Monthly Archives: March 2017

Tanner

Memories, Pets, , ,

Probably the best gift I ever gave anyone was the Christmas I gave my brother a puppy. He’d recently lost his dog, Franz, and somehow Dean and I found out about a litter of puppies that were being given away in Elgin. Dean and I picked out a female, brought it to my apartment for a few days, then presented it to Kevin on Christmas Day.

I think he liked her.

Dog with a bow
The best gift ever
Tanner biting Kevin's fingers
Sharp puppy teeth

Kevin named her Tanner and she grew up to be a wonderful companion. Unfortunately, she only lived about 18 months. Our next door neighbor misused weed killer near the fence that separated our properties and it eventually killed Tanner as well as his own dog.

A gift from Home Savings and Loan

Things, , , , ,

In 1963, shortly after my brother was born, my parents received a gift from their local savings and loan. Now, what would a young mother and father need that a savings and loan would offer? Money? A new bank account for the baby?

The drawing on the card is lovely (apparently drawn by Maud Tousey Fangel according to Google’s Goggles app).

Baby sleeping

What could be inside this card? The greeting gives nothing away.

Greetings to the baby

What about the rest of the card? What could it be? Maybe a bib?  Maybe a gift certificate?

Nope. The card tells us nothing about what was inside it. Never fear — the contents were still intact. I guess Mom and Dad didn’t need to make very many copies that year.

Carbons

Of course. Carbons. This was back in the days before every home contained a copier. When Xerox machines were rare. When things needed to be in triplicate.

 

Grandma Patrick and the circus people

People, ,

I’ve written about my Grandma Patrick’s place of birth before, but I only today learned about the owners of the inn during the time her parents worked there.

Rold Gammel Kro is a 3-star inn in the north of Denmark’s Jutland area. It is one of the oldest inns in Denmark, according to a website I happened upon today and a letter from my father’s cousin suggests the business could have been started as far back as the 1100s.

What I found so interesting is that, also according to the geocaching website in the paragraph above, a circus troupe stopped by the inn one year and asked for accommodations, but the owner would not let them stay, so the circus owner, Heinrich Miehe, went around and paid the debts of the inn’s owner and ended up owning the Rold Kro Inn the next year. It was Heinrich Miehe that my great-grandfather,  Christ Nielsen, worked for. Christ and his wife, Anne Marie were the innkeepers while the Miehes were on the road with their circus. Heinrich decided to stay and look after the inn in 1902. I wonder if that is why my grandma’s family decided to emigrate to the US. Or maybe he decided to take over the innkeeping duties because his employees were leaving.

Apparently, there is a circus museum near the inn that was part of the Miehe Circus winter training site.

According to the letter mentioned above, my grandmother’s sister, Antonie, mentioned the Miehe Circus. I’d never heard about until today. I wonder if Grandma Patrick told me about it and I just don’t remember.

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