Troll-ing

06/21/06, 6:23 am.
55º F, Cloudy/wet, SE wind 6 mph.

Good morning,

What a beautiful day Monday! It was some hot, getting up into the 80's, and there were a bit of a threat of thunderstorms in the afternoon which never came, but over all - beautiful. Tuesday was a carbon copy. This kind of weather is tolerable. I noticed the high for Monday was in 1995 with a temperature of 95º F. I remember that summer as one very hot, starting in the spring and lasting until well into the fall. The humidity and mosquitos were also oppressive.

These little critters, trolls, were all over the Little Norway grounds. Seemed like there were a thousand or so hiding everywhere (as this one in a dead tree trunk) and some out on plain view. Some were small, like this one and others huge, carved from tree trunks or trees. Like I said they are for the most part so ugly that one might consider them cute! Guess the winters for Norwegians are very long and cold. They must have sat rather close to the woodstove and done a lot of carving. Not only little critters, but much decoration of their homes and buildings, besides creating many useful tools and utensils. Like if it could be made from wood - it was. They even had a version of wooden shoes. Much craftsmanship and creativity went into their work.

Yesterday was Bible study day and the last of the unit we have been working on for several weeks. That means we will be going to breakfast next week. This time in Casco. We had a pretty good discussion, even though we took a couple of left turns here and there. At one point we got into a discussion of what the word debauchery means. Seems everyone knows how to use it, but unable to really explain it’s meaning. When I got home, I opened up the dictionary on this machine and looked it up. The list of related words is 30 words! Kind of interesting.

It seems weird since not leading the study any more not to be in the process of preparing for the next unit. Normally I would be putting the last touches on the next workbook and printing it out. The many hours of writing in the past, seem to have disappeared into other tasks. Don’t know what happened to the "extra" time not building workbooks. I do enjoy the research and writing of the workbooks, but had gotten some stale and burned out.

After getting home yesterday, Margriet filled the house with the smells of sourdough. That is a very pleasant aroma, especially when the "dough" is in the pan and baking. We now have three new loaves of bread and a small batch of "Ghost Town Cookies" to dispose of. What a chore! She started the process before we went to Bible study, knowing we would not be going to Green Bay on a supply run. If that what it takes for fresh bread and cookies, we might not be going to Green Bay much. Of course my waistline really doesn’t need it.

I made sure that I watered the garden yesterday. Was a good thing too, because it meant we would have rain during the night. It really boomed, flashed, and poured about midnight last night. Margriet had closed most of the windows (we have not had any closed for many days now) in the house during the early evening, but there were a few still open. Got up to close them and watch the fireworks a bit. Cool! Besides the garden getting a good drink and the mosquitos enjoying it, no problems that I know of.

I have been working some on a couple of projects around here in-between mosquitos and sweat drops. I think I have the rabbit defense more or less complete. At least I think they cannot get into the garden. I do need to put some more-or-less permanent posts in and some kind of a gate for access. Dealing with chicken wire and hardware cloth have produced numerous nicks, cuts, and holes in my body. Nothing big, but very irritating when I start having red leaks in my hands and forearms. What normally would be something to ignore, it is a little more difficult when the blood thinners I am on cause the leak not to stop right away. Oh well.

Another little project is putting up a "bench" in the outhouse. Actually it is part of a display from Dale’s which he through out made from f" particle board. It will not be a heavy duty bench, but at least I will have some kind of a work surface to sharpen tools and such on. It also will provide someplace to put things in there - out of the way. Need to get organized! Want to get some of the stuff I have been "storing" on the sun porch out there. I have a couple of small projects I want to do, but need a place inside to do them.

IF the lawn drys out this afternoon, it is time to chew on the lawn a bit. It is not as high as I thought it would be after coming back form our last sojourn, but now it needs to be trimmed. I also need to walk the driveway with a clippers and remove the new growth encroaching on it. I kind of hate to cut some of it as they are wild roses. They have more or less bloomed out. I really like them. There are many other wild flowers starting to bloom now too. They continue all summer. One of the really nice things in this area.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><