Kathy Whiteside Helps Kids Cope With Cancer

Dr. Robert Whiteside, via his daughter Marsha Adams, has shared an article published in The Daily Iowan about daughter-in-law Kathy Whiteside. 

In her role as senior child-life specialist at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital in Iowa City, Kathy brings laughter and respite to children being treated for cancer there, and to their families as well.  She has worked there for almost 27 years.

The entire article can be viewed at http://www.dailyiowan.com/2011/02/01/Metro/21023.html. 

Kathy, wife of Robert Whiteside II, originally planned to be a teacher but in college the newly created position of child-life specialist caught her imagination, and her heart, and she now is able to ensure that these kids have some fun times to remember from their hospital stay, not just sad or painful memories.

Uncle Bob also proudly mentions that Kathy has run in several marathons, including the Boston Marathon! 
That's enough to make you put down those Girl Scout cookies....

Kathy and Bob II have two girls, Molly and Annie Mig, and they live in West Branch, IA.

Can You Feature That? Word Paintings from the End of February, 2011

Diane Bookhout's kitties enjoying a snooze on her favorite recliner ("How did they know I wanted to sit there?").... Keenan Murphy, son of Jennifer and Don Murphy of Cooperstown, taking second place in the winter carnival sled races at Lake Front Park in the 6 and under category.... Carol and Bob Ramagosa in Florida preparing their boat for a trip north in the Intracoastal Waterway as soon as it thaws...!  Jean Fieg admiring a lovely birthday bouquet from nephen Steven Fieg....  Maxine and Robert Whiteside enjoying homemade chicken soup, and they weren't even sick....  Two-year-old Frances "Frankie" Corkery saying, "Thanks, Mommy!" to her mom, Sarah, after being breast-fed.... 

Bobby McGonigal Visits Diana Monaco

By Judy Kestner

Diana Monaco, middle daughter of the FFN founder V.P. Fieg, sent this message (lightly edited) about a visit from her first cousin Bobby McGonigal, youngest son of Emilie Fieg McGonigal, Philip's sister:

Just wanted you to know I had a nice visit from Bobby McGonigal yesterday. Bob's son Tyler lives with his wife about 20 minutes from me in Ft. Montgomery, NY.  Bob is dog-sitting for them while they take a vacation in San Diego, California.

He took the train from Rochester, NY to Croton-on-Hudson NY and was in awe of the sea of cars in the station’s parking lot.

Bob brought some pictures of his family -- wife Mary and sons Kyle & Tyler -- along with some Fieg & McGonigal photos that he had inherited from his mother. I showed him the photos that Steven Fieg had emailed me months ago and, when he saw the picture of his mother, Emilie, at the Fieg picnic he noted that her outfit was green. He said all her clothes were green and she didn’t wear any other color. Do you suppose it was because of her vibrant red hair?


Bob is retired from Eastman Kodak and spends his time hunting and fishing. Mary just got a job in the SUNY Brockport library where they did a background check on her and came up with Uncle Jim, or as they called him, J.J., McGonigal. Uncle Jim had been the head of all maintenance for SUNY Oneonta back when the McGonigals lived in Milford Center, NY., so they said she seemed to be very well connected.


Bill (Doyle) came home while Bob was here and they talked about Rochester, NY where Bill grew up, identifying places they both recognized. Bill spent much of his childhood with the LaVigne family in a cobblestone house on Ridge Road in Spencerport, NY, just outside of Rochester. The LaVignes had 10 children so I guess it was one of those, ‘What’s one more?’ kind of attitudes that Grandpa & Grandma had with Bob Wood in Oneonta at 10 North Sixth Street. The difference was that in Bill’s story, his father died and his mother had a hard time dealing with things whereas Bob Wood’s parents had divorced and Bob was living with his aunt. Bob McGonigal said he passed by that cobblestone house every day on his way to work from Kendall, NY to Eastman Kodak.


Bob was upset that there were no Wegman’s supermarkets in the Croton area but was amazed that we still have an A&P.

Here is a photo of Bobby in his younger days...

Can You Feature That? Word Paintings from the Week of Feb. 2, 2011

By Greg Fieg and Judy Kestner

Air Force Col. Edward L. Fieg sleeping in a tent at Camp Bullis, Texas, while waiting for snow as temperatures plunge to 15 degrees.... Ed and Greg Fieg enjoying fresh oysters on a half shell with horseradish and cocktail sauce in San Antonio.... Ed Williams digging out in Chicago, and digging out and digging out and digging out.... Janet McHenry readying to leave the Sierras for Berkeley to take daughter Bethany to a George Strait concert in Fresno.... Pete Holm bracing for 20 inches of snow in Buffalo, MO.... Doris Holm, 84, playing nine holes of golf in the Sacramento area's 60-degree weather while the rest of the nation is hammered by the third worst blizzard in 100 years.... Unusual Allen's Hummingbird banded in Judy Kestner's front yard.... John Roman now working at home after finding a new job.... Steven Fieg awaiting receipt of DVDs of Fieg family home movies.... Marsha Adams receiving a heretofore unknown childhood photo of her mom, Maxine Whiteside....

Cindy Harris, Doug Fieg Featured on CNBC

By: Greg Fieg and Judy Kestner

Keying in on a government investment promotion, the international financial news network CNBC on Feb. 2 featured a television broadcast from the Alpacas at Windy Hill ranch at Somis, Calif., where owner Cindy Harris gave broadcasters a guided tour. 

The three-hour interview, pared down to two minutes for airing, was taped on Jan. 27.  The producer's tour of the farm held a surprise for all:  the birth of a male cria! 

Cindy, a former teacher and musician, runs the operation with her partner and husband, retired electrical engineer Doug Fieg, formerly of Ste. Genevieve, MO. 

In an e-mail, Doug said, "We finally made it [the live portion] after being delayed…not because of the 20 mile-an-hour winds that we had at the originally planned time, but because of the happenings in Egypt. The live portion was done today [Feb. 2] at about 1:50 PM local....  It looks like it turned out to be pretty good!" He included the following link to the story: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1777352649&play=1 (Check out Cindy's dimples!)

Cindy and Doug at Windy Hill

Cindy explained to TV reporter Jane Wells that she initially went into the alpaca business to find a tax deferment for acreage she was using as horse pasture. Now the business provides their prime source of income, as the ranch is home to about 400 alpacas, half belonging to Cindy and Doug and the rest to various ranchers and other investors.

Their 25-acre spread is an ideal setting for alpacas because of its largely level turf, lush green foliage, dry climate, plentiful, year 'round, warm Southern California sunshine and refreshing breezes coming off the nearby Pacific Ocean. It is the largest such operation in the Golden State.

The llama-like creatures are native to South America, and a single, young, mature male can be valued as high as $25,000. To maintain the integrity of the herd, only about one percent of males are acceptable as breeders, Doug said.

Cindy and Doug have become attached to some of their animals over the years, such as Torbio, their star import from Peru, who has sired some 200 offspring. Doug admires him for his productivity, yes, but there's something more.

"It's also affection," Doug explained. "He's just the nicest guy to handle. He's cool. I work with him every day. He's 20 years old, which is pretty old, like 100 years old in human years." 

(X-rated video at http://www.alpacalink.com/Torbiovideo.html.)

Torbio "Al" Paca

Windy Hill also has four herding dogs:  three Anatolian shepherds and a large half-Anatolian/half-Great Pyrenees, a sizable and especially effective defender when muscle is required to fend off predators such as coyotes. The dogs are bred to be protective of the herd, but are friendly to the humans.

As pointed out by the CNBC report, the government wants to promote development of alpaca wool for domestic and export use, and thus allows investors to deduct their entire investment. Investors can participate at Windy Hill with as little as 20 percent down, with competitive terms.

Cindy and Doug, doing their part to reduce the nation's trade imbalance, provide stock, veterinary consultation, sales promotion and breeding and boarding services for ranchers throughout the country, in addition to other investors. (Animals rejected as breeders occasionally be can be purchased inexpensively, or can be had for free as novelty pets and automated, environmentally friendly lawn mowers!)

More than 15 ranchers currently have stock at Windy Hill, according to a recent count, where introductory seminars and workshops conducted with participation by Windy Hill's live-in veterinarian are also offered. The classes are offered for both novices and journeymen.  The whole story is laid out on their website:  http://www.alpacalink.com/mainpage.html. 

Judy Spots Truly Rare Birds in Subtropical Texas

By Greg Fieg

The year 2010 marked a milestone for Judy Kestner, your intrepid editor, as she spotted two highly unusual birds to add to her birder's life list:  the Northern Wheatear and the Amazon Kingfisher.

Both were spotted within a two-hour drive of her home in Corpus Christi, Texas, which is situated in a lush, subtropical Gulf Coast savannah where hundreds of bird species spend the winter, from the huge, endangered Whooping Crane to tiny, flitting hummingbirds, which though rare in the coldest months do over-winter often. It's sort of an ornithological heaven.

Judy has counted 387 species since she began logging them about 10 years ago, but rarely has had an experience like 2010, when she spotted the wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) thousands of miles out of its habitat and migratory path. Normally the bird, a type of thrush, can be found on the fringes of the Arctic Circle in Greenland and Alaska during its summer breeding season and at the edges of the Sahara Desert in West Africa in winter when its nesting territory is uninhabitably icebound, with temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero Fahrenheit and sometimes colder. Among birds of the world, its seasonal flight paths are some of the longest, traversing desert, ocean tundra and ice.

"They think maybe it got blown off course during migration," Judy said, noting that the gray and white insect eater, named because of a wheat-colored ear patch, was located on an Amish farm outside Beeville, TX where bugs are plentiful because insecticides are not used. Birders from all over the United States flocked to the Borntrager farm to ogle the bird and purchase delectable homemade pecan and peanut brittle. Coincidentally, another (or the same???) wheatear had been spotted on an Amish farm in Ohio earlier that year.

The Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona), spotted along Zacate Creek in the Rio Grande community of Laredo on the Mexican border, was nearly 1,000 miles north of its usual territory which stretches from the southern extreme of Mexico south as far as the hot and semi-arid Gran Chaco region of northern Argentina.

The Amazon Kingfisher is a shimmering emerald green with white belly and collar and looks much like its South Texas cousin, the Green Kingfisher, but is some three times larger, measuring more than 12 inches long from the tip of its bill to its tail.

Both rare birds were American Birding Association regional sighting records:  the second wheatear record in Texas and the first for the kingfisher in continental North America.

Judy has been fascinated by birds most of her cognitive life, following the lead of her mother, Jean Davie Fieg, who recorded that one of Judy's first words at age 14 months was "robin" (pronounced "ah-boon") .

Judy is a member of the Texas Ornithological Society, recording secretary for the Audubon Outdoor Club of Corpus Christi and a founding member of the Monte Mucho Audubon Club of Laredo. Occasionally she leads field trips for both clubs and was a field trip leader for the TOS at their annual spring meeting in Rockport, TX in 2010.

Judy also participates in two to three annual Christmas Bird Counts near her home, counting as many live birds (seen or heard) in one day as she can identify. The National Audubon Society established CBCs early in the twentieth century in the early days of conservation in response to a tradition called the Christmas "Side Hunt" when hunters sought to shoot as many birds as possible.