A day in the life of Mema.

Above: Shirley Dimke feeds her 16 hens and 1 rooster some yummy leftovers.    Shirley is known as "Mema" to her 5 grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren, and several others kids she knows.  Shirley was born on the plains of Alberta, about 100 miles south of Calgary.  She wrote this about her time there:

"We had no electricity, telephone, or inside pluming.  We went to school in a single horse drawn buggy or sled, whichever the weather dictated, three and one half miles each school day.  On our farm we raised mostly wheat, and oats to feed our cattle and horses which were used to do the farming. We had all of the usual animals of a farm for our welfare. We sold turkeys, cream, butter, eggs and beef to help with our living expenses.  We always had a good dog, plus a couple of barn cats to keep down the mice.  Our saddle horses were our helpers as well as our playmates for hours of pleasure riding.  The pristine prairie was a good place to grow up.  It holds many wonderful memories for me."  

Shirley and her family moved to Clarkston, Washington when She was ten and she has lived there ever since.  In high school Shirley was a standout student as well as a star tennis player and a drummer in the band.  

Shirley met and married her husband Vern when she was 18.  They started out with little more than energy and determination, but it was enough to succeed.  Thanks to God's grace and a lot of hard work the Dimkes' became very successful entrepreneurs in Southeastern Washington.  During their career, Vern and Shirley owned and operated several different businesses in the construction industry.  They also managed to raise 3 children, all of whom graduated from Walla Walla College.  

Although Shirley is retired she still finds plenty of things to keep her busy; such as feeding her husband Vern, feeding 17 chickens, 2 cats, 1-2 dogs, 1 duck, a pond full of coy fish, grandkids, as well as playing drums at church, completing puzzles, bronze sculpting, and watching after 3 different homes when the rest of the family vacations in Hawaii.  

Above: Shirley feeds the barn cat Jakey.  Jakey was given to the Dimkes by some family members who moved out of Clarkston.  Jakey was originally known as Jake for a number of years until one day Jake got pregnant, and became Jakey.  

Shirley can be contacted via email at shirley@dimke.com.

Portraits Part II

Dorene Hunter stands in front of the PDQ gas station.  Her and her husband have owned, and operated, the store for 15 years.

Wendy Castillo works at B & R.  She's also a student a Wa-Hi, saving up her extra money for college.

Abigail Tello takes orders at the local restaurant Taqaria Yungapeti.

Portraits Part I

Carol Geisinger stands in front of the BIBLES section at the ABC Bookstore.  Carol is the manager of the College Place store.  She has worked is biz just over ten years including her time at the store in Spokane.  Carol considers her job a perfect fit.

If you've called the 9th street Dominoes in Walla Walla in the past year and a half there's a chance you've talked to Andy.  

Andy Maycumber is a Wa-Hi student working at Jack in the Box.

Monica Carmona and Paul Jimenez work at Los Tapatios Market, which is a Mexican general store owned by Paul's father.

Epic (winter quarter) Adventure II

     

Our group continues the tradition of embarking on an epic adventure during winter quarter.  This year we traveled to Washington DC for the 56th presidential inauguration.  For our first trip,  in 2007, we went to Hawaii, which is a slightly more tropical location than the Capital.  When we landed in Maryland, the 20 degree air crystalized doubts in our minds about whether or not this destination was a solid decision.  Washington DC may not have beaches or palm tress but just think about what it does have...

...I'll help-

history,

roman architecture,

street vendors,

a metro,

but mainly Barack Obama's inauguration.

Our group was lucky enough to grab tickets for the event so we were able to get within 250-500m of the President while he gave his speech.

These two pictures were taken on the monday before inauguration.    The picture above is of (most) of our group in front of the Capital Building.  Below is a picture of Alban, Phil, and Eric trying to make sense of wher's where in Union Station.  Eric was the Smeagol who guided us through the Mordor of downtown DC.

Jon Jon he's our man, if he can't do it...

(Above) Jon Nickel, starting guard for Team America, gleefully glances at the press box while his team makes a comeback late in the second half. After falling behind early, Team America tried to claw their way back into the game against the New Direction last monday night (1-26). Team America's late game attack was similar to the time Luke Skywalker fought his father Darth Vader late in Star Wars VI "Return of the Jedi."  Unlike Luke Skywalker however, Team America's effort wasn't good enough, and they lost. 

(Below)Partly because it looks like something an athlete would do, and partly because it was sweaty, Jon discards his headband after his loss against the New Direction.  "We were patient," Jon confessed after the game, "that's why we came back.  But then we stopped being patient, and when we stopped being patient we got sloppy, and when we got sloppy it was a mess.” 

 

B-league is a competitive level, the weak wouldn't last more than a quarter, which is good, because intramural basketball only runs that long.  The main reason this league is so competitive is simply because at every game only one out of two competing teams can win. However, the winners should not get all the credit because they did not become winners on their own, someone had to help them get there.  We all know who these unsung heros are--THE LOSERS.  But should we really refer to them as such?  A famous author-in his own write-once posed the question:  

"Should not we seek to help our brethren, and sistren, whenever occasion greats us with op, or tunity?" (Thomas Benjamin) 

I echo this great question for all the Jon Nickels out there who have ever eaten the soggy cafe-food of defeat.  

pizzy

This hope scarf, made by Pepsi-Cola, stands out in a crowd making their way to the metro at Union Station.  Pepsi took full advantage of all the Barack Obama campaign slogans with the letter O.  Sings, scarfs, and bags were all around the Capital.

Inauguration, Get Some! heat.

Two ladies try to keep warm by sporting their hot Barack Obama memorabilia blankets. Temperatures were well below freezing Tuesday morning at the Capital.