December 2019
Volume 26
Dale arrested in New Orleans
Dale and Cindy have been to New Orleans several times in the past, but Dale’s memories of it have always been distorted due to his alcohol intake. After 25 years of not drinking, Dale wanted to see what New Orleans was really like and get some beignets and coffee at Café du Monde. So Dale and Cindy traveled there over spring break. Dale had always managed to avoid trouble with the law when in New Orleans, but, as luck would have it, an official-looking man stopped him while he and Cindy were walking down Bourbon Street. Busted on Bourbon Street “I see you don’t have a drink in your hand,” said the man. “I’m going to have to arrest you for Being Sober On Bourbon Street!” “But I met my quota 25 years ago!” protested Dale. “I’m sorry,” said the officer. “Quotas are only good for three years.” Dale paid off the Officer with the agreement that the money would go to charity. After paying the bribe, the rest of the trip went pretty smoothly, though there were some close calls. Dale nearly tripped over a man sleeping on the side walk. Later, while on a swamp tour, the tour boat was surrounded by alligators, racoons and feral hogs. Luckily the tour boat operator had some food for them. Nothing strange happened while touring the Metairie Cemetery. Dale and Cindy were surprised at this until they found the tomb of the Briere family. It’s quite possible these Brieres are the same family as our own dear Uncle Briere who helped Dale’s Grampa George Besancenez after he was orphaned. It is always good to have at least one spirit on your side when touring an old graveyard.
Uncle Brier
Nothing strange happened either when touring an old plantation and mansion. However, when driving home, a large bird flew into the windshield of our minivan. Luckily Cindy is as good at driving cars as she is at driving boats (see later story), and so no harm was done.
Various adventures of Julie and Tyler
Julie is still working on a Master’s degree in Public Health, and recently decided to pursue a second Master’s in Public Affairs, because who doesn’t want to be in school forever? She is still working as a Research Specialist at the Thompson Center for Autism. Julie and her boyfriend, Tyler Meyer, recently moved in next to Riki and Marcus and have already borrowed multiple things from their new neighbors. Tyler still works for MU Health Care and was promoted to kitchen supervisor for the University Hospital patient kitchen, where he leads a crew of 60 employees. If you end up in the University Hospital, you can be assured of good food. Tyler and Julie traveled both due north and due south this year. North to Wisconsin where they went sea cave kayaking at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, visited the House on the Rock, and explored a plethora of cheese stores. South to attend a Halloween party in San Antonio, Texas where they had the best costumes of the evening, Elton John and Cher.
Cindy steers boat back to USA through windswept waters
We enjoy learning about how people in foreign countries live. This year, while traveling in the Pacific Northwest, we became curious about our mysterious neighbors to the north, the Canadians. We took a ferry from our Airbnb in Port Angeles, Washington to Victoria, British Columbia. As we ourselves are from Missouri’s Columbia, exploring British Columbia was very educational. They have a Parliament, a statue of Queen Victoria (whose tv series we are watching), a floating Fisherman’s Wharf where we ate, and one of the oldest Chinatowns in the world. Our American town of Columbia has none of these things. However, both our hometown and British Columbia have Starbucks, beautiful flower gardens, and shopping centers. Our day in British Columbia was nice and sunny, but, after we boarded the ferry for the return to the states, the weather started getting rough. The tiny ship was tossed. Some people inside the ferry started getting sick. Cindy and Dale, however, went outside the cabin area and bravely walked around the windy, rolling deck. We found that the ship’s steering wheel was unattended, so Cindy took hold of it and steered us into calmer seas where the crew was able to bring us to port.
The Train of Terror
Julie and some friends traveled to Chicago for a bachelorette party. The bad luck started when her friend’s car broke down of the Windy City, Julie headed to Union Station to catch an Amtrak. Unfortunately, what should have been an idyllic 5hour trip through picturesque plains in western Illinois transformed into a 13-hour nightmare of carnage and despair. The terror train experienced a multitude of delays. The first and least inconvenient delay was a two-hour stop to investigate a potential fire in the engine room. It was only 20 minutes after the all-clear had been given and the train was back in motion before the ultimate disaster struck: blood on the tracks! The train had hit and killed a person! An hourslong police investigation followed along with a national news story, a change of passenger cars, and, thank the good lord, complimentary snacks. The treacherous trek carried on into sunrise where once again, with home on the horizon, the train needed to stop for a few hours because some kind of urgent grain shipment took priority over the off-schedule Amtrak. Home at last, Julie vowed never to take rail transit again before I’d rather push a rock settling in for a well-earned rest. than take a train
Riki and Marcus in search of Druids
Riki and Marcus recently celebrated their one year anniversary. In spring they traveled to Moab, Utah, to explore Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. They decided to hike to Druid Arch in hopes of finding a real Druid. The hike was a 12 mile round trip which involved lots of “scrambling” (that’s when the trail is so steep and rocky that you need to use your hands to climb). It took them 7 hours to complete. Alas no Druids, just some rocks stacked in a Stonehenge-like manner! Speaking of “scrambling,” both Riki and Marcus enjoy cooking. Marcus is constantly trying to win their best meal of the month contest. Riki repeatedly tries to bake the perfect macaron. They are obviously spending too much time watching the Great British Baking Show Still on the quest to find Druids, Riki and Marcus finally went on their honeymoon to the Netherlands and Belgium, countries where Druids once flourished. They spent 10 days and walked over 80 miles. They did not run across any Druids, but did: tour a castle, a royal palace, and 3 churches; ate most of their meals at outdoor cafes; and attended the Ghent music festival.
Dylan climbing walls in NC
Dylan is now working at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as an Information Tech Professional in the Registrar’s Office. He runs reports for class scheduling, student demographics, and other University-related business. About three times a week, Dylan likes to go rock climbing at a climbing gym. He is getting good at this sport and regularly falls from 16 feet up with no rope. Dale tried some rock climbing but was able to fall from only 6 feet up. Luckily the floors at the climbing gym are thickly padded. Dylan is still a board member at the Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge where he works on construction and fund-raising projects. If you need to build an animal shelter, Dylan can probably help you. He has a remarkable understanding of animals. Indeed! He knows all the animals at the Refuge on a first name basis. This includes 18 goats, 12 sheep, 21 chickens, and numerous ducks, turkeys, and other creatures. In his spare time Dylan likes cooking, exercising, drawing, and even the folk art of knitting. One of his hobbies is finding and using natural foods. This year he found and ate 8 wild plants in his local area: acorns, black walnuts, pawpaws, persimmons, wild muscadine grapes, wood sorrel, and wild lettuce. He is planning to roast some Kentucky coffee tree nuts that he found and make the world's first Kentucky coffee tree nut soy latte. Dylan drew this turkey, whose name is Jordan
Riki still runs. She ran 370 miles this year. She also still works to keep the world running smoothly by selling wastewater treatment equipment. Marcus finally replaced his beloved 16 year old Hyundai Elantra with a new Subaru Forester. He also took classes over the summer so he could teach Advanced Placement Government in addition to regular Government classes at Hickman High.
Marcus with European King
• Dale and Cindy went to Paradise this year. It has been
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moved from Eden to Rainier National Park. Just look on a map and you’ll see it there. In addition to hiking around Mount Rainier, they got to look through telescopes and saw some of Jupiter’s moons and Saturn’s rings. The most amazing thing is that they donated their prize money to charity. Six skunks ran through our yard this year after our neighbor chased them out from under his house. Julie and Tyler went to a Mustard Museum in Wisconsin where they tasted over 30 kinds of mustard. Unable to play a decent tune on it, Dale destroyed our piano this year, using a sledge hammer on parts of it. Cindy kept her cool figuring that, with the piano gone, there would be more space in the dining room. Dale grew over 400 pounds of produce in his garden. The harvest included 150 pounds of tomatoes, 50 pounds of summer squash, and 50 pounds of cukes. We put up 48 pints of salsa, a dozen quarts of pasta sauce, and numerous jars of pickles and sauerkraut. Dale and Cindy saw the longest natural spit in the United States: Dungeness Spit (6.8 miles long) in Washington State.