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Well we had it! According to the invitation the first
tribe to arrive got ten points. That was Glenna, and me so I guess that
means we each get five points. I don’t know what she is gong to do with
hers, but as for me I think I will just donate mine to the Echo Piney
Tribe, as I hear that next year for sure they are going to make the grand
effort to conquer the highest peak of Diamond Butte. If it is as hot and
windy then as this year they will need all the points they can get.
As for the poster competition I reckon Nita gets the
ten points as she was the only one who even brought a piece of poster
paper. It was blank though, and Tris used it for an air spreader in front
of the swamp cooler. But she still gets the ten points, for what ever they
are worth! Have fun Nita, if
you find they have great value I may just rescind my offer to the Echo
Piney group and just let them wing it—after all those guys know all
about Indian trading.
Family dinner was fine. Lots of good food. Tris made
a great Mexican casserole this year instead of the usual dutch oven
potatoes. The person who was supposed to call him about the potatoes
failed to carry through so he just made something different, which was
fine, and it was very good. But if we would have had to depend on the--
suppose to be callers-- for food and program items we would have been in
sorry shape. As Boyd used to say when I had not done to suit him,
“You failed me”! Well
if there ever was any helpers
in the department of the reunion program –most of them failed, failed,
failed!!!
All the ones I had asked to prepare something ahead
of time, I reckon, just decided to speak off the top of their heads. Lee
Aaron gets 10 points cause he sent something all the way from Ill.
Number One Vice was supposed to be helping me with
asking people ahead of time, but he didn’t. Of course he claims
he did. So I really could not tell there for a while whether it was him,
or Max and Hal, that were trifling with the truth. But since I have never
known Hal to trifle, I ruled him out. But those other two guys—to tell
you the honest truth I think we ought to have a triflers award and see who
would get it. Max or number One Vice, which is Cyle in case some of you
didn’t know. I really found out the truth when Alec was asked to speak a
little piece about his grandpa Garn.
He, being the good little sport that he is, got up there, looked
the situation over and said, “What do you expect of me? You guys have known him a lot
longer than I have.” Then he threw his arms in the air and declared,
“After all I am only nine years old”!
Right then and there I knew that it was Number One Vice, that was
the number one trifler; as he is Alec’s uncle and was supposed to tell
him. However Max is his great uncle so I couldn’t completely rule that
out, either, but the trifling does seem to diminish a little as it goes
farther down the blood line!
Garn got a plack for being the only person to attend
all 23 reunions, which Alec presented it to him. Good job Alec!
Garn had just retired two days before, so the program
was also to honor him for a 30-year plus career as a nuclear scientist.
Well done Garn. Good job Mitch who played a song for his grandpa Garn
on the little keyboard. Also
fine jobs from Evan, Emily, and Mason. Also Mike, Karissa and Teton, who
helped with the program. And thanks also to Garn for playing his banjo for
us. Thanks Hal for all your help, and for being master of ceremonies when
our one of record didn’t show up; or even call in sick!
Now I have told you about Number One Vice, so I
really shouldn’t leave out Number Two, which is Rod.
He showed up in the late afternoon and stayed about long enough to
glance at everyone with a baleful eye and left.
Madam
President Tina of the Echo Piney Society-- I really would like to speak to
you about your officers. I think ya ought to fire the whole durn bunch of them! Even one of
the treasurers deserted mid-day and headed for Vegas, and the other one
just stumbled around mumbling incoherently for the rest of the day. Then
she also just kinda faded away into the early evening.
The one that went to Vegas thinks she is going to be
forgiven because we love her so much, (that’s what she told me) but I
have grave doubts about that!!
Isn’t desertion grounds for severing love ties????
That was desertion under fire pure and simple. There were snakes in
the outhouse. Maybe even court martial should be considered.
Now Madam Pres, I hope you will give serious
consideration to my suggestions here. I think you could replace # 1 vice
with his little brother, and #2 vice with his big brother. And you really
need only one treasurer. Which could be your father, Maxie. Please let me
know what you think, as I could easily make you another list!
When we went out to clean, the weekend before
reunion, we discovered a snake in the bottom of one of the out houses then
soon someone said, “Well
there is also one in the other outhouse.”
Gee swell! I just tried to ignore the whole thing,
and if you don’t already know how easy that is to do—well I won’t
even bother to try and explain.
Now it’s reunion day, and
as soon as Mitch arrived he announced to one and all that there are snakes
in the outhouses! (He had been on the clean-up crew, so he knew all about
it.) All the kids made a mad dash to see the snakes. Mitch was in the lead
and with a flashlight in hand to make sure they all got a good view of the
reprehensible reptiles! I was hoping maybe he had some Irish blood in him
and would chase them off into the sea—well at least The Big Wash. But no
such luck. What happened was Stacey (him mom) went with her video camera
and took pictures of them. It seems that they had increased since the week
before and now there was a whole nest of them.
Seeing Mitch with the
flashlight reminded me of when grandpa Levi used to give his grandkids a
booger light to go to the outhouse after dark. If you don’t remember ask
Brent, I know he remembers all about them. Don’t say I misspelled booger
as my dad said that was a booger light, and that is all there is to it! It
may still be hid out around the ranch somewhere, just waiting for the
right time to reappear. By the way why don’t we get us a little house
like the one at Mt. Trumbull schoolhouse? It doesn’t need water it
isn’t odorous and snakes can’t get into it! All in favor say I.
Now this snake situation
did instigate quite a flurry of activity. Mainly working on the flusher
(which Boyd had insisted be brought into working condition, the year Aunt
Rae came to the reunion; and has since fallen into deplorable disrepair.
You need to come every year Aunt Rae!) Anyway they finally got it going
after a fashion.
Last year there was a tree
planting going on in the east yard. I asked one simple question about it,
as it was being transplanted into a dry mini-hole of rock and hard
scrabble clay. Do you think it survived? No!
Now Garn claims that I put a hex on it and it is my entire fault
that it had an early demise. Was this my fault? No! I can’t help it that
those guys are so agriculturally challenged that they don’t know any
better than to put a $50.00 tree into a 50 cent hole. Hex my foot!
It’s much more likely to have been forestry ineptness on their
part! Oh, they now have another branch with a twig on it stuck in there I
don’t know if it is the same exact hole as, they didn’t want me to get
to close to it just in case. Bosh, and humbug!
Quite a group stayed out
overnight. They were Kevin and Tina, with their boys Seth, Reese, and
Ellis. Also Max and Nita, plus Mike, Debbie and their kids Karissa, Teton
and Blue. Brad and Chris also stayed with their kids Evan, Mason Emily and
the twins Duncan and Alison. Max had all his family there and they all
stayed over night so I am sure they must have gotten 10 points for that.
(Heard that Brad cooked a swell supper Sat. evening for all that stayed)
They also got ten points for being the winner of the scavenger hunt. I
don’t remember when that happened, but I know they won. I don't remember
the kiddy auction either, but as I've already indicated I was not at my
very best that day! Tris and his grandkids Jacob and Casey also stayed the
night. Garn had all his
family there also, at one time or the other, but none of them stayed over.
But now, get this one
folks, Merna stayed overnight--
along with Harley of course—but still I want video proof! That has got
to be a first since she tried to bribe me to stay out one night long long
ago by saying that I could sleep on the top of the bread truck! Just how
long ago was that-- you may ask. Well just look back through your reunion
letters and you will see how far in the distant past that was!
What…..You didn’t keep them????
I hope you realize what an imprudent disregard for history that
is!! Oh well, we
can’t all be preservers of great intellectual, historical, junk!
The tribe with the most
points as mentioned on invitations--wins the prize as stated.
Which I find out is a Caribbean cruise. Well Max’s had the most
points, so have fun guys. When I found out what the prize was, I did
briefly think of trying to retrieve my points from the Echo Piney tribe,
but since Madam Pres is also a member of that tribe I soon thought better
of it. So as I say, have lots of fun guys!
Now let’s just look a bit
at this point system here. I am told that Merna gets 10 for being the last
one out there, for which I would still like video proof. But since Stacey
didn’t stay the night with her video camera I don’t think I will find
it there. However Stace does get 10 points for video taping the day
before. So according to my count outside of Max’s family there are only
25 points left out there. 10 for Stacey, 10 for Merna, and 5 for Glenna.
Maybe you ladies could pool them for a chance to wave bon voyage as the
winners sail away! Oh, oh, I forgot Lee has some points also but I don’t
think they will count for much.
With all the points
counted, and all the prizes awarded, let me give you my honest to goodness
opinion on who was the true winning survivors.
The snakes!
Max had the most members
there 19. Duard was next with 12, then Garn with 9. Harley had 6, Carla
had 1. Nobody else came. I think that all added up to 47.
It was nice to see Bonnie
out as haven’t seen her out there for a while. Along with her when they
showed up in the afternoon, were Erica, her husband and baby. Hope they
enjoyed it enough to come again.
Hear that Radlee Iverson
will be student body president of his senior class, at Dixie High come
autumn. Congratulations and good luck! We know you are a smart guy.
Everyone be sure to come
next year as Carla’s family and Garn’s family are the ones who get to
send out the invitations, and decide what hour family dinner will be. It
is going to be really swell we promise you right now. (You know how those
invitation promises are) I also hear on the grapevine that we will have a
whole new old remodeled house to have it in.
Now if any of you don’t
understand some of these inside reunion jokes, rumors and secret
societies, it is your own fault for not coming to the reunions. Surely we
can do better than a 47 count next year. Be sure to come, you never know
what good stuff you might learn; and even if you don’t learn anything
you’ll always wish you had, and be glad you came!
I want to thank Cyle for
always organizing something fun for the kids. He always does that. He is
our families’ grand champion kid entertainer-and they all love him; and
so do we!
See you next year, Love
Carla
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