistics that might lead to some discussion...

"Setting the world's population at 100, there are nearly 60 Asians, 21 Europeans and only 4 Americans. Out of the 100, 70 are not white, 70 are non-Christian and 80 live in sub human conditions. Only 25 have food, clothing and a roof over their head, one has a computer, one has a university education and 70 can't read.

And the fact we can even invest in the markets is unique since 92% of the world can't. The bottom line: if you have money in the bank or in your wallet, you're among the 8% richest people on the planet and based on this bigger picture, that's something we should all be thankful for." (This was from the Aden Forcaster newsletter which is about the financial markets, and that's the reason for the comment about investing.)

Sixth Clue

The sixth clue relates to the newspaper in the upper left corner of the picture with the Sega Genesis cartridges. Brother Paul claims that this newspaper is the Saint Paul Pioneer Press and included some jibberish about an unfinished crossword puzzle. It is indeed the Pioneer Press, but I'm a bit sceptical as to how and if he detected this or if he just guessed.
Here's how I would do it. Turn the photo upside down and zoom in and you will see a photo of a columnist.

If you are familiar with the Pioneer Press you might recognize that this guy is the sports columnist Charley Walters. But even without this info it could be derived by looking at the content of that section of the newspaper. One would notice that talk is of sports and the Wild are invoked. Must be the Minnesota Wild. Online one could quickly check who are the columnists for the Saint Paul and Minneapolis papers and find Charley Walters in Saint Paul.

Saint Paul paper with sports section on top. Probably someone in the Eastern Metro who reads sports. Ergo the kitty is at the home of Dan and Jo or Dean and Kurt. But the puzzle states that one of Dean and Kurt's Kittys has found a NEW home. So things tip in the direction of Dan and Jo.

Holly is in Perth

Yesterday i wrote about Christoffer, so today i will let you know what Holly is doing. She has been in Perth almost 2 months now working at a coffeehouse that is run by YWAM (Youth With A Mission). She is enjoying it and sends email updates pretty regularly. I am thinking that this is her third time to Perth, Australia. The first time she went to a Bible training school for 3 months and then on to several countries in Southeast Asia for 3 months of short-term missions work. Last year, during the Alaskan winter, she went to Perth for counseling training for 3 months. This time they went to South Africa for the missions part of the training.

Now she is working in a coffee house that is an outreach to the youth in Perth. She will be there for a year. Amy is also going to go there soon. Here is the webpage for the
coffeehouse. Also here is another little article about
KAIO which is the name of the coffee house - clothing store. You can click on the home page there to find out more about YWAM Perth.

Holly if you get a chance to read this you can say hello to everyone by clicking on the comment section below.

Another Table Picture

Everyone looked so young back in '79.

Rest In Peace

Steve called me Thursday night to tell me that he had read in the obituaries section of the Duluth paper that Ruth Sjoblom had passed away. Her funeral was on Saturday. Steve attended, representing the family. There is a special place in my heart for Ruth Sjoblom. On the night Helge died, I was home alone. Ruth took it upon herself to be the one to break my heart. I will never forget her tears and her hugs and her words of comfort. It is in my nature to fend off intense emotional contact, but I am glad that many years later I had the courage to take her aside and thank her for what she had done and what she had said.

Here’s a picture of the Tupperware handle and the pink clothespin that were left at our house at the Family Reunion on August 6^th.

Dinner With the Sjobloms...

and Chuck Bloomquist

Pogo

Christoffer is flying up to Pogo mine at 6AM today. I think they are building some barricks for the miners.

He was up in Kotzebue for more than a month working on lighting at an airport and also something to do with a generator. He got back in Anchorage on Monday to get ready for this Pogo job which is near Fairbanks and Delta Junction. Here is the web site if you want to find out more about the
Pogo mine

I will have to find a map of Alaska sometime and circle all the places he has been. Electricians keep pretty busy and work everywhere.

Kissing Behind Bars

Fourth and Fifth Clues

Next on the list are a few clues Paul didn't mention. Perhaps the topic of carpeting was too boring for him.
First, there is the gray carpeting next to the Mortens System Saver Salt Pellets. Must be in the basement. Who has gray carpeting in a basement? Dean, especially, should have an advantage here since he chose the carpeting himself way back in another life when he co-owned this house with Dan and Jo and the walk out basement was his room.
Second, there is the brown carpeting next to the Sega Genesis cartridges. Dan and Jo have brown carpeting, of course. But brown isn't anything unique, or is it? This particular carpeting has an utterly unique pattern of shades of brown called Splotch O' Rust famous for hiding any known stain in the civilized world. The only home in North America with Splotch O' Rust is Dan and Jo's!

Sixth Street

Does anybody ever get snow like this anymore?

Third Clue

Look closer at the shoe box in the third picture.

Some of us would recognize the contents as game cartridges for the really old Sega Genesis machine. But even if you don't know that, zooming in on Bart Simpson and the Space Mutants will reveal the words "Sega Genesis". Do a Google of SEGA and presto! you'd know. Notice the contents: "Madden NFL 95", "Madden NFL 96", "Bart Simpson and the Space Mutants". Hmmmmmm. . .very interesting.
First off, this is guy stuff. We're not talking "My Little Pony" or "Dance Fever". Secondly, somebody is so football crazy that they buy NFL 95 and then the very next year turn around and buy NFL 96.
So here's the question: what males amongst us love football and Bart Simpson and are so game crazy that they still indulge in the outmoded Sega Genesis format? I'm sure we'd all agree that only three names come to mind: Jonathan Lindstrom, Peter Lindstrom and Ralph Carlson. Ergo. . .the kitty is at the home of Jean and Buzz or Dan and Jo.