Done!

2/25/06 10:40 am.
21º F., Sunshine, WNW wind 17 mph.
Done!
Good morning,

For some reason I haven’t felt much in the writing mood for the past several days. No particular reason, just not in a writing mood! Seems strange to me, the one who is constantly writing it seems. Oh well. So it goes.

Yesterday was something of a highlight, in that the van finally was parked in it’s normal spot after the snow fall. She came to a stop at about 2:30 pm. The "Armstrong Aerobic Environmentally Friendly Snow Mover" did it’s job very well, albeit it slowly. After a week of lifting and throwing, it will be good to get back to pulling on a drawknife again, interposed with the chopping action of an axe. I moved a lot of snow for sure. The last of it had settled considerably, so the shovelfuls were heavier than at the start. I still have a scoop shovel out by the end of the drive - just incase I need it with a following snow blocking the entrance from the road. I really did enjoy my time doing the shoveling. It was a beautiful world, even though cold at time and rather windy too. The woods blocked some of the wind and I really had a chance to see the details of the world around me. Too bad everyone doesn’t have that experience. It does the soul well.

On one walk to the van this last week. I noticed a snow angel in the driveway were I had not yet removed the snow. It was made by a partridge landing, then walking into the woods looking for something to eat I suspect. It had braced it’s landing with it’s wings, leaving the impression of them on the snow. In another place there were some tiny tracks across the snow, disappearing into a hole in the snow about the size of my thumb. The tracks started again about 3 feet away, coming out of another hole and continuing on for another short distance before disappearing down another hole, coming up again some further into the woods. It would be interesting to see the critters actually making the tracks and landing, but enjoyed their presence by "remote control."

Sunday, another man a little older than I, and I served communion. Like typical men, we forgot completely about cleaning up afterwards! Both of us just walked out of the service and church (after having some goodies with our coffee). Never gave it a thought. Someone had brought the serving pieces to the kitchen and they were still there when we came for Bible study. After the study, I washed them up and put them away - finally! Both Ed and I had wives along - they never mentioned it either. That is a surprise!

Bible study is winding down for this workbook. I think we should finish it next Tuesday and be ready to go for breakfast the following week. It also means that I have to get busy and finish the next unit. It is about half finished, so it is not as big of a deal to finish. The hard part is gathering the research and getting it into some sense of order. This should be the last workbook on our 2 year journey on prayer.

Last night was the Green Bay Conference’s Assembly, of which Grace is a member. Besides a good meal, complete with a glass of wine, there were several business matters to accomplish. One was the passing of a new Conference constitution. That was passed with a couple of alterations. One, most important to me, is the addition of the office of President. At present the head officer is the Dean, which is an ordained position. There was no administrative position for laity to fill. The Secretary/Treasurer can be either lay or ordained, but it has never has been a lay person in the office. It is interesting that when the nomination papers came to our church, they had spaces to identify wither lay or clergy. One of the offices up for nomination was that of Dean. I asked Howard if it had to be a clergy member or if a lay could apply, as the choice was on the papers. He didn’t know, but would check. The present Dean, Darrell, and Howard are good friends, so I think my question may have set the new office in motion. Darrell brought the idea to the floor last night and it was included into the new Constitution. Starting next year, the office of President will also be on the ballot. Other offices were also nominated last night also. The National Church’s Assemble is coming up next year so there also were nominations for a Clergy, male lay, female lay, and alternate voting delegate nomination. I was elected as the male laity delegate, so if things are carried through, I will be going to Navy Pier in Chicago next August and maybe even see me on TV or the website.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Heat wave on the way!

2/19/06 6:56 am.
-2º F, Clear, WNW wind 3 mph.

Good morning,

Much warmer this morning than yesterday. The wind chills are also way down. The sun is about to come out and it looks to be a nice day today. The weatherman is talking of the temperature to get up to 20º F! Will believe it when I see it. Actually I hope it doesn’t get that warm until I have the snow shoveled.

I did get the van on the road about 2:30 pm. yesterday afternoon. After breaking through the snow the snowplow piled up, I started the van and let it run for a while (a long while) before moving it. The temperature was a warm -2º F at the time. Don’t like to move cold machinery in that cool of weather. While the van was warming, I removed the snow drift behind it. The van started with some difficulty, expect I would be grumpy waking up in similar conditions. The tires finally felt like they were round again about half way to town. I picked up the mail and some gasoline, taking a long time to let everything on the van warm up and the battery recharge again.

When I walked into the station to pay the bill, the shop smelled a lot like ether. Remember that smell well at this time of year. Lots of cars apparently were towed in, thawed out, and squirted with ether to get them to start. Brought back a lot of memories of times past. Sometimes I wondered if cars weren’t designed to run on ether rather than gasoline when the temperature dropped below zero. Times and technology has changed that considerably over the years. Thank goodness. No more, or at least less, shivering in a snowbank trying to get a balky engine to come to life, only to find I needed to hook it to the wrecker and pull it in anyway.

Today we are off to church for the late service. Probably will stop at a restaurant for lunch, before heading home and finding the snow shovel again. There is a long part of the driveway yet to shovel. I left the van parked at the road, rather than the 50-60 feet further in that I have shoveled. There are two dead trees next to the driveway, and I decided that I didn’t want the van wrinkled if the wind decided to know them down. They will drop later when I beat on them with a sharp instrument.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Cold, clear, crisp

2/18/06 6:23 am.
-17º F, Clear, NW wind 9 mph,, Gusting 27 mph., -39º F wind chill.

Good morning,

Yup! Winter is here for sure - at least for the moment. It is definitely clear, cold, and crisp outside. Warm in here though. About midway through the afternoon yesterday, I finally realized how beautiful and enjoyable the day was outside. The air was so clean and clear, the sun shining, and yes, the wind was really blowing. It felt so good to be out. I really felt alive - in my element, as it were.

The wind was doing some wonderful things with the snow. Our part-time neighbors yard is pretty free of trees. The snow cover looks much like a desert of white - until you look closely. There are small drifts across the surface that look like waves on the lake, frozen in time. They are very small, only and eight to a quarter of in inch high, extending in rows, for maybe two to twenty feet long. Almost like a family of drifts in one spot, with other families spread out over the entire "desert" of the yard. They are formed by the wind actually breaking off parts of other snowflakes and blowing them about. If your really look closely, you can see the small particles being driven by the wind along the surface of the snow, rising off of each drift and spinning in the turbulence of air on the downwind side. Some fall and build the drift higher while others continue on, dropping who knows where. It is a sparkling, wonderful, white world, just waiting to be discovered and observed! I love it.

There are also big snowdrifts everywhere. Like the one a couple of feet high behind the van, or the straight narrow kind flowing from either side of a tree or branch. The snow that has remained on pine branches, their weight bending them down to the ground, almost to appear as they are praying. There are few critter tracks about. Only a couple from a deer, and some human tracks - mine.

The shoveling went a lot better than I thought it would. The heaviest snow is near the house where the wind dumped the most of it on the downwind side. Some of the snow on the last have of the drive is only 5-6" deep, not enough to stop the van. I will probably only shovel out the deepest and run through the rest. At present I have a path to the van. Today it will be my focus to clean out the opening to the road and get the van out and about. I am helping to serve communion and Margriet is a greater at church tomorrow for the second service, so we need to get out for that at least.

About mid afternoon yesterday the temperature really started to nose-dive. By the time I finished shoveling for the day, about 6:00 pm., the temperature had fallen to -3º F from a high of about 12 º F at noon. You could almost watch the mercury move down in the thermometer about sundown. We left the heat on at a bit higher than normal setting overnight, to keep the underside of the house a little warmer. We also let the water in the kitchen sink, last on the line, run just to hopefully keep the pipes from freezing. They didn’t thankfully.

Jack Frost has also been working on the windows, but not as he used to when I was a kid. The modern windows are too well constructed not allowing as much warm are through them. Kind of miss the patterns on the windows in a way, but also glad they are not as prevalent as they were. I like the less heat-loss.

Margriet made bread in the afternoon yesterday. Instead of her usual two loaves, she made one into cinnamon rolls. It smelled so good when I came in between shoveling stints. As soon as they were out of the oven and cool enough, I had to have a sample. Well OK - really two. It has been a long time since she made them, so they tasted especially good. They also became our supper instead of the meatloaf originally on the menu. Wonderful. Had to have a sample as a warm up to get ready for breakfast too!

A suburb of Green Bay, DePere, cancelled their "Polar Plunge" today. Apparently it is too cold for the folks to jump into the Fox River! Maybe they should change the name of it since they only do it in less than polar conditions. I see the Chicago (I think) police department has a deal for some of their officers to jump into Lake Michigan once an hour. Both events are to raise money for various charities. The idea is good, but the execution is ....... not for me.

Time to find a shovel and get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Nice day

12:03 pm
11º F, Bright sun, W wind 12 mph., Gusting to 33 mph., -4º F wind chill.

Good noon,

It is a beautiful day out today - at least so far. The wind is something of a problem, but is from the west now rather than the northerly quarter. Much easier to shovel the snow. It is coming right down the driveway. The snow is piling up to the side of the driveway rather than blowing back in my face again. That is not nice. The snow is not light, but no where near "heart-attack" snow by any means. This is the biggest snow fall since the first year we were here - now it is official, 13.1" of snow in 24 hours.

I did finally get out my cold weather jacket to wear. Also the long-johns, but not the red ones. Someplace I have left my insulated "work" gloves and am using the pair I try to keep somewhat clean. Have been using them for peeling poles too. Sure hope I find the work gloves before this pair get tore up. I also have misplaced my Sunday-go-to--meetin’ gloves I wear while driving. You’d think I am old enough to keep track of my clothes by now!

I have a path shoveled out to the outhouse and down the driveway to the cross drain I put in last year. I will continue to head for the road, but also some of the smaller paths I use to get to the woodpile and to the trash place. If I don’t after a few days and the snow starts to settle (maybe even melt), the foot prints I make become the high spots and are very slippery. Only want to make snow-angles when I want too, not by slipping. Hope to have enough shoveled so we can get out tomorrow for church. A snow plow went through about an hour ago.

Green Bay has a boat show starting today. I expect yesterday was set-up day for the exhibitors. That must have been fun! Hope the arena has a good drain system for melting snow! Wonder how many folks will go to it this year, or how many exhibitors will not be there. I had given half a thought to going this year. I went several years ago, but not since. Everything is so high priced now and the good old, small, fishing boats are non-existent now. Not too many wooden boats anymore either. I will have to look and see when the wooden boat show is at the Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay. That is impressive, but will have to wait until summer.

The house smells good! The aroma of starter causing some dough to rise. Expect to smell good bread baking too - soon. Might not go back to shoveling - instead testing the flavor of the latest product!

Time to get a-going.


Chris <><

The morning after

2/17/06 6:53 am.
8º F, Coldly clear , NW wind 6 mph.

Good morning,

A blizzard it was, now the cold. Officially we have 13.1" of snow and I believe it. While the wind has died down some at the moment, it is expected to come up again for all day and into tomorrow. The weatherman is talking of -30º F wind chill for tonight and tomorrow! Sounds like northern Wisconsin I left 35+ years ago! I went out and shoveled off the ramp late yesterday afternoon. I thought there was about 8" of snow there at the time, but as I put the shovel to it - there was more like 10" and still snowing. I have not been out this morning yet, but it looks like there is another 3-4" of new snow on the deck. Suspect I will do little outside today other than shovel snow. There have not been any plows by yet today, so will not be going anywhere soon.

All of the schools in this area are closed and all of the cities have declared snow emergencies until noon or later with no parking on any street. The schools further inland and south are starting a couple hours late at present. The interstate system is still in bad shape and the police officials are telling everyone to stay off of them for now. There are something like 150 vehicles abandoned along I-43 from Manitowoc north. There also are huge numbers of accidents reported on the highways except in Kewaunee and Door counties with only three accidents each.

The chicken soup Margriet started the day before yesterday, she turned into a Dutch style - with meatballs in it! Never had that before and it really is good. There is enough for a few days lunch left. It sure smelled good cooking all day yesterday. She also woke up the sourdough starter, so expect there will be bread baking today. It sure is tough enduring all the good smells that fill this house. It is also tough to have to eat all of the good stuff too.

I just brought up the webcam in Enschede ( http://www.enschede.nl/SPY/CamPage.htm ) which shows they are having rain and gray day. The folks are pretty warmly dressed too. By contrast, I also brought up the webcam from Washington Island ( http://www.wisferry.com/webcam.htm ) it showed bright sunshine and snow on the ground. There also doesn’t appear to be as much snow as here, but all of the webcams are showing exposed points on the island and the tip of Door county. Maybe we should put a webcam up here so you can see the snow fall and then melt. Sounds exciting.

Time to get the shovel a-going. Hope I can find one that fits my hands.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Snowy/blowy

2/16/06 1:12 pm.
22º F, Snowy/blowy, NNE wind 18 mph, Gusts 40 mph.

Good afternoon,

Shortly after noon, the National Weather Center issued a blizzard warning. It is the first for us since we moved here. At present we have over 6" of snow and the wind is a-howling. Suspect we will be getting at least another 4" or so before this is over. The officials have closed the interstate system and U.S. #41 (many drivers have abandoned their cars), along with the most of the bridges and over-passes. Everything is pretty much closed down. Most businesses and companies are also closed or closing. A real winter for sure. Guess the snow has been saving up for one big one.

Even with the wind, everything outside of the windows is beautiful. The temperature was warm enough when it started to snow, that the snow has stuck to most of the tree branches. At least on the south-western sides away from the direct blast of the wind. Bet all of the critters, big and small, are safely tucked away in their borrows or under a brush pile or big old pine/cedar tree somewhere. Suspect they may be there for a day or so. We probably will be too. Sure glad I parked the van at the end of the drive. Cupboards, freezer, and the LP tank is full - we can slow down more and enjoy.


Chris <><

Time to slow

2/16/06 7:55 am.
25º F, Snow, ENE wind 13 mph.

Good morning,

Winter has finally come. Yesterday was the proverbial calm before the storm. It actually was a nice day, but not a breathe of wind, seemingly, all day long. It was also absolutely silent, only an occasional vehicle going by on the road. Less than normal. I could even hear the wild turkeys off in the woods across the road. Cool! Today is a bit different. The wind is up and the snow is coming down. This storm was supposed to hit here yesterday afternoon sometime around 4:00 pm. It did start to snow until about 10:00 pm instead. The weatherman kept pushing it’s arrival and ending later all day long. At present they are predicting 6-10" of snow before midnight tonight. Originally they said it would end about noon today. We have about 3" on the ground now. I did park the van at the end of the driveway last night - just incase. Looks like that was a good move.

The temperature is supposed to drop all day and really get down starting tonight. They are talking of lows in the -10º F range for a couple of nights. Low highs too. The wind is going to be the real culprit. High winds for the next couple of days. Glad I got the trash burned yesterday. All of the schools are closed and some of the colleges too. Expect they also may be tomorrow too.

I did make a run to town yesterday afternoon to pick up the mail and some bacon (essentials of life? One of the food groups, right next to chocolate). While at the store, I also noticed pollock is on sale for 99¢/# in case lots, as it normally is during lent. I didn’t bring any home as the freezer is a bit full at the moment. We will get some for some good eating though.

I think we will stay close to home today. Margriet started a pot of chicken soup yesterday. Sounds like a good time to have the soup pot on and simmering. Hope to have the results of her efforts for lunch today and the next few days. Suppose I will need to suffer through all of the good aroma for most of the day first though. Then the results. Life is good!

I did manage to peel a few more poles yesterday. Since my wrists were giving me some problems the day before, I wore my wrist supports - for a while. The metal inserts in them, do not allow me to hold either the drawknife or ax well enough, so I lost a lot of control of the cuts I was making. Took them off after a short time. I didn’t finish the last pole I wanted to though. It is filled with "pin knots" about 1-2" apart. They really got to my hands. While I can cut them off with the drawknife, but it requires a sharp movement and a real jolt when it goes through the knot. Of course, you really cannot see them as the bark of the tree grows over and around them. Just when you think you know where one is, it turns out not to be there and the extra pull slides out of control. The reverse is also true when one is there any you don’t know it’s there. Lots of banging and jarring on the wrists and hands.

After one of the past little snowstorms we had recently, I noticed that the plows had not gone out, at least on the secondary roads. It was really very pretty, with the road also white. It reminded me of years gone by, especially when living in northern Wisconsin, when that was a fact of life. We didn’t have the equipment to remove all of the snow from the roads all of the time. It was a fact of life that most roads were snow covered and slippery. We drove accordingly and really enjoyed a slower pace of life and the beauty of our surroundings more. Snowstorms are not a bad thing, as long as folks live with them, rather than trying to fight them.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Sain

2/14/06 4:39 pm.
33º F, Sain, SW wind 9 mph.

Good morning + 4 hours and 39 minutes,

Hapity Valentine’s Day! ! ! ! Hope it is for you too. I bought a five pound box of chocolates for the gals at Bible study, but it disappeared before it got there. Just had to sample it a bit! Well .... if you believe that, I have a desert island in the middle of the Kewaunee swamp to sell you! As per usual for holidays and celebrations, it is a very quiet one for this Old Norwegian and his woman.

Just in from pealing a couple of poles (skinny long logs). I was chased in by some sain coming down. It was not serious, but didn’t want to get my tools wet. Or me! I used the drawknife rather than the ax I have been of late. It works much faster, but doesn’t take off the nubs from the cut off branches. Have to go back and do that. I am feeling a different set of muscles and joints than I have for some time. I think I will have to dig out my wrist braces again for awhile, until they get strengthened again. Anywho, a couple more peeled poles are in the pile.

We are expecting a pretty severe snowstorm to hit early in the morning hours of Thursday and continue all day until the following morning. Then the temperature is to drop to the lowest of the winter. The weatherman is talking of up to 10" of snow could fall before it is finished. The storm watches are already up. Suspect if it really looks like we will get that much snow, I will park at the end of the driveway. The official high yesterday, was the first time since December we have had a high below freezing! Normally it would be rare to have a day above freezing this time of year. It has been a strange winter so far. At present, we are on the southern side of a small storm and at the dividing line between snow and nothing falling from the sky. As a result, we are getting sain at the moment. Not at all comfortable outside.

Bible study was pretty good today. We had a good number of folks there too. One of the gals brought a cake which was excellent. I even had two pieces! We are really getting pretty deep into the study and a whole different way than just looking at the surface "words" and applying the statements to the real lives of the folks there. It is interesting to see the folks growing so much. After this study is over, I am not sure what direction we will go next. That decision is a ways off though, as I still have one more workbook to this study.

On our trip to Algoma after church on Sunday, we did find a bargain - kohlrabi. It seems like a strange time of year to have it on sale, but it was. We have not eaten it for years. I can smell supper being prepared. Kohlrabi and salmon loaf. Sounds pretty good to me. Guess it will be our celebration dinner for this day.

Time to get eating.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Pooped out!

2/13/06 6:37 am.
12º F, Cloudy, WSW wind 11 mph, -1º F Wind chill.

Good morning,

Another session of LSM is history. A pretty good weekend too. Both of us pretty well whipped though. I forgot to bring my medication with me and Margriet was not really feeling up to par, so we left a bit early Saturday afternoon, not staying for the last session. When I got out of the van here, it felt like every muscle in my body was on a hurt setting for some reason. Needless to say, both of us managed to work a nap into our busy schedule after getting home again.

On the way down, we stopped at Lorrie’s Café, as we normally do, for a bowl of soup. We left late for some reason, so it was well after lunch time when we arrived. The fish chowder was excellent! While at the school, I ate very little for some reason. We had beef stew for dinner on Friday evening, so I had a small portion of that, but little else, other than snitching, during the remainder of the time. Not too sure why. I normally don’t eat that much, but this time my feed was really off. We did bring some of the beef stew home, so that was lunch yesterday and will be for a day or so more.

One of the instructors, Roger who we fly in from Colorado, really had an interesting flight. He got to Chicago without too many problems, but the flight from there to Appleton was something different. The plane to take the folks north was there, but there was no crew! Finally they rounded up a crew, but the stewardess had no idea where Appleton was (good thing she wasn’t the pilot!). Then they found one of the landing lights was not operating, so had to go to the other side of Chicago to get one apparently and wait another hour for someone capable of installing it! His flight was 3 hours late! Roger was a bit grumpy and frustrated. To make matters worse, he had to cut his Saturday morning class short so he could make it to the airport to catch a flight back to Colorado!

Another of the instructors, Bruce, is in Florida on vacation. The gal who substituted for him has been a substitute before. For some reason, she has rubbed a couple of folks wrongly the last time. Not too sure what the problem is, but we are concerned about it. She is going to be the alternate for Bruce in the future as he is "slowing down" some and wants to be a bit free of the LSM demands. Bruce is too good to replace. We have been very fortunate in having some very good instructors for LSM right from the git-go.

The rest of the school went more or less without any real problems. We are getting things in order for the weekend at Bible Camp in April and for the Synod Assembly in June. This year at camp we also will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the starting of LSM, so are making a big deal of it, especially for the alumni. The Assembly also requires us to have a display as a recruitment and information tool. Lots of effort is being expended on recruiting new students. I think there is more effort talking about it, than actually doing something.

On the way to LSM we always stop a local Piggly Wiggly store to pick up the groceries for the school. This week was no different. When we checked out, we go a coupon for $2.00 off our next purchase. We had spied some country style ribs on sale for 99¢/# and intended to pick some up on the return trip home. We used the coupon on the purchase, so walked out of the store with some ribs that worked out to about 50¢/#! We have enough for 3-4 meals for an outlay of about $2.00! Not bad for a couple of old folks I think. We do like them and prepare them several different ways. Hmmmmmmmm. .... sounds like a good meal for tomorrow night.

It was very quiet in church yesterday when we got there. The Sunday School kids went over to the nursing home in Kewaunee to sing for the residents. It almost felt like waking into a tomb! We also were to have a baptism yesterday, but the folks for it didn’t snow up! Never had that happen to any church I have attended before. Howard said he has had it happen before, but not here. Sounds pretty goofy to me. Otherwise, everything ran long - both services and the Adult Forum.

The gas prices have been bouncing around a lot the past week. I went into town on Wednesday and one station had dropped the price 2¢/gallon. The next day the other stations had dropped their prices 10¢/gallon. When we returned Saturday, the price was up about 4¢/gallon. Guess we have to watch and try to fill up on the low point.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Interruption!

2/9/06 8:07 am.
13º F, Bright sun, W wind 7 mph.

Good morning,

Looks can be deceiving - including looking out of the windows this morning. The sun is very bright and the sky mostly clear, but it is cold. There is enough wind to feel the cold too. Actually the temperature is close to what it should be at this time of year. Originally the weatherman said we were to get snow this evening, now they are saying it will be tomorrow night instead. Actually I like that better since we are driving to LSM tomorrow. Would rather have it come after we get there. At present, the radar shows the snow in mid-Minnesota and west.

Tried to burn the trash yesterday, but since the wind was so strong, gave up on that idea in a hurry. With the wind from the easternly direction, more or less, it has kept us warmer than inland farther.


2/10/06 8:30 am.
24º F, Snowy, NW wind 3mph.

I didn’t get this finished or published yesterday. We decided to go to Green Bay to do our supply trip. Our rocking chair money coming in seems to have a life of it’s own, so the trip is happening at different times each time. We actually had a bunch to buy this time. It was nice to leave here some earlier than after the Bible study, as we could come home earlier too.

At the moment there is some light snow coming down and the fairyland has returned again outside. Beautiful. We are supposed to get snow until noon. Guess this dusting came unexpectedly, at least until last night when the weathermen started to predict it’s coming. Guess this is what they were predicting to start coming tonight. Now the report is saying there will be no snow tomorrow.

While I was looking for something on the web, I came across a website filled with pictures of the Netherlands, north of Amsterdam which was interesting, http://community.webshots.com/slideshow?ID=15253712&key=VPtTjvvKmAIt is a slide show of some very good photography. Enjoy. We did!

I have been beating on some poles (logs about 4-6" in diameter at the butt and about 15-20' long) to make a shelter over my work area over the peeling buck. I found that I need to pay some attention to my ax and sharpen it again. There was a lot of bouncing of the ax, instead of cutting action! Frustrating. It didn’t take me long to get sore wrists from trying to control the ax. I have been using it for limbing while felling trees for awhile. Guess I have been hitting something besides wood. Time to find my file and stone. Not only for the ax, but other cutting tools also.

We got a load of LP a couple of days ago. The driver who has been coming this year is different than last year’s driver. Guess the company doesn’t want to pay for anymore wrecker bills. This guy knows how to drive a truck, especially backwards. I expected him about a month ago, but suspect the warm weather has something to do with his schedule.

One bargain we did find was jeans for me at Fleet Farm. Only $9.00/pair! About half of what I normally pay for them. While Fleet Farm advertises itself as the "Man’s Mall," Margriet sure likes to go there. They do have better prices on some baking needs, like raisins and nuts, but she spends most of her looking in the clothing section, especially the little kids clothes. Of course I am shown things that .... would look cute in, or, wouldn’t ...... like this. Most of the time I have to agree. We often end up buying something for someone for some future celebration or other. Kind of fun.

We continue to be shocked at the high prices of groceries, and at the same time, are seeing a lot of mark-downs for other items. Seems the cost of food and fuel has impacted the rest of commerce in this country. Or at least our part of the country. I am still looking for the 19¢ hamburger! Think I might have to get a fishing license this year, putting some food on the table. Senior citizens only pay 35% of the normal cost. Since I am an old guy - I just might get back into fishing again.

While we were in the big city, I checked out the PEX plumbing supplies offered. I was surprised at the amount on the shelves and the variety. It does take some special tooling to use the product, but that is true of any plumbing system. Just I don’t have it at the moment. Probably will buy some things every once in awhile to spread the cost out over time. Probably will use up the PCV materials I have then get into the PEX system. We do have one hot and one cold waterline I worry about freezing and they will be at the top of my list to take care of.

Today we head west to LSM for the weekend. There are not too many left for this year anymore. Or for that matter for my being a part of the staff. This will end 10 years of continuous activity in LSM. There is only one other, other than our instigator Bruce, who can say the same. Maybe next year I actually will be able to take one of the alumni classes! I really have enjoyed the 10 year run and the time/effort spent. Glad to have had the opportunity. Will seem strange to have more free time again!

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

No snow - yet

2/8/06 11:04 am.
19º F, Cloudy, N wind 16 mph, wind chill 5º F.

Good morning,

We are supposed to have 1-3" of lake effect snow today, but so far the lake effect is in the lake. Radar shows a band of snow off shore a couple of miles to the center of the lake, but none here. Just looks like it could start to snow any second though. The wind has really driven the cold into everything to the core. The woods do protect us some, but it still drives through. The past few nights have been close to single digits for lows, so the ice fishermen should be happier. They, along with the snowmobilers have had a rough winter so far.

Bible study was very quiet and thoughtful yesterday. Not too sure why, but everyone was in a very serious mood. We did have good discussion and rather deep too. Even the gal who normally brings very negative attitudes was in a more calm attitude and not really negative. I had given everyone an assignment over the week to put into their own words a Bible passage. When it came time to find out what everyone had written, Margriet covered up her workbook and hung her head, while Howard who was sitting next to her, looked very sheepish. Neither one had completed the assignment! Howard leaned over to see what Margriet had written (kind of looking to see what he should have done) only to see she also had a blank paper. He broke out in laughter! Of those who were there last week, the two of them were the only ones who didn’t have it completed. Of course it was a time for teasing, but Howard got the brunt of it.

One of the gals had a birthday yesterday, so Howard bought a frozen Bavarian Cream type cake for us to celebrate the occasion. The only problem was that he forgot to take it out of the freezer early enough. The cake part was thawed, but the filling was still frozen. Of course I had to tease him while he was trying to cut it. Frozen like a brick. It was kind of like eating a popsicle with a cake casing. Taste fairly good though. One of the other gals brought a cranberry bread too. THAT was excellent.

Margriet has finally gotten caught up with the expense ledger. Whew! She says. Now she is taking each receipt and entering it almost as soon as it comes in the door. My fingerprints are still warm on it! I got more medications for the next month and thought the price was creeping up again. As long as Margriet was entering the receipt, she looked it up - it hasn’t! I just thought it had. Happy to see that.

The printer for this machine has started to give more problems. For what ever reason, about every inch down the page, it will not print. So .... every page has several white lines across it about 1/8" wide. Guess it is now causing enough problems that it is time to get a new printer. Not looking forward to that. I have been searching the web for new ones. Not real pleased with what I am finding. Most that the stores have use multi-color ink tanks rather than separate for each color. Our present one has separate tanks, so I don’t have to throw b of the tanks away when they still have ink in them. The printers with separate tanks are not in the stores and/or rather expensive. Not too sure what I will do yet, but probably have to do something soon.

Margriet has started to take a new study group at church. It is for women, so when I took her there on Monday night, I got a lot of teasing about not being allowed there. Gee .... all I wanted to know was what time to pick her up again. The study is about "girly things" - - something about princesses or some such. Didn’t think I was a princess, so left and came back later to pick her up.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Bright, Breezy, Brisk, Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

2/6/06 8:35 am.
15º F, Sunny, NW wind 10 mph, -1º F wind chill.

Good morning,

Not a good start to the day. I just have gotten on the web for the first time today, after spending a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong. I still have no idea, but it appears to be working at the moment. Maybe it was because I slept too long again this morning. At least I have gone through all of the repair and virus scans on this machine and probably blessed it in a derogatory way! All of the scans told me everything was working correctly, but it still would not work. Then after the umteenth try - it worked! Maybe I had my tongue in the wrong cheek.

It is a beautiful, clear, sunny day this morning - but cooler. Actually closer to normal for this time of year. It is supposed to be colder for the next day or so at night and reasonably warm, mid 20's, during the day light hours. The wind seems to be the culprit at the moment. It is really driving the cold through everything. The countryside is really pretty, but the wind has moved most of the snow from the fields into the brush and woods.

After church yesterday, we made our normal trip into Algoma to check out the new sales at the grocery store. Leaving, I asked Margriet where she wanted to eat lunch. Her answer, "I don’t know." So I headed west on highway 54. After about 5 or 6 miles, she finally asked where we were going. My answer, "I don’t know. That’s where you wanted to eat, right?" She didn’t think that was as funny as I did. Anywho, we had seen a spot on TV for an arts/crafts (Arti-Gra) show in Green Bay the night before and I thought is would be a good idea to see it. She thought that was a good idea then. We stopped in Luxemburg for lunch at the restaurant we normally do when in that area. Ended up having breakfast instead. Eggs, toast, and side pork for me while Margriet had some local made sausage links. Very good and reasonable. It is one of the few places that serve side pork, so I always order it if it is on the menu. They also had metwrust on the menu and was surprised Margriet didn’t order it. Next time.

The wind was really howling on our way there, causing the snow to blow across the highway. Several spots were covered with blown snow and rather slippery. Haven’t had that kind of driving much this year. We actually had very little problems with the drive. Some folks on the west side of the city on the main north/south highway, #41, really did have problems, causing several accidents. Once in the city, there were no problems, thanx to all of the buildings blocking the wind. I am sure the folks who stayed in the city could not believe the blowing snow in the rural areas.

For once the parking at the show was free and the tickets were only $3.00 each. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the arena, looking at all of the craftsman and artist’s work. The show had a wide variety of skills and talents on display. All were very high quality too. Craftsman came from Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, upper Michigan, and of course from Wisconsin. Those from mid-Illinois and northern Michigan-Minnesota had some serious driving to get there. They must make money at it.

There were a lot of painters of one kind or another. Also several wood workers and, my favorite, junk art. In another life I used to "create" some things similar to them, but not with the complexity or originality as those displayed. I used mostly leftover snowmobile and small engine parts, one uses a lot of household appliance parts with his. Also very detailed. Kind of fun to look at.

The other main interest for us was the woodcarvers. I think most were done with power tools instead of real carving. There was one display, from a Norwegian organization, actually demonstrating knife carving. He was rather good, but didn’t draw the attention of the more elaborate displays. One had candle holders made from diamond willow, which were very attractive. We have diamond willows here and I use it for firewood! Me thinks I should give it some different attention and dig some out of the firewood pile. Another made only wooden kitchen utensils - spoons, spatulas, and like that. One of the most interesting was a man who made jewelry boxes from different unusual woods in unusual shapes. What made them unique was to open them they became a 3-dimentional jigsaw puzzle. Very good workmanship and a very narrow, sharp bandsaw blade. Margriet really liked them.

We also ran into a couple from church there. Also their first time to the show. Of course we had to compare notes some and enjoyed a good chat. I also ran into my former boss at East Shore and his wife. Small world. All in all, the show and the day was a good one for us and we enjoyed ourselves. Have to wait until next year and go again.

Time to get the day a-going - finally.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

White world retruns

2/4/06 07:43:32 am.
23º F, Snowing, N wind 11 mph.

Good morning,

The snow is coming down outside and we have about an inch of fresh snow on the ground. The world looks bright again. The snow started yesterday west of here. We didn’t receive any until over night. The weatherman was rather surprised with a storm cropped up from the south end of lake Winnebago and seemed to follow the Fox River to Green Bay and north. Most of the snow fell in that area and some to the west. Because it was so warm, the flakes were huge and the snow pilled up in a hurry, snarling traffic all over the area. Looking at the traffic map, most of the roads in the state are less than ideal. The snow storm moved from south to north and this morning, the storm is traveling from north to south. Weird! Guess we are close to the center of the low producing the snow. Looks like a white day for most of the day today. Rather windy too.

Margriet has been working very hard on our expense ledger for the past couple of days. Every once in awhile I hear some strange mumbling and grumbling - then she has a cup of coffee. It is a tedious job and I am happy she "likes" to do it. I have a huge problem with the task. Takes me forever, in very short bursts of about 15 minutes at a time, with a lot of mistakes.

I have been threatening to clean out my brief case for some time now and it finally happened yesterday. Every Tuesday at Bible study, I say I am going to clean it out, but never do. Finally pulled out papers from several months ago that are no longer needed. The waste basket and the "one side usable" paper pile increased in contents. I also found some things I have been looking for too. Oh well, guess it has to happen once a year or so.

Three weeks ago I sent an email to the producer of one Bible study program I bought shortly after I got the first computer from Karl. It was made to work with operating systems pre-Windows XP, so there needed to be some adjustments to install it all on this machine. I didn’t know that, and could not figure out why I couldn’t open all of the files. I like the program very much and it seems to be the one I use most. It was cheap to buy, less than $10.00, but in order to use all of it, you had to but the "key" to open the rest of the program. I eventually did that and it allowed me to use a bunch of Bible commentaries and other references. So I am back in business again with it. I had not been able to open all of it since getting this machine.

1:01 pm.
23º F, Still cloudy, N wind 16 mph.

So we have had our bowl of bean soup and now ready for the rest of the day. Taking the soup from the pot is an interesting sight. We keep it on the porch to save room in the refrigerator, so it is right at the point of being almost frozen. When I take a scoopful out, it has the appearance and consistency of off colored, lumpy toothpaste. Once it is heated up, it is mighty fine!

Last night I decided to make some of the leftovers in the refrigerator for supper. The refrigerator was getting too full (terrible problem), so I made a hotdish. What I made too more room than the food I used in it. Oh well, so much for emptying the refrigerator. I think we need to eat leftovers for a couple of days before taking something more from the freezer.

As long as I now have a cleaned out briefcase, I took aim at the filing cabinet today. It too is getting too full. I am taking out all of the materials relating to my "shop" and house building out. I want to pick-up a small file box, and will put it out in the outhouse. At present everything is in a cardboard box, but that will not keep any mice or other critters out of it. The file box should. Or at least slow them down some. I don’t use the files much in here, so they might as well be out there.

The wind is really blowing today. Yesterday it seemed like we were living in a freezing sauna when outside. Today we get blown away. At least it is cool enough to make the countryside a little stiffer with freezing temperatures.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Wet Clouds

2/3/06 9:29 am.
34º F, Cloudy, SSE wind4 mph.

Good morning,

The clouds look like they will start leaking at any moment. All of the schools in Manitowoc and Two Rivers area are either closed or delayed. Apparently they have a problem with ice on the roads combined with some fog. Suppose the kids are some pleased. We are supposed to have some snow possibility beginning late this afternoon and night. Doesn’t sound like it will amount to much, but the temperature is supposed to drop some to "normal" for a few days.

We broke our normal activity yesterday and went to Birchwood for cheap chicken. We have not done that since summer I think. We went later than we normally do, so the place was packed and we had to wait in line for a table. We got in line behind a couple from church and their two children. Shortly another church member arrived with his neighbor who was treating him to supper for helping her in the past. When the family was seated, they were at a table for eight folks, so the Dad came and asked us to join him. We did and had a very nice time. Normally we don’t have an opportunity to do that as the seat us at a table for two. It is much more fun to swap lies with other folks than to just retell our own. Oh yes, the food was excellent too. Not too sure how they can put a meal of three pieces of chicken (almost half of a chicken), potatoes, coleslaw, and a roll, with a small sweet roll for desert, for $3.50. However they do it, it sure tastes good!

I finally was able to pay the rent for the storage unit yesterday too. I had gone out there before, only to find no one able to take money from me. Seems the owners were in Madison for a convention. Finally got the task completed. Of course I had to tease the guy about bumming in the big city. It really is a nice family operation and had grown considerably since we moved here. It is a family farm that has been transformed into a seed company, growing much of the seed themselves. Now they also rent a considerable number of acres surrounding the homestead and have replaced all of the old barns with modern buildings, including a huge repair shop it would be nice to have. I drool every time I go there. They also construct much of their own equipment and machines.

Margriet discovered that Kalle has a new weblog (http://www.arnoudvenema.nl/kallesweblog/) and a new picture. Unfortunately the weblog is in Dutch, but the picture is cute. It looks like Kalle fell asleep in his toy box. He is very much larger than the first picture we saw of him. We think he is a keeper.

Margriet also got an email with the website (http://www.gerrynijhuis.exto.nl/gallery/page/id/3006.html) of her sister-in-law, Gerry, who is an artist. The website is also in Dutch, but has many of her works show on it. One of the paintings, titled Gele Lis, or Yellow Iris, ( http://www.gerrynijhuis.exto.nl/gallery/detail/id/39157.html) is a wedding gift from her to us. She has a wide variety of subjects and really has a talent. Something I wish I had more of.

It really is fun to find all of these sites to look at and become educated by. Many of the sites are written in different languages than I can read or understand. One thing which really help is the translation sites available. I use http://www.freetranslation.com/free/ most often. The browsers I use also have translation tools on them, but unfortunately do translate Dutch.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Chucky's Wood Day

2/2/06 6:34 am.
28º F, Cloudy, SSE wind 4 mph.

Good morning,

Today is the woodchuck’s day of "glory," but they can’t even get his name right - calling him a groundhog. Oh well, a lot to do about nothing. Was a really big deal for the kids when the marriage broke up though. Especially the boys. Dori seemed a bit bored by it.

Yesterday’s breakfast muffins blew up! Margriet doesn’t know why, but they grew about twice their normal size in the pan as the baked yesterday. They were very much lighter than normal, but just as good. They also provided a point of teasing too. Wonder what surprise we will have for breakfast this morning?
Yesterday, our local paper had a couple of neat snippets in the history column.

1916 - "The Kewaunee Street Committee, consisting of V. Mashek, M. Shilbauer and L Bruemmer, is advertising for bids on the job of filling West Water and Miller streets with logs to a depth of one foot." [The two streets mentioned apparently went through a swampy area of town and needed a corduroy road style of construction to stabilize them. At present there are a couple of buildings which are tipping, thanx to inadequate footings in the same area.]

1931 - "The Pilsen Brass Band broadcast an hour program over Station WHBY, De Pere, from the studio above the Bellin building in Green Bay. The band leader Joseph M, Altman. Radio fans were treated to Bohemian waltzes and polkas." [Pilsen is a small town west of here, once a rip-snorting town.]

1946 - "Orville Ihlenfeld, town of Montpelier, was involved in a very unusual accident when a saw belt stripped his clothing and threw him naked into a snowbank. Ihlenfeld escaped with a cut on his head and some bad bruises." [Sounds like he was using a chop-saw to cut logs or split logs into firewood length. Huge circular saw driven by a tractor or stationary engine by a flat belt. Very dangerous and pretty much outlawed now and replaced by the chainsaw.]

1996 - "About 150 Kewaunee students in Grades K-12 spent Monday night at Kewaunee High School, waiting for the country roads to be cleared following Monday’s snowstorm, so they could be bussed home. Kewaunee, Algoma and Luxemburg-Casco schools were all closed Tuesday in the aftermath of the storm." [This happened the year before we bought FISKLAND. It was a very snowy year!]

We really get a kick out of reading this column every week. Normally there is at least one item that peaks our interest. This week had more than normal. The items from 100 or 125 years ago are really interesting. We find out who bought/built which building, which sailing or steamship came into port with what cargo, who’s horse ran wild pulling a wagon or buggy, &c. We also find out when a train car load of new automobiles come to town and who bought them. Even though we think these items are ancient history, the folks in the Netherlands would probably consider them as recent news!

Finally finished up the pot of soup yesterday and we tried it out. Not too bad. This one is about twice the normal quantity as I usually build. The package of neck bones was much larger than normal. We probably will be eating it for lunch for a couple of weeks. It sure is filling! Sometime ago, Margriet made up some bags of soup mix, containing several kinds of beans. We are still using them every time bean soup is made. There are still several packages left, so will be having bean soup for a time yet. We really like it. Of course we like all kinds of soup, especially the old-fashioned "slow" soups to make.

I ran across a website yesterday devoted to a different system of plumbing water and hot water heating systems. The system relies on a flexible plastic piping rather than hard plastic or metal. The Pex system (http://www.durapex.com/) is becoming more widely used and really makes sense. There are far fewer joints and the cost is less than conventual methods. Another thing that appeals to me is that the Pex tubing can take some freezing and thawing without rupture. Sure wish this place had it installed when everything froze here the first winter we bought the place! Anywho, I am looking to changing over and using it as the need arises to change things here and in the future.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Sn-ain

2/1/06 6:14 am
34º F, Sn-ain, S wind 21 mph.

Good morning,

Weather outside is not great at the moment. Even though it looks like it. We have received a mix of snow and rain overnight. Roads are not the best, especially to the west of us. Many schools are running late and a few up north are closed for the day. It was supposed to be an inch or so of snow, but the temperature was too high. The lake shore seems to have been spared the worst of the weather, but the plows are out this morning.

Our ride yesterday to Green Bay was uneventful. It was nice to see the fields covered with even a light layer of snow for a change, rather than the color of bar plowed soil or dead grasses. The secondary roads are really starting to break up thanx to the freezing and thawing of late. Several places I noticed the local road crews have been patching some of the developing pot holes. Suspect the road crews will be rather busy this spring. We also were struck by the large numbers of huge amounts of water in the fields. It appears Brown and Kewaunee Counties are now the land of 10,000 lakes! As we got close to FISKLAND, we noticed a large group of deer, about 20-25, feeding in a snow covered field. Largest group I have seen this year.

Bible study yesterday was a really good discussion for most of the time. The last part was taken over by the same gal who seems always to have something negative to bring forward. It is some discouraging. I started the time by focusing on a couple of statements made last week. A couple of the folks expressed they are from the "old-school" and don’t want , or see the need to, grow in their Christian life. Apparently the comments also bothered one of the folks who made some of the comments last week, and he decided to do some research. While it did surprise me it also didn’t. He is a retired high school history teacher and by nature a reader. He really was digging into it and as a result had a very good, deep discussion on prayer and in particular public prayer. Public prayer and "prayer meetings" are not part of recent Lutheran heritage, so this an interesting time for the Bible study group. Jerry is one who has to have everything in his life fit into little boxes, predictable and neat. Life, especially Christian life, isn’t that way and it frustrates him greatly. Eventually we did get back to the study in the workbook, but it was a really good detour.

We were rather surprised to fine the price of gasoline in Kewaunee is about 4-7 cents a gallon cheaper than Green Bay. I picked up enough gas before leaving to be sure I could get back if that really was the case, so will now fill the remainder of the tank locally. Normally we get a 3¢/gallon discount at one fo the stores, but even with the discount, the price is still 3¢/gallon higher than here. It seems the price of everything is really climbing at the moment, not only gasoline too high. Might find ‘coon and ‘possum rather attractive on the dinner table soon! :-)

One "bargain" I did find was on the plastic we put on the inside of our windows (like a storm window indoors) during the winter. Fleet Farm had the film and tape in bulk form rather than the packages we normally get. It probably has been there all along, but I haven’t seen it before. The cost of buying it this way is about 15% of the packages. The roll is big enough to last a couple of years for us I think.

We stopped at our "normal" restaurant for our "normal" meal of a half-sandwich and cup of soup. The price went up on that too! Instead of that, I had a breakfast wrap that turned out to be very good and very filling. It also would be neat to have them at home for a meal. Basically it is an portion of scrambled eggs and cheese wrapped with a flour tortilla, with either bacon, sausage, or ham. I had the ham and am looking forward to trying the others in coming stops there.

The next stop was to Aldi’s for groceries. We have been noticing in the past months that the mix of products and their display has been changing some. Yesterday we notices some real major changes in the form of refrigerated food cases being installed. The store is becoming more like those we shopped at in the Netherlands. The company has it’s roots in Germany, I think, and we like the store very much. It is absolutely spotless and the products are a good buy. The produce department is no where near as good as those across the pond, but I think it is the result of not having as good suppliers here - yet. We watch very carefully what produce we buy there. The rest of their products are mostly more reasonable than "American" stores.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><