Final Project due (Newsletter)

THE RANASONIAN
The Ranahan Newsletter
News Index
THE RANASONIAN
Top Stories..................... 1
Jared................................ 2
Joe................................... 3
Melissa............................ 3
House...........................4,5
Gideon............................6
Henry...............................7
Lauralei............................7
Nancy...............................7
Ranahan
6 Court End Avenue
Middleborough, MA
02346
Winter 2005/2006
A Newsletter?
by Melissa Ranahan
Before you ask... No,
this newsletter will not be
a continuing effort. This
newsletter is the product
of a class project in Adobe
InDesign that will only be
reproduced this one time.
Chances for any subsequent
newsletters are slim so enjoy
this while you can.
Jared is A-OK
by Melissa Ranahan
School began somewhat
rocky this year. Jared was
nervous about being a fifth
grader, his last year in elementary school.
Nerves soon gave way to
excitement as Jared realized
that everything he was learning
this year is fun and interesting.
He states his favorite
subjects are Science
and Math.
The Ranahan Newsletter
With Art being his
The 1st and Only Edition
most feared subject
in 4th grade, Jared no
Editor: Melissa Ranahan
longer dreads it but
Creative Director: Jared Ranahan
instead, actually looks
Proof Reader: Joseph Ranahan
forward to painting and
Contributing Writers: Gideon,
drawing.
Henry, Lauralei and Nancy Reagan.
Spelling has always been a
favorite topic and he continues
to get A’s on all his spelling
tests. A’s also seem to be a
favorite grade in Math, Science
and Social Studies.
As for future grades, Jared
feels that A’s are the way to go.
2
Jared Emory
Two Cats and a Fish
Ten Years
A Boy and His Dog
Lovely Lauralei
2005 marked Jared’s
descent into the end of his
first decade. As a 10 year old,
Jared is mature and likeable.
Jared enjoys reading, piano,
saxaphone, tennis, soccer,
swimming, museums,
Pokemon and Neopets.
When Jared grows up he’d
like to be a wildlife biologist
and live in Thailand.
Currently Jared resides
in Middleborough,
Massachusetts and has been
dating his girlfriend, Brandy,
for two years.
In their
neighborhood
they are known
as Ying and
Yang, the
siamese twins,
but these
siamese twin’s
real names
are Jared and
Gideon. A boy
with a love for
his dog so great that they are inseparable.
The immense and overflowing devotion each have for each
other is immeasurable by normal standards. When one eats,
the other eats. When one cries, the other cries. When one
rolls around in horse manuer, the other rolls right along side.
Jared and
Gideon are
truely the
symbol of how
a boy and his
dog should be.
Because of her
independent and selfish
nature, most would not call
Lauralei ‘lovely’ but since
this is a nice newsletter,
we will let her think she is
lovely.
Lauralei turned 2 last
September but is very
mature for her age. She
enjoys ignoring everyone,
chasing the neighborhood
dogs out of our yard and
eating squirrels.
Lauralei tends to like the
outdoors much more now
that there is a dog in the
house. But every day that
by Joe Ranahan
Above: Jared and friends at the
Harvard Museum of Natural
History, May 2005
7
by Gideon Ranahan
by Melissa Ranahan
[This story has
been grossly
exaggerated.]
“The problem with letting
your mother cut your hair is
that you never know what it
will come out looking like.”
Jared
goes by she seems to tolerate
the dog more and more.
Perhaps some day they will
become best friends.
Until then, Lauralei finds
solace under the Japanese
Maple tree.
Henry Has Fleas
by Jared Ranahan
Henry is two months older
than Lauralei and is the
exact opposite in personality.
Henry is outgoing,
personable, and loves a good
scratch on the belly.
Henry doesn’t mind the
dog and will even hang out
with him every so often.
In his spare
time, Henry “Sometimes
likes to eat squirrels, birds,
mice and if he could, deer
and mooses.
Oh, and contrary to the
I even like the dog”
title, Henry doesn’t have
fleas. Maybe chickens or
wildabeasts, but definitely
not fleas.
Above: Lauralei, November 2005
Republican Fish
by Jared Ranahan
The most recent member
of the family is Nancy
Reagan Ranahan, a beautiful
blue beta fish.
Nancy is an avid reader
who enjoys longs swims
while Henry and Lauralei
watch her longingly.
Nancy enjoys fresh, clean
water almost daily but that
isn’t always the case. In
recent days she has taken
to throwing tantrums and
threatening to run away with
her beluga whale boyfriend
if her water isn’t changed
soon.
When Nancy grows up
she’d like to be president of
the United States.
6
A Crazy Dog
Cat Fancy
by Nancy Reagan R.
Most would expect a
masculine, sport-loving
dog to like race cars and
wrestling but not Gideon.
He likes cats, especially
Henry. He likes everything
about Henry too.
Gideon likes Henry’s smile,
the way Henry eats his dog
food when he’s not looking
and most of all, he likes to
put Henry’s entire head in
his mouth.
The Parents
The Outdoorsie Type
by Jared Ranahan
Gideon is an outdoor-loving dog. He enjoys
beaches, lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, oceans,
pools, puddles, tubs and toilets.
Gideon owns his own kiddy-pool and keeps it out in
the backyard on hot summer days. When possible, he
spends his weekends on the beach or hiking near lakes and
streams. Gideon has even tried canoeing and loved it.
Gideon has met many
friends while out at the
beach and hiking but his best
friend remains to be Petey.
Petey is an extremely large
rotweiller/bull mastiff mix.
They spend time together
whenever possible so its a
Gideon canoeing, 2005
good thing that Petey lives
nearby.
When not playing with
Petey, Gideon enjoys
spending time with his young
yellow lab cousin, Jacki. Jacki
is pretty crazy but Gideon is
very patient and tolerant with
Gideon at Plymouth Beach, 2005
her.
The Future
by Lauralei Ranahan
Gideon is looking forward
to the future. He is currently
studying chickens so that he
will someday be able to fulfill
his dream of laying eggs,
preferrably brown eggs since
brown eggs are local eggs and
local eggs are fresh.
3
Snowblower Extaordinaire
by Melissa Ranahan
Last winter Joe gave birth to his second son, Husqvarna
Snowblower. They spent day after long, cold winter day
bonding outside. Joe’s nurturing nature was apparent to all
the neighbors that luckily witnessed this blessed event in
their own driveways. Joe would spend countless hours with
Husqvarna while his wife and son were left to make hot
chocolate and sew beautiful hand-made sweaters to keep
Husqvarna warm while outside.
Joe on boston.com, January 2005
After Hours
The Graduate
When not
working full-tine
as a Software
Development
Analyst, Melissa
still spends her
free time painting,
drawing and
creating computerbased art, web sites
and volunteering.
Her lastest commissioned
projects include a pastel
portrait, a tattoo and
miscellaneous logos and web
sites.
Continuing on since last year,
Melissa organizes numerous
gallery events and art shows at
work. She teaches after school
web design classes to fifth
graders. Melissa also continues
to take classes at Northeastern
University toward a masters
degree.
Joe graduated from
Northeastern University
in May with a degree in
Computer Engineering.
He continues to work at
Northeastern full-time but
now as the Assistant Utilities
Manager.
by Lauralei Ranahan
by Henry Ranahan
Family Affair
by Jared Ranahan
Pastel Portrait, 2005
In February 2005 Melissa
was the matron-of-honor
for Christina Maria Felicity
Galego’s wedding aboard the
Odyssey at Rowes Wharf in
Boston Harbor.
4
House in Progress...
5
Ongoing Process
Staying in the Loop
Haunted House
The nice thing about buying
and old house is that it has
a lot of character. The down
side is all the work that needs
to be done.
The stone wall in front of
the house is still in progress
with an estimated completion
date (of the front and side) of
Spring 2006.
Also ongoing is repointing
the bricks in the foundation
of the house. That is about
halfway complete but can’t be
finished now until after the
winter.
Making new storm windows
is still in progress and doesn’t
look like they’ll be completed
in time for snow but we’ll
hope for next season.
Inside projects are about to
resume now that the weather
is getting cold.
Joe’s list of inside projects
include things like the water
heater, insulation and pipes.
Melissa’s list of inside
projects include building
built-in shelves in the formal
living room, selecting new
wallpaper for the living
room and parlor, antique
shopping and finding the
perfect paining for above the
fireplace.
Do you find it hard to keep up with all the work going on in the house? Do you want to let us know when we are about to choose
the wrong wall paper for one of the rooms? Well, you can.... just keep checking back to the house web site to see everything that’s going on in each of
While living in a house that’s
over 100 years old is scary
enough, what about living in
one that is also haunted.
The house often has doors
and windows that creak
open and shut when no one
is near them. Personal items
are moved from one place to
another when no one is home.
There is also the night that
the ‘vision’ appeared. A scary,
ghostly vision.
No one to this day knows
who or what it was but it
comes around every 3rd
Thursday of the month faintly
moaning the same thing
over and over again in the
middle of the night.... “I want
cheese doodles, I want cheese
doodles”.
Since
then we’ve
left cheese
doodles on
the fireplace
mantle
for it. The
moaning
has ceased,
but in the
crumbs left
behind the word “Lederhosen”
is spelled out with perfectly
executed enmanship.
We can only wait and see what
happens next.
by Gideon Ranahan
by Melissa Ranahan
the rooms. A link to all the most recent work is on the main page.
by Henry Ranahan
www.blindllamadesigns.com/house