Family
It’s a difficult thing to discover that, as a nation, with a naval fleet, what you thought was strong, is simply not enough. This was the position that Russia found themselves during the Russo-Japanese War, when the Russian Baltic Fleet is nearly destroyed at the Battle of Tsushima Strait. The defeat was devastatingly decisive. Only 10 of the 45 Russian warships were able to escape to safety. The Russian leaders had to face the fact that further resistance against Japan’s imperial designs for East Asia was hopeless. They could not do it alone.
The Japanese wanted to divide Manchuria and Korea into spheres of influence, but the plan was rejected by the Russians on February 8, 1904, following the Russian rejection of a Japanese plan to Japan launched a surprise naval attack against Port Arthur, a Russian naval base in China. With that attack, the war was on. The Battle of Port Arthur on February 8 and 9, 1904 marked the commencement of the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese, in true Japanese style attacked when all the ships were still in port, but I guess that is how war is. It reminds me of Pearl Harbor, of course. The attack was a surprise night attack by a squadron of Japanese destroyers on the neutral Russian fleet anchored at Port Arthur, Manchuria. They continued with another attack the following morning. The fighting would continue until 
May 1904. While the attack on Port Arthur ended inconclusively, the war was without a doubt, a Japanese victory. The Battle of Port Arthur was the first major battle of the 20th century, and the Russian fleet was decimated. During the war that began then, Japan won a series of decisive victories over the Russians, who underestimated the military potential of its non-Western opponent. In January 1905, the continued attacks resulted in the fall of Port Arthur to Japanese naval and ground forces under Admiral Heihachiro Togo, and by March Russian troops were defeated at Shenyang, China, by Japanese Field Marshal Iwao Oyama. Then came the Battle of Tsushima Strait, fought on May 27 and 28, 1905 (May 14 and 15 in the Julian calendar that Russia used at that time) in the Tsushima Strait located between Korea and southern Japan.
While hope seemed lost, Russian Czar Nicholas II still hoped that the Russian Baltic fleet under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky would be able to challenge Admiral Togo’s supremacy at sea. Unfortunately, during the two-day Battle of Tsushima Strait, more than 30 Russian ships were sunk or captured by the superior Japanese warships. Japanese superiority was made abundantly clear. By August, with a stunning string of Japanese victories, Russia became convinced that they would have to accept the peace treaty mediated by US President 
Theodore Roosevelt at Portsmouth, New Hampshire…a treaty that won Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize for this achievement. In the Treaty of Portsmouth, Russia recognized Japan as the dominant power in Korea and gave up Port Arthur, the southern half of Sakhalin Island, and the Liaotung Peninsula to Japan.
Japan emerged from the conflict as the first modern non-Western world power and set its sights on greater imperial expansion. Japan would have to be dealt with another day, and by another power. As for Russia, the military’s disastrous performance in the war sparked the Russian Revolution of 1905.
Captain John Mason was an English-born settler, soldier, commander, and Deputy Governor of the Connecticut Colony. While most people want to be remembered for the great things they did during their lives, Captain Mason will always be remembered for something else…being the leader of the massacre of the Pequot Tribe of Native Americans in southeast Connecticut. The group, led by Mason was a group of Puritan settlers and Indian allies, who combined to attack a Pequot Fort in an event known as the Mystic Massacre. The Mystic Massacre took place on May 26, 1637, during the Pequot War, when Connecticut colonizers and their Narragansett and Mohegan allies set fire to the Pequot Fort near the Mystic River. With the fire raging, they shot anyone who tried to escape the wooden palisade fortress, effectively murdering most of the village. In all, there were between 400 and 700 Pequot civilians killed during the massacre. The only Pequot survivors were warriors who were away in a raiding party with their sachem (chief), Sassacus.
Prior to the massacre, the Pequot tribe were the dominate Native American tribe in southeast Connecticut, but 
with the massacre, came the end of an era where that was concerned. The massacre was brutal and heinous and should have been met with severe punishment, but at that time in history, the Native Americans were not particularly valued among the people of the colonies. In fact, the Native Americans were probably viewed as the intruders, and not the natives. As more and more Puritans from Massachusetts Bay spread into Connecticut, the conflicts with the Pequots increased. The tribe centered on the Thames River in southeastern Connecticut, and by the spring of 1637, the Pequot tribe killed 13 English colonists and traders. That was when Massachusetts Bay Governor John Endecott organized a large military force to punish the Indians, who were only trying to protect what they saw as theirs. On April 23, 1637, with pressure mounting, 200 Pequot warriors responded defiantly to the colonial mobilization by attacking a Connecticut settlement, killing six men and three women and taking two girls away.
Then on May 26, 1637, everything exploded when, two hours before dawn, the Puritans and their Indian allies marched on the Pequot village at Mystic, slaughtering all but a handful of its inhabitants. Following that attack, Captain Mason attacked another Pequot village on June 5, 1637, this one near what is now Stonington, and again the Indian defenseless inhabitants, were defeated and massacred. In a third attack on July 28, 1637, Mason and his men massacred a village near what is now Fairfield, and the Pequot War finally came to an end. Most of the surviving Pequot were sold into slavery, though a handful escaped to join other southern New England tribes.
My niece, Cassie Franklin is a great mom. She now has three children, following the birth of her youngest daughter, Allison Winter Burr. Allison joined siblings Lucas and Zoey Iverson on January 6, 2023, and they are so in love with their new baby sister. Cassie and her partner, William Burr are so perfect for each other. Cassie needed a kind and gentle, loving man, and that is exactly what William is. Their home is filled with peace and love.
Cassie has always reminded me of her mom, my sister-in-law (now in Heaven) Rachel Schulenberg, but the older Cassie gets, the more she is her mom’s “mini-me” for lack of a better term. I guess adults can’t really be a “mini-me” since they are all grown up. Nevertheless, Cassie grew up looking like the mirror image of her mom, and that is a lovely look to have. Cassie also has two brothers, Riley Birky and Tucker Schulenberg, who are quite a bit younger than she is, because for many years, it was Cassie and her mom. Two of a kind. I don’t 
know is Allison will inherit her grandmother’s looks, but the other children really didn’t. It would be cool is Allison did, so they could be three of a kind. I know Rachel would be smiling down from Heaven to see that. Of course, she is smiling down from Heaven to see all of her grandchildren right now. Cassie’s brother has a bonus son named Jace and a new baby son named Ryder, so Cassie’s kids have cousins too, and that’s always nice.
Cassie is very resourceful. She has always had her own business. In fact, she tried several things before she settled on her current business called Moonlight Naturals, which is a bath and spa company, specializing in candles, bath salts, and body washes. Cassie forages many of her herbs herself, and then turns them into the most beautiful items imaginable. You should check them out. Cassie also sells some used clothing, resin trays, and a little bit of jewelry, but her handmade spa items are her main products, and they are worth having a look at.
Cassie is a great cook, and she likes to make a variety of foods that are healthy and delicious. With her son, Lucas having some health issues, she has learned to get creative with food…cooking gluten free and staying away from other food allergens that could aggravate his conditions. While things are made in special ways, I can tell you that it all looks amazing. I’ll bet it tastes great. As a stay-at-home mom, Cassie works really hard to take great care of her family. Today is Cassie’s birthday. Happy birthday Cassie!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
These days, we expect that our president will be familiar with the internet, texting, Facebook, and many other forms of technological advances, but we think of presidents in our past as having to deal with the ancient “technology” of the past, and we even find ourselves almost giggling when we use the term “technology” when speaking about such presidents as Abraham Lincoln. Nevertheless, Abraham Lincoln was a “techy” president…maybe not in the way we use the term today, but since technology often advances at the speed of light, he was quite advanced for his era.
Lincoln had always been a “cutting edge” kind of man, but during the Civil War, his “techy” prowess really came to light. Lincoln was quite taken with the new technology, which he called lightning messages. The federal government had been slow to adopt the telegraph after Samuel Morse’s first successful test message in 1844. Prior to the Civil War, even the federal employees who had to send a telegram from the nation’s capital, had to wait in line with the rest of the public at the city’s central telegraph office. Then, after the outbreak of the Civil 
War, the newly created US Military Telegraph Corps undertook the dangerous work of laying more than 15,000 miles of telegraph wire across battlefields, at Lincoln’s orders, so he could transmit news nearly instantaneously from the front lines to the new telegraph office that had been established inside the old library of the War Department building adjacent to the White House in March 1862. He was so interested in the telegraph, in fact, that he sometimes slept on a cot in the telegraph office during major battles. Of course, his main objective was to be able to get information to and from his generals as quickly as possible, but another major objective, that was just as important, was to be out ahead of his Confederate counterpart, Jefferson Davis, who didn’t have the same kind of access. In this way, Lincoln became the first “wired president” nearly 150 years before the advent of texts, tweets, and e-mail, by embracing the original electronic messaging technology…the telegraph.
President Abraham Lincoln, who was our 16th president, is best remembered for the Gettysburg Address, as well as the Emancipation Proclamation, both of which really stirred the Union, but it was the “techy” side of the man and the nearly 1,000 bite-sized telegrams that he wrote during his presidency, that really helped win the Civil War. It was those telegrams that truly projected presidential power in an unprecedented fashion, for that 
time anyway. The fact is that many people tend to be very slow to accept change, especially something as “new-fangled” as the telegraph was at that time in history. It took a man with foresight and wisdom to see that this was a “weapon” of sorts, that would explode our highly divided country into a place where the side of personal rights and personal freedom could propel it into a great nation, instead of two mediocre nations. The person who did that had to be cutting edge!! He had to be ahead of his time…and that is exactly what President Abraham Lincoln was. It is a sad injustice that he was murdered before his full potential could be realized. I wonder where we might have been today, if he had lived out his term.
It is not usually my habit to talk about the spectacular ships built by our nation’s enemies, but IJN Mikasa might be a worthy exception. The Mikasa is a “pre-dreadnought” battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the late 1890s and is the only ship of her class. I didn’t know what a “pre-dreadnought” ship was, so I looked into it. “Pre-dreadnoughts were battleships built before 1906, when HMS Dreadnought was launched. Dreadnoughts were more powerful battleships that followed the design of HMS Dreadnought and so made pre-dreadnoughts obsolete.” The ship displaced over 15,000 long tons, with a crew of over 800 men.
While she might not have been as powerful, IJN Mikasa was nevertheless a well-built ship, that was able to withstand more than most ships of her time. Named after Mount Mikasa in Nara, Japan, she served as the flagship of Vice Admiral Togo Heihachiro throughout the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. That war included the Battle of Port Arthur, which occurred on the second day of the war, as well as the Battles of the Yellow Sea and Tsushima. Just a few days after the Russo-Japanese War ended, Mikasa’s magazine (a ship’s magazine is where the powder and shells are stored) suddenly exploded and sank the ship. The explosion killed 251 men. Shortly before the Mikasa’s fatal accident, the ship had been involved in the 
Battle of Tsushima (May 27, 1905), during which she had shrugged off over 40 shell strikes from heavy Russian naval guns! In that battle 113 of her crew were killed or injured. While such an event would usually mean the end of a ship, IJN Mikasa was salvaged, and while her repairs took over two years to complete, she went on to serve as a coast-defense ship during World War I, and she supported Japanese forces during the Siberian Intervention in the Russian Civil War. Ironically, in 1912 a despondent sailor among her crew tried to blow the ship up once again while the ship was anchored at Kobe. In the end the ship served until 1923, after being pulled up from the drink, repaired, and recommissioned.
IJN Mikasa was decommissioned on September 23, 1923, following the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. At that time, she was scheduled for destruction, but at the request of the Japanese government, each of the signatory countries to the treaty agreed that Mikasa could be preserved as a memorial ship. The agreement required that her hull be encased in concrete. On November 12, 1926, Mikasa was opened for display in Yokosuka in the presence of Crown Prince Hirohito and Togo. Unfortunately, the ship deteriorated under the 
control of the occupation forces after the surrender of Japan in 1945. Finally, in 1955, American businessman John Rubin, who had formally lived in Barrow, England, wrote a letter to the Japan Times about the state of the ship. His letter served as the catalyst for a new restoration campaign. The Japanese public, who were widely onboard with the idea, supported the project, as did Fleet Admiral Chester W Nimitz. The ship was once again restored, and the museum version reopened in 1961. On August 5, 2009, IJN Mikasa was repainted by sailors from USS Nimitz, and she is now the only surviving example of a “pre-dreadnought” battleship in the world. IJN Mikasa is located in the town of its construction, Barrow-in-Furness, near Mikasa Street on Walney Island.
My grandnephew, Xander Spethman and his partner, Alli Simpson moved into their own place this past year, and they have been figuring out life as they go along. Xander still loves to go hunting and feels really good about filling his own freezer with meat to last them through the winter months to come. Xander is becoming a responsible man, preparing to take care of his partner and himself. Xander and Alli were high school sweethearts, and their love has continued. They are very happy together. Alli is a sweet girl, who is perfect for Xander. She is gentle and kind, as is he.
Xander and Allie have their own place, but they still spend most evenings with Xander’s family…parents Jenny and Steve 
Spethman; brothers Zack and Isaac; and sister, Aleesia. The Spethman family is a very close family, and since Jenny and Steve love to entertain, it is the “happening” place to be. Xander has always known that, and that hasn’t changed, just because he has his own place. People always want to hang out where all the fun people are, and the Spethman kids know that the fun people hang out at their parents’ house.
Last June, Xander and Alli decided to expand their little family, so they became “fur” parents to a sweet dog named Rocky. They love their sweet pup and take Rocky most places with them. They know that taking Rocky to Xander’s parents’ house is ok, because Xander got his love of animals for his parents, and most especially from his mom, who is an animal fanatic. Over the years, Xander and his siblings have had just about every type of pet, from lizards, to fish, to cats, to dogs, and even for a time, a raccoon who lost its mother. So having a dog of his own was a completely natural next 
step for Xander.
These days Xander works at Walmart, as a stocker. He was working for a pipe company called Tubescope, but Walmart pays better, and when you are a responsible family man, you have to take that into consideration. One thing about it, Walmart would also be a less dangerous job to have. Working with pipes and such is a dirty job, and it can be dangerous around heavy pipe. That said, I’m sure Alli likes this job much better for him. For Xander, it’s all about what is best for his family and that is what makes him a responsible man. Today is Xander’s 20th birthday. Happy birthday Xander!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My sister-in-law, Brenda Schulenberg has always been a hard-working career woman…or at least all of her adult life. Brenda started working at American National Bank right out of high school and has been in banking ever since. These days and for many years now, she is in human resources at Hilltop National Bank, and I’m pretty sure the place would fall apart without her. In fact, during Covid and even before that, when Brenda was in the hospital, they went way out of their way to get work to her so she could do what only she could do. During Covid, before it was decided that with a note, essential workers could go to work, the bank got a computer for her to have at home so that her vital work could continue.
One might think that Human Resources would only entail hiring and firings, but there is much more to it, at Hilltop National Bank anyway. One might also think that banking is an 8 to 5 job, but not in Human Resources at Hilltop National Bank. Part of what Brenda does…a big part of what she does, is payroll and tax prep for the bank and many other businesses too. Payroll and taxes wait for no man, and so Brenda often ends up working for 8:00am to 10:00pm. Yes, Brenda works too hard, but nobody else wants to do that job. They have hired many people with the plan of helping Brenda, but none have lasted very long. It seems that people don’t like those long hours. Go figure!!
Another part of Brenda’s job, and the one that is causing her to work lots of hours right now, is when the bank has a software conversion. You might think that only happens once in ten years or so, and you might be right, but it sure seems like it happens more often than that. I can personally recall several software conversions Brenda has been a part of, and I don’t work with her. Most of us think of a software update, and it’s usually a simple download, that is over in a few minutes or an hour, and then everything is updated and finished, but that is not how these updates work. A bank has many complicated systems, and with security issues these 
days, they have to keep things safe and up to date for their customers. Hacking is a big issue, and customers demand that the bank protect their money, and rightfully so. That means that the bank has to be up to date on all aspects of security, as well as allowing the customer to have safe access to their money. Brenda is always a part of that process, and the bank depends on that. I still have no idea what they are going to do when she decides to retire. I guess time will tell. They will have to figure it out someday. Today is Brenda’s 60th birthday. Happy birthday Brenda!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
As my grandnephew, Chris Spicer graduates from Rawlins High School today, he will be looking forward to a number of changes coming very quickly. Following graduation, Chris and his mom, Andrea Beach will be moving to Casper, to be near family. Chris’ grandparents, Caryl and Mike Reed lived in Rawlins until last July, and when they moved to Casper, there was nothing keeping Chris and his mom in Rawlins, except that Chris was in going into his senior year at Rawlins High School…definitely not the time to move and switch schools. So, Andrea and Chris made the decision to stay in Rawlins for one more school year. Now that year in over and by June 1st, Chris and his mom will be living in Casper and checking out the job market.
Chris has had a few ideas about what he wants to do with his 
life, and he has decided to attend Casper College, and major in Graphic Design. Since I didn’t really know all the aspects of graphic design, I decided to research that field a little bit. I found that, “Graphic designers can work in a variety of industries and create visual concepts using computer software or by hand to communicate ideas that inspire, inform, and captivate consumers. They work with print or digital media and design a variety of projects like advertisements, logos, packaging, websites, and more. They use design elements and layouts to achieve artistic or functional effects. They may work in specialized design services, publishing, or advertising, public relations, and related services industries.” Basically, that tells me than the career possibilities are endless, and I know that Chris will have lots of career opportunities.
For now, Chris will be getting a job while going to school, but he is not sure what he will go for right now. I 
suppose it depends on what is available. But before all that, Chris, his mom, and his grandma will be taking their annual Black Hills trip. The trip has been a tradition for years now, and they look forward to it very much. This is a trip where Mike (Caryl’s husband) stays home to let the three of them have some bonding time. It has been an important time for the three of them, and it is great of Mike to give them that time. Chris and his mom are going to be going through a lot of changes, but they are positive changes that will greatly improve their lives, but this day is all about graduation. Today, Chris takes that important first step!! He graduates from high school!! Congratulations on your successful public-school career and on your graduation from Rawlins High School, Chris!! We are all so proud of you!!
My nephew, Rob Masterson met his wife Dustie while he was in the Army, serving in Louisiana. It didn’t take them very long to realize that they were in love. Anyone could see that they were perfect for each other. When Rob was discharged, they returned to Casper, Wyoming where Rob’s family all lived. We all liked Dustie right away, and Dustie worked really hard to fit in with Rob’s family. She loved Rob deeply, and that meant loving his family too. For Dustie, that was easy, because not only did she love Rob, but she was and is a very loving person in her own right, and she loved Rob with all her heart.
Now, over twenty years later, Dustie says of Rob, “My husband is without a doubt my ‘perfect’ partner and my best friend. I don’t know how other couples are, but we are both most comfortable together.” Rob and Dustie 
used to work together at Sam’s Club, where they were both department supervisors, she in grocery, and he in the tire shop. While it would mean that they would no longer work together, Rob nevertheless, encouraged her to accept a job offer at Walgreens, when it came her way, because he knew it would be a far better fit for her. Rob is very selfless when it comes to things like that. Dustie says, “I know in my heart that he will ALWAYS be there to support whatever I choose to do.”
Our family is used to the dynamic that Rob and Dustie have, but when people outside of the family see them together, they inevitably tell her that she has the perfect husband. Dustie would agree…for her, Rob is the “perfect” husband. Rob is a sweet man. As his aunt, I can attest to that. He grew up the only boy out of his parents’ five children, and after their divorce, the only man in the household. Rob took that “responsibility” very seriously. He is protective of all women, but none so much as his own family. Dustie says, “What most people don’t know is what we’ve been through separately (good and bad) helped us decide how we were going to go about our relationship. I’ve never known anyone who loves as deeply as Robert.” Rob is a man who picks his close relationships carefully, and that means mostly, his family and the very few that he calls friend. To those who are in that circle, he is loyal, protective. He is also true to all his beliefs and morals, and he will not be 
swayed by whatever is trending. Dustie thinks “you guys” did an amazing job bringing such a good man into this world…of course, she means his mom, my sister, Cheryl Masterson, and probable my parents, his grandparents, Al and Collene Sencer, all of whom would have to be the ones to take the credit for Rob’s raising. I would agree. They did an amazing job. Rob is a great husband, father, grandson, nephew, and friend, to all who fit in one of those categories. Today is Rob’s birthday. Happy birthday Rob!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
For my sister, Caryl Reed, this past year has been filled with changes within her family. On November 12, 2022, Caryl’s son Allen and his wife Gaby left Wyoming and moved to Eugene, Oregon. They had been living in Casper, while Gaby went to nursing school. Gaby then went to work at Banner Health in Casper, while Allen was working there as a hospital administrator. It was a perfect situation for Caryl. While Caryl is happy for Allen and Gaby, she still misses them very much. She hadn’t had Allen and Gaby living near her for a long time. It was a time that Caryl will always consider herself blessed to have had.
On July 12, 2022, Caryl’s husband Mike retired. Caryl had been retired for a few years. Caryl and Mike had been planning, and preparing their ranch outside of Casper for this momentous change in their lives, for some time. Suddenly the time had come, and they were ready to make the move. It was so exciting for everyone, but it also meant that they would be leaving Caryl’s daughter, Andrea Beach and their grandson Chris Spicer; along with Mike’s daughter Amanda Reed and her partner, Sean Mortensen in Rawlins; as well as, their granddaughter, Jadyn Mortensen in Laramie, where she is going to college. That makes the move bittersweet.
Now, almost a year later, Chris Spicer is graduating from high school in Rawlins, and so he and his mom, Andrea will be moving to Casper. For Caryl, that means that once more, she will have some of her family living nearby. Of course, there will always be a tie to Rawlins, because Amanda’s family has no intention of moving, at this time anyway. Andrea has been wanting to move to Casper for some time, and wouldn’t have waited, but Chris is a senior at Rawling High School, and you just don’t move a kid in their last year of high school. Everyone agreed that it was best for him to finish there, but I know Caryl will be happy to have them in the same city again. It’s a hard thing to have your family live in a different place, especially when it is far away from you. It always nice to have at least one child close by. Thankfully, Rawlins isn’t too far away, nor is 
Laramie, so Caryl and Mike will be able to visit Amanda and her family easily. That will help too. For Caryl and Mike, family is very important, as it is for all our sisters and for our families, but we also know that sometimes our children must move elsewhere for the betterment of their families. It is just a sad reality, but they are happy, and so will we be. It always nice to have at least one child close by. Today is Caryl’s birthday. Happy birthday Caryl!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
