LIFE RULES: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! Tomorrow, August 7th, I will celebrate another birthday and for that I am grateful. In a world where youth is valued, and people fight the aging process with all their might, to have a birthday can be terrifying for some. However, if we consider the alternative, most of us would be glad to be alive. As I look back and contemplate the past, I can say, unequivocally, that my life is/has been/will always be a miracle and I am truly blessed. The gift of life is one of the greatest gifts we can receive on this planet and, while it comes with a set of challenges we all face, it is a gift we must cherish. There are children who are fortunate to be born into a loving home, some who learn to create their own version of a loving home, and yet others who seek it outside on their own. No matter what type of childhood experience you have had, you can choose to make a life for yourself that is rich and rewarding.
LIFE RULES: Don't live half a life. If we make a commitment to enjoy the life we have, it can become both exhilarating and magical. What often happens is that so many of us live by other people's rules and expectations for our lives, instead of by our own vision and set of rules. You see, the point of my post title is NOT to make you adopt my life rules at all. My rules are what I wish for myself and the standards I live by. Each of us must reflect on what we wish for our lives and then work at manifesting them. Where do you draw the line in the sand for your own life? What do you stand for? What do you dream about? Until we spend time reflecting on what truly matters to us, as individuals, we will only be tapping into a tiny fount of our potential. Until we map out our own path, we will only be living other people's dreams. Life is fraught with missteps as well as magical moments, and we get to choose how we want to live it.
Here are 4 more rules on my list of twelve: 5. Believe in Miracles, mermaids and unicorns. You must believe on what is greater than your own imagination or you are simply limiting the full scale of grace that can enrich your life. 6. Be grateful/thankful; gratitude is a necessary tool for living a contented life. We can have great wealth and achievements but if we lack a spirit of thankfulness, we will always feel unhappy. 7. Be human and humane; some people live by such rigid standards that they forget to be human and forgiving of themselves and others. To err is human and to forgive is divine. Live life with gusto and stop torturing yourself to fit into a square box that you've created in your own mind. 8. Learn to laugh often and to cry when you must. Our tears are a natural healing gift from the heart. When we shed a tear for others, we send out a vapor of blessings that extend healing across barriers. If we can learn to remember that everything in life operates from an energy field and that the field is permeable, vast and accessible to all, we might remember to treat each other with compassion and greater consideration.
To the circle of light on high.
Yet behold me a captive of matter.
Beside the Buddha beneath the tree of knowledge.
Behold me now a prisoner of doubt.
Upon the smallness and poverty of their works.
Not to chant the truth.
Music of people from the West.
Yet am I strong to do battle with the days.
LIFE RULES: You can say that I have saved the best for last and you'd be right. But please keep in mind that these are my life rules and you must set aside some time to consider and create your own. The final four on my list are fundamental to my own life rules. They are the foundation on which everything else fits into place. Without faith, effort and self love, not much can be achieved that is truly lasting and fulfilling. Much of the last 7 years has been a struggle and these rules have been my best anchor in the darkest times. We learn who we truly are in times of hardship. When life is gay and merry, we can choose to be whomever and whatever we wish. When life throws you curve balls that linger for years, you learn your true metier and, if you turn within, you learn to press forward in spite of the limitations.
These final 4 life rules are the bane of my existence. What are yours? 9. Always put God and Family first. 10. Make friends with your mind and body; we need both to survive life's harshest trials. 11. Look for the positive even when you have almost zero reason to do so. Just keep looking and believing because that tiny crack of light is nearby … just look, it's there to champion you on. 12. Don't live half a life, choose to live life fully. I say choose because it is a CHOICE. I know people who won't even give themselves a simple treat because of X, Y and Z. Even when things seem down and glum, find something to do to give you joy. Attend a concert. Take a walk, plant a seed, help someone else feel better, send out healing love and light to the world and expect it back in bucketfuls. We become what we believe. What we resist, persists. Embrace life and believe in miracles. They do come true. Happy Birthday to me and to everyone out there who shares this special day with me. We share a great gift = LIFE ! Stay blessed and encouraged. Rise!
Positive Motivation Tip: Live your life with a grateful heart and create your own rules along the way.
As always I really enjoyed reading your motivational Monday post. Your words are always so raw and make me think a little harder than I did before I read it.
P.S. Happy birthday E, I hope you have a truly blessed and beautiful day and may there be many, many miracles, mermaids and unicorns waiting for you on your life's journey.
A full wish for the happiest of birthdays snd a new year full of love and light.
The importance of picking people who will "fan your flames" in a positive way is so important! I've sabotaged myself so many times by choosing to surround myself with people that are counterintuitive to my goals and growth.
God first and the importance of family are at the top of my list. Also, ensuring that I always put people over money and things. It can be so hard to keep focused on what is truly important.
Love all the inspiring motivational days and quotes!
Not doing things half-way. That's a good thought for the day. Thank you!
I had never thought about life rules before … are there rules? I believe in following my instincts and leading a life which makes me happy and content even when no one else agrees with my 'choices'.
You are so blessed and I am so happy to have read this. Happy birthday to you. I hope it is all that and more. May God bless you with joy and peace all the day long. Enjoy your day to the max. Peace!
Life by Khalil Gibran–We should all live by this poem. Too often we settle for halves.
Don't live half a life! What a powerful statement. We should always surround ourselves around people who stretch us. My husband is so good about making connections with people who are living on the level he wants to go.
Happy Birthday! I hope it's a good one! I love Khalil Gibran- his writing is incredible!
Happy birthday to you! I hope you have a fantastic day. I love your life rules, they make for happy and fulfilled life in my opinion.
I especially like your rule number 3. Stay focused on pursuing your creative expressions and love the work wholeheartedly.
Happy early birthday! I love all the quotes you shared in this post – they are so thought-provoking and contemplative.
I totally agree with this: "What often happens is that so many of us live by other people's rules and expectations for our lives, instead of by our own vision and set of rules." It's unfortunate how we, most of the time, listen to what others say. We make decisions based on what other people may say or react. We make decisions based on what other people may think about us. And it's so sad living like this. We should really get this out of our systems and start living a life that we have always wanted to and not worrying how others may judge us. This way, we'll learn to be happier in living our own lives.
Happy belated birthday! Hope you have a great celebration with your loved ones!
I am motivated! I love your positive outlook, it is contagious! I love the poem you shared, I have seen it before, but today it made an impact on me.
That Maya Angelou poem is one of my all time favorites. It is so powerful to read. Happiest of birthdays!
Happy birthday Elizabeth! My wish for you is that you stay continually blessed so that you may inspire more people through your writing.
Great advice! I lived in the box made for me by society for too long before i let myself free and truly lived. It took many hardships and deep ruts to get here but im here!
I would like to wish you a very happy birthday and a long healthy life filled with happiness and joy. You are a very strong and dynamic person and that shows on your every post!
I really enjoyed reading this post. I have so many rules in my life but the most important for me are to always put God first and my family in everything and be more positive in life.
Happy Birthday. I celebrate two birthdays. One when I was born and one when my life from the root was changed, thanks to God's grace. Our lives are really a gift and we need to celebrate them every day!
What an interesting post, I think it is such a great idea to have such life rules. I think rules and values must be cherished and respected.
Happy birthday dear, this is truly an inspiration for me, I totally agree that we got to live our life to its fullest, it's now or never.
This is such a nice post and I do agree with you that we should not live a half life instead live our life in the fullest in a positive way of living.
There's a lot of rules to make in life but for me my rules are to focus with God and with my family, with my job and with those people who love me and cares for me.
Don't live half a live – I like that life rule! It sounds like a good one to live by – about making the most of each day and the life we have. Also happy birthday! Hope you have a lovely time!
Happy birthday! Your post is so inspirational and motivational! I do love when you say that we should believe in unicorns, and you are so right! Because who believes in fairy tales believes also in miracles and leads a happy life!
I needed to read this. The part about look around and realize your situation is not permanent has very real meaning to me. My husband suffered a TBI and is struggling to get back to himself from his brain injury. I forwarded this to him for some motivation today.
I hope you had a fantastic birthday! I do try to ensure that I don't live half a life. I am trying to make sure I have experiences in the here and now so I don't regret anything later.
Happiest of birthdays to you! I hope it's a great one. You have some wonderful life rules – I hope they continue to serve you well.
Happiest of birthdays to you!! Thank you for all the inspiration and motivation.
Once again, your message is profoundly inspirational. I really like the idea of being a lamp, a lifeboat, or a ladder. I see those as progressions, and I like the message of holistic living. No half friends, half truths, etc.
Out of all your posts till date! This is my fav. Absolutly beautiful ❤ And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
This is all so true. I think every point you touch on for creating YOUR own life is up to you. Staying positive and always moving forward are the only way!
I have never thought of it until now, but this is definitely a great idea! to have some solid life rules seems the right thing to do.
I hope your birthday was full of love and friendship. Mine isn't too far away!
Self-love is critical, and we need to give this gift to ourselves at all times, and especially so during dark times. And I love the sentiment of setting our own life rules which is the foundation and the essence of everything we stand for and believe in.
I have many personal life rules – my biggest one is to live on my own terms, and live openly, to be myself.
Belated happy birthday! We only have one life to live we might as put our heart into it and live it the best way we can. We may create our own personal life rules to follow.
Sage advice. So many quotes. Love them. They really are words to love by!
Oh my! This is such a vast collection of motivational words. I love all the poems especially. I have bookmarked it for future reference!
Love the message in this Maya Angelou. She was such an inspiration.
It is important to have a set of rules to live your life by. Although I'm sure our rules would not all be the same.
My life rules is always put God first in everything you do, second is love your family as you love yourself and lastly, be light to others.
First of all happy birthday. You are so full of energy. Your positivity towards life makes me want to live.
Loved the post. Gives us a detailed insight why and how we should define our life rules. So true that everyone should make their own life rules as per their life goals.
Really thoughtful rule – …"Stay focused on pursuing your creative expressions and love the work wholeheartedly"…. We so connect with this as while coming out with our travel blog – Backpacking Series and travelogue – Backpacking North East India: A Curious Journey, this rule was what we followed and continue to follow! Along with this, we are now also at …"Make friends with your mind and body; we need both to survive life's harshest trials."..
I agree that we do not have to be locked in to where we are. But far too often we have things around us which make it difficult. I know I need to get myself out of that way of thinking from time to time though. And realize there are always other paths.
Looking for the positive is the important thing. IT is inspiring to be able to lift your head up and make it to another day with joy in your heart.
Happy Birthday to you. Wish you all the best and good health!
First of all, Happy Belated Birthday Elizabeth and wish you a wonderful year ahead! This is another beautiful piece of writing from your Motivational Monday series. That Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī's quote is my all time favorite and yes! we all need to live our life fullest!
This is so inspiring! Life is truly a great gift.
Nice post and my life rules are to be good to others even with your enemies and to put God and my family to be a center of all my dreams.
Happy birthday you beautiful soul. I too think people should embrace life and never be afraid to get old on to celebrate there life.
This is a beautiful post and I hope you had a great birthday! I particularly loved the bit where you said that reinventing ourselves begins in our hearts and minds! I love that concept that everything you achieve in life comes from within you, not from others! That you have to make a change, that change doesn't come to you! Very thought-provoking! Thank you for sharing this!
We should live our lives to the fullest. It is really important for us to try new things in life.
This is such a beautiful post, and I especially love the part about having and pursuing ambitious dreams! Also hope you had an amazing birthday!
These are such great motivational poems, I will definelty save these poems.
Happy Birthday! I just want to tell you that I am a huge fan of your blog and i just feel happy reading your post. Thank you for the positivity that you share.
My daughter would agree with you. She wants to believe in mermaids, too. It is good to appreciate the small things in life and embrace the moments.
I really enjoy having some motivation as a pick me up everyday. This one is very good.
This was extremely motivational! Thanks for spreading your contagious positive outlook on life! Much needed!
That was such an amazing read. Took me a while but it was all so interesting. Belated Happy Birthday by the way!
Happy Birthday! I just had a birthday on Aug. 4th.
This is really something to motivate us on a manic Monday. Loved this kind of post that encourage us and believe that there's always be good.
Happy belated birthday to you, I hope that it was everything you wanted it to be. Your 12 life goals are amazing. If I had written down my life goals, they would be very similar to yours. I think writing them out is a fantastic idea, it give you something to focus on as you move forward in life. Have a wonderful year!
Firstly happy birthday! And I love the whole message of this post, so important to let go of worries caused by other people and focus on the positive.
Great post and happy belated birthday!
Happy Birthday! I love your rule about always looking for a positive. I find that that one can be super hard but yet very necessary!
I feel completely motivated after reading this post! A belated happy birthday to you too; I definitely feel inspired to live life more in the present. You feature some great quotes too!
I hope you had a wonderful Birthday!! Life is such a blessing isn't it? Summer is my happy time and I am feeling so alive and refreshed ~ now to carry that into the hustle and bustle of the school year as we gear up for preschool, 3rd grade and middle school in just 10 days!!
Happy belated birthday! These steps speak to me, and I hope I can stay true to them and live presently, with creativity, and not let fear hold me back.
I love that poem by Maya Angelou. It's so inspirational.
Happy belated birthday! These steps speak to me. I hope I can be true to them and live my life in the present, creatively, and without letting fear hold me back.
Don't we all need a little extra push to get us moving on Mondays?!
Happy birthday! I am working hard to not live a half life. Your words are inspiring and beautiful!
Putting God first makes everything ok. You don't have to worry with the trust in God. This is a great article that will really guide through life.
A very happy birthday to you! Enjoyed this post!
Happy Belated birthday firstly. I love the rules you have come up with for your life. I'm especially a fan of number 5.
Great post! Such a great motivational post. and that poem is so impressive and very well written.
My life rules are always be grateful in every blessings that you recieved and always pray and be patience.
Don't let people control your life, live your life into the fullest, do good and show love to everyone and do your dreams come true.
I agree with you that our lives is the greatest gift that we received so as He gave us a breathe of life we should always show our gratitude to our God and praise Him with our hearts, mind and strenght.
Happy Birthday to begin with. Yes you need to engage yourself with positive people to change your mindset towards life. Have a goal in life and work towards it.
Happy Belated Birthday! It's def a time to reflect on life and try to be the better you that you want to be. I always love reading your motivational posts – especially this one!
Love fully and live fully this is my motto. Live life that makes me proud. And love that makes me fulfilled.
I love the quote at the top. Hope you had a lovely birthday celebration. Stay motivated!
A very motivational post, thank you. Just what I needed, as I've woken up feeling even worse in my 3rd week of the flu. In August! I feel like it's never going to go away, so "Look for the positive even when you have almost zero reason to do so. Just keep looking and believing because that tiny crack of light is nearby … just look, it's there to champion you on." really helped!
This post is so motivational. I definitely need this to direct my own life better. Thanks for such advice!
Everyday I tell myself 10 things I am grateful for. Stop and look around at this beautiful world we have to enjoy. See people who are worse off than you and be grateful for what you have. Now go out and give service to those people and help them feel better as well.
I love anything by Maya Angelou but "Still I Rise" is my favorite. As always thank you for the positive motivation.
I really understood that you have to put yourself around people that have the same drive and motivation like I do. People who just talk and not trying to change things are just a downer for your motivation. And don't get me wrong, I do understand that live's hard and so it was for me. But keep looking at what is bad in your life doesn't make it any better. Great post Elizabeth!
Nothing happens for a reason. As simple as me reading this motivational post when I truly needed something to keep me going. Thank you.
Ps: Belated happy birthday gorgeous !
I love all these quotes and I love Khalil Gibran poems! This is my top most fave though because I believe in everything that it says: "Be grateful/thankful; gratitude is a necessary tool for living a contented life. We can have great wealth and achievements but if we lack a spirit of thankfulness, we will always feel unhappy." It's important to be grateful.
I love your rules! So uplifting and positive, and so true!
I try to live by rule #12 everyday but sometimes it's so hard! I spend so much of my time working, even when I'm at home, when I know I should do things for me and my own self-care.
I needed this kick in the pants today. I am trying to work hard to be successful, but it's not coming easy! Thank you!
I love the poetry, it's beautiful!
Just love how you have crafted your own Life Rules into 12 and how you have expressed and shared them. Naturally they are personal to you and it its great that you have encouraged readers to build their own while providing your values as an example. Birthdays are a good time for reflection on how we each track our progress through life and to contemplate the values that each of us regard as important. A belated happy birthday to you and best wishes for happiness in your life through sticking to your life rules.
I think my favorite life rules here are the ones about dreams. Dreams are important so we can make goals and keep going, dream big, always.
Wise words as always, but what about when you feel that you've given out too much of your light and you can find someone else to light you fire so you fell you're burning out?
First of all let me wish you a Happy belated birthday and this is exactly what I needed to start off my Monday.
I loved the number 5: believe in miracles, marmaids and unicorns; and number 8: learn to laugh often and cry when you must.
I have to say that I'm guilty of not following all these rules but I will try and do better.
The quote you chose from Muhammad Rumi is beautiful.
This is such a great compilation of quotes. Thank you so much for also providing Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, am a big fan of her. And lastly, I totally agree, life is meant to be lived to the fullest. You rock!
I love reading your quotes. Somehow it seems that I can relate to everything you are saying and every time i come across your post I end up being motivated to do the things that I have been postponing.
Perfect read for me today, on Motivation Monday! Still I rise is one of my favorite reads.
Belated happy birthday! Such an encouraging post. I'd like to have a list of my life rules as well. Thanks for sharing yours.
I always enjoy your motivational posts. I really like the poems that you included in this one. Thanks for sharing!
Great motivation. I don't think any woman can NOT be inspired by Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" poem. It doesnt1 matter age or ethnicity. This poem motivates me each time I read it as if it is my first time reading.
5. Believe in Miracles, mermaids and unicorns. This is such a beautiful "rule". I always want to believe in mermaids too (I already believe in miracles!), but recently, I've been shown the "ugly" version of the mermaids and got freaked out. Haha… Hope I start seeing nice version of mermaids soon!
This really spoke to me. 7. Be human and humane; some people live by such rigid standards that they forget to be human and forgiving of themselves and others. To err is human and to forgive is divine. It's good that people are speaking out more about injustice and trying to right wrongs but sometimes people are getting caught up in their judgement of others.
Happy birthday! Love your second rule. Lately, I've been embracing doing the work I've loved and respecting that work (which doesn't mean it's by any means easy) and have been a bit taken aback by the amount of pushback I've been encountering. It's sad to see how many people think doing something satisfying isn't real work, or are more concerned with making money than creating something they can be proud of. This was a lovely reminder to keep at it.
I wished I would have learned earlier in life about wasting my time trying to please others. But, at least I know now.
I hope you had a wonderful birthday!! I love your motivated spirit! I think your last tip is my favorite – living life well is a choice, and I'm thankful it's one I make every day!!
I love that Maya Angelou poem. One of my favorites. She sure was an inspiring woman. Happy birthday to you. Hope you had a blast. Enjoy! God bless!
Happy birthday to you! Life is worth celebrating, and sharing the blessings.
Nice content! Thanks for sharing!
I totally agree that we must put family first. This is the one thing that keeps us going always no matter what the situation is!
I have recreated myself several times and enjoyed reading you list of life rules. Many of them resonate with me. I think you are spot on in saying, "Look for the positive even when you have almost zero reason to do so. Just keep looking and believing because that tiny crack of light is nearby … just look, it's there to champion you on." That type of outlook has gotten me through many difficult times.
Ya. I can totally relate to your post! Every birthday I take a step back and wonder about the direction my life is heading and was it how I had pictured it the previous birthday! But as you point out its important to stay in the present too and not get too carried away! Awesome words!
Happy belated birthday . Thank you for sharing . In life no matter how you grow up there's always light at the end of the tunnel.
I always ove these motivation monday post!! You make some really good points that we should all stop and ponder about!
Hope you had a great birthday! These are some great rules to follow and be aware of.
Happy Belated Birthday I hope you had a great day. Birthdays are always great time for reflection.
Happy belated birthday to you! I wish your every day to be filled with lots of love, laughter, happiness and the warmth of sunshine.
Love this post and the poems you added!! Life definitely Rules!!
I truly believe that the saying we become what we believe, and we are especially sensitive when it comes to the negative thoughts we have too.
I too am a huge fan of the great Khalil Gibran. His words have such a deep meaning. Loved his books and poems. Im so glad that you read his stuff and could relate to these!
This is a fantastic list. My favorite is believe in miracles!! They can come in so many forms.. including unanswered prayers!
being present and actually living this life instead of going through the motions, is important to me right now. thank you for the reminder!
So inspirational, do not life half a life, couldn't agree more! We all need to live our best life ever, as life in reality is very short.


Left: This photo from the late Dona Rousseau collection shows the Minkler family's original home in Lyman. This is where the family lived before moving across (cater-corner) Main street in 1891 into what is today known as the Minkler Mansion. Right: The Beazley family, who later bought the first house, removed the top two stories. It is located at the southwest corner of Second and Main, which was the northernmost point of Otto Klement's original 1887 plat of Lyman. We have not determined when this first home was built, but we assume that it was sometime in the 1887-88 period. We have also been unsuccessful in determining why Minkler built the second home so soon after the first. Bud Meyers Jr. notes that there is some confusion over whether the Minklers actually lived in the first home. Perhaps it was built as a hotel. We hope that a reader will have an answer in family scrapbooks.
In 1878 B.D. Minkler built a water-power mill on the south side of the river, and the first post office on the upper river was established at Birdsview in 1880, Mr. Minkler being the first postmaster. Indians in that vicinity always held that they were not treaty Indians, and they did not consent to the acquisition of land by the whites. A contest between these Indians and Mr. Minkler for the mill site was ultimately carried to Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock and recently decided by him in favor of the Indians.
When we first began researching Minkler's history several years ago, we asked every known Minkler descendant along with descendants of the other neighboring families if they had ever heard of this land dispute. Some dismissed it as a fairy tale but most said they had never heard of it. Then we met Mike Aiken, whose mother Eleanor lost her own mother, Edith Minkler, when she was baby in 1917. Eleanor's aunt, Maude Minkler Vanderford, raised her in the Minkler mansion in Lyman. When Mike was in grade school, his family lived in the mansion and he recalled stories about the dispute but he did not know the details. Jon Jech, a fellow Sedro-Woolley alumnus and also a descendant of pioneers, gave us a copy of an authoritative book, called Valley of the Spirits, which was published in 1974. Written as a monograph by a non-Indian named June McCormick Collins, it is one of the best-researched collection of stories about the Upper Skagit Indians. Trained as an anthropologist, Collins based the book on personal interviews conducted while living with different Indian families at various times over three decades from the 1940s to 1960s. We will not confuse the reader with the complex spellings of the Upper Skagits' Lushootseed language, but we suggest that those who want to learn more should read the works by Collins, Vi Hilbert and Chief Martin J. Sampson.
Collins and other sources point out that a major sub-tribe populated the area roughly between our subject area around Birdsview and Faber Ferry for hundreds of years. They lived in what was the largest extended village of the Upper Skagit group. A large wooden residential and ceremonial house was located on the north shore near Birdsview before the 1880s. Before Howard Miller's death in November 2000, we used to love to share a salmon over the barbecue at his old cabin on the north bank of the river above the Faber Ferry landing. Besides being an insurance agent, county commissioner and outdoors and hunting enthusiast, Miller spent four decades guiding serious fishermen to steelhead fishing holes on the upper Skagit. He explained that one reason for buying the land there and favoring the fishing holes immediately up and downriver from the cabin was that he learned early on that this was a favorite fishing spot for Indians going back for centuries. The tribe had been decimated by deaths due to smallpox at different times in the nineteenth century, especially in the 1830s. Another terrible outbreak occurred in 1890, when teams of white settlers were hired by the county to assist in burial of bodies in villages where nearly everyone was ill, and burning the actual village houses that were thought to be badly contaminated. Because of the deaths, some traditional Indian areas were not fully populated, which could have misled settlers such as Minkler about the Indian seasonal migration patterns.
Back in 1855, when Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens summoned the chief of every Puget Sound tribe to Point Elliott to sign a treaty to settle the uprisings that started that year, the Upper Skagit complied and chose a representative to attend. The appointed chief's grandson, Joseph Campbell, explained to Collins that Stevens told the Indians present that they would be given a reservation in exchange for their lands. For some reason, however, the chief was not asked to sign the treaty so he went home without signing any part. A.V. Pressentin told Collins that sometime in 1886 or afterwards, the Upper Skagit protested about encroachment on their lands around Birdsview and other upriver areas. The murder of an Upper Skagit and the resulting apprehension of a suspect, which was seen by the Indians as being high-handed, touched this off. Shortly after that, more kindling was added to the fire when a white surveyor was sent to map the Baker River area. Indians recognized a pattern in the surveyor visits: they always precluded a land grab by the whites. Karl von Pressentin hosted a council at his homestead where Indians were allowed to protest formally about what they saw as seizure, and they insisted that they had "neither signed a treaty with the United States Government to deed their lands nor received money for them."
Bernhard von Pressentin paddled downriver during the night, fearing that the Indian force in more than 100 canoes threatened the settlers just as they would again in 1878. A company of soldiers responded from Vancouver. The Indians fled but the company leader, a Colonel Simmons (maybe Michael, the famous Olympia pioneer) caught up with them and explained that he could not address any wrongs, but he suggested that they apply to the Department of Justice. They did so and in 1892 some allotments were made to satisfy the Indian claims, but in general the Indians were stalled without satisfaction. By then, many Indians had given up on the system and withdrew to undisputed areas in the Suiattle River watershed. One of those allotments they received may have been parts of Minkler's property. Records are too sketchy to determine for sure. We do know that on subsequent maps of the area, a long slim piece of property on Minkler's former claim is labeled as federal land and the site of the federal fish hatchery. Joe Kemmerich, August's son, managed it for years. Another sliver is indicated as Indian land.
We have found a newspaper article from the March 3, 1914, Concrete Herald, that provides some irony about Indian claim. In a brief report, we find that an Indian skeleton was dug up the week before, along with an axe and a grinding mill, by William Ackerman. Ackerman explained that he had bought the old August Kemmerich homestead. So, Birdsey had to give up his land and Kemmerich kept his, but maybe the Indian campground was actually on Kemmerich's land? We will probably never know for sure.
We made a crucial mistake years ago when the late Maxine Meyers showed us the photo on the top. Her son, Bud Meyers Jr. challenged our assumption. He is the last member of his family who has collected memories about everyone on the tree back to Clara Bartlett Cooper Flynn, the Mayflower descendant who married Lyman pioneer Henry Cooper in 1883. We concur that the top photo of is of the long-gone Commercial Avenue of Lyman, circa sometime between 1887-90. The lower photo, with the railroad tracks in front, is not of the Minkler store, but do you know what or where it was in the 1890s?
Otto Klement platted the town of Lyman on Feb. 28, 1887. Note how the original town ended at Second Street on the north, where Mansion built both his first and second homes. The original downtown was on a dogleg curve to the west that Klement called Commercial Street. His trading post was apparently on lot 2 of that Block A. Most of Blocks A and B were washed away by the river over the next decade, as well as the "Esterbrook Grove" of trees, which was never recorded in any of the histories. Plat courtesy of Bud Meyers Jr. from his parents' collection.
I originally thought that the top photo was a view looking south on Main Street, circa 1889-90, just before the railroad arrived. Bud Meyers Jr. insisted that his grandmother, Henrietta Cooper Meyers, recalled that the Cooper House in the background faced west in the 1880s, and standing there, you would look down the dogleg extension of Main Street (called Commercial Avenue on the 1887 Klement plat — see below) where the businesses of those early days were lined up east to west. Bud Meyers Jr.'s argument gained more and more logical weight, so we resolved the matter like army officers would, by walking all around the original town in June 2008, getting our visual bearings and studying the terrain.
Bud Meyers Jr.'s hypothesis developed into fact, as we explain in more detail in the accompanying articles in Issue 44. In the top photo, the time period was probably 1889-90, before the Cooper home and others were turned north to face the railroad. We are indeed looking east towards the Cooper House, as Bud Meyers Jr. concluded, not south from the railroad tracks site. Henry Quinn's Lyman Hotel is at the far left, the second business building in town (1884) after Otto Klement's original 1881 Trading Post. Minkler's combination store and post office next to it to the right, probably pretty new since the building has replaced Klement's store. The bluff and steep bank of the river now starts just below what was his porch. The old Henry Cooper house (first in Lyman in 1883) is in the background, and it was moved north two or three times, as floodwaters ate up the bank, eventually facing the school on the north side of First Street. The Knights of Pythias Hall at the right. It was later moved north as businesses started moving to be nearer the depot after the arrival of the railroad.
The gully in front at the right confused us at first, but it is actually a wagon road down the bank to the river and probably to the steamboat landing and to the ferry landing. Bud Meyers Jr.'s argument clinched it for us. The original town was oriented towards the river and travel by canoe and sternwheeler. The street disappears into the brush at the left front. That was actually the River Road, as Howard Miller explained to us years ago. It went by various names on county maps of the era: Post Road, County Highway, County Wagon-Road, etc. From the west, the road hugged the north shore of the river at Sedro, followed the bank east past the present Steelhead Club, around the Skiyou Bend, continuing along the river along what is now called the Utopia Road (called the Black Slough Road in the 1950s and '60s), past the old Williamson Hop Ranch west of Lyman and then into town. Sometime during or after the disastrous chain of floods in 1894, 1896 and 1897 floods, that River Road moved a block north to First Street on the Klement Plat, and continued east past the Klement and Meyers houses and along the north side of Jim's Slough. Click on the photo to see a much larger version of it.
Minkler descendant Mary Lynne Ball (a granddaughter of John Elburn and Sarah (Thompson) Minkler), loaned the photo on the bottom and she found a caption that indicated that it was the original Minkler general store. The Ball photo presents a problem, however, because you can see railroad tracks in front of it. Could Minkler have moved that building to face the railroad tracks sometime after 1891? Or could it instead be a photo of the depot or store at Minkler Lake? Or is it another building altogether? Because records of Lyman are so scarce, we do not really know when the downtown section moved from Commercial Street, near the river, three blocks north to the north end of Main Street, near the railroad tracks. Again, we hope that a reader will have such information in a family scrapbook.
As Bud Meyers Jr. discovered while studying county records, on March 31, 1886, Minkler posted a "bond for deed" for lot 7 of Block A (see plat map above), which was the location of Klement's trading post, and he completed the purchase on Feb. 28, 1887. Sometime after that, Klement moved to Mount Vernon, where he owned a hardware store. We suspect he moved in about November that year because Hannah Minkler was appointed postmaster on Nov. 26, 1887, which effectively marks the beginning of the Minkler era in Lyman.
Regardless of how the dispute was adjudicated, Minkler began moving his family downriver to Lyman sometime in the 1887-88 period. In 1886 he sold his mill to George Savage for $3,000, which was paid in full by 1888. We are still researching land records and sales of the time, so our understanding of his business deals for the next ten years is based on incomplete accounts. An obituary for Birdsey in the May 20, 1911, Hamilton Herald notes that in 1886 he entered into a mill partnership with Frank Ries, "another old pioneer." We have encountered the same frustrating lack of records about the Lyman-area mills of that time that author Dennis Thompson did when he researched his excellent book, Logging Railroads of Skagit County. That frustration was compounded when the scant early records did not jive with the 1911 obituaries of Birdsey.
We do know that Minkler's interests had joined with lumberman Ed English by the late 1890s to form the Lyman Lumber & Shingle Company, which changed again in name to the Hamilton Logging Company by 1908. The original Minkler and Ries shingle mill was apparently located one mile east of Lyman. That mill was sold off to partners Bixby and Triplett of Lyman in 1903. It was also apparently smaller than the main logging operation that Minkler set up later at what became Minkler Lake, about a mile and a half west of Lyman. We will discuss that mill operation below in more detail and see the two photos of the mill near the bottom of this page.
This photo was taken the day that the Seattle & Northern train arrived in Hamilton for the first time in the spring of 1891. Strangely enough, considering the importance of the railroads to Lyman, we have never seen a photo there of either the S&N or the Puget Sound & Baker River railroads. We hope a reader will look in the family collection or scrapbook to see if such a photo exists or an article with a photo that can be shared. The S&N tracks and the depot were just north of town next to the Lyman-Hamilton Road, which was the first paved upriver highway, probably sometime in the 1920s. The PS&BR logging-train tracks were further north, about where Hwy. 20 was later built.
The railroad brings prosperity to Lyman When Minkler moved his family to Lyman, the town was really just a wide spot in the dirt wagon-road. The Seattle & Northern railway was still about three years away, so roads such as they were consisted of dust in the summer and mud and slush in the winter, full of ruts from wagons and from logs digging trenches as they were pulled by oxen. Experienced mill operators such as Minkler and Ries went to the expense of embedding halved cedar logs across the trails and then greasing them so that logs would easily slide over what was then called a "corduroy" road.
The town was originally granted a post office under the name of Lyman in 1880 after Lorenzo Lyman, a country doctor in the area, rode on horseback up to Whatcom to post the paperwork. He left town a year later to return to and the leadership mantle passed to Otto Klement, the pioneer who paddled across Puget sound to the Skagit River in 1873 and became the first semi-permanent upriver settler. The only other person to stick around for a season or two at a time prior to that was A.R. Williamson, who harvested a substantial hop farm near Child's Creek on the north shore of the river, about a mile west of future Lyman where the modern Robinson Road is. He may have just squatted there or leased property from someone else. We cannot find either a preemption claim a homestead patent for him and he died in Lyman on Nov. 6, 1883, before surveys were completed.
Klement's maintained a trading post/roadhouse in Lyman that consisted of a primitive hotel and saloon, from about 1881 to 1887. He platted the town from eight acres on Henry Cooper's homestead, which was originally Valentine Adam's homestead. Minkler's capital was most welcome for investment in town and he quickly became the leader of Lyman as he was in Birdsview, while Klement moved downriver to Mount Vernon. And from Post Office records that Maxine Meyers maintained, we know that Hannah Minkler was postmaster of the town from the time that Klement moved until her death in 1893.
After more than two years of rumors and starts and stops, Lyman received a railroad and a depot in 1891 when the Seattle & Northern (S&N) arrived at undetermined date that spring. Built eastward from Ship Harbor (Anacortes) to Woolley in April 1890, track layers did not stop there. They continued on to Lyman and Hamilton, where the eastern terminus was until 1900, when tracks were extended to Rockport. Although the Great Northern later owned the railroad, James J. Hill was not the original owner. Associates of the former Northern Pacific Financier Henry Villard and his Oregon Improvement Company began the project in 1888 but quickly fell into financial trouble. A conglomerate of investors continued the line, including investors in the NP line and the Union Pacific. Hill did not acquire control until he purchased the S&N through his Seattle & Montana holding company in 1902 and it was officially called the Great Northern route in late 1906.
In anticipation, or maybe the wake, of the railroad, some residents turned their houses to face north and others moved their residences and erected new business buildings north of Second Street. That initial beginning of the new downtown section was stopped proverbially in its tracks, however, as the nationwide Depression set in from 1893-96, but prosperity returned in 1897 and continued through the first two decades of the 20th century.
Bud Meyers Jr. found this photo of the second Minkler home in his late parents' collection. It shows a birthday party for one or more of the Minkler children and their friends, circa 1905-10, well before Maude Minkler Vanderford decided to add the pillars and a bay window to the the home and it became known, sometimes wryly, as "The Minkler Mansion."
The Minkler "Mansion" Minkler built a substantial home for his growing family when they first moved to town, but by 1891 he built a second home, now known as the Minkler Mansion. Maude Minkler Vanderford and her husband, Bert, added the pillars, which now dominate the front of the house, as an affectation in the early 1920s. At the time that the family arrived, the river was at least half a mile south of where it bends north towards the bank today. We do not know where Klement's original house but we surmise that he lived somewhere near his trading post or maybe in that same building in the late '80s before he moved to Mount Vernon. The Klement House that now dominates the bluff overlooking the river was erected in 1908. That house still belongs to the Meyers family. Henrietta Meyers, a daughter of Henry and Clara A. (Bartlett)Cooper and mother of the late Bud Meyers, bought it from Klement in 1922.
Hannah Belle was apparently very happy with the move. Lyman was a bit of a backwater, compared even to Susanville where she met Birdsey. But it had some pluses, too, since it was close to the scene of county action without having all the attendant riffraff and problems of a boomtown on the rise. It was a relatively quiet lumber town, a good place to raise their kids. Starting in 1889, Hamilton was booming just five miles upriver, as was Sedro six miles downriver, where the Fairhaven & Southern Railway (F&S), the first standard gauge common carrier line north of Seattle, connected Sedro with Fairhaven, 25 miles to the northwest.
Both of the boom towns were crude and rough, but wives were arriving almost daily to join and civilize their husbands and towns. The contact with so many young women from so many cities was a welcome change to Hannah and exercised her mind after 12 years of mainly talking to and about babies. We wish we could have seen her board the F&S for the hour and a half ride through forests and over hills and around country lakes. Her eyes must have glittered as she climbed down from the train and saw Fairhaven shops brimming with fitted clothes and silk from Asia. By 1890 she could afford to buy what she wanted to clothe herself and the babies and to furnish the mansion that Birdsey was building for her. She was the love of his life and he did not want to tell her no when she went on a spree. Her mother, Mrs. Lax, visited in 1890, intending to move in with the Minklers, but she disliked the climate and returned instead to Lassen County, where she bought a home in Susanville.
Three more Minkler children brings total to eight After moving to Lyman, Birdsey and Hannah had three more children. The twins Ethel and Edith were born on July 12, 1888, and the baby of the family, Elmer "Punch" was born in 1891, just before the Financial Panic of 1893 that flattened commerce in the whole county and state. Those years from 1991-93 must have seemed like paradise for Hannah after ten grueling years of carrying water from Grandy Creek to the house and washing hundreds of diapers in or near the stream. Her mother, who was a widow again at 77, came up to visit the family in 1891 but did not stay long. That was the last time mother and daughter would see each other.
Her husband's landslide election to the first Washington State House of Representatives in 1889-91 gave Hannah Belle a chance to travel for a week or two to the capital in Olympia and see how political wives dressed and acted as their men sorted through the constitution, amendments and acts that would shape the state in the future. She was giddy as she attended one party after another and Birdsey took her in his arms for a waltz around the floor. They were still very much in love, but she declared an end to babies after cute little Elmer arrived, the eighth and last child, and they fondly called him Punch. Luckily the sisters were old enough to shoulder the load as Hannah Belle entertained and carried on her new role as first wife of the little lumber town.
Hannah Minkler's death in 1893 As she weaned little Punch, not even the ill wind from the East financial centers in 1993 could dampen Hannah's spirits. In May that year she was elated again as Birdsey announced that they would travel east of the mountains. The bigwigs of the Washington Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias in Yakima invited him to be an honored guest and delegate at their annual meeting. Once again she thought of shopping in Seattle in preparation for the second leg of their trip. They left Lyman on the S&N train in late May and caught the connecting Seattle & International southbound train in Woolley. Woolley was sporting a new first class hotel — well, first class for such a company town — the St. Clair, built by C.W. Waldron, the banker from booming Fairhaven. They lolled about in Seattle, but she noticed that she tired easily. She thought at first that it might have been the unseasonably hot weather, but then she felt pains that competed with those of childbirth. On May 25, she fainted at their hotel and was confined to bed. Doctors diagnosed her illness as peritonitis. The only saving grace was that she was in Seattle and Birdsey obtained the best possible medical care and 24-hour nurses. She was transferred to Providence Hospital where the sisters did everything possible to bring color to her cheeks. But on June 1 her body gave up the fight and she died with her husband seated beside her bed. She was just 36.
When Birdsey arrived home with her body, he was obviously aged himself, just 44 but he imagined that he would never step lively again. Instead of feting the couple in Yakima, Knights of Pythias delegates left the convention early to attend Hannah's funeral at Lyman. Pioneer wives knelt to pray swathed in layers and layers of black dresses with bustles and petticoats underneath. Her gravesite was one of the most substantial in the cemetery west of town that the Knights of Pythias sponsored. The financial depression that had largely stopped business and trade was actually a blessing as Birdsey grieved. Without customers clamoring for immediate shipments of the best quality lumber, he could wander the woods with his friends from upriver, August Kemmerich, Karl von Pressentin, George Savage and Capt. L.A. Boyd, the men who had shared his frontier experience 10 to 15 years before.
Muriel Coward Atterberry provided this photo of John Minkler's combination house and store at the eastern end of Minkler Lake, circa the 1920s. She and Ruth Atterberry Lewis remember the house well from when they grew up on the Ernest Atterberry farm, just south of the lake and the Seattle & Northern railroad tracks. The author also remembers it but as an empty derelict in the 1950s during his childhood. Back at that time, before the historical importance of such structures was realized, no one realized that this was the last remnant of the mill and town named Minkler.
In 1897, Birdsey and Frank Ries joined again to build another combination lumber/shingle mill, much larger than the first one, on a lake about two miles west of Lyman. They incorporated it as part of Ed English's Lyman Lumber & Shingle Co. Over the next five years Minkler groomed his oldest son, John, to take over management of his mill property while his second oldest son, Garfield Arthur, learned business management at the University of Washington so that he could take over management of the mercantile store after his graduation in 1902. Sometime after the turn of the century, Birdsey passed management of the Lyman mill to John and Garfield. Before Birdsey's death, he made Elmer, who was 11 years younger than Garfield, a third partner in the mills. From then on, Birdsey spent less time with the mill and more time with the store and his political activities. The family applied for a post office at Minkler Lake, and the lake and town were also named for them.
Because of the scarcity of records, we initially assumed that Birdsey waited to build the mill at Minkler Lake until 1897, but we have subsequently found a source that claims that the mill was built in 1887 and that John was associated with it from the beginning. We reject the earlier year for two reasons. First, John was only 11 years old in 1887. And we suspect that the Minkler Lake mill was erected or at least substantially expanded in 1897 because that is when cash poured into the county after the discovery of gold in the Klondike in 1897. Edward English, the co-founder of Mount Vernon, who was becoming a leading capitalist of the county, invested substantial new capital in the company. Back in 1891, English took over the original Decatur shingle mill at what is now Kincaid Street and the revetment in Mount Vernon and in the interim he had also become one of the leading timber men in Skagit and Snohomish counties.
Bert Vanderford provided vital hands-on experience from his earlier work as the manager for Sauk City, the town that sprang up on the south side of the Skagit at the mouth of the Sauk River to be a transportation and supply point for the Monte Cristo mines. Heavy floods in 1894 and 1896 shouldered away at the Skagit riverbank near Sauk City and finally a massive flood in 1897 washed almost everything away. He also married Maude Minkler in 1902 so his timing was excellent all around.
By all accounts, Vanderford became a principal in the Minkler mills, but census information shows a conflict. In 1910, Bert and Maude were living in Hamilton and he owned a confectionery store, and in 1920, they were living in Lyman, presumably at the Minkler Mansion, and he was a drugs salesman. The only time period when he apparently was a principal in the mills was from 1902-1909. That coincides with the 1906 Ilustrated History account of Lyman, which cited the "Vanderford & Minkler Shingle Mill.
Thompson noted in his book that when the tracks for the Puget Sound & Baker River Railroad were laid next to the lake in the 1903 period, a wooden flume was erected over the tracks so that logs could be floated down from the hills to the north and dumped directly into the lake. When you drive by there, you can also see a few pilings at the eastern end of the lake that show where rail cars brought in logs and dumped them to float on the lake until they were processed at the mill.
Almost all vestiges of the town of Minkler and the mill by the lake are long gone, except for those pilings. Ruth Atterberry Lewis, who grew up with her family just a mile southwest in the Utopia district, remembers a very big store at which her family did their shopping. She and her brothers and sisters loved playing in the water under the trestle of Minkler Lake for many hours at a time. She recalls that her family often walked to Lyman along the railroad tracks and she remembers that the Minkler Mill was on the left side of the track or north as they walked east to Lyman. The store was run by John Minkler and it had everything anybody living in that area would need, including food, clothing, kitchen stuff, furniture, fabric and tools. The trestle area that they played at was about 2 blocks from the store.
John Elburn Minkler, Birdsey's eldest son, born 1876, photographed at Vashon College, a prep school.
While son John seemed to be an excellent businessman and manager, business success did not come easily for son Garfield. He did excel at athletics, however, and achieved some academic success. John graduated from Vashon College after high school. Garfield was the first Minkler child to attend a university, the University of Washington [UW]. He graduated in 1904 and in the UW yearbooks that Al Rousseau found, layouts show that he played football for the university teams of 1899-1901, at the positions of center and halfback. In more modern vernacular, he appears to have been a classic "Big Man on Campus."
Living in the shadow of his successful older brother John, however, was apparently hard for Garfield. John married Sarah E. Thompson in February 1900. She was born in England, the daughter of immigrants Henry and Margaret Thompson. Known hereabouts as Uncle Henry, Thompson was a Skagit County commissioner and the namesake and principal backer of the concrete-arch bridge across the Baker River, east of Concrete. He was killed in the famous January 31, 1918, train wreck in downtown Sedro-Woolley and the bridge was dedicated in his honor by Sarah's brother, Richard, on June 15 that year. Sarah's parents settled in Birdsview in 1891, six years after immigrating, and homesteaded near the present Lake Tyee. The wedding was applauded.
Family stories include one that Garfield's initial choice of a mate, however, did not thrill his father. Garfield apparently became enamored with the convent-educated daughter of a famous Seattle madam. Birdsey nipped that romance in the bud by shipping Garfield back to Omro, Wisconsin, to visit relatives in Birdsey's hometown. While back there he met Lenore Carmody and he married her on Oct. 16, 1907, in Victoria, British Columbia. Records do not indicate if his former love attended the wedding, but we do know that the match with Lenore was not made in heaven. They divorced in 1916. The store in downtown Lyman that Garfield managed sold men's clothing, shoes and hats and was pretty much a company store that outfitted the bachelor loggers at the many mills and camps in the immediate area. Its clientele was dependent on the store since travel was very limited; the roads to downriver cities were very crude in the early years of the century and the railroad and sternwheelers were the only real alternatives.
Garfield committed suicide with a carbine rifle on May 19, 1920, a week after the fire at the Minkler Lake mill, as we document in detail in our feature in Issue 52 of the online Subscribers Magazine. Garfield's obituary notes that he took over management of the store in 1908.
Birdsey Minkler's second wife Only someone as successful as Birdsey could maintain a family of eight children in style during a Depression. They needed a mother and therein lies what was one of the greatest Minkler mysteries. We have read a half dozen obituaries for Birdsey and we have not found mention of his second wife in any of them. Al Rousseau, whose wife, Dona, is a great-granddaughter of Birdsey, is quite a historian himself. He was president of the Seattle Genealogical society, after studying genealogy with Robert A. Minkler, and has great respect for details. Between them, they have provided a great deal of the family facts and genealogy. Al mentioned the second Minkler wife in an aside and we searched mostly in vain for information about her for two years.
The brief known story about her began in 1894 when Birdsey's family suggested that he take a vacation back to Omro, Wisconsin, to visit his family and recharge his batteries. While back there he met a 35-year-old woman named Christina Nash, who was born in the nearby town of Viroque in 1859. There was no record of the wedding and we did not know when she accompanied him back to Lyman, but Al Rousseau recalled that a deceased in-law of Birdsey once mentioned that the quick marriage after the death of Hannah Belle did not set well with some family members. Then Christina died in 1896, meaning that Birdsey lost two wives within just three years. The graves of both wives flank Birdsey's in the Lyman cemetery.
Wedding bells rang often in the family around the turn of the twentieth century. Birdsey Annette Minkler married local boy Walter Kelley in 1903 and they maintained a home in Lyman. Matie made the "best catch" overall, marrying stained-glass artist Hans J. Bratlie at the Minkler mansion in April 1907. Born in Norway in 1878, Bratlie came to Hamilton in 1899 in search of his father, Julius Bratlie, who had left him and his brother in Minneapolis and "gone west" during the depression of the '90s. He found Julius in Hamilton, where he had set up as a blacksmith, mainly for John Hightower, who owned a mill and logging camps both in Sedro-Woolley and in Birdsview. The couple bought the Hamilton Herald in 1910 and then moved it to the booming cement-company town of Concrete in 1912, a year after Birdsey's death. The newspaper eventually drove its other two competitors there out of business. Hans was trained in leaded-glass design as a teenage in Minneapolis and had an artistic temperament underneath his aggressive business style. After a disastrous fire on Feb. 16, 1915, that burned much of downtown Concrete, the Bratlies sold the Herald to the first of many transient publishers until Charles Dwelley bought the paper in 1929. The Bratlies moved their family to Ridgefield in Clark County, where brother John Bratlie had bought a mill that manufactured a full line of western red cedar products.
The first of the twins to marry was Edith Genevieve Minkler, who married William J. Cook in May 1909. Edith was Eleanor Aiken's mother. Eleanor's son Mike Aiken is a real estate appraiser in Mount Vernon and owns an antiques company there. He has researched the extended Minkler family and discovered that Cook was the descendant of a family in Richmond (a suburb of London), England, that has a long-heralded past. William's father was lord mayor of Richmond and we are checking to see if they were related to the ancestors of Mortimer Cook, the founder of Sedro. One of Mortimer's ancestors was reputedly the lord mayor of London at one time. Aiken has located the marriage announcement card for the Cook wedding, which notes that Billy was going to take his Minkler bride back to reside in Richmond. But instead they moved to Clear Lake, where he rose through the ranks at the Clear Lake Lumber Co. with the Lewis family.
Edith was also the first of the adult Minkler children to die, succumbing to pneumonia on Sept. 8, 1917 during an epidemic. That was a great fear back during those days. In 1918 hundreds in the county died of the Spanish Flu. Their infant daughter Eleanor went to live with her Aunt Maude Vanderford at the old Minkler mansion in Lyman. Eleanor Aiken still lives in Mount Vernon and recently turned 91. Edith's twin, Ethel A. Minkler, married Richard E. Hardcastle and they moved to Anacortes and then Chehalis. We know very little about them. The last child to marry was also the youngest. Elmer D. "Punch" Minkler married Vera L. Facht in Red Bluff, California in September 1917. They wound up living in a grand old house east of the Central district of Seattle, which is still standing but in a seriously dilapidated condition. He was in the logging industry for several years before moving to Seattle in 1935, where he worked with Washington State Department of Forestry.
While his children were marrying and beginning their own families, Birdsey decided to run for the Washington State Senate in 1906. Although some of his obituaries and biographies noted that he was a unanimous choice at the state Republican Convention, we discovered that there was a bit of contretemps there first. Tim I. Purdy, the historian and author who lives in Susanville, California, was a great help in tracking down Minkler information there, discovered a note in the Oct. 4, 1906, Lassen Advocate (in Susanville): "B.D. Minckler, brother of W.D. Minckler of Susanville, has been nominated for State Senator in Skagit County, Washington. The story of the Convention proceedings is decidedly interesting reading. It seems Mr. Minckler was not the machine candidate, and the bosses tried by all mean in their power to down him without avail. He won out by a good majority, after a stormy scene in the Convention, in which a demand for a recount was enforced by the delegates, after the Chairman had declared against Mr. Minckler. Many of our old residents remember Bird well, and are pleased at this evidence of his popularity."
The sons and daughters of Senator B.D. Minkler, who died suddenly in Seattle last week, have planned to convert the beautiful old family home at Lyman into a refuge for the sick and needy, calling it the Minkler hospital. It was Mr. Minkler's wish that the big residence, which he built twenty years ago should be the common property of the children that they might always feel that the old home awaited them if they chose to go there to visit or to live. Since his death, however, the children have decided to convert the old home into a hospital as a memorial to their dead father.
This photo shows shingle bolts floating on Minkler Lake near the mill owned by the Minkler family. Photo courtesy of the late Howard Miller.
Why this hospital plan was not carried out is still a mystery and we hope a reader can help us sort it out. The ownership of the mansion in the years afterwards was also a mystery until we talked with Doris Patterson who has lived there since 1993. We know so far that at some time after Birdsey's death, some or all of the eight surviving children owned the house as a group. Maude, as the oldest, wound up living there with her husband, Bert Vanderford. She apparently lived there until her death on April 1, 1954. Many who have studied the genealogy of the family were confused as to how the house then passed on to another member of the family. Mrs. Patterson kindly helped us answer that question. After Robert A. Minkler was born to Garfield and Lenore Carmody Minkler, he was followed by twins, Frances Louise and Augusta Lenore, who was always known as Nonie. According to family genealogical records, Nonie married four times (as discovered by Deena Pittman now Mullins, not three times) the last time to Val Fields in July 1945 in Yuma, California. She committed suicide on March 25, 1953, and ten months afterwards, in the wake of Maude's death, widower Val Fields wound up buying the house from the other surviving Minkler children who still had an interest. He lived there for several decades and Doris is his daughter.
We still know very little about Birdsey's original family after his mother moved to Susanville sometime in the 1860s, nor do we know why she waited so long to summon the boys. One of the last people that Birdsey visited on his extended tour of that area before his death was his younger brother, William. William D. Minkler was 60 and he and his family still lived in Susanville in 1911. He worked there over the years since 1873 as a surveyor, civil engineer, farmer and landowner. Although there is one record that shows a different spelling of their father's name, we have settled on Cyril as the spelling because of information that Deena Mullins found in family records. "Cyril was his grandmother's fathers name. William married a lady named Inez; they had a little boy that died when he was two years old, named Cyril. They are buried in the Susanville cemetery."
Their mother died in Susanville in 1885. Mike Aiken has found documents including her obituary from an unknown newspaper. In that we learn that she married John D. Kelley on Oct. 3, 1853, in Nevada City, a town in the Sierra Nevadas mountain region. Over the next few years, they moved back and forth from California to Nevada as Kelley bought a hotel, then worked as a blacksmith, mined and final bought 1,200 acres on the Tule Confederacy east of Susanville, which could have been a religious district around the town of The Tules. Although her illness was not explained, the article notes that she traveled to San Francisco where doctors diagnosed that she "was past medical skill and could not survive long." Her funeral was conducted at the M.E. church (Methodist Episcopalian). The obituary also notes that William D. Minkler was then postmaster of the town where the newspaper was published. Other Aiken documents also note that his surviving children formed a corporation after Birdsey's death and each held shares of the combined estate.
Al Rousseau literally tripped over another Minkler connection while traveling in California. While driving through Sanger on State Hwy. 180, he noticed a building called Minkler's Store. Just east of town was a wide spot in the road named Minkler. No one was there, but Al slipped a note under the door and that led to his introduction to Charles Orville Minkler. Charles was a bit of a character himself, as a telegrapher, stock raiser and cowboy, sawmill owner and aviator, having a solo flight to the Arctic Circle on his lengthy resume along with some near mishaps. An unusual go-between — his ex-daughter-in-law, has a website about genealogy and heartily suggested that I contact him when I questioned her about the California Minkler family. The short story is that he was not directly related to our Minklers, but he had an ancestor who was a relative to old Killian Minckler back in Germany. Al hoped that Charles might be a link to Mary Ann Thrall and William Minkler in Susanville, but we have not established that yet. Every Minkler should visit this spot, though, just to get the flavor of old western history and whimsy.
We got to know Charles through correspondence, when he was in his early 90s and he looked like he was well on his way to being a centenarian; in 2005, he has invited us to have a piece of the cake when he blew out the candles for his centennial birthday. Thus we were sad to learn that he died in June 2007, just six months short of his Christmas birthday when he would have turned 100. Charles explained that his grandfather, Charles Ozro Minkler came to the Sanger area in 1892 and started a store/saloon/ livery stable/hotel. After discovering that saloons were not his forte, he leased it to a man named Bob Simpson, and for want of a name the village became known as Bobtown. The post office folks do not have a sense of humor, however, so they changed the township name to Minkler.
Far left. Lyman Lumber and Shingle Co. 1900, the mill at Minkler Lake. The photo was labeled with that company spelling, which was the corporate name after Ed English invested in 1899-1900. Both photos courtesy of Mary Lynne Ball, great-granddaughter of Birdsey Minkler and daughter of John Elburn and Sarah (Thompson) Minkler.
Center: Photo of the mill the day after the fire in mid-May 20, 1920.
Garfield Minkler in an unknown year. Photo courtesy of Minkler descendant Deena Mullins.
We finally found details of the sad end to Garfield Minkler's life. The May 20, 1920, issue of the Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times reported that at 8 a.m. the day before, Garfield went to the family store in Lyman with his brothers Elmer ("Punch") and John and his brother-in-law, Bert Vanderford. He went into his office alone and moments later a shot rang out. He had shot himself with a bullet through his heart from a 401 automatic carbine. "He is said to have brooded over the loss of the mill which burned down recently," the article noted — the mill at Minkler lake. Some say he had also declared bankruptcy, but we have not discovered a record of that. Coroner Aaron Light found a long note, which detailed Garfield's worry over the financial loss from the fire.
Garfield had just turned 40 and was mayor of the city at the time. His obituary in the Courier-Times noted that he enlisted for World War I and was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Army just before the Armistice. His financial woes were complicated by his divorce from Lenore, who had remarried to George Lindley and lived in town with the three Minkler children. The obituary includes an odd item about how his marriage to Lenore was annulled, even after three children were born, and that her marriage to Lindley was also annulled. The Knights of Pythias conducted the funeral services at the Minkler mansion. The sadness was felt by the family again 33 years later when Garfield's daughter, Nonie, also committed suicide. By the way, that 1920 issue of the newspaper was the first one after the merger of the Courier and Times by Frank Evans.
The mill fire is the final mystery of the Minkler family that we have not been able to solve. I recall well a day in 1999 when the late Howard Miller took me out on one of his periodic journeys and we walked around the north end of Minkler Lake near my childhood home. He pointed out the rotting pilings for the mill that still stand in the lake at the north and east end and he predicted that this was one tale that would challenge our ability to investigate: The mill burned to the ground about a week before Garfield committed suicide. Some old timers and family members blame the fire on disgruntled Wobblies, members of the Industrial Workers of the World union, who were reviled by mill owners and many local residents and revered by others. Others discount this theory because of the extreme decline in Wobbly activity in the year before the fire.
We have a 1918 Courier newspaper article that recounts an organizer who was tarred and feathered and driven out of the Skagit County. In 1919, the Everett Massacre and a bloody battle between Wobblies and American Legionnaires in Centralia drove many of the union leaders out of the state and underground, so that most officers and organizers were in jail by 1920 and many had been lynched or beaten to keep them out of the woods. Miller, whose wife, Frances, grew up just a few hundred yards away from the mill, said that every Minkler he had met in his 84 years told a different story about the fire and its aftermath. The general conjecture was that the fire resulted from arson and some blamed it on teenage vandals, competitors or someone with a grudge against Garfield or the family.
Elmer "Punch" Minkler worked in the lumber industry for more than a decade after the fire and during the Great Depression, he moved in 1935 to Seattle, where he worked for the Washington State Department of Forestry. He later worked in the logging equipment industry from 1942 until he retired in 1956. He died on Oct. 20, 1978, in Bellevue. We have not yet found the complete story of what John Minkler did after the fire at the mill, but we do know that he moved a couple of miles west in 1926 and had a farm and possibly a small mill on the property near Cokedale Junction until he died on July 8, 1959. His Courier-Times obituary notes that he retired when he moved there, but he was only 50.
Mike Aiken, who visited John often at the later ranch, was amazed when he saw our photo of the original Birdsey homestead house at Birdsview because he recalled that the architecture was so similar to John's home at Cokedale Junction. Sarah survived John by 19 years, moving to Seattle right after his death and then died in Fresno, California at age 98 in 1978. The last Minkler child lived much longer, however, as Mary Belle "Matie" Minkler Bratlie died at age 109 in 1994 in Ridgefield, Washington. I remember John as an elderly man when I was in grade school. Our farm was just a mile south of John's original home near the lake and his old barn still stands near the junction of the Minkler Highway and Hwy. 20, where my brother and I played as kids. When I rode my bicycle past John's ranch he would sometimes call me in for a lemonade. I wish I had listened more closely to his tales.
Return to Chapter 1 of the amazing Minkler story and his early years in Wisconsin and California, along with details of his 1911 funeral.


text:
Q: Automatically request change on a PR on Github when certain files change Is there a way to configure a repository such that it rejects or requests changes on a PR when certain files change?
I have a couple of files in an Android project that will not change often like the the color palette. Because the color palettes are defined for us by a UX team, they don't change often if at all.
What I would like to do is if an engineer tries to add a color to a color palette file and open a  PR, the PR should be held with Changes Requested and a comment that explains why the change is requested.
There will be an admin who can let the PR pass if the change is legitimate
Anyone know how or is it even possible?

A: That should be possible through GitHub Actions, one which involves pull requests
The auto-label one, for instance, uses file pattern: you can make a similar action which would, instead of label, change the PR state, accepting/merging it (as in this action)
Note the Action doesn't fully work on PRs from forks since GitHub Actions for such PRs have only read permissions and can't update the status checks.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Depraved Croydon man who groped 10-year-old girl and masturbated in front of her has jail term cut
Top judges have knocked two years off Rajiv Boodhun's prison sentence
Strand reporter
Sarah George
A twisted sex attacker from Croydon who molested a young girl has had his jail term slashed by top judges.
Rajiv Boodhun, formerly of Bourne Street in Waddon, was handed an eight-year jail term at Croydon Crown Court on September 1, 2017.
During that hearing, the 33-year old admitted that he touched the girl's breasts and genitals.
He also said he asked the girl, who can not be identified for legal reasons, to touch him indecently and pleasured himself in front of her.
More of the latest local news
Opening date for youth centre
Driver 'chased by men on moped'
Huge new mural in town centre
Pointless fight ended with murder
He had a previous conviction for burglary but none for sexual offences.
At that hearing, he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13 and one of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
He also admitted two counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
But now he has succeeded in a bid to get his jail term reduced after his lawyers convinced top judges that it was "far too tough".
The teenage lovers found guilty on Valentine's Day of killing 15-year-old Jermaine Goupall
Mr Justice Steven Phillips told London's Court of Appeal on Thursday (February 22) that Boodhun's crimes were "serious and persistent".
However, sitting with two other judges, he then ruled that the punishment he had received was "manifestly excessive".
The three judges reduced Boodhun's jail term from eight years to six years.
Waddon

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


One more happy Diwali card today, guys. And this time I used the Circular Lace stencil from Simon Says Stamp.
I started by die cutting a stitched rectangle from SSS 120 lb white cardstock and then taped it to my work mat. I placed the stencil on top and taped that one also. Once everything was secure, I went in with mini ink blending tools and blended three colors of distress inks – Abandoned Coral, Mermaid Lagoon and Fossilized Amber. The stencil left beautiful, intricate design which is totally swoon-worthy.
Instead of the sentiment, I die cut the word 'happy' using Mama Elephant Happy Script word die from a black cardstock and die cut the letters DIWALI using Spellbinders Etched Alphabet dies.
I assembled everything, mounted on a black card base and used Crayola fine line markers to highlight the words/letters.


I took a few photos of them last year and collected what info I could find on 'em.
The guy who does these is called Stikman and he's quite elusive.
Someone on the Facebook said they call them "Mr. Crosswalks."


text:
Chirundinella magna är en kräftdjursart som först beskrevs av Wolfenden 1911.  Chirundinella magna ingår i släktet Chirundinella och familjen Aetideidae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Hoppkräftor
magna

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Fight against inequality plays important role in prevention of extremism
20:29 05 May 2017 Read: 944
The fight against inequality plays an important role in the prevention of extremism, Maher Nasser, head of the UN Department of Public Information, said at the panel session of the fourth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku May 5.
He added that at present, extremists resort to various methods to inflict damage on the society.
"The Internet is also used as one of the platforms for spreading extremist ideas," Nasser added.
"While making various statements, extremists attract the socially vulnerable layers of the population."
"Therefore, it is very important to pay attention to education, as it can play the role of a bridge among people," Nasser said.
"Around 1.8 billion young people live in the world," he added. "We must be closer to them and do our best for their well-being."
The 4th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, titled "Advancing Intercultural Dialogue – New avenues for human security, peace and sustainable development" kicked off in Baku on May 4.
The forum will last until May 6, and it aims at further promoting and sustaining understanding and dialogue within and between cultures.
The forum is organized in cooperation with UNESCO, the UN Alliance of Civilizations, the UN World Tourism Organization (WTO), the Council of Europe, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the North-South Center of the Council of Europe.
Its agenda includes topics such as the role of faith, religions, migration, human security, sport, education, art, sustainable development, preventing violent extremism, business in building trust and cooperation among cultures and civilizations.
More about: #BakuForum2017
Minister: Azerbaijan - one of few countries where WEF regional center to be created
US ambassador to Azerbaijan talks on Kobe Bryant's death
Syrian army takes over key town from rebels in Idlib
NATO Exercises Planning Process Courses kick off in Baku
Coronavirus forces ITF to move Fed Cup from China


When was Christ born? In a 4-yr college education ("crammed" into 6 J) I received no proof of a December birth. In a 60 hr seminary degree ("crammed" into 3 yrs) no verification of a December birth was heard. If you wish to say He was born a different month you've no argument from me. What I say – say adamantly is HE WAS BORN. Personally, I wish His birth was not celebrated on 12/25. But I'm glad some people do CELEBRATE His birth albeit on a wrong date. The date of Christ being born is of little-to-no consequence; His birth, life, death/resurrection is the most important fact known to man.
I may never live to see.
As He has in every age.
You just cannot please the Lord.
Of things hoped for and yet not seen.
And lack of faith is why the church is so awfully lean.
Many people are disciplined who are not disciples of Christ. (Some of these are highly disciplined and pride themselves in their self control.) Discipline can make you happier with yourself, can bring a sense of contentment, and could (unless it becomes a stumbling block) lead to Christ. But discipline, of itself, can never save you – that takes Jesus.
Have you ever "missed the boat"? Did the bus "go off & leave you"? Have you gotten to a depot too late for the train? Did you perchance miss a plane connection? You & I have a final trip coming – – – Friend, we'll make that departure ON TIME. Every rational soul knows death is coming. And, this is one trip we will NOT miss the boat. Prepare!
"Yea, hath God said" is as old as Eden – – – and as young as NASA. (News in '16 – NASA don't want the name "Jesus" to appear in their publications).
And a remedy had to be found.
His Fellow Creator, Partner, and Son.
The devil tries to make his imitation look real and at the same time, make God's Genuine appear too expensive. Bargain hunt all you want on earth, but don't settle for a cheap, imitation "salvation" for your soul.
"Good" people have been influenced to oppose "bad" things (which the Bible does not oppose), while ignoring things the Bible clearly calls SIN.
When you admire something it adds to the admiration to turn to a friend (even a stranger) and say "Look!" When we admire Christ (in heart, not just head) it adds to HIS admiration to share it with others, as in Spirit-filled worship times.
"Smoking or non-smoking," was once asked as you entered a restaurant. Someone, rather crudely, suggested it could be asked about eternity. Allow a similar question about eternity, "Sorrowing or non-sorrowing"? It's highly unlikely there'll be anything to smoke in hell but we know hell is full of sorrow. Please, Friend leave that road that leads to eternal sorrow.
Maybe activity – when I thought rest.
I can't see, as well, as He.
But help me, Lord, to never complain.
You can love "your idea" of what God is – it may suit you just fine. That "idea" costs you nothing now – it may cost you everything at death's door. But to see God as the biggest possible Being of correction, love, and perfection, comes much neared to Who He really is.
I'm glad God knows (does not have to figure out, KNOWS) the difference between a needy personality and a naughty carnality. God created and loves personalities. God CAN remove all carnality. Now.
"Popular Christianity"? What is that? Truthfully, it's close to, if not in fact, an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. If it is "popular" it can't be truly Christian. And – – – if it's Christian it is not popular. They killed Christ. He promised that His followers would be mistreated, so if/when you hear of some "christianity" being popular, mark it down; it is NOT Christ's christianity!
If your child (grandchild) is popular with his/her peers, please do not feed that popularity. (If they're not a Believer, you don't want to increase carnal pride – if they Believe in Christ, you don't want them to fall through pride.) Love them, respect them but allow them to be normal. The world has had enough Youth-Hero Lives end in tragedy; don't add your child to that number.
There'll be millions, uh, make that "M" a "B," of people in heaven that I'll not know, yet. God helping my unworthy soul, I intend to shake hands (if shaking hands is a fashion there) or hug my way through that huge crowd, loving them all. Oh, how love will fill that place, that place of Holy Grace.
When you see someone you've not seen in a while & they've changed, vastly changed, you may wonder, "Were those seeds of compromise there all along?" Permit me to flip that – when we see a sinner (stranger or no) may God help us to see that they could become a christian Brother/Sister & then pray to that end.
"When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Years ago I pastored a lady who more than once stated publicly, "I hope I love God as much as I hate the devil." (I don't know where she heard with this awkward expression but I hope she loved God more.) To my knowledge we're not told to hate satan but we ARE admonished to love God.
If your desire to be a "preacher/teacher" of the Word is stronger than your desire to be dead to the world and to be 100% alive unto Christ – You are enamored by a Position, more than a love for the Person of God's Son.
Watching, hearing it, gave a thrill.
May not have or hold your attraction.
What worldly thing has brought you equal joy?
Grabbed your time and attention?
Tinsel and fluff stole their whole life.
Think honestly – it's a good trait.
Can be real, if you repent now.
True, holy living you can now enjoy.
Bible reading will tell you how.
Many a hobby is not sin.
The heaven – God would like you in.
"Make-up"? What are you making up FROM? Seriously? Was the God-provided-color not enough? What are you making up TO? Are you making up to please the falseness of our fallen, fleeting culture?
The Bible will be more interesting when you know the Author.
and MOST interesting when you can call the Author, "Father" (and LOVE Him as such)!
Hearing bad news is a way of comparing ourselves, i.e. feeling "good" that we're not as "bad" as the guy/gal in the news. By contrast the Good News (Gospel) shows us how bad we really are – – – and how much we need Christ.
Time appears to be a parenthesis in or a parallel track beside Eternity. They are slightly related, yet are so unalike. (Your time and your neighbor's are not the same, even if you were born the same day.) Eternity is the main passage continuing forever. Each man's time comes alongside eternity, runs "parallel" for days or decades, then takes an exit to never have that same relationship again.
That crossing over forever defines.
God made trees round (or for you technical minds J "roundish"). Why? We do not understand the Mind of God, (Isa 55.9) nor will we in heaven but I suggest one reason and this, to me, "sounds like God" watching out for men. The axe-man/saw-man has an easier time at the beginning as his tool "eats its way" into the tree. It gets harder as he progresses to and through the widest part but then gets easier again as he pull toward the end. God is so gracious and this is may be one way He is.
We were made with the capacity (it seems the necessity) to worship. We will worship something, someone. The devil is busy propping up cheap substitutes in place of God. Run from all these. God and God Alone is worthy of worship for youth, mid-age, and old. Jesus was once your age, if you're 33 or younger. If you're above that, the Father is the Ancient of Days, eternally worthy of our worship!
Ritual requires a "ritualizer" some man up front whose hands, voice (or both) lead through his "onzy, twozy, threezy." Ritual is visual. Communion is heart-to-heart, warming the heart. It is personal, personalized, not "one-size-fits-all" or "if you don't fit in, we'll cut you out." Salvation is soooo one-on-one but religions are not. Religion makes men alike. Salvation takes men to the height of individuality here & who knows how much more in heaven. God's not afraid of individuality – religious leaders are.
Mom – can you make home-made bread? If so, please teach your daughter. You don't know how? Would you be willing to humble yourself enough to make mistakes in front of her, & the two of you learn together? Do you know how to sew? Your daughter may need that skill some day & will thank you for teaching her. (Again be willing to acquire this skill together.) There will not only be the acquisition of great handiness but such affords a time to bond with your daughter like few other things. I wish you well.
Dad – do you know how (literally) to use a hammer? If you do, please teach your son. Buy him hand-tools on birthdays, Christmas, etc. – he'll not be losing yours (hopefully J) & will learn how to locate & preserve his own. Maybe you're more mechanically inclined (few are "master" of everything). Show him what you know about how things work & therefore how he can repair them. Your son will be a better man for leaning various skills – AND – he'll be better from having learned them from you.
"TV doesn't go with holiness.
The Call to Pray, to become a "secret closet prayer" is open to all Believers. Church leadership isn't – the novice (1Ti 3.6) is excluded. Church pastoring (if congregation has men) isn't – the female is excluded (1Ti 2.12 & 3.2). Some may be tempted to chafe at these "limitations." Instead let us glory in unlimited Prayer Access. Preaching can catch a man's eye (too much). Being a church leader also can catch his eye. When God passes out rewards we may see the highest ones go to prayers in the closets.
Is it just my observation or do you see it? Seems when I see a pastor/retired pastor in a service where he's not speaking he seldom, if ever, says "Amen." (Thank God for exceptions.) I started saying "Amen" in church at about 14. I didn't start pastoring 'til I was 32 so I had 18 yrs of "amending." "…As ye would that men should do to you do ye also to them…" surely applies to the practice of supporting the preacher. Amen?


In 2005, a 6-year-old male patient received a matched unrelated donor stem cell transplant for refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The patient's post-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) course was complicated by chronic cutaneous and pulmonary graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The patient also experienced some issues with skin lesions including squamous cell carcinoma.
In June 2007 due to progressive pulmonary symptoms, the patient had an open lung biopsy showing chronic fibrosing/obliterative bronchiolitis and acute and organizing bronchopneumonia. By November 2007, lung function had declined to FVC 45 percent and FEV1 26 percent.
In early 2012 — after several years of stable lung function — the patient started to experience a cough, shortness of breath, and decrease in activity. He responded to outpatient oral steroids, and then developed a right-sided tension pneumothorax with respiratory failure in April 2012. The patient had a chest tube placed and was intubated at a local ER and transferred to Boston Children's Hospital.
Once at Boston Children's, the patient initially required high frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) support. He failed to respond to therapy, was evaluated for lung transplantation and was listed in May 2012. Additionally, the patient was treated with sildenafil after a cardiac catheterization showed secondary pulmonary hypertension. He was converted to a conventional ventilator and had a tracheostomy and GJ-tube placed in early June 2012 and was discharged home three weeks later. At the time, lung function had declined further with an FVC 13 percent and FEV1 10 percent.
For the next 17 months, the patient did relatively well with home ventilation and outpatient rehabilitation with the occasional admissions for pneumothoraces and respiratory decompensations.
Due to abnormal chest wall growth and small thoracic cavity, the patient waited for appropriate lungs for over a year, ultimately receiving a bilateral lung transplant in October 2013. Due to large donor lungs (in particular the left), he had left diaphragm plication along with partial resection of the donor lung. The chest was closed two days after transplant and he was discharged 2.5 weeks later, having been weaned from ventilator support and with the tracheostomy tube removed. The GJ-tube was removed in March 2014.
in Pulmonology, Pharmacy, Nutrition, Dermatology, Endocrinology and Hematology/Oncology. Lung function has remained stable to date, although since chest wall issues are not uncommon in this population, we continue to see a restrictive pattern with FVC and FEV1 ~ 50 percent. Despite therapy for osteoporosis, the patient's active lifestyle led to a wrist fracture and left femoral neck fracture requiring surgery.
this particular patient — including immunosuppression adjustments to reduce skin lesions — contributing to his post-transplant success and overall health.
Now a senior in high school, the patient participates in school activities and is looking ahead to college.
Learn more about Boston Children's Division of Pulmonology and Respiratory Diseases.


Sergiy Stakhovsky and Potito Starace were the defending champions, but they chose not to participate this year.
Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers won in the final 4–6, 7–5, [10–8] against František Čermák and Michal Mertiňák.
This page was last edited on 12 May 2018, at 19:45 (UTC).


The Go Pro Hero 3 camera has been on the market for some time now but there has been rush by HABists towards filming with this new action camera. I was hard pressed to find a balloon project who had used the camera after a promotional flight in Autumn last year. I did however find this quirky video from America.


Two proponents of young-earth creationism---the view that God created the earth relatively recently and in a manner that corresponds directly with the six days described in Genesis 1---make a compelling case for their position.
Derived from Three Views on Creation and Evolution, this digital short provides a vivid defense for the view that God created the world relatively recently and in six days. Critical of current scientific consensuses, though not abrasively so, the authors present biblical, philosophical, and scientific supports for their perspective. Their clear argumentation makes this one of the best presentations of a historic if recently maligned viewpoint, one that will be useful to proponents and opponents alike.
Paul Nelson received a BA in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, where his dissertation addressed the foundations of the theory of common descent. His publications include articles in Biology and Philosophy, Origins Research, and the volume Mere Creation (InterVarsity Press, 1998).
John Mark Reynolds is director of Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University in La Mirada, California.