My sister, Allyn Hadlock is the youngest of my siblings, and very devoted to her family. Her kids can’t say enough complimentary things about their mom. Her daughter, Lindsay says, “Is she a great mom and grandma?! The best! We love her so much. She is always there for us-rain or shine! What a faithful example she is to us all. She loves the Lord and instilled that same love in us. That’s the greatest gift. One thing that she makes time for every weekday-is a morning phone call from Mackenzie. Mackenzie loves that special time to get to talk to her!” Allyn has spent time with Mackenzie in a “babysitting” capacity, although Mackenzie barely needs a babysitter anymore. Nevertheless, whenever Mackenzie’s parents, Lindsay and Shannon Moore have to go out of town, Allyn loads up her computer and makes the trip to Laramie, and they spend precious time together. Allyn’s ability to mover her virtual office to Lindsay’s house and to her daughter, Jessi Sawdon’s house in Cheyenne when the girls need a babysitter for their daughters Mackenzie and Adelaide had been a great blessing. Sometimes travel without the kids in needed, and having a caregiver available is wonderful.
Allyn’s daughter Kellie Thompson says, “She is the best mom in the world!! She is always taking care of 
everyone and making sure we have what we need!! She spent so much time during the wedding (Kellie and husband Tim Thompson were married June 28, 2025) making sure that the flowers and decorations were perfect! She was always right there helping me pick everything out and making me feel so incredibly special! She wanted me to have EVERYTHING I wanted! She is hilarious and kind and generous 24:7 and that’s an understatement! She is so excited about baby girl Thompson (due June 8, 2026) and helping me and giving advice and being there for me every step of the way and I couldn’t ask for a better mom, role model and friend! She is so strong in her faith, and she has made sure that she is creating a legacy of faith our entire lives!” The planning of Kellie’s wedding, and the wedding of her other children was a special time in Allyn’s life. She has fully enjoyed every part of her children’s lives, with weddings and babies the highlights.
Allyn’s husband, Chris Hadlock decided to take Allyn on a wonderful birthday vacation to Marco Island, Florida, and they have had an awesome time. They stayed at a beautiful hotel on one of the upper floors, so they had an amazing view of the water. They took several walks along the beach, enjoying the abundance of seashells 
that washed up with every tide and the sunsets in the evenings. They took an airboat ride through the Everglades, and saw lots of wildlife, birds and of course, alligators. Then they went through Fort Meyers and saw some of the remaining hurricane damage. That was sad. They took a shelling, birding dolphin boat tour and especially enjoyed the way the dolphins “played” with the boat. The hotel even had a Superbowl Party, which was fun…even though their teams weren’t playing. They even played some miniature golf. They enjoyed the trip immensely, and I’m sure they wish it could last a bit longer, but they head home tomorrow, after a great birthday week. Today is Allyn’s birthday. Happy birthday Allyn!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My grandnephew, Jake Harman has always been a “big kid at heart” as his wife Melanie told me…not that she had to tell me that. Anyone who knows Jake knows that about him. Jake loves playing with his babies, Alice, Izabella, and Jaxx, as well as his nephew, Nathaniel all the time! Jake can often be found tossing the children around, chasing them, and making them giggle and scream with happiness. Melanie tells me that he is an amazing dad and uncle, and “loves them all with his whole heart.” I think anyone who knows him knows that is true. Jake is the kind of “kid at heart” dad who doesn’t mind the fact that “peace and quiet” rarely prevail in his home.
Of her husband, Melanie says, “He is an amazing husband that 
reminds me every day of how beautiful I am and how much he needs me and loves me. I couldn’t ask for anything better than this man that I have now in my life. I love his excitement with certain games he gets and plays or when he gets a new sword or an ax of some kind to add to his collection! His imagination is so amazing, and I love how he comes up with songs and stories that he loves to tell me! It’s truly amazing to be around him and watch him every day! And every day I do it with a smile in my heart!” I couldn’t have expressed her feelings anywhere near as perfectly as Melanie did, but then Melanie knows Jake better than anyone on Earth, and she loves him forever and always.
Jake always seems to be the face of positivity. No matter what things are going on in his life, he stays positive. When Jake and his sister, Siara Kirk were little kids, he was always there for her. They were the best of friends, and while they are both married now…to their best friends, they are also best friends with each other too. That is something that will never change. Jake was always protective of his little sister, and now he is the same way with his nephew. Jake is a very family-oriented guy, and the love he feels for his family runs deep. He has grown into a great man, and his family is very proud of him. Today is Jake’s birthday. Happy birthday Jake!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
Imagine living in a place where owning or even borrowing a book could get you—and anyone who gave you one—killed. During the Holocaust, Jews and other nationalities or religious groups who didn’t fit the Nazi ideal of the Aryan race were considered “non-people” and therefore expendable. They weren’t allowed to live like others, and their lives were deemed unworthy of care. Friends and neighbors were often expected to turn them in to be deported to ghettos or even killed. They were frequently powerless to help themselves, yet many never lost hope. When the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939, persecution of Jews began almost immediately. Life was hard for everyone, but children were often in greater danger than anyone else. Many were too young to work, making them even less “important” in the eyes of the Nazis. To make it worse, they were often separated from their parents, losing everything familiar to them.
In 1942, 13-year-old Dita Polachova and her parents were deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto, where life became even harsher. Later, they were sent to Auschwitz, where Dita’s father died. She and her mother were forced into labor in Germany and eventually sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where her mother also died. Despite enduring immense loss, Dita never gave up. She risked her life to protect eight books smuggled in by Auschwitz prisoners, hiding them in her smock and circulating them among the children in Block 31. Books were forbidden in the camps, as the Nazis sought to deny prisoners any knowledge of the outside world or access to educational materials. Believing the prisoners would not survive, the Nazis saw no need for them to have anything but work and death.
The prisoners had their own ideas. Inside the walls was a family camp called BIIb, where children could play and sing, though schooling was forbidden. Still, the Nazis couldn’t completely impose their will. Defying orders, Fredy Hirsch set up a small but impactful school to care for the children while their parents labored in the camp. The biggest challenge was finding materials—books had to be hidden from Nazi guards at all costs. In January 1944, Hirsch chose Dita, a courageous and independent young woman from Prague, to become the new Librarian of Auschwitz, a role she embraced with great dedication.
While her parents struggled to survive in Auschwitz, Dita fought her own battle to protect the books that brought joy to the camp’s children. These books offered a brief escape from the grim reality surrounding them. As the war went on, Dita continued to serve the teachers and children of Block 31 with dedication. Her situation worsened when her father died of pneumonia in the camp, leaving her alone with her aging, weakening mother. Realizing the camp was merely a front for Nazi propaganda, Dita battled despair and questioned the value of 
her life. By March 1944, hopelessness deepened when the Nazis announced that inmates from the previous September would be transferred—code for execution. The BIIb camp continued until news broke of its liquidation, with the healthy separated from the rest. Liesl, Dita’s frail mother, narrowly managed to sneak into the group deemed fit to work alongside her daughter, and they were sent to Bergen-Belsen. Just as Dita felt the end was near, Allied forces liberated the camp, but it was too late for her mother, who died shortly after the English arrived. Though free at last, Dita paid a heavy price—one most can hardly imagine. She later married author Otto Kraus, and together they settled in Israel as teachers.
As the British found out, it’s never a good idea to antagonize the people of the United States of America…and while it’s a bad idea to antagonize us, it’s an even worse idea to underestimate us. On February 7, 1775, in London, Benjamin Franklin published “An Imaginary Speech” defending American courage. His piece aimed to respond to an unnamed officer’s remarks to Parliament, claiming the British had nothing to fear from the colonial rebels because “Americans are inferior to the people of this country [Britain] in devotion to women, in courage, and worst of all, they are religious.” Apparently, according to that officer, being religious was a “sign of weakness.” It was a statement he would come to regret. Benjamin Franklin was a Pennsylvania scientist and diplomat who went on to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
In anger, Franklin met the three-pronged critique with his trademark wit and sharp insight. Observing that the colonial population had grown while the British population had shrunk, he quipped that American men must be more “effectually devoted to the fair sex” than their counterparts across the Atlantic. When it came to American courage, Franklin told a story from the Seven Years’ War in which colonial militias heroically saved blundering British regulars from strategic mistakes and cowardice. With poetic flair, Franklin proclaimed, “Indiscriminate Accusations against the Absent are cowardly Calumnies.” In reality, these militias were often undisciplined and ineffective early in the war. New Englanders, unused to taking orders and unfamiliar with the basics of military life, made themselves sick by refusing to build latrines, falling ill from their own waste. During the American Revolution, Washington echoed many of the same frustrations voiced by British officers as he tried to shape American farmers into an effective fighting force.
Benjamin Franklin was not a religious man, but he set aside his own dislike for the devout things and reminded his readers that it was the “zealous Puritans who had rid Britain of the despised King Charles I.” He figured his 
critic was a Stuart sympathizer…meaning Catholic…and therefore not particularly fond of American Protestants, “who inherit from those ancestors not only the same religion, but also the same love of liberty and spirit.” While Franklin didn’t always agree with the American Protestants, he knew well the value of the American spirit that would never allow the British to continue to run roughshod over the colonies. The American people were done with Britain, and the Revolutionary War would prove that fact conclusively.
My niece, Jenny Spethman is a wonderful girl who has been through much in her life, and yet has come through it all, a little worse for wear, but stronger than ever. Of course, Jenny’s strength didn’t come just from herself. Mostly, it came from her devotion to God, who has taken her through the difficult loss of her older daughter, Laila from a heart defect just 22 days after her birth. Her devotion to God brought her husband, Steve Spethman, into her life. Steve was a gift from God, and she a gift from God to Steve. Theirs was a marriage made in Heaven. Together, Jenny and Steve sloshed their way through the loss of their daughter…and it was like sloshing through quicksand, but they hung onto each other and to God, and they came out the other side. No, they will never stop missing sweet Laila…until they are reunited in Heaven, that is, but they have been strong for each other and in their faith. 
Jenny loves to get up very early in the morning. She watches the sunrise or looks at the pre-dawn sky, often catching great pictures of both and of the moon. But most of all, the early morning hours are her time with the Lord. Her study and worship time have yielded many scriptural revelations, that she has so graciously shared with her mom, Cheryl Masterson and her aunts Caryl Reed, Alena Stevens (before she went to Heaven earlier this year), Allyn Hadlock, and me. These have been blessings of the greatest kind and blessings we will cherish always. Jenny has such a sweet and kind spirit. It’s no wonder everyone loves Jenny. She is so loved, in fact, that when she is work as a runner in the law firm where she works, all her coworkers would love to have her stand and visit on her runs, but Jenny is also very ethical and responsible, 
and she keeps the chatter to a bare minimum. They understand, of course, but they do enjoy visiting with her whenever they get a chance.
Jenny loves her job as a runner, because it gives her the chance to take a walk during working hours. How many people get to do that? She runs paperwork from the firm to the courthouse, and that is vital work. The attorneys don’t have time to deliver the documents to the courthouse, and some things must be original. Faxing is out of the question. Jenny’s work is a vital part of the day-to-day operation of the firm…and she loves it. Today is Jenny’s birthday. Happy birthday Jenny!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
Stacey Daniels met her first husband, Michael Wallace in 1985, when she was 17 years old. The couple married and had their first daughter, Ashley, in 1988. A second daughter, Bree, was born in 1991. Daniels was born in Clay, New York, on July 24, 1967. Her parents were Jerry Daniels and Judie Eaton. Daniels worked for an ambulance dispatch company, while Wallace spent his nights as a mechanic, yet the family still struggled financially. Daniels said Wallace was especially close to Bree, showing a favoritism she balanced out by becoming “best friends” with their older daughter Ashley. Despite their bonds with the kids, the couple drifted apart, and rumors swirled that both were involved in extramarital affairs.
In late 1999, Wallace started feeling sick off and on. His family remembers him seeming unsteady, coughing, and looking swollen. As his strange illness dragged on through the holidays, they urged him to see a doctor, but he passed away in early 2000 before he got the chance. Doctors told Castor her husband had died of a heart attack. Although Wallace’s sister didn’t believe that and wanted an autopsy. Daniels declined, saying she trusted the doctors’ conclusion.
In 2003, Stacey married David Castor and took his last name…the name she would carry for the rest of her life. David owned an air conditioning installation and repair business, where Stacey worked as his office manager. One afternoon in August 2005, Stacey called the Onondaga County sheriff’s office, saying David had locked himself in their bedroom after an argument and hadn’t been seen or heard from in a day. She added that he had been depressed lately. When Sergeant Robert Willoughby arrived for a wellness check, he kicked in the bedroom door and found David dead. Near his body were a container of antifreeze and a half-full glass of bright green liquid. Willoughby recalled Stacey screaming, “He’s not dead, he’s not dead.”
The coroner ruled David’s death a suicide from a self-administered lethal dose of antifreeze, but suspicion arose when police found Stacey’s fingerprints on the glass and discovered a turkey baster with David’s DNA on its tip. Investigators suspected she had used it to force-feed him once he was too weak to resist. With this new lead, they obtained permission to place audio and visual surveillance at the Castor home and the gravesites of Stacey’s husbands, buried side by side at her request. Detectives figured that if she truly loved her late husbands, she would visit their graves, but she never did. Eventually, they decided the only way to prove she was behind both deaths was to exhume Wallace’s body. A toxicology report confirmed that Wallace had also died from antifreeze poisoning.
In September 2007, after her first husband’s body had been exhumed, Castor decided to kill her daughter and “best friend” Ashley for the murders to save her own skin. This was her “best friend” and yet, she felt no 
remorse. A suicide note seemed her best option, so she typed it up and presented it as Ashley’s. Castor invited Ashley to the family home in Liverpool for a drink. Ashley agreed, as Castor was not just her mother but also her “best friend.” The next day, Castor invited Ashley over for drinks at home again, offering her a “nasty-tasting” beverage that she initially turned down. Seventeen hours later, Ashley was found unconscious in bed by her younger sister, Bree. Thankfully, Bree insisted they get help, prompting Castor to call 911. When Bree briefly stepped away and returned, she discovered a suicide note beside Ashley, allegedly confessing to the murders of her father and stepfather. Castor swiftly took the note and later handed it to paramedics. Tests showed that Ashley had potentially deadly painkillers in her system and would likely have died if she’d arrived at the hospital just minutes later. When she woke up, police asked her about the murders and the suicide note. She said the last thing she remembered was her mother making her an alcoholic drink, which had never happened before. She told them she hadn’t written the note and was baffled by their questions.
The DA even pointed out that Castor may have even murdered her own father, Jerry Daniels, who died February 22, 2002, shortly after his daughter visited him in the hospital where he had a minor lung complaint. Castor’s first husband’s family also believes Castor may have killed her father by bringing in an open can of soda for her father to drink. She was the executor of his estate. On February 5, 2009, Castor was convicted of second-degree murder for poisoning David and of attempted second-degree murder for overdosing Ashley. She kept her eyes closed as the verdicts were read. Keller stated she would appeal the decision, planning to challenge the use of evidence related to Wallace’s death, for which Castor had not been charged.
On March 5, 2009, during Castor’s sentencing, Garvey urged Judge Fahey to hand down the maximum consecutive sentences, citing the brutality of David’s death. She condemned Castor for “partying in her backyard with friends like nothing was happening” while Ashley lay comatose in her room. Calling her cold, calculating, and devoid of emotion, Garvey said, “Human life is sacred. Stacey Castor places no value on it, not even her own flesh and blood. To her, people are disposable.” David’s son, cheated out of his inheritance, also pleaded for severe punishment, calling Castor “a monster and a threat to society” who had caused immense pain and loss, multiplying the suffering among the families she hurt.
Judge Fahey told Castor he had never seen a parent try to kill their own child just to frame them for a crime they committed. He told her she was “in a class all by herself.” The judge then gave her the maximum sentence of twenty-five years to life for David’s murder, plus another twenty-five years for attempting to kill Ashley. For forging David’s will, he added an extra 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison. The trial had lasted for four weeks. An emotional Ashley told the judge she hated her mother “for ruining so many people’s lives” but still loved her for the bond she had originally had with her. She said, “I never knew what hate was until now. Even though I do hate her, I still love her at the same time. That bothers me, it is so confusing. How can you hate someone and love them at the same time? I just wish that she would say sorry for everything she did, including all the lies. As horrible as it makes me feel, this is goodbye mom. As hard as you tried, I survived and I will survive because now I’m surrounded by people that love me. I’m going to do good things in this world despite making me in every sense of the word an orphan.”
Castor became New York Department of Corrections inmate number 09G0209 and was placed in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Bedford Hills, New York. Even with credit for time served, her earliest possible release date was June 15, 2055…slightly over a month shy of her 88th birthday. Castor had been dubbed “The Black Widow” by media outlets. Her prison term would be long, but she wouldn’t live to see much of it. Castor was found dead in her cell on the morning of June 11, 2016. It was not immediately apparent how she died and the manner of her death was listed as undetermined; it was later determined by the DA’s office that she died of a heart attack, with no evidence of suicide or foul play.
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was a French civil engineer. He was born in France’s Côte-d’Or, the first child of Catherine-Mélanie (née Moneuse) and Alexandre Bonickhausen dit Eiffel. He descended from Jean-René Bönickhausen, who had left the German town of Marmagen and settled in Paris in the early 18th century. The family adopted the name Eiffel as a nod to the Eifel mountains in their native region. Although they always went by Eiffel, Gustave’s birth was registered as Bonickhausen dit Eiffel, and it wasn’t officially changed to Eiffel until 1880. It’s always sad, in my estimation, when last names are changed for any other reason but marriage. So often the line of ancestors can also be lost in that change.
When Alexandre, who always went by Gustave finished his public schooling, he went on to graduate from École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures. After graduation, he began to make a name for himself with various bridges for the French railway network, most famously the Garabit Viaduct. Gustav had planned to work in his uncle’s workshop in Dijon after graduating, but a family dispute put an end to that idea. After spending a few months 
as an unpaid assistant to his brother-in-law, who ran a foundry, Gustav reached out to railway engineer Charles Nepveu, who offered him his first paid role as a private secretary. Soon after, Nepveu’s company went bankrupt, but he helped Gustav land a job designing a 72-foot sheet iron bridge for the Saint Germaine railway. When some of Nepveu’s businesses were taken over by the Compagnie Belge de Matériels de Chemin de Fer, Nepveu became managing director of two factories in Paris and brought Gustav on as head of the research department.
In 1857, Nepveu secured a contract to build a railway bridge over the Garonne River in Bordeaux, linking the Paris-Bordeaux line with routes to Sète and Bayonne. The project involved constructing a 1,600-foot iron girder bridge supported by six pairs of masonry piers on the riverbed, built using compressed air caissons and hydraulic rams…cutting-edge methods at the time. Gustav first oversaw the assembly of the metalwork but later took charge of the entire project after Nepveu resigned in March 1860.
While Gustav Eiffel built a number of bridges in his lifetime, he is most famous for the Eiffel Tower, created by his company for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, and for helping build the Statue of Liberty in New York. However, a little-known fact is that Paris was not the location Gustav initially had in mind when he designed the 
tower. Originally, he presented the design to city officials in Barcelona, Spain. The officials who saw the design deemed it too ugly for their city. So, Gustav switched gears and had his tower constructed in Paris as a temporary showpiece for the 1889 International Exposition…and it’s been drawing visitors to the City of Light ever since. I wonder what the officials in Barcelona thought of their comments after the Eiffel Tower became such a showpiece in Paris. After retiring from engineering, Gustav turned his attention to meteorology and aerodynamics, where he also made notable contributions. Gustav Eiffel died peacefully on December 27, 1923, supposedly while listening to Beethoven’s 5th symphony andante, in his mansion on Rue Rabelais in Paris. He was 91. He was buried in the family tomb in Levallois-Perret Cemetery.
In what my niece, Toni Chase had called an average year, her husband, Dave Chase found a way to have a few adventures in 2025. Dave is a very optimistic kind of man, and he said it was a fun year with all the Pickle ball, golf, softball, and a new favorite…online Cribbage which he came in first place for the summer session. If only my Uncle Bill could have known Dave…he would have loved him. Uncle Bill wanted to figure out a way to play “long distance Cribbage” when I was a kid. We never got that done. Uncle Bill would have been ecstatic…if he had known how to use a computer.
Dave spent a lot of time on the water, opting to fish the river in Big Horn Canyon rather than their normal area…the good old Platte River. He went a handful of times, because it was such good fishing. Then, in March, Dave made the annual trip to watch the NCAA basketball tournament held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, and took in some skiing at Ski Loveland (somewhere in Colorado near Breckenridge).
Dave didn’t do much socially in April, but once when he was on his way to the dog park when he saw a marmot running across the road right before he inched to the stoplight on CY and Outer Drive. Toni tells it best, so I’ll leave this part in her words, “He quickly slowed down, hoping the light would hurry up and turn red so that the poor little thing could get to the field before getting hit… The light turned red and the marmot was gone. Dave figured it must have made it across the road, so he continued his way to the park (about a half block away). When he got to the park, he let the dogs out as he always does but this time, the dogs didn’t go running as they usually would. Instead, they made a B-line for the front of the car. They started sniffing around the tires and along the fenders and grill like they were part of some super K9 unit. They were coming up short so they both went underneath the car and tried sticking their heads over the splash shield. All the sudden Dave said they spotted something that caused them to go into a barking, clawing melt down. Dave and all the other pet owner started investigating what was causing such a stir. Dave silently hoped he hadn’t hit the marmot after all. He tried peering underneath the car but didn’t see anything. A crowd of dog walkers had started to gather and began their own investigation.
An older, rather suspicious man said to Dave “I think we need to pop the hood” (I wish I could have seen the look on Dave’s face lol). So, Dave reached through the window and engaged the hood lift keeping eye contact with the man. Dave walked to the front of the car and slowly started to lift the hood (the dogs were still going crazy; spectators were nonchalantly pretending to have business near the car all the while). Dave got the hood about halfway up when all of the sudden Biscuit let out a high pitch howl. Both Dave and his new detective friend caught a glimpse of a large brown furry creature poking his head up from the back of the engine block. They both jump back and the hood starts to inch to a close, so Dave rushed forward to prevent it from closing. He slowly started to lift the hood again; his arm extended to its maximum reach. The suspicious detective man 
who was even further back was bent forward to see if he saw what he saw. As the hood went up a little more, the dogs saw it too. It was the marmot. And when he (or she as it turns out) saw the dogs she ducked back down and wouldn’t come back up. This went on for about fifteen minutes, so Dave called me to head his way. He told me to bring a spray bottle. When I got there the dogs were out of control. Dave told the suspicious man that he was going to lower the hood and run the dogs home with me, hoping that the marmot would just crawl back out once it knew the coast was clear. The man told Dave “Ok, I’ll keep working on getting it to come out while you’re gone” (lol can you imagine). Dave just shrugged, jumped in the truck and we headed back to the house to drop off the dogs then went back to the park.
When we got there, the park was empty. The hood of his car was closed, and the water bottle was sitting on the driver’s seat. We figured the marmot had made his escape. So, Dave jumped in the car and we went back home. When we got there the dogs were sound asleep. They didn’t even get up to greet us. We started settling in when all the sudden Crickets head popped up then Biscuits. They both focused their sight at the wall, then out of nowhere they went into hysteric again and took off for the garage And out the door to the driveway where Dave’s car was parked. Unbelievably, the marmot was still taking up residence.
We couldn’t get her to come out for anything. This went on clear past nine. We had to barricade the dogs in the bedroom for the night. When we got up the next morning, both dogs were chomping at the bit to get out. The minute I opened the door they went straight for the garage. I opened the garage door thinking there is no way that marmot is still there. I was wrong. This story goes on and on but to try and make it short, we ended up calling one of Daves friends at Game and Fish. The friend/game warden came to the house and went to work pulling out all his bags of tricks. But he had no better luck than we did so he called another game warden to the scene, and if you think the Looky-Lou’s at the dog park were bad, try imagining our neighbors observing 2 game wardens searching our car. In the end it took a garden hose and the release of Biscuit and Cricket (the makeshift herding dogs) to finally got her out.
Our story ended there. The first game warden drove her up to the mountain and released her. Or so he thought…she ended up in his truck…as it turned out she was ready to give birth and was looking for a place to do so with some privacy. She wasn’t about to let him force her out…but that’s the game warden’s story.
Other than that, they took a trip in May to Florida and did some fishing on the Gulf. They spent some time in 
Tampa at the aquarium and around Saint Petersburg. They spent a lot of time around town and went to numerous concerts in the park. They did some hiking in the snowy range and spent a couple weekends in Centennial at the cabin with the kids, Jane, and Dave’s cousins, Chuck and his wife, Chris. Dave took another fishing trip in Colorado on the South Platte River, and they went to Yellowstone at the end of September to see the fall colors. Other than that, Toni says it was a pretty uneventful year. An uneventful year…seriously!! That statement makes me laugh, because there was little that was uneventful in this story. Nevertheless, Dave and Toni just take it in stride and keep going. Today is Dave’s 65th birthday. Happy birthday Dave!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
I never had trouble remembering Grandma Hein’s birthday. She’s my husband, Bob’s grandmother, so I didn’t grow up knowing it, but somehow it always stuck in my mind. I think it’s because every year, Grandma shared her special day with a groundhog. Everyone has dates that apply to their life. There’s a date with death, a date with birth, a date with an upcoming test, or graduation. We don’t always call them dates, though sometimes we do. And every year, there’s the date of our birthday. That was the kind of date Grandma Hein had. Every year, she knew her birthday was extra special because it meant finding out about the coming of spring. She told me that more than once, so I know she loved it…Groundhog Day.
Grandma’s life wasn’t always smooth. Her mother, Viola Leary, abandoned the family. She was gone for a while, and when she did return, Grandma wasn’t sure she wanted her around. At one point there was a stepmother in the picture, but that marriage ended, leaving room for Viola to come back. She stayed in Grandma’s life until her father passed away, took his pension and left again. Then, she reappeared again near the end of her own life. Sadly, their relationship was never particularly close, even when they lived under the same roof. I know there are always two sides to a story, but with everyone else who might have known anything, gone, I only ever heard one.
Grandma was a hardworking woman, likely shaped by all the years she spent caring for the house she shared with her dad and brother. I remember visiting her and thinking she never slowed down. She could run circles around most people and never seemed to get tired. I guess that’s just how most ranchers’ wives are…the day never really ends.
Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Hein was always such a joy. It was a trip we made sure to take every year, and I’ve always been grateful we did. It’s been so many years now, and I truly miss those visits and the time spent with them. Today is the 117th anniversary of Grandma Hein’s birth, and even though Punxsutawney Phil says 
Spring is still six weeks away, the day still feels special because it’s hers. Of course, here in Wyoming, while the day has been very Springlike, it was cloudy enough this morning that our own, Lander Lil (a Prairie Dog that is our version of Punxsutawney Phil, did not see her shadow, meaning that technically we could have an early Spring here in Wyoming. Actually, that might not be good, considering that we have already had a mild Winter, and we need moisture. Time will tell, I guess. Happy birthday in Heaven, Grandma Hein. We love and miss you very much.
When you think about the years of the Earth, and all that has happened over all that time, much of it during a time when recorded history was next to impossible, it has been estimated that as much as 97% of the world’s history has been lost to time. Of course, we have the Bible, so the Earth’s beginnings have been recorded and much of that time period, but even during that time there were limited historical records. The history of the average, everyday person was not recorded. Then when we consider the various languages and the lack of the ability to communicate, and we can see how so many of history’s events could be lost.
We’re not just talking about human history here. I don’t know and no one else does either, exactly how many years the Earth has been in existence…nor will we likely ever know. I for one will never debate the truth of the Bible, so my story will be written from that aspect. The records of early life recorded in the Bible are true. However, not every person who lived at that time was necessarily recorded in the Bible. That would 
have been an impossible task, so the history of those other people would not have been recorded, nor would their accomplishments, even if they were remarkable. They were simply not a part of the Bibles purpose.
So, the history of many people from that time was an untold story. Carry that fact forward of the passage of time, and the fact that many people even today don’t record or have a record of their own history. Over time, many people have been lost to their family, and the family timelines have been severed. Things like family name changes, sealed adoptions, abductions, and other types of disappearances, have destroyed the timelines. And that is just the human descendant line.
Then, there is the history of discoveries, some of which we know, and others that we either took for granted or 
simply knew nothing about. The failures of inventions would have simply been thrown in the trash, often with nothing learned from the attempt. While we may thing that the only inventions were in modern times, there were many inventions that happened in very early times…we just think of them as something that had been there for many years. Sometimes, we knew that something was an invention, but the history of the invention was lost or unrecorded. Then there are the records lost to fire, flood, or other natural disasters. Unless someone who was there at the time, knew the facts, they are lost. It is a sad reality. When you think about all these factors, you can see how as much as 97% of history could be lost.
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