Mature Couplespeak

Dear George,

On her web-site Oprah recently reported results of a British study of how much couples talk during a one-hour meal. Unmarried dating couples talk about 50 minutes out of 60 (munching their veggies the rest of the time). But then frequency of talk drops off steadily: newlyweds, under 40 minutes; married 20 years, 21 minutes; 30 years, 16 minutes, 50 years, 3 minutes. Three minutes out of sixty? That’s our category! I’m sure Katja and I talk more than three minutes. However, I’ll admit we are quiet a fair amount of the time. A main reason is that we’ve already covered just about every topic that might come up. But beyond low frequency, our conversations seem to differ from those we have with other people. We just seem to say whatever comes into our mind. I think it’s because we don’t feel a need to put on a show. So we don’t make any effort to be smart or sophisticated or logical or even pleasant. If you’re grumpy, then you’re grumpy; confused, confused. Stuff just sort of pops out. A while back we had a brief interchange about religion that I thought was amusing, so I wrote it down as verbatim as I could. Then I found myself adding more instances till I’d accumulated the collection below. I showed these to Katja and got her permission to reproduce them here. I wonder if a reader could guess that these people have been married quite a while?

RELIGIOUS MEDITATIONS

D (driving past a church): That’s a peculiar sign – “Christ has come, Christ is coming again.”

K: Hmm.

D: If Christ has already come, why do they say he’s coming again?

K: They mean in the past. He came in the past.

D: “Has come” doesn’t sound right. It should say “Came”. If I say the mail has come, I don’t mean it came last month.

K: It’s grammatically correct.

D: O.k.

(five-second pause)

D: Christ has been dead an awfully long time.

K: Two thousand years.

D: Actually 2011 years. He probably hardly has even a skeleton left.

K: He’s in heaven.

D: Oh yeah, I forgot.

DOWN TO THE WIRE

D (on New Year’s Eve): It’s 11:58. Did you make your resolutions yet?

K: (five-second pause) O.k., now I did. I made a New Years wish.

D: Well, a wish isn’t really a resolution. What did you wish for?

K: I wished that the dogs would live forever.

D: That’s not a resolution. For a resolution, you have to resolve to do something.

K: I just wanted to make a wish.

D: They don’t have New Years wishes.

K: What’s your resolution?

D: I’m not making any resolutions this year. I did so badly on them last year.

K: Oh, do you have a wish?

D: No. You’re not supposed to have wishes.

GREEN TEAM IN ACTION

D (while driving 10 miles to Sears to buy Trashmasher bags): I wonder how we could do a better job recycling.

K: We’re doing just fine recycling.

D: I don’t think so. We don’t recycle anything you put in the Trashmasher.

K: I have that basket in the kitchen for recycling paper and bottles.

D: You put a lot of paper in the Trashmasher. It gets mixed up with the banana peels and coffee grounds.

K: Those are recyclable.

D: Banana peels? What can you recycle that into?

K: Pot.

D: Pot? I don’t think so…

KEEPING SECRETS

K: I’m going out. I’ll be back soon.

D: Where are you going?

K: Just down the street.

D: Where to?

K: Just down the street. Then I’m driving to Rookwood Commons.

D: Are you going to Graeters (ice cream parlor)?

K: No, I have to go down the street in order to drive to Rookwood Commons. (giggles)

D: I think you’re going to Graeters. You can tell me.

K (on her way out the door): No, I’m not. I’ll see you later.

(90 minutes go by)

K: I’m back.

D: Did you have a good trip?

K: Yes, I went to Rookwood Commons.

D: Did you go down the street?

K: No. Just to Rookwood Commons. (giggles)

D (looking skeptical): Oh.

HETEROSEXUAL IDENTITY CRISIS

K (picking up glasses off the solarium table): Are these Donna’s glasses?

D: No, those are my new reading glasses. I bought them at the Dollar Store.

K: They look like girl’s glasses.

D (looking at the rims which are red, yellow, orange, green, and blue): No, these are my gay glasses.

K: Did you mean to buy girls’ glasses?

D: Actually I never noticed the colors before. I just bought them to wear around the house.

K: I guess when you’re married for fifty years it’s o.k. to be gay.

D: It is. I’ll just wear them around the house.

FINANCIAL INTERROGATION

D: This is a really good hot dog. What brand is it?

K: I buy them individually at Fresh Market. They’re Smithfields.

(Pause)

D: Why would anybody buy hot dogs individually?

K: That’s how they sell them.

D: How much do they cost?

K: I buy them by the pound.

D: How much do they cost by the pound?

K (reading newspaper -- no response)

D (eating another bite): How much are they by the pound?

K: (silence)

D: I wonder how much a pound of these hot dogs costs?

K: ( gets up; goes to kitchen; returns with package of hot dogs)

K: They’re $4.99 a pound. I bought six for $6.14.

D: Hmm. They’re really good.

“I DON’T WANT TO GO…”

D (referring to an earlier conversation): If you join the Opera Guild, I don’t want to join.

K: Well, you would just become a member along with me.

D: They probably have dues. How much are the dues?

K: The dues are $300. But it doesn’t cost anything extra for you.

D: Three hundred dollars? What do you get for three hundred dollars?

K: I don’t know. You get to meet interesting people. Yesterday I met the wife of the Dean of the Business school.

D: It doesn’t sound worth it. Then you probably have to pay for lunch.

K: I didn’t pay for lunch yesterday. The Opera Guild members provided the lunch.

D: I don’t want to go to lunch.

K: You don’t have to. The only thing you have to go to is the Opera Guild Ball.

D: How much is that? Eight hundred dollars?

K: It’s only one hundred dollars.

D: Per person?

K: No, for both of us. One hundred dollars for the Ball.

D: I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go…

K: (stops listening)

INTELLECTUAL DISCUSSION

D (near midnight): If we wanted to, how would we protect our house against vampires?

K: You put garlic on the doors. And you put silver crosses on the doors.

D: I thought it was garlic. I’d just forgotten.

K: Why are you thinking about vampires?

D: I was doing some research on the Internet. It seems that Santa might be a vampire.

K: Santa definitely isn’t a vampire.

D: There a lot of reasons…

K: Vampires are sexual beings. Santa isn’t sexual.

D: He’s in disguise. He could be sexual.

K: Besides, Santa didn’t exist until 1839.

D: I think that was the year that Dracula was published.

K: (Goes back to her book)

LOST AND FOUND

D (pointing to a black glove laying on the pavement in the Panera parking lot): Look! That glove looks a lot like the ones I have.

K: (silence)

D: It might be good to get it. If I lost one I’d have a replacement.

K: (silence)

D: I think I’m going to get it.

K: Don’t get it.

D: Why not?

K: Why would you want to put your hand in somebody else’s glove?

D: (no response)

K: Would you wear somebody else’s shoes?

D: Well, I used to buy shoes at Goodwill.

K: Let’s go

(30 minutes later, after eating French Onion soup at Panera)

D (pointing again): That looks like a really good glove. I’m going to get it. (Bends over)

K (pulls him by the sleeve): Just come along…

I don’t know quite what to make of this. If I look at it as an outside observer, it reminds me of some of the dialogue between Larry and Cheryl David on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. The husband’s sort of clutzy, obsessive, often seems clueless. The beleaguered wife has a sense of humor, remains unruffled, and tries to navigate her husband through life situations. I do enjoy Curb Your Enthusiasm, though I’m not sure Larry is the greatest role model. But, even if we’re a little strange, at least Katja and I talk for more than three minutes per hour.

Love,

Dave

G-mail Comments

-Phyllis S-S (1-23): Dear Dave, I love it when you have these interactions on your blog. They remind me of Matt and I and they are so funny. No one really writes about how we actually sound. But - Dave-I thought you still bought shoes at Goodwill, No? What's made you so selective? New shoes, why? A new blog? See you soon, phyllis

-Abhishek B (1-20): Well well .. people need to speak more often .. couples need it .. Your collection is impressive ..

January, Dark and Cold

Cincinnati Snowstorm (January, 1978)

Dear George,

No one would dispute that January is the bleakest month. Overcast skies, dark early, bitter cold, hazardous sidewalks. What all this adds up to is less walks for the dogs, fewer ventures out with friends, runny noses, and feeling cooped up. This January started out particularly badly when I read in the paper that a good friend’s husband had died unexpectedly in his sleep. He was in his early sixties, had two children in their early thirties, and had recently become a new grandfather. I’ve always thought that he and his wife had one of the closest, happiest marriages I knew of. I felt so sad at the funeral. His death was incomprehensible, and my friend looked like she was barely hanging on. Katja wasn’t able to come to the funeral, and, when I tried to tell her about it, I kept breaking into tears.

I’d scheduled an annual physical with Dr. Braxton for a few days later. I hadn’t given it any thought, but the funeral must have affected me. I wouldn’t say that I’m a hypochondriac, but whenever I go to the doctor I start becoming aware of deadly maladies I’ve contracted. This time my symptoms pointed to pneumonia (from my lingering cold), an imminent stroke (since my blood pressure’s been creeping up), amputation of my lower limbs from diabetes (elevated blood sugar), and skin cancer that had reached my brain (a scruffy spot on my forehead). Katja came along to my appointment. She was impressed with the framed copy of Cincinnati magazine on the wall which featured Dr. Braxton as one of the “Best Doctors” in the city. I didn’t know why he was among the best, but Dr. Braxton did proceed efficiently and cheerfully, peering inside my ears and listening to my chest while I coughed deeply. He didn’t detect any pneumonia, said my blood pressure had risen some because I wasn’t exercising as much as I had during the summer, and wasn’t worried about my spot of crusty skin or my blood sugar, which he said would drop in a day if I’d cut down on sweets. After twenty minutes I was discharged with an excellent bill of health. Katja was relieved. Now I knew why Dr. Braxton is one of the best. In a mere twenty minutes, he’d managed to rid me of pneumonia, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. To celebrate my miraculous recovery we stopped at the Hyde Park Graeter’s where I treated myself to a chocolate doughnut and a Bearclaw pastry.

We hurried home because the dogs were due at their chiropractor appointment. Mike and Duffy will be ten in April (70 in human years), so we worry about them too. Our groomer, who does an excellent haircutting job but clearly regards us as incompetent dog owners, said that Duffy has lost half the muscle mass in his right rear leg, resulting in his leg trembling uncontrollably as she works on him. We felt terrible. It had been three months since Dr. Mattell had seen Mike and Duffy, and he worked over each dog carefully, manipulating each joint and muscle. He didn’t detect any loss of muscle mass in Duffy’s leg. Duffy’s leg did tremble during the exam, but Dr. Mattell said that was a sign of anxiety. He said the dogs were in excellent condition and recommended we come back for a checkup in four months. I decided that the maniacal groomer had just felt like mentally torturing us.

Now that the people and the dogs have been pronounced to be doing well, January has definitely picked up. Katja’s been working on a speech for her women’s writing club, and her completed manuscript was interesting and entertaining, bound to be a hit. Then she went downtown to renew her passport for her three-week trip with her siblings to Italy in March. She’s all excited, and I’m happy for her. We enjoyed “War Horse”, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”, “Melancholia”, and “The Artist” at the movies. We’ve watched a lot NFL playoff games (most thrilling; some with good outcomes, some lousy), and my favorite local basketball teams are on red-hot winning streaks. Even despite the first snowfall of the season January seems to be gradually improving. What an up and down month! I guess that’s what winter is all about.

Love,

Dave

Archive: Menominee Postcards #4

Aerial View, Downtown Menominee

Dear George,

Every week I put a vintage postcard image of my home town, Menominee, Michigan, in the righthand column of this blog with a short commentary attached. Because these don’t get stored when I change them each week, I’m putting a batch of them here as an archive in a permanent file. One can access other previous Menominee Postcard “archives” by going to the blog’s righthand column, scrolling down to “Labels”, and clicking on “Archives”. In addition to earlier Menominee postcard archives, one will also find there an archive of “Marinette Postcards” (Menominee’s sister city across the river in Wisconsin) and archives of my father’s family photos taken in Menominee in the 1940’s and 1950’s (“Vic’s Photos”). I’ll add additional archives for these categories in coming months. Enjoy.

Love,

Dave

LEISEN & HENES PARK

Henes Park is a community treasure and Menominee’s biggest tourist attraction. It’s named for John Henes, the grandfather of one of our parents’ friends, who donated the park to the city in 1907. I’ve spent many enjoyable times in Henes Park, as a little kid, a Boy Scout, a teenager picnicking with friends, a young adult visiting home with my wife Katja, and a husband and dad in my own family.

SWIMMING AT HENES PARK

There are lots of places to swim on Green Bay, but Henes Park has the most complete public beach, offering a lifeguard, an old-time playground, and a refreshment stand. We didn’t swim there a lot as kids because good family friends had homes or cottages on the bay shore. However, in adulthood Katja, our son J, and I regularly spent time at the Henes Park beach when visiting Menominee.

LOAD OF LOGS, MENOMINEE, MICH.

Menominee and Marinette were the world’s biggest lumber center at the turn of the last century, providing much of the wood for constructing buildings in Chicago, Milwaukee, and the Great Lakes area. In my youth our family lived on the Menominee River where millions of logs had passed by decades before, and we kids would play at being at lumberjacks, trying to balance ourselves on rolling logs in the water. Ancient remnants of the logging industry still existed on the river near our house, and they were mysterious, ghostly places to visit.

HARBOR SCENE

Located on Green Bay, an offshoot of Lake Michigan, Menominee and Marinette are boating towns. Many of our family friends had power boats or sailboats which they anchored in the marina downtown, e.g., the O’Hara’s, Caley’s, Hood’s. The adults did recreational boating trips across the Bay to the Door Peninsula, a popular resort destination, and sometimes we kids would go along too.

CEDAR RIVER

Cedar River (pop. approx. 25) is located on M-35 along the Green Bay shore, about 25 miles north of Menominee. It was a frequent destination for our family because Jean Worth’s hunting camp was there, a site for many social gatherings throughout the years. In our adulthood my parents would take us up to Cedar River to enjoy delicious cheeseburgers at Paddy’s Bar.

WALTON BLESCH FIELD

Menominee’s always been a big football town. The Green Bay Packers are an hour’s drive away, and there’s a strong local following for the Menominee High Maroons who play at Walton Blesch Field. The huge local rivalry was between Menominee and the Marinette Marines across the river, and the M&M game would be the final and most important game of the season. I don’t think I missed a single Maroon home game from ninth through twelfth grades. Afterwards we’d go to the high school dance in the gym where my friend Bob G. would lead his band. We’d wind up the evening with hamburgers and fries at the Gateway Café on Ogden Ave.

M&M FANS (Life Magazine photo)

These are Menominee High girls responding to their school’s loss to Marinette in the annual M&M football game in the 1940’s. This was the longest running inter-state public high school game in the nation, and emotions ran high. As teens, we were advised not to cross the river to Marinette during the week preceding the game because of the possibility of harmful things being done to one’s car or person. The game was suspended some years back because of untoward behavior, and now it’s in jeopardy again because of Wisconsin state athletic association rules.

SWIMMING IN THE MENOMINEE RIVER

We spent a lot of time as children swimming in the river in front of our house. Early on my parents would join us, and my dad would do his bathing in the river. When we got older, we would swim off our raft, and my mom would sit in the lawn chair keeping a watchful eye on her prodigy. We’d swim across the river with my dad following behind in the rowboat, then graduated to swimming a half mile down the river to the old logging island near the dam. We all became pretty good swimmers.

SHERIDAN ROAD

Sheridan Road was Menominee’s main street (and still is, though it’s now become First St.). This photo is taken looking south from the intersection at Ogden Avenue (now Tenth Ave.). My dad and his law partner Dick Sawyer had an office on the second floor of the building at the left. The white building at the right, Menominee’s largest, was the Montgomery Ward building. It housed the department store and the Lloyd movie theater. Later the department store was replaced by a knitting mill; and still later the movie theater was replaced by an antique mall. The building at the front right is the Stephenson Building which housed the Carpenter Cook grocery wholesaler, where my friends Frank and Mary St. Peter’s dad was an executive. The Commercial Bank is the dark building between Montgomery Ward and the Stephenson Building. During the war I saved a nickel each week at Washington Grade School and opened my first savings account at the Commercial Bank.

ZINNIA GARDEN

Now I learn some 56 years after leaving my home town that Menominee’s official flower is the Zinnia. I couldn’t believe that I’d forgotten this, so I googled “Menominee zinnia,” and, sure enough, there was the local Zinnia Festival and the Blessing of the Fleet. I probably ignored it in my youth because I wasn’t sufficiently attuned to flowers or community events. My mother, however, was a dedicated gardener, and, for all I know, we probably had zinnias all over the place.

SUMMER FUN AT YACHT BASIN

Menominee and the U.P. have very distinct seasons of the year. Each has its own pleasures, but summer is best. It’s because the town has so much water and shoreline available, offering endless recreation for swimmers, boaters, water skiers, fishermen, etc. Before we moved out of town to the river in 1946, one of our favorite swimming places was at the Yacht Basin in Marina Park in the center of downtown. The littler kids waded along the sandy beach, and the older kids swam off the breakwater, diving into the eight-foot deep water or doing cannonballs.

ICE BOATING ON GREEN BAY

Green Bay would freeze over in the winter, and ice boating was one of the popular winter sports in Menominee. The nation’s first ice boating championships were held here. The Northwood Cove group (Caleys, Mars, Sargents) had ice boats, as did a couple of our generation’s peers (Ken D., Pat D., Jim N.). The ice boats were a colorful sight on the frozen bay.

SCHLOEGEL’S RESTAURANT

As teenagers we used to frequent Schloegel’s Restaurant on Hall Ave. in Marinette, and the Menominee restaurant (pictured here) opened years later. Located on Highway 41 on the route to Farm, it’s long been Katja’s favorite in the twin cities, and one of mine too. Great for breakfasts and whitefish dinners, it has lots of window space, a picturesque view of Green Bay, delicious homemade pies, pasties, and a well-stocked gift shop. Anyone who visits Menominee should be sure to have a meal at Schloegel’s.

MENOMINEE RIVER

Having grown up on its shoreline, I had endless experiences with the Menominee River. One memory that comes to mind is when my friends Grant B and Earl M and I, as high school juniors, set off in our motor-powered rowboat to go up the river on a multi-day camping trip and travel as far as we could go, ideally to Iron Mountain. We only had a 1.5 horsepower motor, and, after a couple of miles, the propeller hit a rock in the river and broke the cotter pin. We rowed for a while, then got out and pushed the boat in the shallow water. Finally we gave up and pitched our tent in the forest along the shore. As fate would have it, we picked a poison ivy patch to camp in. Grant came down with a serious infection that got into his lungs, and he spent a week in St. Joseph-Lloyd Hospital. We never made it anywhere near Iron Mountain.

DEER YARD AT HENES PARK

Henes Park’s deer pen has deer and buffalo co-existing, and we were always amazed that buffalo, which we associated with the Wild West, actually lived in Menominee. Later they added a little zoo with creatures like porcupines, raccoons, and a small black bear. It was cramped and not very sanitary. Last time we were there the zoo had been dismantled. Now there’s community discussion about turning the deer yard into a dog park.

FIRST STREET, THE WATERFRONT RESTAURANT

The Waterfront (above right) was Menominee’s finest restaurant throughout the decades that our family gathered for annual reunions, and my parents would host a family dinner there each time we came to visit. We’d start off with a Manhattan on the rocks. Then most of us would have broiled whitefish, seasoned with almonds, the specialty of the house. Our father would entertain with stories and revelry, my siblings and I would crack jokes, the grandchildren would be delighted to be out with the grown-ups, and we’d all have a fine time.

HUNTING SCENES

Menominee County was and is prime deer hunting country. It has a larger deer herd than any other county in the U.P. Fathers and adolescent sons from our social circle would gather at Jean Worth’s camp each November for the hunt. We’d get up before daybreak and be stationed along various deer trails in the forest. I never did see a deer on these outings, and that was o.k. since I had doubts about actually shooting at one.

LUMBER YARDS

While most of the lumber yards had disappeared from the local scene by my childhood, Menominee’s history as a lumber mecca remained part of community lore and pride. We children learned all about Paul Bunyon in school and imagined ourselves to the descendants of lumberjacks. Actually my paternal grandfather, V.A. Sr., worked in the U.P. lumber camps after emigrating from Sweden and before going to pharmacy school.

GREAT LAKES & MEMORIAL PARK

By the time we’d reached tenth grade we’d formed a friendship group of dozen or more boys and girls, and we’d spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer. The downtown marina park was one of our favorite gathering places. We’d lie on blankets, get a suntan, listen to Bing Crosby and Doris Day on a battery-powered radio, and rate the pop hits of the day. It was a close, cohesive group, and we had a lot of fun.

The Amazing Menominee

Map: The Menominee River and Surroundings

Dear George,

Growing up on the Menominee River, we had a keen awareness of the river’s impact on our daily lives. However, we had only the sketchiest knowledge about the river in its entirety -- its history, importance to the region, or how its attributes varied over its lengthy course. It is truly remarkable. At 118 miles, the Menominee is the longest river in the U.P. and serves as the interstate border between Michigan and Wisconsin through its entire course. Over 100 tributaries flow into the Menominee between its source and its mouth at Green Bay, and its total basin covers 4,070 square miles. Here are some postcard images which help tell the river’s rich story.

Coolidge Summer White House on the Brule River (circa 1928)

The Menominee River is formed at the junction of the Brule and Michigamme Rivers in the northwestern U.P. about ten miles north of Iron Mountain. Like the Menominee, the 52-mile Brule and the 67-mile Michigamme Rivers were visited by European explorers in the 1700s; then traders, trappers, and missionaries in the eighteen and nineteenth centuries, becoming important logging sites in the 1890s. In 1928 President Calvin Coolidge made his Summer White House on an island in the Brule River where he fished and learned trap shooting.

Below Compressor Falls, Menominee River, Iron Mountain, Mich. (circa 1910)

Shortly after its point of origin, the Menominee River passes next to Iron Mountain, one of the U.P.’s historical iron ore mining cities, and then Norway, Mich. Iron Mountain is the home of the former Chapin Mine, location of the largest steam-driven pumping engine in the U.S., and the Midwest’s largest bat colony.

Quinnesec Falls Power Plant on the Menominee River near Iron Mountain (circa 1950)

The Hydroelectric Plant at Big Quinnesec Falls on the Menominee River, three miles west of Iron Mountain, went into operation in 1949 and is the largest of the river’s nine power plants. Its generators produced about 220 trillion watts of electricity in 2007. The Quinnesec Paper Mill, also located on the Menominee, is the U.P.’s largest.

Piers Gorge on the Menominee River (circa 2000, photo)

Below Iron Mountain, the river drops at a rate of five feet per mile, generating a lengthy stretch of whitewater rapids. Near Norway, the 100-foot forested cliffs of Piers Gorge on the Menominee offer one of the deepest whitewater gorges in the Midwest, extending four miles. Sporting a 10-foot waterfall drop, Piers Gorge is too dangerous for boats or canoes, but attracts expert kayakers from around the nation. Bald eagles live in the gorge’s rock bluffs.

Grand Rapids Reservoir on the Menominee River (circa 2000, photo)

For most of the hundred miles below Iron Mountain and Norway, the Menominee River winds its way through largely unpopulated, forested land with no adjoining towns or villages. Large reservoirs have been created along the river’s course which have formed the region’s deepest and most pristine lakes and offer outdoor recreational opportunities, e.g., camping, fishing.

Log Jam on the Menominee River at Menominee and Marinette (circa 1910)

Historically, the Menominee, along with the Saginaw and the Muskegon, was one of the three most productive logging rivers in Michigan and Wisconsin. The great years of lumbering in the U.P. and northeastern Wisconsin were from the early 1840s to about 1910. The Menominee River Boom Company was founded in 1866. In 1899 it processed 4,250,000 logs, making Menominee the largest lumber shipping port in the world. The last Menominee River logging drive was held in 1917.

Second Dam, Menominee River Between Marinette and Menominee (circa 1910)

To aid in bringing logs down the river, the Boom Company built a total of 44 dams on the Menominee and its various tributaries.

Saw Mill, Marinette, Wisc. (circa 1910)

The first sawmill was built on the Menominee River in 1831 by William Farnsworth and Charles Brush on what's now Riverside Avenue in Marinette, and the first steam sawmill was built in Menekaunee (now eastern Marinette) in 1856. By 1895 there were 22 sawmills on the river, 9 on the Marinette side and 13 on the Menominee side. One historian wrote that Menominee “became indescribably busy with fleets of schooners carrying boards, laths, shingles, and beams down to the Chicago docks and yards.”

The Four Seasons Island Resort, Menominee River near Pembine (circa 2000)

As it enters Menominee and Marinette Counties, the Menominee River begins to be more populated. A long-existing landmark is the Four Seasons Island Resort which is located on the 100-acre Miscauno Island in the Menominee River near Pembine in Marinette County. The Four Seasons was originally opened in 1905 by the Wisconsin and Michigan Railroad. It was a favorite retreat of Chicago gangster Al Capone and his cronies in the 1920’s and ‘30’s. Capone had his own glass-walled suite which enabled him to keep an eye out for intruders from both the Marinette and Menominee county sides of the river.

Hattie St. Bridge and Menominee River Paper Mill, Marinette, Wisc. (circa 1910)

The twin cities of Menominee and Marinette grew and prospered because their location at the mouth of the Menominee River enabled the shipment of huge volumes of lumber to Chicago and other Great Lakes cities. With the demise of the logging industry in the early 1900’s, paper mills and related industries became the backbone of the local economy.

Aerial View (from 10,000 feet) of Menominee (left), Marinette (right), and the Menominee River (circa 1940s)

The Menominee River is still central to industry in the twin cities. Today two paper mills, a chemical company, two wastewater treatment plants a shipbuilding company, and a foundry are located on the river in Menominee and Marinette.

Draw Bridge from Menekaunee Dock, Marinette, Wis. (circa 1910)

Three vehicle bridges cross the Menominee River between Menominee and Marinette: the Hattie St. Bridge to the west; the Interstate Bridge (Highway 41) in the middle; and the Menekaunee Bridge on the east. The Menekaunee Bridge is a drawbridge which allows for the passage of big Great Lakes ships into the Menominee River harbor and its various commercial and industrial loading docks.

There’s a lot more that might be said, of course. For my purposes, though, I think it’s quite amazing to contemplate how the river shapes communities, the economy, and people’s lives. It’s no wonder that we think that the Menominee River affected our lives. That’s been true for millions of others too.

Love,

Dave

SOURCES:

www.wikipedia.org (“Menominee River”, “Menominee, Michigan”)

www.michigandnr.com (“Menominee River/Piers Gorge”)

www.menominee.genwebsite.net (“Menominee County History”)

Google Images (“Menominee River postcard”, “Menominee River”, “Piers Gorge”)

G-mail Comments

-Gayle C-L (1-7): David, Ur amazing Thank you always for these wonderful letters… Lots of love. G :).

Holy Smokes, A Holy Lamb

Dear George,

The conservatory in Eden Park has been holding its holiday floral and model train display, so Katja and I went over to see it. As an added bonus, there was an insurance company-sponsored crèche next door which featured some big plastic wise men plus four or five contented sheep who were laying around munching hay. The sheep were roly-poly, and we didn’t even notice that one of them was pregnant, but then we heard on the news that she’d had her baby at 9:30 p.m. on Xmas Eve. A night watchman had assisted in the birth. The baby’s name hadn’t yet been finalized, but the conservatory director proposed “Merry” as in “Little Merry Xmas.” On New Years Day our friend Donna brought her sheepdog Sophie over, and we took the three dogs to Eden Park for a hike. We were pleased to find that the new baby lamb was out in a fenced enclosure with its relatives. Our sheepdogs, who have only seen sheep once in their lives, looked them over with instinctual interest, and the mother ewe eyed the dogs warily in turn. By New Years the media had begun reporting that the lamb had been born on Xmas day and that its name was “Christmas Mary”. The news stories seemed to imply that a miracle of sorts had occurred at Eden Park (a fitting place, of course, for miracles). Actually to be initially born on Xmas Eve and then to be born a second time on Xmas Day is something of a miracle. I’m not positive why they changed the lamb’s name to Mary, but it could be to honor Mary Tyler Moore whose TV company produced the popular sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati.” In any case, the creche’s insurance sponsor has put up funds to guarantee that Baby Mary Christmas will reappear at the crèche each holiday season for the rest of her life. Because she’ll never been this tiny and cute again, I thought I’d better take these pictures and pass them along for posterity.

Love,

Dave

G-mail Comments

-Phyllis S-S (1-4): Dave, How adorable - especially the one where she is running. How early for a lamb though. My dad used to time his lambing for March… pss