Monthly Archives: August 2022
My aunt, Dixie Richards is my mom’s second to youngest sibling. She was always a soft-spoken girl, and still is to this day. Aunt Dixie, and her husband, Uncle Jim Richards have pretty much always been caregivers. They took care of members of his family, and later, they took care of members of her family. They both just have a caregiver’s heart, and though the work is hard, they pushed through the fatigue and got the job done. Being a caregiver is a hard job, and the people who do it can do it to their own detriment. I’m thankful that Aunt Dixie and Uncle Jim are still with us after so many years of caregiving.
Their health probably did suffer some as a result of their years of caregiving, but their children, who have watched their parents’ years of service to others and learned to be great caregivers too. The girls have homes just steps from their parents’ home, and they all take meals 
together. It’s a nice way to help their parents and have that fellowship with them too. As the old saying goes, “children learn what they live.” It’s not that Aunt Dixie and Uncle Jim’s kids are little anymore, but they have all learned to be caregivers, and now their children are learning to be caregivers too. It is such an honorable thing to do for your parents and grandparents. Having been a caregiver and part of a caregiver team for 17 years, I can tell you that there is much stress, heartache, lack of sleep, confusion, and lack of resources, that go along with that job. If a person chooses to take that task on, they should be commended, because they truly are superheroes. That is what Aunt Dixie, Uncle Jim, and their kids have been for a long time, and it is something they have done well. Each one of them have that caregiver’s heart, and it shows in all they do.
Aunt Dixie and Uncle Jim have been daycare givers for a long time too…at least until their own grandchildren have grown old enough to take care of themselves. They initially ran an actual daycare, to which a number of my cousins and their children went, but later it was just their own grandchildren. It was a great blessing for all the children they cared for, and for their parents as well. Aunt Dixie, who was the main daycare provider during the many years that Uncle Jim worked, always made going there lots of fun for the kids. She is so kindhearted, and all the kids loved her. In fact, many of the cousins and their kids who went there, have told me just how fun their time there was. It was a wonderful blessing for all of them. Today is Aunt Dixie’s 79th birthday. Hapy birthday Aunt Dixie!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My grandnephew, Keifer Balcerzak is a busy guy these days. Keifer and his wife, Katie now have two kids, with the addition of Aysa on November 8, 2021, making their daughter, Reece a big sister. Keifer and Katie are wonderful parents, who are always encouraging their children to experience life to its fullest. Keifer love most sports, and these days plays softball, in addition to the sports he loves to watch. In fact, the teams he has played on have taken first place a number of times, including this year when the team he was on with his dad, were the All Around Safety USSSA Wyoming State Champions. I can see down the road, that Keifer will have lots of fun watching and participating in sports with his kids and probably even coaching as the years go by…maybe he already has with Reece. Keifer and Katie are definitely “hands-on” when it comes to raising their kids. They love to do things with them, encourage their personal growth, and show them all the possibilities in life. Keifer and Katie really are great parents.
Keifer and Katie are two of the happiest people I know. They are always smiling. They have been together for a long time now, and I can’t imagine it any other way. Some couples are just perfect for each other right from the start, and even though they are young, you can tell that it’s a forever kind of love. Keifer and Katie’s marriage has withstood the test of time, and now they have been married over 7 years. They are still very much in love, and they are still very happy. It’s a wonderful thing to see. Their family is very blessed, and now with their second child, complete. They have their daughter, and they have their son. It’s like what many people would consider the perfect family.
Keifer is his daughter’s superhero, and his son’s best buddy. Keifer loves being a dad. He is also a wonderful 
uncle to his nieces and nephews. Keifer really just loves kids in general, of all ages…and they love him. He’s so much like his dad, Dave Balcerzak. Both of them are like big teddy bears, and their smiling faces draw the kids to them both. Keifer and his dad love to watch football together, and unless something has changed, they both love the Pittsburgh Steelers. That does make for a more compatible game time. Keifer is just a guy who loves his family and loves life. Today is Keifer’s birthday. Happy birthday Keifer!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
Most people today wouldn’t remember a 1920s show called “Our Gang” unless they happen to be an old black and white movie buff. The show was about a “gang” of young kids, and all the mischief they got into. Of course, they weren’t bad kids, just adventurous kids. One of those kids was Robert E “Bobby” Hutchins, who was born on March 29, 1925, to James and Olga (Constance) Hutchins in Tacoma, Washington. His father was a native of Kentucky and his mother a native of Washington. Young Hutchins was a popular child actor who played “Wheezer” in the “Our Gang” movies. His short movie career began in 1927, when he was just 2 years old. He was only eight 
when he left the series in 1933. Hutchins was given the nickname of “Wheezer” after running around the studios on his first day so much that he began to wheeze. The nickname fit him so well that it was incorporated into the show. Wheezer appeared in 58 “Our Gang” films during his six years in the series. For much of his run, “Wheezer” was portrayed as the tag-along little brother, put off by the older children but always eager to be part of the action.
As would always be the case with a show like “Our Gang,” Hutchins eventually outgrew the series, so he and his family moved back to Tacoma, where he 
entered public school. After he graduated from high school, he joined the US Army Air Forces in 1943, enrolling in the Aviation Cadet Program with the goal of becoming a pilot. Hutchins was killed in a mid-air collision on May 17, 1945, while trying to land a North American AT-6D-NT Texan, serial number 42-86536, of the 3026th Base Unit, during a training exercise. Hutchins’ plane struck an AT-6C-15-NT Texan, 42-49068, of the same unit at Merced Army Air Field in Merced, California…later known as Castle Air Force Base. The other pilot, Edward F Hamel, survived the crash. Hutchins’ mother, Olga Hutchins, had been scheduled to travel to the airfield for his graduation from flying school, which would have occurred the week after he died. He is buried in the Parkland Lutheran Cemetery in Tacoma, Washington. When you see him acting the “Our Gang” movies, it’s really sad to think that his life would be cut short at the age of just 20 years. Nevertheless, he was doing what he really wanted to do, and serving his country in the process.
When we think of structures that have stood the test of time, we think of stone structures or structures made out of hard woods that are able to weather the elements, but sometimes a structure defies the normal expectations, as stands the test of time against all odds. There is a house in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada that is the perfect example of that kind of structure.
A local saloon owner named Tom Kelly decided to build a house in 1906. Unfortunately, lumber was scarce in the area at the time, so the innovative 76-year-old saloon owner decided to use the materials at hand to build his house…bottles. Not many people would have come up with such an idea, much less have the ability to carry out the strange design and actually make it a house. An estimated 50,000 beer, whiskey, soda, and medicine bottles were used to build the structure, and amazingly, it is still standing today. Tom Kelley was 76 years old when he built the house that took him almost six months to complete. Thankfully he didn’t have to drink all the alcohol in those 50,000 bottles. The bottle house also sports a “garden” of sculptures made of broken glass 
including miniature houses, bottle ropes, and a host of other “glass treasures” that would probably qualify as junk to most of us, but they seem to fit the bottle house perfectly.
There was a period of time when the house was in some disrepair, but amazingly it was things like needing a new roof that caused the disrepair, not broken bottles in the structure. In 1925, Paramount Pictures wanted to use the house in a movie, so as part of the deal, they restored and re-roofed the house. The house, which really is pretty cute, was given to the Beatty Improvement Association for maintenance as a historical site. That might be part of why it still stands today, but the work that went into it originally was a big part of the house’s ability to stand the test of time.
Louis J Murphy leased and maintained the house as a museum that he ran with a woman named Bessie Stratton Moffat until he died in 1956. Later, a man named Tommy Thompson and his wife lived in the house, while maintaining a museum and a relic shop. How unique it must have been to live in such a house. No, it’s not a big house, and probably doesn’t have a monetary value that would rival today’s market, but its value really lies in a different area. The house fit the Thompsons, however. Tommy was a musician, who worked 
playing the accordion in the saloons in Rhyolite back when it was a boomtown. Evan Thompson maintained the house for a while after his parents died. He is the last person to actually live in the house, but he finally moved on, living in Pioneer, Nevada now. Once again, the bottle house stands empty, no longer in use, but still as resilient as ever.
As a kid, I remember going to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, and Lake Mead. I particularly enjoyed Lake Mead, because the water was warm, unlike most lakes. At the time, and for many years afterward, I really didn’t know much about the lake, its origins, or its secrets. These days, I maybe know too much about its secrets. In fact, some of them are really creepy. Many lakes sport hidden ghost towns, underground ranches, and various sunken boats. There are probably more bodies in them that we know or want to think about too, but when a drought occurs and we find ourselves hearing about body after body being found in a lake that is close to one of the big mob-controlled areas of the nation, it makes you wonder exactly what happened here and just how many more bodies will surface. Well, in the case of Lake Mead, the answer is a total of five bodies…so far. Who knows how many more will surface.
One body was found in a barrel, with a gun nearby, causing speculation of a mob killing, and possibly making people who might have been the perpetrators of mob murders…if they are still alive, to become a little nervous about their crimes being found out. Of course, the police aren’t telling us much, but it is said that the body in the barrel, discovered in May, had been shot in the head and after being stuffed in the barrel it was thrown overboard, in the hope that it would never be seen again. It was the type of killing that was classic mob style, or so we’ve been told in the movies. Las Vegas was, and maybe still is, a big mob crime city, and this type of killing was a trademark in the 1970s and 19802. So, it is entirely possible that the killer is still alive and could be brought to justice.
Shortly after the body in the barrel was found, another body surfaced, and then in July a third body was found. Days after the body in the barrel surfaced, another corpse was reported. A third was discovered in July. Now, the skeletal remains of two more people were found just this month in the Swim Beach area. It makes me 
wonder how many more bodies will surface, if the drought continues and the lake level continues to drop. The lake level has dropped nearly 200 feet due to two decades of drought. Right now, the lake is very close to the level it was when it was originally filled after the building of Hoover Dam. I guess the old saying about the truth finding you out is true. the bodies, some long hidden, are coming out to tell of their demise.
My brother-in-law, Mike Stevens has been a part of our family since he married my sister, Alena (Spencer) Stevens on July 21, 1984. Their marriage has been blessed with many years, three children, Michelle (Matt) Miller, Garrett (Kayla) Stevens, and Lacey (Chris Killinger) Stevens. They also have two granddaughters, Elliott and Maya Stevens, and two bonus grandchildren, Brooklyn and Jaxon Killinger. These days, Mike and Alena have a little more time to enjoy their beautiful family, because on July 1, 2022, Mike retired. Alena had retired a couple of years ago, and now they are free to go and do as they please. I know that finally having the freedom to go without thinking about having to work is an awesome feeling. It’s the reward for all those years of hard work.
Mike worked in the Salt Creek Oil Field for 39 years, starting with Amoco in 1983. The company changed hands 
and names several times, and at the time Mike retired, it was Contango Energy. Mike worked his way up in the oil field business, and by the time he retired, he was the Compression Foreman. As I recall his job as Compression Foreman required that he be available pretty much 24/7. He was a vital part of the project, and they depended on him. He also Mike was well liked and much respected.
That is all behind Mike now. He and Alena have new plans now. They love to go camping and fishing, and Mike also hunts. Mike also has a green thumb, and he loves growing things. Since his last day on the job, Mike has been able to meet that newest little granddaughter, Maya, who was born June 24th, just days before her grandpa retired. Such a blessing…almost like a retirement present. Now that they are both retired, so many fun things are ahead of them. Mostly though, they can relax, and not rush to work all the time. They are free to do 
the things they want do, when they want to.
Today we are going to celebrate the wonderful man, husband, dad, grandpa, brother, and son that Mike is. He has been a blessing to those around him all his life. He was a hard worker and is a thoughtful man. He has helped with projects for our parents, and that endeared him to them too. I’m so glad that he and my sister got together. Mike is a great addition to our family. Have a wonderful retirement, Mike!! We love you!!
It happens with every child, some sooner, some later. Either way, our babies grow up and it always happens much sooner than we want it to. It’s especially hard for parents, when it’s the youngest child. That is the position my niece Jenny Spethman and her husband, Steve find themselves in when it comes to their youngest child, Aleesia Spethman. It’s not that Aleesia is all grown up or anything, but she isn’t their little girl anymore either. Now Aleesia calls herself a “pre-teen” and insists that everyone else does too.
This year, she decided to get rid of all of her little girl stuff. She got rid of the pink room and painted it a beautiful turquoise. She’s got her own style and doesn’t want her mom fixing her hair like a little girl. Aleesia is a sweet girl, the family princess, with three big brothers watching out for her all the time. She doesn’t resist their watchful eyes, but rather loves having three big brothers.
The family just got back from a trip to Rapid City to have some fun at the water park. Aleesia and her brothers, Xander, Zack, and Isaac, as well as Xanders girlfriend Alli Simpson are like fish. They all love to go swimming and play at the water park, as do Aleesia’s parents. A great time was had by all, and with school right around the corner, it was a nice final summer break. In fact, Aleesia has had a really great summer She’s been hanging out with her friends, and occasionally her grandma, my sister, Cheryl Masterson, but maybe not quite as much as she did when she was little. That’s a bittersweet thing to my sister, because Aleesia is her youngest grandchild, and she is growing up 
way too fast.
Aleesia is going into 5th grade, which means that this is her final year of elementary school. This year she gets to be the big kid on campus, and the next year, she’s the little one again. Still, she’s not really little anymore. When Aleesia was a baby, her mom bought a trike with a basket, so she could ride with the family, and Aleesia could ride in the basket. Jenny still has it, but now, Aleesia took it over. I guess she can carry her own stuff in it now. She may not really have a need to carry anything in it, but she likes it, so that’s all that matters. Today is Aleesia’s 10th birthday. Happy birthday Aleesia!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
Until August 18, 1941, Adolf Hitler had been systematically murdering the mentally ill and developmentally disabled people in Germany, but word was getting out, and the “good” people of Germany were understandably outraged by such an evil practice. The people began protesting, and in an effort to avoid rioting, Hitler announced on this day in 1941, that the practice would cease. I’m sure the people were glad, and they most likely thought they had won this battle, but as we all know, Adolf Hitler is a man who lies…in fact it was all lies!!
The killing began in 1939, when head of Hitler’s Euthanasia Department, Dr Viktor Brack oversaw the creation of the T.4 program. At first, the program began systematically killing of children deemed “mentally defective.” Children were transported from all over Germany to a Special Psychiatric Youth Department, after being told that the children were going to be treated there, but they were killed instead. Parents were told that their children had become ill, and simply died. Later, because of Hitler’s hatred mainly for Jewish people, certain criteria were established for non-Jewish children. Even if they “qualified” to be killed because of their mental issues, they had to be “certified” mentally ill, schizophrenic, or incapable of working for one reason or another before they could be killed. Jewish children already in mental hospitals, whatever the reason or whatever the prognosis, were automatically to be subject to the program and killed. The victims were either injected with lethal substances or were led to “showers” where the children sat as gas flooded the room through water pipes. Later the program was expanded to include adults.
As this practice continued, the people started getting angry, and before long protests began mounting within Germany, especially by doctors and pastors. A few of these people even had the courage to write Hitler directly and describe the T.4 program as “barbaric” but others circulated their opinions more discreetly. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and the man who would direct the systematic extermination of European Jewry, had only one regret: that the SS had not been put in charge of the whole affair. “We know how to deal with it correctly, without causing useless uproar among the people.”
In 1941, when Bishop Count Clemens von Galen denounced the euthanasia program from his pulpit, Hitler decided that he did not need such publicity. He ordered the program suspended but didn’t tell the German people that the suspension was only to be in Germany. Still, even though it was suspended in Germany, 50,000 
people had already fallen victim to the hideous program. Then came the “other shoe dropping” as the practice was picked up in earnest in occupied Poland. Hitler was a liar, and he was evil. He assumed that the people of the world were stupid, and he could hide his horrific practice from them. Stopping the practice in the name of humane practices…not!! Lies!! All of it!!
There are men of war, and then there are men of war. United States General George S Patton was the latter…meaning that he almost lived for war. Patton was a man who came from a long line of military people, and while he wasn’t always a tactful man, he was a great warrior…a fact that he proved over and over again. Many people didn’t like him much, but they couldn’t deny his capabilities. Patton was a great leader, but he wasn’t really a people person, and that got him in some trouble.
George Smith Patton Jr, who was born to George Smith Patton Sr and his wife, Ruth Wilson, the daughter of Benjamin Davis Wilson on November 11, 1885, in San Gabriel, California. Maybe because of his family history, or maybe it was just him, but Patton never seriously considered a career other than the military. At the age of seventeen he tried for an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He also applied to several universities with Reserve Officer’s Training Corps programs, and was accepted to Princeton College, but eventually decided on Virginia Military Institute (VMI), which his father and grandfather had attended. Later, after studying at West Point, he served as a tank officer in World War I. Patton loved the tank, and his time as a tank officer, as well as his military strategy studies led him to become an advocate of the crucial importance of the tank in future warfare. When the United States entered World War II, Patton became the logical choice for the command of an important US tank division, and his division played a key role in the Allied invasion of French North Africa in 1942. Then, in 1943, in the Allied assault on Sicily, Patton and the US 7th Army in its assault on Sicily and won fame for out-commanding Montgomery during their pincer movement against Messina. Patton loved competition, and this was his chance to shine. On August 17, 1943, Patton and his 7th Army arrived in Messina several hours before British Field Marshal Bernard L Montgomery and his 8th Army, winning the unofficial “Race to Messina” and completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
Although Patton was one of the most capable American commanders in World War II, he was also one of the most controversial. Patton was a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” kind of guy, and therefore had no personal understanding of fear or fatigue. PTSD, battle fatigue, or shell shock were conditions he could not accept in anyone. In fact, they infuriated him so much that he actually slapped two soldiers who were suffering with the conditions. During the Sicilian campaign, Patton generated considerable controversy when he accused a hospitalized US soldier suffering from battle fatigue of cowardice and then personally struck him across the face. The famously profane general was forced to issue a public apology and was reprimanded by General Dwight Eisenhower. They would have liked to “walk away” from Patton, but when it came time for the invasion of Western Europe, Eisenhower couldn’t find a general as formidable as Patton, so, once again Patton was granted an important military post. In 1944, Patton commanded the US 3rd Army in the invasion of France. Then, in 
December of that year Patton’s great expertise in military movement and tank warfare helped to crush the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes.
During one of his many successful campaigns, General Patton was said to have declared, “Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance.” Patton died in a hospital in Germany on December 21, 1945, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident near Mannheim. He was just 60 years old.
I never met my grandfather, Allen Luther Spencer, because he passed away on October 16, 1951, and I was born in 1956. Grandpa worked for the Great Northern Railway as a carpenter. You might wonder what a carpenter would do on the railroad, but if you think about it, the seats on those trains were wooden, and as such, they could break or age, and would need repairs or replacement. That is just one part of the trains and stations that is made of wood. Grandpa’s train carpentry comes to my mind every time I ride the 1880 train in the Black Hills. The work done to restore those old cars, which would have been in my grandfather’s era, makes me think of the kind of work he must have done. The work in those train cars is beautiful. It’s not all fancy, but it’s very nice work. I don’t suppose all the work he did would have been in train cars from the Gilded Age, but I’m sure it was nice for the time.
Grandpa also made furniture, and in fact was really pretty good at it. I wish I could have seen some of the things he made. As a carpenter for the railroad, you know he had a talent for woodworking. I’m sure that in his day, many people made their own furniture, and the best ones developed a real talent for it. There are a number of people in our family who have inherited that talent, and with the proper tools and great imaginations, they have gone further than what Grandpa did. I’m sure grandpa would have been shocked at all the things that can be done with wood these days, but I would love to have something he made, nevertheless.
Grandpa’s work on the Great Northern Railway afforded his kids, as dependents, a free pass to ride the trains whenever they wanted to. They just had to show the pass and they could go between their farm in Holyoke, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin. They loved it, and my dad, Allen Spencer, loved trains until the day he went home to Heaven, and beyond. Of course, having a pass didn’t stop my dad and my Uncle Bill Spencer from 
hopping the train…a big no-no, but to them, a lot of fun. I sometimes wonder why they didn’t take away their passes, but I guess they figured that “boys will be boys” and after all they had a pass. They loved having their dad work for the railroad, because they loved the trains. Today is the 143rd anniversary of Grandpa Spencer’s birth. Happy birthday in Heaven, Granda Spencer. We love and miss you very much.
