We are really getting good at sweating!!

July 31, 2006 (12:24pm)
92º F, HOT, S wind 8 mph.

Good afternoon,

I am melting! The temperature is over 90º F and going up for at least a couple of hours yet. The heat index is at 102º F, but it feels cooler than that! The weather station in Algoma is a "cool" 79º F at the moment. Wonder what it is on the waterline. Bet it is about 10º F less. The weather folks are saying it will be some warmer tomorrow. Records are expected to be broken today and tomorrow. Anything green around here is drooping. Even the dead trees have their branches drooping too!

We will be heading to North Dakota after the Holy Conference. We haven’t seen Sue and Don for a while and it is only about a day’s drive. We haven’t seen the for a time, missing them when they came to Oshkosh a couple of weeks ago, thanx to the heat. Don is flying to see his son off to Iraq from Arkansas on Wednesday and we will ride along to pick him up on Monday evening. Want to have a look at the Fargo Intergalactic Flight Terminal! Oh yes - to see Don too.

We don’t have any real definite plans for our trip home, but probably will take a crooked road home. Margriet has been searching the web and the propaganda we picked up last time we were out there. She is finding things in the area she would like to see. I really have to chuckle, as that is the same as I was, but it is more fun now to let her do it and enjoy her "discoveries." Wonder what goodies we will investigate. Mostly I bet the stops will have a lot to do with history.

This past Saturday evening, church had it’s annual trout boil. The food sure was good and I ate too much - again. This year there were a lot more other folks sharing the park we use. It is on the banks of West Alaska Lake and the cool water attracted them I am sure. Our group was smaller than past years, probably also because of the heat. One family provides the trout, potatoes, carrots, and onions along with the equipment for boil. Another member brings over a very large homemade grill and puts a bushel of sweet corn on it along with some hotdogs. He also brings the picnic tables, on a special built trailer for the occasion. The rest of the folks bring a dish to pass, so there is more than enough to eat. All good too! We had a nice time, even though it was some warm. At least there was a breeze and I kept in it and the shade. I had thought about doing some fishing while there, but with all of the folks there and most swimming, no chance. Probably would have caught the wrong kind of fish.

Been noticing the past couple of weekends the number of sport fishermen have increased. The numbers are not what they have been in the past, but more than the rest of the summer so far. In the past the trucks and trailers would be parked on the grass alongside the parking lot and in another lot across the street. There as some on the grass, but only 3-4. There are still empty slips in the harbor too. What really surprises me is the number of motorhomes parked in the campground at the landing and around the harbor. Never seen that many before. Not many tents, but expect there isn’t much room for them this year. Usually most sites are taken by tents, with maybe a half dozen motorhomes and trailers. Have not heard of any great fish stories, so don’t expect they are biting better than normal. I think there is some kind of a fishing tournament going on too, but not too sure.

Our email has been causing a lot o problems today. Most of the trouble came down to a very long email one of my cousins sent to us. After a couple of hours waiting for it to download, it decided it had tried enough, and shut down. I tried again and the password would not be recognized by Outlook. Finally went to itol’s website to open the mail there, no soap there either after trying several times. I got different error messages on the web though. Trying to solve the problem, I tried to delete them from the website and got a whole new set of error messages and everything locked up. After all of the fooling around, I was able to contact itol on their help web page. It finally resolved itself after basically walking away from the computer in the "receive mail" mode for a couple more hours. I did get a call from itol asking if things were OK, not too long after the mail was received. Now the ISP is dropping off very often causing another kind of frustration!

Suppose I had get the camp stove set up and build some more iced tea. Margriet took a small package of ribs out of the freezer this morning for supper. She had an urge to make them sweet-and-sour this time. Indonesian style I think she said. Anyway she does them I know they will be good - got some experience with her cooking. Too hot to do it inside, so the camp stove for that too. Is it supper time yet? Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Soon we will just be two puddles!

July 30, 2006 (4:18pm)
77º F, Cloudy, N wind 2 mph.

Good afternoon,

It is finally cooling down a bit. Started the day with a pretty good old-fashioned thunder storm. High winds, 42 mph, lots of rain, .6", with a lot of thunder and lightening too. Further west and also south, they really got nailed with more wind and rain. Some hail too. One of the weather guys said that there was hail 3½" that would get your attention if it landed on your head! I tend to agree, but unconscious might be more accurate. We actually played hooky from church today as the rain and wind was at it’s worst about the time we should go. Decided it really nice to enjoy the rain and cooling air. Temperature mad it to the mid to upper 80's today, before heading down again now as another rain front is coming through at the moment.

The heat has been unbearable for the past few days. It has been almost as oppressive as I can remember. We feel like an ice-cream cone melting in our seats. Our energy has also been sapped more than in the past for some reason too. Not too much as been accomplished. The best thing we are doing is sitting in front of a fan, letting the sweat run - somewhere. I got out the camp stove and set it up on the deck to cook on Friday. At least I was able to keep some heat out of the house while I made some Southern Fried chicken for supper. Margriet thank me as she was about at the end of her rope. I had forgotten how hot the little stove can get in a hurry. Almost burned the chicken while searing the first side. Operative word is "almost." There was enough leftover for me for lunch yesterday to eat cold. It wasn’t to bad either.

We are drinking a lot of iced tea, some also made on the camp stove, so it seems there is always some steeping and ready for the refrigerator as the previous batch is about gone. Much rather drink coffee, hot, but know I will drink more of a cool drink than a hot one. We have been doing almost no physical activity of any kind, so have to make sure we keep taking liquids, even though it doesn’t feel like we need to.

Our gold finches are having a hard time this year outside of the window. The thistles are having a hard time this year, so providing very few flowers and seeds for the finches. As a result we don’t see more than one or two. Don’t know where they are getting food, but it ain’t here. They are pretty though and we enjoy those that come very much. Hope there will be more here again next year.

On Wednesday, Margriet decided to bake bread, even though it was way too hot to do so. The house really got a bit warm in the process! I must be honest, the results were delicious. True I had to do a lot of quality control testing as soon as it came out of the oven. Well as soon as it was cool enough to cut. It was soooooooooooooooooooo good with the new batch of honey butter she also made. Because it was so warm, the batch that she made normally is right for two loaves, but it rose so much that it made three. Actually it was too much for three too, should have been about 5 loaves I think. The bread in the pans was HUGE! Guess Margriet is really getting Americanized as she really has really gotten the hang of sourdough baking. At least of bread and cookies. That’s all I need! Homemade bread and cookies

.
A week or so ago, I paid the last of our property taxes. Low and behold, in the mail I got a letter and a check from Kewaunee County. I had paid too much! When I read the statement, I transposed two numbers in the amount, so paid $9.00 too much! Never thought I would see the day when I would get money back on taxes for any reason! Nice for a change.

Time to get a-going. More sweating to do!

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Hot it are!

July 26, 2006 (12:14pm)
78º F, HOT, W wind 5 mph.

Good afternoon,

Yup! Summer has really arrived! The humidity is higher than the temperature again. In the last day and a half we have had almost 2" of rain total. Last night was the worst for folks northwest of us, with several thousands of homes without power, even this morning yet. Looks to be the same or similar for the rest of the week and into early next week.

We took yesterday off and went to the big city, thinking the weather man would be right telling us there would be off and on rain all day. It didn’t start to rain until late afternoon, but he was right about the hot part. We really didn’t all that much to buy, but still spent some money. We did have a few things we needed though. One of the things I ran across was a new pair of shoes. The prices have gone through the roof of late, so have pretty much put a new pair out of the picture for the moment at least. Instead I found a pair of Herman Survivor’s for about $60.00 less than the other pairs I have seen. I bought them. They are still way too high for my thoughts and hope they too will last about 10 years as my present pair has. The present pair isn’t close to being worn out yet, but are really pretty scruffy to wear, other than for working around here. Survivor’s are supposed to be a good brand. They have been in business for about 150 years, but see this pair is made in China. What else is new?

After picking up our groceries, we made our usual stop at the store’s gas station. In the past they have given a 3¢/gallon discount on gasoline if you purchased some groceries there. Apparently some of their competition has not cared for the practice, as the state has now declared the practice against the law as of August 1st. They have replaced it with a deal that if you buy $50.00 worth of groceries (not as hard as it used to be), they will give a dollar off of a $30.00 gasoline purchase (not as hard as it used to be) instead. Actually it works out to be about a 10% discount, which is about the same as 3¢/gallon discount at present prices of gasoline. I like that part, but normally we try to buy less than $50.00 worth of groceries!

Since everything is so entirely wet outside, I spent much of the morning getting things ready for our trip to the Holy Spirit Conference next week. While I pretty much know how to get to Minneapolis/St. Paul, I am not as sure of how to get to the church the conference is held in. Also we are staying at a different motel this time, hopefully to avoid driving as much on the super slabs in those towns. We will be staying a bit northwest fo the church this time, about 5 miles distance. Actually closer than before.

Margriet has made some mention fo going to the headwaters of the Mississippi River, but I am not too sure of that. It is northwest of the Twin Cities nearly a days drive. The extra cost would be about $100.00 for gas and lots for a motel room. The cost of room is about 35-40% higher. Don’t like that part a whole lot. Truth be told, I too would like to go there, just to be able to say I was at the beginning of the Great River. Not too sure if I am that much liking the trip though.

One other thing I picked up yesterday was a magazine, "The Backwoodsman" (http://www.backwoodsmanmag.com)/). I normally don’t get the magazine very often but this one had an article which caught my eye. One other article was written by a then young boy who homesteaded in upper Saskatchewan in the spring of 1930, just before the depression. The family of nine moved there from Detroit, Michigan. The article is very interesting, especially since a good portion of the article is memories of the "everyday" life on a real homestead of the time. Must have been interesting with seven kids going to a chunk of real estate with nothing, literally, on or near it. From the sounds of it, they traveled by horse and wagon, at least for the last part of the trip. Good thing the property at least had trees on it to build a shelter for them to start with. The story would make an interesting movie, but probably only for nuts like me and fortunately there are not enough of us around to make it profitable.

Bible study was pretty good yesterday. I really don’t like the series of workbooks we are using, as they don’t go deep enough for the two of us. We like to get under the surface more.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Stop work

July 24, 2006 (4:34pm)
74º F, Rain’s a-coming, SE wind 12 mph.

Good afternoon,

I just got chased in by a very black sky and dead calm wind. Now the wind has picked up again. There are thunderstorm watches out until 7:00 P.M. I have been watching the radar with all kinds of orange and red spots, with a lot of yellow surrounding them, heading this way. So far, they ave fallen apart before arriving here, but there is 1½" hail covering the ground in Menominee and a tornado sighted near Zachow. We can use the rain, but really would like it in a slow form. Just looked at the Green Bay webcam and it is night there! Only the street lights are visible.

The water problem is progressing and regressing. I got down to the level of the well end, but it is covered with groundwater. I will not open it with that - don’t want no ground water in the well! I also discovered the outlet is about 90º off from the side of the well casing where I have dug. I followed the electrical connection down, as it lined up with the service extension on the water line, coming to the top of the well casing. I didn’t notice that is was not perfectly vertical inside of the well casing. The upshot of the deal is that I will be splicing the water line some place outside of the house under the frost line. It ain’t according to code, but I will not tell them about it.

I did find the pipe as it passes outside of the house. As I suspected, about two feet inside, it takes a downward plunge toward the well. The copper tubing doesn’t look damaged from what I can see at the exist, but I will assume it is, until I can get down to the frost line. I know I will not bury the line, but it sure will be insulated and with something other than fiberglass, which is like a sponge holding any water. The point of exit is directly under the back door - centered under it! I had to take out a section of the rear deck to get at it. The back door at the moment is operable, but not one to use as it is a very big first step. I will cover it over with a temporary deck that I can move as necessary.

5:11 pm.

The rains have come and so has the wind. A severe storm warning is up for us not until 7:00 P.M. wind gusts at the moment are about 35 mph. It are getting cooler too - temperature is now 69º F, down from a high of 86º F at about 2:00 P.M. It appears we will be having similar weather, hot and rain storms, for the rest of the week.
I am not too sure how I am going to splice the water line. I would like to put PEX in, but not sure how or what fittings are available for that. Suspect it will be more expensive than I want. At present the connection to the house is with a flare fitting. Hope if I have to use copper, I can use a compression fitting. Don’t really want to buy a flaring tool for a line that large. Doubt if I will have another use for it - ever.

7:10 pm.

The power went off, so this shut down, and we have now eaten supper - very good baked chicken and stir-fry vegetables. No leftovers for a change. I think we have gotten about ½-1" of rain it the time too. Looks to be some rain coming down for a time yet tonight.

I am surprised with all of the unusual exercise I have been doing, my knee and hips have not been causing much problems. I am feeling some muscles that I have not used in recent times. The sweat glands have really been getting some exercise too.

We have made our reservations for the Holy Spirit Conference today. Finally calling the folks at the motel and it is all set up. I should be better than what we have had in the past and a bit less expensive. We should be leaving her early on the 2nd and returning sometime on the 6th. We are very concerned by the price of gasoline, so will be going on the cheap as much as possible. Last year we ate at the conference and found the food very expensive and not that good. We probably will take eats along and eat one meal a day at a restaurant each day.

Thunder is still booming and it's time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Surprises

July 21, 2006 (12:06pm)
66º F, Wonderful cool, NNW wind 10 mph.

Good afternoon,

Oh is this nice weather or what. The temperature at noon was 66º F with a really nice breeze blowing. I know this is short lived, but we really enjoy it while it lasts. All of the windows in the house are open and have been for several days, other than during the rain. It really is nice to wake up in the morning, listening to the birds and critters wake up too. The last rain we got was officially measured at less than .1", but looking at things here, we had closer to 1.5-2" of rain. The driveway tracks were filled with water, looking just like it did this spring! It will drain off much more rapidly this time of year.

We went to Birchwood for cheap chicken last night. We go early to avoid the farmer’s rush, but instead they were very busy with a couple of groups of Czech dancers from the County Fair. I think they had a special program yesterday. We had to wait for a time until a table cleared. The bar area was also pretty filled with folks waiting to eat also. Talking to the gal seating us, she said that last week a group of 270 people came in, unannounced, for the cheap chicken. Needless to say, they were swamped and we were happy we weren’t there. I know they aren’t set up for that many, so bet the folks ate in shifts! I asked our waitress if when she went home at night, after a busy night, if she was any shorter than when she woke up. She said she had not thought about that but maybe it would be a good idea to check. Anywho, the food was excellent as always.

We just had a weird experience. Margriet started to make some toasted cheese sandwiches for lunch and the range would not light! Since we were in a bit of a hurry (my belly-button was chewing on my backbone) I lit the burner with a match to check out the situation after lunch. Just did that. In the process of clearing off the stove so I could move it with out messing up the place, I noticed that one of the cutting boards was missing that normally takes up residence next to the stove. It had fallen down behind the stove, knocking the electrical plug wacky just enough to not make a connection. I tipped the range forward and re-plugged it. That was an easy fix, but a goofy cause. Sandwiches were good and gone!

Margriet was on one of the forums she participates in and found a picture of a Goggomobile (small, old, German car) one member had on one of his replies. That started some curiosity in her, so looked up the website ( http://www.goggomobil.com/ehome/ehome.html ). Of course she had to send it to me, and I HAD to look at it too. It turns out to be one of great interest to me and really good. There are lots of things to look at. I spent way too much time, but it is all Margriet’s fault! ;-) Some of the pages are in German, but there is an English section for most of the site. Found out we call turn signals by the incorrect name - they really are winkers! They also had an accessory you can add to the car in the form of flower vases! About a dozen different styles too. Maybe that was the forerunner of air-fresheners. I will go back to the site to look more. She also found another car, Wartburg, I had never heard of, but she knew and had in her family years past.

7:47 pm.
66º F, Cloudy, NNW wind 1 mph.

So after a lot of wiggling, grunting, squirming, crawling, and getting plumb grubby, but no naughty words, I think I have found the leak in the plumbing this afternoon. Totally not where I expected though and I found an additional surprise too. The leak apparently is in the incoming line from the well head, "underground" to the connection with the house. Actually, a piece of copper tubing was wrapped with a little fiberglass insulation, laid on the ground, then covered with the ground cover in the crawl space. I have a feeling the pipe also froze the first winter we were here when the LP provider turned off the gas when the tanks were changed, causing the heat to be off for several days. It has not been getting better since then and I didn’t notice it until a few days ago.

The task of replacing the main line will indeed not be fun. Of course it runs to the opposite side of the house from the well. I know the well end is about four feet down and rises to the surface under the house. I will have to dig it up in order to replace it. Actually the outside end will be the easy end as I don’t need to do it on my belly in a crawl space. Not too sure how I will accomplish the task yet. I am thinking fo using Pex tubing instead of copper. It should be able to take freezing better than copper. The copper is connected to the house with a flange fitting, but I don’t know how it is connected on the other end - yet.

The surprise I found was the shower drain leaks while checking the plumbing. All the new piping I put in still doesn’t leak and appears to be in good shape. I found the drain leak before the main line leak and thought maybe it was the cause of the water under the vapor barrier., but it really didn’t really make sense as there was too much water showing to be from 2-4 showers a day. Should be an interesting bit it exercise for me in the near future.

I was using a piece of used Masonite to keep be out of the wet under the house. The piece I had was too short, so went to get some ¼" OSB that came with the house to extend my slide way. When I pulled the piece out, I was almost covered with small ants in a few seconds. Apparently they used the space between the sheets as their home. I also found out that they bite too! The OSB turned black almost at once. I really was surprised as the OSB is stored on the rafter ties in the shed. Got out the insect spray and I think I took care of a bunch of them, but will have to follow it up another day.

The shower will also need some attention fairly soon. The real problem is the shower was put in just before we bought the place, but was never really totally installed. I didn’t notice that until after we had used it for a couple of weeks, then did the finally sealing on the walls and the base. Apparently the drain flange was not tightened sufficiently when it was installed. The problem mainly is that there is no way to get at it without tearing out the shower totally and it is glued in place. When I take it out, it probably will be destroyed. It really is not the world’s greatest shower in the first place, even if it were installed completely and correctly.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Cool Man!

July 19, 2006 (12:34pm)
76º F, Partly Cloudy, SSE wind 7 mph.

Good afternoon,

it’s cool here! It really feels so nice today. The humidity is climbing, as is the temperature, but it is so different than the past days. Really nice sleeping weather too. Now if it would only stay like this until the snow starts to fall on the 1st of September, I really would be happy. At least about the weather. Officially, we have gotten only .01" of rain this month, about 2" behind "normal" rain fall. The area is really starting to show it too. The weatherman is predicting some possible storms tonight with up to an inch of rain falling. Hope it does. Our grass is still green here, but we are some lower than the surrounding area.

The biggest thing on the agenda for yesterday, after Bible Study, was paying the second half of our property taxes. Setting up the cover letter in this machine, I noticed that we paid the taxes on the same day last year. This time the bill was 48¢ higher though. The little difference in the amount kind of surprised me. A am some happy with that and would like to see that continue, but know it will not. A guy can dream can’t he?

Bible study yesterday went, but on the long side. We are having the church carpeting cleaned, half this week and half last week. The front doors had a sign on them saying we should use the side door, so we went there, only to find a sign saying we should use the fellowship hall door. When we got to that door, it was locked! Fortunately I have a church key (not the kind you open a can of beer with) so went to the car to get it and let us in. I gave the secretary a hard time about the run around and locked door. She said that Pastor had put up the signs and had "unlocked" the door. Hmmmmm! Anywho, we did have a pretty good study, but were limited to one room and could hear the floor cleaning machine too well.

One of my friends, the other half of the bass section in choir, I found out is really having some serious health problems. Dan just went through a divorce (I know not the reason) and then broke his back in an automobile accident. Now he has an infection which the doctors are not able to control. Talking to one of his daughters on Sunday, she said that his is taking chemo to try and eliminate the infection. I had never heard of that before, but he is totally sick from the chemo. Because of all of this, his business I am sure is in serious trouble too. One of the Bible study folks said that he personally is in really "deep financial straits," which doesn’t surprise me at all. He is most defiantly in our knee time, as is his family.

Putting in a post next to the house yesterday to replace the rear deck posts and deck. I found several much wasps in the hole from the old post. On further investigation, I found there was a slow trickle of water running into the hole also. After dispatching the wasps, I found the water was coming from under the house! Not a good thing! There must be a leak in our plumbing system somewhere. I started to pull one of the metal skirt pieces out and had more water leaking, much more rapidly. Apparently the water is under the vapor barrier and running to the low side, where the deck is. It is a problem that I cannot ignore. I dug a test hole about two feet from the structure, where I also want to put the new post. To see how far the water problem extends. The hole was dry, so continued to enlarge it and dropped a 6"x6" post into it. Am in the process of back filling the post, then will tear into the leak problem. I was also pleasantly surprised to find a layer of stones almost four feet down that I could not penetrate with the post hole digger. While the post bottom will be about 2" short of four feet down as I had planned, but will be a really good foundation for the post.

After I finish back filling the post, I will tear into the leak problem. Not really looking forward to crawling under the house either. I will take off one piece of skirting and then provide a trench for the accumulated water to run off some first. I suspect the vapor barrier is floating on the water more or less, or at least a layer of soupy mud. Want to get it away from the building as much as possible so it doesn’t interfere with the other work I need to do. The old posts were 4"x4", put down only about two feet. Above the frost line which caused them to lift each spring. By putting in these at four feet, they shouldn’t move - I hope. In the process, we should have a new deck and the sunporch stabilized some too. Always something.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Down and down

July 17, 2006 (3:49pm)
88º F, Big drop rain, NNW wind 5 mph.

Good afternoon,

Finally some rain and the temperature dropped about 5º in 5 minutes. Hope it will continue to come down - the rain and the temperature! It has been a boiler for the past few days. Feels like living in a sauna, but with high humidity. Not too sure what the temperature topped at so far today, but am pretty sure it was close to 100º F - very close, with the humidity about the same. Yesterday was also hot, actually hotter than today, but the church was reasonably cool. There was a pretty stiff breeze before and during the service, but almost as soon as it was over, so was the wind. The afternoon was exceedingly hot!

Our little garden is really taking a beating in this hot weather. I think the peas are over with, as the all dried out an fell to the ground yesterday. The broccoli has also bolted, so don’t think we will get any from that, unless a "second" crop after I cut the blossoms off. Lettuce is really looking puny too. The old rose is blooming (very pretty) and that really surprised me. It looks for all the world to be on it’s dying legs, and has for several years, but just will not give up.

We are very grateful for the rain. Hope it has the long slow rain we need so badly. At the moment, the raindrops are huge and far apart. That would be good to continue for a couple of hours at least. If there was a stronger wind, to keep the mosquitoes off, I would be out standing in the rain and getting cooled off. Don’t think I would even worry about taking a bar of soap out with me. Rain water is soft - right?

I mentioned the old courthouse in Crystal Falls when we stopped to get some stamps. Here is one of the pictures Margriet took of it. On both, the top of the "steeple" was cut off of the photograph for some reason. The two new additions are on either side of the building. It really looks nice and much nicer than in the picture taken in 1904 we found on the web. It really is a cool building and really good to see the powers that be, didn’t tear it down to put up a new one would have been nice to stay there and do a bit of investigation of the building and the area. Maybe next time!

While we were up in the U.P., we both said it would be a nice place to live, given the lack of really big cities and their associated problems. There is a pretty good influx of folks for the snow skiing season. Just for the heck of it, I did some searching on the web to see what is for sale in that area. What I found was that the properties in the western part are rather reasonable, for the most part. It seems the farther east and the closer to Wisconsin you get, the higher the prices. I have been primarily looking at rural real estate, now wanting to land in a town or city again. There are some interesting properties near Crystal Falls along the Iron River. Some of the places don’t have electricity or phone to the properties yet! Interesting! Guess that is why they call it "up nort’!" Do wish we were 20 or 30 years younger though.

In the process of looking, we have discovered a couple of really interesting websites. One it the U. S. Geological Survey site with topographical maps and corresponding aerial photographs. It is really cool to look at a map, then switch to see what the actual photograph looks like. By in large, the topographical maps were make in 1975 and the photos were taken in 1998. Often there is some difference, especially when folks are building and adding roads, &c. Also discovered there are many mines in the area, some are still visible in the photos. Most have not been in operation for many years. We drove through the area, so it is even more fun to look at properties and maps/photos of the area. Margriet has also been busy looking up some of the things we saw, as well as the history of the area. It is interesting for sure. At least to us.

The searching is also a good diversion from the heat. Doesn’t take a lot of sweat to accomplish. The temperature has dropped about 25º F since starting this and the severe storm warnings are starting to go up. Feels a bunch better now too. Maybe we will have a reasonably good night's sleep for a change.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Is it sweating or glowing?

July 15, 2006 (12:17pm)
92º F, Sunny/hot, W wind 10 mph.

Good afternoon,

I think summer she here! We hit 90º F before noon, so you know it will be a hot day when the real hot part of the day arrives. The breeze is a saving factor, but just barely. The sun is so hot, that it precludes any serious outdoor activity today. At least for these old folks. We can always head east until our hats start to float if it really gets too hot for us.

This is another one of those do-little days. In spite of that, Margriet thought it would be a good day to do the laundry. With all of the humidity, I think it will have a hard time drying, even with the breeze. Guess she doesn’t listen to me when I told her to take it easy and wait a couple of days when the temperature should be a bit less. We ain’t going anywhere and haven’t moved or started the van since Wednesday when I had to get my monthly supply of medications. Don’t think it will move, except to go to church tomorrow morning.

This weekend is Kewaunee’s TroutFest, but I don’t think we will make it this year. There is a classic car show in one of the downtown streets I would enjoy going to, but think it will wait until next year. Wonder how many of the runners and bicyclists will drop out or not start this year. I don’t even what to go an watch them today. Some of the bicyclists may come by her on Winding Road, but am not sure. They have in the past. We are supposed to head to Oshkosh tomorrow after church to meet up with our friends, Don and Sue, from North Dakota for a "family" picnic at Sue’s mother’s home. Don’t think we will make it. I really want to drive in the heat, or returning late home again. Neither does my Woman. Guess we are getting cautious in our old age. Neither one of us tolerate that much heat well. They are talking of temperatures of over 100º F for tomorrow in Oshkosh. We missed them this winter too, thanx to a snowstorm and a tight schedule for Sue and Don.

On the way home from the Porky’s, we needed stamps for the postcards we had to send. We forgot to bring them from home! At least we remembered the addresses this time! On our way out of Iron River, we kept looking for the postoffice, but of course didn’t. Thought we would have a better chance in a smaller town and we did. The next town down the road was Crystal Falls, and I spied the postoffice about a block off of the highway. What I didn’t realize, the town also was the county seat. The county courthouse was next to the postoffice and a beautiful Lutheran church across the street. I told Margriet to take some pictures of the really cool courthouse while I got the stamps.

The church also intrigued her and she decided to take pictures of it also. While reading the plaque in front, she noticed the church was a Swedish church originally and had a neat history, including the bell in front, no longer used. On it was the story of it creation and use on the church. One of the folks, apparently the church council at the time, is "O. Nelson," on the third from the bottom line on the left. My Dad’s name! Probably not, but there is more then one Nelson around, even then. I am not too sure when the bell was cast, but the inscription was written in Swedish, so think it was a fairly long time ago.

The street with the three buildings on it go up a pretty steep hill. It appears it was the "center of town" at one time, with the courthouse at the top of the hill and ending the street. The courthouse was built in 1890 and still in use. There are additions on either side now. Glad to see it is still there and not torn down. The postoffice is one build at the same time the Kewaunee postoffice was built, in the 30's and of the same architecture. As it turned out, our forgetfulness turned out to be a really good thing.

I have a macaroni/chicken in the process of being built, chicken and macaroni cooling. In a couple of hours I will throw it together with a bunch of other things and call it supper, with a slice of homemade sourdough bread with homemade honey butter. In the meantime I think we both will be consuming a lot of iced tea and like that. Have to provide something in our bodies to sweat out!

Time to get a-sweating more.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Pork's - climb or stand?

July 14, 2006 (12:03pm).
78º F, Cloudy, SW wind 2 mph.

Good afternoon,

The temperature above really belies the feel of the weather. It feels very hot and humid. Sounds like this will be about the lowest high temperature for the next week. There is a band of rain to our west, heading north. We don’t expect to be wet from it, other than the associated humidity covering us. If the wind would switch to the SE, the temperature and humidity should drop, but I don’t think the wind will shift. We could use some rain however. Nice and slow.

We had a real event north of us in Door County, Ellison Bay, on Monday. Apparently there was a gas explosion in a tourist cabin, literally blowing it to pieces. Two parents from lower Michigan on vacation were killed and three of their four children very seriously injured. A maintenance building also was damaged by a separate explosion, as was a historic grocery store, nearly a block away, totally destroyed. There also were 10 other seriously injured and hospitalized. At first the explosions were blamed on a natural gas line leak, since the store was about a block from the cabin and the maintenance building in between. WPS, the natural gas supplier for this part of the state, said otherwise, as their pipelines end at Sturgeon Bay, about 40 miles south of Ellison Bay. I kind of knew there was no natural gas up there, so thought it might have been a sewer gas explosion, traveling down the sewer line. Yesterday, they found a LP gas line that had been cut during some construction about a week ago that no one knew about. They, at this point, know how or if that is the reason for the other two explosions. Most of the town has been evacuated for most of the time since the explosions and fires. The main highway, #42, is also closed until further notice until they remove the grocery store and figure out how this happened.

The Porcupine Mountain State Park has a unique way of identifying various things in the park. A very heavy duty, silhouette of a porcupine climbing a slanted log, on which the necessary information is posted. I really thought it was a cool idea! I guess Margriet had a bit of a problem with the second picture - she couldn’t figure out if the porcupine was on the log or standing next to it!

For what ever reason, we left our park maps in the restaurant after eating breakfast. We did manage to find our way to the park entrance by guess and by gosh, then picked up new, better, ones at the registration office. Also parted with the $8.00 entrance fee. The park is very well taken care of and really in good shape. Of course I would like to see it more natural, but with the number of folks visiting, they need to control them.

We really had good meals along the way. We are finding that it works best for us to grab a pretty good breakfast and then supper from a restaurant. Most of the "continental breakfasts" served in most of the motels, chain or Mom and Pop, are usually not worth it. If the motel has a good one, we are not about to pass up a free meal! Breakfast is also the cheapest meal of the day. One morning I had some Italian sausage with my eggs and hash-browns, which were excellent. I haven’t had sausage that good in a very long time if ever. Usually they make them rather spicy, but these were just right. For some reason, our suppers turned out to be a "Mexican" theme. Not sure why, but we both had a similar craving, All were good. Our noon "meal" is more of a reason to get out and move around some. Usually we will have some kind of cracker or bread product with sausage, hard-cooked eggs, or cheese. Nothing fancy and not too filling as we are doing mostly sitting. More like fulfilling a habit!

In the cupboard we keep some of our linens in, I found a pile of mouse poison in among the dish towels. It must have been there for some time, as we hadn’t put much out since October I think. It must have really been stocking up for winter! So Margriet got a bit of exercise cleaning the cabinet and washing the linens. Since she had been so busy the day before doing the laundry, &c. I told her to take yesterday off and I would prepare the meals, &c. I did that, but had not expected the mouse poison episode. I did build breakfast, lunch, and dinner though, even washing the dishes afterwards. Bacon and eggs for breakfast; avocado salad for lunch, and a macaroni/Kielbasa salad for dinner. And I have clean hand to boot! We have found that splitting an avocado for lunch is about right for us old folks. They were on sale at the store, so for about 25¢ is the cost of a meal for each of us. Not too many dishes either.

With the humidity today, there will not be a bunch accomplished, other than Margriet has taken the bedding off and washed it. Sure do hope it dries before we try to sleep! I have been playing with cutting lawn too, but that is in short spurts.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Almost time to start sweating

July 13, 2006 (4:22am)
63º F, Partly cloudy, NNW wind 3 mph.

Good morning,

Looks to be a warm one today and the next few days. The weatherman is talking of 100º F heat index for Saturday and Sunday. There isn’t any rain in the mix until possibly Sunday afternoon. The soil in the area here is really dry and needs the moisture. This weekend is also Kewaunee’s Trout Fest this weekend, with a biathlon on Saturday. That should be fun!

Yesterday I mentioned all of the boardwalks and stairways constructed on the trails in Porcupine Mountains State Park. This picture shows an example of one of them on the way to a waterfalls on the Presque Isle River. For me they are harder to walk (the stairways down) than the old trails. The work required to put these in is incredible. I suspect most of it was done by hand. None of the surrounding area is disturbed by any heavy equipment. All of the vertical posts for the bridge and stairways are set on concrete columns. Bet that was fun digging into a lot of rock and mixing the concrete to fill the tubes. Much of the decking could have been pre-cut and brought into the job site, but there is a lot of cut and fit work still to do at each place. I think the work was probably done by a government program, like Wisconsin’s Youth Conservation Corps, for kids on the edge of trouble and out of work. Wonder how many blisters and mosquito bites were experienced.

The second picture shows the old way of crossing the ravine, usually with a running creek or river under the log. We used logs or downed trees to cross most of the time. I remember one time, the log was longer than this and about 8 feet above the water of the Little Carp River. There were about three girls crossing on the log, each with a 40-50 pound pack on their back, when my dog, Trav, decided he wanted to cross faster than the girls were. He put his shoulder into the back of the last girls legs and pushed to speed her up. The gal, nicked-named Rock, didn’t like the prospect of tumbling into the cold river water from the log. I am not sure how she did it, but she kept her balance, yelling un-nice things at Trav, and made it across without any problems - other than being scared. Crossing on logs were always a challenge, even without a pack, for everyone. Some of the gals had never had to even try their skill at it before the trip. It was one of those things that helped some to really gain some confidence in themselves. Also for a lot of chatter and teasing too!

What was all of the walking for? This is the end of the walk. One of the three waterfalls on that stretch of river. Well worth the walk. The water is as clear as a bell and rather cold. I think I read or heard somewhere the water temperature here was in the upper 40's or lower 50's most of the summer. I do remember it was very welcome to walk through them in the very hot air temperature at the time. The falls are all very beautiful and welcome sights to stop and appreciate. At the time we were in the Porky’s, and other trips, we could drink the water directly out of the streams or rivers. Not the case any longer. We also could build campfires using downed wood, but that is not possible any longer either. I often wondered why there were not more wild fires years ago, but probably the folks in the woods were more attuned to the needs of the woods and how to use them. It still is a very beautiful portion of God’s world. We certainly enjoyed it greatly.

For me, yesterday was pretty much a waste. I have been dogged by a serious kink in my back for the past couple of days. Popping a couple fo pills didn’t seem to make much difference either. While it will be some hot today, I plan to get some things done anyway, with or without a pain in the back. I did futz a bit in the garden, but not even much of that. Did manage to stagger into town to do a couple of errands, noticing the price of gasoline had dropped a couple of cents/gallon. Suspect that will rise again today.

It was defiantly not a wasted day for Margriet though. She baked two breads, a fruit bread, and a big batch of cookies. Guess the new stove’s oven works pretty well. I did extensive quality control testing and found the results very adequate. We have to bring snacks for after church on Sunday, hence the cookies. The bread really turned out well. I made sure we tested that for supper last night, even though it was too hot to slice properly. We ran out of honey-butter, so she made another batch of that too. Gosh we have a really tasty diet!
We found there was a wide variety of prices for gasoline on our ride, but mostly about the same as at home. That did surprise me some, since Michigan’s tax rate on gasoline is lower than Wisconsin’s. We saw a low of $2.899/gallon (shortly after I had filled at $3.099/gallon) and a high of $3.229/gallon. The price had dropped 2¢/gallon at home in the time we were gone. The odometer registered 630.9 miles from the time we left to the time we arrived home. Oops! More than a tankful getaway. With the prospect of the price of gasoline rising even farther, I think most of our rides are over for the summer, except for the Holy Spirit Conference in August. But .... Ya never know!

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

We didn't rust in iron country!

July 12, 2006 (7:37am)
63º F, Partly cloudy, N wind 4 mph.

Good morning,

Home again. What a wonderful time and weather. We really had a good time. Our goal was the Porcupine Mountain State Wilderness area in Upper Michigan. We achieved that goal. The end of the road is Lake of the Clouds, shown here. We drove to the top of the escarpment to access the outlook area. What a beautiful vista spread before us. You can see for miles and the lake is beautiful. Bet it is really pretty in the fall when the leaves turn colors!

I had been in the Porky’s in 1971 (I think) with my Girl Scout troop on a 10 day backpacking trip. I was interested to see any changes since I was there last. There are changes. Not in God’s creation, but the access humans have made into it. Now the Jeep trails that were most of the roads in the area and now mostly comfortable two-lane blacktop highways; the tails we walked now have boardwalks and stairways, rather than nice gentle (and not so gentle) trails; and more people in the area. I really would have appreciated the trails rather than stairs my right knee has problems going down stairs. Inclines work much better for me. All of the boardwalks and connecting stairs seem to be a rather recent feature. One thing it does control the places the additional people walk in the wilderness area. I would expect that they disappear as you really get into the 159,000 acres of the wilderness though.

The park and surrounding area is still stunning. Michigan has done a very good job on preserving the park area. There is a multiplicity of rivers, creeks, waterfalls, hills, and truly wild areas without any buildings of any kind. The waterfalls are a huge attraction in this part of the state and we stopped to see only a very few of them within the park. They were very much worth the walk, up and down. Margriet seemed to think she was in heaven with all of the opportunities to take pictures and to look at everything possible. There is a lot to see. We only saw a fraction of it. Both of us decided it would be a good place to stay.

We left church a bit early Sunday and headed out. There was a serious storm to the northwest, with a projected path of our intended route. By leaving early, we hoped to get north of it without having any problems. We almost made it around, getting in on only a couple of light showers. For once the "plan" worked. I wasn’t sure where we would end up for the night, depending on weather and old bodies getting tired, so had done some research on the web for lodging the day before. It really paid off! We had excellent motels and very reasonable rates, by today’s standards. We stayed the first night in Ironwood, Michigan in a motel with a huge room and many amenities. More than the Super 8's we normally try to stay in, and about $15.00/night cheaper than the Super 8 down the street. In room refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker (most important), two recliners, two tables, desk, and the other normal things motel rooms have.

My original plan was to wander around the Pork’s all day on Monday and end the day in Ontonagon at a motel. Wasn’t to be. Didn’t find any on the net before leaving and none when we arrived there. So we headed in the direction of home, thinking we would might find something along the way. I had two motels in Iron River and that is finally where we ended up. The day was actually too many hours on the road and walking for us, but we survived. The motel was great! U.S. highway #2 had moved since the motel was built, so was a bit off of the beaten track. Eventually we did find it and was well worth the search. The room we had was really half of a small building. The motel is on the shores of Ice Lake with all of the windows in our "room" overlooking the lake. Again it was a very large room and very nicely appointed at a reasonable rate to boot. The owner could not figure out how we found the place. I mentioned the website and suggested she put a map on the site too to make it easier to find. Sounds like she will!

We got home in time to stop at the postoffice and then to Grandma’s Place for an early supper. We ate a late but big breakfast and no lunch, so were some hungry. Everything here is as we left it, except for the longer lawn needing cutting. Other than emptying the van, checking the emails, we didn’t go much more. It was tired out and good to be home again.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Good cornbread!

July 9, 2006 (5:36am)
65º F, Cloudy, SSW wind 4 mph.

Good morning,

So the new range is finally set up and working. I had to breakdown and have a repairman come to set the burners. When I installed the jets, none were marked in any way for how they to be put in. There are three different sizes of jets - one for the oven, one for the "power burner," and three for the remaining burners. As it turned out, I had the oven right, but the burners were different - two right and one two wrong. The "power burner" is supposed to be on the left front and I had it on the right front. Of course the "power burner" was the first I tried to adjust. I thought the only adjustment on it was the shutter, but it turns out there is also a jet adjustment too, through the knob stem. I didn’t expect that at all as that is something new, in the last 25 years, for gas ranges, at least those I carried except for oven adjustments. There is a local Whirlpool dealer it turns out in Luxemburg, who came out to do a warranty call. I had called Whirlpool’s Customer Service line and they finally directed me to the dealer.

Margriet gave the stove a workout, making chicken and cornbread for supper last night. Turned out just fine as I ate too much! Of course the range oven left some additional aroma as it was heated for the first time. Forgot it should have been "seasoned" by some extended heating before using it. Oh well, the cornbread sure tasted good with some honey on it!

The dealership turns out to be a hardware store I didn’t even know existed! It is a real hardware store of the old-fashioned kind, not one that has been modernized into a super market. I think I have found a good place to buy my hardware needs. The store has two technicians and both came out on the service call - they had a delivery to make on the way back. They didn’t have a screwdriver along small enough to make the necessary adjustment, so I went to the tool box in the car and found the screwdriver I used for the same purpose. I had re-ground a small screwdriver for that purpose to adjust oven valves and electric range controls. Kind of weird, since I have carried it all these years and I don’t think I have used it since closing the store.

I spent most of the day cleaning out the van and Margriet cleaning the house and laundry. The van got a really good cleaning. It had not been done for a while. Got everything cleaner, except the windows, when it started to rain. Guess we will look at some semi-dirty vistas on our trip. I also found that many of the screws holding in various interior trim are loosening or out of their places. Have to pick up some new ones if I can and redo them. Always something.

So I guess this will be some short this morning. Have to get the suitcase packed and in the van, ready to get going after church. I am the reader also this morning. Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

A new light in the house.

July 5, 2006 (6:12pm)
62º F, Sunshine, SSW wind 7 mph.

Good evening,

Another beautiful day today. Seems like it is too nice to last for long. We really like this kind of weather.


Today was the day to get a new light bulb for the oven. Here is the one we bought. At the moment it is not totally hooked up, but does heat and we managed to eat dinner cooked on it to night. As you can see it is not the top of the line. Rather a "plain Jane" model. We have found that there really is very little we need other than 4 burners and an oven with a light in it. Oh yes the door needs a window in it too. We settled on a Whirlpool, since I have a lot of confidence in the company, having sold their products for about a decade.

The range comes set for natural gas operation and we use LP. So I needed to change the operation of the pressure regulator and change the jets. I found the procedure written in the installation booklet was incorrect. Apparently this has a different regulator than was used when the booklet was printed. If I had not had the service experience I do, I don’t think the average "Joe" would be able to figure it out. The adjustment of the burners needs yet to be done. It is FAST - faster it seems than the microwave. At the moment they are wild and really put out too much heat. Can’t let the pan get any closer than seven feet from the flame! Never had a meal prepared so quickly than supper tonight. It really caught Margriet by surprise.

I have not forgotten all of the skills I acquired while operating the store. I was able to unload and bring the range in without any help - in spite of a kink in my back. Did a lot of "walking" the box up the ramp and into the house. One thing about the new range is that there is a lot less to assemble. If it were operating on natural gas rather than LP, it would be a matter of piping in the fuel and plugging it in. Leveling is a lot easier now too, as it can be accomplished from inside of the oven. I really like that and wish it would have been on the ranges I sold and installed in the past. The range was also built in Mexico which was a bit of a surprise to me. They used to be made in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Maybe it will cook Mexican food better than the old one!

I had to get a different gas line fitting (of course) than the old range had, so drove to Algoma to get one. About three miles south of Algoma there was fog developing on the highway, just above the blacktop to a depth of about three feet. The breeze was coming in off the lake and the sun was heating the black top considerably. Since the breeze was cool and the pavement hot, condensation occurred. It really surprised me. Normally I have seen that only in the winter when snow was on the ground. It was really cool, but also made the pavement very wet.

Suspect we will be staying pretty close to home until church time on Sunday. Nothing we need to leave for at the moment that I know of. As soon as we are finished with church on Sunday we plan to head north and west. Hope the weather cooperates a bit.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

What a Beaut!

July 4, 2006 (12:14pm)
70º F, Beautiful sunshine, WNW wind 13 mph.

Good afternoon,

While Margriet is grilling a couple of cheese sandwiches (my part is slicing the homemade bread and eating), I thought I would write a few lines.

What a beautiful day today. The weather is perfect today - light wind, cool weather, bright, and sunny. I should be outside, but it is hungry out at the moment! We had some rain last night and it was really neat to hear it fall as I was falling asleep. Something very peaceful about it. Everything really smelled fresh this morning too. Like that also.

We are thinking of hitting the road again next week. Since the price of gas is so high in Wisconsin, we thought this time we would head to Upper Michigan this time. Ironwood area to be exact. Not too far from Lake Superior and Porcupine Mountains. We also will be looking for some history in the area too. I was up there many years ago, leading Girl Scout Troop #333 on one of their many backpacking trips. This time I don’t think we will backpack any, but might find the Little Carp River again. Do plan to see the Lake of the Clouds, but that will depend on time and weather.

Our parts of our travels have pretty much defined themselves over time. I layout the route (with the help of the computer) and Margriet looks up what to see and do in the area we go too. Boy is she having fun at that! I get all kinds of evaluations of various websites as she opens them. Many not so good and others filled with Ooooooo’s and Ahhhhhhh’s! Sometimes too many things to pick from. We probably will leave right after church on Sunday and head north. Depending on traffic, will depend on how far west into Upper Michigan. Needless to say, we are excited about looking at our world some more.

On our last sojourn, to Old World Wisconsin, one of the restored farms was of Finnish heritage. Actually there were two, but this is the one we visited. It was really well staffed as they were expecting a couple of pre-school/daycare groups to come at any minute. It also was a very complete farm with all of the necessary outbuilding and such.


The house was really the cabin the settlers first built when they came and added two additions, one on each end, as the family and their needs grew. It is very well built, with a root cellar underneath. They had a very fancy wood cookstove in it from the end time of the use of the house, about 1900. Alongside of the stove was a brand, spanking, new, painted wood box. I had fun teasing one of the gals that it really looked out of place there, nothing like the wood boxes I have seen in my lifetime. They were all beat up from use and abuse. The gal tried to justify the newness, which just caused me to tease more - of course. I must say the interpreters were very well versed about what they were representing.

No - I’m not about to use the outhouse. But I was checking it out to see if it met standards. It did - a two-holer with the request corncob. The rest of the buildings, in the background, are also as complete as the house was. I still am amazed at the creativity of the folks living during that time as well as the craftsmanship they demonstrated. Can’t really imagine building the buildings they did with little more than an ax and a lot of sweat.

I really have been having a hard time getting the photos into this blog. Yesterday too. Don’t have the faintest notion as to why either. I load them about 3-4 times, then finally getting frustrated enough, close the site and start over again. That too happens 2-3 times before the stick. After that I have to move them around some for them to be in the right order and place in the blog. Not sure why that has started to happen, but it only has been the last few days. Is a bit of a pain and takes more time than I want too.

I am building some country-style ribs for dinner tonight. Since it is reasonably cool, I will slow cook them in the Dutch oven on top of the stove this time. Long - slow cooking. Last night we had a pretty much "international" dinner. Margriet made and Indonesian chicken curry with German style dumplings in it, Dutch cabbage, and Norwegian beer (coffee)! It was really good! I ate too much, but there are no leftovers. In my book it is a do-again.

Today is a stay-at-home day, yesterday was too after church on Sunday. We did go out to eat at Grandma’s in Kewaunee though. Got there to early to have lunch so had to be satisfied with breakfast. Since we fast before church Sunday’s, it really tasted good. Major helping of "Grandma’s Egg Scrambler" and Margriet had "Grandma’s Special." I was over filled and too filled to help Margriet with her’s, even though her portion was smaller than mine.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Drippies are back!

July 3, 2006 (12:11pm)
67º F, Rain, S wind 3 mph.

Good afternoon,

We have had a couple of really hot days. Saturday it got up to 84º F and yesterday up to 86º F. Wonder how high it will go today. The mornings are mostly kind of nice as long as there is a breeze, but this morning the wind speed was 1 mph officially. Less than that here. Seemed the only breeze comes from the mosquitoes flying past my ear and not stopping.

We did get some rain on Saturday, all 5 drops of it. The serious storms went north and south of us. There was hail 3¼" diameter fell in Oconto Falls (northwest of us) and 3" diameter in Manitowoc (south of us) on Saturday. There also were a couple of tornado sightings southwest of Appleton/Oshkosh area, blowing down a barn, but not much other damage. The rain, real rain not drops, started to fall here a couple of minutes ago. The temperature dropped about 15º F in about as many minutes. Hopefully the humidity will also be washed out of the air. Feels rather nice out at the moment, even if it is raining.

Margriet decided it would be a good day to do the washing, since the weatherman said the rain would not be here until about 4:00 P.M.! He might have been off a bit. We made the mad scramble to get stuff off of the line and all of my tools, &c. in. I also found a ripe wild strawberry to pick for my Woman on the way in too. Isn’t that nice of me? Our part-time neighbor started to re-roof their garage/shed yesterday. Don’t hear any hammers at the moment. Imagine he is happy too. We really do need the rain at the moment, since we really have not had any for the past few days. If it gets out of the system today, maybe we can have a few days of nice weather again. Do hope it stays at 70º F or lower though.

Of all the homes displayed at Old World Wisconsin, this is probably my favorite. Not because of it’s splendor, but more to do with the story behind it. It was transported from Bayfield County, a few miles from deer camp. It is Norwegian emigrant’s first homestead. He and his wife came to this country (I think in the 1880's) with his wife and three daughters. Shortly after the house was built, his wife died leaving him with the girls to raise alone, which he did. The land was cut-over timberland, taking him about two years to clear the stumps from his first two acre field! During this time, and a long time afterwards, it was strictly a subsistence lifestyle. Very little if any income at first. They lived from the woods and pigs, which they raised in the woods. The pen is to the left in the photo, used only apparently during the winter. The rest of the year they rooted in the woods for their food and rounded up in the fall for butchering of some.

Inside of the house is rather sparse. A bed for Dad and the girls slept in loft. The small pen at the foot of the bed is to keep the newborn pigs warm and dry when they are born in the winter months. Nice! The hides on the wall represent the only income, other than selling pigs occasionally, the family had. That was not much money either. The small "boxwood" stove (as we call it now days) was the only heat and cooking for the family, other than the outdoor fire and caldron outside the door. I doubt if the flooring was from milled wood or the walls whitewashed. They didn’t have the time or money for such frills then.

Like all of the buildings in the museum, this one was very stoutly built. This one had a high level of craftsmanship in the building of it also. I don’t think they had many tools other than an ax to do most of the building. Might have had a drawknife and hammer too. Anything metal, except a few nails, was in cooking utensils and like that. The Scandinavians were very resourceful and master wood workers - probably from necessity.

For the rest of the day and tomorrow, we ain’t going nowhere! We were surprised by the lack of traffic on the road to and from church. Even seemed like less than a normal Sunday too. One of the TV stations did a survey of some of the northeast Wisconsin resorts and campgrounds the other day. They found that 75-90% of the folks visiting them were within 30 miles from home. The tourist industry is really worried about the rest of the summer. They had hoped folks would drive her an stay for a week or two, rather than the custom of taking a road trip. They are not too sure that will happen now. There are some folks here doing that, but the number of boats in the harbor slips is still less than normal. Come to think of it, there are not too many Minnesota boats around this year. Usually there are more than I would think during a normal year. Church was not that filled either.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

It started yesterday

July 1, 2006 (5:02 am)
60º F, Cloudy, S wind 6 mph.

Good morning,

It started yesterday afternoon - the annual 4th of July rush of city dudes heading north on vacation. This year since the 4th is on Tuesday, there are a lot of folks making it a bit of a longer vacation. Actually we are on the way to up north, and the main highways are through Green Bay, we don’t see that much disruption here. That’s not to say there is an increase of folks in the area. Apparently there also are a lot of folks not making long trips this year thanx to the high fuel prices, resulting in almost all products also being higher priced. Actually the harbor slips are still not filled with boats and there is an increase of "travel trailers" and motor homes parked in the area camping facilities this year rather than being transit. I know we are making short trips this year rather than an extended one.

The other day, the light bulb in the oven burned out, so we went to Green Bay yesterday to get a new one. Some other things too. The upshot of the deal is we "forgot" to get a new one and will need to return on Wednesday to get it - along with the socket and the oven around it. We looked at a couple of stores for new ranges and came to the conclusion we would but the range we saw at the first store a few weeks ago! Prices have really increased on the new ranges from the time I had the store. But I really expected that. What used to be the price on a full featured range is not the low end price. The range we are replacing is 30 years old which I sold to Mom when it was new, fairly well featured. The new one will cost the a bit more than I sold the old one for, only without most of the features. Should be one less excuse for not having perfect bread!

We actually did pick up a lot yesterday on our supply run. One thing we really found we like when traveling is bottles of "lemonade" from Aldi’s. For some reason the store we normally stop at doesn’t carry it anymore, so stopped at the other one in town and bought a lot of it. The bottles are small enough to fit in a small ice chest we carry in the front with some ice. Very convenient to use and tastes good. Of corse it is an artificial product. Managed to pick up the remaining two tomato cages while we were at it, plus some miscellaneous expendable tools that have broken in the past couple of months. One thing I couldn’t find was a new inner tube for my log wagon wheel. Actually I found one, but the price was about $15.00! Not in this lifetime. The only available were fancy ones with a "stop-leak" (called Slime) material in the tube. Guarantee to fill leaks for up to two years! Not impressed. The other tubes available were for industrial applications, which have a much bigger cross-section to the tire. I ended up buying a patching kit to repair the present tube. The cost of the kit was about the same as I expected to pay for a new tube! Haven’t repaired an inner tube for a number of years. Hope I remember how.


The picture is inside of a bake-house on one of the German farms at Old World Wisconsin. Thought it was some appropriate since I mentioned the new range coming. The gal in the picture is baking some rhubarb coffee cake in the wood fired masonry oven behind here. She had one which was already baked on the table in the center of the building. The corner to the left had a wood fired caldron, primarily used to heat large quantities of water for laundry, scalding chickens, or any other use where very hot water was needed. The building itself is fieldstone construction and was used both summer and winter for much of the baking and butchering needed to be done on the farm. It really smelled good walking into it! I think it would have been a place on the farm I would have stayed pretty close to.

There are 3 or 4 German farms at Old World, this was probably the most typical of those used by the farmers. The other two were more affluent and had hired folks to do most of the work. They were very interesting and we really enjoyed them. Margriet especially, since they are similar in many respects to those in the area she grew up in. Between the two of us, we took about 125 pictures over the two day ride. I sure am glad we no longer need to buy film or pay for processing! We also have the ability to make poor pictures more acceptable too.

We are planning on a very quiet few days. Not planning to go anywhere or do much than things around here. Stopped for gas yesterday and put in $50.00 worth - I didn’t even fill the tank! That’s nuts! The price went up 10¢/gallon over night, so my fill up was ill timed. Our part-time neighbors are up already. Suspect there will be more coming there today. Also expect, but don’t appreciate the fireworks they normally set off. Guess I am getting old, but worry about fireworks in a wooded area too.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><