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 <><