I am enjoying the time off from school and I have found time to start reading "The Big Sky" and to see some movies. I received a birthday card last week from my Aunt Shelley who lives in Washington state and she wrote about her dog named Buddy that won second place at the dog show. I guess it won the ribbon not because it is a handsome dog but because it could "retrieve" a dead duck really fast in a pretend hunt. I had only heard of dog shows like the one on television so this was new to me. According to Aunt Shelley, Buddy has a really good sense of smell and his kind of dog is known for that (which is a black labrador). I wrote her back thanking her for the card and I wrote about my ancestor project that I started and asked her if she could write back with some stories and maybe a picture of Buddy. I showed Grandpa her card and the only thing he said was "A little late". I said that last year she didn't even send one so it is better than nothing and Grandpa just shrugged his shoulders.
I got an A on the first draft of my ancestor project and Miss Ramsey liked my stories a lot, but would like for me to write more about My Mom's side of the family, the Michaels. I said that I will be going to Minnesota right after Christmas with my parents to visit my Moms side of the family and hopefully will write down more stories. My Mom did tell me one story that I put into my report about my Grandpa Jessie and his pond-hockey parties. My Mom grew up in a house with a pond in the backyard and in the winter, Grandpa Jessie would throw parties where many of the neighbors would bring over their skates and the men would play hockey while the women would cheer and cook hamburgers. One winter that was warmer than usual, the neighborhood men came over to play but no one was quite sure if the ice was frozen enough yet. "So, everyone just stood around drinking beer and staring at the ice" said Mom. Some of the men started to get drunk and a couple of them decided to test it out anyways, so they put on their skates and started "slapping around the puck" when a loud cracking sound was heard. Everyone froze (pardon the pun) and the guys on the skates stopped skating when Grandpa Jessie yelled "GET OFF THE ICE!!" But grandpas friend Bob who had drank too many beers decided to keep skating and yelled back "It's just settling!" My Mom was only ten at the time but she remembers vividly the look on Grandpa Jessies face when Bob refused to come off the ice. He was so angry that he ran out onto the ice and grabbed Bob by the hood of his sweatshirt and started dragging him off when they both fell to the ice and the ice cracked again. Everone was really nervous and someone threw a rope onto the ice. Grandpa Jessie grabbed it and Bob and people started pulling them towards the edge of the pond when they fell through the ice. Then because they had ahold of the rope they ended up pulling 3 more people into the pond with them including Bob's wife. Luckily their was enough people left to pull everyone out one by one and "Bob had the hang-over of his life" Mom said as she laughed out loud.
This weeks word is "Retrieve" and it means "get (something) back; regain possession of; (of a dog) find and bring back (game or an object)" and an example of its use "Grandpas neighbors had to retrieve him and Bob from the pond".