%$#$@&*({ Rain

December 31, 2006 (12:37pm)
36º F, #*^!{(%$@ Rain, SE wind 8 mph.

Good afternoon,

We end the year 2006 on something of a sick note. Margriet got up feeling punk and got punk-er as time went by. She has a fever and really feels poorly. Other than drinking a cup of coffee and checking her mail, she has slept all morning. Not what I like for sure. Or she. I accused her of trying to keep up with Kalle. Also forbid her to start the New Year this way!

The miserable rain continues. So far the snow being predicted has been pushed off until tomorrow or maybe the next day, if at all. Seems we are on the warm side of the storm heading north, so have the rain. The Dakotas, Minnesota, and surrounding area is getting the snow. At the moment there is a band of snow along the Wisconsin/Minnesota border. It was warmer this morning when I got up, then when I went to bed last night. Guess the warm is supposed to be here for a few days yet, hence no snow, only rain. Maybe it will be clear and sunny on the 4th of July - with a foot of snow on the ground.

Guess I will not be building any soup for church tonight either. In talking it over, we discovered that neither of us signed up to bring any, so it will not be missed nor will we feel bad about letting them down. Do have to make some soup for our lunches though. I made a big old pot of chicken-vegetable soup with dumplings a few days ago. Then after having some for the first time, forgot to put it off the stove and into the cold. Discovered it the next morning. Rather than take a chance on it, it is adding bacteria to the septic system. Too bad too, because it was pretty good tasting and it is a waste of the ingredients. Don’t know what I will make this time. Have to use my imagination some I guess.

Margriet ’s cooking talents for dinner last night were excellent. The hocks and kraut were pretty well destroyed! There was only about ½ cup of kraut left that I just couldn’t eat we really should have had potatoes and/or dumplings with it, but then it would surly have been way to much to eat. There were only two hocks, but there was enough meat for 4 people or more on them with potatoes/dumplings on the menu too. She surely got every thing cooked to perfection. No knives needed. Sure was hard to sit here and smell it while it was cooking too.

We have everything for our "celebration" meal tomorrow. I took the leg of lamb out of the freezer this morning, so it should be ready for tomorrow to roast. I think we are having sweet potatoes with it again too. We really got a good price on a small bag of them a while ago. I really like them and wish they were not so expensive to buy. Probably would not be such a treat if we had them more often. We might not have all of the ingredients for eggnog, but don’t think it will go to get them.

I have finally received my new card for Medicare drug coverage. I have been fooling around with the insurance company for many months trying to get the account straightened out. The premium comes out of the savings account from the bank by electronic transfer, but the company says they have not received it. I have been writing letter after letter about it, at least on a month, but have never gotten a reply other than a letter informing me I have forgotten to mail the premium payment. I finally got a letter back from and actual person (I think). Hope the return letter will get something done. I am some grumpy at paying it every month and then being asked to pay it again. While the premium is rather low, I still don’t want to waste the money.

For us, the rest of the year will be very quiet. There isn’t much on the TV of real interest to us these days. Not into football as much as I used to be and my Woman never was. One channel (NBC) has a block of time, starting late morning, and running for about 6 hours of nothing but sales pitch programs. I couldn’t believe it! We certainly will not be watching that channel. I probably should have gone to the library and picked up a couple of DVD or video tapes. We will not suffer too much. Listening to a lot of radio via the internet too.

We did hear from Brenda that Kalle is some better. Ma and Pa might be getting a bit more sleep too. Haven't chatted with them today though.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Dreary Brown

December 30, 2006 (12:05pm)
35º F, Dreary, NNE wind 3 mph.

Good afternoon,

It is a dreary day again today. I hear there is some fog in the area and to the west. Fog advisories are up and some travel is restricted. But here in the woods it doesn’t look like it at all. Still can see all of the trees! We have been listening to Radio Scotland and Radio Wales the past couple of days (thanx to the computer) and some of their programing from Sunday, mostly Christmas music. The music and voice are about enjoying the snow and winter (Dreaming of a White Christmas and like that). We are dreaming of one too! I think it is some ironic to look out the window and not see either.

The Welch programing has been especially good. One number I/we really took a fancy to is "Sweet Bells," preformed by the St. Agnes Foundation. I have looked for the music, but without any success. Would like to get the sheet music for the piece and give it to the choir to sing next Christmas. It really tells the Christmas story in a very nice, musical, way. By in large, the two "stations" (for lack of a better term), play more Christian music that our counterparts in this country. They also are not bashful about telling the Christmas story from a Biblical perspective. There is very little cute, secular music or stories on them. We really appreciate that. Today we have been listening to much of Bach’s music in the Christmas setting from the BBC’s online radio. That too is excellent. Would be nice to have a better audio system to listen too, rather than the itty-bitty speakers on this machine, but we still enjoy.

I have been working on the research for the next Bible study, Acts, and made a big mistake. Really it was rectifiable, but a nuisance. Instead of cutting and pasting a small section, I copied and pasted a very large section. The end result, for a while, was the total amount of material doubled! Instead of 23 pages of material I had 45 pages! Not what I wanted to go through. Of course I didn’t notice it until I had saved it to disk, preventing the "Undo" key from working. Got it straight this time. Some of the material I am using, rather than referring to various passages, writes them out in total. That really makes for many more pages than necessary. Lots of deleting going on. I really am learning something, but hope it sticks between my ears for at least a little while.

Margriet had a short conversation on ICQ with Brenda yesterday. We had not chatted with her for a couple of days. Apparently Kalle has been running a 104º F fever during that time. They had seen a doctor, but he had no clue as to what the problem was, other than one of those "kid things." Brenda said both Ma and Pa were very tired from lack of sleep. Kalle was not the best of company either. We worry about that. High fevers are not something to play with. We haven’t heard from them today. Hope they are sleeping at least and Kalle is on the mend.

The last of the roulade is now history. There really wasn’t enough left of the last meal to make another meal, so Margriet combined it with a couple other leftovers of similar kind, made some cornbread, and we put it over the bread. Rather good and all is gone - except some cornbread yet to eat. Like that too, but I have been diligently working on getting rid of the Christmas bread around here. Found that it is just not too bad with honey-butter on it!

At the moment, Margriet has put some pork hocks in the oven to bake after browning them first. The smell is too good to not get my stomach growling, even though I have just had lunch. The hocks are huge! Don’t think there have ever been bigger ones in my lifetime. Suspect they will disappear too. We got them at Otto’s the last time there, along with some fresh kraut. That is the menu for supper - if I can wait that long.

Tomorrow we are having a soup-and-sandwich meal at church before the evening service. I think I will make some potato and Polish sausage soup to take with. Been looking at a couple of recipes and got some hungry from that process too. Trying to figure out how much to make as I don’t know how many others are making soup or how many folks will show up. Probably not that many there. Oh well, it is good as a "leftover" too.

One of the nicest folks and one of the most evil men have died now. I don’t think that President Ford will meet Saddam at anytime. In my lifetime, President Ford was probably one of the best three Presidents we have had. Probably was the one most representative of what our Presidents should be. He and his family are interesting folks. I liked him when he was president and afterward too. Nice guy.

The other guy, Saddam, is good riddance I think. I don’t condone the death penalty in any circumstance, but I am glad he is gone from the possibility of ever being in power again. After seeing the mayhem that occurred while he was in power, I can’t understand why anyone could possibly not be glad to see him out of action or support him in any way.

Dad-gum-it! This keyboard is brand new and it still spells words wrong and uses the wrong ones!

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Different look?

December 28, 2006 (12:49pm)
34º F, Cloudy/wet, E wind 7 mph.

Good afternoon,

If this looks a bit different, it is because I have a new keyboard. I finally found a "cheap" one that I have been looking for. It actually cost about the same as the last time I bought first on some years ago. That was very much stripped down and this has many features of the one it is replacing. Actually all of the features and better laid out. The one this is replacing came with the machine and it cost at the time about four times what this one did. The old one worked OK, but one of the tilt legs broke when I dropped it on the floor, about the time my Woman came. I have been using a piece of heater hose as a prop-up since. Not too crazy about that, since it would roll occasionally. One think I do have to get used to is the keypads. They are more like those on a lap-top, but spread out as a normal keyboard. The pads are not separated by as big of a space and they don’t extend up as much as the old one. Time should cure that I think.

We did get a bit of snow early this morning and it continued until about 10:00 A.M. or so. Many big, wet, "warm" flakes came down, piling up to ½-¾" in depth. It has been melting almost as fast it fell, once it stopped falling. The air and ground are too warm. The snow did stick to just about everything and that really made it beautiful for a while. Most has now melted off of the vegetation standing upright, but the grass and like that is still covered.

The "big" snow that we are supposed to come starting Friday has been postponed for a day or so. Seems the storm wants to spend some time in and around the Denver area. Guess the last storm liked the area and mentioned it to this storm. From what I hear, they should get a foot and a half from this one. Well, at least the folks there should have their shovels polished and ready to go. At present, the weatherman is saying that we might actually get a "normal" snow and it will stick around for a while - like until spring! Hope so. This is not good now. Not healthy for man, beast, or soil.

We were able to contact Astrid and Brenda on Christmas Day. Never did manage to catch up to Sandra though. It was good to here from the girls and find that everything seems to be well there - but they were not pleased with the rain either. They seemed to enjoy the packages we sent, even though Brenda had to get a head start on opening it early. Guess she couldn’t read the instructions written on the outside of the box - "Don’t open ‘till Christmas." Maybe I should have written it in Dutch - if I knew how. Margriet even had a chance to talk to Pim, but just for a short.

The roulade is almost gone - only enough for one more meal. Margriet has been making the leftovers by making a gravy (last night with a lot of mushrooms and onions) over excellent "Mrs. Miller’s German Noodles." I tell you what, that is one excellent meal. We did finish the last of the dessert from Christmas too. That ain’t too worse either. Trying to get her to do it again - soon - but she doesn’t have all of the ingredients. In the meantime, I have to be satisfied with finishing the Christmas bread. Boy I really have a hard row to hoe!

We did go to Green Bay for more than just a new keyboard. In fact the keyboard really wasn’t on the list this time. We went close to Circuit City so decided to see what they had, as we have not been there for some time. Nothing in particular, but wanted to check prices on ink tanks (the same price) among other things. The price that popped up on the register was about twice that on the shelf. Apparently another model was put there in error, so got the right one and everything was OK again.

My trap line has produced again. This time another opossum. A rather small one, but one less to bother us. There sure are a lot of them around this year. Hope to thin their ranks, and raccoons, some this year. One thing about opossums - they sure are ugly. Not a beauty queen in the whole specie.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Celebrating the reason

December 27, 2006 (7:22am)
23º F, Almost daylight, W wind 4 mph.

Good morning,

Have no idea where yesterday went. Seems like I just got up, late, and the day was already over. It does seem strange for it to be dark at 7:30 A.M. and then gets dark again at something after 4:00 P.M. again. The days should be on the getting longer side of things now though. The clouds yesterday made it seem to be a shorter day too. Clouds all day and should be around for a day or so yet.

So we have finished our celebrating for Christmas. Well there are some leftovers, so we will continue to celebrate a bit more for a couple of days yet. It was a very nice Christmas this year - even without any snow on the ground. It really started with church twice on Christmas Eve. Our two normal Sunday morning services became one at 9:00 A.M., then another at 7:00 P.M. as a candlelight service. Both were nice services, but the morning was lighter in numbers than I expected. The evening service, while more folks attending, was also smaller than past years.

After the evening service we were invited to one of our friend’s home, Charlotte, for soup and sandwiches with her "kids" and families came home for Christmas. Another gal, about our age, was also invited. We really had a nice time and enjoyed the fellowship greatly. Oh yes the food was good too. Being old, us old folks were pretty well served by the younger crowd and their kids. I made the remarked that is was pretty nice to be old while the four of us old folks were sitting at the table chewing the fat after the meal was finished. Charlotte’s kids did much of the preparation and serving - all of the cleanup. We liked that. And we enjoyed! We have done this almost every year for the past few years. It really is a nice tradition for us to take part in and pleased to be asked.

Christmas Day again started with church, albeit only one service at 10:15 A.M. Again the turnout was very light, but it usually is on Christmas Day. The service was also shorter than normal and one of the members brought a birthday cake for Jesus to be shared after the service. It wasn’t planned, but was well accepted and we had an unplanned time of fellowship. After church it was time to go home and start our own celebration of the birth of our Saviour.

The roulade was excellent. Still is actually. Margriet out did herself in making the meal. I had a hard time trying to elbow my way into the kitchen to help! But she did let me make the sweet potatoes (No Yam-yam lady, Brenda, to do it) for the meal. They too were good. The roulade was perfect and we didn’t eat as much as I had sliced. Margriet also made a bunch of appetizers for us to chew on before the meal. As usual, she made those too good and tempting, filling me up before the main meal. Didn’t even have room for dessert! That is unbelievable for me at least. We were forced to have some of it yesterday. Might even have some for breakfast this morning - as dessert.

Another "tradition" I started a few years ago was giving my Woman a small Christmas tree ornament everyday for the 12 days preceding Christmas (yes I know the 12 days of Christmas really follows Christmas) and putting one a day somewhere in the house for her to find. I really had to work to get her to find the last one though. She gets a kick out of it and so do I. I also have made it a tradition to buy a candle w/holder every year for Christmas. Her first Christmas present from me was one. This year I didn’t wrap it, but left it in the box, putting it under the Christmas tree way back next to the wall, making it look like something was dropped there and then over looked. I got her to water the tree and then had to help her to see the stray box, convincing her to get it out. She couldn’t figure out how it got there or what it was. Even opening it, she couldn’t figure it out - until I said "Merry Christmas." The look on her face was priceless, even though her arm was up, threatening to hit me. She then insisted it was time for us to open our presents, since one was already open.

We decided this year to buy each other a single present we both can enjoy. So ..... I bought the right half and Margriet bought the left half of a DVD player. The right half has the controls. We picked up a few DVD’s from the library and are finally able to view the DVD my brother sent almost a year ago. We really didn’t have much need for the player in the past, since we didn’t have any and the public library had video tapes we checked out on occasion. Unfortunately, the library was discontinuing the VHS format and replacing them with DVD’s so we were without some viewing capabilities. Since we have picked up several and have enjoyed them. More to check out

.
Today we will be going to Green Bay. We didn’t have Bible study yesterday, but didn’t go to avoid the "return gift" folks swarming over the stores and roadways there. We really don’t have that much to buy, but there are a few necessary things to pick up. Today also looks like it will be the last "nice" day for a few days. The weatherman is predicting rain and possibly freezing rain. Possible to get a few snow flakes too.

Time to get a-going. Have to burn the trash now since the wind is down and it is not a holiday or Sunday today.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Excitement?

December 23, 2006 (12:38pm)
37º F, Windy clouds, W wind 11 mph, 32 mph gusts.

Good afternoon,

For a dreary-drippy day yesterday, it ended with a bit of excitement. Well as exciting as it gets around here anyway.

I checked the outside trap line close to sundown yesterday and I had something! A cat! It really was probably a good thing, for it, that it was a live trap, but was surprised to see it there. I baited the trap for opossum and usually, cats will not bother the trap. Must have been some hungry or eating fermented mice. Looked like it had been in the trap since sometime the night before. Rather wet and shaggy from all of the rain. It didn’t want anything to do with residing in a metal cage for sure. As soon as I opened the door, it was out an on the move. Headed right for the swamp, which is flooded at the moment, and ran for about 10 yards in water up to about it’s nose. It made a wide circle around the house and headed in the direction of our neighbors. Don’t think it is theirs though. Not sure where it came from, but wanted back there in a hurry.

The other bit of excitement came sometime after supper. I hears some screeching on the road, the gunning of an engine. Looking out of the window, all of them to the east, I couldn’t see anything but dark. The engine noise continued for some time, and I finally saw a pair of taillights aimed in my direction. Not what should have been, since the road goes left and right, not away from the house. After another 30 minutes or so, the vehicle finally got out, with the help of another and headed to the south. From the looks of it this morning, seems a pickup came from the west and after making it around the corner, stepped on the gas too soon and it did a 270º turn, backing into the ditch. There is a bank at the spot, hiding it from my view at first. There are a lot of skid marks on the road and in the ditch where the tulip picking took place today. Glad no one was hurt in the deal. Seems almost every year, someone does the same thing on the same corner, going one way or the other.

Before lunch, we made the rounds delivering the breads Margriet made yesterday. I think we put on about 50 miles before returning home again. It is fun to do and we hope they enjoy. A couple were not home, so left them inside their backdoor and emailed to them so they know who did the damage. Margriet sure gets a kick out of the experience. I do the driving. We still have on here, but that might disappear too. I guess she will just have to bake more - I am almost out of the loaf she made the other day.

The snow did come last night. I counted 7 flakes on the front deck at about 9:00 P.M. last night - before they melted. The central part of the state, from Stevens Point/Wausau area north to Lake Superior, got about 6" or more. The fall tapered off fairly fast going west or east. In line with the storm, there were many folks who lost power. Something like 2,000 residences. The power company doesn’t expect them all to connected again until sometime tomorrow afternoon. The snow was so wet that it took a lot of trees and branches down, taking out the wires also. Sounds like a white Christmas comes with a price for some folks. Wonder how the candle sales are up there?

The weatherman is talking some of a dusting of snow tomorrow or Monday, but I am not holding my breath. The temperature is supposed to remain in the mid 30's to the lower 40's. Not snow kind of weather. There actually isn’t that much moisture in the atmosphere either. Our friends in North Dakota said in an email the other day they are also expecting a brown Christmas. Something unheard of there. They are disappointed too. And after all of the teasing I sent their way when they moved out there.

I started the task of putting on the tinsel today. I find the tinsel ain’t what it used to was. It used to be made from lead, but obviously it isn’t anymore. The material they now use is so light, that it is hard to hang it and have it looks straight. The slightest bit of air movement also moves the tinsel. The package I opened has 2,000 strands in it and I expect that will be about all that I hang this year. Hopefully. Not as fun of a job as in the past.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Dreary-Drippy

December 22, 2006 (12:38pm)
37º F, Dreary-Drippy, E wind 11 mph.

Good afternoon,

It is about an un-Christmas-like as it is possible to get outside. Really a very dreary-drippy day. More to come from the sound of it. The central part of the state, from about mid=state north, is expecting the rain to turn to freezing rain to snow. Possibility of 7-9" of snow before ending. All the way north into the U.P. also. There are several schools closed or delayed in the extreme northeastern corner of the state, thanx to freezing rain. According to the weatherman, we MIGHT get a dusting of snow, but it probably will not stay. I think Santa will have to get out the water-wings for his reindeer this year! Hope Rudolph doesn’t short circuit his nose and get a shock!

The tree is up and mostly decorated. We found that we have left one box at the storage unit, so I will need to go over later to get it. I had to go to get more ornament hanger-uppers yesterday. Suppose there will be several hundred in the box! Never fails. One thing about using a "wild" tree is that they actually have branches you can hang tinsel on! The trees you buy from the lot are sheared so much, there are not real branches any more. Just an even and perfect shape of needle ends. The tinsel still needs to be added, but will wait until the missing ornaments are retrieved first. I have claimed the tinsel job as mine this year. Margriet has a good eye for the decoration and I am satisfied to just drape tinsel equally along each branch.

The only thing we did outside of the house yesterday was to go to the postoffice, get the hanger-uppers, and went to the store for something they didn’t have on hand. It is too wet and muddy to do anything outside! It was really strange coming back home after going to the postoffice. I turned off the highway to head west and in the woods a little bit was a bank of fog hugging the ground. It only extended up about 5', covering the underbrush, with the tress sticking out of the top. Kind of reminded me of some of Edgar Allen Poe’s writing. Kind of spooky. The strangest part of the deal was the wind. It was blowing pretty stiffly down the road I was traveling, but in the woods, the trees blocked the wind, allowing the fog to form. If there had not been the wind, suspect the rest of the countryside would have been blanketed with fog too.

Denver and London are having problems at their airports - Denver snow, London fog. Denver is messing up travel in this country and London is messing up travel in Europe. Sounds like when it is all said and done, both airports will have been pretty much closed for three days! Lots of grumpy folks with sore backs sleeping in the airports. Glad I am not one of them stuck in either place.

I spent a bunch of time gathering up the research for the next Bible study and now have the first lesson’s material in an understandable form. Started to work on the 2nd lesson’s research too. We will not be using it for a couple of weeks, but I would like to get a bit ahead for a change, rather than playing catch up so much. The second lesson covers the first two chapters of Acts. They really fly through the material quickly. Most of the other studies I have looked at, take 4-6 lessons for the two chapters. Obviously they are not getting very deep into the material.

Margriet had the oven fired up again yesterday. We now have four fruit breads to deliver in the next day or so. She also has some rising at the moment so we will have some to eat. These loaves too are huge. Much bigger than she planned. She has been using the bread flour we bought at the Amish store in bulk. It seems to work differently (better) and costs about 25-30% less than other places. The flour is not as pure white as store-bought flour. Think that may indicate fewer additives in it. What ever the reason, I like the deal and the results very much. Sure is good eaten and smelling around here!

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Not winter yet

December 18, 2006 (4:39pm)
31º F, Sunny, E wind 7 mph.

Good afternoon,

Me thinks it is time to get one of these out again before it appears I are chewing daisy roots! Actually we have been rather busy getting Christmas to arrive. The house is full of Christmas stuff, Christmas smells, and Christmas plans. Guess I am responsible for most of the stuff. Margriet sure is making it smell in here.

Margriet made three batches of cookies for church on Sunday (she was snack provider) and we didn’t bring too many home afterwards. She has been baking up a storm (wish it was a snow storm). While she was baking one of the cookie batches, the smell brought my memory back to my Aunt Mabel ’s kitchen on the farm when I was very young. Not sure what triggered it, but I felt like I was there just the same. Mabel was a good cook (on a wood stove no less) and made huge piles of food - which she expected to be gone at the end of the meal or snack. It was really nice to remember.

Two huge loaves of fruit bread came out of the oven a bit ago. Each loaf should probably have been two, but they sure smelled good while being baked. She thought she probably should have made three instead of two before baking, but ..... One will go to church with us tomorrow to chew on during Bible study. Hope there are a lot of folks there! If not I will be forced to eliminate the leftovers. Dang! I sure do have difficult tasks here!

My largest and most time consuming task has been to get all of the Christmas letters printed, addressed, and out the door. Finally - - all of them have been printed out and in the envelops. Got them to the postoffice, after buying more stamps. We have had to make a couple of extra trips to Green Bay to pickup ink for the printer. That consumed more time, and money, than planned. Sure do miss the old printer with the larger and cheaper ink tanks. This idea really got more expensive than planned for sure. Oh well - Merry Christmas. We still have a couple of packages to get out. The ones we worry about the most, those to the Netherlands, apparently made it already. That is a surprise! At least we heard that one did and was already opened in spite of written instructions to not open until Christmas. Brenda has a hard time with that. Too nosey I guess.

While the breads were rising, we went out into the woods and cut down our Christmas three. No snow really makes a difference in selecting "just the right one" too. It is easier to see the green outline against white, rather than the green of other tress without snow on them I intended to pick one from a small clearing in the thick woods just north of the house, but it has all grown up - lots of trees there now. We did manage to find one along the edge of the swamp, after staggering through some wild rose bushes. Margriet didn’t care for them too much. She did manage to laugh at me when on took by hat off as I walked by it. Sure glad I had the hat on. Don’t look too cool with a big bloody stripe on my head! The tree we cut was actually something less than the top half of a 20' tall three. We think it will look rather well. Now I have to get the decorations from the storage unit and the stand.

Had to take time out to eat an excellent liver and onions dinner my Woman prepared. She sure do know how to do that right! She made enough fried potatoes to have leftovers for me to eat for breakfast. Yum! Friday we went to Otto’s to pick up a roulade for our Christmas Day dinner. While we were at Otto’s, Margriet got a hankering for some hocks and kraut with dumplings. So we picked up some fresh kraut and hocks. Suspect that will be on the menu within the next couple of days. Sunday we picked up a bottle of cranberry wine from Algoma to go with. Don’t think we will buying too many bottles of wine at the prices now. This bottle will probably last for New Year’s too.

Sunday was the kid’s Christmas program at church. They are always fun, but I wonder if the kids have the same feelings as I did when I was their age. Wasn’t necessarily fun then. Then we had to memorize everything (or at least tried to), now they have a power-point program putting the words and music on the back wall of the sanctuary for them to read and follow. Ain’t fair. The programs were much simpler then, but maybe we were also. Anywho, it was a good time. The kids eyes popped when they saw the cookies put out for snacks after church. Now you know why we all but ran out.

The weather has been hot and windy for the past week or so. Doesn’t look like a white Christmas this year. The weatherman is predicting some rain and freezing rain this weekend, but don’t think it will turn to snow. The driveway where I turn the van around has turned to a mud hole. Almost like it were April and it is only a couple three days until the end of fall. The wind has been extremely high too. Mostly in the neighborhood of 25 mph wind with gusts in the 35 mph areal. I keep looking for more trees down, but none so far.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Bye, Bye Fall

December 20, 2006 (4:25pm)
34º F, Dirty clouds, W wind 3 mph.

Good afternoon,

Winter .... she all but here! At least by the calendar. As you can see from the temperature, the thermometer doesn’t agree. The temperature still is 15-20º F above normal. The weather map shows a storm heading our way, but I have a hunch, in spite of what the weatherman says, it will be rain instead of snow. The storm covers all the country from just a smidgen south of us to will into the Gulf of Mexico and west into the Rocky mountains. Out west they are really getting snow at the moment. We did have about 5½ drops of frozen rain an hour ago, but as soon as it hit something, it turned to water. Suspect the falling of the rain drop froze thanx to evaporation on the way down.

Now we have all of the packages sent, but found a couple of Christmas letters I didn’t get into envelops and into the mail. Oh well, maybe I will get everything finished before New Year’s Day. Maybe not! The bulk of the last packages went out yesterday at Luxemburg on the way to Green Bay. Had some fun with the gal in the postoffice too. Two more and I hope everything is finished.

After Bible study yesterday we went on our regular supply run. Actually there was very little we needed for our "regular" needs, but did have some things special things to get. ‘Tis the season you know. Now we have everything for Christmas for us to celebrate. Actually we could have celebrated very well, but wanted to get some special things - like cheese, herring, the makings for eggnog, and like that. I finally found something that Margriet has not had to eat from Europe - Gjetost - Norwegian goat cheese. It is actually made in Oslo, Norway too! It is something my Dad bought every Christmas and only at Christmas. After buying it, I know why only once a year - very expensive! What the heck, it has been many years since having it. Gjetost is a very hard, brown cheese. I can remember Dad trying to cut it into slices to put on rye bread, with little real success. We have a cheese shaver, which is really the way to cut it. Since it is so hard and with intense flavor, like most of the cheeses I sampled in the Netherlands, you don’t need much to taste it. Do hope it lasts a long time and we will savor it.

We also picked up another rolled lamb roast yesterday. Probably will have it for New Year’s or some such. The major reason we bought it, was the store offered $5.00 off on each roast. That was too good to pass up. Besides we really like to eat lamb too. While buying the herring, I spotted some real horseradish in the case. My supply is about gone (one of the staff members of LSM gave a small jar his Dad made a year ago), thanx to the meals of liver we had. Don’t think we will run out anytime soon - the new jar is a pint and should last me for a few years. The herring are more like the kind Margriet has than I have normally purchased here. These are bigger fish and cut larger. They also are in a large jar, so should have some left for New Year’s too. Maybe not!

Our Christmas tree came in finally this afternoon. We had to go to the storage unit and pick up all of the decorations and such first. It will sit here in the living room overnight to come to it final "inside" shape. It would have been nice if the trunk were an inch bigger in diameter. The screws which hold in place have only about ¼" or a little more into the tree. I think I have to get some longer eye-bolts to do the job. Every year for the past few, it has been a problem. On the plus side, the height of the tree is perfect. About an inch shorter than the ceiling is away from the floor! Think that is about the first time that ever happened. Tomorrow the do-dads are put on it - then we are ready for Christmas!

Bible study was the last session for this unit. After the New Year we will go for breakfast. I didn’t care for the study as it really didn’t go very deep into anything, as least not as deep as I thought it should. In talking over the study, about half of those there were surprised how deep it did go. They were very satisfied with it. Guess it is was a good study for most folks. Glad to hear I was some wrong this time. All agreed they would like to have another study to go deeper - but later. In the meantime, we will be into a new workbook on the book of Acts. I have started my research already. There is much available on this book too. At least I know more about this one as it is more familiar.

The huge bread Margriet made, disappeared during the study. Didn’t expect all of it to go, but I think everyone had 2-3 slices. Many more than that. It really is good. There is another one here and I have been chewing on it. It’s good too. Not many folks make homemade bread, so when Margriet brings one, it is well appreciated. One problem though, the loaf was too large for the platters at church, some fell off of it. But it didn’t go to waste, rather it went to some waists.

My trap lines have not been very productive of late. The one outside has been empty for some time. The indoor one did manage to capture a mouse the other day, but the only one in a long time. It will take a lot more mouse hides to produce a fur coat for Margriet. Almost not worth it to tan the hide when there is only one at a time. I think it has been too warm and easy for the critters to find something to dine on.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Rain!

December 11, 2006 (12:05pm)
37º F, Cloudy, ESE wind 2 mph.

Good afternoon,

Rain!

Almost the middle of December and we had rain yesterday! I really thought we would have a white Christmas this year, but maybe not! The weather man is predicting hot weather, in excess of the freezing, with occasional rain showers for the next few days. As we were heading home yesterday, it started to rain and continued lightly most of the afternoon. I think the "official" total was about a ¼" that fell. Just enough to make things some yucky! Too cold to go skinny dipping and too wet to plow. Temperature is supposed to rise over night tonight. Oh goodie!

There was one beautiful thing about the drive after church yesterday - the lake. It is always changing. Yesterdays change was different than most scenes of the past, at least in the texture and color fo the water. We have had much rain and wind in the past week or so. It causes the water to turn a really not-so-pretty brown. Yesterday, that was there, but not as much. The color of the water striates from the brown at the shoreline, to a dark, almost navy, blue at the horizon. This time, even though there was a cloud bank over the lake, there was a band of turquoise colored water. Usually that only happens with there is a clear sky. What really made it different was how the color was produced. Not a clear color, but rather it looked like there was white beach sand suspended in the water, giving it a "texture" or more of a "solid" look to it. By comparison to the rest of the water, it was very bright. Wish I had the camera out, but the camera doesn’t do the scene justice. On the return, the color and the scene had changed once again. Pictures of the mind is all that is left.

We have been working rather hard at putting together our Christmas letter and printing it out. The biggest problem is - there is so much we want to share with folks. We have been over blessed again this year. Trying to include some pictures of our adventures this year too. But there in also lies a problem. How do you sift through so many to send just a few? I do like to personalize each letter, so it takes more time than just stuffing envelops. More fun the trouble. Always brings back good memories of people and places. Not only this year, but of years and times past.

There was a very light turn out for the second service yesterday. After the Sunday school kids were finished rehearsing for their Christmas program next Sunday, the building was all but empty. I don’t think there were that many folks in the first service either. Too bad. Felt like it was not the place for me to be after the service for some reason, which my Woman didn’t appreciate.

For some reason, we have been eating pizzas for lunch following church on Sunday. Don’t have the faintest idea where it came from (other than the kitchen of the restaurant) but it seems like we would have soup and a sandwich during the warm months, and now that it is "cold" we have switched to pizza. Makes no sense. One good thing is the prices at Penguin City are reasonable what ever we eat. Good too.

Margriet has been busy with the ledger again today. Seems it is a never ending job for here. Maybe if we didn’t buy it would be easier for her. Sure makes a pile of papers, then she makes them disappear - into a memory stick and a file. I think she really likes to do it, but it is monotonous to do.

We were fortunate enough to get a couple more pictures from the other side of the puddle. The first is of Kalle and the other of Bram. Haven’t had any newer pictures for a while. They post them on their blog ( http://www.arnoudvenema.nl/kallesweblog/ ) then I download them to our memory stick. Brenda did send some others of Bram by email also. Seems the blog for Kalle gets used more than the email.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Big Bang

December 8, 2006 (12:05pm)
17º F, Windy clouds, W wind 13 mph, gusting 23mph, 2º F wind chill.

Good afternoon,

Another pair of pictures were taken yesterday of Margriet for the Immigration Services. One thing about the pictures - they don’t have a number on them like those at the postoffice, but they don’t look as good either. Margriet figured out that this is the 12th time she has had pictures taken. The price has substantially increased since the last time too - by 60%! I also was surprised to see them use a digital camera too. The image on digital can be manipulated, not like paper photograph from a Polaroid camera as used in the past. Hope it works.

The pictures were the main focus for the run into Green Bay yesterday. I don’t think there is a photographer in Kewaunee any more to make the pictures here. He retired. When I checked with him when I got my passport pictures, the cost then was about $35.00 and a week wait. Figured it was a bit high and long. He told me that too and suggested I get them at a discount store or some such. I did and we have since.

While we were in Green Bay, we did have a couple of things to pickup. Some were for Christmas presents, others for our normal supplies. A couple of things I discovered which I needed were boots and insulated work gloves. The day before, I found that I would only work outside for about 20-30 minutes and my hands were so cold I had not feeling in them. Not something you want when working with power tools of any kind. I did find a pair rather cheap. The company is in Missouri, but the gloves were made in China. Surprise! Hope they will do the job. Normally I don’t like to use insulated gloves when using power equipment. I use just unlined leather work gloves - until now. As long as I was moving and using my hands, I didn’t have too many problems with cold hands until the temperature got below zero. Guess I spent too many days working under race cars in snowbank a long time ago. Things catch up.

The other need, boots, also surprised me. Getting ready to go outside a couple of days ago, I noticed that my "dress" winter boots were cracking. I like to wear Wellington style slip on insulated boot when not working or knocking around. They are rubber up to about the ankle height, then leather for uppers. I bought them while working at Dale’s and were more comfortable than the normal pacs. I did expect them to last a lot longer than this. While at Fleet Farm earlier I looked for replacements but they only had "gun-boats" (size 11 and bigger). Looked again yesterday and there they were. The price tag said about $25.00, $10.00 less than I paid for the old ones. After checking out, I also discovered they were on sale, so saved more, paying only $18.00 for the pair. A better deal than I thought. If these only last 5 years, they still will be a bargain.

On the return home, Margriet forced me to stop at Otto’s to pick up some meat. We did, so we can eat like royalty for a while - leberkase, potato sausage, liver, soup bones, and kraut. Some of the potato sausages are out for supper. Should be a good meal a-coming! Otto’s was the busiest we have seen it - two other customers when we arrived. Usually we will be the only folks there. Margriet also intended to pick up a roulade for Christmas dinner, but they didn’t have any this time. That means we will have to go back another time. Such a rough life we have.

Wednesday morning there was a huge explosion in Milwaukee. Falk Corporation had one of their LP tanks explode. They have several tanks of LP to use as a backup fuel if the natural gas is shut off for some reason. From what we have seen/heard, they were testing the backup system when a leak occurred. The maintenance folks found leak and started to evacuate the employees from the plant (covers 67 acres of land). That action saved untold lives. As it is, at last word 3 people have died and about 40 +/- were injured and there are still several missing. Don’t expect they will be found alive if ever. The tank which exploded contained 170,000 gallons of LP, obliterating one building completely and, looking at the pictures (http://www.jsonline.com/site/photographerphotos/gallery.aspx?catid=343

and http://www.jsonline.com/site/photographerphotos/gallery.aspx?catid=344), probably a half dozen more will need to be taken down. One picture showed a fire truck’s boom ladder supporting part of the structure of one building to allow firemen to inspect the ruins.

The real kicker is that we were literally in the neighborhood the day before while going to immigration. We had taken a wrong turn, one we couldn’t make, and drove right past the plant. The viaducts we crossed, 16th Street and 27th Street, were both closed so folk would not be in the way and the viaducts could checked for damage. The sound could be heard and felt 20 miles away from reports. Looking at the pictures on the web, it sure is a scary sight. Brought back memories of the fireworks factory explosion near Margriet’s house in Enschede and the train wreak in Weyauwega a few years ago. We were very lucky to be out of the way for all three of the explosions. As with the Enschede and Weyauwega situations, there was also a lot of damage to the surrounding area. Really happy we were not around on Wednesday.

While waking around the yard, I found some fox tracks. First time in several years. Also finally found some raccoon tracks, but on the neighbor’s woods. Hope they stay in that area. There are a huge number of deer and rabbit tracks all over the woods. Guess I had better switch my trapping efforts from raccoons and opossums to rabbits. At least we might be able to have a good stew. We continue to see the flock of about 25 wild turkeys every once in a while too. On the way to Milwaukee, we saw a flock of about 50 south a ways along the roadway.

The last couple of days have been cold. Temperature about 3 or 4º F after sunup. The real cold comes with the wind. Very strong and very cold. But fresh. Sure am glad to have the woods to break the wind. A lot warmer than the old house I had in Weyauwega in the open fields.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

$^)(*_)*_(^$#TM{

December 6, 2006 (12:51pm)
24º F, Sunny, S wind 11 mph.

Good afternoon,

)&(BGPIHN%^%)(*) ! ! Yesterday was very disappointing and a wild goose chase. After a very indirect path, we finally arrived at USCIS office, only to find out we had the wrong form and Margriet’s needs could not be met. Once we got through the security line with pleasant folks, we hit the biometric office with some very grumpy folks. We thought we had all of the correct forms, $c. to accomplish the task, but didn’t. The gal was rather rude, inferring that rather dump for not having the correct one. I searched the website and thought I had the correct one. The main problem is the website does not give you a way to ask or determine which form should be filed when or what for. There is no phone number or instant massaging site either. From what I can determine at the moment, the money we sent in with the form is lost. Not to mention a day driving and the gasoline to do it. I am grumpy. To top off the deal, I tried to ask a question of the gal and she gave me the answer, before even knowing what the question was or I had finished two words of the question!

The upshot of the deal is that we have to file different papers, with another check, pictures of Margriet, and then set up an appointment for an interview in Milwaukee with a different person. I guess when I mentioned that it looked like yesterday’s mission was fairly easy, it was too easy to be true. Not looking forward to driving down again, probably with another snowstorm on the way. A second gal at the office gave me the number of the correct form to submit, so today I searched it out and we have completed it. As soon as possible, we will submit it. In the mean time, technically speaking, I think Margriet is not legal at the moment.

Actually the snow never developed past a few flurries. There was a light dusting here when we arrived last night. When we left there was a snow advisory in effect for 2-5" of snow, more north. Apparently they moved the advisory later, then after we were home for a couple of hours, dropped it totally. This morning when I woke up, the temperature was just above freezing and has been falling since. Looking for another night of single digit temperatures, then warm up to the 40's on Sunday again. Yo-yo time again. We were thankful that the snow missed up, or we it, on the ride. I was some worried about running into it on the way back.

The construction I assumed would be finished, was and wasn’t. Part had been completed, but then they started on the interstate system since we were last there. The net result was that the off-ramp we were to turn left on - wasn’t there. There was a sign indicating we should turn left at the same point and follow the detour. Problem was - I was in the left of three lanes in bumper to bumper traffic. No way to get over. So .... we got off as soon as we could, but a considerable distance south of where we should be. Had a heck of a time getting back to the USCIS office, thanx to not only the interstate rebuilding, but also much rebuilding of the surface streets too. What a mess! I saw some places I have not seen in decades and hope I don’t again. I will send a letter to our congressman very soon, suggesting some changes need to be made in the process.

One good result of the ride was stopping at the "M&M Lunch." It is a good restaurant and we have stopped there before. The specials of the day were a hot pork sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy (which I had) and roast pork with kraut and dumplings (which Margriet had. She totally enjoyed the meal as we don’t have kraut that often. Sounds as though it will be on the menu after the next time we go to Otto’s. He makes fresh and the kind she likes. Sounds like Otto’s is on the agenda to visit soon - followed by good eating.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Cool white

December 4, 2006 (7:20pm)
17º F, Light snow, W wind 8 mph.

Good evening,

So the snow totaled about 6" on Friday. There is a 2"x6" board resting on edge on the deck and the snow is flush with the top edge. Now it has settled a bit, but still close to the edge yet. As it turned out, I didn’t need to park the van at the end of the drive, but rather be safe than sorry. Walking out to get it, the silence was loud. Not a thing stirred anywhere. There were a lot of deer tracks all over the place, but no other tracks. One pair of young deer walked up the driveway toward the house, then a short distance from it, turned into the pine plantation. Today the snow also has many rabbit tracks everywhere. There even are the tracks of a cat from somewhere. No raccoon or possum tracks though. Yesterday when we came home from church, a flock of about 24 wild turkeys crossed in front of us, just before turning onto Winding Road. Had to slow almost to a complete stop before the took wing and flew into the woods on the opposite side of the road. Today we had the same flock, I think, cross just as we came up Winding Road. It is cool to see so many of them now.

The temperature also has stayed down. Wind chills below zero for the past couple of days. For the last three days, the temperature at 5:00 A.M. was 6-8º F with a rather strong wind. Really cutting through. The daytime temperature has been close to 20º F and the sun has been out when the snowflakes were not falling. It still is about the prettiest place in God’s green earth. We love it.

The holiday meal at church was not well attended this year. Only about 20 folks showed up, so we don’t feel so bad about not being there. I took the turkey breast, stuffing, and gravy up to church then drove to Green Bay to pick up what we intended to on Friday. Today we got the boxes going to the Netherlands filled, wrapped, and to the postoffice for shipping. Probably will get them sometime within the next 6 months or so. We hope! Oma sure had fun packing all of the packages inside. Me too.

December 5, 2006 (4:20am)
3º F, Partly cloudy, W wind 11 mph wind chill -11º F.

Good morning,

My head stopped on me while writing this yesterday and I stopped. Sometimes it is just like someone flipped a switch somewhere between my ears and nothing really works well.

It has been a cold night and the wind I back up again. We had a bit of light snow yesterday and got it cleaned up just in time for more to fall. We are expecting 1-3" more tonight. Originally it was supposed to arrive early this afternoon, now they say around midnight. Hope they are right about the postponement as we need to drive to Milwaukee today. Really would like to have the snow come after we are home again.

Margriet has everything together to take today. We are taking the entire file along, just incase a surprise or two pop up. I don’t think there should be much of a problem, other than the drive, this time. All of the information is already in their possession - we hope. We plan to leave a bit early not knowing what the parking arrangements are this time. In the past there has been a lot of construction in the area. Hopefully most of that is completed and there is some semblance of order again. Not holding my breathe though.

I got the first package of information for the Churchwide Assembly for the ELCA in August. Since I am one of our Synod’s delegates, I have been wondering what it is I should be doing to prepare. From the cover letter, there will be several more packages coming for me in the future. Guess it is time for me to start accumulating information into my head. The package contained a book for me to read, with three chapters I am supposed to focus on. Suspect I will hear more about those later. Our Conference is sending three delegates ( one male, one female, and one clergy) down, so I am hoping we will car pool for the drive to Chicago and I am not the driver. The assembly is a week long and I presume it will be again broadcast on the internet as last year’s was. I am looking forward to the week of Assembly, but not the big city or leaving my Woman home. We have some time to work on that.

Chatted with Brenda a bit yesterday and it sounds like all of the kids (big and little) in the country are excited for what we call Saint Nicholas (they don’t but I can’t spell it) coming. She had to end the conversation to get the boys dressed to go outside or some such. She also sounded excited too - of course. This is not celebrated much in this country anymore, only Christmas Eve/Day. Too bad, as it is a neat heritage and tradition.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

SNOW ! !

December 1, 2006 (12:51pm)
22º F, SNOW !!, N wind 13 mph.

Good afternoon,

It really is snowing! Snow advisories are up here until 3:00 P.M. for up to 4" of snow. We already have that on the ground. Would not be surprised to see 6" before it has stopped snowing. The snow is in a narrow band right along the lakeshore all of the way to the southern end of the lake. It ends a bit north of us. Green Bay only has about an inch or better on the ground at the moment. Manitowoc has about 8", Milwaukee has more than 10", and Kenosha has almost 17" of snow up until now. Most of the southeastern parts of the state are getting hit. There are 8 commercial aircraft which landed in Green Bay thanx to the snow closing Milwaukee’s airport. Chicago closed about 6:00 A.M. this morning. This is not lake effect snow, since the wind has been from the N and NW today.

Margriet had a haircut appointment in Algoma this morning, so drove through the snow. We originally planned to hear for Green Bay afterwards to pick some things up needed to ship a couple of boxes to the Netherlands. That is out of the question. More fun to just sit and watch the world turn more beautiful. Green Bay will still be there another day. The ride there wasn’t too bad as long as we could maintain about 45 mph. The snow didn’t stay on the windshield, but we got behind a car going 30-35 mph and things got a bit fuzzy through the windshield. The return trip was a bit slower. Not only was the snow falling at a heavier rate, but we got behind a pickup going between 25-30 mph. Windshield really got covered and made a couple of places difficult to see the road.

When we got home, I dropped Margriet off at the door, turned the van around, and parked it at the end of the driveway. Don’t really know if I needed too or not, but the snow coming down is pretty wet and I really didn’t want to start the season of real shoveling with that. As it turned out it was a good decision. The walk back to the house was just gorgeous. The wind is up, so that is the only sound I could hear as it blew through the tree tops. With the wet snow, it sticks to everything and turns the woods into a fairyland. Absolutely beautiful ! ! not a critter on the wing or foot - just the wind and the snow. Of course the snow attaching itself to the hair on the back of my neck (I had the wrong hat on), the melting and running down, heightened the experience. It was a nice walk.

After hearing the snow stories on TV this morning, I decided to see if I could find a webcam showing the storm. I did find a website that lists a lot of Wisconsin websites ( http://www.webcambiglook.com/wi.shtml ). Checking a couple out in the Milwaukee area, the showed either just a white screen or one that should have been. No people or not much of any buildings on them was some interesting looking at other parts of the state though.

I have a pan of stuffing to make for tomorrow and a turkey breast to slice up. The breast roasted just fine and the gravy also. Should smell good in here again today.
Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><