In 1992, I found myself at an exotic animal auction in Leon, Iowa. I bought a goat and named him Leon. Since I was living in an apartment at the time, I kept him at a friend’s family’s farm. (Hang on; there is a point to this) That summer I spent quite a bit of time at the farm taking the goat rollerblading, working on the barn, and putting up fences. While there I met my friend’s brother, Dale Schlosser, and four years later we got married. Now, how’s that for a “How did you meet story”!

In 1993, I changed jobs and went to a small contract analytical lab, Innovatech Labs. I’ve been there going on 11 years now. I’m currently part owner in the lab and have the title of VP/Lab Manager. Which in a company as small as ours, means I do everything from marketing and sales, to supervising the staff, to some analyses and whatever else needs to be done.

In 1995, Dale and I bought an old farm house on 10 acres in Minnetrista (far west suburbs of the Twin Cities). We spent the next six years working on the place and filling the barn with animals!! We also found time for snowmobiling, camping and traveling. We were just at the point of thinking our only babies would be of the 4 legged variety, when we were blessed with our daughter, Mikayla, in October 2001. And life as we knew it changed forever!

Mikayla, or Mac as we call her, is a very busy 2 _ year old and keeps us on our toes. We joke that she started talking at 9 months old and hasn’t stopped since!! She enjoys helping me in my gardens, especially picking berries and flowers – whether I want them picked or not, and playing with all our animals. We currently have 3 sheep, 2 angora goats, 1 potbellied pig, 2 dogs (a border collie and a _ Lab & _ Weiner Dog mix- our little freak of nature), 1 chinchilla, 1 house cat and way too many barn cats. Our latest addition was 3 baby ducks this Easter. Mac named them “Peep-Peep”, “Quack-Quack” & “Cock-a-Doo”; funny now, but when I’m walking through the marsh calling for them later this summer, the neighbors will probably have me committed!

My parents left the area in 1995 and I haven’t been back since, so I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone and getting back to the area. We are planning on attending the Friday & Saturday night events and hopefully the picnic on Sat. afternoon. See you then!

Jennifer Mathias (kept my maiden name)
7950 County Road #26
Minnetrista, MN 55359
Phone: (952) 495-9020
e-mail: jendales@frontiernet.net

(Mattfeld) Kading, Rhonda
Some of you may not remember me because the last two years of high school I attended Berean Baptist Christian School in Detroit Lakes. After graduating, I attended Northwestern College in Roseville, Mn for Music Education. I married Rick Kading in 1987. He works at Lund Boats in New York Mills. We have two daughters; Renita, who is a freshman at PHS and Roxanna (Roxy) who is in Kindergarten at HOTL. During the last 17 years we have moved 15 times. Usually within the local area. We would fix up houses and resell them. I have worked at various jobs due to business closures or positions being eliminated. My favorite position was as a travel agent. I still enjoy doing that for family/friends. One of my highlights in the last twenty years was being on Wheel of Fortune and winning $55,000. (It would have been more enjoyable if I wouldn't have had to pay back 1/2 to Uncle Sam for taxes.) We also did Missionary work in Texas/Mexico for 9 months. It was very rewarding working with the Mexican children. We helped build an orphanage. However, that winter was the first winter they had snow there! We really missed the lakes though. We have lived near Vergas on Long Lake for the past 6 years. It's the longest we've lived in the same place! Guess what? We're thinking about selling again. We didn't think we'd ever say that again.   A year ago in June I was close to death. I had pneumonia, fluid on my lungs, dehydrated to 98 lbs. and had diabetic ketoacidosis (which is like poisoning your whole body.) I still have no memory of two days of my week-long hospital stay. I am now on an insulin pump and gradually getting better. I'm suppose to keep my stress level down. Anybody have any ideas??  I recently became a stay at home mom (a little sooner than expected) but I now enjoy being a Substitute Paraprofessional at the Elementary School and also do any Volunteer work in the library and classrooms. WOW! has school changed since we were there. My kindergartner can read, tell time and count money. No nap time either! They learn at such a faster pace now. I don't think I would want to start over. Anyway, I see several of you that are still in the Perham area. I may not make it to the Sat eve dinner but plan to go to the noon picnic so hope to see you then. Bye for now, God Bless You All!