Murdock Muse
November-December 2006, Part 3

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Christel, 1994

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY, MOM Bob Murdock October 29, 2006 - One hundred years ago today my mother was born in Putney, VT. She was christened "Eldora Christel Charlton," but as far as I know, never used her first name. Her parents were Allen S. and (Minnie) Idella Charlton. Allen was a farmer and preacher. He followed his father, Emanuel C. Charlton, to Gardner, Mass., where Christel went to school. She married Douglas Murdock in 1925, and they raised a family in Gardner and then Hubbardston. I will be doing some Muse Memorial web pages for Mom this year. We have lots of photos, but will especially want to include remembrances. If you would like to write a tribute to Christel, Email it to us at murmuse@comcast.net . Thanks. In her later years, Christel lived in a nursing home in Gardner, where she was well loved by the staff and other patients. Even when she couldn't remember much, she had a smile for everyone, and enjoyed saying "I had eight children: Bob, Dot, Len, Gene, Barbara, Walter, Margie, Arthur." She was still able to recite this the last time Nancy and I saw her in 1996. My mother died on November 18, 1996 (20 days after her 90th birthday) and there was a good turnout for a memorial service in the Smith Funeral Home in Gardner. All of Mom's living siblings were there: Ona from Massachusetts, Euel from Maine, and Mal all the way from Arizona. Afterwards we gathered at the Senior Center in Hubbardston for a reception. Two of Ona's daughters, Joyce and Priscilla, were there. We showed them a copy of the Muse, and Joy said to her sister, "We should do something like this!" Not long afterward, they sent us the first edition of their newsletter, "The Blackberry Dispatch."

MY FIRST PEDICURE Nancy Murdock For a month I had planned to make an appointment to get those nails cut. It seemed that the older I got, the farther away they were. Thanks to my physical therapy group, my left knee was improving, but not fast enough to take on a stubborn project, even if my cheap tools were able to cope with such heavy-duty work. Besides, it was a hot afternoon in early August, and neither Bob nor I felt like cooking yet. I had gotten to work early enough to leave an hour before my usual 6:00 PM. As I turned the corner to go past our church, I saw the sign “Pretty Nails” across the street. “I think they sell those stick-on nails,” I told Bob as I whipped into the shopping center lot. “But they may do other things, too.” He raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything. The car was too hot to let him stay in it, so I got him to come in with me. “I’ll need to see if I can make an appointment,” I said. “But then we can go to Panera’s for coffee and supper, if you want.” Fifty-five years of marriage had taught me that eating out was a good carrot to offer Bob. There was no reception desk, but displays of fingernail polish pretty much convinced me that I wouldn’t find a pedicure here. But wait! What was going on over there? A tiny Oriental operator was evidently painting a woman’s toenails. Worth looking into! She finished her current task and came to ask me what I wanted. “Do you do pedicures here?” “Yes. What color you like?” “Er, I don’t necessarily need polish, but I sometimes use pale pink. I really just need my toenails cut.” She told Bob where to sit, told me to stand “over there,” and went back to her customer. “Over there” was facing a line of people sitting in chairs a foot or so off the floor. At least one had his feet in a foot-tub of water. Okay, that looked as if what I wanted was possible. After about five minutes, she returned, pushed me into a chair, and told me to take off my shoes and socks. After about ten more minutes, Bob came to tell me he was going over to Panera for coffee. Shortly after that, another operator walked past, noticed my chair was not moving, and turned on the motor. A batch of balls on arms grabbed my back from behind the vinyl covering, and started a very vigorous massage. It ebbed and flowed, so I relaxed during the ebbs and forced myself not to call for help when the torture began. A young operator finished with her customer, filled my tub with warm water, and started my foot-soak, but the massage chair kept relentlessly grabbing me. I promised myself that if it kept on much longer, I would call for help, and it stopped. Apparently it was on a timer, thank goodness. After I recovered, I did feel loosened up. About ten minutes later, my original operator came and asked again about polish color. She was carrying a bottle of strong salmon-pink polish, so I said, “Purple.” “You don’t want pink?” “No, purple is my favorite color. I’m going to be a little wild today.” She selected a beautiful red-violet. “Okay?” “Yes, that’s beautiful!” I can’t tell you how impressed I was with her work on my feet. Wow! I didn’t know anyone could make my thick, wavy nails look presentable, much less gorgeous. After using several tools, she put on about five red-violet and colorless layers of polish. She scrubbed my feet with a brush, followed by something that looked like a lemon peel grater. Then she threaded something with short plastic fingers between my toes and asked if I wanted to wait until the polish was dry or go now. I chose to leave, so she put a pair of funny, thin, floppy sandals on my feet and got a bag for my shoes . By now I was wondering how much this was going to cost me. It was only $20 for all that attention plus decent-looking feet! I gave her a generous tip, signaled to Bob, who had returned after getting only coffee, and crept out to the car on sandals that kept folding under my feet. It was obviously Bob’s turn to drive, but where? We agreed that we didn’t want badly enough to decide where to eat out, so we went home to some tasty leftovers and Scrabble. My first pedicure was a GREAT event, and I plan to make it part of every month! It’s too bad I wear only sneakers, but as soon as I get home, I go barefoot, wiggling my toes to observe their shiny red-violet splendor.

Minnehaha Falls October, 2006

ALSO RAN Darrel Murdock October 15: As we were picking through local spots Lake Carver, Battle Creek Park and Fort Snelling, Kathy thought it would be a good idea to go to Minnehaha Falls. I reluctantly agreed, thinking the falls would be a trickle and the colors extinct. I was glad we went when I saw that not only was the falls running moderately, but the trees that obscured the view of the upper cascades had been cut back, and the remaining ones in the background were blushing still. By the way, Kathy also insisted that we go to Battle Creek Park West, where we found what was most likely the only full-color vista in the greater metropolis. Two heads are better than one, you know.

Krista, 2006

MODELING Krista Reese October 25: I have been looking into a model career for a while now. I have had some training with a woman who used to do lessons, but now does one on one lessons with people. I am doing a model showcase, which is like a pageant only not so...fake? haha (in November). It is kind of a big thing for me. I work at Dunkin Donuts now and am trying to save my money for the showcase. [Ed. Note: In the Aug.-Oct. Muse, you can see a photo of Krista modeling a gown at her mother's bridal shop.--NAM]

Mer, 2006

MANY THANKS Meredith Murdock November 8: Look what I got today! The woman in charge of capital items for our whole company emailed this to the vice president of my company today. After that, he forwarded it to all the people involved in the commercial side of my work. I have been getting congratulatory emails for the past hour! I emailed Tammy and told her she made my week. Here is her message: "I cannot thank you guys enough for Meredith. She is fabulous! Quick to respond, always helpful. "I know we are always focused on fixing the negative and never give enough thanks for the positives, so I wanted to shout this one out! "Thanks again for Meredith!"

Loup River

THE LOUP RIVER REPORT Gene Murdock November 9: What a trip! The Weather was unbelievable – I started out at about 47 degrees and it got up to 81 before the day was out – and not a cloud in the sky!!! When I sent out the notice of my proposed trip, Margie was the first to respond from Arizona – she said “can I come along?” Well, yes you may, Margie, and so you did. I thought of you frequently and anticipated your reactions to things along the way. Jack didn’t come on this one, he was still tired out from the day before, when I went to the new Cabella’s Sporting Goods store in Omaha and had him along in spirit, since he had so enjoyed the visit to the Bass Pro shop a while back. And Lins, I had you along in spirit too. I had just been past your “Lindsey’s Lea” at the prairie the other day, and wasn’t more than an hour into the trip when I saw a sign for “Lindsay Street.” Throughout the trip I saw several more instances of some variation of the name Lindsey, so I really had you in mind as I rode up and down the Loup River Valley. I went by back roads all the way, taking the main highways only when away from the big cities and the traffic everywhere was light, so driving was a breeze. During the morning I played a wide variety on music CD’s, and during the afternoon I put on an audio-book, so I kept the atmosphere light and pleasant. I had absolutely no troubles with my senile ailments – no anxiety, no forgetfulness, no getting lost – just a big smile all the way. And I stopped about hourly to stretch and do pit stop activities. The first visit was in Columbus at the Andrew Jackson Higgins Memorial. Higgins is the man of whom Dwight Eisenhower said “He won the war for us.” Without his landing boats, the war would have been entirely different and more difficult. The park has gradually grown into a Memorial to all veterans of all wars. It has a circular display of all the state and territory flags, along with many others such as the flags of Veterans organization, and even the Army and Navy “E” flags that flew over factories that demonstrated Excellence in the war production. It has several pillars and a long series of walls, filled with thousands of bricks on which people have honored a friend or loved one in the service. I intend to contact the organization and have a brick inscribed in honor of Leif Ohlson, Chris’ brother who was killed in action in France and is buried at the Normandy cemetery. A life-size replica of one of the Higgins boats stands in a sandy (beach) area. You can walk up into the boat and experience the feeling of what the 36 troops and three crew members felt when they rode them. The walkway around the boat display has lots of metal stars imbedded in the concrete, each one above a sample of the sand from beaches around the world where Americans landed and fought. It was truly a memorable and moving experience. From Columbus I picked up the roads running along the Loup River, and enjoyed many miles of rural beauty. Turning up the North Branch of the Loup at Elba I came to a scenic overlook where I could look down on the river with the fertile cereal fields (corn, wheat, rye, etc.) to the east and the Sand Hills with their rich grazing lands to the west. A few miles up the river was the old chalk mine, now turned into a museum, and above it was a high hill called Happy Jack Peak. Happy Jack was the first settler in the area who dug a cave into the chalk where he could be safe and watch in all directions for marauding Indians. The next town up is North Loup, proudly proclaiming itself as the Popcorn Capital of the world! Then I got into the real territory, where there were flatlands on the west side of the river with plenty of space and good soil for food crops before you reached the foothills of the sand hills. Here was my heaven on earth! As I drove along I scanned the area looking for a suitable section of land to stake my claim on, and found many! At the town of Ord, I stopped in at the airport, appropriately named “Evelyn Sharp Field.” Evelyn grew up in Ord and was fascinated by airplanes. At age fourteen she took her first flight, got a license to fly, then a license to teach flying, and taught about 350 boys to fly, most of whom went on to become pilots in WW II. She herself joined the service as an aviator and was qualified to fly almost every type of airplane there was. Her group flew planes from factories to airfields where they were then shipped overseas. At the age of 24 she crashed in Pennsylvania and was killed. She had accomplished so much in aviation in a short time, that she was inducted into the Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame, had the airfield named after her as well as the highway leading out to the airstrip from the city. Each year in May they have “Evelyn Sharp Days” at the airfield – a weekend of fly-ins, air shows, and general celebration. At Ord I turned around and headed back down the river, looking longingly at the sections I had picked out, and had a pleasant and uneventful trip home. November 9, POSTSCRIPT: I forgot to mention that the whole trip was about 460 miles. I attribute my ability to do it relatively easily to my habit of stopping every hour instead of every two. When I got home I felt fine, but after a light meal and an hour's chuckle of Funny Videos, I saw how tired I was, and knew I'd never make it to Jon Stewart and Dave Letterman, so I went to bed at nine. On the way back, after leaving the Loup River Valley, I was a little sad about it all being behind me, but I somehow felt an aura of something good. A very intangible something - freedom? perhaps a little bit - Relief? maybe some of that. But then it all came together when I made a pit stop and glanced at the newspaper headlines and saw the election results (and the resignation of one of the warmongers)! The people had decided that enough was enough, and took back control of the country to bring it back from the insanity of billions of dollars down the drain and thousands of lives lost. It was a good feeling, an awesome aura.

Isabeau, 2006

THE SCULLERY MAID Claudia Lindsey Hello Family & Friends...We thought you all might enjoy this picture of our granddaughter, Isabeau, (2 1/2 yrs.) in her Halloween Costume. She is dressed as a Scullery Maid. Actually she looks more like Cinderella before she met her Prince. We attended an event at Disneyland Park on Friday night and she had a ball. Dancing, (Dennis had to drag her from the dance floor so that we could do other things) and having her pictures taken with some of the Characters. Of course there was trick or treating and we came home with four bags full of candy. The only fuss she made is when we were walking out to take the tram back to the car. She didn't want to leave. Dennis took this picture and to me it looks like a professional photographer took it. Take care all and write soon.

Valerie, 2006

SCHOOL STUFF Valerie Davidson September 1: Thanks for the scan! I downloaded the cropped one, which mercifully cuts off the strange-looking fold in my shirt, which was part of my plan, too. Maybe you were just being tactful when you said your reason for cropping it (hee, hee!). It's my faculty photo for Abbott Middle School in San Mateo, California, where I teach all (260+) of the sixth-graders Computers & Keyboarding (imagine trying to teach a widely diverse group of 260 11-year-olds the skill of touch-typing!) along with one class of Creative Writing, which has 7th-graders (4) and 8th-graders (23). When did our school year begin? Why, July 31! Our first 3-week vacation will be coming up in October (grin!). The Creative Writing class takes more of my time right now, because I'm designing the curriculum week by week. This week the students started writing "open form" poetry. The first activity was called "Color Poem," and required them to use MS Word to create a document, select a background color, and then type a nicely-formatted (sort of "anything goes") poem about the color shown on the page. Due to gang issues, I claimed red and used it to demo the activity, which caused a number of the students to settle on black! After we were finished, we shared in a "Gallery" -- which is when the students display their projects on their computers, we stand, push in the chairs, turn off the lights, and browse the room, reading one another's poems. In the 6th-grade classes, to provide relief from the rigors of the typing program, we are currently working on an "Art Gallery" project, which has the same display principal. But it involves the drawing tools of AppleWorks, which is like a poor man's version of MS Word. It turns out that, even though I've got the Internet locked up tighter than a drum for now, AppleWorks allows them to search its own site for kid-friendly clipart -- sort of a safe, back-door way to do a little Internet browsing. It's a huge hit! I'm very happy at this school, and feel like I've just completed a 4-year apprenticeship to get just the right situation for my interests and strengths. I have the most students of any teacher (with nearly 300), and yet I never have to punish any of them, because they love computers and I love to make it enjoyable. That is a happy match! Well, I better get back to grading... Thanks again for the scan! Now I finally have a picture to send out.

TO MY SURPRISE... Valerie Davidson October 8: I'm on my first 3-week break of our year-round school calendar. I think I could really grow to like this schedule... Anyhoo, I have medical benefits again (whew!), so I went for a check-up, and decided to have my height checked. Why? Because I suspected something... ...And I was right! I'm taller!! I'm not sure when this happened, but I've been 5' 6" for most of the past 40 years. Previously, I tended to be eye-to-eye with folks who claimed to be the same height. But the first indication of something being a little odd happened a year ago, when we were lining up by height for our staff photo, and the 5' 6" folks seemed a tad short (I assumed that it was due to people simply liking to think of themselves as a certain height, perhaps when they are wearing shoes?)... Anyway, the same thing happened again this year. Since my pants were also seeming a little "high-water," I asked to have my height measured at the doctor's office, and - surprise, surprise - I'm actually 5' 7" now! Of course, I realize that this seems highly unlikely, since I'm at the age when people start to shrink. However, there is a reasonable explanation: I've been doing Pilates workouts for several years now, and Mari Winsor is always saying, "you will feel taller..." Perhaps I have stretched my spine properly, and now finally rise to my full height. (Although, I have never had bad posture or anything, which makes this so odd.) The point is, it is rather exciting. Next time I update my driver's license (in 12 years, or whatever), I will change my height. That ought to raise some eyebrows. [Ed. Note: This was obviously not a hereditary surprise. Mine went the opposite direction - from 5'5 1/2" to 5'4". I wonder if I am envious enough to do Pilates for two years! On crutches? Nah...NAM]

Deanna

LOTS OF CHANGES Deanna Murdock October 30: Hey, I haven't heard from you guys in a while - just checking in to see how you are doing. A lot has changed over here. On October 15th Tanaya moved in with us and goes to school with Daniel now. A lot of changes are happening around the house. We are expanding our duplex into a townhouse; as soon as the guy downstairs moves, we will have a 3 bedroom instead of a two bedroom. He was served with his eviction notice a while ago. We just celebrated Jack's party last Saturday and almost all the family was there, inclding Dawn and Kris. It was a fun party. We wish you guys could have been there. Rickey has completed getting Jack potty trained; my baby boy is growing up. Trinity and Jack also started a new daycare that they seem to like better. Well I gotta go attend to the kids before they destroy the house. Write back soon.

Charlie, 2002

BASEBALL AND FILM Charlie Frost September 18: Bob and Nancy - Thought of you for two reasons recently, so here's the connections: You will recall our two visits to Hadlock Field in Portland to watch the Sea Dogs play, Bob. I'm not much of a fan of professional sports but couldn't help feeling some satisfaction to learn that the Dogs have finally won big. They beat Akron 8-5 in Game 5 of the series to clinch the Eastern League championship, the first time since 1994. Much joy in the port. Nancy, I watched Indochine in your honor. Catherine Deneuve was great in that film, her statuesque beauty immortalized amidst stunning scenery (actually filmed in Malaysia). I recall that you asked for the review prepared for Muse readers but, regrettably, I couldn't find it.

Gene, 1999

THIS AND THAT Gene Murdock September 10: A wonderful Bass Pro Shop opened in Council Bluffs this year and with it a fish restaurant. On their menu I saw an entry for a Reuben Sandwich done with fish instead of corned beef! I couldn’t imagine what that would taste like, and I love Reuben’s, so I went and gave it a try. It was a disaster! The fish, grouper, was a good inch thick and over-cooked and the rye bread was over toasted. What’s more, there was no sauerkraut. What a sham and shame!!! I have no sympathy for Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, who died tragically when a manta ray swung its poisonous stinger right into his heart. I have always been turned off by his approach to animals, and felt that he was setting a very bad example by making it look like fun to harass and tease dangerous wild animals in their native habitat. I heard a couple of residents in my Happy Hollow discussing what they would wear for Halloween. I got to thinking about something simple I could wear, and came up with a fun project. I will dress as Izaak Walton, the great fisherman and author of “The Compleat Angler.” I walked around the Bass Pro Shop looking for ideas, and found a neat inexpensive vest with multi pockets, a sweat-shirt with comical fish slogans, a floppy hat to attach lures to and a kid’s rod and reel set. I wanted some sort of a creel made of canvas or mesh, so it would fold up against me, but nothing like that was available, so I went to the clerk and asked him where the creels were. He apologized, saying they didn’t have any except some miniature ones just for decoration. I went and looked at them, and they were perfect! The standard creel I remember was about a foot long and maybe nine inches high and wide. These were more like six inches long and maybe four inches high and wide, but they were exact replicas of a wicker creel! On Halloween week, my door display will be about fishing, and I will wear the costume. If someone says “Hey! This is Halloween – you’re supposed to look scary,” I’ll pull a handful of slimy rubber worms out of my pocket and wave then in their face and watch them panic! My collection of World War II posters, about 60 of them, are now all mounted on stiff poster board and shrink-wrapped in plastic with a hanger attached. Now I can display them anywhere and safely store them. I will alternate them with my other posters to hang on my door. I can change them weekly for over a year without repeating one. And a year from now, few of my senile seniors will remember the previous showing. I continue my volunteer work at the Aviation Museum, but notified them that I have pretty well finished the cataloguing and shelving, and after the upcoming Hall of Fame Banquet in early October, where we will inaugurate all the Tuskegee Airmen from Iowa (twelve of them) into the Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame, I will retire from coming out on the 200 mile round trip to work there. My boss was so disappointed that I compromised and said I will come out about monthly to do a few things and read a few books, but not on a set schedule.

Margery, 2005

HEADING OUT Margery Aukstikalnis September 29: Dear Friends and Gentle People, (I've been singing that for days, thinking of you all. Let the curse...or pleasure... be passed!) According to the book, we will be leaving between 8:00 and 8:30 AM Thursday October 5th, bag and baggage, two cats and a dog. We hope to leave the house by 5 or six PM on Wednesday evening and have it all winterized and sealed before going to bed in the RV. While on the road, many of our stops will be State Parks, so the likelihood of cell phone or Internet connection or even television is limited. We will write when we are able. Our Douglas ETA is October 18th, give or take. Our tentative itinerary: (miles approx.) Day amenities Park City State miles cumulated 1 WSE Robin Hill Lenhartsville PA 376 376 2 WSE Sand Springs Morgantown WV 259 635 3&4 WSE The Outpost Salt lick KY 287 922 5 WSEL Quality times, Inc Mount Vernon IL 291 1213 6&7 E Finger Lakes SP Columbia MO 222 1435 8,9,10 WSE Victorian Acres Nebraska City NE 254 1689 11 WSE Mustang Park Mc Phearson KS 272 1961 12&13 WE Foss SP Foss OK 293 2254 14 WSE Wagon Wheels RV Park Portales NM 277 2531 15&16 WE Oliver Lee SP Alamogordo NM 226 2757 17? WE Pancho Villa SP Columbus NM 170 2927 18 WSELTPK home Douglas AZ 131 3058 Amenities legend: W=water, S=sewer, E=electricity, L=laundry, T=television, P=land line phone, K=big, wide skies of Arizona. We have been wanting to visit Pancho Villa park for quite a while, but when we get that close to home we always seem to say, "let's go for it." This year we promised ourselves we will stop. We'll see. Having passed all my medical tests and after visiting Doc and having labs repeated, he has downgraded me from Type II Diabetes to "glucose intolerant" as my labs show I am always in borderline control. And with my back nearly healed and my diet plan intact I am ready to start increasing my daily walks incrementally so I will be even healthier by the time we return. I have obligations on May 1st, so will be back by then. Meantime, keep those notes and letters coming! Winter will be very, very long without you. We do plan to have Paul visit for two weeks at Thanksgiving, hope to scoot over to Texas in Jan or Feb to see Jim & Paula and Holly, maybe will be visited by Barb DiStefano and friend at some point during the winter, and welcome anyone else who cares to take the trip. Our stop in Nebraska City, NE is minutes away from Gene, and we will be spending a couple of action-packed, fun-filled, fascinating days visiting with him; it will be the highlight of the trip. I got a nice, (short) note from Craig yesterday! We will go to Arkansas to see him and Janet in the spring. Until we see you again: Happy Holidays, stay healthy, be happy and we will miss you.

Becky, 2006

UPDATE ON TIM Becky Murdock September 17: How is everyone doing this fine Sunday morning? It is a beautiful day here, and promises to stay cool for a few more days. We heard from Tim yesterday; he was sightseeing in Venice with a couple of his friends. He said he took a lot of pictures so I am anxious to see them. He will be leaving for Germany soon to do a training exercise. I think he will be there for Octoberfest, how exciting!!! They also mentioned that he might be going to Russia for another training class this year---wow, the world traveler. They had a ceremony on Sept 11th there, and I guess Tim was one of the flag handlers. What a honor! He is doing extremely well over there; I am very proud. Yesterday, I picked up Natt and we went to breakfast, then went out car shopping. She finally sold her VW, which was on its last leg. She is trying to buy something that is dependable, but not overly expensive. We did find a few options, so we will see. October 11th will already be a year since I had my heart attack, and knock on wood I am feeling pretty darn good. Today, I am going to hit a couple of stores to buy a few things for myself. I am finally looking out for myself instead of buying for others all the time, but I still love to do that too. I just sent Tim a care package; I had bought him some new clothes. I miss him so much. He has been gone since Feb., too long for me. Well, if you get a chance please write back; I miss hearing from you guys.

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