Predominant Affliction

November 16, 2006 (5:19pm)
35º F, All day cloudy, NNW wind 9 mph.

Good afternoon,

A predominant affliction settled over FISKLAND! Especially for a Norwegian! It began yesterday morning and lasted, in various forms, today. This has been a couple of grumpy days here.

It all started with my getting up late yesterday morning. I made coffee as usual and poured cup, starting my Bible study for the morning. Getting my second cup of coffee, it just didn’t seem to be as hot as it should be, but drank it anyway while continuing my studies. When it came time to make a fresh pot for my Women when she got up - it didn’t!! In a Norwegian house - that is about as predominant affliction that can befall it! After offering to make a cup of tea (very non-Norwegian) for my Woman, we remembered the small coffee maker in our travel kit, so got it out and working. At least we could have a temporary supply of Norwegian Beer to get us by until the affliction could be relived.

Since we had not really planned to go to Green Bay, I tried to pay a couple of bills before leaving. Not! The affliction took a different form - settling into my WordPerfect word processing program. For what ever reason, it continued to freeze after a few key strokes or when I tried to print something out. Grumpiness reigned! After an hour or so, I finally gave up and we headed west without getting any payments in the mail.

I suspect the problems have something to do with the installation of a new virus scanning program, but really not too sure. Trying to find out what was going on, today I did much digging in this system and did find some tracking cookies I didn’t know were on here. They are now gone. For good I hope. I did run several repair scans/programs today and the problem seems to have dissipated somewhat. I spent most of the day today trying to "fix" the problem. Not what I had on the agenda for today at all. For once the weather was some cooperating, so planned to work outside. I finally did get the bills paid late this afternoon and they will go into the mail probably tomorrow, if I get to town. Depends on the continuation of the affliction somewhat.

We did get to Green Bay yesterday, albeit leaving much later than we would have liked too. There now is a new coffee maker on the counter and it seems to work well. At least the coffee tastes good. On the way we stopped for the mail and also something to eat (yup! We were late!) on the way. Grandma’s Place has excellent sandwiches among other things, so we imbibed. I had an excellent mushroom and Swiss burger with raw onions and Margriet had "Grandma’s Special" sandwich. Since we left late, we also headed home late, so stopped for supper at Applebee’s. We haven’t stopped there for a long time. Their signature dish is riblets, so I had their small portion. It was more than adequate for me. Margriet had a hot oriental salad, which was also good, but she could not finish it. I couldn’t help either, since I was filled.

There were some other things we needed, but not as much as the coffee maker, which we did pick up. We went to the Christian bookstore on the south side of Green Bay, looking for another devotional for us to use in our daily prayer time. We, Margriet, didn’t find anything that suited her/our fancy. Will have to look further. We have time before the new year starts. We also are on the search for things to send across the puddle for the kids at Christmas. They have to go fairly soon too. Our biggest problem is to find things that are small and light when we would really like to send things that are big and heavy. Oh well.

Since there was a funeral Tuesday morning, we didn’t have Bible study and rather showed up to serve for the fellowship time afterwards and to bring food for it. Margriet brought one of her "long" (about 1½ to twice as long as normal "American" loaves) sourdough breads. It went in a hurry and neither of us had a chance to taste it. Guess it tasted OK though. A couple of the gals, who also didn’t get a taste and wanted too, kept telling us how good it smelled and how many complements they heard about it from the folks who came. There was just about the right amount of food, with very little left over. Near the end, I went to town to get more milk and bread, but got back too late for it to be used.

The whole funeral process is an education for Margriet. She has not experienced this in the Netherlands. Especially on the serving and preparing end of the process. It was a good experience for her I think. Apparently there is a lot more fellowship here at funerals than over there. A bit of an eye-opener for her. A pleasant one. I was some surprised at how long the folks stayed and talked. More than normal, but something that is nice to see.

The trap line has been empty now for the past few days. Guess I won’t have enough fur for Margriet’s new Christmas coat. It was looking pretty good for a bit, with all of the possums being trapped. For a while it thought there was a herd of mice around, but that trap line also has been dry. Of course it would have taken a lot of them to even make a jacket for her. Maybe mittens!

My research and study of Revelation is a rather tedious task. There is so much information that I am trying to assimilate into my brain box, but having problems keeping it in. One author I have been using some from, turns out to really have a "thing" against Catholics. I really was surprised. Have to take some of it with a grain of salt. Rather opposite to most conventional thought.

Deer season is upon us. The season in the U.P. of Michigan started on the 25th and here this weekend. Sure is funny weather for deer hunting. Too warm and no snow! Wonder if the guys will be looking for their orange jogging shorts this year. In years past, I would be leaving here about 3:30 A.M. or so tomorrow morning, hoping to make it to the cabin before lunch and the rest of the crew. Only managed to do that once in all the years going up there. Lots of good memories for sure.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><