Iowa Cousins Complete Move In Time for Christmas

It was a close call, but on Dec. 23 Matt and Emilie Fieg Harvey and family completed their move into a brand new home in Grimes, Iowa, just in time for the arrival of Santa Claus.

The home, a three-story affair in an upscale, family-oriented Des Moines suburb, is located just a mile from grandmother Karen White Fieg's house and abuts the elementary school that the eldest of the three children, Paige, 4, will attend next year.  The children will actually attend public schools where Emilie and Matt were first introduced and will be able to walk to school through the 12th grade.

Neighbors in the cul-de-sac told the Harveys that Paige and her siblings Hanna, 2, and Michael, a newborn, bring to 44 the number of children under age 10 who live on their short little street.

If Matt, better known to friends and family as Harv, is intimated by the many responsibilities that come with financing the property, he has yet to betray it. Harv is an information technology specialist for The Principal Financial Group, a financial planning and investment firm with $318.8 billion in assets worldwide.

"I feel great," Harv said. "I feel like I am living the American dream."

At the Harveys' new home, each child has his or her own bedroom and there is a large playroom on the third floor, prompting the children's grandfather, Air Force Col. Ed Fieg, who toured the home shortly before its completion, to marvel at how much more little Michael will have than did his mother when she was born.  At that time the Fiegs lived in a tiny, two-bedroom apartment over a garage -- a remodeled barn, actually -- in Durham, N.C.

In addition to the playroom and an as-yet unfinished 'man cave' in the large basement, the 2,700-square foot structure features a three-car garage, a huge living and dining room and adjoining kitchen with black granite counter tops and sink.  A fireplace dominates the living room but is designed for maximum efficiency as it is entirely electric.

This is the second Fieg family to move into a new home this year.  Kevin and Anne Whiteside Still recently took possession of their new home in Danville, Indiana.

Survey Monkey Celebrates Big Black Jack Win

Here is the last set of seven Survey Monkey questions from the recent Fiegfamily questionnaire.  Hope you did well!

1. Bresee's public rest rooms were memorable in Oneonta for: 

• A uniformed attendant who offered towels and fragrance to customers.
• Lounge chairs, a sofa, ashtrays and telephones.
• Toilet stalls with a slot that required payment of a nickel to enter.  If you don't remember the pay toilet in department stores and other buildings, envision little kids desperately crawling under the door before an accident happened.  Half of the respondents chose this answer, half the one above it.
• French style Bidets.  

2. Bresee's is often remembered for its popular "Health Bar," a typical 20th century lunch counter where diners could order not only a tasty and economical lunch, but catch up with the day's events as they chatted with one another across looping, U-shaped counters that criss-crossed the room. Long after they became anachronisms, virtually unique beverages from the turn of the century were still being offered as standard fare at the Health Bar. These delicious fizzy drinks, forerunners of modern soda pop, were known as: 

• Strawberry, lemon and chocolate phosphates.  Yum!  62.5% got it right.
• Sarsparilla.
• Mineral water.
• All of the above.  

3. The ingredients for a Bresee's strawberry egg cream included all but one of the following:

• Eggs, which any self-respecting New Yorker should know, though only 3 of 8 Fieg respondents did!
• Ice cream
• Strawberry syrup
• Seltzer  

4. When Frank Bresee opened his store in 1899, Coca Cola had been on the market for many years and contained this special invigorating ingredient, which was deleted from the recipe four years later:

• Cocaine.  Those people knew how to enjoy life!  Congrats to the 75% who were correct.
• Codeine
• Caffeine
• None of the above. 

5. The beginning of the end arrived for Bresee's with the establishment of Jamesway, a discount shopping center located east of town. When the shopping center opened, a Bresee's executive was caught in the aisles writing down the prices of merchandise. This interloper was asked by Jamesway to: 

• Submit a list of Bresee's prices in exchange.for the information he took.
• Leave the premises immediately.  Gee, what grouchy people at Jamesway....  Half of you knew this -- has it happened to you too?
• Apply for a job because the new store was shorthanded.
• None of the above.  

6. Anna Perry, an almost iconic Fieg neighborhood personage who lived until approximately age 90, arrived from Sherburne by electric trolly car shortly after the turn of the century, and, having graduated from Oneonta Normal School, became a school teacher. She joined the Bresee's sales staff after she retired from education at the age of 65. Because she never had a driver's license, she typically covered the near two-mile distance from North Sixth Street to the store:

• On horseback
• By taxi cab
• By bus
• On foot.  Now we complain of having to walk 75 paces into Wal-Mart from the parking lot!  Everyone knew this one. 

7. After divorcing him, Robert Bresee's ex-wife married local educator and Fieg acquaintance Jim Couden, who looked enough like a certain Hollywood matinee idol that he could be mistaken for him. In fact, Jim and this actor shared the same part in a Hollywood motion picture, Jim playing the part as a little boy and the actor finishing the role as an adult. The actor was:

• Robert Taylor
• Tyrone Power.  Who's he?  Half of you voted for Robert Taylor -- red herring!!
• George Montgomery
• Dale Robertson

Rose Bowl Brings Fieg Family Hero to Mind

As the No. 10-ranked Wisconsin Badgers, champions of the Big Ten Conference, and the No. 5-ranked Oregon Ducks, Pac-12 Conference champions, prepare to square off in the 98th Annual Rose Bowl Game on January 2, 2012 at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, CA, the Rose Bowl heroics of Fieg cousin Bob Stiles once again come to mind.

Lee Majors

It was more than 40 years ago that Bob, step-grandson of the late Max Fieg and nephew of Doris Fieg Holm, was named the most valuable player in the 1966 tilt between the UCLA Bruins and the No. 1 ranked Michigan Wolverines in the 1967 Rose Bowl.  Bob's performance forever positioned him among the pantheon of Rose Bowl standouts,  though it is hard to imagine a more unlikely gridiron hero than the slightly-built extended Fieg family member, who looked not altogether unlike a boy playing among men.

Bob's performance was the talk of the town that year and led to his appearance four years later, playing the role of himself, in a 1970 episode of the Emmy-winning "Bracken's World" starring Lee Majors.

In the 56th Annual Rose Bowl, Bob is remembered as a key component of the diminutive California upstarts who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat before more than 100,000 New Year's Day football fans as Bob was credited with saving the game after he literally knocked himself unconscious to prevent a game-breaking score as the final seconds ticked off.

 A story in The Los Angeles Times written in 2000 said, "The game film shows (Bob) Apisa, a 212-pound (Michigan) sophomore fullback from Honolulu, running parallel to the line of scrimmage, fighting off defenders Dallas Grider and Jim Colletto, then getting tackled by a flying Stiles, a 5-foot-8, 175-pound junior, who slams into Apisa's upper body and brings him down."

According to Wikipedia, "Michigan State was a two touchdown favorite and the consensus No. 1-ranked team, but the undersized Bruins held their own through a scoreless first quarter.

"In the second quarter, UCLA recovered a muffed punt inside the Michigan State five-yard line; QB Gary Beban eventually took it in from one yard out to give the Bruins a surprising lead over the stunned Spartans. UCLA coach Tommy Prothro went into his bag of tricks and called for an onside kick. Kicker Kurt Zimmerman executed it perfecty and Dallas Grider fell on the ball.

"UCLA QB Gary Beban then threaded a pass between 3 Spartan defenders to Kurt Altenberg, who made a great catch that put UCLA on the one-yard line. Beban scored on a short run to make it 14-0. UCLA's small-scale defense continued to play well, but the larger Spartans were beginning to wear them down and began picking up bigger and bigger chunks of yardage on the ground. Midway through the 4th quarter, Michigan State finally broke through for a touchdown, but failed on the try for a two-point conversion and UCLA led 14-6.

"Michigan State got the ball back and began to march down field in the waning moments. With under a minute to play the Spartans scored again and, trailing 14-12, lined up for a two-point conversion attempt. They pitched out to their large Samoan fullback, Apisa, and as he turned the corner, it appeared he would fall into the end zone to tie the game. But UCLA defensive back Bob Stiles ran full speed and threw himself into Apisa, keeping Apisa out of the end zone and knocking himself out in the process."


Bob today is the proprietor of the Hana Sushi Restaurant on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles and in Ketchum, ID.

Seven Come Eleven - Survey Monkey is on a Roll

Here is the second set of seven Survey Monkey questions recently posted.  Were your guesses among the correct ones?  Take a look:

1. In the 1950s, Don Sherwood's future wife Dolly's dog "Spot" attacked and bit a little boy who encroached too near "Spot's" territory. This little boy turned out to be:

Jack Bresee
Will Bookhout was the unlucky young man.  All but one respondent got it correct.
John Steidel
Bob Roman

2. Though Bresee's Oneonta Department Store was virtually an institution in Oneonta, it eventually became a white elephant as shoppers took their business to large malls and super discount stores many miles from the downtown commercial district. How many years did Bresee's operate before the classic old time department store went the way of so many others like it in city after city across the nation?

25 years
40 years
60 years
100 years is a long time.  It was tied with 60 years, not such a long time.


3. Lothar Fieg was chairman of the city service board when he oversaw the development of and laid the cornerstone for the construction of Oneonta's water filtration plant on East Street. To this day, Lothar's name appears on a plaque in the building, along with other city notables who were involved at the project's inception, including the man for whom the building is named:
Don Sherwood
Albert Ferrone
Mayor Roger G. Hughes was the man, as over half of you knew.  What, are you from Oneonta or something?
Frank Bresee


4. Because of her regal bearing, culture and position in the community, this woman's hiring by Bresee's as a sales associate in the fashions department was a matter of pride not only for the Bresee brothers but for co-workers Marina Fieg and others of a more common station. This 1936 graduate of Hartwick College was:

Mrs. Albert Ferrone
Mrs. Robert Taylor
Mrs. Roger G. Hughes is correct, though every person received at least one vote.
Mrs. Don Sherwood


5. After the death of Mayor Roger G. Hughes, his wife Nella:

Left town for Florida and was never heard from again.
Became the first woman to be elected mayor.
Remarried and became the new Mrs. Don Sherwood after he divorced his first wife Dolly.
Retired in Oneonta, dying last year at age 95.  The vast majority knew this one -- what, are you from Oneonta or something?

6. Bresee's Oneonta Department Store made headlines when:

Zippy, a popular television chimpanzee, made an appearance there in 1955.
An second floor escalator was added in 1952.
The original 19th century red brick front was covered by an aluminum facade in 1959.
All of the above.   That was one hoppin' department store as over 71% of you knew.  I suspect that you are from Oneonta or something.


7. At the age of 4, Greg Fieg was riding down the escalator with his mother when the contraption malfunctioned and abruptly halted, nearly throwing him and a half dozen other riders down its sharp folding beltway steps. The lad was prevented from a serious fall when:

He and his mother Marina stepped off the bottom step just as the machinery failed.
He was hurled into the heavy black trusses of two nuns riding in front of him.
His mother's companion caught him by his little necktie.  This must have become family lore as it was the most popular answer.
He jumped over the railing to the "up" elevator.

Corkerys Welcome Twin Boys

There are two things in this world that you're never quite prepared for: TWINS!

Seamus Patrick Corkery and Sean Gerard Corkery were born to Sarah Fieg Corkery and her husband, Kevin, at the Bassett Hospital Birthing Center in Cooperstown, N.Y. on December 6.

This marks the first incidence of twins in Sarah's genetic line since her aunts, Colleen and Kathleen Powell, were born to Sarah's maternal grandmother in 1949.  (Colleen can prove they are twins because of a photo taken when she was two.  Ba-dum-bum....)

The boys are grandchildren numbers ten and eleven for proud grampa Greg Fieg.

Seamus, 7 lb. 10 oz. , 19 1/4", was born at 3:39 a.m. and is said to resembles the Corkerys and Sean, 7 lb. 12.9 oz., 18 1/2", was born at 3:45 a.m. and is said to resemble the Fiegs. They are fraternal twins.

These are the sixth and seventh infants born to the Corkerys following Maren, 13, Collette, 10, Grace, 7, Karoline, 4 and Frances, 2 all of whom were born in Cooperstown, home of baseball and the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 

It is a bit premature to tell, but the two new arrivals, being both healthy and of good size, project to be corner infielders rather than middle infielders and, it is assumed, their favorite fruit will be pears.



Seamus on the left, Sean on the right

The boys' middle names are those of  Irish saints.  (Their parents opted not to use the names Pete and Re-pete.)

Kevin and Sarah live in nearby Oneonta where Kevin is a financial adviser.  He will continue in this line of work even though his own sons will never get a loan.  (Insert rim shot here.)

Can You Take a Joke?

Twin boys were separated at birth.  One was adopted by a couple from Madrid and named Juan Antonio.  The other was adopted by a couple from Cairo and named Ahmal Abdul.

Years later the birth mother received an envelope from Spain with a photo of Juan, a happy, healthy little boy.  She told her husband, "I wish I had a picture of the other baby," and he replied, "Why?  If you've seen Juan you've seen Ahmal."

Survey Monkey Plays Black Jack, Gets Twenty-One, Seven at a Time!

The twenty-one question Fieg family survey created on Nov. 1 is now closed.  Here are the correct answers to the first seven questions, italicized, underlined and emboldened:

1. When Bob Roman launched his career in Oneonta as a dime store chain regional executive, he married Dorothy Fieg and they set up housekeeping in a little apartment on Pine Street rented to them by:

F.W. Woolworth
J.C. Penney
The Bresees of Bresee's Oneonta Dept. Store, correctly guessed by 60% of respondents
J.J. Newberry

2. Jack Bresee, the Fiegs' personable second ward city alderman, was proprietor of a popular Main Street mercantile establishment known as:

J.J. Newberry's
Bresees' Oneonta Department Store
The Golden Rooster - only 20% knew this one
F. W. Woolworth's

3. One Christmas, Oneonta department store proprietor Lynn Bresee offered a $300 bonus (a lot of money in those days) to one of his employees, Frank Fieg's wife, Marina, saying to her:

Don't spend it all in one place.
Don't spend it all on beer.
Don't run off to Las Vegas.
Don't tell Frank. Yep - again 60% of you were correct.

4. Frank Bresee opened Bresee's Oneonta Department Store in 1899 after a successful career as:

A ship-to-shore telegrapher aboard the transatlantic liner "Eturia."
Chief Chef at the Windsor Hotel in Oneonta.
An itinerant, tinware peddler who sold various household goods from a horsedrawn wagon. Quite the success story - and 4 out of 10 got it right.
Oneonta yardmaster for the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.

5. Of Frank Bresee's sons, Mister Phil, Mister Fred, Mister Wilmer, Mister Lynn, Mister Robert and Mister Jack, as they were called, one does not belong to the group of men who, over the entire span of the 20th century, developed their business into the finest department store for more than 50 miles in any direction. The ringer is:

Mister Fred (there was no such person)
Mister Robert (never returned from the Spanish American War)
Jack (never addressed as "Mister Jack" and no relation to the family.) A pat on the back to the 3 out of 10 who got it right -- you didn't just guess, did you, hmm?
Mister Wilmer (no one would give a boy such a rediculous name.)

6. When movie and television actor Robert Taylor came to Oneonta to promote a pilot for a new TV series based on Oneonta artist Don Sherwood's cartoon hero Dan Flagg, in which Taylor was to take the starring role, the reception was held at:

The Windsor Hotel
The Hotel Oneonta
The Stanton Opera House
Bresee's Oneonta Department Store - if you've been reading the blog, you'd know this, as did 60% of you!

7. Before she married, Dorothy Fieg was a legal secretary for Albert Ferrone, arguably the most influential man of his era as owner of a number of downtown Oneonta properties, and his partner John Steidel, whose office was just a few doors from Dorothy and Bob's apartment on Pine Street. The Ferrone and Steidel law firm is long gone, but the offices today are occupied by:

Jack Bresee
William R. Bookhout - once again, the blog yields the answer!  Congrats to 9 of you -- the one who guessed wrong was probably you-know-who....
Robert Taylor Productions
Don Sherwood

Sign Me Up!

(From a senior citizens' publication:)
Interesting Ads and Signs

• Semi-Annual after-Christmas Sale! 
• For Sale:  Diamonds $20; microscopes $15.
• For sale:  A quilted high chair that can be made into a table, potty chair, rocking horse, refrigerator, spring coat, size 8 and fur collar.  (Wow!)
• We will oil your sewing machine and adjust tension in your home for $1. 
• Our bikinis are exciting.  They're simply the tops!
• Save regularly in our bank.  You'll never reget it!
• Auto Repair Service.  Free pick-up and delivery.  Try us once, you'll never go anywhere again.
• Tired of cleaning yourself?  Let me do it!

On Anniversary of His Birth, Fieg Recalled by his Contemporaries

Former Oneonta Mayor Albert S. "Sam" Nader, the iconic leader who brought about the sweeping Broad Street urban renewal and the eight-story Nader Towers project, and established a minor league baseball franchise that introduced professional players Don Mattingly, Bernie Williams, John Elway, Amos Otis and others, has seen the great ones come and go -- both the famous and the not-so-famous.

The image of Lothar Fieg Sr. will never appear on a postage stamp or baseball card, but when Nader needed a job done and done right, Fieg was the man to whom he turned.

On the occasion of the 125th observance of Lothar Fieg's birth, the mayor and other Fieg contemporaries recently took a few moments to reminisce about the late builder of beautiful and enduring homes, describing him as a top professional in his field.



Mayor Albert S.
"Sam" Nader

"Lothar was a master craftsman," said Nader, 92, in a telephone interview from his home on River Street.  "He did a lot of things for me.  I remember one time he came to me with this old saw I had lying around and asked, 'What's this?'   He oiled it, cleaned it up, sharpened it and made it useful again."          

                                                                                                             

That was typical of the late contractor, who paid attention to details and was unafraid to demonstrate a little extra effort.



The late Mayor Roger G. Hughes, in whose administration Fieg served for seven years as chairman of the City Public Service Board, praised Fieg at the time of the builder's death in 1958 and ordered that the City Hall flag be lowered to half staff.  He noted that Fieg "was held in the highest esteem."



"Lothar was a man of sound judgment, a wise counselor, a solid citizen,"  Hughes said. "... He was recognized as an authority in the field of construction."



It has been said that few were the buildings in the downtown commercial district that did not have a Fieg  fingerprint on them at one time or another, as his company's repair and remodeling jobs were too numerous to count during the four decades he practiced his craft in Oneonta.

Retired Air Force Col. Clifford R. "Roger" Silliman, 92, perhaps the last survivor of the Fieg crew that built the Woodchuck Knoll mansion in Emmons in 1935, recalled that, though he was merely a teenager, he was given the chance to work alongside skilled carpenters and masons. Silliman was easily the youngest of the 20 to 30 men who would meet early in the morning at Fieg's shop at 3 Lewis Street to be handed assignments scattering them to various projects out, about and around the the city.



"He was so good to me, giving me jobs in his company,"  Silliman recalled during a telephone interview from his home near Vandenburg Air Force Base in Lompoc, Calif.  "I always felt that he gave me the benefit of working for him because of his loyalty to my family."



Ray Finkle, 90, went to work for Fieg in 1949 and, among many other assignments, helped erect the 160-foot Elmore Feed Mill silo, the tallest structure in Oneonta at the time.  Finkle also worked on the Duncan Briggs estate house.



"He knew how to handle a T-square,"  Finkle said.  "He knew just how to cut the right angle when you were fitting joists and pitched roofs and so forth.  He was very clever with it."

Finkle was being trained to take charge of the First National Bank of Hobart project when the 72-year-old Fieg died suddenly after coming home for lunch after a morning's work. Finkle was stunned.  

"It was a shock, all right," said Finkle, who had seen his share of carnage as a World War II veteran of the Battle of the Bulge in a supporting role.  "He had been working right along and had never been sick or anything and then, boom!



"I felt real bad because I had worked for him a long time.  He was a good friend.  He was such a good person that everybody liked him."

Besides Thornwood (the home of the president of Hartwick College), Woodchuck Knoll and the home of Briggs Lumber Co. president Duncan Briggs, Fieg erected the Wycoff Florist owner's home on 

Country Club Road, the Upstate Baptist Home for Children in Portlandville, the Russell home on Union Street, the Gardner home at Chestnut and West Streets, and the Main Street Baptist Church expansion, to name a few.  He and Mayor Hughes collaborated on planning, financing and construction of a new city water filtration plant on East Street which today bears Hughes' name.



Fieg, who was born on Aug. 11, 1886, also oversaw the complete dismantling, piece by piece, and reassembly of a 19th-century one-room schoolhouse, frontier blacksmith shop and country store, supervising their move from their original locations to the the grounds of the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown.  At the museum he also built the original display for the world infamous 1869 Cardiff Giant hoax, in which charlatans claimed they had unearthed a ten-foot tall, petrified pre-historic man.



In addition to being chairman of the City Public Service Board, he was a leader on the steering and operations committee of the annual Oneonta Home Show, a member of the board of directors of the Oneonta Symphony Orchestra, twice president of the Lion's club and played tuba in the New York State National Guard Co. G marching band.  He was also a Mason.



As a Lion he devoted himself to providing aid to the vision-impaired, including the distribution of reading glasses to disadvantaged children.  "A benefactor of the blind, he did much for them in his quiet, unassuming way," Hughes remembered.  "His integrity and character will ever shine as a beacon to his fellow men."



Perhaps more important to Lothar, however, were his wife, the former Florence Shields, and their seven children, upon whom he doted.  Often he had a child or two in tow when he toured construction sites or traveled out of town.

Five-year-old grandson Greg Fieg saw the city of Utica through the windshield of "Grandpa's" Willys.  Roger Silliman as a boy made at least two trips with Lothar to the Albany-Schenectady area and Lothar's daughter, Maxine, rode with him to the Corbett and Stewart acid factory in southern Delaware County, where he had been named superintendent when he was only a teen himself.

Maxine recalled that he also took her aboard the Staten Island Ferry and, ignoring signs barring passengers from entering the wheelhouse, persuaded the captain to give them a tour of the helm and explain all its workings.  His curiosity was irrepressible, she said.

Lothar was a friend of the late Oneonta grocer Nicolas Rizzo Sr., with whom he formed a special bond as both were immigrants and were nearly the same age.  He and old Nick regularly chatted when Lothar stopped by the store.  One day he found Nick's boy, Joe, struggling (as usual) with his junior high mathematics homework.

"Let me see that,"  Lothar said to the boy, and took 30 or 40 minutes to work through the problems with Joe while teaching him how to solve them.

"I was real happy the next morning because I had my homework done," Joe, 70, recalled.  "I usually didn't."

Can You Take A Joke?

A man was just waking up from anesthesia after surgery, with his wife by his side. His eyes fluttered open and he said, 'You're beautiful,' then fell asleep again.

His wife had never heard him say that before, so she stayed by his side. A few minutes later his eyes fluttered open and he said, 'You're cute.' The wife was disappointed because instead of 'beautiful,' it was now 'cute.'

She asked, 'What happened to beautiful?'
The doctor replied, 'The drugs are wearing off.'

When and Where?

Here is a photo sent to me by my mumsey, Jean Davie Fieg.  It shows Bertha, Lothar and Emilie Fieg as children.  Millie looks to be about 5 which would mean the picture was taken in 1899 or 1900.  Could they be standing in their back yard in Yonkers during their first American winter?  What do you think?

Where Am I?

1.  ED FIEG SR. WON A STARTING POSITION in the secondary of the Oneonta High School Yellowjackets football team and later a starting position in the old semi-pro Empire State Football League after studying as a boy under the tutelage of:

A.  Coach Knute Rockne in Buffalo, NY

B.  Coach Vince Lombardi in Corning, NY
C.  Coach Jerry Sandusky in Derby, NY

D.  Coach Joe Paterno in Oneonta, NY

2.  WHILE IN OHIO, TO TRAVEL FROM UPPER SANDUSKY to Sandusky, one must travel approximately 57 miles in which direction?

A.  Northeast

B.  Southeast

C.  East Southeast

D.  West Northwest

3.  THE CITY OF SANDUSKY, OH is named after:

A.  Jerry Sandusky's great-great-great grandfather, a fur trader who was marooned on Lake Erie while trapping otter.

B.  The horizon just west of the city where the sun sets over huge white sand dunes during the winter months.

C.  There are various theories, though no one really knows why it has that name.

D.  Upper Sandusky

4.  THE ALL-TIME LOW TEMPERATURE in Sioux City, IA since records began being kept was -26  degrees F. in 1926.  Sioux City is on the approximate same global latitudinal position as:

A.  Icy Iceland

B.  Frigid Finland

C.  Gloomy Glasgow

D.  Sunny Naples

5.  SARAH FIEG CORKERY'S SISTER-IN-LAW lives a short drive from the city of North East Pennsylvania, which is located:

A.  Near CA, PA

B.  Near WY, PA

C.  In NE PA
D.  In NW PA


Here are the answers to the above questions -- did you have to use your GPS?

1. ED FIEG SR. WON A STARTING POSITION in the secondary of the Oneonta High School Yellowjackets football team and later a starting position in the old semi-pro Empire State Football League after studying as a boy under the tutelage of:

A. Coach Knute Rockne in Buffalo, NY

B.  Coach Vince Lombardi in Corning, NY

C. Coach Jerry Sandusky in Derby, NY

D. Coach Joe Paterno in Oneonta, NY

2. TO TRAVEL FROM UPPER SANDUSKY, OH to Sandusky, OH one must travel approximately 57 miles in which direction?

A. Northeast
B. Southeast
C. East Southeast
D. West Northwest


3. THE CITY OF SANDUSKY, OH is named after:

A. Jerry Sandusky's great-great-great grandfather, a fur trader who was marooned on Lake Erie while trapping otter.
B. The horizon just west of the city where the sun sets over huge white sand dunes during the winter months.
C. There are various theories, though no one really knows why it has that name.
D. Upper Sandusky


4. THE ALL-TIME LOW TEMPERATURE in Sioux City, IA since records began being kept was -26 degrees F. in 1926. Sioux City is on the approximate same global latitudinal position as:

A. Icy Iceland
B. Frigid Finland
C. Gloomy Glasgow
D. Sunny Naples


5. SARAH FIEG CORKERY'S SISTER-IN-LAW lives a short drive from the city of North East Pennsylvania, which is located:

A. Near CA, PA
B. Near WY, PA
C. In NE PA
D. In NW PA

Engineering Simplified

Thanks to Diana Monaco for the following flowchart.  Now you know everything you need to know to make stuff work:

Twins?

Look at these beauties!  Annie Mig Whiteside and her grandmother, Maxine Fieg Whiteside.

Thanks to Kathy Whiteside for sending the photo...

EXTRA! EXTRA! PURSE FINDS WAY HOME

She thought she'd never see her purse again but, in today's mail, Lisa Fieg got the shock of her life when she received a package containing her purse that recently went missing at the New York New Church.

There was no note enclosed so we must presume that the story we ran in the Fieg Family News led to the miraculous return of Lisa's belongings.

Can You Feature That? Word Paintings from October, 2011

Judy and Joe Kestner celebrating Judy's 60th birthday with dinner and a movie....  Diana Monaco attending her 40th high school reunion (Romy and Michelle were NOT there)....  Phyllis Fieg enjoying the gas-saving benefits of driving more slowly on her way to work....  Cade Dangca making sparks while cutting a piece of metal (the burn was not too severe and he was wearing a welder's helmet, Mom)....  Dave Boggs watching in amazement as grandson Richard Clancy paddles his homemade pumpkin boat in Otsego Lake....  Cindy Harris getting ready for a first ever online alpaca auction later this month....  Lisa Fieg packing for another trip to Philly....  Jean Davie Fieg monitoring a water leak under her kitchen sink, expecting to hear "screaming violins" at any moment....  Eleanor Fieg posting positive, upbeat messages on Facebook ....  Many surprised faces in the Northeast as snow covers the landscape....  John Boggs counting this week's earthquakes in his neighborhood in California....  Greg Fieg offering his condolences to television personality Alan Colmes over the loss of his 17-year-old beagle, Barney.... 

Can It Be Lisa Fieg Who is Mugged Every 3.4 Seconds?

In New York City a woman is robbed every 3.4 seconds and while it may seem that it is Lisa Fieg , we would like to clarify that it is not.

Yes, Lisa once again has had her purse stolen, this time from a church pew while she sat with her eyes closed, which makes the fourth time she has been mugged. 

It brings to mind the time that Kimiko Fieg was mugged in New York on a crowded subway platform and she chased down the assailant, grabbed him and refuse to let him go until help arrived (not recommended).

Kimiko obviously recovered her purse but Lisa was out all her hard-earned cash ($260), her credit cards, her driver's license and her peace of mind, not to mention the handsome leather designer purse.

The story, however, has a happy ending because her devoted neighbor, Louis DiIulio, with whome she was sitting at the time, presented her with a brand new purse, $300 in cash and his personal escort to the Department of Motor Vehicles where Lisa will have her driver's license restored.

Lisa said that Louis' gallant gesture lifted the "weight of the world" from her shoulders.

The Writer's Block

An autumnal ode from Steven Fieg (forwarded to me by Jean Fieg):

Steven`s Autumn
 
While sitting on the back deck

 Listening to the leaves

 Trying to decipher

 The stories the wind

 Was telling me

 Of places It had been,

                                                        And places to go.

Thanks, coz!

Oops! I Did It AGAIN!

Phyllis Fieg works in the Post Office department where mail is forwarded to new addresses.

I Stand Corrected

Phyllis Fieg has advised me that her Buick (see "Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines," Aug. 22, 2011) has over half a million miles on its frame, not one-quarter of a million (I wondered what all the hoopla was about!).

Phyllis, who is employed by the U.S. Postal Service, has been working six days a week lately, her only day off being Sunday.  October 1 is the first day of the government's fiscal year and once that day dawns the coffers of the Post Office are replenished and they can pay the overtime needed to catch up on the backlog caused in the previous months by the laying off of employees and the closing of various facilities.  Thus she is making the big bucks, but having to cram two days' chores into one.

On Sunday Phyllis washes and irons all her clothes, does her grocery shopping and fixes food for lunch for the week, cleans her bathroom and bedroom and even has a few minutes to chat with her sisters Judy and Diana when they make their regular weekly calls to the home on Knightwood Dr.

The department where Phyllis works is responsible for misdirected mail. PLEASE PRINT.

All in a Day's Work for Bozeman, MT Police on Oct. 17

* A man called to report that a bear had gotten into his garbage on Rouse Avenue.

* A group of men were throwing garbage at an upstairs apartment window on Main Street.  The men told police that individuals in the apartment were calling them names and threw garbage at them first, and they were throwing the garbage back. The individuals in the apartment denied it.

*A large black bear was seen in the driveway of a home on Fifth Avenue. The resident said the bear growled at him.


*An intoxicated man was warned for stumbling into the street and lying down in a traffic circle.

* Seven or eight pairs of women's underwear were found by police at noon in the bathroom at Peets Hill.

*  Several individuals were warned by police to climb down from the roof at a neighborhood bar on Main Street.

*  A woman armed with a mop called police after confronting a man who mistakenly tried to enter her home, thinking it was his.  She had watched the man try to enter a vehicle adcross the street, and when he could not, he came to her house and tried to get in.  Officers escorted him to his proper residence.

Atlas Shrugged: The Road to Nowhere

How often, while traveling, have you seen a highway sign that almost read like a sentence until you realized it was listing the names of upcoming towns?  Never?  Hmmm.  Well here are some exit signs we'd like to see.  The town names are real; their proximity to each other is surreal!

In South Carolina: 
NEXT 3 EXITS
IVA LATTA CLOVER

In Texas:
EXIT NOW
OATMEAL RAISIN
and
EXIT LEFT AND RIGHT
KENEDY NIXON

In Oklahoma:
ANTLERS GORE BEAVER
RIGHT LANE ONLY

In North Carolina:
EXIT ONLY
TOAST TRIANGLE
and
APEX HIGH POINT
10 MILES

In California:
EXIT NOW
WEED
HAPPY CAMP
HIGHLAND

In New York:
LIVERPOOL MUTTONTOWN RYE
EXIT CLOSED

And in North Dakota:
ROLLA CANNON BALL
THIS EXIT

Dan Doyle Promoted; Bill, Diana Depart for Finland

Capt. Daniel Doyle, son of Bill Doyle of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., has been promoted to the rank of major, the Air Force recently announced.

Dan, 32, serves in the judge advocate corps in the Washington D.C. area where he he and his wife, Erica,  recently bought  a new home in the Virginia suburbs.  They will reside there with their daughter, Miriam Jane, 5, and nine-month-old son, Andrew William, who is named for his grandfather.

The family will soon be visited by Bill and Diana Fieg Monaco, who have been a couple for more than a decade. Diana and Bill, in observance of their anniversary, have just departed for a commemorative vacation in Helsinki to be followed by a stop in Estonia.  In Estonia, across the Baltic Sea from Finland, Bill will attend the Trialogos Festival, a Roman Catholic confab devoted to world issues of family and worship.

Bill, who works in heavy excavation, is contemplating retirement in Estonia, where he will continue research for a book on Finland's resistance to Soviet and German invaders during the World War II era.

Mounted on skis, Finnish troops moved with the speed of cavalry, frustrating the invaders at every turn. At some points they deployed in opposition to the Soviets and, after Hitler turned against the Reds, in alliance with them.

Of special interest is the training and deployment of thousands of draft horses which enabled Finnish guerrillas to out-maneuver heavily armored and mechanized German and Soviet units in mountainous and heavily forested terrain and in highly inclement weather.

Not only did the Finns wear white uniforms to help them blend in against the snowy background but even their horses were dressed in white (see photo above). 

Relatively little has been published in English about these events in comparison to other European engagements of the World War II era, making for plenty of fertile territory for Bill's research.

Give Me Another Sign!

Highway sign spotted in Pennsylvania (where we know that they take their driving tests in a parking lot...):  "At night turn lights on for safety."

Yakima, WA store name:  "New Yak City."

Seen in Waterloo, IA:  "Grout Museum"  (Oh, please don't make me go there!)

Sign on a fence near Los Fresnos, TX:  "9 Toes Shredding."  No thanks.

Take Another Family Quizz; Tell Us If We Hit or Mizz

Here are ten questions about the Fieg family with the answers at the bottom.  Don't peek!

1. JEAN DAVIE FIEG WAS BORN on Feb. 9, 1929 in Greensboro, NC but moved to Oneonta, NY with her family when she was a small child. She met Philip Fieg there, married him and for the most part raised her family in Upstate New York until she returned to Greensboro when her children were in their late teens. She eventually returned to live in Greensboro, where she resides today, because:

A. She missed hocks, jowls and butter beans, ham bones and turnip greens, hot corn bread and black-eyed peas, fish camp fries and tater pies.

B. She was elected national president of the Sen. Jesse Helms Fan Club.

C. The mild climate was more beneficial for her health.

D. By complete coincidence, her husband was transferred there by Ciba-Geigy Corp.

Chicagoans Visit Historic Mountain Resort

Susan and Ed Williams, celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, recently visited historic Bedford Springs Resort in the high, rugged mountains of southwest Pennsylvania.


The weather was a bit cool and damp but not too mild to keep Ed and Sue from enjoying their mornings in their rockers under the veranda, where they were served breakfasts of fresh coffee, bagels and cream cheese.

Susan said the evening fare was sumptuous though Ed, being diabetic, exhibited great discipline and held himself to small, simple, high protein servings or no meals at all.

Susan spent much of her time catching up on her reading, finishing a book and a half during their six-night stay. After sundown they spent time around the bonfire, having quiet conversations with a dozen or so other guests who rotated in and out of the reclining chairs.

Though they played golf on the resort's challenging, often vertical 18-hole course, Susan and Ed decided merely to watch as others swam in the indoor and outdoor pools, played horseshoes, volleyball or participated in other activities.

The resort, more than 100 years old, can accommodate more than 200 guests and has been visited by Susan's cousins Ed and Greg Fieg. The Williamses live in Chicago, from whence many of the resort's visitors hail. Cleveland, Wheeling, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Youngstown, Buffalo and Harrisburg are also within relatively easy driving distance.

To check this place out or book a weekend, don't hesitate to contact Susan at Goodbuy Travel in Chicago by clicking on her website's link, found in the left column of http://www.fiegfamily.blogspot.com.

Stork Makes a Stopover in Central Iowa

Pity the poor stork: so many mommies and daddies and so many bundles of joy and never a day off!

Columbus Day marked the arrival of Michael Kyle Harvey, 8 pounds 12 ounces, the first-born son of Emilie and Matthew Harvey of Des Moines.

Emilie is the daughter of Karen White Fieg of Des Moines and Col. Edward L. Fieg (USAF) of Fairfield, Calif.

Emilie, a former banker and now a full-time mom, currently devotes herself to little Michael and his two sisters, Paige, 4, and Hanna, 2. and of course,  her husband 'Harv.'

Harv is a data systems specialist for a nationally recognized financial institution in Des Moines.

Kimiko Fieg Leads Paper to National Design Award

The Southern Newspaper Publishers Association recently awarded the 2011 first place prize for front-page design in newspapers with under 50,000 in circulation to the Victoria (TX) Advocate's July 9 edition, where Kimiko Fieg is Presentation Editor.

The SNPA judges said, "The Victoria Advocate's presentation of the final space shuttle launch is extraordinary, in the finest sense of the word. A stunning photo, excellent use of typography and thoughtful placement of all elements makes this a clear winner. More than what is obvious, however, is the effort behind this package. To devote the entire front – and back – page of a daily newspaper to one event takes strong effort in planning and coordination among many departments. This page pulls it all together in a package that is bright, open and daring. The impact is strong and the presentation is memorable. Indeed, it is extraordinary."

I know you all will agree -- this is a wonderful job.  Congratulations, Kimiko!

Kimiko is the former wife of Greg Fieg.  She and her husband, former newspaperman Brooks Peterson, live inVictoria, about an hour and a half's drive north of Corpus Christi.

Photos of our Phounder

Pictures sent by Jean Fieg of the FFN founder, Philip Fieg, in his youth:


Collendale, NY - the old fairgrounds near Syracuse University where housing of veterans - see left in picture - was arranged.  V.P. Fieg on his car - was this the Graham-Paige I wonder? - with his buddies also on the G.I. Education Bill.



1955-Lake Eaton.  Philip grows a beard - who knew?  (It was coppery.)

She also sent a clipping about a time capsule in Oneonta.  Here are some excerpts:

City Officials Write Letters For Posterity
An artfully cut slab of gray native stone, probably 10 million years old, was set in place yesterday to seal a copper box in a wall of Oneonta's new $1,000,000 water plant, the latest word in modern filtration systems.  (Ed. note:  Doesn't this sound like Greg wrote it!!??)

The cornerstone laying was brief but impressive, and was attended by an unexpectedly large crowd.  The sun shone brightly but the air was nippy as men uncovered their heads for invocation, prayer of dedication and benediction by representatives of Protestant, Jewish and Catholic faiths.

Into the copper box went messages from Oneontans and other mementoes (sic) of Jan. 24, 1957, including a letter by Mayor Roger G. Hughes....

Lothar Fieg, chairman of the Public Service Board, put the cornerstone box into its place, and Mayor Hughes sealed the box with a calking (sic) gun....

Thanks, Mom!

Do You Have Reservations? Boy, Do I!

As I entered Johnny Carino's Restaurant in Amarillo, I had a vague recollection of having had a past bad experience there and, when I looked at the floor, which seemed not to have had a mop passed over it in a month, my trepidation grew. But, after all, Johnny Carino's has a high visibility, is a major chain and the decor is tastefully crafted, so I thought I'd give them another chance.

The first setback was in the bathroom where I found no soap in the dispenser. I informed my waitress and ordered my lunch, a meal of Italian sausages (there being no traditional spaghetti and meatballs dish available) with a side of sauteed mushrooms.

Much to my surprise the mushrooms arrived about ten minutes ahead of my entree and, when my entree arrived, I found the "marinara" sauce a tad on the spicy side, tasting almost like Mexican salsa. This prompted me to wonder whether this was a specific sort of Italian cuisine. Because of the pictures of Tuscany on the wall, I asked if the sauce were Tuscan style. The waitress looked at me in puzzlement.

I suggested it could be Sicilian, Bolognese, Romano, Florentine, Napolitano or some other regional flavor, to which she replied, "Let me ask the manager or the cook." Upon her return I realized the manager and the cook knew not what they were serving as neither could answer the question.

I returned to the lavatory again and discovered there was still no soap. I slipped into the stall and found no latch on the door, which swung wide open. I reached for a wad of carta igienica with which to wedge the door closed and the broken dispenser cover flew open and the toilet paper rolled across the floor.

I later learned that my cousin Judy had had a similar experience with this chain (an English word that John Roman might translate as "stay away"). She and her family went to Johnny Carino's for her birthday several years ago and they were seated next to the condiment station. All during their meal they were interrupted by waitresses who flitted by for salt and pepper, grated cheese, napkins and so forth, and yet it never seemed to occur to them to ask if Judy, Joe or Emilie might actually want some cheese.

Finally an entree was brought -- but only one. Two of the party sat and watched the other one eat. then arrived the other two entrees, though one was cold and had to be returned to the kitchen. When the waitress brought it back it was still cold!

I cannot help but wonder, if there are so many shortcomings visible to the customers, how many more might be occurring in the kitchen. In bed that night, the answer came to me when I suddenly felt the firm grip of Mussolini's fist clutching my abdomen.

Do you have a similar experience you'd like to share? Send an e-mail to Judy for publication. We'll give 'em the what-for!

The Family Secrets Revealed

Thanks to those who visited the Survey Monkey for our latest Fieg Family quiz. Here are the answers to the questions:

1. This is the owner of a choice and coveted homesite and cabin on a highly picturesque upstate New York lake.
Answer: 87.5% correctly answered Dave Boggs.

2. He wore a band uniform and played the tuba in the New York State National Guard Infantry Co. G marching band.
Answer: Yes, it was my grampa, Lothar Fieg Sr., as identified by 37.5% of respondents.

Dr. Ed Fieg Visits Home of Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable

Dr. Ed Fieg recently visited the home of Dr. Heathcliff  "Cliff" Huxtable at 10 St. Luke's Place in Manahttan.  Dr. Huxtable was the character played by Bill Cosby in the 1980s television program "The Cosby Show" and the exterior of the Greenwich Village house

Corkerys Roll a Seven: It's Two Much!

Sarah Corkery, daughter of FFN writer Greg Fieg, recently went to the Basset Health Care Center in Oneonta for a sonogram to determine if her baby, due on December 12, is a boy or a girl.

It is neither a boy nor a girl, but TWIN boys!  The babies are fraternal twins and the sonogram shows they are of excellent weight.  Of course now the odds are that the birth will be somewhat earlier than the originally predicted date.

Grandfather Greg thinks the first boy should be named after Doris Holm's late brother Hank and called "Hanky" and the second boy could then be called "Panky." 

The parents are happy, the grandfather is happy and the Pope is happy.

Sarah and husband Kevin are currently the parents of five daughters: Maren, Grace, Karoline, Collette and Frances.  They will call the team "The Oneonta Owls."

Probe Predicted to Show Pilot Blacked Out

A federal investigation being awaited after the crash of a World War II era P-51 fighter at a Reno air race last week will show that the pilot blacked out and was unconscious at the stick when his plane slammed into the viewing stands, killing 11 and injuring more than 50, according to a veteran pilot and longtime Fieg family friend.

Bob "Punchy" Powell in his D-model Mustang, his second P-51
of the war. 

"He never knew what hit him," said Robert "Punchy" Powell, 90, of Atlanta, who was personally acquainted with the downed flyer,  Jimmy Leeland, 74.  Leeland and his plane, a type of fighter which Powell and the late Lothar "Bud" Fieg flew during World War II, are now the subjects of an intense investigation by the National Aviation and Transportation Safety Board.

Officials say results of the probe will take weeks because the plane virtually disintegrated into thousands of pieces on impact, many of which impaled members of the audience.

"He went into a high-speed dive, pulling 8-11 G's which caused him to black out," Punchy said. "Photographs show him slumped over," Powell said.

Under the stress as described, a 200-pound man would weigh 2,000 pounds and need to endure the weight plus resulting loss of blood to the brain.

Punchy consulted numerous eye-witnesses and exchanged information with other veteran fliers before blaming the crash on the failure of the plane's "elevator trim tab," a leveling mechanism attached to the tail. The trim tab was not built to withstand heavy gravitational exertion caused by radical modifications to Leeland's fuselage, wings and engine to achieve speeds in excess of 500 mph, a velocity that exceeded the original plane's limitations by more than 200 miles per hour, Punchy said.

Punchy, who bunked with Bud during their service with the 8th Army Air Force in England from 1942-45, is a former Air Force test pilot and veteran of 87 combat missions.   About two dozen of those missions, mostly over Nazi-occupied France and Holland, were flown alongside Bud.  The two primarily flew P-47s and later P-51s such as the one that crashed in Reno.

Punchy got his first P-51 after Bud took up Punchy's P-47 for a test flight and it caught fire. Bud bailed out and that was the end of that. Punchy's second P-51, a D-model, was given to him after his first one caught fire and he crashed it in an English potato field.

At the end of the war Punchy, then a lieutenant, and Bud, then a captain, separated from the Army but Punchy returned to the Air Force at the outbreak of the Korean War.  With service as a test pilot, he has flown more than 22 types of aircraft, including the B-25 carrier bomber.  After Korea he retired with the rank of captain.

Punchy is the author of "Blue Noser Tales," a book about the 328th Squadron of the 352nd Fighter Group in which he and Bud flew.  He called the P-51 arguably the best all-around fighter produced during the war; only a few dozen remain airborne today. Known as Mustangs, the propeller hubs of the P-51s of  Punchy's and Bud's unit were painted blue, hence the name "Blue Nosers."

The 352nd was one of the most successful in the war, having been credited with downing or destroying 776 German aircraft, including 554 in the air, among them 11 newly-developed German jets with far greater acceleration and climbing power than the P-51.  Seven German planes were destroyed for every one lost in the 352nd. 



The 352nd counted among their numbers 29 aces, including George Preddy of Greensboro, NC,  who has a street named for him in his hometown.   He had 24 victories and probably would have gone on to become the top ace of the war but he was killed while chasing three ME-109s at tree-top level, two of which he shot down before he was caught in friendly fire by ground units who had been awaiting the Germans and fired at the third.

Powell is the winner of some 10 service ribbons including a coveted French decoration for his participation in the historic D-Day invasion that marked the beginning of the fall of Europe. He also holds the Air Medal with three oak clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaves and two presidential unit citations, both of which he shares with Bud.

One of Punchy's and Bud's presidential citations was awarded for a single day's engagement, when 38 enemy aircraft were destroyed. Powell is also credited with air and ground victories in which he destroyed six enemy aircraft, among them an ME-110 fighter and an HE-177 bomber plus two "probables" and seven damaged.

Bud won the Air Medal eight times and the Distinguished Flying Cross twice, plus the Victory Medal and other decorations.  He is credited with destroying an ME-109 in the air plus four planes on the ground, including a bomber.

Powell earned the nickname "Punchy" after winning the West Virginia Golden Gloves Flyweight Championship in 1937. He currently maintains a small aviation museum in his home, with the numbers of visitors there approaching 200.

His story of helping Bud approach the former Catherine Shafer of Oneonta with a marriage proposal is legend in the family lore.  Bud, who is remembered by Punchy as being painfully shy, thought of Punchy as something of a ladies' man and asked his advice on how to approach Catherine when he returned to Oneonta on leave in 1944, because he had never as much as even held hands with her.

"I told him when he sees her and she puts out her hand, just ignore that and give her a hug and a big kiss,"  Punchy recalled.  "He came back and said, 'Punchy, it was just like you said, and it worked.  I'm engaged."

(To see a brief review of the publication or to purchase a copy of Punchy's book "Blue Noser Tales" for $25 per copy, a special discount to any family members of veterans who flew in the 328th., go to: http://www.hyperscale.com/2007/reviews/books/bluenosertalespreview_1.htm    He is currently working on a memoir and can be contacted at 404-636-3747 or bluenoserbob2@juno.com  or bluenoserbob@352ndfightergroup.com.)

Around the House at 10 North Sixth

1. GRANDFATHER LOTHAR FIEG was well acquainted with the typical American fare, but sauerkraut and schnitzel and various other German dishes were no strangers to his pallet either. Moreover, he also extolled the value of a certain European-style dietary additive, and consumed it regularly in his kitchen at 10 North Sixth Street. This was:

2012 Reunion Plans Are Under Way

Diana Fieg-Monaco of Diana Travel and  Tours, has negotiated a special arrangement with the beautiful lakeside Cobblescote Inn, just north of Cooperstown, for a special Fieg Family Reunion from Aug 3 to Aug 5, 2012.

Details are being worked out for a dinner Saturday night and a picnic on Sunday, both to be catered, unlike the pot luck affairs of the past. Those traveling from out of town can join us at Cobblescote, find accommodations elsewhere or drive in.  John and Anne Roman, Sue and Ed Williams, Greg Fieg, Diana Fieg-Monaco and Bill Doyle, and Judy, Joe and Emilie Kestner have already committed to the event.

Please be thinking about the activities you'd like to have at our special event and let one of the board members know.  Would you like an adults-only cocktail party, horseshoe tournament, cow-tipping or talent show?  Hey, it could happen.... and we want to hear your ideas!

More details to follow as they become available. SAVE THE DATE!!

Blenheim Bridge Addendum

Steven Fieg, who has relatives on his mother Catherine's side in Schoharie County about 40 miles east of Oneonta where the bridge is located, remembers that his father and grandfather, Bud and Lothar Fieg, found it to be a structural marvel in that it stretched across the often tempestuous Schoharie Creek for 232 feet without the benefit of any footings other than the two stone pilings at either end.

Sightseeing, Celebrity Sleuthing in NYC

Nancy Fieg and her aunt Lisa Fieg spent more than $200 -- including $75 for a single order of macaroni and cheese -- at the hip celebrity hangout Waverly Inn in New York's Greenwich Village, but not only did they miss regulars 'Bob' De Nero and 'Bob' Redford, they didn't even see George Hamilton or Joe Franklin!

They were not entirely disappointed, however, during a four-day hiatus of sightseeing and celebrity stalking.

Nancy, 25, of Des Moines, is the daughter of Col. Edward L. Fieg Sr. of Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield, Calif., and Karen White Fieg of Grimes, Ia. Nancy is planning to move to New York next spring, so she visited her aunt in the "Big Apple" to familiarize herself with the environs and just have fun.

And she and Aunt Lisa actually did see two celebrities, and big ones!

Multiple Emmy-award-winner and Tony-winner David Hyde Pierce, who played Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom "Frasier," was spotted walking his airedale in Riverside Park.
Golden Globe-winning actor Paul Giamatti, who was in "Sideways," "Planet of the Apes," "Saving Private Ryan" and some 60 other motion picture, television and stage productions, was seen at an adjacent table as Nancy and Lisa were dining at the very hip Spotted Pig restaurant, also in Greenwich Village.

Thinking she would not be noticed, Aunt Lisa tried discreetly to take a picture of Giamatti with her camera phone, but as soon as she snapped the photo Giamatti turned and glared at her. She couldn't find a hole big enough to crawl into.

Nancy currently works as a customer service representative for Wells Fargo in Des Moines, but she plans to market her culinary arts degree when she moves to New York. She is a granduate of Iowa State University in Ames, Ia.

Among the Nancy's and Lisa's stops was the 1827 Episcopal "Church of the Transfiguration" at 29th Street and Fifth Ave. in Manhattan. One of Nancy's ancestors on her mother's side designed stained glass windows there.

They also visited Washington Square, Central Park, the new World Trade Center and 11 other restaurants other than the two mentioned. Needless to say, the two were exhausted at the conclusion of their -- uh -- vacation.