Monthly Archives: August 2025
My brother-in-law, Mike Reed is always busy doing something. He and my iter, Caryl Reed bought a piece of property west of Casper a few years ago and built a house and barn there. Now they grow hay on the front part of the property. It’s been a great business for them. They bought one of those Huge rolling watering systems, and Make moves it around to take care of the hay. I find it pretty amazing really, because neither Mike or Caryl ever did any farming before, but they have really figured out all the trick and skills needed to make it work.
Their house is beautiful, and they have really enjoyed entertaining there. They did find that while most of the family comes into the house through the garage, because it is the main entrance, anyone who doesn’t come there as family, feels awkward about that entrance. That said, they decided to build a deck out front and put in a door off of the deck that comes directly into the dining room. It was a great idea and looks beautiful. Mike and our brother-in-law, Mike Stevens dis all the work 
together, and it is stunning. The guys really excelled in the craftsmanship of this door and deck. Another thing that Mike does, and often with the help of Mike Stevens is restoring old cars. Once restored, the cars are usually sold, and for much more that Mike purchased the car for in the first place. Of course, the vehicle is now worth much more than when he purchased it too. As I said, his craftsmanship is amazing.
When he isn’t working on the crops, the house, or the cars, Mike likes to do all the typical guy things…golf, hunting, and fishing. Mike has taken trips to Alaska, and Africa to go hunting. His trophy room looks amazing with the heads of the animals he has hunted. His trip to Africa was one of the highlights of his hunting “career” 
although he would probably not go back. The politics and the treatment of the workers was off-putting. Mike has a good heart, and he is always kind. I’m sure that is what drew my sister to her future husband in the first day. They are a perfect match, and we are all very happy with our brother-in-law. Today is Mike’s birthday. Happy birthday Mike!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
Everyone has eaten popsicles a one time or another, but did you know that they were actually a complete accident…albeit a sweet accident. The popsicle was “invented” by one Frank Epperson, who was a mere 11 years old at the time. The year was 1905. Epperson had been enjoying a sweet drink that he was stirring to keep it mixed. When he went to bed, he completely forgot about his sweet drink, and left it on the porch overnight. It was a freezing cold night, and when he woke up, he found the frozen drink with a stick in it. Like most curious kids, he gave it a try, and thought it was great.
Epperson decided that he was on to something, especially on the hot days of summer. Epperson named his new treat the “Epsicle” and shared it with his friends. It was an instant hit, and Epperson continued to make and share his accidental invention with his friends, and later his own children. As kids will do, Epperson’s kids changed the name. They began calling the treats “Pop’s ‘sicles” and the name stuck. In 1922, he unveiled his creation at a fireman’s ball, where it reportedly became “a sensation.” By 1923, Epperson started selling the frozen treats to the public at Neptune Beach, an 
amusement park in Alameda, California. Epperson being the smart man that he was, applied for the patent in 1923, and the “Popsicle” brand name was born. In 1924, he secured a patent for his “frozen confectionery,” initially named “the Epsicle ice pop.” Later, at his children’s suggestion, he renamed it Popsicle. The original Popsicles came in fruity flavors and were advertised as “a frozen drink on a stick.”
Six months after patenting the Popsicle, Good Humor filed a lawsuit against Popsicle Corporation. By October 1925, they reached an out-of-court settlement. Popsicle agreed to pay Good Humor a licensing fee to produce frozen suckers made from ice and sherbet. Meanwhile, Good Humor retained the exclusive right to manufacture similar products using ice cream, frozen custard, and related ingredients.
In 1925, Epperson sold the rights to the Popsicle to the Joe Lowe Company of New York, which created a subsidiary called Popsicle Industries to market the product. “I was broke and had to sell all my assets. I haven’t 
been the same since,” he later admitted. In 1965, Popsicle Industries was acquired by Consolidated Foods Corporation (later renamed Sara Lee). By 1986, Sara Lee was struggling to make Popsicle profitable and sold the United States operations to the Gold Bond Ice Cream Company in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In 1987, the Canadian operations were sold to AmBrit Inc, and in 1990, Empire of Carolina purchased the Canadian operations from AmBrit. Meanwhile, in 1989, Good Humor, a subsidiary of Unilever, acquired the United States rights to Popsicle from Gold Bond and integrated the operations into its Good Humor-Breyers division. Finally, in 1993, Unilever bought the Klondike brand and the Canadian Popsicle operations from Empire of Carolina, thereby reuniting the brand for both markets under the Good Humor-Breyers division.
The 1936 Summer Olympics began on August 4, 1936, in Berlin, Germany. The German Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler was in the process of putting his notion of an Aryan “Master Race” on the world stage. This would be one of the key points that triggered World War II, and Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. The Summer Olympics had been awarded to Germany on April 26, 1931, long before the atrocities against the Jews, Gypsies, and others were put in place. The decision was made during the 29th International Olympic Committee meeting, where Berlin outbid Barcelona for the hosting rights. The American people, while still struggling with forms of racism, had at lease moved further forward, was in the area of athletics, not that it took much to be less racist than Hitler. One such athlete was the American track star, Jesse Owens who won gold in the long jump at the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Owens’ victory marked the second of four gold medals he earned in Berlin. There was no doubt that he totally disproved Adolf Hitler’s belief in the superiority of an Aryan “master race” on a global stage.
Jesse Owens first came on the international radar on May 25, 1935, at just 21 years of age. At the time he was an undergrad at Ohio State University. Nevertheless, he set three world records and tied another at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On that amazing day, “The Buckeye Bullet” started his afternoon by running the 100-yard dash in just 9.4 seconds to tie the world record. Just 10 minutes later, Owens jumped 26′ 8¾” thereby setting a world record he would hold until 1951. Then, just ten minutes after that, Owens set another world record in the 220-yard dash with a time of 20.3 seconds. Finally, less than an hour after his afternoon of competition started, Owens ran the 220-yard hurdles in 22.6 seconds for his third outright world record of the day. Owens’ impressive performance caused a sensation across the United States, and the track world looked forward to following his progress at the upcoming 1936 Olympics. America was excited about the Olympic prospects of this man.
The following day Owens won his third gold medal and set his second Olympic record of the games in the 200 meters. On August 9th, in an event that became controversial, Owens and the American 4 x 100-meter relay team set a new world record, finishing in just 39.8 seconds. The controversy was that Owens and teammate, Ralph Metcalfe replaced two American Jews, Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller in the race, who were originally scheduled to run the relay that day. The exchange of two members of the American team brought criticism, 
because the move was thought to be an appeasement of Hitler and the Nazi party, who would likely have been even angrier to see Jews, already a frequent target of Nazi hate and harassment, bring home a medal. I think that was a sad move for America to make, but it is done, so we will take the gold medal to show Hitler a thing or two, not that he learned anything.
My grandniece, Elliott Stevens has been a very busy girl this summer. She has been attending a number of summer camps with camps this summer. Elliott is a very active little girl. She loves dance and gymnastics, to name a couple of things. She just finished up “Wicked Camp” at the dance academy and they did a little performance at the end of the week. I guess I’m a little behind on kid movies, because I didn’t know that “Wicked” was a movie… duh!! Anyway, Elliott would know, and she would have been totally excited about this camp. Elliott’s mom, Kayla Stevens like to give her lots of options for camps and summer fun. Elliott also did nature camp, backyard camp, and a few others. It’s been a really great summer, and since school is getting ready to start up again, Elliott is looking forward to the next school year.
Not everything that Elliott did this year was “wonderful” unfortunately. A while back, she had her tonsils out, and the doctor didn’t get all of the tonsils, meaning that she would have to have another procedure done. They 
took her to Billings a month ago, where she had her adenoids, which had grown back, removed, as well as the rest of her tonsils. This reduced some of the blockage in her sinuses. She has healed up perfectly this time, and they just got back from her follow up appointment yesterday It was all good. The trip back to Billings was fun for her. She got to go shopping and they went to a place called “Lava Island” which is a jump and climbing park. They stayed at the hotel that has a waterpark called “The Reef.” They all had a wonderful time.
Elliott’s family spent the Independence Day holiday at the lake with the rest of the Stevens family. The lake was always Elliott’s grandma, Alena Stevens’ happy place, and so it was a happy but sad event, since Alena went to Heaven on April 23, 2025. Nevertheless, I know that my sister would have loved to see her family celebrating the holiday and the fireworks. Elliott and her grandma were very close. Alena had a kind of “Grandma Sparkle” that she passed to Elliott and her little sister, Maya. Elliott loves makeup and nails and dresses and all the girly things!!
Elliott and her family have been busy almost every weekend this summer. She got to go to the rodeo and the 
carnival. Elliott, Maya, and Garrett got to go along with Kayla on some of her work trips as well, which has been really nice. Alena used to stay with the girls when Kayla had to be away, so things have had to change a little in that regard. Elliott is getting so tall and grown up. It’s been a bit of a shock to her parents. She lost both of her front teeth recently. It was a little bit of an “unconventional” way to lose them, however. One of them was pulled out as they were taking the tube out after surgery. They said it just popped right out. The other one she lost because she fell at Playland and hit it on a bar, and it fell right out. Wow! Well, at least the tooth fairy got to visit. That’s the good part anyway. Today is Elliott’s 7th birthday. Happy birthday Elliott! Have a great day! We love you!
My brother-in-law, LJ Cook has been a part of the Schulenberg family just six months longer than I have, although he was dating my sister-in-law for a while before that. Nevertheless, we share some of the same early memories of the family. We double dated, his future wife, Debbie Cook and my future husband, Bob Schulenberg were brother and sister, and they were just 16 months apart in age. Those were fun times.
LJ served as an MP in the Army from 1968 to 1971 during the 
Vietnam Era. For a long time, that was all I knew about his service. I used to think of MPs as mainly dealing with disobedient military personnel, like in the movie “Stripes” or the show “MASH,” but movies don’t always tell the whole story. LJ completed basic training at Fort Ord in the Monterey Bay area of California. After that, he went to MP school at Fort Gordon, southwest of Atlanta, Georgia. Once his training was complete, LJ flew to Frankfurt, Germany, and then on to Mannheim, where he spent the rest of his service as an MP at the Mannheim Prison. I suppose that time was part of what qualified him as a candidate for law enforcement work.
So, he went on to become a Deputy Sheriff in Natrona County, which may have been where he met Debbie. I’m not sure on that really. Of course, Debbie was never in trouble with the law, so it wouldn’t have been a meeting involving his profession. LJ did love to “use” his profession the “pick on” his future brother-in-law…my husband, Bob. One of his favorite things to do was to pull Bob over on CY Avenue, in Casper, which was the main strip for the 
high school crown in the 70s. Bob wasn’t in trouble either, but LJ took great pleasure in pulling him over, complete with flashing lights. It was all in good fun, and Bob wasn’t offended. In fact, it rather cemented their relationship as brothers-in-law and a lifelong friendship. They were both jokesters and so had a good time. LJ and Debbie moved to Powell, Wyoming years ago, so we don’t see them as much, but we love them very much. Today is LJ’s 76th birthday. Happy birthday LJ!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My grandmother, Anna “Schumacher” Spencer had a cool motherhood story, when she gave birth to her firstborn, a daughter, Laura “Spencer” Fredrick on her own birthday…August 3rd, 1912. It was my grandmother’s 25th birthday. Nothing was ever said as to how Grandma felt about the special birth. Some people might have taken it all in stride, while others might have made it a big deal every year. Of course, much would depend on the era of such births too. The year 1912, likely found my grandmother having her child at home, and I don’t believe her parents lived in the same state. So, it was Grandma, Grandpa, and their baby daughter, in their remote little house in International Falls, Minnesota, where Grandpa worked in the lumber industry, and at that time, Grandma is a stay-at-home mom. Sometime before 1920 the little family moved to Ranger, Texas so Grandpa could work in the oil fields, but by 1922, they were back in Wisconsin.
Times were tough, and like many mothers, my grandma found herself running a hotel just over ten years later, 
while her daughter cared for her baby brother, my Uncle Bill Spencer. By then, Grandpa had gone to work for the Great Northern Railroad, and things got a little bit better. Later, two more children were added to the family, my dad, Allen Spencer and my aunt, Ruth “Spencer” Wolfe. Their family was complete. They were living in Holyoke, Minnesota then and they had a little farm. They grew hay and the kids all remember making haystacks. Grandpa was a carpenter with the railroad, making and repairing the seats, and other parts of the trains. Grandma and the kids did much of the farm work. That is often how it was back then.
My grandmother was one tough lady. She was no stranger to hard work, and the kids all learned to work hard too. Aunt Laura, being ten+ years older than the rest of her siblings, got married on May 5, 1932, and soon 
moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The rest of the family didn’t get to see quite as much of her after that, but they tried hard to keep in touch. Over the years, the family lived in a number of placed, including Casper, Wyoming and for Aunt Laura, Portland, Oregon, which is where She passed away on May 16, 2002 at the age of 89 years. Grandma passed away in July 11, 1956, in Superior, Wisconsin. I was just 2½ months old at the time, so I never knew her. Grandma was 68 years old at the time of her passing. Happy birthday in Heaven, Grandma Spencer and Aunt Laura. We love and miss you very much.
My nephew, Sean Mortensen is as active as his daughter, Jadyn is, and so is his partner, Amanda Reed. This family has been living an adventurous life for more than 22 years now, and it’s been a wild ride. They love time on the lake in the Summer, and the mountains in the Winter. This Summer, they have picked up the sport of Bow Fishing, and they are really enjoying that. Before they started Bow Fishing, I had never heard of it before. I know, I’m revealing my “non-fisherman” status. I just never got into it. Nevertheless, this family does, and they catch the big fish. I don’t know what places, but I know they have won prizes in the various fishing derbies. Competition is all part of the fun…right!!
Sean loves most sports, but especially extreme sports. In the Winter, his favorite place to be is half buried in a 
snowbank somewhere. He might be riding a 4-wheeler, motorcycle, or snowmobile, but ending up deep in the snow is the best place to land. Summer finds him at the lake boating, fishing, or skiing, unless he is hiking on a mountain, that is. I have never seen such busy people. Sean and Amanda have a great group of friends, who love hanging out together, and you just never know what they will come up with next.
Three years ago, Sean bought an HVAC business called Triangle Heating and Air, LLC, and it has been doing very well for him. The company has received excellent reviews on various rating sites and holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, which speaks volumes about Sean’s leadership as the owner. When he’s not working, Sean spends time maintaining their home and enjoying their toys, which bring them a lot of joy. While 
hard work and heavy labor are important, everyone knows that all work and no play isn’t the way to go. Sean and Amanda have really made it their motto, to live life to the fullest. For them that means never slowing down and sometimes, living on the edge. They love the thrill of competition and the adrenalin rush of speed and a little bit of flying, thankfully the keep their speeding to the trails, the snow, or the water, and not so much on public roads. Speeding tickets wouldn’t be fun. Today is Sean’s 40th birthday. Happy birthday Sean!! Win big in Vegas!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My grandniece, Jadyn Mortensen is an amazing girl. It’s hard for me to believe that she is turning 21 today. I have watched her grow from babyhood, through girlhood, becoming an accomplished horsewoman, gaining a full ride scholarship for rodeo at the University of Wyoming, and now third year college student majoring in mechanical engineering, and through it all, she has brought her signature excellence. Jadyn takes life head on and with gusto. She has been dating her best friend, Marcus Lucero for a little over two years now, and they are very happy together.
Jadyn has been participating on the rodeo team at the University of Wyoming for three years now too, and she just gets better and better. She is very loyal to her team, and she is well liked. That isn’t hard, because Jadyn is such a happy person. She is always smiling and friendly. She fits well in any crowd. She has such a bubbly personality that people are naturally drawn to her. She’s incredibly social and doesn’t have a shy bone in her body. She gets along with everyone.
Jadyn was an early birthday present for her dad, Sean Mortensen, because she arrived one day before her 
dad’s 19th birthday, when her mom, Amanda Reed was 18 years old. They have been a close family ever since. Jadyn grew up around people of all ages, because whatever her parents were doing, Jadyn went along too. They seldom left her out of things. She was their girl, and they wanted her with them all the time. She spent time at the lake in summer and the mountains in winter. She is at home either place. From 4-wheelers to jet skis, to snowmobiles, to motorcycles, to horses…Jadyn does it all. That’s probably why it doesn’t surprise me that the family is in Las Vegas to celebrate Jadyn’s 21st birthday and Sean’s 40th birthday. It’s another in a long line of family adventures and vacations, and with college starting back up soon, they really try to make the summer count with as much activity as they can possibly squeeze in.
Spending time in Vegas is a favorite for this family. They enjoy the night life and now that Jadyn is 21 years 
old, she can have a drink and gamble too. I’m sure this trip will be one for the memory books for them, and especially for Jadyn. I hope she wins big!! Every birthday girl should…right!! These days, Vegas has become the go-to party place for the “turning 21 crowd” so, I’m glad Jadyn got to go for her special day. I hope they have a wonderful time. Today Is Jadyn’s 21st birthday. Happy birthday Jadyn!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
