Nice day today.

5:04 pm.
80º F, Hot sunshine, W wind 4 mph.

Good afternoon,

Have you used one of these? I have - a lot. Not one this fancy though. I think it was at one of the German farms, but not all that sure. This one is made of some pretty solid oak, from about 3"x5" members. The joints are all dados and wedge locked tenons. Very well built. There also were several buck saws around to be used on these sawbucks and for other uses. I haven’t used a buck saw for a number of years, but have the saw buck much-ly. Normally with a chainsaw. The present one I use is made from a couple of 10' logs resting on a couple of shorter logs to raise it off of the ground some. That way I can put a whole log on it at one time and cut it into firewood blocks. Not too sure how those at the museum held shorter pieces as there is not tray in the V of the legs. They would split a longer log into firewood sized pieces most often, then cut it to firewood lengths. I use a power splitter, so buck to length first. Should make one like this - just to have around. Those at Old World were used to give the groups of kids coming through to get a "feel" of wood cutting. An easy way to get all of the firewood cut the interpreters use in the wood ranges for the baking and cooking demonstrations too.

The motel was great, owned and operated by a family from India. The owner was behind the desk and very talkative. Turns out he, and his wife, both are very well educated and hold engineering degrees. Both had interesting roads in their lives so far. The each spent time working for others and completing their education on several scholarships. Now, besides owning the motel and a couple of others, each have their own manufacturing businesses. He designs and manufactures dental tools. He has no employees or no manufacturing facilities - everything is done with sub-contractors all over the world via computer mostly. Interesting concept. His comment was something along the line of, "Why bother with all the hassle and we can spend more time with the family." I applaud him for the thought, but it seems he really isn’t spending that much time with his family it seems.

When we checked into the motel, we requested a smoking room, only to find that it was non-smoking when we got to the door. I went back to the desk to get a different room, but the smoking rooms available for us was on the second floor. I asked if there were any on the first floor and he said no. Then said there was a smoking suite on the first floor and he would let us have. OK! It was the same price, so I said OK. He also said that it had a whirlpool tub and king sized bed in it too! The big bed was not a big deal for us as one needs a road map to find the other in it. By far this was the fanciest room we have ever had in a motel! Neither one of us had ever actually used one, so this would be another adventure. Margriet found it was a bit much for her, but I really enjoyed the use. Guess I could have stayed there for a long time. Really nice.


We don't know what the prmotion is that Whitewater has going on, but all the street lamp posts have wooden chairs hanging from them, decorated by various artists. This one is painted yellow and has holes in it at random as a piece of cheese with a mouse chewing on it. There were several "mice" also attached to the chair or looking out from one of the holes. Kind of cool, but not sure the reason. Guess they are trying to keep up with Madison's cows and Appleton's butterflies and frogs on their respective main streets. Seems to be better to look up at them, rather than looking down at cracked sidewalks!

I did manage to walk down the driveway and clean out the overhanging branches on one side of it. The breeze was right to keep the mosquitoes off for most of it. I also mowed the driveway center and some of the edges. That was a lot harder, since the wind was not in my favor, so had to wear a long sleeved shirt, and my hips started to talk to me. After cutting some, the mower just stopped. No matter how hard I tried it would not start. Then I found that a weed or branch had taken off the plug wire! I really didn’t have such nice thoughts for a couple of moments and grunts. There still is much lawn to mow, but will do it in short spirts.

We have a new neighbor and lost another. There was a dead female cardinal on the ground outside of the backdoor. It probably means there are two or three chicks that also will die in a short time. Cardinals are fairly rare, so hate to see that happen. Suspect it flew into a bedroom window as it was just below one. Our new neighbor has taken up residence outside of the bathroom window - a chipmunk! He has a burrow started, but will try to dispatch is fairly soon. They can cause a bunch of problems, given a chance. We don’t have many of them around here and hope it will stay that way.

The garden is still intact. All of our potatoes are up now, so will need to hill them along with the leeks. I think we will not have a crop of radishes as they seem to have bolted. Probably will replant them again. A couple of the broccoli plants are starting to form heads. We will keep a very close eye on them as we really like broccoli. The peas are in full bloom and should be setting fruit soon too. I have to get some poles up for the pole beans too. They are starting to set runners and now is the time. Saw lots of beans being grown at Old World as they were a big crop in the good old days. All were pole beans. Ours are ahead of theirs though. Most of the garden looks to be in pretty good shape. Looking forward to the profits of our efforts. It will not be long before the raspberries start producing too. The black raspberries at Old World were starting to ripen, farther south than we are, and I snitched a couple from the bushes in the woods. Also sampled some mulberries too. They have a lot of trees there which are loaded. Almost can taste the pies and jams made from them.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><