Despite the passage of time, some of the more adventuresome activities of the youthful members of our household, and the increasing age of the rest (They don’t know that I’m writing this, please don’t tell them ;-) ) the end of this year finds all the Hartstrom family alive and well.

The patriarchs of our household continue to do well. Dad, (Keith) is thinking of retiring here sometime in the near future. I guess I would too after working for the county for more than thirty-one years. He continues to enjoy woodworking projects, and is also having fun with a new black powder rifle he just bought. Mom (Beth) is still mother to our little (but quickly growing) Nathan and that is a full time job in itself. Both Mom and Dad continue to be involved in selling health supplements, and promoting wellness stuff.

Erik (27) continues to live in Sacramento with Beth’s parents Rod & Eleanor and practice family law. As a rabbit trail, both Rod and Eleanor are grateful for Erik’s presence as their age is increasingly telling their bodies to slow down. Erik is starting to get into estate planning, and is enjoying that part of his profession very much. He also continues in his efforts to bring the firm where he works into the current century with computer technology.

Kirk (24) happens to be the know-it-all who is writing this letter. He is close to finishing his first year working for Mono County in their Information Technology Department. He has also found time to climb to the top of the 12,264 foot local Matterhorn Peak, and hike to the top of Half Dome with Carissa. It’s been a bit of an adjustment for him living at home with his family again, but he’s managed to do his share of dishes, vacuuming, and firewood cutting.

Melissa (22) spent her summer working at Bodie State Historic Park this year. It was lot of fun for her talking with the people who came through and learning about the history of Bodie. She also announced one day that she had discovered that work was “work”! No one has talked her into marrying them yet, so she continues to live at home and be involved in our community. She also traveled this spring to Michigan with her sister to learn chalk art and to spend some time with some of her friends who are back in the states that she met in Taiwan.

Carissa (19) did a lot of stuff this year. She traveled around and did Vacation Bible Schools, worked a few months with her sister at Bodie, and traveled to Michigan with her sister to learn chalk art. She also traveled to Texas for a six week class called STEP on outdoor skills and emergency preparedness.

Nathan (8) keeps growing, and some people think he is an angel. Some of us who spend more time with him know better. He is talking a lot, and loves to go on hikes. He will get a road map, study it intently, and then point to some out of the way place and say, “Go hike!” He enjoyed getting to play T-ball this spring, and still loves his therapy riding. Mom is looking for a dog with herding instincts to help keep him out of trouble.

Our whole family (minus Melissa, she had to work) had the grand opportunity of spending several weeks on the road as we traveled back to North Dakota to visit Dad’s relatives there. It was fun to see how the old people didn’t change much, and all the young people grew up since last time we were there some eleven years ago.

In closing, we are doing great, and we hope you are too. No, none of us kids are married yet, and if you have any big ideas, please save them, we have enough trouble sorting out the ideas of our own. :-) God is still the faithful Lord who mercifully looks down on our little family. We pray that you would learn to love Him as much as He loves us.

The Hartstrom Family

Imagine that you are 21, love history, and got a job offer to work at the Bodie museum for the summer. Well, that was me this spring, (and of course I took the job.) My name is Melissa and I grew up in Bridgeport, California, about 21 miles from the Bodie State Historic Park. Because I did not grow up very far from the park my family would come here now and then. I loved being in Bodie; my imagination would run wild, bringing the 120-year-old town to life. The idea of working in a place that is “haunted with history” was very exciting.

Working in the museum I see hundreds of people a day. Besides all of our American visitors we also get a lot of foreign tourists. But no matter where they are from, Bodie has a way of captivating them. It becomes very important for some of them to express their feelings about this place. I often hear, “I love this place!” One day I had a couple with very limited English explain what they had written in the guest book to me because they had written it in French. (I can’t read French.) Others are just happy to be here. I even had one family tell me about the “western movie” they were filming and for firearms they were using water guns. That sure feels nice on a hot August day.

I also love working with the many children that come through. The Junior Ranger program is designed to help children 7-12 years old learn about the history of people, plants, and animals of the California State Parks. We had about 821 children earn badges this year, almost 200 more than last year when we had 626 children. In 2004, Bodie also had the highest participation in the entire Sierra District of State Parks. The program in Bodie, being self-guided and geared for self-discovery, is a great way to help children learn about Bodie and find out what they already know. Some of the questions that the children answer are, “How much were miners paid per day?” “Would you have wanted to live here in 1879 when there were lots of people?” “Name some of the things you saw at the school house that we do not use today.” Some of the answers to the questions are surprising, to say the least. Under the question of something new that you learned about Bodie, one girl wrote she had learned that in Bodie you could buy a girlfriend. Surprised by this answer, Amber, one of our park aids, asked her how she had learned that. It turns out that while her family was watching the video on Bodie, she picked up on the word “prostitute,” not knowing what that was she asked her mother for an explanation.

The museum has two beautiful horse-drawn hearses, sometimes however they are not immediately recognized for what they are. One boy came into the museum, saw the hearse, and started exclaiming, “Look, a police car!” When he got closer and saw the casket inside, he said, “Oh, wait! It’s a funeral thing.”

But some of the children learn about other things besides Bodie. One day a little girl asked me how much a post card cost. I told her that it was 40 cents plus tax. She looked at me inquisitively and asked, “What’s tax?” “Oh boy,” I thought, “how do you explain tax to a little kid!” “Well…” After attempting an explanation she looked at me for a minute, then said, “Oh.” A little bit later she was back with a book and wanted to know how much it cost. I told her and all of a sudden she got an “Oh, I know” look on her face, and said with a huge smile, “Plus tax!”

Working in the museum could be challenging some days. It is somewhat of a balancing act to answer the radios, phone, questions, and tend the cash register simultaneously. Sometimes it is just hopping with people (800 or so), other days it is very quiet. (Like a ghost town!) It is fun to talk to many of our visitors. It is especially exciting to talk to those that have roots in Bodie. Helping others understand what Bodie was like, infusing them with its wonder, is very rewarding.

I enjoyed working here in Bodie and although I am sad to leave, I am glad to go home for the winter, but I hope to come back often. After all, there is still a lot about Bodie that I do not know, perhaps some I never will. What amazing things we would learn if these old buildings could talk. But as it is, they like to remain somewhat mysterious about their past. So Bodie will always be “haunted with history.”

Dressing up is the fun part of the job, I get to bring history alive. Two girls wanted their picture with me after I told them a Bodie story. I don't think that they will forget it very soon.
-Melissa

Wow, time really does go fast. I started my job out at Bodie about 3 weeks ago.
On the 1st I moved out to a little house in Bodie so that I would not have to commute every day. I share it with two other people right now but soon there will be two more. There are three bedrooms, five beds. Right now I have an adorable little room all to myself. But after there are a few more girls, that is suppose to change.
I come home on my “weekends.” Last night I was hoping to get home before everyone ate dinner. Turns out that I did not need to be in a hurry because we did not eat until 9:30pm. Daddy and Kirk were out working and did not want to quit until they were done. I think some of you know how that goes.
I got dressed up for the first time yesterday. It was fun but I found out that I need a few more trappings to be comfortable and all dressed up too. A good thing about it thought is that I did not get hot in that heavy dress even thought it was a nice day. The museum is so cold that it was nice to wear something that I did not need to be wearing a coat with too.
We have a credit card machine out at Bodie, but when I started I did not need to worry about it because it did not work at the museum. On Friday night when Gary, the ranger that I work with the most, came to escort me (or maybe it is all the money) to the office to close out for the day he came in with the credit card machine. I asked him if he knew how to work it and he looked at me and said “You mean you don’t!” I came back with “Well, do you?” “No.” “Oh good, then you can teach me.” (Gary doesn’t like to admit that he knows how to do anything. But he is a nice guy.) The next day around noon he came in and asked me if I had figured out how to run the credit card machine. (One of the other staff members had been in earlier to teach us how to use it.) After he found out that I had managed to run two cards already that day he was relived that he would not end up having to teach me how to use it.
Well, I should quit before this update becomes a book. May every one have a week that is blessed of the Lord.

Today I accepted the offer I received to work at Bodie State Park this summer. Daddy thought that it would be a good job and my mom thinks that I will enjoy it. My folks thought that it was time for me to have a “real” job. I am going to be working at the museum. For those of you who have never been to Bodie, or worse yet, never even heard about it, it is a ghost town that is being preserved in a state of rustic decay. In its hay day it was the 3rd largest cities in California, had more salons than churches, a rail road, and even had a China town. Due to several fires, what is left of the town is considerably less than what it had been. Since I love history, talking, dressing up old fashioned, and reenactments it should be a fun job. So come on out for a visit when we open now, ye hear.