The Turner Family

On December11,2009 Andy Miller was sucessful in bagging the elk cow, pictured above. The elk was taken in northeastern Otsego County, near the Pigeon River State Forest, close to Vienna. He was the lucky winner in the tribal hunting license lottery (only available once every 10 years), but was only allowed to shoot a cow. This particular animal weighed in at 345 lbs. Andy got a lot of help and guidance from his friend and employer, Bill Hoffman (owner of Hoffman orchards on the Old Mission Peninsula). Bill is an avid hunter and even though he didn't get a license this year, he was willing to pick up Andy at 5:30 am two days in a row, drive 2 hours in the worst weather we've had this year, and probably loved every minute of it! The size of these animals up close is impressive, to say the least. As is tradition, Andy performed a tobacco ritual - tobacco is placed in the animal's mouth, and a prayer is said for the spirit of the Elk (me-shay-wog)- in thanks for giving up it

Here are the people in the group photo. Adults, left to right: Mickey Wanageshik (great nephew, grandson of Phyllis) Vivian Pedwaydon (married to cousin Frank), Frank Pedwaydon (cousin), Glen (needs no introduction), Tanya Wanageshik (niece -Phyllis' daughter), Dennis Miller,Phyllis Wanageshik (Glen's sister), Jami Miller (daughter-in-law), Cyn (also need no introduction), Connie Pedwaydon (married to cousin Al), Devyn ( our granddaughter), Al Pedwaydon (cousin), Gayle Manzano (Glen's sister), Samantha (Gayle's granddaughter), Roger Miller (another cousin), Homer Manzano (Gayle's husband), Marty Manzano (nephew, son of Gayle and Homer), Ralph Miller (brother), Steve Manzano (another son of Gayle and Homer), Steve's pregnant girlfriend (not sure of her name), Charlie Wanageshik (Phyllis' granddaughter). The two little boys in front are Parker Miller (our grandson), Andy Manzano (Gayle's grandson)

Had a holiday brunch on Sunday with almost everyone in Glen's family. Most of you don't know any of them, but maybe you might want to see anyway. Don't forget to start getting out your white elephants for a fun-filled post-Christmas swap!

Glen and Cyn took advantage of the great weather in November and set up our best Christmas light display yet. We're always talking about it, so we thought we'd share some of what it looks like. The photos don't give you the total atmosphere that you would get driving by, but the fact that Cyn stood out in the road late at night with the camera and tripod made us want to share. The whole scene from the end of the driveway, looking up toward the house. Some detail of the toy soldiers by the parking area. Santa, Mrs. Claus and a few elves. The candy canes lining the driveway in the foreground.

For the past couple of weeks we had been finally considering another dog, Otis having passed in June. Evenings found us as an easily-lampoonable suburban yuppie couple, each of us window shopping on our respective laptops on the couch. On our Sunday bicycle ride we earnestly began discussing the characteristics that we wanted: mature dogs, no puppies; a rescue from a shelter, not something for which we had to pay. But Tiffani spotted Izzy on CraigsList and all that criteria gladly went out the window. Contact with the owner was made, and we drove ourselves to Belding yesterday afternoon with the kids to see if the dog and our family would be a good, two-way fit. The owner was forced to get rid of her due to a breakup and she was sad to see her go. She's a Catahoula Leopard , of which we'd never heard , and the breed seems to have a colorful, if not completely fantastical story. The kids all played with her and Cori walked her, so Izzy slept well in a crate overnight, I hard

Video and description coming soon.

It seems like we don't often have much to contribute to the blog but I've gotten some photo's lately that may be of interest. Jenny had been wanting to take a personal defense type class since the purchase of our households first handgun last spring. While exhibiting at a show in September I ran into a business acquaintance and it turns out that's all he does for a living nowadays. Arrangements were made for a surprise B-day outing for Jenny to get some one on one training. She was able to shoot various handguns, shotguns as well as this mean looking rifle. She loves shooting firearms that hold lot's of bullets, note the smile on her face as she pulls the trigger to her hearts content. It's safe to say that her shoulder was sore for some days afterward! Shortly thereafter we went on her first waterfowl expedition. Dad was kind enough to help as we wanted to float the Grand River. We parked our truck downriver and he took us (and the canoe) back upriver to drop

Despite Michael Bay 's directorial credit, and the list of writers involved as well, the folks responsible for the Transformers sequel must have actually been a room full of dim, panting 14-year old boys. While the first iteration of Transformers certainly contained a healthy dose of sophomoric sexual voyeurism -- there's nothing personal about watching Megan Fox, clad in her Daisy Dukes , lean over the engine of a car -- Revenge of the Fallen goes well beyond any sense of subtlety or nuance: this time we again see Fox, clad in her cutoffs, performing ridiculous tasks, like airbrushing a chopper's gas tank whilst astride the saddle. And, as Tiffani has pointed out, what's with the new female acting technique of standing around with one's overplumped lips puffed out and parted? The media has lately allowed for too much emphasis on body parts, and not enough focus on story or acting. Due to the success of the original Transformers , Bay likely enjoyed considerable

The kids were off school for the fall break so Ahni and I took a day off work to head to the hills. We had reservations at Biakpa Mountain Paradise, in the Volta Region. It was about a three hour drive from Accra on fairly decent roads, until the last four kilometers, when I wish I drove the Defender. The accomodations were austere, a step up from a hostel, but with gnats that aggravated us in the night. The views, as you can see later, were stunning. Garrett took drum lessons from "Believer," a name given to him by the man who apprenticed him at the cultural center in Accra. He is from Togo and his real name is Desiree. The lady who was more or less in charge of the resaurant was Charity, and her helper was Mercy. The night we arrived it rained cats and dogs. The girls made a point of running to the room to read books while Garrett took the first installment of his drum lessons. We all enjoyed the fabulous lightning and thunderstorm. We took off on a three hour hi

On our way home from Quebec we stopped in western New York to find the final resting place of some ancestors on the Ross side. These folks are named Russell. As the Rosses migrated west from New England to Michigan, they tarried for a generation in western New York, and children were born there. Orlando Ross married Beulah Fidelia Russell. Orlando and Beulah would be Marian Ross Turner’s great-grandparents. Beulah’s grandfather was Riverus Russell, a Revolutionary War Veteran. He had also migrated west from New England to western NY, and is buried there in Livingston Co., near the little crossroads village of Linwood. We found the little country cemetery and the Russell graves without a hitch. On the day we were there, it happened that the local historical society was having a cemetery tour, and Riverus Russell was one of their highlights of the day. We were surprised and pleased to be there on that day, and they were pleased to meet a descendant of Riverus. The photos are of the J

We recently made a trip to Quebec to look for Kay’s ancestors, the Couturiers. Two brothers had moved to Michigan from Yamaska, Quebec in the 1860s. Yamaska is a village of perhaps 600-800, located in lush farmland midway between Montreal and Quebec City and south of the St. Lawrence. The village is picturesque and overlooks the Yamaska River. The first photo is a view of the river, facing upstream, taken from the front yard of the church. The second photo shows the view of the village and church steeples from across the river, with cows in the foreground. Our primary stop was St Michel’s Catholic Church in Yamaska. We found two elderly gentlemen there, the church clerk and the custodian, who spoke almost no English, but who were willing to help. Together they were like an Abbott and Costello routine conducted in French: one tall and disheveled, one short and very neat, both excitable and prone to arm waving and speaking loudly and rapidly to one another. We were enthralle

On 25 Sep we had a number of people over for dinner to carb up on pasta before the big race. There was a German couple, both injured and out of the race. There were three other half marathon runners from embassy, and Ahni. Lastly, there were three Marines, the guys who pull security for our embassy, two of which had signed up for the full marathon that very week so had done no training for the event...ouch! We awoke early and carpooled down with three couples in two vehicle. Due to various problems, I couldn't run, and Lisha, the wife of our Navy doc, were the paddy wagons, ready with water, juice, bananas, and support along the route. The race was to start at 0530 in Tema , somewhat near the port. Unfortunately, the race did not begin until nearly an hour later, but that didn't stop Ahni and our friend Jeff from leaving early, bound and determined to beat the heat, traffic, exhaust fumes, and mass of people. Lisha and I took off shortly thereafter to scout out the route. We f

The weather was wonderful, so we found ourselves out in Jack and Jenny's neighborhood, at Charlotte's Country Mill on Sunday. We enjoyed fresh cider, doughnuts, and intimate interactions with the entirety of Eaton County's bee population. (This post is being published not only to show off pictures of our kids, but to also push the airshow blog entry to an older page, to keep the video and audio portions of that entry from automatically loading and irritating our readers.)

I just can't stay off the blog now . . . Saturday was a small pow wow in Benzonia, attended by lots of Millers. Wanted you all to see a couple of things. Devyn posing in her new regalia. A friend of the family made the shawl and Devyn asked Cyn to make the matching dress - a retirement project. Following is a video showing her performing in the "fancy shawl dress" category. She's very good at it. Photo below of Dennis, Devyn and Parker And one final video of Dennis dancing with Parker (wearing Glen's wolverine headpiece)

Lucky for us, Sarah had a free day on Sunday and some of us were able to attend an impromptu housewarming. Jeff, Karen, Abbey, Jack, Cyn, Kay and Bil got the tour of Sarah's fabulous new home and also got to enjoy great weather, great food and great company. For those of you who haven't seen the house, the photos don't really do justice to the wide open spaces and mid-century modern atmosphere. But, if you couldn't go in person, the photos will have to do. Photo taken in the front yard, by the parking area. Here is the front view of the house from the street And the beautiful back yard View of the back of the house from the back yard Sarah's cat was a great hostess too!

Not one, but two Pileated Woodpeckers feasting at our suet feeders! These birds are the biggest woodpeckers in the woods if you've never seen one - at least as big as a large crow. We think they are parent and child, since one would occasionally get a beak full of suet and stick it in the other's mouth. Note homemade Christmas presents in use: the seed feeder made by Joshua, the pole by Jeff.

I got onto the blog for the first time in a long time today and saw a couple of notes wishing for more postings. I admit, facebook is probably partly to blame - I tend to post to it (although not much there either). So, here are some photos of our family time together on Nantucket this summer. Isn't it great to be tan and relaxed? (I looked also at winter pictures of us as I was looking for these...yikes!). Love to all!