Little Marvel Cherry Belles

4/28/06, 12:21 pm.
42º F, Brighter than bright, E wind 7 mph.

Good afternoon,

We have had some really beautiful weather the past few days. We went to Green Bay on Tuesday, thinking it would be some rainy in the afternoon. Turned out to be a beautiful day. We are trying to make as few trips as possible in that direction, thanx to the high price of gasoline. We had intended to postpone the ride until today or so. Today is beautiful out too. Wednesday it was up into the 70's, so actually worked up a sweat.

Margriet got mad at the sunporch yesterday and took almost everything out, cleaned it, then returned things again in some sense of order. I have learned that I stay away from her when she in is that process as much as possible. Guess it don’t do the job well enough. Anywho, the sunporch is in much better shape than before she started. Amazing how much junk accumulates there over time! Not having a basement, garage, or attic doesn’t help matters any.

We now have some Little Marvel Cherry Belles on the south side of the house. Peas and radishes. I picked up a package of seed of each on our ride, so put them in the ground yesterday. I keep going out every couple of hours to see if they are coming up yet, but no luck. I think Margriet is pushing them down again. There is an "Old Wive’s Tale" which says peas must be planted on Palm Sunday. Guess I missed it by a couple of weeks. Would be nice if the all came up. We would have a few meals of peas at least. Have to get a fence around them soon though to keep the rabbits out of them. I like peas more than I want the rabbits to get fat on them! The chives we planted last year, came up again this year. I had forgotten about them. Should have to put a few more seeds of different kinds into the bed too.

The soil is still pretty wet. Of course they are predicting rain again tonight or tomorrow. It is really frustrating not to be able to do that much outside until things dry some more. Just hate it when the water squeezes up between my toes walking across the yard or anywhere else. Much of what I want to do I could wear boots to do, but that would tear up the turf a lot, causing other problems later. Got enough problems now, don’t need no more.

I have spent considerable time working on the prayer book. I have found that the new printer has a different area of the page it prints than the old one has. It takes a lot of adjustment to the original to make it work. I spent a bunch of time on it for a couple of days without a lot of success. Since I got very frustrated, I simply changed everything from 5½"x8½" to 8½"x11" sized paper. That eliminates the problem somewhat. When I figure out the new parameters, I will just change the layout - I hope. Eventually I want to go back to the smaller size as it is easier for those using it. In the meantime, I am getting all of the study units in order and put into one file.

Some (actually a lot) of the workbooks I had written in the past were lost when the hard drive died. I do have most of them as hard copy, but that means I need to scan them and transfer them to this machine. That is more daunting than I had planned on, but it is possible to do. Suppose it will be easier with the more I do. There is one, possibly two units that do not exist in a file or on hard copy. I will need to reconstruct those from scratch and hope I come close to what they were. At least I will cover the same material to connect the parts I do have.

Snooping around the web looking for something, I ran across a really neat website: http://vilda.alaska.edu/index.html, Statewide Library Electronic Doorway, or SLED. It is a state of Alaska library system site. This particular site is loaded with photographs (like pictures!) of the "old" Alaska since the camera was first taken to the state while it was still a territory and before. It is very interesting! It is a very complete site with the ability to search for pictures by keyword or subject. Since there are so many pictures in the collection, that sure makes life easier. Since I have had an interest in Alaska for years, my interest was peaked again and spent entirely too much time snooping around it. I probably will again too. I continue to be amazed at the amount of information on the web that folks can learn from. Myself included.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Mostly a nice day

6:12 pm.
47º F, Light rain, NNE wind 13 mph.

Good evening,

So my timing was about right for a change. I changed the oil and filter on the van. Just as the beginning spritz of rain starting to come as I was filling the crankcase. Everything cleaned up before any real rain started. I really don’t mind changing the oil on this vehicle. Everything is out in the open and easy to get at. The only problem is getting the filter wrench around the filter. Fortunately I have a "slit-band" wrench. On another vehicle, the filter was more or less frozen in place and could not get enough leverage with the filter end socket wrench so had to remodel the band wrench to get enough leverage on it. Never have used it since, only the end socket. The catalatic converter is just close enough to the filter to not allow the band wrench to pass with out the split wrench. The end socket won’t work on this vehicle I don’t think, though I have never tried it. There is a frame member and the catalatic converter appears to be in the way.

I really am surprised at how clean the underside of the vehicle is. Most often there is some oil or other leaks grabbing any kind of dust and dirt it can. Not on this one. Like that and hope it remains that way. The other surprise for me is the huge capacity of the front windshield washer tank. Guess I have never emptied it this far. It took almost an entire gallon bottle. Suspect that if it ever is really empty, it will take the entire gallon. Wish the rear washer had a tank that big too. I actually use the rear washer more than the front, thanx to winter driving and the construction on the road out of here.

One thing I am going to have to start doing is to start replacing some of the parts on the van. With nearly 140,000 miles on it, it is time to really look at things like belts, half-shafts, shock absorbers, brakes, and a lot of other things. I have a set of brakes and will probably replace and renew them shortly. I looked at the fan belt (serpentine belt) today while I was working in the area. Seems to be a smaller problem to replace than I thought it would be, but - I still have not tried to yet. Trying will be the test. Next time to Green Bay I will try to pick one up. Suppose I should have someone look at the air-conditioning system too. That is one thing I can’t do. Probably could if I still had the store and some of the equipment/tools. I will try to pick up the necessary parts for the rejuvenation of the van over a period of time. That will be a bit easier on the budget and will also do the work over time too.

Margriet did some of the laundry today and she too had the timing about right. It was dry and off of the line about an hour or so before the rains came. Now I should have clean shorts for a couple of days. She did do some vacuuming today too, but since she is not up to par, not as much cleaning as she normally would. Hope she feels some better tomorrow.

I also did a bit of scratching on the lawn today too. Not much as I had other things to do. Tried to get a bit of it where we walk most cleaned up. The rest of the clean-up will expand out of that area. There is not as much to clean up this year for some reason or other. Also noticed that the chives we planted last year, and forgot about, is also up. Will have to get some other herbs planted near it this year. Maybe we will have a real herb garden. Found the rhubarb in the weeds today too. Should move it to a place closer to the house and a bit drier. Should do it soon too.

Weatherman is indicating the temperature will drop dramatically overnight. It already has started to drop. It will also be possibly some snow, but to the north and west of here. The temperature was in the mid-70's today and actually worked up a sweat! Cold, wet, and windy tomorrow then warming again for the rest of the week. Hope it will be a bit dry so I can get some things done outside.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Sunshine and no drips!

4/24/06 12:43 pm.
65º F, Sunshine, W wind 10 mph.

Good noon + a bit,

What a beautiful day outside! That will change tonight when the rain and cool moves in again. There was frost in much of the northern part of the state last night. In some of those parts, it is now in the mid-70's! Must be spring for sure. I was looking in the paper the other day and according to the record keeping, we have had about normal rain fall (most I think the last week or so) and about 10% warmer than normal this past month.

Rain off and on all day Saturday and Sunday. Could not get much of anything done either day. Today it was calm when I woke up. Decided it was time to burn the trash, with the wet countryside and calm wind. Just as I got the trash burning and about half consumed, would you know - the wind came up. I didn’t get all of the trash onto the fire, so hopefully I will be able to do it tomorrow after the rain ends. They are talking of a windy day tomorrow though. We will see what happens.

Margriet is some under the weather the past couple of days. Nothing major but very annoying for her. Being almost up to par is often worse than really being sick. At least of me. My hips have really been bothering me today. Need to do some things outside, but can only last for a few minutes at a time, then I have to sit down again. Not the way to get things finished. Maybe I should carry a milking stool around with me so I can park my butt on it every once in awhile and watch the birdies!

I think I have a stack of floppy disks about a foot high that have their contents put onto flash drive sticks. It is amazing to me how much can be put on to the sticks. Sure do cut done on the storage space needed too. I do like the convenience of looking at the screen to find a file/folder rather than a pile of disks too. Am I getting lazier or older. Maybe both. There are many more disks yet to go through and then (or before) try to remove all of the duplicates I am sure are there. I also have a stack of papers I want to scan to file too. That is for another time though.

Thanx to the rain, I did have a chance to watch a couple of pretty good auto races. One on Saturday evening was a NASCAR race that was nip and tuck for most of the race. At the end several cars ran out of gas and coasted across the finish line, including those who led much of the race. The race yesterday was a Formula 1 race. Like those a lot, but not up on all of the equipment used anymore. Once upon a time, I thought I would be racing road races (certainly not F1 though). I really got hooked when a couple of my college roommates and I went to Road America June Sprints in Elkhart Lake. Thought SCCA class H would be about all I could handle and relatively inexpensive to build/race. Small car with a small engine. If it weren’t for going to college, working, teaching, and getting married - I probably could have done it. But then again - who knows?

Tomorrow is Bible study. Probably the last one for a while. Unless we don’t finish it all tomorrow. Next week will be breakfast then I will be taking kind of a hiatus for a while at least. I am some burned out. This has been a two year study and very intense. I don’t think I have missed on Tuesday morning in that time either. I also want to get back to some writing and working around here more. Maybe in the fall or who knows. Do like to lead them though. Lots of work, but also lots of reward watching folks grow. Guess the teacher is still in me!

Time to get the day a-going some more.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Wedding Bells

4/21/06 5:30 am.
46º F, Clear, S wind 4 mph.

Good morning,

Every morning I open up the webcam on the Enschede website ( http://www.enschede.nl/SPY/CamPage.htm ) to see what is happening in Margriet’s home town. Check the weather and like that. This morning I had a surprise. The camera fronts the city square and the city government building. There was a wedding this morning complete with an antique carriage, pulled by a three horse hitch (three horses abreast). Of course when the carriage left, my attention was elsewhere and I didn’t see them leave. It was a pretty good sized wedding judging my the number of folks and vehicles around. Normally vehicles are not allowed in the square. Weddings happen most often on Friday’s there (So was ours wedding.) and are more a civil action than a religious one. It was really cool!

Yesterday I really didn’t accomplish very much. Played with this machine too much. Getting the new printer has led to some other activities. Like cleaning up the desk and re-finding some projects started but not finished. One is transferring many, many files from floppy disks to flash drives so I still have them in years to come. Some of the files I have to open, just to remember other times and events, not all good.

I also have been going through my Grandmother’s Bible, which has many pictures and papers stuck into it. I have been sharing the contents with cousins and other across the country. It has started (really continued) a dialog which is also very interesting. Learning something of my history in the process. The process is also creating questions without ready answers. Also some fun.

One item in Grandma’s Bible is a negative of a picture. I think it is from about 1921. The picture shows a very old (today’s standards) touring car (with canvas top) with a wall tent pitched next to it. There is also one individual in the picture who I think is my Uncle Carl, but not too sure. I have tried to print the negative using my scanner, but with varying results. The scanner is only capable of copying 35 mm slides, but I am cheating some. The negative is 4"x6" and by taking off the mask of the scanner, I can scan a part of the negative at a time, about the size of two slides without frames. It only scans a little less than a of the negative at a time. From what I can make out on the photo, I think the car may be an overland, judging by what I remember of the "hood emblem" from other pictures. It is not that clear, so am going my shapes of black and white areas. The license plate is also from Wisconsin and I think shows a date of 1921 on it. There also is a movable spot light on the side of the windshield, much like old time police cars had! I will have to work on a way to be able to scan the entire negative at one time. I also have a lot of other negatives (somewhere) I would like to print out too, some on glass plates.

When my Dad was young, college age, he and his brothers would pack some camping gear into a car and head off on a cross-country trip of some kind. I remember hearing Dad talk of one trip to Mammoth Cave they took. I think it was the reason we went there when I was a kid and a background reason Margriet and I stopped there on the way south a couple of years ago. I am not sure where this particular picture was taken, but am pretty sure it was on one of these trips. I have no idea who took the picture either. I know Dad and his brother Adolf were doing a lot of photography and developing their own film too. Would be interesting to hear the real story behind the picture.

The harbor in Kewaunee has very few boats docked in the slips yet. Only three I think. Seems to be a lot fewer than normal. I wonder if the price of fuel has something to do with it. There also are a lot of boats on shore with "For Sale" signs on them. Also fuel cost related I think. I wonder how the charter captains are going to do this year. Fuel prices are very high, very early in the season this year. The area chambers of commerce are really starting some aggressive advertising to target folks within a "gas-tank" trip distance to come here for vacation. Could be a successful campaign, but one thing sure, I don’t think folks will be traveling as much as other years. I know we will not be doing much traveling very far.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Busy day.

4/20/06, 7:25 am.
46º F, Semi cloudy, SSW wind 8 mph.

Good morning,

The wind has finally shifted to a direction other than the lake. That should make the temperature rise some and the air a bunch drier. We did have some thunderstorms as the front went through last night, something after midnight. There were a lot of bang-itty bangs and light flashes for a short time. The state is rather dry and there are some grass fires occurring in the central and northern parts. This rain should help that problem some. I really have been careful burning the trash here too, even though the soil is wet, the winds we have had has dried off the grasses, &c. close to the burn pile and our land. Of course the rain last night has also cause many of the dried up puddles to appear again.

The storm starting must have almost awakened me. A little after 1:00 am. I thought I heard Margriet talking out here. I did and got up to investigate. She was talking on the phone to Onno! It is his birthday today, so Margriet called him to congratulate him. 1:00 am here is 8:00 am there, so the timing was right. Since I got up, I also had a chance to tease him about being old now. My brain was still pretty much asleep yet, so don’t know if I made any sense to him or not. I did remember to thank him for solving our computer problems though. Surprised myself remembering to do that! It was good to talk to him, but wish he and his family lived down the road a bit, rather than on the other side of the world. I really do enjoy them.

We finally staggered to Green Bay yesterday for our supply run. We didn’t go last week thanx to the higher price of gasoline. The price spiked here a few days ago, then dropped about a nickle per gallon. Thought we would fill in Green Bay rather than at the "lower" price here ( about a nickle higher than the week before). I waited too long - the price went up about 10¢/gallon overnight yesterday. &%$#@ We had enough in the tank to drive to Green Bay and return, just incase the price there was higher than here. We found that the price on the east side was the same as here, $2.899/gallon, but on the west side it was a nickle less! We filled up at our usual place taking advantage of our normal 3¢/gallon discount. With the lower price and the discount we paid $2.819 - 8¢/gallon less than here or on the east side of Green Bay. The price of gasoline is 55¢-60¢/gallon higher now than the same time last year.

When I went to pay for the gas, I didn’t have enough small bills to pay for it, so presented a $100.00 bill to the attendant who refused to take it! The change would be more than $20.00 the company allows to give out. He wanted me to go to the grocery part of the operation to cash it - about a block walk each way. Fortunately, Margriet had more money in her purse than I thought, so by combining our "fortune" we were able to pay the bill. The attendant didn’t seem too worried about our driving off to get change or just not come back.

We really got started on our journey later than I had planned. There were a couple of bill payments and an insurance application I wanted to get into the mail since we don’t drive everyday anymore. I really don’t expect any of our vehicles to leave here until church time on Sunday. We had time to eat before leaving too. The only exciting thing on the ride over is to experience some road construction. The county has ground the top layer of blacktop into gravel size chunks, probably to be paved over soon. A sign warning us about "rough road" was really not true. The road probably was more smooth, but very loose, compared to before the work started.

Stopped to pick up ink for the new printer for the first time. While wandering around the store, we saw a deep-fryer on sale for $20.00. We have one in the cupboard that we don’t use, simply because it is so hard to clean. It came from my Mom I think and probably 40 years old or so. This one is much easier to clean, as the heating element is removed from the fryer for cleaning. That means everything can be put into the dishpan! We wasted $20.00 and bought one. It also is smaller. Just the right size for a couple of old people! Hope to try it out soon. We really don’t eat that much fried food, but like if for a change once in awhile. Looking forward to fish and chips.

We did find a couple of good buys while shopping for groceries too. One of the cheese companies has decided to lower the price of cheese to a level I will buy it. Most cheese costs about $1.00 or more/pound than I will pay. The last time we shopped we picked up several pieces of medium cheddar and this week a couple of pounds of pepper-jack. Now we have 4-5# of cheese in the refrigerator to chew on for a while. We also found a couple kinds of ring sausage (smoked beef or Polish) we like at Aldi’s and pick some up almost every time we shop there. It is a bit over our limit for cost, but we get two meals with each ring. I really like sausage as a meat in a meal. Doesn’t hurt when my Woman has enjoyed it all her life either. Also found chicken on sale. Chicken has been a bit high, but within our budget, for the past several weeks. Me thinks we will be eating pretty good for a couple of weeks!

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Re-finding things!

4/18/06, 5:01 am.
40º F. Getting light out, ENE wind 5 mph.

Good morning,

So ..... another day is starting. Looks to be a nice one too. This area is earning it’s nick name, "Cooler by the Lake" these days. With the wind off of the lake, the temperatures have been held down from those inland by 5-10º F. Actually our highs are about 10º F above normal for this time of year. Right now, I would not mind if the temperature was a bit warmer. Must be getting old or something.

I actually am making some progress in clearing off and cleaning up my half of our "desk." In the process, I "re-found" a couple of mimeographed papers. They were newsletters from my Uncle Carl’s church from 1934-ish. I copied them with the scanner and sent them to his "kids" and some other folks. One of Uncle Carl’s daughters wrote back, thanking me profusely for sending it. We found it in my Grandma Nelson’s Bible along with some other things. I will scan them also and then probably send the originals to MaryAnn for her keepsakes of her Dad. The originals are mimeographed and look like they were from the "end of the production run" as they are rather lightly printed. It is some interesting reading them and trying to imagine what things were like at the time, during the depression, in a very small Lutheran church in Avoca, Iowa - receiving a load of firewood, but more is needed; another room in the church heated for the confirmation class; encouraging people to use their envelops , putting in 5¢, 10¢, or even $1.00 every week; preparations for the children’s Christmas service; and the rest of the story. I surely would have liked to be the resident "church mouse" in the corner observing the activities of the time.

In the process of putting the contents of the floppies on to the flash drives, I re-found a couple filled with what I call "Ideas for the Fish." They are items, mostly short, that have ideas or stories for ideas to write articles or sermons with. I didn’t realize how many I have "tucked away" on the disks over the years. Now I have to get busy and do some writing I think. I did use some for articles I wrote for our church newsletter each month. I think there are a couple hundred files to peruse and then play with the keypads on this machine. One of those rainy day activities - hope it rains!

Today is Bible study. A couple of weeks ago I found some workbooks at church from the previous part of the study. I always try to make a couple extra for people who lose theirs or new folks coming. Last week we had a couple of new folks, back from snow-birding in the south, and discovered that I had thrown the new workbooks away and kept the older ones! I also normally keep a "master" in my briefcase, just in case I need to make more. I had given the master to Bruce at LSM for him to peruse, so didn’t have that either. Last night I remade the master, only to discover that the new printer has different maximum printing areas then the previous printer - smaller. Fortunately, I really checked out the print preview and noticed the difference. The old printer would allow printing to within ¼" of the page bottom and the new one only within ½". While it doesn’t seem like much, it means about an extra half page in length of the workbook. Also messes up the page number location. We will adjust with new work, but it may mess up much of what I have already produced a bit.

Seems like the critters of the area are getting ready for summer. We have had several birds looking over possible nesting sites on and around the house. The night before last, apparently a thrush flew into the sunporch, looking for food or a nesting site. We closed the door and it stayed overnight in the porch. Margriet was startled when she went out yesterday morning. We left the door open and stayed out of the sunporch for a time. It finally found it’s way out again. The robins have also been back for several days along with other birds. The rabbits are out in force looking for a meal, morning and evening. The noise of the frogs also get Margriet’s attention often. Guess she didn’t hear them as much in the Netherlands where she lived. Guess the frog statue in her garden pool didn’t make much noise!

After Bible study we hope to plant some flowers in the bed on the south side of the house. Also hope to change oil and do some other regular maintenance on the van today. The box our new file cabinet came in will provide a new piece of cardboard for me to lay on while doing it. Have to stop at my bank to pick up some money to pay a couple of bills. The date of my rocking chair money arriving at the bank has changed to a week earlier, but I keep forgetting that! We probably will make our supply run to Green Bay tomorrow or the next day. Trying to do as few of those as possible thanx to the high price of gasoline.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

He is risen!

4/16/06 5:30 am.
41º F, Cloudy, NNE wind 7 mph.

Good morning,

He is risen! HE IS RISEN INDEED ! !

We hope that you will remember the reason for this celebration day. Our Lord and Saviour has risen and defeated Satan. What a wonderful thought and hope for our lives. What else can be said?

Our church service Friday evening went well with more folks there than during the rest of the lenten services. Margriet did an outstanding job of reading the lessons.

We have been experiencing rather warm weather for the past bit. Most of the time the temperature has been 10-15º F higher than our normals. Especially inland. The winds have been off of the lake, keeping it some cooler. Inland, there have been several cities setting high temperature records for this time of year.


4/17/06, 6:15 am.
39º F, Sunny, NNE wind 6 mph.

As you can see, I never finished yesterday’s addition to this. We were so busy at not being busy, I just never got back to it. A bit cooler today than yesterday. Looks like it will be until the low that is parked over us moves. It causes the wind to continue to blow over the lake, cooling us. Yesterday was cloudy most of the day, while today should have an abundance of sunshine. At least it is starting out that way.

The Easter services went well and were packed, as expected. The sand a couple of numbers and it really seemed weird not being up in front with them. They did sound good though. The brunch between services was also very good, as usual. Could have eaten more, but know better (at least once in awhile). We didn’t "have" to go out for a lunch yesterday. Margriet built a couple dozen orange muffins for the occasion. We left the remains there, knowing that someone would consume them.

We really did very little yesterday. There was not even any auto race to watch! I spent most of the day emptying out the numerous floppy disks we have and putting the contents onto flash memory sticks, before the disks die of old age. It is incredible how many floppies fit onto one stick - each about the size of a cigarette lighter! I have not put most of our photos (didn’t count, but a couple thousand at least) onto one 512 MB stick and it is only about 9% filled! I know I have many in other places, but am very sure the stick will not be closet of full. Also there are some duplicates that have to be sorted through. But that is for another time.

Not only have I moved pictures, but also many, many other files to the sticks. One stack of disks contained a back-up of everything on this computer from a couple of years ago, when I had a virus on it. None of the stack of disks had any viruses on them, so everything seems to have been downloaded correctly. In a way, it was some fun to view the old files and pictures again. I didn’t read or look at all that many, just those that peaked my interest. I kept most of the emails that Margriet and I exchanged - there are a lot of them. Some I had to look at! They were interesting.

While moving the files, I put them on different appropriate sticks and grouped most into appropriate folders. Took a longer time, but will be easier to handle them in the future. I still have a few floppies that I cannot open. Of course they contain some information I really would like to retrieve. Wish I knew a way to do that, then I will through them away. I did have some older floppies I was able to access the files and remove them, but could not re-format the disk again for some future use. Those I threw away, rather than be sorry at some future date. I still have numerous floppies to go through, but not at one sitting. Enough for the moment. Maybe another day.

A couple of days ago I dug out the stand I used under the printer I had before the last one and put it under the new printer. The previous printer was too wide to use it, but it is just the right size for this printer. The stand is actually designed for holding shoes in the closet, but works very nicely this way. Provides more desktop space - piles can be wider now rather than so high! The only disadvantage is the stand is made from wire and the printer causes it to "shake" when printing. I think it did the same with the first printer too. Anywho, it is a good deal. By putting the stand back into use, it got me to going through some of the floppies on my desk and shelf.

Margriet made a fabulous Easter dinner yesterday evening. She made the pork roast so tender, I had a hard time slicing it! Along with the roast we had mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, green beans, and spiced hot pears. I never had pears prepared like that before. Everything was so good I over filled myself! Wish I had more capacity! There are some leftovers too. Not too sure what she will do with the roast, but we had mashed potato cakes for breakfast with sausage. With a cook like Margriet in the house, a guy could gain a lot of weight. Matter of fact, since we have been tangled up, I think I have gained at least 30#!

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Old stuff

8:01 pm.
64º F, Warm, WNW wind 6 mph.

Good evening,

This week has been a busy one in the history of this area. The "Kewaunee County Memories" column is full this week with interesting items:

1881:
The schooner Espindola [before railroads or roads in this area] landed a large number of seeders in Ahnapee [now named Algoma] for Haney Gros., last Friday. [Seeders are for planting farmer’s crops.]

1906:
There is a great deal of water in the woods and lowlands this spring. J. M. Dufek informs us that the water is very high in the Black Ash Swamp, so high last Sunday that it raised the ice, floating the road in some places where the construction is of corduroy [Corduroy road is made from large logs, placed criss-cross each other in a roadway to provide a more solid surface to travel on. The line of logs looks like a piece of corduroy fabric, hence the name. Not very gentle to travel on, but a bunch better than mud!]. On Sunday a team being driven through the swamp got fast in the floating road and the occupants of the wagon were obliged to get out and release the horses.

1916:
The breaking up of the ice in the Ahnapee River last week was the source of considerable trouble to both the city and Algoma business interests. The ice jammed the bridge near the Ahnapee Veneer & Seating [they made toilet seats and still do I think] Company and the boiler room flooded. The ice jammed the Fourth Street bridge and had to be dynamited. {or the bridge would have been washed away.]

We want to congratulate all of the women who voted on Tuesday for their fine civic spirit. The records show that 105 women went to the polls to cast their ballots for school clerk. [First time women voted.]

1946:
Shirley Paul and Gertrude Blahnik, Algoma FHA [high school group, Future Homemakers of America, for girls], demonstrating the correct procedure to be followed in preparing food for freezing, were given a first rating in the Future Homemakers Association [wrong name given here] district demonstration contest last Thursday.

The "Kewaunee Polka," composed by Rudy Plocar, will go on the air for the first time next Sunday when the Orange Crush Bottling Co. [formally the Kewaunee Brewing Co., which brewed beer. No it makes and sells root beer and orange soda under the name of Kewaunee Bottling Co.] of Kewaunee presents Rudy Plocar’s over station WOMT at Manitowoc [radio station still on the air, but now with classic rock music.] during the noon hour.

Just thought you would get a couple of chuckles out of history - in this area.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Done! Finished! Kaput!

4/14/06, 12:33 pm.
68º F, Windy warm, W wind 10 mph.

Good nooning,

Done! Finished! Kaput! Taxes that is. All that is left is to go to the postoffice and mail them. The state tax forms are the worst to complete. Sure would be a lot easier and nicer if everything was just a percentage of what was earned - after a floor level of income that is. We don’t pay anything additional this year, so that is a plus at this moment.

I am grumpy though. The tax program I bought doesn’t work so had to do it the old-fashioned way. We have very limited entries, finally, so it really isn’t too bad now. The program takes you very nicely through all of the steps to figure out the forms, then completes them. Like that! When everything is finished, the program needs an update before it will print out and/or send the forms. I could not update the program, either through the program or on the web. Don’t like that! I tried to use the program’s chat feature to connect with the website of the company, but that didn’t’ work either. Don’t like that even more! Tried a couple of times, both through the program and directly to the website. I could connect, but could only read some of the responses and the guy at the other end could only read some of my comments, before we both gave up on the deal.

Using the program did allow me to get the information completed, then I was able to bring up the Wisconsin’s and the IRS’s websites to find the correct forms, then complete them. The hard part was transcribing the information between the tax program and the various forms in the correct places. Cut and paste didn’t want to work on the Wisconsin forms, neither was I able to save the file to a file. Had to print out hard copies. When I did the state form, I thought I had printed it out, but only actually printed some of the supporting documents. I had closed the window too soon. Luckily, I was using the Enigma Browser, which has the ability to bring up closed files, just as I had closed them. The file was an Acrobat file, which normally loses all of the information filled in when closed. The Enigma Browser retained the. Hooray!! Otherwise I would have had to start over again. Really, really like that even more yet.

So now after the postoffice opens again after their lunch hour, I will send them on their way. Finished for another year. We would have to earn a whole lot more before we would be responsible for any additional tax payments - if they leave things as is. Now I can work on getting a Medicare Supplement chosen and paid for.
The real reason for going uptown yesterday was to check out the mail. We had gotten an email from Brenda that there should be a package of pictures there. Of course Oma couldn’t wait and as far as that goes, neither could Opa! Sure enough, the package was there with some pictures of a couple of handsome dudes! With a frame no less! We really enjoy them. Only problem is that I have a hard time getting them from Oma to look at. She will probably wear them out before I really get a good look see.

We had a real shock when we went into town yesterday. The price of gasoline went up another 11¢/gallon, after raising 3¢/gallon the day before. I keep threatening to get a couple of bicycles or a Moped, but my Woman doesn’t think much of the ideas. The bicycles we have here are not any good according to her. I don’t see much wrong with them, other than being too high priced like everything else at the moment. Been a lot of years since I was on a bicycle, never been on a Moped. Maybe we should get matching skateboards or inline skates! Second childhood is coming faster than I expected!

Margriet is in a baking mood today. Since the weather is warm, the windows are open. At the moment the bread is rising, but most of the aroma goes out the window! Dang! Suppose that will be the case when it is in the oven too. We ran out of bread yesterday, so are "forced" to make do until a new batch comes out of the oven. Will have to do some quality testing on them then. :-)

Last night’s church service was very lightly attended, which is usual. Probably will be more tonight. I managed to struggle through the readings with not too many problems. Margriet’s turn is tonight, but there will probably be a larger attendance. Sunday will be the big day, with the Easter/Christmas Christians in attendance. There will be a brunch between services. We are bringing some of Margriet’s famous muffins. Probably will need to test the quality of those too.

Sunday on the way to church, there was a female Mallard duck sizing up a water puddle on the south side of the driveway to use as a home for the summer. A couple of years we have had some Mallards stay there, but not too often. There probably are too many raccoons around to make them feel very comfortable for long. Don’t expect to see any ducklings running around here anytime soon.

We had a couple of sharp thunderstorms last night. No damage here, but to the south, between Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago there was some serious weather. Very large hail and high winds. One piece of hail was measured at over 4" in diameter! That sure would cause a knot on the top of your noggin! There were also winds of over 65 mph causing many barns and buildings being blown down, along with many cars wrecked with the hail. More than enough damage to go around.

Time to get a-going to the postoffice.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Spilled ink.

4/13/06 5:44 am.
47º F, Sun is a-coming, W wind 5 mph.

Good morning,

What a beautiful day yesterday - once the rain stopped. We really got dumped on. Not too sure how much rain we did get, but I know it was well over 1". There is water everywhere. Hope it runs off or sinks in quickly. We had a high temperature yesterday of 72º F yesterday afternoon. The air feels much drier this morning, but the weatherman is talking of possible showers late this afternoon. Hope they are very light, as predicted, since we have a lot of outside stuff to do.

Now that we have Margriet’s computer back on line, the printer decided to die finally. While paying a couple of bills yesterday, I started to print out the envelops, but the printer would not work. At first it said there was a paper jam, but that wasn’t the case. Even took the printer partially apart to make sure and cleaned it out. No luck. Afterwards it told me one ink tank was empty. That also wasn’t the case and I could not even access the cleaning maintenance mode. The printer just sat there and blinked it’s indicator lights at me.

I really like the printer (when it works) and I think I have used it for about 5 years now. Needing to pay bills and taxes, very soon, we can’t really do without a printer for very long. So ......... we made a hasty trip to pick up another one. I did some quick research online, hoping to find another Canon with separated ink tanks, but the only available were way out of our price range, so settled for an HP printer. This has two tanks, one black and one color cartridge, but they are also smaller than the Canon tanks. Probably will be spending more in the long run. The new one took a couple of hours to set up and hook up. The big problem was to insert the tanks! The directions, hard copy and online, showed it to be a simple process. It is - after I figured out the tanks go into the carriage, rather than the spot shown on the printer. Now where in the directions does it show or tell about moving the carriage into position to insert the tanks! The symbols on the printer were located in a place that placing the tanks there made no sense to me at all. Once I found the carriage, hidden unless moved, everything made much more sense - and worked.

I did have to chuckle at where the printer and accessories were manufactured. The printer was built in Singapore, the black ink tank in Ireland, the color cartridge in Thailand (that surprised me), the set-up disk in the U.S., and the instruction manual (Reference Guide) is written in English, French, and Spanish! It would not surprise me if the box it came in was made in China. No wonder I had a hard time getting the ink in!

The new printer is a bit smaller, front to back, but the paper loads from the front rather than the upper back of the Canon. That makes for a smaller foot print on the desk and should be some easier to use. It does hold less paper, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. I recycle one sided paper a lot, so really don’t put that much into the printer in the first place. So far I have only run some test pages through it to align everything. It works! This printer is also much more friendly to making photos, with connections to directly connect the camera to it. It also coordinates with the scanner, also HP, thanx to some cool software from HP which makes the two work almost as one piece of equipment. Like that, at least before using the features yet.

After I finish paying the bills and getting the taxes in, the next adventure on this machine is to get the DVD working correctly. I have a feeling that when the hard-drive died a few months ago, there were some things not reinstalled again. Will have to look into that and see what happens. Probably some more frustration at hand.

Tonight is Maundy Thursday and we have a church service tonight. Also tomorrow night. I am the reader tonight and Margriet is tomorrow night. Margriet also has to make some snacks for after the service on Sunday. It is stunning to see the growth that Margriet has accomplished since I have know her. She has moved from refusing to speak/read out loud for anyone to now being able to read and give a sermon before a large group. Not too many folks can or have done that. She has grown in so many ways it is hard to keep track of them. Cool!

Time to get the day a-going. Hopefully some of yesterday’s agenda will get finished.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Thunder boomers

4/12/06 5:17 am.
42º F, Rain, S wind 8 mph.

Good morning,

The best news yesterday - Margriet’s computer is back online. Thanx to Onno, a.k.a "Computer Guru," things were finally put into proper order. Apparently the problem was getting the proper address in their proper places. I think Onno found them on the net, something I could have also done. The one that was missing, I think, was the address for our ISP. I think every time I needed it, I turned to an installation wizard to find it, which in turn messed up what was already installed some. Oh well, we sure are happy that Onno was on the other end of the email line! I told him we owe him a beer, but he would have to come and get it.

Margriet is sure a lot less grumpy now that she can access the internet again too. After cleaning out the huge number of emails that had accumulated, the next thing she did was to play a game - which doesn’t need an internet connection! So soon they forget. Actually she has been "catching up" on things she has missed while off of the net.

The rain she is really coming down at the moment. I woke up this morning to a temperature higher than when I went to bed. Looks as if the rain will hang around, off and on, for a couple of days at least. Probably through Easter Sunday from the looks of it. The warm will also continue through the rest of the week before dropping again closer to normal. We need the rain, but I really wish we wouldn’t get it. Things are drying up well, at least the melt water common in the spring. Now everything will fill up again and it all has to start draining again. The countryside is really dry though. The grass fire season is back again for another year. There have been a couple on the other side of the bay, northwest from here in tree country.

The farmers and fishermen are some happy. Both have been out and doing things for several weeks now. The slips in the harbors have not had any boats spotted yet. But expect that may happen in the next few days. We also have seen some fishermen in boots walking the Kewaunee River where we cross it on the way to Green Bay, &c. The water looked cold! This year I can buy fishing and game licenses at a reduced price. Just might.
Bible study was really good yesterday. The one gal who tends to try and take over wasn’t there - everyone had a chance to contribute and participate. We did turn left a couple of times from the subject at hand, but not far. For the past couple of months, we have ended the time breaking up into small, 3-4 folks, groups to pray and support each in the group. It really has become a very important time for the folks there. Those participating don’t want to leave quickly, so usually stay around for an additional half hour or so. Cool!

Now that Margriet is back online again, I can turn to other things - like getting the income taxes finished and mailed. Should not be as hard as in the past as we are getting things more in order and we don’t have that many things to include. Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Goods and less than

4/11/06 7:38 am
39º F, Cloudy, SSW wind 7 mph.

Good morning,

Yesterday was a day of surprises. Some good and some not so. One good one was our phone bill. It indicated we had a credit of about four times what the actual monthly bill is! Not too sure what the phone company is doing, but they have been messed up before in their billing. Several years ago I got bills between $500.00 and $800.00/month. Then they really got nasty about it, until I complained to the state, then all of the bills disappeared! I suspect this will be also changed, but will pay our normal bill anyway.

One not so good news in the mail was a notice of the cost of medicare that will be taken out of our rocking chair money. It is about 15% more than I expected and something over 13% of the normal check I have been receiving. The good side of the deal is that medicare coupled with our medicare supplement will cost less than our present health insurance. It will have some differences in coverage, some things better and others not so, but we should have few problems adjusting.

Another good thing was our membership card for the Wisconsin Historical Society. Besides receiving a cool magazine, we also get 50% off the visitor charges for the society’s sites in the state and the cost of visiting the State Historical Museum in Madison is waived. The card also allows us to visit state historical sites in 43 states at a substantially reduced rate also. Don’t know how many state’s museums we will be able to visit, but wished we had it on our trips south and west. Next time! Both of us are history nuts (well at least nuts), so plan to enjoy the additional cost savings. Most of the historical and park-like things open in mid to late May, but we might decide to check out the state museum before that.

We also got an invitation to attend a 50th wedding anniversary dinner for our church secretary and her husband. Needless to say, she is the saint in the family. Darlene asked if I would say the blessing for the meal and am very honored to do so. It is on the same day as Margriet graduates from Lay School, but will we be sure to make it back in time for the meal. It is to be held at the Karsten Hotel downtown. The restaurant has been closed for a couple of years, but I think Darlene and her husband have some interest in it, but not too sure. If the food is as good as the last time we were there, it will be excellent and probably German. We tend to like that.

While getting the mail and my medications yesterday while we were uptown, we stopped at the library. We haven’t been there for a long time so was kind of fun. I checked out a DVD and a video to watch. Margriet got three big books to read. Since the screen on this machine is larger than our TV, thought we could play the DVD on this - Not! I have never tried to run a DVD on this machine before and discovered that the driver and decoder are not installed on this machine. Haven’t figured out how to do that yet, but probably will. The DVD I got was a movie, "Life with Father" from 1947, that I have not seen for years. Sounded like a good idea. The video I picked up was about the Canadian transcontinental railroad, it’s history/construction and riding on the train. It was very good and brought back some memories of our family traveling to some of the places when I was a kid. I still have this dream of riding on the "Empire Builder" train from here to Seattle and back some day. May never happen.

Today is Bible study then home. Not making a supply trip today. The price of gas went up another 3¢/gallon we noticed yesterday. Sure hope it ends soon and starts to fall some, but am not holding my breath. Time to get the day a-going.


In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Really nice weekend

4/9/06, 4:13 pm
33º F, Clear and sun, W wind 6 mph.

Good morning,

What a great weekend! Very intense. Very nice weather. Very good fellowship. Very tired. The food wasn’t too bad either. The camp was beautiful and in it’s glory. The lake was glass smooth most of the time and the critters were starting to come out from their winter quarters. The temperature was about 10-15º F too cool to go skinny-dipping in the lake though. Our "campfire" Friday night was held inside since the area was too dry and the fire circle had not been cleaned of the winter leaves and branches yet. We didn’t attend, but those there enjoyed themselves none the less.

One couple brought a tent and slept outside, while another couple brought their motor-home and slept in it, while most of us stayed in the cabins. One did go to a motel in the area. We, as I think most, had a less that perfect sleep. Always happens in a "different" bed, in a different setting. The biggest problem I had was a nylon sleeping bag trying to stay in one place on a mattress covered with a plastic cover. It seems the bag and the mattress had an agenda of their own - moving me in the bag to one side of the bed often all night long. Fortunately it was against the wall, rather than off the edge and onto the floor!

This retreat was also a gathering of alumni and a celebration of our 10th year of operation. It was so nice to reacquaint with those I graduated with and those who followed. Thanx to being at camp, my most time consuming task, preparing and serving the food, was eliminated so I had a chance to chat a lot with most of the old-timers at length. Really good. It was interesting to hear how each persons life has changed since seeing them last. One of the results from a gathering of the alumni to pick their brains a bit, was to possibly have an "annual" gathering of some kind, probably a picnic or possibly an overnighter of some sort some where. Looking forward to that!

On the drive over, since we were going through Green Bay, I stretched the fuel in the tank so I could pick some up there. The price had gone up again recently, so with the 3¢/gallon discount, we saved a couple of cents per gallon. When we arrived in camp, one of the folks from Green Bay said the price was a dime higher than when we went through! He was bout 2 hours behind us. On the return trip, we found the price had indeed gone up, but only about 4¢/gallon. We will let the gas in the tank, last as long as possible. To get the 3¢ discount, we needed to buy some groceries. Seems when we do things like this and are near the store, we stop and pick up a couple of sweet rolls and something to drink (usually milk of one color or another) to qualify for the discount. Not a real requirement as we usually have plenty of receipts around, but more of a bad habit, though tasty.
The food at camp was good, but not as good as we normally serve. The gal who does the cooking is retiring after this year - her 20th year at the camp. I asked her how many meals she has repaired in that time. She had no idea. Told her that if she added them up, she might wonder why she was there yet! She really is a very nice and pleasant gal. the camp will miss her.

Today is Palm Sunday, so the kids and the choir were involved in our services. The kids are always special, handing out palms to everyone and having a special song to sing, with the choir’s help. Of course not all of the kids were on the same page as the rest of the folks in the church. Makes for a lot of smiles. We also had two people join our congregation and one of our youth complete his confirmation process, all three renewing their baptismal vows. We still have our attendance down for some reason. Not too sure, but have my suspicions, why. It is some discouraging.

Howard and I had a rang-itty-tang Thursday morning. This has been coming on for several months now. He has been demanding some things that really interfere with my vision of the ministry of Grace or my ministry. The up-shot of the deal is that I have resigned from being president. That made him even more grumpy, but is the way it will remain. What really surprises me is that only two members of the council contacted me to find out what was going on or concern. Only the council and a couple of others who I had to have some dealing with, know of the situation. I want to disrupt the congregation as little as possible. Most of the disagreement is centered around Howard is still making some indications of leaving the ELCA and the forming of a "click" to run the church, keeping most of the congregation out of it by design. Not at all my idea or what I read from the Bible, especially from the book of Acts. So we will see where it leads for the future. I try the best I can to follow the Lord’s leading. Sometimes it is tougher than other times.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Just a little frustrated

7:15 pm.
40º F, Looks/feels like rain, E wind 5 mph.

Good evening,

Now you can call me "Just a little frustrated." I did manage to get both lines and fittings off of the steering box on Bram and the new lines installed. Now the problem is I don’t have the correct fluid to refill the system and I need one hose clamp for the return line. Never fails, always something short which is needed. I managed to break the fitting loose by "making" my own impact wrench - flex handle and a hammer. Last night when I quit, I flooded the fittings with penetrating oil. Today I scraped away as much crud as I could, which was a lot more than yesterday’s attempt. Put a socket on the end of a 3/8" flex handle and drove it onto the fitting. Then turned the handle down as much as possible and turned it with the use of the same hammer. Did the trick. After about half a hammering turn, I was able to wind it out.

Problem now is that I know I have a lot of steel shavings inside of the steering box. Those can’t be too good for lubrication and a smooth running steering box! Probably will have some in the pump before I am finished. Will have to flush the system out as best as I can. On the way to or from LSM, we will stop and pick up a couple gallons of "Type F" automatic transmission fluid to put in the system. I thought I had plenty of ATF on hand, but it turns out to be "Type H" instead, left from when the Runt had a problem with the transmission modulator. I did use some of it to lubricate the new fittings as I put them into the steering box. Don’t think that will cause much of a problem. Anywho, the really hard part I think is behind me. Now to flush and finish reassembling the system.

As soon as I get Bram back on the road again, I have some work to do on the van. I don’t want to be without any transportation when I have a vehicle apart and un-roadworthy. I have done that too many times over the years and either walked or begged a ride. Not to my liking.

While moving some of the driveway, high to low, I am also cutting down some of the small pine trees which have died. There are a couple of bigger ones needing that too. I don’t want the dropping onto the driveway if possible. The small ones I am cutting down with a hand saw and the bigger ones I will crank up the chainsaw to deal with. I will use the smaller ones for pole for various uses around the place. Right now they are holding down the tarp over some of the house logs.

Walking to one of the small trees, less than 10' from the driveway, I all but stepped on a ruffed grouse. It took off before my foot did any damage to it, but the sound and movement of it taking off really gave me a start! I think my heart skipped a beat. They are the loudest birds taking off and the first 10 ‘ of flight. After that you cannot hear them at all. I have probably had the same experience several thousand times, but my reaction is the same. I also saw our neighborhood Cardinal today. It is one very pretty bird and it amazes me how it stays hidden from predators so well. I also heard our (one) red-tailed hawk yesterday or the day before. Sounds like they are back for the season too. Lots of crows (black chickens) around too. Guess some of the travelers are back again of several species.

Margriet got the bathroom all clean for the rest of the spring. At least she said she was doing some of the spring cleaning. Wonder if she will do it again for the summer, fall, and winter. She was busy with it most of the days. All the walls, ceiling, and floor is clean, as well as everything within them. Largely good job!

Time to be a-going from this - day is done.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

#%*+(*&%$@Y+R*#@((^%# !!! Again/yet!!!

4/6/06 9:57 am.
37º F, Cloudy, SSE wind 6 mph.

Good morning,

Frustrated in my new name! The confusers ain’t working right and I have a problem with the pickup too!
We still have not made any progress at getting Margriet’s computer online. Think we (Thanx to Onno) may have found at least one problem - the DNS address will not stay in the program for some reason on Margriet’s computer. That still is unsolved. I have not heard anything back from Microsoft either since I sent the last email on the 3rd. This is very frustrating to say the least - for both of us.

I have been also trying to replace the hydraulic line (pressure side) on the power steering pump on the pick up. Major problem! I could not get the line off of the pump end, so cut the line and removed the pump to have a better chance at removing it - still haven’t. I also find it is impossible to remove the opposite end attached to the steering box. Not only is it located in an almost impossible position (at least I can see it), but it also the fitting is rusted into the steering box. While in the neighborhood, having the system already apart and partially disassembled, I decided I probably should also replace the low pressure side line too. It came off of the pump easily thanx to a snap fitting, but the end attached to the steering box is also rusted in! %$&^(*&^$C @P#&*&!!!

I really don’t want to take off the steering box to remove the two fittings. That would cause more problems than I really want to handle. Might try taking off the motor mount bracket which is in the way to get a direct shot with a socket. I tried to use wrenches, but cannot get enough leverage to budge them and just started to round them off. If that happens, I really will be up the creek. I have to do a bit more looking to see if I can remove part of the motor mount. The part that is in the way is an arm attaching to a small shock absorber to dampen engine vibration and torque. If I can just unbolt it (hopefully) I will be able to get a socket in there or possibly an impact wrench.

Mr. Ford could have had a better idea in putting the two lines coming into the steering box from the side, rather than on top of the box I think. As they are located now, all of the snow, ice, and crude lands on top of it and stays there, corroding everything into a mass of rust - hopefully not too deep into the casting. Makes things difficult, but I suppose easier for production in the first place. Sure wish mechanics were allowed to design/redesign things before production begins. I also would like to talk to the designers about the placement of the electric motor to shift into four wheel drive - move it from the low point on the transfer case to somewhere more protected from water and other damage.

We did make a sizable purchase on Tuesday while in Green Bay. Too expensive too, but everything is this day in age. I broke down and picked up a 4 drawer filing cabinet. I had bought a two drawer cabinet some years ago, but a cheap one. Margriet had a used the top of the drawer to open it, resulting in the front of the drawer being bent out of shape and it was hard to open and close. Not that it was particularly easy to start with. This one has a much better suspension system in it and really works well. Also a "name brand" so hope it lives up to it’s name. It also has a release on each drawer next to the pull handle, so maybe it will end the pulling from the top of the drawer front for both of us. It already is pretty full. I put much of the office "accessories" into it even though they are not files as such. That allowed us to remove one of the small sets of shelves from the living room too. Suspect that floor space will be filled with something before too long though, just different.

I have started the spring cleaning outside and Margriet has started the spring cleaning inside (at the moment the ceiling in the bathroom). The soil outside is still too wet to do too much, other than mostly inventory what needs to be done. I did pick up the rake and clean off the new flower bed and a bit of grass around it, in front of the house, but that really is about all I can do at the moment. At least Margriet will be able to get some flowers planted. Come to think of it, peas are supposed to be planted on Palm Sunday too, according to an old-wives tale. I still am also working on the driveway, hoping to get it back into shape again.

Tomorrow we have LSM. This month it is our annual retreat at one of the Synod’s Bible camps. This year it is near Clintonville. We are looking forward to the time there, even if it is for such a short time. Looking at the weather forecast, it appears to be a nice weekend in the works. We also will have a celebration, of sorts, for the 10th year of LSM. September, 1996 we started on this journey called Lay School of Ministry. Figuring on average we graduate about 25 students every year starting in 1998, and opened a second school in 1998, that is a lot of folks going through our doors, including myself and this year Margriet. For me it will end this year with the graduating of the class of 2006. Maybe I can take a class or two now, something I have not had time for in the past.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Cold, Wet, Tired!

4/2/06 3:55 pm.
38º F, Rain, SE wind 6 mph.

Good afternoon,

The rain is coming down and ir really feels cold outside today. There is a pretty good NASCAR race on the TV, so that warms things up some. There is a lot of beating and banging going on as it is a very short track.. Pretty much like when I was racing, but instead of 80º F we had closer to 0º F and we had a lot less money involved. Still - a lot of beating and banging making things interesting. Like that.

After church today we stopped at Penguin City for lunch. We have not been there for Sunday lunch before. For that matter we have never eaten off of their regular menu before. We had beef pasties and they were good, but not as good as Margriet’s. The place was not all that busy, so we enjoyed ourselves. The price was pretty good, so we just might try that again another Sunday or so. We like the smallness of the place and the folks who frequent it are mostly middle class folks and families.

The real shock was the price of gasoline - the price went up 10¢/gallon again! A gallon now costs $2.659/gallon. Way too high. It really is cutting into our driving anywhere. We have not moved a vehicle anywhere since going to church Wednesday night. Our electrical utility, WPS, announced yesterday they were asking permission for a rate increase starting in December. Just in time for cold weather. It will mean about $10.00 increase per month for the average user. We use less than the average I am sure, but still don’t need to spend more money. Maybe our rocking chair money will increase enough to take care of the increases, but I doubt it.

One thing a the moment which is helping FISKLAND’s economy is the exchange rate between the Euro and the dollar. At the moment the difference is increasing and so is our income. It is some frustrating to have the deposits not arrive on a particular date sometimes, but we will take the increase as long as we can.

Margriet and I served communion at church today at the second service. The attendance continues to be down for the late service. We still had the same number of communion glasses to wash afterwards, but not as much wine - the extra is recycled. I also was the acolyte too. Just before the service started, the phone rang and I answered. It was the mother, and council member, saying they were not going to make it as they were somewhere in Indiana on their way home. Her son was supposed to fulfill the job, but apparently forgot to get someone to fill in for him. Oh well, I a pretty good at starting fires.

The weatherman is predicting very high winds again, starting tonight and going through all day tomorrow. Kite flying weather! Also predicting rain and possibly some snow mixed in too. The countryside has dried up very nicely this year. Much better than the past several year. The new drain under the driveway worked very well. There still is one spot in the driveway which is pretty muddy, but I am working on moving the high to the low.

We still have not heard back from Microsoft, so Margriet doesn't have access to the internet. She and I are very grumpy, especially her, about not having it repaired. Sure hope we can get this resolved soon. I did email Onno (the family computer guru) to see if he any suggestions. Wish he were a whole bunch closer! He did come up with the idea that it probably is this computer not recognizing Margriet's new operating system, but I don't know how to take care of the situation. I have run the LAN set-up program I think 14 times now and still no changes.

It is my little brother's birthday today. He gave everyone a present I think - an hour less sleep last night. Daylight saving time started.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><