Part 1

May 24, 2007 (4:29am)
63º F, Clearing, Little wind.

Good morning,

We are back home again at Guds Nordtre. Fairly easy trip, once we got on the road. I didn’t get as much loaded as I would have liked, so came with a rather light load this trip. I had to make a place for the mattress and box spring, which took a bit more time than I thought. Also boxing up the tools and like that, since mostly small items, take time too. We have never actually driven straight through without and detours so really don’t know the actual driving time. From the west side of Green Bay it takes a few minutes more than two hours. I am guessing that it would take about 3 hours if we actually drove through (around) Green Bay and didn’t stop. Rand-McNally indicates it is 151 miles from FISKLAND to Guds Nordtre, with their trip planning service. I really don’t think that is too far off. Their trip suggests that rather than going through Iron Mountain before picking up U.S. #2, we turn west on U.S. #8 west, then pickup a couple of County roads north to pick up #2 in Florence. We have taken it a couple of times and like it better. Also seems to be a bit quicker, rather than driving through the city. Unless we have a reason to go to Iron Mountain, that is the route we will follow in the future also.

For some reason, every time we go to Green Bay, almost any time, we arrive there about lunch time. Since we have found The Country Buffet, we always stop there and make it our main meal for the day. The food is always good and the place is very friendly to old folks. When we stop for lunch it seems that 90% of the folks there are our age or older. Not too sure how many it seats, but it is a big place. There are only two gals who you could call waitresses, and they really are kept hopping, mostly to bring coffee and clear away tables. Everything is more or less self-service and we pretty much like that. Margriet always eats too much. I am the petit diner of the corporation.

Afer Margriet was filled, we headed over to pick up our mattress and box spring set. I know the owner of the company, Roger who now retired, as it was in business when I had the store, trading inventory when we needed too. But .... the set was not there! It was still in their main warehouse in Appleton! Someone had screwed up and forgot to put it on the truck that morning. I think we happened to be talking to the head of the furniture department, and she was not happy with the folks on the other end of the line. Listening to her, I sure don’t want her grumpy with me! After some searching of the warehouse there, she came up with a set that was a grade better and $200.00 more expensive. They ate the extra $200.00 and shortly the set was on our truck and we were on our way. Not too sure what the difference is in the two sets, but this Serta was sure comfortable to sleep on last night! Much easier to get up from too in the morning. I really have some problems with my legs, and getting up from the air mattress was a real adventure. This is no sweat, even though at present it too is on the floor, but about 18" higher than the air mattress.

We arrived here a few minutes before 4:30 P.M. to find everything in good shape with a note on the door saying the power company had put a new meter, remote reading, on our service. Assumed that would happen since we are new customers to them. The note also indicated that eventually, there would be no need for someone to even drive by to read the meter as everything would be automatic and remotely controlled. Bet that makes some employees happy. Actually, in remote areas like this, I really can see the value of having remote reading meters. The power lines are also underground here too. That is ahead of other places I have lived. Underground lines are much less prone to nature’s wrath and much more maintenance free. They are more expensive to install though.

The first thing off of the truck was the mattress set, followed shortly by our normal sized coffee maker. We had been surviving with the small one we travel with. That was a pain, since it is nice in a motel room, but it needs to be refilled too often for normal living. Margriet has discovered that making bacon and eggs is really neat with her new electric fry pan. Glad she did as I like to eat them. She made them for supper last night while I was fooling around outside and getting things set up. Every time I came through the door, a wonderful aroma greeted me. That and fresh coffee brewing are some of the best smells around!

Setting up the bed yesterday, we discovered it didn’t work the way we thought and had to turn it 90º. The room is very small. In changing directions, I had to move the shelf we had hung the last time up. It became a head-knocker with the new scheme. I also had to move an outlet, since the mattress buried it. Not good. I should have known, but was still surprised to find that Leo had fastened it to the wall with four pole barn screws! One or two much smaller screws would have done a very acceptable job. Most of the outlets are installed upside down too, making it a guessing game when trying to plug in something in the dark. Every door jamb is face nailed with 8d and 16d sinker nails, usually 16d! Even the door stops are fastened with 8d nails, causing most of them to split. The same with many of the windows that are reasonably new, but many are also fastened with pole barn screws. He must have gotten a deal on the screws and liked to play with the screw-gun. I can see I have a lot of putzy stuff to do around here for a long time.

The first major project for today is unloading the truck, organizing my plumbing supplies, and tackling the water situation. We did stop on the way to feeding Margriet and picked up some fittings I had forgotten about. I am a bit concerned that at least on fitting they were out of, but I think I picked up enough of others to make a work-around for it. It is a sweat fitting, so should be able to pick it up locally if necessary. My soldering skills will be tested again. Hope for no leaks of major concern. I hope to start by rebuilding the shut-off valve and key access for the water supply to the Hobbit Hus. Then worry about the piping in here. Lyle promised to come back with his backhoe to fill in the hole around it. Might just take him up on that.

Enough for now. Time to get some birdseed into my belly and to some tasks on my 2-DO list. Had to buy a new pad of paper for it - filled up the last one.

6:11 pm
70º F, Between showers, SW wind.

There are thunder storm warnings and watches out until 9:00 P.M. tonight. We had one cell come through a bit ago, chasing us inside and closing up. A pretty strong wind accompanied the rain, but no damage I can see from here. Expecting more to come, but the sky has brightened up a lot at the moment. After tonight, the weather is supposed to improve for the next couple of days.

For having the truck lightly packed, there sure is a lot on it, or was. It has taken me all day to unload it and find places to put things in some semblance of order so I can find things. I am finding I have much duplication of things, but things I don’t need at the moment. For too long, I have stored things in cardboard boxes, then not being able to find something and buying more, the extra going into another box somewhere or other. For the first time since having the store, closed in 1985, I actually can lay things out and see what I have. I am finding many items used in constructing the store in 1975, many I took out of the building as I remodeled it! I can’t even count the number of purgatory boxes, cans, and jars I have filled with miscellaneous nuts, bolts, screws, &c. sure hope it is a long and cold winter with nothing to do but sort through and separate them. I still have a bunch of boxes from my Dad’s shop I haven’t looked at since packing them up cleaning out the house after Mom died.

I swear that the 20'x40' shop and the 15'x40' lean-to are each 80' long. Boy I have put on a lot of miles today walking from one end to the other end of each today. Not used to walking on concrete floors either and that doesn’t help any. One thing for sure - there will be a passageway between the two before the snow flies. It is crazy to go from one by going outside then in the other! I also want to close in the end of the lean-to soon-ly too. Plan to make that a wood floor as it will be easier on these old legs.

There still are a couple of boxes on the truck yet. But they will wait until tomorrow. Seems it is much faster to pack them than to unpack and put away the contents. All of the time I am emptying and putting away, I am thinking of ways to improve the place. I find I need lots and lots of shelving of some kind. Small parts storage too. Have lots of little things to find again. Windows are also a must. Not much room on the south wall of the shop, so will put a couple in the west wall. At present, the shop is like a huge cave. When the big doors are closed, there is no natural light. When the doors are open, the sand comes in. Rather have the light through a window.

At the end of each, shop and lean-to, Leo has built storage space in the form of a loft. The shop loft contains the "hired hands" room and the lean-to is just storage. Under the lofts, he has built some very heavy-duty storage bins and shelves. They will come out as I don’t have that much, that large or heavy to store. The bins are on racks it looks like he built from some pretty heavy bar stock and angle iron. The bins are pretty rusty and can use a good sandblasting before being used again. I probably will find some use for them. I’ll find use for the iron sooner.

I am thinking of shortening the loft in the lean-to some. That will give me more open floor space. The area under each loft I will turn into a "machine" area leaving the floor open for assembly, repair, &c. I do want to lower the ceiling to 8'-0", I think. Might leave it higher in the present shop area though. I can’t conceive of constructing something taller than 8'-0", but as soon as I close it down, something will come along.

I have not even started on the water problem yet. I think I have almost everything I need to do the job - except for one part. The Tee I bought for over the shutoff has threads on the opening of the base of the Tee. Unintended, but might be a good idea. That way I will be able to unscrew (hopefully) the riser if I have to dig it up again if it needs repair sometime in the future. Problem is, I didn’t notice the threads, so will have to pick up a threaded connector for 4" PVC pipe. If there isn’t one locally, I will just buy another Tee without the threads. The thread idea sounds like a better idea than I had envisioned.

Margriet is having fun doing the same thing I am, only with the rest of the stuff we brought up. She is sorting and storing it in the basement of the main house for now. She is finding things she has not seen before and having a ball. Some of it is from my Grandma and has not been opened in many years. Some I have never seen or don’t remember seeing. Every once in a while she will come and ask, "Do you know this?" Of course there normally is a story or a memory with each item to tell. Kind of fun for me too, bringing back many good times and memories.

May 25, 2007 (4:42am)
49º F, Clear sky, Dead calm.

Good morning,

I continue to be surprised at how little wind there is in the morning here. I suppose the lake had some effect at FISKLAND and we are a ways form it here. Now as I write that, the wind starts to stir for the day. Things are really getting green in the part of the world now. The plant life seems to be 2-3 weeks behind too. The trillium are in full bloom here. Many more than in FISKLAND area. There are thousands in some parts of the woods. Really pretty. There are fewer marshes in this area, so not as many marsh marigold here. I like those for some reason.

We have found a Public Broadcasting System radio station from Marquette that we like. It is pretty much as the Wisconsin PBS stations were some years ago before the became more "sophisticated." This one actually has broadcasts a local events calendar that is really local with folks who call or email them in. Things happening in the various communities, like craft shows, school concerts, benefits, and like that, rather than the only the bid city events. The weather bulletins are also different. There is the normal National Weather Service automated statements, but they supplement them with a real live person telling of the specifics much more often in-between. The stations mainstay for music is classical, but also other good music. Last night we listened to the Dutch National Symphony! Cool!

Also found a local radio station that has a daily morning call-in buy/sell show. Haven’t heard one of those for years. Saturday it occupies the entire morning broadcast. Listening to it brought back memories of my cousin Richard who listened to them religiously and bought an sold a lot of stuff on them. Always looking for a bargain and making a buck. I think he did both, but not as often as he said. Kind of the radio’s version of ebay from years ago before ebay. Interesting to listen to the banter, besides what folks are selling or buying.

May 26, 2007 (5:01 am)
39º F, Clear and dead calm

Good morning,

I was surprised yesterday was such a surprising day. More surprises than I wanted to be surprised with for sure. This place is similar to the first winter at FISKLAND when the Coop interrupted the LP to change tanks while we were not there, turning off the heat. Every pipe in the place froze - same here. Every time I touched a pipe yesterday it was broken. Some were not just broken, but literary shattered. Also the faucet (plastic) in the bathroom was broken, requiring replacement. Instead of the line fitting attached to the faucet breaking, the faucet broke. I have the entire piping system now cut out of the house and only the good fixtures are left. Fortunately, all of the piping is on the wall surface inside of the house. No crawling around underneath and weird places like that.

The lavatory in the bathroom also needs some attention. The drain line has some of the parts put in backwards, so the won’t drain the water out totally. Some goes onto the floor. Not much but an aggravation for sure. I know why it was done, but would have made more sense to just cut off the tail piece an inch or so. There is some extra length needed between the two J’s. While fooling with that and the faucet, I discovered the lavatory is held in place only by gravity - nothing else. I will also need to pick-up some bubble gum to hold it in place and make it a bit easier to clean around. Eventually, a cabinet needs to be built to hold it up. Now it is a couple of 2"x4" attached to the wall and a couple of similar legs.

A good surprise, I think, is finding that a second supply line for the water into the Hobbit Hus exists. I noticed it while Lyle was here and uncapped it yesterday - water come out! I will temporarily connect a line to it and run it out of the window, then turn on the water to see if it works for sure. Looks to me newer then than the other internal line, but we will see what happens. Really do hope it works as it will be much easier to work with. The turn-off key that is buried will not have to be worried about either. I will leave it there and accessible, but just there.
Another surprise I didn’t like was that I left my box of copper fittings, along with my flux and abrasive cloth, at FISKLAND. I did bring my torch, actually two, and solder at least. The result is that I could not make the work arounds I figured that I could to get the system up and working. Things like end caps and reducers and pipe connectors and like that. There also are a couple of critical PEX components I need that the store in Green Bay were out of.

So .... we are going to Rhinelander as soon a my Woman is up and we have eaten breakfast. Rhinelander is about half the distance as Green Bay, but still a ride we didn’t want to take right now. We do want to become more familiar with the town, as it will be come one of our major supply points, along with Iron Mountain. Rhinelander has a Fleet Farm and an Aldi’s, a couple of our shopping stores. We probably will plan a monthly supply run there in the future. Unless we find the prices here drop considerably soon.

There was no sign of the phone or internet companies yesterday. I am very grumpy about the phone service! This is the second appointed time they have missed. Each time we stayed here all day, not leaving, waiting for the man to come and hook things up. What is most annoying is I am sure all that has to happen is connecting two wires at the junction box at the property line alongside the driveway. The internet guy could have been here before we came on Wednesday, but have no way of calling him to find out. Do wish he would come while we are here though so we could learn the results and what is necessary for installation and when.

In my rutting around here yesterday in the shop, I found a sheet of I think 16 ga. stainless steel about 2'x3' in size. Not too sure what I will use it for but am sure it will find a use eventually. Maybe it could be a large cookie sheet for Margriet - if we had an oven large enough to hold it. Also figured out that the sawmill will probably be set up just to the east of the lean-to. At one time there was a lean-to there, attached to the lean-to, and the area is fairly flat. If some time down the road I would like a roof over it, that would be easy to build another lean-to again over it. There is a need for a step of some kind into the small shop door. A place to shake off some of the sand before entering the shop. There is much on the floor and I can see it will continue to be a problem. Have to do the same for the entrance to the basement of the main house too. Both will probably be made from wood until a suitable concrete one can be laid. My 2-DO list gets longer-er and longer-er everyday it seems. Ain’t even looked at the Honey-Do list yet!

For a while yesterday, I was listening to a couple of squirrels chattering back and forth, each about 20 yards on either side of me. One was getting progressively quieter and I looked to see why. He was sitting in a maple tree, dining on a fresh crop of maple seeds. Eventually he just sat still watching me watch him. This lasted for about 10 minutes or so, until we both tired of it and went on to our tasks at hand. Cool!

This is the pits not having the internet. Can’t chat with Brenda on the other side of the puddle or catch up on the news. While the news is depressing mostly, the BBC does the least depressing reporting of the news. We also can’t bring up the webcam from Enschede’s city square and see what is going on or the weather in town. Really miss the email and blog capability.

I discovered that we have our own patch of trillium to enjoy. There is a small clump of fairly large maple and pine trees between the clotheslines and the main house. At the base of them are the trillium. Margriet was as excited to see them as I was. They are a very special flower. In fact it is the state flower of Wisconsin and protected there.

Think it is time to get outside and get something done while Margriet is sleeping for a bit yet. Lots to keep me from most mischief for a time to come yet even.

8:20 pm

59º F. Cold rain with a brisk E wind.

The little woodstove is taking the chill off of the Hobbit Hus and the kettle of water is gurgling on it. The gurgling is a different sound now as we brought the trivet along from FISKLAND we normally keep on the woodstove there. The water was boiling too fast an hard on this stove, so now on the trivet and it makes different noises. Had me thinking there was a critter in here somewhere for a couple of minutes.

We made it to Rhinelander and returned in good shape. We took a couple of the back roads rather than the state or federal highways for part of the ride - shorter and much more scenic. It winds through and over the hills around here and it really pretty. We also discovered the small town of Alpha! The town is situated on the side of a hill and as you approach from this way, you see the entire town. It looks like the layout of an old "pioneer" town, which it probably was, with the houses and businesses laid out every which-a-way a fair distance a part from each other - then someone thought it might be a good idea to connect them with roads and streets. Most of the houses are small and while there are some in not such good shape, it appears that most are pretty well kept. The town square is actually a round-about the size the new ones should be. It is obvious that it is the center for celebrations and like that. A sign warns folks not to snowmobile on the grass!

If I am not mistaken, there used to be an iron mine by the name of Alpha and this is their old company town, or at least one that housed the workers and their families. There is not a row of houses that I saw, which would be in a normal company town. The largest building in town, a large on too, is what we would have for the Grange in farm country, but suspect this would be a miner’s hall and pretty much served the same purpose. Alpha looks to be an interesting place to investigate in the future.

I had heard an ad for a new restaurant in Alpha, open for breakfast and lunch only, so thought we would check it out on the way over for breakfast. Missed it as it is set back from Main Street and looks to be a small house remodeled into a business. Neat as a pin too. Will check it out next time. We did get to eat in Eagle River in a small gift shop and bakery, The Flour Sack, with a lunch counter in the back. Coffee and homemade, fresh bakery. The coffee was more European than American (strong), but very good. We each had a cherry turnover and I also had a cheese croissant that didn’t look like a croissant but sure tasted good.

Part 2

May 27, 2007 (5:07am)
57ºF, Cloudy, Brisk N wind.

Good morning,

it got real tired last night so went to bed before finishing this. The woodstove had caught and it was very comfortable in here. The temperature was in the mid-70's and the fire kept well overnight. Still in the mid-70's when I got up. Just raked the coal to the front of the stove and put in another piece of wood. I must say, the little woodstove sure doesn’t use much wood for the amount of heat it produces and holds a bed of coals very well over night. Really am impressed in what at first I thought was cute, but more of a decoration than a real heat source. Hope that is true at -20º F too.

Our ride yesterday netted most of what we needed. When we stopped for brunch in Eagle River, Margriet discovered that she had forgotten to take her poke along (she carries the money in and I carry the bags out) so had to do with the money in our pockets. We did find the Home Depot and Maynard’s, but not Fleet Farm. We stayed overnight in Rhinelander a couple of years ago when we were on one of our adventures, thinking we knew the town somewhat. We didn’t. Too many other towns we have been in and after a while they tend to blend together. By the time we really started looking for Fleet we were about out of money, so went to the Home Depot instead. I got, I think, all of the fittings that I need plus some extras, just in case. Also picked up a new fuse box for this house as it still uses the old style screw-in plug fuses and the box looks like this is a second or third use. Lots of knock-outs knocked out and some rusty. First I want to get the water working though.

I went over to the main house yesterday evening and looked out of the living room windows. There was a doe and two yearlings slowly eating their way along the edge of the yard. Must have watched them for 10 minutes or so. While watching them, I saw something I had never seen in the woods before - a deer pooping! Of all the hours, days, and weeks I have spent in the woods, and all of the deer I have seen, it was the first time I had ever seen that. Have to mark it on the calendar for sure! I hoped they would keep heading in the same direction and across the driveway so Margriet could see them, but no such luck. I must have spooked them when I left the house and headed to the Hobbit Hus. Tried not too.

While in the house, just for the heck of it, I tried the phone there. Sure enough it worked, the phone company had hooked up the wrong house! Never did see the phone man at all. Probably just connected from the terminal box the one he though was right. Or it may have happened at the office too for that matter. I will call them on Tuesday for sure. This has been a real comedy of errors. At least we can call out if we need too. Nothing from the ISP though yet.

On our ride yesterday, we went through some incredible areas of trillium. Some of the areas in the woods along the road were covered with them, like a really bad growth of dandelions in a lawn. There were places I don’t think you could put your foot down without stepping on a half dozen or so. Not just small patches either, several hundred feet across and some as far as the eye could see. I have never seen so many, growing so compactly together before. Some also had streaks of pink in the flower. Never seen that either. It was a very beautiful sight. As Margriet would say, "Really special!"

Since we ate such a light and late breakfast, we decided that we should head into Crystal Falls to Fob’s for lupper. Margriet had a Ruben sandwich, the first she had ever eaten. I thought she had before, so proceeded to tease her that she probably wouldn’t like it. After it arrived, she took a couple of tentative bites and decided I was all wet. After we left, she told me it was her first. Did I feel like a jerk or what. Anywho, she liked it, especially the "real German" dark rye bread it was made from. Anything with kraut is a good thing too for her. I had a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy. A really good portion and very good tasting. Instead of our normal three meals a day, we had two yesterday.

Guess I had better get moving here and see what kind of mischief I can get into.

10:03 am.

We have water in the Hobbit Hus! Hooray! Finally!

4:20 pm

The cold water manifold is mounted and pressurized. Hooray!

4:59 pm.

The Queen of the Hobbit Hus, Margriet, has a throne to sit upon! Now she can reign over her Queen-dom!

6:12 pm.

Time to end for the day. At least with the plumbing. Got a major goal accomplished today Margriet has her seat in the Hobbit Hus. Something she has been wanting since we landed here. Me too. At this point in time, having a water closet in this house is a real pleasure. Everything works in the main house, but it is nice not to run over there first thing in the morning. It is a bit like camping, only more modern.

I took apart the lavatory and am getting ready to reassemble it with new parts. The new faucet does not have a drain control on it, but I think I can make some of the old parts work on the new one. The only real difference is a hole drilled in the case. It is even marked on it! Do need to get a new connector though, as the old one is broken. I can’t believe how the old lavatory was installed - simply dropped in a hole in the counter top! Nothing to hold it in place at all. I picked up some industrial strength adhesive yesterday so it should be a bit more solid from now on. Would like to have some mechanical fastening, but there isn’t any place for any on the bowl. After it has set, I will apply some caulking for the purpose.

The PEX is very easy to use. Because of the close quarters and short distances, I am using more Ells than I would like, but there is not space for sweeps at all. Still, it is a bunch easier than the PVC used in the past. The biggest problem is trying to work with my kneecaps in my armpits, with my ears between my ankles at the same time and trying to get my elbows to fold in the opposite direction there were designed to do. Only real problem I have had is a bit of a tight place for the line shutoff to the hot water heater. Could use another inch for the handle of the ball valve to operate it more easily. Hope I never have to use it.

May 28, 2007 (5:28am).

37º F, Clear sunrise, light NE breeze.
Good morning,

It is another beautiful day breaking this morning. The weatherman talk of possible frost last night, but don’t think it happened. Yesterday looked like rain all day, but that never happened either. Just before sundown, the clouds headed east and there was a short time of sunshine. By in large, the weather, while cool especially in the morning, has been pretty much as expected. We do enjoy the cool much more than the hot, especially when there is some physical work to be done.

Margriet is still going through the boxes and finding new treasures, to her. She even found an old high school newspaper which had an article about me in it, with picture. I even had hair then! Every once in a while she comes over to the Hobbit Hus with a new treasure and asks, "Do yo know this." Off to the memories and stories we go. It really is fun and we are able to equip this house with just about everything we need. Some things we don’t need too. Margriet is really enjoying the books that we have. Most came from my Mom’s house and while some she has already read, there hare many she has not read yet. Think she will have all of them read before the snow flies at the rate she is going.

Since the phone is hooked up in the main house, Margriet called Astrid. Since we don’t chat with her online much, we don’t know what is really going on in their world. Sounds like they are healthy and busy. M&M seems to be busy from the time she wakes up until sleep finally overtakes her at night. Guess Astrid would like her to slow down a bit. It also sounds as if Pim is doing well and busy too, but in much different ways. Don’t know about Onno, but expect he too is trying to keep up with the squirts with Astrid.

Astrid wanted to know how come we bought this place and not simply buy a small house or rent an apartment somewhere and just slow down and enjoy life. For us, this is slowing down and enjoying life. The fun and excitement comes from the planning and putting together a home here. Watching our ideas take form and counting the slivers and blisters. We were talking last night, that with the exception of getting supplies and gasoline for the chainsaws, or going to church, we would not really need to leave here at all. We have or will have everything we need to be very comfortable.

They do want to come here and visit, but want to be sure they will have a place to stay that doesn’t leak like the outhouse did the last time they came. Astrid got the impression that the buildings were not all that inhabitable. Guess I have been talking of all the things we want/need to do, she got the impression the house(s) are uninhabitable. Actually the main house has been lived in until Leo died a bit over a year ago and this one a couple of years ago. There are many things we would have done differently, but that we are taking care of at present. I really am anxious to get this house set up to live in this winter (the water system rebuild really set back the time-table though) and then get on with the main house. We have many ideas and plans. Hope we will get to have at least some of them complete too! This is the fun part.

I listened to a NASCAR race on the local radio station yesterday while fooling around with the plumbing. Haven’t done that in years. Forgotten how interesting the word can be over the visual picture. Would like to have the radio on while watching it on TV sometime. No Indy 500 though. AM broadcasting is nearly nonexistent up here - too much iron in the soil I think.

1:29 pm.

Lavatory has cold water. No leaks! New faucet connected. New drain connected. Lavatory is glued in place. Will add caulk when we get some the next time into town, probably tomorrow. On to the water heater!

May 29, 2007 (4:53am)
58º F, Overcast, Dead calm wind.

Good morning,

I did manage to get the water heater plumbed in yesterday and the hot water manifold mounted with it plumbed, but there are a lot of joints needing to be soldered or crimped. While fitting the PEX from the cold water manifold to the water heater, I discovered that I didn’t have enough ¾" PEX Ells to complete the task. One short! Figured I could connect it using iron pipe for the connections to the tank and PEX to the manifold, but didn’t have nearly enough fittings for that. Started to scrounge for PVC piping, but again didn’t have nearly enough fittings. Finally dawned on me that I had picked up copper pipe and fittings to do that part! Da! So .... after fiddling around for an hour or so, cut and fit the necessary copper to do the job. Just before supper, I started to make some really dumb mistakes, so decided to call it quits for the day.

While working on the hot water heater, I notices a small about of water on the floor near the toilet. Didn’t think much about it yesterday when the same thing happened as I was emptying old pipes, but today everything was dry - but the floor. On very close inspection, I found a couple of hairline cracks in the bowl of the toilet. Every time it was flushed, some water would seep out. Things like that don’t have a habit of getting better, so I guess a new water closet is on the shopping list too. Hoping to avoid that, but no such luck.

My goal yesterday was to get cold water hooked up to the kitchen sink, that didn’t happen. As I mentally inventoried my fitting supply, I don’t think I have enough ½" fittings, especially ells, to finish the rest of the plumbing. There are a lot more twists and turns to this project than I had planned on. What makes it more difficult is the compactness of it. Generally most of this would be in a basement, but here it is in the corner of a very small bathroom for the most part. Besides using more fittings, it is very difficult to work, for me, in such tight quarters. Need extra wrists, elbows, knees, &c. that the Good Lord didn’t provide me with. Of course, 40 less years of age would also help in the pliability department too!

Trying to figure out the phone system here, I discovered the main connection box is in the basement of the main house. Normally it is on the outside of the house somewhere. There is a second line coming to this house from there, underground following the same trench as the electrical wires and waterline. I think I may be able to switch the connections to connect this house and not the other. Then when we move into the main house switch them back again. Finding that also told me that there wasn’t anyone who came out or attempted to. We spent a lot of time sitting here and waiting for someone who never came - twice! Grumpy.

Margriet took a walk along one of the old tote roads and found a couple of old, industrial strength desk type chairs in one of the "dumps" there. They are in fair shape, needing some cleaning and some new upholstery, so decided to bring them back. She quickly discovered they are very heavy, but did manage to bring a couple back. Another project to repair and refinish them in the future.

We are also discovering there are some flowers planted around both houses, or at least in spots. One that both of us really like are lilies-of-the-valley. They are right outside of the window where I am sitting. There also are others that we haven’t identified yet, but will as they grow. Maybe it will look a bit Dutch here yet!

Margriet made Leberkase for supper last night. Really good. She is getting the hand of this one pan cooking deal pretty well. We are progressing from the crackers and cheese kind of meals to real eating slowly. Yesterday with the water connected to the bathroom sink, our 5 gallon water containers left the kitchen. She gained a bit more counter space in the deal. It is even possible that Margriet will have a fully functioning kitchen before the snow flies this winter! Eh!

May 30, 2007 (5:31am)
56º F, Semi-overcast sky, Calm wind.

Good morning,

Interesting day yesterday. Most important task was to get a checking account set up for Margriet so her pension moneys could be transferred here rather than to the Kewaunee bank. That took some effort. We had to pick-up some things at the hardware store and see what was available at a small food production plant that had a "retail store." The bank was the last stop on our trip. When we got there, the gal we had to talk to was on lunch break, so had to come back in about ½ hour. Since we had some frozen food in the truck, we went home and returned. On the return we stopped for lunch, Polish sausage and kraut. When we did get to the bank for the second time, started to fill out the paperwork, discovered that some of the identification she needed was here - so home we went again to get them. Finally, after much fooling around, we got the job completed. Since 09/11 things have gotten a lot tighter with emigrants so we ran into the hassle of maiden name on some documents and married name on others. To top things off, the bank uses two separate systems to set up the accounts, I think for security reasons some how, and the two systems were not talking to each other! Some how, I think they more or less manually set up the account in the end and we left.

To ease some of the problems of the past with getting wire transfers, we chose a bank chain instead of a smaller local bank. The local bank in Kewaunee had to work though another bank to get the transfer processed. This is eliminating that extra step. A couple of times, Margriet’s funds got "lost" for a time at the second bank level. So we now have a stage coach in our life, since it is the Wells Fargo Bank in Crystal Falls. We’ll see how it rides.

The food processing plant we stopped at, makes pasties, mock chicken legs, and bulk potato sausage. We picked up some pasties and chicken legs to try. The prices are very reasonable and we have something like six meals in the freezer for $6.00! The potato sausage comes in a small foil baking dish that only needs to be put in the oven for an hour or so. Margriet has already figured out a couple of ways to prepare it, so expect we will be picking up some in the near future.

Crystal Fall’s main street is torn up with a new sewer/water construction project and will be for most of the summer at least. I am remembering the days at my store and Dale’s when we went through a reconstruction of the highway in front of the store. Not a good time for businesses. It must be a rather expensive deal too, as the main street is a rather steep hillside. The detour is an adventure too. Main street is really the only wide street in the area, at least wide enough to handle the big logging trucks. Truck traffic is detoured to a different route. Bet the folks living on those streets are thrilled! While the detour eliminates all through traffic on main street, they are only tearing up a block or two at a time and putting down a temporary blacktop over what is finished. Most of the businesses are accessible by car most of the time. It still will affect business, but much better than tearing up the entire street and making it impossible to drive on for a long period of time.

We found the ride to the hardware store in Iron River is shorter if we go through Alpha than through Crystal Falls, much prettier and fun to drive too. Needed to pick up a tail piece for the bathroom sink. Got it installed and it held water in the bowl just fine. When I opened the drain to let the water out, there was a leak. The joint between the cast connection and the tail tubing, leaked! Someone missed a step or some such at the factory. So .... today I will take it back and try to get a new one, hopefully one that doesn’t leak.

I need to put some of the water piping behind the water heater in the bathroom. It was full, so I couldn’t move it. Attached a hose to the drain, put the other end into the shower, and opened the drain valve. After about half of the tank was empty, there was some water appearing from beneath the shower pan! Anything else going wrong with the water system. Running out of parts to the system that have not been replaced! After some investigation, it think the leak is from the drain to the PVC joint. Guess that will be my next repair before hooking up the lines to the kitchen sink and the shower. Sure would be nice to have water everywhere, but only where we want it!

I did call the phone company to get the lines straightened out and this house’s phone operating. I got a royal run-around and they want another $100.00 to correct their mistake! It costs that much to have a man come out to do it right! I talked to three different folks and all told me they could only do it this way and the cost is my responsibility. Two of the folks said noone was sent out on the two previous scheduled appointments, even though I was told to be here and wait for them all day between 8:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M.! I really don’t understand the deal and will be following up with complaints to AT&T as well as the State/Federal regulatory agencies involved. I am really grumpy waiting two weeks for the phone to be hooked up.

I also called the ISP to see what was up on that front. Unfortunately I called after all of the tech’s had gone home for the day. The gal answering the phone didn’t know the results of if someone had been out here. She would be back at work at 11:30 A.M. this morning and I should call then. I will do and hope we can get something hooked up soon.

Seemed like yesterday was a day of one step forward (checking account) and two steps backward (plumbing and phone). For the most part it seemed like I could have stayed in bed!

Part 3

May 31, 2007 (4:50am).
57º F, Foggy, no wind.

Good morning,

We got a bit of rain last night and it sure is humid out this morning. Hope the fog lifts before we head southeast this morning. The weatherman is talking of rain off and on for the next few days. The truck can use a washing, so I guess the rain is a good thing.

Hopefully we will be able to get an early start this morning. We have the Synod Assembly in Green Bay Friday and Saturday, so will be a busy time this trip. Can’t wait to sit through all of the meetings and speeches! I really do like to go to these things as I get a chance to catch up on some of the old friends I have made over the years. We probably will stay until Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. It will give us a chance to go to church at Grace and get the truck really full for the return trip. I also will be able to lead the Bible study on Tuesday morning, then leave if we are up to it. Otherwise, Wednesday.

I finally did get the hot water heater emptied yesterday. The shower drain leaked where it attached to the shower base. After cutting out the grate on the drain and pushing the end of the hose down into the drain a bit - no more leaks! At least now I know what the problem is. I have no idea of how to repair it though. I suspect it was put together before the shower base was put in place. I really don’t want to dig a crawl space under the house to get at it, even if it would only be 3-4 feet. There is a rubber gasket in the joint, which I think failed, so probably will need to remove it and find some kind of flexible goo to put in and glue the parts together. Also have to make a new grate for the shower drain too!

Moving the water heater, even though it was only about 4", made it possible to get my hand in and fasten the pipe clips to the wall. I got all of them in yesterday before quitting for supper last night. When we get back, I will be able to string the pipping and hook up the water heater. Then I can finish hooking up the shower and kitchen sink water supplies. Sure do hope the water heater works! Still need to finish running the gas line to the Hobbit Hus and close up the hole at the old supply valve too. More important things to take care of first.

The tail piece for the bathroom sink is also leak proof for the moment. Took the old one back and the new one works perfectly - after some fussing to get my paws into close quarters. While at the hardware store the other day, I discovered they carry some of the fittings for PEX piping. They don’t seem to carry any of the pipe, tools, or compression rings though. Not too sure they really know what the fittings are for, but found them in their catalog, so ordered them. Next time I get a chance, I will see if they would consider ordering and keeping on the shelf enough to actually do some plumbing or heating. Would be nice to have that locally. In the next period of time, I will be using a lot of it too!

Margriet’s pension fund companies need the electronic fund transfer numbers, so we went into Crystal Falls to get them. The local bank had never done any of that before, so they are learning. Seems we taught the last bank the same thing! The folks at the bank are very friendly and eager to help. Even though the company is pretty large, the office at least doesn’t seem to be big city at all. Hope that stays that way. Since Fob’s restaurant is across the road, we stopped and had lunch. Their portions are too large and I think it would be better if one of us ordered half a meal and then split the potatoes or what ever. We always seem to leave some food behind on the plate.

Margriet made a couple of the mock chicken legs for supper last night and they are very good. Will get more of those for future consumption! They are supposed to be baked in an oven, but having none working here at the moment, she put a rack in the frying pan and put them, along with some potato wedges - we had a fine meal! They have a flavor of pork sausage, being made from pork, but am not too sure why they go through the bother of putting a stick in them and shaping them as chicken drumsticks. Suppose it is to sell them, but seems like a waste of time and sticks to me. Maybe we can start a collection of mock chicken leg bones or some such.

So it is time to bring this tome to an end for this trip. It should take a long time to publish, so may break it down into several parts. Will do that at FISKLAND on a real keyboard. Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris ><>

On the road again.

May 23, 2007 (5:03am)
58º F, Overcast, SSE wind 2 mph.

Good morning,

One major difference we have noticed here compared to Guds Nordtre is the temperature and humidity. It seems, and mostly is, warmer and much more humid in these parts. Here it is a bit cooler than Green Bay, thanx to the puddle, but either place, the temperature at the moment is rather high. It is 5º F warmer up nort’ than here. Also unusual.

I discovered that I had forgotten some necessary fittings on the way down, so will again stop and pickup the missing parts. Forgot about hooking some of the copper parts to the existing supply and to the rest of the system. Don’t know what I was thinking! I am kind of planning to have more on hand then what is really necessary, as I will also use it on the main house, but extra fittings are not a good thing if the necessary fittings aren’t there. I bet there will still be something I need that I don’t have. Never fails.

I picked up one level of staging on the way down too. Eventually I will need four levels from what I can tell at the moment. Figured I had better start close to the ground first and work my way up. I was surprised at the cost - less than expected. Like that part. I also did get four leg jacks, more expensive than I thought, since I know I will need to adjust the legs to the terrain. We really don’t have a "level" yard at all, and there is the walkout basement on the east side of the house. Eventually I will also get wheels for it, but not necessary I think until I get it inside. On the ride up this time, I took two uprights and screwed them to the floor of the truck box about 2' apart. When we stop to pick up the mattress and box spring, I will slip them in between the uprights. The rest of the load is on either side. Didn’t want to make another trip to Green Bay if I didn’t have to.

The program is to head back up north today. Should be leaving as soon as the truck is finished being loaded. Since this is Memorial Day weekend and we are delegates to the Synod Assembly on Friday and Saturday next week, we will probably stay there until Wednesday or Thursday. That will be the first full week of our stay at Guds Nordtre. Concentrating on bringing my tools and supplies this time. Very frustrating not to have what I need and know I have it - at the other place. Seems there is always one more tool needed that I don’t have too. I am pretty good at making "work-arounds" though. Have to when the money is not available and we will not buy things on credit.

Bible study did not go as well as I had hoped. To be honest, I really had not reviewed it since writing it a couple of weeks ago, so I was not very fresh on the material. We did manage to stagger through it however. I think some learning was taking place. Next week we are not having Bible study, mostly at my suggestion (didn’t want to drive down on Memorial Day), but there were a few others who also would not be there. The folks also got a chuckle from our having snow on Sunday.

Talked to the phone company again yesterday to find out what happened to the hookup. After going through a lot of hoops in the "time saving" automated answering system, I finally got a hold of a gal somewhere. She indicated that service was not installed because we needed to make a deposit before they would come out! There was no mention of that at all in the first contact. She indicated there was an email sent telling me that, but the only email I received was confirming the time and day their installer would come. I have used their system for several decades and really was surprised and grumpy with the request. Eventually the deposit was dropped and the installation will happen, hopefully, this Friday sometime between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.! She also tried to sell me DSL service, not available, and some other "features" that would not be able to hooked up there. Guess they have to try.

Also contacted Logosol about the sawmill which hasn’t come yet. The return email said the necessary parts are still in Sweden and would not be here until mid-July at the earliest! The company was very apologetic about the situation, but that still doesn’t get the mill here any sooner. Guess I should have a pretty good sized pile of logs peeled and ready to saw. Wouldn’t need to peel them before milling if I had the mill, but want them to dry more evenly and reduce some of the checking.

Margriet has been packing clothing, food, and household stuff to take up, while doing the laundry and other things. Seems we don’t have a problem finding things to do. Had a really good chicken dinner last night and we should continue to improve our menus up nort’ as time goes on. Hope we will have room in the Hobbit Hus for all we need. Am sure our needs will change some too. Everything is getting more compact.

If we get the phone hooked up, and if we get the internet hooked up, I will add to this from Guds Nordtre. If not, it will be the next time we come back to FISKLAND again next week. That should be a really long blog if it has to wait that long to publish.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris ><>

Up from down and down from up.

May 17, 2007 (8:16pm)
61º F, High clouds, E wind light breeze.

Good evening,

So we have made it here with the second load of "stuff." We arrived a bit before 3:00 P.M., leaving about 10:00 A.M. On the way we stopped for some gas, the mail, my medications, pay the insurance on the truck, and robbed the bank in Kewaunee. While I was paying for the gasoline, the owner was checking the current price on line and said that it had just gone up 5.8¢/gallon. Fortunately, I got gas before the price at the pump raised. We were pleasantly surprised at the low cost for 6 months. Of course we only carry the absolute minimum coverage on it, but still was really low. About 25% less than we were told when we had the truck bound. Going through Green Bay we stopped at the Country Buffet for lunch. Really the main meal of the day. Where else can you get a very large and good meal for $5.00 each? We probably ate too much, but it would last us for most of the day.

The trip itself was rather uneventful. Made good time when we were on the road and no real problem drivers either. We did stop at Iron Mountain to check in with the wireless company and let them know we were here for a few days. As it turns out, they don’t need anyone here as all of their tests to see if it works is done outside of the house. No need to go inside of have anyone to open up anything for them. Sounds like they will not be here until next week sometime. So .... we will make some long blogs for a bit, but not very many. Hope to get phone service hooked up on Saturday.

We got our first letter in the mailbox here. It was from the electric company saying how happy they were to have us send money to them! Oh yes there also was some advertisements too. But at least we know the mailbox works! Kind of exciting, eh?

May 18, 2007 (4:42am)
41º F, Clear, Almost nonexistent W wind.

Good morning,

A clear day is breaking outside - looks to be a nice one too. Much warmer this morning here than it was yesterday. Yesterday turned out to be a very nice day though. Fired up the little woodstove last night and it kept it very warm, with it almost closed down totally. I do have to do something about the wood supply though. It has been cut so the pieces are as large as can be put into the woodstove. That is fine once a bed of coals has developed, but really tough to get a fire started. I didn’t bring my splitting axe along, so will have to improvise a bit. I think I do have one wedge here so far and do have a couple of big hammers. It really is neat to watch the smoke come curling out of the chimney too.

After our huge meal yesterday noon, we dined on cheese, crackers, and some hard-cooked eggs for supper. A rather late supper too as we were busy unloading the truck. That mission was accomplished. Not a gourmet meal, but one that was good and produced no dirty dishes, other than dirty coffee cups.

One small box we opened came from Mom’s house that had not been opened before. It appears as she had packed it when we left the old south side house and moved to the 36th Street house, but never opened since. It is filled mostly with items from the days when Dad was courting Mom in the 30's. There are a couple of telegrams Dad sent from Rhinelander, where he worked as a boys camp counselor (about 60 miles from here), and Cranbrook, where he began his teaching career near Detroit. There are postcards, letters, and gifts that he sent to Mom during that time. Souvenirs he apparently sent from a trip he and his brothers, Carl and Adolf, to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Even a ration book used during WWII. The real interesting items were a pair of diaries Mom had written during that time period. I didn’t know they existed and had heard that Dad had given Mom her first diary for Christmas the year they were married. Guess she had some from before that. I have a bunch of stuff to transcribe now in my "spare" time. The box contents was very interesting and spent way too much time going through it and managed to stay up too late. Am feeling the effects of it this morning. Also am sure I will be spending more hours on the box in the future.

In looking over the shop yesterday, I found the big doors to it are indeed big. The opening is 12' wide and 14' =/- high. To fill the opening, he made two 6' wide barn doors, they are extremely heavy, built from 2"x12" s sandwiched between ¾" OSB on either side. I have no idea how I will take them down and replace them with a more normal sized doorway, probably something like 10' wide and 8' high. The present doors are no where near weather tight and critters can come and go at will. There is at least one resident squirrel which gave me what for because I invaded it’s territory. I clapped my hands and it scurried in-between the walls. Now I know one way it gets in and out! I did pick up a rat trap, but think I will get a couple more to reduce the population some. At least in the shop.

Margriet had a good time going through the load we brought. Much of it she had not seen before as it was in storage. We now have more chairs than we can sit on. Some need repairs so are in the basement of the main house. Also on the load were several shelves that Dad had made over the years, so she has cleaned them up and now is trying to decided where they should be hung. There is a shelf that goes along two walls of the "gathering" room in here, about 10" down from the ceiling. It is becoming filled, double deep, with books from both her and my collections. All of our books will not fit on it, but should keep us busy reading through the winter at least! This little house is getting more filled and looking more like a home.

While we were gone, there were a couple of storms through the area. One at least knocked down a couple of pine trees across the road leading to Guds Nordtre. Someone, I presume the neighbor had cut them so the road was open again. They were pretty good sized pines too. The new growth is behind that at FISKLAND. The pines are just starting their new growth with about half inch bright green buds and the end of each branch. At FISKLAND they are pretty much dark green now and a couple inches long. We also discovered a lilac tree outside of the bathroom window of this little house. The white flowers are just beginning to open. Not too pleased that it is so close to the building, but probably will not move it, at least this year. We want to bring some of the plants from FISKLAND here yet. Not sure where we will put them, so not much sense in bringing them just yet.

May 19, 2007 (5:06am)
56º F, Light rain, Light SE wind.

Good morning again from Gus Nordtre,

The rain is again welcome this morning. The countryside can use it. While there are not that many farmers in this area, everything is fairly dry. I hope it will promote more grass growth, even though I don’t have the lawnmower here yet. Our yard is pretty bare of grass in some places and what is here isn’t that well established. Hopefully in time, with less traffic on it, it will come back better and stronger.

I did manage to get a new cap on the chimney. The one I bought was the same size as the stack, exactly the same size. I had to flare the bottom of the cap to be able to force it to "slip" over the stack with a hammer. I would have liked to see it farther down with a bigger overlap, but that was not to be. Seems as the timing was perfect with the rain last night and this morning. Yesterday I also got the woodshed attached to this house straightened out a bit. All of the larger pieces of wood are now in the back of the pile and the few smaller ones are in the front where I can reach them. Also made the pile higher so there is more room in it for other things. I was pleasantly surprised to find the floor is poured concrete. In the future I will put some sleepers under the fire wood to provide a bit of air circulation and keep the wood from "drawing" moisture from contact with the concrete. Not much for kindling in this house either. Will need to do something about that.

Yesterday in frustration, I opened the valve in the large well casing next to the well. I had gone over the entire water system again a couple of times and still could not get it running in the little house. I had just cracked it the other day and then shut it when the water started to come. I thought that maybe, just maybe, it would leak when partway between open and shut. Wrong! When it was fully open the water came out at rather high pressure, filling the casing with water about 4' deep before I could get the pump shut off. The shutoff key slipped off of the valve and I could not shut it off again, except by turning off of the pump.

After a few hours, the water had seeped away and all I could see was sand - no valve! The water flow had displaced the sand, covering the valve with a couple inches of sand! All of the probing I did with the key through the sand, I could not find the valve even though I KNEW where it was. I tried to use a hoe to lift the offending sand from the hole, but it has a 5' handle and the hole is 6' deep so couldn’t get much leverage to do much. Lifted about a ¼ C of sand each time. After so many of such lifts, decided there had to be a better way. It dawned on me that the wet or dry shop vac just might work. It did! I am sure I will need to buy a new filter as I didn’t have the right one, but did manage to shut the valve, turn on the pump again and everything is hunky-dory again. Apparently the valve is on the main line to the house and the water system. I have no idea why that valve is there. Never seen one before, but it definitely doesn’t solve the problem to getting water to this little house.

We made a trip into Iron River to get a couple of things we needed. One was a lopper. There are many branches needing trimming around here that are too large for my pruning shears. It works too! Had to try it out on some stuff around this house. It seems to be a good one, but the price was a good one too. The one I had, someone borrowed and didn’t return it some years ago. Also picked up a plastic owl decoy for hopefully keep some the birds and critters out of the shop. Also had to pick up some dark colored woodscrews. I don’t have all of my shop stuff here yet (think the next load up will be mostly filled with it so I can get more done here) so had to buy some. Margriet wants to hang some of the shelves we found. Would not like to put them up with bright screws looking like a couple of bright lights shining.

We headed for Amasa to pick up the copper tubing for the LP system. It was there and very expensive. I think the last time I bought a roll was when I had the store and I think it probably was $100.00 less in cost. The T was also there and that would be the hardest part to buy locally as it usually not a common part. I have the trench about dug, so that will be one project for today. Will be nice to cook inside this house.

Something went hay-wire with the camp stove yesterday. Lit it to cook supper and a short time later it went out and I could not relight it again. I think I may have gotten some dirty fuel into it. No sure, but might have gotten some chainsaw gas into it instead. Don’t know what the problem is, but will dump the gasoline and put in new after cleaning everything out. More fun. Margriet had found an old electric casserole of my Mom’s so decided to use it. Had forgotten about it earlier. We were having some leftover kraut and hocks from the other night. It would not heat! We were so frustrated, we went to town and had fish at Fob’s Family Restaurant. Was good.

Hopefully the phone will be hooked up today. The main stop on our ride to Iron River was to talk to the realtor who listed this property and have her call Betty about trying to get water into the little house. She or her son were to call me Wednesday night, but didn’t. She apologized for not calling, but didn’t have any different ideas than what we already have tried without success. She did say she would talk to her other son and maybe he had some ideas or possibly come here. Hope he comes as we have other questions too.

Margriet decided that we should call this house the Hobbit Hus, Hobbit House. Think that is a good name too. Have been trying to come up with something so now we have it.

The sun is starting to peak out and I think I heard something about breakfast time too.

May 20, 2007 (5:12am)
38º F, Looks like rain, Very light NW wind.

Good morning,

The coffee really tastes good this morning. I really make a good pot of coffee - for me at least. Have to get a normal sized coffee maker up here though. This on is the one we use when we travel, but it only makes "4" cups. Must be for the Gnomes to drink. One pot makes enough to fill both of our cups only once.

It rained off and on all day yesterday. Nothing in large quantity, but very annoying. Kept chasing us inside often. Been too wet to put our name on the mailbox yet. The only real mail, was another letter from the electric company telling us how happy they were that we would be sending them money. Oh well, won’t be long until the bills start to come too.

I just stepped outside to get a piece of wood for the fire and it is snowing! Very light, small (tiny would be a better word) flakes are coming down. Not very many and not sticking, but a pretty steady fall for a while. Guess this is the UP!

This little woodstove is a really good one. While the temperature outside has not been that cold, it has kept the Hobbit Hus nice and cozy while it has been burning. Holds a fire all night long. It is taking me a little practice to get used to it and how to fire it, but sure does a complete burn of the wood. Very little ash, and it is white ash, left after the wood burns. I was considering buying or getting a bigger, boxwood stove, but don’t think that will be necessary. Raise the floor, put in some heat reflective ceramic tile behind it , and a new chimney, we should be set pretty well. Yesterday while lighting the fire, I was going to put the small, stainless steel, coffee pot, (throw out from when I worked at Dale’s) filled with water on top to add some moisture to the house. Then it dawned on me to put the large stock pot on instead, then we could have hot water to use. It worked fine, killing two stones with one bird! Now if it could find a way for it to come out of the shower nozzle!

While waiting for the phone company to come and since everything was pretty wet outside, I decided to put up the telephone shelf Dad had made for our kitchen when I was a kid. There was enough space here where the phone is, but I needed to relocate the phone up about a foot, wall mounted phone, on the wall. Eyeballing it, it thought there was enough slack in the incoming line to allow the move. Wrong! It was about 6" short so had to install a longer line. Nothing I had brought up was long enough, so I took an extension jack down that ran across to the opposite corner of the gathering room, since it was surface mounted, it didn’t cause that much of a problem other than the wire tacks Leo used were very large for the task. They were not easy for the task. Eventually, I did get the new line in and the shelf mounted. The phone company never showed up! We still do not have any phone service here.

There are showers of much heavier snow coming down now. Not up to the showing on the ground variety, but still a snow shower.

Margriet gave me directions as to where she wanted shelves hung so I followed directions as I always do :-) and put up three shelves that Dad had made and were hanging at our house in Milwaukee. Now she is trying to decide what to put on them. One small one on the wall in the eating corner above the table. One in the bedroom and one in the gathering room. There still is one more to go, but it has not really gotten a place yet. She has so many decisions to make.

Margriet’s major work yesterday was the cleaning of the stove. It is a small counter top gas range designed for mobile home or travel trailers. Not the newest, but it has a small gas oven above the burners, instead of a microwave as the newer ones would have. When we lifted the cooktop, a mouse had taken up residence sometime in the past. After cleaning up most of it with the vacuum cleaner, I took out the burners and she really got after it. It shines and is spotless now. Ready for use, but waiting for the LP to get to it. In the meantime, we went to the local discount house in Iron River and picked up an electric frying pan to use. Much bigger and fancier than anything I’ve had before. It also has a glass cover. Now we can watch the food turn to charcoal! It also has a nonstick surface, inside and out. Dang! Don’t even have to wash it - just dump and everything slides out and off! Not! Does heat kraut and hocks with dumplings well though. I think I heard something about making potato sausage today. Not too sure though.

I also did get some of the boxes of shop stuff unpacked and stowed for now. At least it is on shelving so I can see what I have. There is much work to be done in the shop before it is workable for me. For now though I am tickled pink to have a shop of any kind! The heavy iron needs to be taken out and more reasonable cabinet construction and layout completed. I also want, and they are needed, to put in a couple of windows on the west wall. Need some light and fresh air. At present the work bench is made from an old cabinet of some kind and what looks like a metal table top of some kind. The cabinet and top are both turned upside down. Not sure why but most of the pre-made shelving use around here is turned upside down with the reenforcing lip up. Things can’t slide off of them, but it must be a job to clean them. The bench base is the same, the shelves are also with an upturned lip. They will get changed. The bench at present is located under the stairway in the shop. The stairway, made of an I-beam is a good head-knocker and it feels like I am working in a cave! Not your typical woodworker’s bench either. It will make a good metalworking bench when I get it turned right-side-to. I think it will end up on the west wall and hopefully with windows in front of it. I also need to get a wide shop broom. Never needed one before except in the shops at the schools I taught at. Cool!

While we were uptown yesterday, we picked up a couple of flowers to put at the doorway to the Hobbit Hus. It has to look a bit Dutch around here you know. One is a red geranium and the other pink one we can’t remember the name of! Oh well, I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to plants you can’t eat. We will be putting others, flowers and eatables. Some we want to bring from FISKLAND too.

We continue to be shocked at the price of gasoline up here. Most is $3.499/gallon and one place is at $3.699/gallon! The state tax is much less here than in Wisconsin, so normally it is about 10¢/gallon less at least. Only the past couple of months has it been higher. The interesting part is that the prices, from what I am able to find, are dropping in Europe! LP is also higher there too. Not really happy with either price. In fact, downright grumpy!

1:03 pm.
58º F, Bright sun,

So we have eaten our first homemade meal at Guds Nordtre! Grilled cheese sandwiches and fried eggs. The new pan does really know how to cook. As Margriet said, "It tastes better after such a long wait to really cook." I agree. Good and gone!

7:18 pm
61º F, Sun on the way down.

It was an interesting day today. Had our first snowfall while in the place and our first flood. Snowfall cool, flood not so. A bit after lunch, our neighbor came over to help figure out our water problem. He went through all of the things I had and still the same result - no water in the Hobbit Hus! I told him about the experience with the shut off near the well and after looking down the hole memories started to come back to him. He was sure that was the shut off to the Hobbit Hus and remembered he and one of the sons dug it up a few years ago. He decided to dig it up again and see what was down there. He has a bigger shovel than I do - a backhoe tied to the back of a Case industrial tractor. Shortly he came back driving the tractor and had talked to Betty on the phone in the interim. She mentioned that there also was the main electrical power in the same trench. Glad she did. Shut off the power and he made short work of digging up the offending valve. Even though it is sand here, it sure is a lot easier with a backhoe than Armstrong!

As it turns out, the valve I opened was indeed the shut off, but in the process of opening it, I twisted the plastic pipe causing it to tear! Didn’t know I had that much for breakfast that day. There is also another water line heading in the same direction, but have no idea where it leads too - yet. I suspect it will end up in the bathroom of Hobbit Hus, as there is a stub of the same pipe material, capped off there. Didn’t find that at all until this afternoon. Lyle, our neighbor, was able to stretch the waterline enough to reconnect it, but needed new clamps. I discovered that most of my plumbing supplies didn’t make it here yet, but Lyle had a couple of clamps at his place, so we went and got them. Once attached, I turned the power back on and opened the valve. We had water. Boy did we have water! Almost every pipe in the Hobbit Hus was broken from freezing. Apparently the last person to use it didn’t drain the pipes. They had drained the hot water heater though - and left the drain valve open. That was the first leak found and pumped a ¾" stream of water onto the bathroom floor. After shutting that and turning the water back on, the rest of the pipes started to spray every which-a-way and throughly drenched the bathroom and under the sink cabinet in the kitchen. Some of the leaks were really sneaky. As I shut off the various valves, other leaks would show up, but not with the force the others had. Thought we had it so we at least could get water to the kitchen sink, but that also had a slow leak - into the drawers filled with towels and assorted supplies. Gave up!

So ..... the next urgent project is the water system in the Hobbit Hus! As long as I have to replace everything, I think I will put in PEX as much as possible. On the way home tomorrow, I will pick up a couple rolls of PEX piping and a couple bags full of assorted other parts. It should go a lot faster using PEX with so many fewer joints and possible mistakes cutting hard pipe. One joint at each end of each line from source to use, with a shutoff valve at the manifold. Also appears to be a break in the shower mixing valve, so will check that out tomorrow before leaving. I also need to figure out what is necessary to extend and secure the valve at the well. Lyle said he would come back when we return and fill the hole after repairs are completed. Before I could ask what his efforts would cost us, he said there wouldn’t be any charge - "That’s what neighbors are for!"

I went into his shop and he apologized for it being only 30'x40' and filled too full. Too full? I don’t think so. But three walls are covered with workbenches, machines, and storage for hardware and like that. I think he could open a hardware store! The fourth wall is filled with two huge overhead doors. The center isle between them is even filled with machines of various kinds. I know where I can go to get help and advise for sure - as well as helping hand when I need it.

In our chit-chat, I found he is about 2 years older than I and retired from the county shop. He was the last blacksmith working for the county, making snowplows and the machines to make them. Suspect he knows how to work with iron and is pretty sharp to boot. I think I can get along with a man like that pretty easy. He and his wife apparently have a couple of handy/smart sons too. At one time he owned Guds Nordtre too! Sure am glad we had the water problems to meet a couple like Lyle and his wife.

May 21, 2007 (5:28am)
43º F, Overcast and humid, Very light SE wind.

Good morning,

Today should be a short one here. This probably will be short this morning and will publish it as soon as we get to FISKLAND. Might have additional pictures to add in tomorrow’s edition of TheOldNorwegian.

Before leaving this morning, I want to make a schematic of the plumbing in this house so I know pretty much what to pick up from the store. Not having enough will be a problem, as the materials for PEX are from Maynard’s, which is a long ride from here. Probably will get an oversupply, just in case. I will be able to use it in the future on the main house. I think I have the necessary tools to accomplish the task - if I get them here. I will also find out how these old joints can get into weird corners and contortions. Suspect I will also need to flush out the system, especially the water heater as I bet there is some sand in the system from the line breaking.

It just started to rain. With a metal roof on the building, the rest of the building too, it sounds something like staying in a tent during rain. Kind of neat, but makes me wonder a bit what the noise is at first. Not used to the sound that much or often. The area is rather quiet, but there must be an ATV trail in the bottoms close by. We can hear them snarling fairly often, especially on the weekends. It would be nice if the powers that be, would write some laws to quiet them down as they have the motorcycle and snowmobile. Don’t mind folks riding them, but do like my quiet at the same time. In an earlier time, if they had been available, I probably would have enjoyed riding them too. Those years are probably gone though. ATV riding is a big sport and deal up here. Getting as big as the snowmobiles are. There also are a lot of older folks riding them too.

In between acts, I have been working on the Bible study too. When one task wears me out, I switch to a different one. I normally work on the Bible studies in the morning and use if for my personal daily study time. Probably get more from the time this way, than if I just read and studied particular passages or books of the Bible. When they are finished, I can email them to Grace for printing. Of course that is when we will have email here. Until then, I just wait until we get to FISKLAND and mail it from there, usually at least a week ahead of time.

5:23 pm.

So we arrived home about 45 minutes ago. Stopped in Green Bay and spent half a fortune on plumbing and building supplies. I think I have all of the supplies I need to complete the plumbing repairs, but will bet you a dollar to a donut that I have forgotten something or other.

Time to get a-going. Belly button is chewing on my backbone.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Heading out again.

May 17, 2007 (5:52am)
41º F, Sunshine and cool, NNW wind 9 mph.

Good morning,

It is cool outside. 24º F in Crystal Falls at the moment. Suspect that would be called a frost? Frost/freeze warning/watches have been up for most of the area north and west of Green Bay last night and this morning. Good thing we don’t have any garden planted yet. Come to think of it, we may not have any this year either.

This will be short as we are heading up nort’ this morning. We need to wait for the bank to open and I need to refill my medications. I went to the storage unit and pretty much filled up the truck. Not as filled as last time. This load has a lot of furniture, rather than nice, neat, boxes pretty much the same size for most of the load. Loading went a bunch faster too. Lots of stuff that Margriet has not ever seen, so she should have a bit of fun with unpacking it.

Our new address is active (162 Section 6 Road, Crystal Falls, Michigan 49920). We don’t have the name on it yet, but the postman knows the address and we are there. Suppose we will get a lot of junk mail for a time. Phone, hopefully, will be working sometime on Saturday. Major project for this trip is to get some LP and water into the little house. I picked up a new shovel, so I have one less excuse not to have a 1' deep trench dug for the LP line. Hope the new line arrived at the house or we will take a ride to Amasa. We didn’t get a call from Betty last night, even left the computer off line too! Will give her another call this morning. Really hope to get the water on in the little house. Might have to get-by with a garden hose from the main house. Another project is to get the hot water working, either in the main house or the little house. Would be nice to take a shower.

The little house is a house of corners. It has many additions to the original building. Each addition added at least one small room - so many corners. The first picture is of the woodstove corner. The little stove keeps a fire going a very long time. The second picture is of the eating corner. Leo took a small kitchen table, cut it in half and fastened it to the wall. Works! The third picture is of the "office"/computer corner. You can see the wiring on the wall every-which-away. I have some work to do.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris ><>

Problem solving day

May 16, 2007 (4:07am)
45º F, Cloudy with drips, N wind 18 mph.

Good morning,

12:24 pm

Well I started this at the above time, then discovered that my printer didn’t want to work. We also have been having several problems with this, so .... started to try and figure out what was wrong. After a couple of hours, I think I may have found most of the problems. The port replicator apparently is the source. After disconnecting it, then reinstalling some things, the current crop of problems disappeared. Printer is back and so is the LAN. Don’t know what I did to make it so grumpy, but for the moment it will be sulking unconnected to this. I did discover that I have something of a shortage of USB ports, so will pick up a hub one of these days.

For what ever reason, Margriet decided to get up about 5:30 A.M. this morning. I normally wait until an hour later than that to turn on the heat and get a new pot fo coffee going. Fortunately, I did have the coffee ready. Whew! It really was a surprise.

I spent a good share of the morning trying to get phone service for Guds Nordtre set up. I tried to do it on the web, but eventually afer going through about 6 "pages" the next one said there was an error with the system and it could not process my request, so I should call and 800 number. I did, only to find out it was the wrong one, after going through about 10 minutes of time-saving automated phone service, but the gal would transfer me. Again more automated stuff and a wait before I got a gal that said I should be on the web and not talking to her! Told her I tried that without success so she gave me a different website to open, apparently the one posted on their opening page is incorrect. Finally I did get through on the web, then spent the next hour + following the timesaving program. The site didn’t like me just getting the minimum service and kept trying to sell me more. I think I have phone service beginning on Saturday, but not sure as they will call of email me to confirm again on Saturday! Wonder how that will work - no phone or email. Oh well, modern technology will over come.

We took the truck yesterday, hoping to buy a new mattress and box spring. Well we paid for them, but they will not be in until next Wednesday. We will keep sleeping on an air mattress for a few more nights the way it sounds. I really have a tough time getting out of bed with it as it is laying on the floor. Joints ain’t got no lubrication in them at the first get-go. The air mattress is very comfortable to sleep on though. A lot better than those of many years ago.

I did manage to pick up a cap for the chimney of the little house. The one that was there was messed up and in the woodshed. It is a temporary arrangement until I can replace the entire chimney. Hopefully it will keep the rain and birds out of it. The chimney works well for smoke, but it leaks around the hole through the roof also. I have no idea where it came from, but can’t find parts to fit it. Looks like Leo extended it and couldn’t find the right parts either as it is cobbled together. Fleet Farm has the parts for about less cost than anywhere else we have looked, so will pick up the necessary parts one of the next time by. Never put one through a metal roof before so that should be an experience too!

Astrid and Onno, with family, what to come over here and we are trying to figure out a way to make it happen. Prices for tickets are very expensive right now, so are looking at some time in late fall or winter. By waiting that long, it looks like each ticket will cost about $300.00 less or so. For four people, big and small, that is a large difference. Astrid also sent some more pictures of the little squirts, getting to be big squirts now, too. Will include a couple with this.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris ><>

Pictures:

#1 - M&M in flowerland

#2 - Pim in flowerland

#3 - Onno in heaven on earth

FISKLAND-ing again

May 15, 2007 (5:12am)
58º F, Rain clouds, NNW wind 4 mph.

Good morning,

We arrived at FISKLAND about 2:15 P.M. yesterday afternoon. We were very tired and still, we stayed up late for some reason trying to get caught up on everything. It was a good a satisfying trip. We did get much accomplished, but there is so much more to do there. It is interesting, we don’t really know how to describe each place. When we are there, we tend to call this place home and when we are here, we tend to call that place home also. Confusing sometimes when we call both places home in the same sentence.

Seemed weird not to sleep on an air mattress on the floor last night for some reason. The air mattress is really very comfortable to sleep on, but the getting in and out a problem. Especially in the morning when the lubrication system in the joints aren’t operating yet.

Still don’t have the water hooked up in the little house when we left. It sure is a befuddlement for me. At this point I really am stumped. Wish I had been around when it was installed. Also the water heater in the main house I have some reservations about. Betty left a lot of owner’s manual type materials, but none for the water heater in the main house, only the little house. I will bring more of my electrical supplies up this next trip. I want to get an outlet put in for the refrigerator as one of the first things. Need my extension cord for other uses. Leo sure used a lot of extra wire to do some of the wiring. Even if it is on the surface.

We have Bible study this morning, the main reason we returned yesterday rather than another time. Hope the sawmill is there too, although I have plenty to keep me out of mischief without that to play with too. After Bible study we will head to Green Bay with the truck to pick up some items necessary for Guds Nordtre. Probably better stop at the bank and rob it first so we can though.

For some reason, Margriet’s computer will not connect to the LAN so she is some grumpy, along with Brenda on the other side of the pond. Brenda has been trying to chat with her Mom too, but to no avail without an internet connection. We have tried several things, but no work yet. I also am grumpy, not only with it not working, but not being able to repair it.

Our little house which we probably will spend the winter in. The old refrigerator is laying outside waiting to be made into a flamable liquid "shed" away from the buildings.

The second picture is a typical home entrance for a Yooper - snow shovel and haul sled hanging and ready to use. A kerosene lantern is hanging close by too.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris ><>