Opinion

A8 | Wednesday, October 25, 2017 | Nevada Appeal

Listen to many, speak to a few.

William Shakespeare

COMMENTARY THE POPCORN STAND

Lifes lessons As Ive written before Im not going

to subject my dogs Tuf Tuf (you know
Sir Tuffington Something or Other)
the Jack Russell or Pete the Shih Tzu
Halloween Dog Parade on Saturday.
There were some great costumes
displayed on dogs in Manhattan and
I have to admit one of my favorites
by one dog scout who displayed the
sign We accept CATS in our troop.
There was the Staten Island Furry,
an absolutely adorable English bulldog

in a message to wearing a costume on Halloween.

Although Im still trying to talk Ne-
vada Appeal editor Adam Trumble to
and it had nothing to do with my
disdain for Donald Trump was Do-
gald Trump.
that would give Reggie a run for his
money depicted in the Shawshank
Redemption, and a mini-Wookie

in a bottle
dressing up his English bulldog Reggie
in a New York Yankees pinstripe shirt
with the No. 44 in honor of Reggie
Jackson.
There was also an absolutely ador- (how do you spell that again?).
able doggie sailor while not all that It was definitely enjoyable to
original is always a classic. Oscar see these dogs have their day.
the Grouch was also a cute little guy. You can check out the dogs and

W
henever Im
in Michigan
I go to North
Muskegon to
visit my childhood friend
Ruth and walk the shore-
line of Lake Michigan.
This past August when I
was there walking along
the wet strand, my eyes on
the gentle waves rolling in
from the west northwest,
the sun behind my back, I
was startled to see a glass
bottle bobbing in the surf
toward me.
All I had to do was wade
in up to my knees, reach
over and grab it. So I did.
The bottle was corked
and had a thin orange rib-
bon threaded through the
cork and fastened to sever-
al purple rolled-up notes.
What a delight to ac-
tually find a message in
a bottle something I
thought possible only in
romantic movies, not real
life! Immediately, I had
the inexplicable sensation
destiny had tapped me on
the shoulder, that the note
in the bottle had the po-
tential to change my life.
But this was ridiculous,
wasnt it? I didnt believe
in predestination or fate,
although I did believe in
accidents, in randomness,
in the luck of the draw,
or unluck, as the case
may be. But why should
discovering this bottle
make me feel as if a fairy
godmother had waved her
magic wand and covered
me with fairy dust?
By the time I reached
Ruths house, I was de-
spondent. We examined
the bottle closely. By all
rights, if the bottle had
been in the lake any time
at all, the notes inside
shouldve been wet. But
they werent. Ruth sug-
gested I take the bottle
home and let my 10-year-
old granddaughter Savan-
nah experience the thrill
of reading the message.
It seemed a good idea,
but what little we could
see of the words in one
note: bottle, let go, and It was a sobering thought.
God, caused us to spec-
ulate about the soundness
of the writers mind. Did
we want her to read some
Ursula
Carlson
Fresh Ideas
crazed message? No.
Finally we decided to
read the notes ourselves,
but we couldnt fish them
out. What to do? Ruth
got a newspaper which
she wrapped around the
bottle and with a hammer
in hand we went into the
garage and positioned our-
selves over the garbage bin
and gave the bottle several
hard whacks. It broke into
pieces and we had the
notes.
The three notes were
from a man who in one
note asks a girl hed met
3-4 years ago on that
beach to turn around and
marry me! In the other
two notes he writes he
regrets things didnt work
out, but hell love her,
whom he calls Little One,
till the End. No date on
the notes, no name, either,
just his initials, DWR.
Was he hoping the girl
would find the bottle or
was he simply trying to
move on? His messag-
es were contradictory
something my grand- T.B. Rickey, Fred Dangberg, John
daughter Savannah point-
ed out when I did show
them to her recently.
Finding the message
in the bottle continued
to trouble me. I thought
about my life, about all
that had been out of my
control: where I was born,
and to whom; the tenta-
cles of war which killed or
dispersed family, posses-
sions, erased my country
and finally brought me to
America as an immigrant.
I feared these events had
made me lifes puppet. Did
I believe all the good ac-
cidents in my life had been
unearned and therefore
undeserved? Is that why I
had felt special in finding
the message in the bottle?
Fire prevention important in Nevada
Ursula Carlson, Ph.D.,
is professor emerita at
Western Nevada College.
Because I have to admit I enjoy There was also a cute little one in a their costumes here: https://
watching other peoples dogs being kissing booth, although I must share I www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/
dressed up. unwillingly receive kisses from Tuf Tuf halloween-dog-parade-nyc-cos-
So it was fun to see New Yorkers get all the time. tumes-photos_us_59eca404e4b00f-
a jump on Halloween with their dogs The dog owners in Manhattan also 08619f782a?section=us_weird-news.
during the annual Tompkins Square keep up on current events as displayed Charles Whisnand
PAST PAGES
By Trent Dolan
150 YEARS AGO
Madieras Express, for Carson
and Empire, has become a per-
manent institution. For the better
accommodation of the public,
Dan Madeira has put on the line a
covered carriage, with springs and
seats equal, so far as east and com-
fort is concerned, to those of the
best coach in the country.
130 YEARS AGO
Everybody seems pretty well con-
vinced that the Comstock has taken
a new lease of life, and the intro-
duction of water and electric power
will reduce the cost of working the
ledge very largely.
100 YEARS AGO
In cleaning up the attic of the
Golden West hotel recently an
old register was found of the days
when the old hotel was called the
St. Charles, when George Tuffley
was the proprietor. The St. Charles
was the stopping place for not only
travelers from the east to Califor-
nia, but for the leading men of
the new state of Nevada. Among
those whose autographs appear are
Thomas V. Julien, M.S. Bonnifield,
Rosser, J.D. Minor and others, all
of Carson.
70 YEARS AGO
The teetotaler is as curious a
phenomenon as the compulsive
drinker in the scientific scrutiny of
the problems of alcoholism con-
ducted by Yale University.
50 YEARS AGO
If theres one place a library
shouldnt be, its under a basketball
court, remarked Mrs. Virginia rule,
looking at the library ceiling, which auditorium on Carson Street). closed down Friday because of poor
is also the floor of the municipal 30 YEARS AGO operation.
gym. Its the constant thumping, Former Sierra Savings and Loan
she added, describing how fast Association customers lined up by Trent Dolan is the son of Bill Dolan,
a basketball game can clear the the dozens today in Gardnerville who wrote this column for the
library of readers. (The old library to close accounts at the business, Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his
was in the basement of the civic which federal banking officials death in 2006.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
car in front of me tosses a cigarette out She is not the only person Ive seen.
Its shocking to me with all the fires of the window. Maybe we should remember fire can
in California, the hundreds of homes With our winds, we could very easily happen here, too.
burned to the ground, that as I sit at get a fire started here with all the dry Gwen Ruhoff
the street signals, the woman in the leaves. Carson City