THE RIVARD NEWSLETTER TEAM

Editor: Jan Dorn

Co-Editor: Marlyss Hernandez

Member of the Month Column: Marlyss Hernandez

Trivia & Humor: "Chippewa Falls Finest", Dot Giessler

Translators: Alain Gariépy & André Dufresne
 

IN THIS ISSUE :

RV2001 Detroit/Windsor Reunion - A Great Success

Peggy Lacoursiere Voted July's FMOTM

Biography of "J.G. Lacoursiere" May's FMOTM

Biography of "AZ Larry Lacoursiere" June's FMOTM

New Members Join the Rivard Family Forum

Forum News & Topic Highlights

Chat News & Topic Highlights

Chef Rivard's Corner

A little Bit of Trivia & Humor

Editor's Corner

The RV 2001 reunion in Detroit/Windsor started off on a steamy 91-degree day, July 20^th, 2001. Tom and his committee were a little concerned that an explosion that had occurred at the Burton Library the day before might make it impossible to do the scheduled snooping they had planned. A call to the library, by Tom, put everyone's minds at ease when he was told that, "all was well" and it would be 'full steam a head' for those doing research. By all reports, this scheduled snooping trip was a huge success with Mary Ann coming home with pages upon pages of information to add to our already overwhelming Rivard database. One report said that the copy machines at the Burton Library were spewing out smoke under MAM's careful direction!

Thursday: Be sure to check out the tall ships on the Detroit River. They are great. We went down to Detroit side to see them yesterday. The ships are also on the Windsor side. Hope to see them Friday there are 24 ships!! What a living history lesson...genealogy also. I told all the captains where the RR would be. The ships from France and Ontario said they would look for the Rivard clan... This is going to be a great party. Report continued on Friday: I especially enjoyed the HMS Tecumseh. The British ship with Historical re-enactors from the war of 1812, of course, I teased the Canadian-Frenchmen who were portraying Englishmen!! I told them my ancestor Major Jacques Campeau, Militia for the Detroit area opposed their side. I received a lovely washable tattoo from the crew...I told them the Rivard's would be in a mass under the bridge so be sure to look for us. Guess what, we received salutes from each of the Canadian boats that I told the Rivard clan would be looking for them.

Ste. Anne's Church _ Saturday's Report: The beautiful old church and the neighborhood never looked better. We arrived early to see the Detroit folks preparing the food for the choirs, Royal Oak, MI and Brittany, France. The dress rehearsal last year prepared every one for the big 2001 event. There was a spirit of old time church summer picnic. We gave our 6 pounds of washed grapes and then visited with folks from the parish and many alumni and friends from the surrounding parishes. French Canadian re-enactors proudly dressed for the event.

Tom Dufour added more to Bette's report: "Close Your Eyes. Think of a boy's choir singing. That is what it was like at the Mass at Historical Ste Anne Church on Saturday, was like. It was as if someone had played a tape or CD of the music. But, it was the children's choir from Britagne, France. I had tears in my eyes, throughout the mass, with all of the 40 Knight of Columbus in the full dress. The two Arch Bishops at the alter, the ten priest attending the alter and the man who put it all together, speaking in beautiful French, John Campeau, reading the Gospel. The Novina procession around the Church after the Mass and the free buffet after the Mass. Just close your eyes and listen…"

Sunday's Report: What a lovely park setting on the Windsor side. We could see people, boat, dog and Rivard watch. It was hot but we did have trees and the breeze from the channel stirred every once in a while. We had 13 persons in our family group that meet with several of the RR Rivard's. We ranged from 60+ to 18 months old. There were lots of photos taken, gallons of punch and water consumed and every one said it was a great day even if it was so hot...

Monday's Report: Charles and I meet the Rivard cousins in Grosse Pointe at St. Pauls ...one of the original log cabin parishes out of St. Anne's.1833.. The church is located so one has a beautiful view of Lac Ste. Claire. Rivard monuments were pointed out to the group by Sr. Ruth Ann Reid...The local paper interviewed and took pictures. They expect the article to be on the front page of the weekly. The Church has just undergone restoration but we were allowed to have and brief visit inside and received a booklet from the church's historical group. Yes there is a window dedicated to the Lodewyck family that married several of our Rivard's, including my grandparents. We drove along Lakeshore- East Jefferson to see the remaining sites connected to the Rivard's including the; Connor-Czyck farmhouse, Rivard farm and children's Hospital, St. Gertrude church and location of cemetary.175 yrs in May 2991 successor parish of St. Felicity which was rediscovered several years ago under 10 feet of Lake St. Clair...site of Dr.Charles Rivard's Medical Office, 1930-1943... The location of St. Felicity is 2000 ft. off shore [2nd log chapel 1833-1870s].

The regional daily paper interviewed our Rivard gang...It should be a good representation of the Rivard family and their impact on the area. The day ended at 296-298 Rivard Blvd, Grosse Pointe where Charles and I showed family abstracts, maps and photos of the Rivard's of the northeast Cote of Detroit. The Mayor of Grosse Pointe had declared a proclamation for all the Rivard's to congratulate them on their successes in forming present day Grosse Pointe.

Article Published August 2, 2001 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan

A Rivard rendezvous Detroit's 300th birthday gives family reason to celebrate, investigate its past - By Bonnie Caprara, Staff Writer - Message #:

During the RV 2001 reunion in Detroit/Windsor a suggestion was made to hold the next reunion in the summer of 2002 in Buffalo, NY at Old Fort Niagara. The fort does have annual reenactments of the French & Indian War. The coordinator of this reunion is to be Marc Rivard, one of our Buffalo brothers. One of Marc's plans was to have lodging on the Canadian side over looking Niagara Falls, a very picturesque location. He also had many other fun things planned, all of them family orientated. Unfortunately, due to previous commitments Marc has been forced to postpone these reunion plans until the year 2004.

The other reunion location chosen by the group was Arizona with AZ Larry as the host. This reunion to take place in February of 2003. Larry is currently attempting to build a committee to work with him. The tentative theme of the AZ 2003 Reunion will be based around the "days of yester_year. As soon as Larry has a committee in place and more plans are finalized they will be passed on to the forum.

Our "Spoon-Playing" French cousin's wife, an "Irish Lass" named PEGGY LACOURCIERE, is our August Forum Member of the Month. Peg is married to cousin, Jacques, and has done a great deal of research of the Lacourciere and Rivard families. Peggy is the first spouse of a cousin to be so honored as our forum member of the month. Congratulations, Peggy! We'll learn more about you next month.

Our June Forum Member of the Month never does any thing in an ordinary way and his interview responses followed this same pattern. As most of you know, I send every Forum Member of the Month a list of questions for them to answer. I then type those answers into a story format. Jean Guy has not given me any clear-cut answers to the questions, so I am going to attempt to answer them with his words or how I believe he would have answered
them. You might say that this is an interview with the "phantom" JG. He has posted on the Rivard chat site, his autobiography and it is from this that I am getting the information.

We genealogists always like to know how or why someone else started researching. In JG's case, he had a little bit of help that most of us don't have, but I think you could say he actually started his searching when he was 14 or 15 and pumping Sister Agnes for her real name. "She would not tell but I found out and divulged to the whole class. She took it well but asked how I had found. From a butter block wrapper I told the Sister. She had said she was from St-Liboire de Rouville and had taught there. When I saw the Deslauriers wrapper I tried it and it worked. She could not deny and was disrobed with a smile. In a blush she told us kids that we could learn more about our ancestors we had no reason to deny in some books in some libraries. Like Tanguay that I remembered. Almost end of it. I went to lib, looked up Lac* that sent me to Rivard to find a line that ended in St-Pierre lès Becquets. And forgot after telling my father what I had found." His father had "documented his close relatives in quite a nice way. Neatly typed too. He covered the St. Leon registers and got stuck in 1837. A brick-wall that he did not tell me about. Then he had done Tanguay whenever he saw Lacoursiere and that was it. I had a chart of it drawn out and stuck it on the wall, but there was a gap, too much time between two marriages. So one day I decided to check it out while on the beach. That dear gentleman had refused to recognize Joseph Lac* and Adelaide Villemure as they were recorded as Rivard and Lefebvre in the Batiscan registers. End of that episode. Not too long before he died I told him that I would do the whole family wherever they were from. Much head shaking that caused him. And he went before my first book was completed. You know the rest." And so we do as now JG has a huge database of many thousands of names.

I never did find out what the most interesting piece of documentation or story that JG has come across in his research. Maybe it's still to be found in trying to prove or disprove that ancestor of his who was suppose to have all those horses.

The resources that Jean Guy has used the most are most likely the various sites on the Inter-net as he is always surfing the net for more information. He mentioned Tanguay above, so that may have been a favorite source of information for him.

I'm not sure if this was his answer to how he came across the Rivard forum or not. As I said, JG does surf the net and "one day I had posted a request and got a reply. I was looking for some Anrea Lac* who had ended up in New York and after waiting quite a while I heard a small voice and the brick-wall was broken. Merci chère amie and forever." Now, he does not tell us who this "chère amie" is, but I suspect it could be our Peggy. Am I correct, Peg?

We know that JG has many surnames in his database, so I would not even venture a guess to which other names he is researching. There seems to be so many.

As for attending the RV2001 in Detroit/Windsor this month, well, if I remember correctly, JG did say on the forum some time ago that he was going to be staying with some one in a private home, so I guess that means that he plans to be there.

Jean Guy posted the following account of his life on the chat site on July 6^th.

"Being born in 1937 everything was SO backward. All the cars, the streetcars, and the trains had been built in the 30s and even before. And until I was ten or so all the grown folks were old or very old except the kids my age of course. By 1939 I had a young brother who cried all the time so young he was.

We lived in a cold water flat then and my father decided to go and fight a war they called W.W.II. Pretty good war that was and we won it did we not? But my father we were not to see for a good fives years and we were shipped to our grandmother for the duration. My brother cried a lot but I don't recall being sad at the move. We lived in the mountains, Laurentians, small village you could identify as being Ozarkies. No running water, but a well was near-by, for drinking and the soup. There was a barrel of rainwater for the laundry and chamber pots. Nice it was, in the summer we had three lakes to choose from and spent it in the water mostly. Except my brother who was crying at having to dip his toes. All the cousins around were cool, apart from a few who had been born 'with a defect'. They just watched us bright ones and caused no problems.

Grand-ma was a mid-wife and was called out about every month. Always in the middle of the night it seems, and always on account of some 'savages' who had left a baby and beat-up one aunt, cousin, or a stranger. It would take a while before I got to understand why the night calls were made. Those folks did not do IT in broad daylight, but they blew the lamps and went at IT, at least once a year and in the dark.

And things got more modern after dad came back from Europe. He bought a house across from Montreal that had a well, and a hand pump. That was in 1947 and the cars were much newer too. And ma got a nice washing machine with that double roll wringer. And she and me took turn at pumping that thing. Tough job it was, my brother cried a lot to give it a try but he was just too clumsy. And there was the coal to be gotten from the dirt basement, to heat the water for the laundry on Mondays, and more water to pump to flush the INDOOR toilet. Then some day dad installed a motor and a tank down below and we had running water. More modern than that and you die.

I am with the Railway's General Accountant's Office since 1957, promotions came rather fast and I am making good money. I buy my first car and get out there chasing the damsels. One floats to the top as good cream rises on the milk. After a while we find that her rounding belly is IT, baby on the way. A quiet and very early wedding in mid-June of 1959, a sweet honey moon, a good flat is found near work and decently furnished. In mid-December, Michel, a son is born right at home, with a doctor, a nurse, and a mother-in-law who knows it all. Very tough experience, thank you. The next year comes Sylvie, but in the hospital where it should be. And another year passes and baby number three arrives. Our Lucie. Usual kid's ailments, life is bearable but the in-laws have moved next door, and (mother of mine) meddles, spoils, lies, covers-up. We move out into a nice rented house in the suburbs and I commute. The harm is done, we fight a lot, and my Suzanne takes off. Not to be seen for three whole months, by anyone related or not. End of episode, she went on to have four more kids, the first three, mine, being too young to have known her. I settle them with a great aunt for the next ten years. And ship out for the dough and the adventures. Board gets paid and all is well.

By 1973 my kids are now in their teens, and the surrogate mother has done well but needs a break. I take over and go back to office work for about four years. They are now "grown-up" and need some freedom. Me too. They go their way and me to my beloved vessels. Nice voyages, from the Orinoco to the high arctic, all of Europe's coastal countries from Greece to Sweden, with three unforgettable calls at what was then Leningrad. With vacations in Paris, Zurich, Mexico, and even a sail boat trip from Acapulco to Panama by way of a deserted treasure Island. Very eventful too but this is another story. Ask for 'Five men and a woman on the Pacific Ocean." And this is where JG leaves us with the story of his life. Thank you, JG.
 
 

When Larry was asked why he choose genealogy as a hobby and how does his family feel about his obsession, his reply was, "My chosen fanaticism of genealogy has been appreciated by many family members; although they are a minority. My dear wife thinks it is too much! I chose genealogy as something to pursue because I have an intense interest in family, and I am an avid collector of whatever my interest is at the time. I had as strong an interest in my work, especially the last 20 years. Therefore I had huge files on the subjects of electro-magnetic compatibility and ergonomics. My initial genealogical work consisted of organizing the family information that I had collected over the years without the thought of genealogy. With my encouragement, Cousin Delton LaCoursiére & his 30-year-old daughter, Mary Ann, put together a family book. This was a terrific start on determining our heritage. Better than the usual genealogy data, because it has many photographs, which makes it so much more worthwhile. In 1996, I obtained a mind-boggling amount of data from Sally Herzog, who lives in Shakopee, Minnesota. I found her via Ruth Charest, who lives in Plymouth, Minnesota and I had initially started with the Catholic Diocese in St. Paul, Minnesota. Now I had a pile of data that was not necessarily correct. Most of it was, plus I was able to supply Sally Herzog and Ray Miller of Golden Valley, Minnesota with a substantial amount of updates regarding my branch of the family. I was now at the point in my work where I thought I was really moving!! Wrong! Once it was scrutinized closely, there apparently was something that did not ring true. We were not aware of our great grandfather having more than one wife as the data suggested -- and he also had a child with that other wife! With the help of Roger LaCoursiére of Calgary, Alberta & the use of Jean Guy LaCoursiére's data, we solved the puzzle. Great grandfather Pierre did not have 2 wives; I was missing my great, great grandfather! He was a Pierre also. I doubt that Roger & I could have solved the problem without some kind of aid, so he opened a bottle of Bailey's Original Irish Cream at midnight, and by 3 AM, we had the solution! (What a way to solve a genealogical problem, Larry!) Subsequent genealogical exercises have been interesting, but not quite as neat as the one I just described."

Larry tells us that among the most interesting stories or documentation that he has come across is the following: "One family member was unfortunate enough to be caught storing the moon-shine that his neighbor was producing during the depression; so they both went to Leavenworth Federal Prison. An alternate would be finding Antoine Rivard in the New Orleans, Louisiana area. Someone probably found him as I did, but the point is that it was exciting for me when I did find him. I had told an aide in a Mormon Family History Center that we had an idea that Antoine Rivard may have settled in the Louisiana area, but we had little confidence in our theory, so I did not wish to spend much time on it. He recommended that I look at a section in their Center that contained census books; and to my astonishment, I found Antoine's family listed several times! A second alternate would be a mother, who received money from a son, who was working away from home, and he had asked her to save it for him. First of all, she saw no harm in buying land with the money -- for him, which was probably okay, but she & her husband subsequently arranged to have another brother commit to a life-estate for ALL of the land, including the other brother's land as part of the deal. After a few years of living in the same area, the brother, who had been victimized by his parents, moved everything he owned 1,000 miles away. The family of the victimized brother does not appear to be aware of the situation or maybe it didn't take place, but it is an interesting story."

In response to what resource did Larry find most helpful he said, "Without any question, my most helpful genealogical resource was the French Canadian Genealogical Society of Minnesota". Larry reports that it was the "infamous Jean Guy Lacoursiére" who encouraged him to check out the Rivard forum. He says that no one member of the forum has been of "a lot help, but the day to day exchange and desire to help has been terrific. The forum camaraderie and synergism has been fantastic! Many people have helped me with my genealogy, especially Sally Herzog, but JGL made me aware of the RFF and the Rivard bunch."

Larry concentrates on the Lacoursiére branch of the Rivard family name primarily because "there simply is not enough time in a day for me to accomplish any more. We don't all work at the same rate, nor do we all have the same amount of time to dedicate to genealogy."

Unfortunately, Larry and his wife, Lorraine, were unable to make it to the Detroit/Windsor reunion, but Larry has graciously consented to host or to coordinate our next rendezvous out in Arizona early in 2003.

Larry's autobiography follows. He says it is "probably more than you ever wanted to know about me." We thank you, Larry, for sharing it with us.

"My handle, Cousin Arizona Larry is a very straight forward clue as to where we live. More specifically, we live in Peoria, Arizona despite the fact that our address is Sun City. We really don't live with the old people -- we're across the street! I am originally a farm boy from Northwestern Minnesota where I lived near metropolitan Oklee. (That's a VERY little town.)

I was an aviation ordinance man in the US Navy Air Corps for 4 years during the Korean War where I reached the rank of 2nd class petty officer. I have a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with a minor in mathematics from the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks, North Dakota.

The vocation, from which I am retired, is an aerospace electronic design engineer vagabond. I worked for 5 companies plus some consulting -- and wouldn't change any of it. Seven years in a position was my limit, because I would become bored. Hanging on to a job for only the money was not my style. This caused our residences to be in Seattle, Washington, Garden Grove, California and Minnetonka, Minnesota.

Our contribution to propagating the Rivard/LaCoursiere family is dismal! We have 2 sons & 1 daughter.

1. Our oldest son, Ryan, has 1 son, Noah, and 1 daughter, Jessica Tori. They are 16 (3 Nov 1984) and 14 (24 Jan 1987), respectively. Ryan has degrees in microbiology & botany and is in marketing & selling.

2. Our second child, Michelle Marie, has no children and probably will not, because it is apparently not possible. She is a self-employed certified public accountant.

3. Our third child is Todd Darin, who is a Staff Sergeant in the US Marine Corps, and has been with them for about 14 years. He & Angela have 1 daughter, Amber Rose, who is 9 years old (28 November 1991). Angela had a son, Matthew (20 June 1989), when she married Todd -- at this time, Todd has not formally adopted Matthew.

Lorraine Best and I have been married for 49 years (24 July 1952). We started out as high school sweethearts. An interesting sidelight is that the first time I dated her was immediately after the first time I was high-point man on the high school basketball team. In other words, I had the feeling of a big guy; so I could even date a girl!

Interests:

In addition to being a genealogy fanatic, I love to play tennis & bridge, teach memoir writing and assist others with their Apple/Macintosh computers. Previous interests have included Toastmasters Int.; Boy Scouts of America; Church Council; coaching kid's sports - baseball, basketball & soccer; and teaching disadvantaged kids tennis for the Minneapolis Recreation Department; and 2 professional organizations - electrical engineering & ergonomics."
 
 

Rivard: Nancy Rivard Jay, Luc Rivard (Rivard, Loranger), Wanda Taylor

Loranger: Steven Loranger (Loranger, Rivard) (Liane's fiance), Denice Loranger Miller, Terry Kilbride

Lacoursiere: Jeannot Duchesne

Lanouette: Jacqueline Tessier, Jodi Sides

Dufresne: Neal Lemerise, Eleanore Lemrise, Emily Rivard Schmitz

Bellefeuille: Tara Johnson, Bill Morin

Giasson: Barbara Bohannan

LaGlanderie: Fred Thibault

*NOTE: Many of these cousins aren't on the forum, so you may want to contact them directly. Their emails are listed on the cousin's page. [Mary Ann Mickey]

The month of July 2001 had the highest number of messages since the forming of the forum in February of 1999. There were 1,416 messages sent last month. With 300 members on the forum now, the topics were as varied as our 300 members. Many messages were about the upcoming reunion in Detroit/Windsor and will be covered under the reunion news.

The month started off with Jan's message, (#19863) The Year 2002-2003, talking about the next reunion. The month ended with the same topic under the subject title The Kitty in the Bag.

Antoine, youngest son of Nicolas, was again the topic of many messages with the finding and joining of new cousin, Wanda Taylor, his direct descendant. One web site found by Jim Lacourciere says Antoine's youngest child was a son named Jean Baptiste who did leave Rivard descendants. There was no link or source for this information, so we now have cousins hot on this trail to prove or disprove this new information.

Individual Records of over 75 cousins were posted by Nickie. They are # 19941 & 19942, and numbers 19963 to 20038 in the forum archives.

URL's on many subjects were given by many cousins surfing the net and finding items that may be of interest to us. Jim Lacourciere sent several for used or hard to find books. They are as follows: http://www.hebertpublications.com/catalog.htm

http://www.rootsweb.com/~midrgs/drgspub.htm

http://www.booklook.com/cats/france.htm

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=16-1125312033-0

http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm

Cap-de-Madeleine & Batiscan reunion report was given by Alain and André in message #19909. This was a celebration in memory of our ancestor Nicolas Rivard's death 300 years ago on July 1. There was also a meeting and election of new officers for the International Association of Rivard Families.

Cap-de-Madeleine Settlers in 1651 list contains a few errors and these were corrected by André Dufresne in message # 20177.

New Dufresne's were found in MI by Mary Ann and were posted in message #20176.

LOOK-UPS: Chris found many Rivards in the Library of Congress listings and posted the findings in message #20183. Judy, Mary and Nickie volunteered to do look ups for anyone needing information from Ancestry. Com. Mary Clor also offered to do look-ups at the Ft. Wayne library when she goes there and Chris volunteered to do the same when she goes to Los Angeles.

Vertefeuille vs. Feuilleverte as dit names for Rivard again was questioned. Vertefeuille is NOT a Rivard dit, even though it is listed as such in many places. Feuilleverte IS a dit name for Rivard.

Researching surnames of other nationalities was the subject of many messages. The Spanish ladies keep their maiden names and are fairly easy to research whereas those from the Scandinavian counties present quite a challenge.

IL. Marriage records 1763-1900 were uploaded to a file at the Rivard forum site. The url is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rivardforum/files

We learned about the history of the Percheron horse, (#20505) the fur traders (#20558) and names of those who were in the IL. civil war records (#20547), who is listed in the marriage records of St. Michel's of Yamaska and Sorel along with the Oklahoma Osage tribe roll of 1921. (#20730).

While many were in Detroit/Windsor those left behind learned that Nina is a talented weaver and Jan is pretty good at creating cartoons characters. While the "cat's away the mice will play" and so the rule of genealogy only on the forum was broken a few times for a couple of days. Larry's fortune cookie said "A family reunion in the coming months will be a tremendous success".

St. Maurice files for Giasson, Rivard, LaGlanderie, and Dufresne were sent in by JG. The Giasson line will be found in message numbers 21034 and 21044. The Rivard ones are in messages 21035, 21045 and 21046,. The LaGlanderie files are numbers 21036 and 21037 and the Dufresne file is number 21043.

Danbury Mall in CT was the site of a mini reunion where Peg and Jacques Lacoursiere met with Henri Lanouette, his granddaughter, Lindsay, and Nathalie Smith. Nathalie was the newcomer to this group. They spent three very short hours sharing stories and making memories.

Family Traits were again discussed with the high cholesterol of some and others wanting to know if back problems and twins run in the Rivard family.

Obits were posted by Henri Lanouette. Some members are still getting them with strange "characters" in them while others have no problems getting the French wording.

Code Red Worm warnings and what to do about it were posted so that all could be informed.

And so ended a very busy month of forum messages and activity. I have only mentioned a few of the urls that were given. Anyone wanting to look up the message numbers given here should go to the Rivard message site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rivard_forum/messages and type in the number in the space on the right hand side where it says msg.#, then click "go" to bring up the message right away.

As you can probably imagine the topics on the chat vary from subject to subject and often times you never know where an innocent remark might take you … all in the name of fun! It is a fun place to visit and we hope that many of you will drop in from time to time and join in on the playful banter between cousins. Many of those cousins have found special bonds with one another, as well as, the solace of each other's support in their times of need.

Jokes & Trivia … As you can well guess, there are plenty of jokes and Dijano to go around. Anyone who is interested in collecting odds & ends of Trivia & Humor will find plenty of material within this group.

Serge's Post Stroke Progress … The chat has received weekly updates from Denise on Serge's stroke rehabilitation. The latest, being that he can come home on weekends to spend them with the family. This has been exciting and heart warming news to those who monitor the chat forum. The progress he has already made is amazing and the reports can only get better from here on in. Keep it up, Serge!!!

Recipes & RX's … There weren't any recipes passed through the chat of late, but when Dottie made a cry for help to rid her flower bed of annoying deer, members of the chat rallied to her aide with many suggestions on how to cure the problem. The suggestion that everyone was in agreement with came from Peggy. Peggy explained to Dot that human urine was an instant RX for the deer. It seems that Jacques experimented with this plant treatment after the sun went down one evening and it worked like a charm. Dot was still trying to convince Hank that he should take charge of watering the flowers the last we heard.

Graphics & Photos … There was also a lot of sharing of photos and other graphics on the chat. Peggy was kind enough to share a few that were taken in Danbury with Henry, Lindsey, Nathalie. They were really nice and we all thank Peggy for sharing them. Besides these photos we all got a glimpse of a real Rivard Giesha Girl and a Pistol Packin Momma, to say nothing of the beautiful garden in Dottie's backyard. The conversations took a different twist when J.G. asked about adding speech bubbles to photos or graphics to depict an era in time. I think he may be planning something very special in the future. Jan has offered him her graphic assistance with speech bubbles and Susie Q. has offered her assistance with the dialog.

Dottie & Hank on a Cruise .. . The most current conversation has surrounded Dottie & Hank and the fun they are having on their cruise. Dot has been sending messages back to the forum via Jan. Jan in turn has been sending Dottie a daily digest of the chat messages, thinking if Dot would get bored with nothing to do she could start on next month's summary of the Chat News & Highlights. She didn't sound very anxious when I spoke to her last. But the chat is certainly enjoying the messages from Dottie!

The following description of the butchering process is as interesting, as the blood sausage was terrific. Cousin Larry L. from Arizona shared this month's Forum Recipe and story with us.

My Grand-mére Dora (Boivin) Lacoursière was a classic super conservative person. She saved every drop of grease during her cooking; as well as having her rosary with her at least half of the time, regardless of what she was doing. When she came to the farm, she spent half of her time bent over in a picking-up position. Her favorite "stuff" to pick up was anything that resembled wood. I believe you have a clear picture of the person, who is the principle character in the following story & recipe:

Grand-pére Adelore & Grand-mére Dora always came out to the farm when we butchered a pig (I don’t believe we ever called it a hog). A 55-gallon barrel was filled about half full of water, and was heated to boiling directly under the barn’s peak, because that is where the "hay rope" came down to the ground. The pig was convinced to wander over near the hot barrel of water, and a simple 22 caliber bullet well-placed would convince him to leap into the barrel. Not really, but I decided to avoid the obvious description. That single shot was the signal for Grand-mére Dora to exit the house and enter the scene of the crime. She came in a bounding manner with an all business expression on her face. Her large shallow pan under one arm, and a spatula in the other hand. Grand-pére Adelore dare not touch that pig with his knife until Gran-mére had her pan strategically placed. Then the knife was used in exactly the right place for grand-mére to catch every last drop of the pig’s blood. There was always an argument as to how long grand-mére should wait for that last drop of blood. Finally, grand-pére would convince her that she had every drop, and off she would scamper to the house; stirring that blood constantly -- to avoid clotting, I guess. As grand-mére was about to leave, she would invariably say, "Don’t forget to keep the guts!" Why? Because, with a lot of cleaning, scraping and boiling; that would become the sausage casing. Once grand-mére was on her her way to the house, a large hook was placed in the pig’s mouth and attached to the hay-rope. He was then raised slightly above the barrel and slowly lowered into the hot water. Once he was extracted, the work began, because we had to scarp off the hair. This process required at least a couple repeats. Why not discard the hide? No way, grand-mére was watching; besides, us-kids enjoyed that "gar-tou", which was the residue after the lard had been rendered!! Enough for the overall process!!! Let us proceed to the recipe!

Ingredients:

* Pork blood - 9 cups.

* Milk - 5 cups.

* Onions - 6 large ones.

* Flour - 9 tablespoons.

* Salt - 2 tablespoons.

* Cinnamon.

* Pepper - 1 & 1/2 teaspoons.

* Cloves - 1 & 1/2 teaspoons.

* Back-fat - 1 & 1/2 pounds.

Procedure:

* Melt fat & cook onions.

* Mix into dry ingredients.

* Mix into blood & milk.

* Pour into casings or pan, and cook. Temperature?! That was determined by the type of wood used in the stove, the humidity and God-knows what else entered into determining the cooking temperature.

I am sure that the recipe size was adjusted according to the amount of available blood. Like I said, grand-mére did not waste ANYTHING!

Another pertinent recipe was head cheese. Does anyone have such a recipe that could be shared with the rest of the family? End of enormous story & recipe!!!
 
 

Socialism: You have two cows. You keep one and give one to your neighbor.

Communism: You have two cows. The government takes them both and provides you with milk.
Fascism: You have two cows. The government takes them and sells you the milk.

Bureaucracy: You have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, and then pours it down the drain.
Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
Corporation: You have two cows. You sell one, force the other to produce the milk of four cows and then act surprised when it drops dead. (SO TRUE)
Democracy: You have two cows. The government taxes you to the point that you must sell them both in order to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow which was a gift from your government.
 
 

God met with the donkey and said, "You are a donkey. You will work very hard from morning till evening and you will bear on your back very heavy things. You will be herbivorous and not very intelligent. You will live 50 years".

After, the donkey thought about that and said, "50 years of such a life, it is too much. Far too much! Don’t give more than 30 years to live." So be it …

Then God met the dog and said, "You are a dog. You will take care of mankind and for that you will man’s best friend. You will only eat the leftovers and you’ll live 25 years."

The dog answered, "My Lord, 25 years of such a life is far too much. Please not more than 15 years!"

So be it …

Then the Lord went to see the monkey, "You are the monkey. You will jump from one branch to the other and you will act like an idiot. You should be funny and you will live like that for 20 years."

The monkey said, "My Lord, 20 years to live like the world clown is too much. Don’t allow me more than 10 years."

So be it …
 
 

Finally God met with the man and said, you are the man! The only rational being, the whole world will belong to you. You will use your intelligence to realize many very interesting things. You’ll rule the whole world and for that you’ll live 20 years!

The man answered, "Lord, being a man only for 20 years is not sufficient. If you please, give me more, the 30 years of the donkey, the 15 years of the dog and the 10 years of the monkey.

So God did it so that the man live 20 years like a man, then he’ll get married and will live 30 years as a donkey, will work very hard from morning till evening carrying heavy loads on his shoulder. Then he will have children and will live 15 years like a dog, he will take care of the house and he will eat what ever is left over by the family. Then, as an elder, he will live 10 years like a monkey, will act like an idiot and make fun with his grandchildren

So be it …