Phend-Fisher Family Reunion Ledger - 1915

June 26, 1915

The Phend and Fisher family reunion met at the Weiss grove. A splendid dinner was enjoyed by all.

Officers for the ensuing year as follows.
William Phend. Pres.
Jacob Phend Tres.
Ivy Wehrly Sec'y

Births since June 27, 1914 as follows.
Emerson Rhodes Aug. 19
Warren Edwin Pletcher Jan. 30
Mary Alice Phend May 3
Ward Miller May 11
Blanche Evelyn May 4
Mary Elizebeth Manuel

Married
Moses Phend.
- - - - - - - - -
Fred Earnest
- - - - - - - - -
Archie Seniff
Bertha Kline

The Phend-Fisher families gathered for a reunion in Elkhart County, Indiana almost annually from 1909 until 1943. Usually held at Nappanee, the events of the day were recorded in an old ledger book. Spelling has been retained as it was in the original though some punctuation and paragraph breaks have been added. To view all articles in this series click on the "Phend-Fisher Reunion Ledger" label at the bottom of this post.

Donkey

I have several donkeys in my collection. This is one that I got at Death Valley, near Los Vegas, NV in 1959 when we went to Death Valley Scotties Castle several times. The head is on a spring and bobs up and down. He is made out of some sort of metal.

Inside the Nature Center

Inside the Nature Center is an information center where there is always someone to explain about the center. There are displays explaining about birding and about the Rio Grande River. There are big windows where you can look out and see the river and the ducks, geese or other small birds that come to the Center. The first two photos show a bird in the corner that is not real. The

nest is the area where there is furnature where you can sit and watch the birds in front of a huge window show in the next photo. The birds can not see in to get upset by the people looking out at them. The last photo is a shot of the big room with the big window that sits out over part of the river that I took from one of the small 'blind' window.

Angels Landing :: Interlude

Doubts. Terrible things, they are. The longer I stood and looked at that peak, the more dubious I became. Finally, I gave in and turned around. I couldn't do it. Then a feeling of relief passed over me. It's okay. At least I had gotten this far.

The descent back down that first little peak was challenging. Going up you didn't really notice the height or steepness of the path. But coming down, that is all you could see. You had to look down in order to see where you were going. In several spots I sat down on my rear end and scooted over and down the rock. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done! I didn't feel quite so bad when I saw other people doing the same thing!

Once safely down on the other side, I found a place to sit and eat my lunch, along with several other folks. We chatted. They too were the ones who couldn't go on. They were waiting for their spouse to return from the top of Angels Landing. They weren't ashamed, perhaps a little embarrassed though. Four out of the five people waiting were men. Waiting for their wives to finish the climb.

Other people came and went. Some only went a little ways then came back. Watching the people was fascinating. All shapes and sizes. All degrees of physical fitness. You couldn't tell by looking at someone whether they could do it or not. And you were amazed by some of those that did make it. The more I watched, the more I thought “I could do this.”

But I sat there and listened to the people talking. The excitement in the voices of those who had gone all the way. A bit of disappointment in those who hadn't, but acceptance of that fact also.

There was a group of five women who came up from Scout's Lookout. They sat down and rested for a few minutes and joined in our conversation. One lady, in her mid-30s, was back for a second climb. She had come with her daughters last year and they had all made the climb successfully. The daughters were 8, 11, and 16 years of age.

Another group of four women – two teenagers, a middle aged woman, and an older lady – came up the trail. When the older woman saw the trail over that peak she said “Oh, my!” One of the teenage girls giggled and said “Granny, we love you. You don't really have to go.” And Granny stomped her feet like a little child and exclaimed “Oh no, I'm going!” and without another word, they were on their way.

After an hour or so, I made my way down the trail and back to the campground. I talked with my neighbors, Maryann and Rob, who had done the climb to Angels Landing the previous day. The more I talked with them, the more convinced I became that I could actually do it. Maryann said she had second thoughts about the climb when she saw the trail, but then she looked at the people returning and figured if they could do it, so could she.

The next day was an “off” day for me. My legs were hurting a little so I took it easy. But the thought of Angels Landing kept running through my mind all day long.

To be continued... Angels Landing :: The Finale

Recycle that old Computer - America Recycles Day

In my post Sticker Shock, I mentioned that I had an old laptop that no longer works and I didn't know what to do with it. Well, in a comment on that post, Janice Brown, at Cow Hampshire, linked to an article about Staples and their computer recycle program.

Since I was going to Staples to purchase my new digital camera, I took the old laptop along. I asked the sales clerk who was helping me if they accepted computers for recycling and he responded in the affirmative. When it came time to check out I made a quick trip to the car and got the laptop. The young man was very nice and courteous but didn't know how to handle the recycling charge. Neither did the other cashier. They called the manager. He said there was a code they had to use. It wasn't at any of the registers so he had to go into the back office to get it. In the meantime, I filled out the paperwork identifying what was being turned in and signing my name stating that I understood that they were promising that the equipment would not be resold or used in any other way, that it was really going to be recycled.

What should have been a less than five minute process ended up taking about 20 minutes. Of course, the sales clerk apologized saying it was the first time anyone had actually recycled anything at their store. I wasn't in a hurry or anything so it was no big deal. But if you plan on recycling any electronic stuff, I'd suggest calling ahead to the store to let them know.

This morning, while on the Staples website checking the status of my camera shipment, I did a search for "recycle computers" but nothing came up. In their page on Media Information they have a News Release titled Fewer Than One in Four Americans Recycle Their Technology Waste that provides additional information on the program and what they will accept.

Did you know that Thursday, November 15th, is America Recycles Day? The Material Recovery Center at Columbia City (in Whitley County, Indiana) has a Saturday in November set aside for turning in hazardous materials, batteries, tires, appliances, etc. that they don't normally accept. Fort Wayne also does this. There is a fee involved with these things, but it is minimal. I'm not sure if they accept electronic equipment such as computers, printers, and scanners though. It might be worth checking your local recycling center, especially if you have multiple items (CPU, Monitor, Printer, etc.) as there is a $10 fee at Staples for each item. There is no charge for cell phones, pagers, digital cameras, mice, or keyboards.

It cost $10 to rid myself of a piece of junk, but I feel good about having done so. It got it out of my closet and hopefully some of the precious metals can be retrieved for other uses. As Janice suggested, I opened the laptop, found the hard drive and gave it more than a few good whacks. After putting the cover back on, the insides rattled a bit, but that shouldn't take away any of it's recycling value ;-)

As a side note, I purchased my new digital camera. A Sony Cyber-shot H7. 8.1 megapixal and 15x zoom. The only one they had in-store was the display model. I'm prejudiced against display models so opted for having it shipped to me. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow (Tuesday 11/13). I just want to be able to check it out for a few days before my trip to Missouri. I'm really looking forward to that 15x zoom. Awesome! Flag image from the America Recycles Day website.

United States Astronaut Hall of Fame

Day two we visited the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. This place was very touching to me. It is a strange thing to visit a place that has such significance in our history and know that I was alive during part of it, yet too young to really remember it. It was a really neat place that we enjoyed a lot.



From Wikipedia: The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, located just south of Titusville, Florida, honors American astronauts
and features the world's largest collection of their personal
memorabilia, focusing on those astronauts who have been inducted into
the Hall; as well as Sigma 7, the fifth manned Mercury spacecraft. It is operated as part of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, 6 miles (9.7km) to the east on Merritt Island.









After spending time here, we headed out for dinner and ate at the same place that Rich and Donna introduced us to. Nathan had the giant calzone again.



We headed back to our hotel, and tried to get a good night's sleep so we'd be fresh for our cruise.

No Happy Dance – Yet – Still Hopeful

It's been a slug-fest here at the Family History Library the past five days. I've been chasing the needle in a haystack on several family lines, without success. But, as Carol says, at least now I know I don't need to look at those sources. Ah, ever the optimist, she is!



We've been taking an hour break for lunch every day. It helps to relieve the “stress” just a bit. Our break yesterday (Tuesday, May 24th) took a little longer as we walked through Temple Square to the cafeteria for lunch. The flowers are absolutely gorgeous!!





The Mormon Temple with Gabriel high atop the spires.



The flower beds are jam-packed. So colorful. So Pretty.See those large reddish flowers on the left?



This is what they look like before they burst out of their pods.



Up close. An orange one of the same variety. Fabulous.