Another Family Photo Mystery From Nephew Jason

The photo you see here arrived last night in my incoming email, sent by my Favorite Nephew Jason, who has been sending me photos, of late, which strain my memory trying to remember the details of what I am seeing in the photo.

The text from Jason accompanying the photo...

Being the custodian of records of my father's one fifth of the family visual records, I believe I have stumbled on perhaps the last known picture of the Jack Slotemaker Jones family together in their formal wear.

Do you know why the back of the photo had the date of October 4, 1970 written on it with each child's respective age?  If it helps you recollect the answer, the internet tells me that it was a Sunday.

I don't know the answer, but have a guess...Was Michele baptized that day? That does look like a piano bench that you and brother Jake are sitting on. Churches often have piano benches.

I could text this to my father, who of late has proven to have a better memory than my elderly Texas uncle.  But you tend to tell the story a little better.

And PS - Has anyone ever told you how much you look like your father?    

Yes, I have had it mentioned, a time or two, that I look like my dad.

In the photo, in the back row, that is my dad, Jack, on the left, with mom, Shirley, holding little baby sister, Michele, next to big sister, Nancy. In front of the back row, we have middle sister, Jackie, with big brother, me, sitting next to little brother, Jake, on that aforementioned bench.

I have no recollection of Michele getting baptized. Nor do I have any recollection of this photo being taken, or who the photographer was.

Regarding Jason suggesting this photo being the last known picture of the Jack Slotemaker Jones family together in their formal wear, I must point out that this suggestion is erroneous.

The last known such photo was taken on my birthdate, August 11, 2001, one month before that date which will live in infamy, 9/11. On that August 11 of that year, I had driven, solo, from Texas to Washington, to arrive unexpected at my mom and dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary party, held on Saturday, August 11, because their actual anniversary was five days prior, a weekday, and thus not a convenient party day.

Now, in this actual last known family photo we are not in 20th century style formal wear, we are in 21st century style formal wear.

In the back row, on the left, that would be me, next to brother Jake, sisters Nancy, Jackie and Michele, with dad, mom and grandma Vera, sitting in front of us.

Due to, uh, scheduling conflicts, nephews Jason and Joey did not attend this party, which may be why Jason has no memory of this final formal family photo.

Mom and dad's two youngest grandchildren, nephews Christopher and Jeremy, did attend this party. Why they are not in this final formal family photo, I do not remember.

Nephew Jason Takes Us Back A Couple Centuries To His Great Great Grandparental Units Whatcom Abode

Nephew Jason told me he'd try and email me a couple more photos, last night, if he could muster the energy.

Apparently, energy mustering happened, because a couple photos arrived, which I've no recollection of previously seeing, but which prompted me to find related relative photos that I did know I had, located somewhere on this computer.

In the above photo, from Jason, we are looking at the homestead of my Great Grandparental Units, A.E. Sundean and wife, Hattie. Born 11/20/1876 and 8/19/1881, respectively. This homestead eventually grew into being a big farm, in Whatcom County, Washington, which still exists in 2025.

Great Grandma Hattie, I do not remember. Hattie may have died before I was born, or shortly thereafter. I do remember Great Grandpa A.E. Sundean, my Grandma Vera's dad, which made him my mom's Grandpa. I do not remember, or maybe never did, what the A.E. initials represent, name-wise.

(This morning, I learned, from Jason, that the A.E. initials, name-wise, are Andrew Edward, and that Great-Grandma Hattie died in 1954)

Jason's explanatory text regarding the above photo...

Here we must have the Sundean family prior to the arrival of the colorful Grandma Vera. The writing on the back of the picture indicates that the youngsters in the picture must be Vera's older brothers, Walter, Fred and Harold. Two of which you could possibly remember.  Harold apparently checked out months after your arrival.

The below photo of the "colorful" Grandma Vera was the second photo in Jason's last night email.

This young look at Grandma Vera looks a lot like my mom, as in the version of my mom from my early years. 

Like Jason indicated, Grandma Vera was colorful. And memorable. And fun. I have a lot of Grandma Vera items here in my Texas abode. Multiple Afghans crocheted by Grandma Vera. A pottery camel made and autographed by Grandma Vera.

Grandma Vera would give me something she'd made and remark something like she wanted me to have something to remember her by. 

It would greatly please Grandma Vera to know that, all these years later, in 2025, Grandma Vera is being made mention of, in multiple venues, such as on this newfangled dot.com thing she found so vexing when it arrived on the planet, in the previous century.

And that her eldest Great Grandchild, Jason, is remembering her fondly, via something called email, sending photos all the way from Washington to Texas.

And now, a couple related relative photos I found on my computer after getting Jason's email, last night.

That would be my aforementioned pretty mom, holding Jason's dad, my little brother Jake, with Grandma Vera holding me, next to Great Grandpa, A.E. Sundean.

And here we have another photo with Great Grandpa, A.E. Sundean, this time on the left, with mom still holding brother Jake, whilst I sit on dad's lap.

My mom and dad look so young. So do I and my little brother. 

Because we all were. Young....

Nephew Jason Takes Us Many Decades Back In Time To A Mysterious Mount Vernon Washington Farm Animal

That which you see above, arrived, via email, from my Favorite Nephew Jason, last night, with the only text in the email saying...

"Thought you'd enjoy this photo".

I don't know if I'd say I enjoyed this photo, I rarely enjoy much of anything. But, I did find the photo to be amusing, which is close to enjoying something.

In the photo, on the left, that is Jason's Aunt Nancy, also known as my big sister. 

Next to Nancy is Jason's dad, who is also known as my little brother, Jake.

Barely seen, next to brother Jake, is me.

I am not sure who it is who is bottle feeding the four-legged beast.

I think the four-legged beast is either a goat or a sheep.

I vaguely remember us having a pet of that sort, which lived in the garage of our house in Mount Vernon, with the house located on what is now known as College Way, due to the road being that which takes one to Skagit Valley College, a college across the street from our Mount Vernon abode, which we lived in during the period when Skagit Valley College was built, before we moved a couple miles north, to Burlington, moving to the house in which I grew up, on Washington Avenue, across from Maiben Park.

I can no longer call my mom and dad to ask them what they remember about our pet goat or sheep. I am the oldest sibling. If I do not remember details, it is pretty much hopeless anyone else will remember.

It seems like we called the four-legged beast, Nanny Goat.

A name which upset our then littlest sister, who took umbrage at the four-legged beast sort of being named after her.

I do think, in the photo documentation, the four-legged beast looks more like a sheep than a goat.

Why would our parental units get us an animal like this, to pen in the garage?

Perplexing.

Is the person bottle-feeding the four-legged beast Aunt Shotty? The wife of my mom's eldest brother, who operated a farm in Whatcom County, about 40 miles north of our Mount Vernon abode.

I suspect there is no one now living who can provide answers to these multiple questions...

UPDATE:
Turns out I was totally erroneous in assuming no one alive would know details about Nanny Goat. Nephew Jason emailed his favorite uncle the following after realizing his uncle needed some additional clarification. 

Jason's email's subject line "From your brother's book..."

We had a pet lamb, or sheep, I don’t know how you tell the difference as a pet at the Mount Vernon house. We called our pet lamb, sheep, “Nanny Goat.” Dad drove a heavy metal stake into the ground on the property line in the back yard and tethered a thick rope to a neck collar that prevented the little lamb, sheep, “Nanny Goat”, from escaping to the open pasture to the south of our backyard. We never had a cat or dog as a pet, just this little lamb or sheep. Dad never liked pets in the house. So we had a pet little lamb, sheep, which Grandpa Doc Porter rescued from its mother who died giving birth.  Dad grew up on different farms in rural Whatcom County and was accustomed to having chicks and ducks and geese and evidently little lambs, or sheep, as outdoor company. Dad’s family rented a house on a farm when he was just a kid. When the landlord raised the rent from $16 a month to a whopping $17 a month Dad’s parents decided that was too much money for the place, so they moved on to another farm in the county.

Whatever “Nanny Goat” was, a little lamb or a sheep, definitely not a goat, when unleashed from her spike “Nanny Goat” was content following us around the back and side yard. As far as pets go she was a good pet. Mom was never particularly happy when “Nanny Goat” would follow us into the house coming in right behind us through the back door. I think our little lamb, sheep, we called “Nanny Goat” just thought she was just one of us and wanted to do whatever we were doing.

UPDATE 2:

Additional information from Jason, regarding the identity of the lamb bottle feeder in the photo...

Your little brother identified the unidentified person in the photo as Nancy Sawyer, a neighbor down College Way to the east.

My Wichita Falls Log Cabin With Thin Man's Shadow & Lucy Park Backwoods Poodles

What you are seeing here is my Wichita Falls log cabin.

When I was significantly younger, than I am currently, I was a big fan of the idea of building a log cabin. 

Being a log cabin building fan caused me to attend a log cabin building seminar, somewhere in east King County, in my old Washington home zone. I do not remember the exact location. 

My log cabin building in Washington went so far as acquiring the logs to build a cabin. Those logs never made it to a log cabin end, but did end up being used in other projects, some of which made it with me to Texas.

Above you are looking at the Shadow of the Lucy Park Thin Man, communing with nature on this final Tuesday of the 2025 version of February. 

It was a semi-HOT walk through the Lucy Park backwoods, currently nowhere near being in jungle mode. That should be happening in about another month. Maybe two.

As you can clearly see via the photo documentation, there is nothing green and jungle-like, currently, in the Lucy Park backwoods. It looks a bit desolate.

Today whilst walking the backwoods I was assaulted by two giant poodles. They were cute, but way too enthusiastic.

Seems a bit weird to feel the need, today, to turn on my motorized motion device's air-conditioning function, what with it being only a few days ago I was shivering with the temperature feeling below zero, and all my heating devices, the vehicle's and my abode's heating device, struggling to warm up the air.

I do not recollect year's previous feeling so relieved to feel the worst of winter is now over.

Feeling such must be a function of being semi-elderly....

Final February Monday Has Wichita Falls Almost Scorching

It seems like only yesterday that I was being chilled to a temperature below zero. Actually, it was more like four days ago when I got that chilled.

And, now, today, the final Monday of the 2025 version of February, Wichita Falls is getting heated to near 80 degrees today, as measured by the Fahrenheit temperature measuring method.

Methinks I shall enjoy another bout, today, of communing with nature at one of my nature communing locations.

I have not yet decided when one.

Sikes Lake, Lucy Park, Wichita Bluff Nature Area, Mount Wichita, or Lake Wichita Dam.

So many choices.

All of the choices pretty much flat, except for the Wichita Bluffs, which do provide some elevation changes.

I just remembered, Mount Wichita also provides elevation gain. But I have not availed myself of that mountain climbing option in recent times.

Erosion rendered the paths to the summit of Mount Wichita to be a bit treacherous for one with tripping tendencies, such as myself...

Final February Sunday Sunny Warm Sikes Lake Nature Communing

What you are looking at here is the final Sunday of February, noon view of Sikes Lake.

Sikes Lake was my nature communing location today, along with throngs of other nature communers, enjoying the return of warm air, a blue sky, and no wind, rendering Sikes Lake into mirror-like calm.

35 degrees above freezing, as measured by the Fahrenheit method. 

35 degrees above freezing is 67 degrees, which felt relatively balmy after shivering near zero and below only a couple days ago.

Shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt were all the outwear needed today. 

Looking at the long-range weather forecast, well into March, again showing no more days where the temperature dips below freezing.

But, we have been lulled into relief previously by the long-range forecast, as recently as a couple weeks ago, showing no more freezing days.

And then that un-predicted Polar Vortex descended from the far north, chilling most of continental America.

So, I won't be too shocked if such happens again, before we get to the point where this year's revolve around the Sun gets to its reliably heating location.

I read this morning my old home zone of Western Washington is getting drenched with an Atmospheric River, the first major drenching of the year.

When I lived in Washington, what is now called an Atmospheric River, was known as a Pineapple Express.

I like the Pineapple Express name better than Atmospheric River...

Final February Saturday Hiking Lucy Park Backwoods

On this final Saturday of the second month of 2025, also known as February 22, it was to Lucy Park I ventured after being sort of ice bound for a couple days, with the temperature being way too cold to make it pleasant to remain long outdoors.

Way too cold, as in well below zero when the wind chill factor was factored into the real 7 degrees above zero, as measured via the Fahrenheit temperature measuring method.

Tomorrow, the final Sunday of the second month of 2025 we are currently scheduled to get heated to a temperature way above freezing, nearing 80 degrees.

This Texas-style temperature whipsawing gets a bit tiresome, but, even so, I am looking forward to getting whipsawed back to being back in shorts and t-shirt, needing no gloves, when enjoying the outer world.

In the above photo documentation, we are looking south whilst in the Lucy Park backwoods zone, currently not in jungle mode.

But, green should return as the dominant color in a month, or two.

I am not remembering how soon after the arrival of Spring that green returns...

Wichita Falls Wednesday Morning 15 Degrees Below Zero

Wichita Falls, Tuesday afternoon, that Tuesday morning's icy sleet turned into snowflakes falling for a couple hours. But, not in an amount copious enough to coat the ground with a white covering.

As Tuesday progressed, hour by hour the temperature dropped, til being well below freezing by midnight's turn into Wednesday.

And now, Wednesday morning, an hour or two after the sun's arrival, the temperature is 6 degrees, with the wind making those 6 degrees really feel like 15 degrees below zero.

My interior space's heating device is managing to negate the outer world cold. For now. No sign indicating the Texas electrical grid is under stress. So far.

I don't know if I will be risking making my way into the slippery, cold outer world today.

Not much traffic, out there, in the outer world, currently...

Ancient Photo Documentation Of Uncle Mooch Being Moochie

Yesterday I blogged about the Forgotten Uncle Mooch Historical Record. 

That generated me being asked if I had any photo documentation photo documenting Uncle Mooch in the time frame in which he reminded his nephews and nieces of Disney's Moochie character.

Eventually I found multiple photos of Uncle Mooch looking like Disney's Moochie character.

Including the photo you see above.

I do not know where, exactly, we all are in the photo, other than it being, likely, somewhere in Western Washington, or maybe a roadside stop, somewhere on Stevens Pass.

I do know that that is my little brother, Jake, on the left, then me, with what looks like Dad's hand on my head, perhaps to keep me from falling into the Wenatchee River. And that is Uncle Mooch, in Moochie mode, on the right.

Continuing on, a couple more photos of Uncle Mooch in Disney's Moochie mode.

That would be my Mom, with Uncle Mooch, and a bust of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Such indicates the photo was taken near Grand Coulee Dam, in Eastern Washington.

Grand Coulee Dam was a New Deal, revive the economy from the Great Depression, FDR project, which is why the reservoir formed by Grand Coulee Dam is known as Lake Roosevelt.

Continuing on, we visit Uncle Mooch, in Lynden, in Western Washington, a mile or two south of the border with Canada.

That would be Uncle Mooch, on the left, in full Moochie mode, next to his brother, Uncle Ivan, barely seeing Grandma Slotemaker-Jones, between Ivan and Uncle Mel. That would be my Mom holding baby sister, Nancy, back when she was a cute little thing, winning baby beauty contests, well, one, sponsored by the Skagit Valley Herald. I can not tell who is behind Nancy. Is it me? I don't know. But, I do know that is my Dad, sipping coffee, on the right.

Well, that concludes our look at Uncle Mooch, from long ago...

Feeling Dangerously Cold In Wichita Falls

The above is the Tuesday morning warning from the National Weather Service, a federal service not yet gutted by the ongoing Trump nuttiness. 

With the sun having arrived to begin its daily heating duty, that heating is currently chilled to only one degree above freezing, with each of the following hours colder than the hour previous, eventually getting way below freezing by the time the sun takes its daily rest from its heating duty.

And with that incoming deep freeze there is predicted to be some icy precipitation. 

Following is how the National Weather Service is predicting the next couple days in North Texas...

It will get really cold. The overnight low in Wichita Falls Tuesday night will drop to 7 degrees. The high on Wednesday will be just 24. The overnight low on Wednesday will be 5 degrees. Temperatures won’t rise above freezing until Friday afternoon. In a game of meteorological whiplash, it will be 64 on Sunday.

The wind will blow really hard: It’ll blow from the north with gusts up to 30 mph Tuesday and Wednesday. That means wind chills by the evening commute on Tuesday will be 1 degree and -10 degrees for the Tuesday morning commute. It will never feel warmer than 4 degrees on Wednesday.

It will get nasty — but not really. Rain is forecast to start Tuesday morning and turn into freezing rain and a little snow in the afternoon. On the bright side, little accumulation is expected.