The General Store

August 4, 2007 (5:24am)
38º F, Clear, Calm wind.

Good morning,

Coolest day we have had in some time. Looks to be a beautiful day a-coming with a high of just over 80º F and partly cloudy with a nice breeze. The days are getting perceptibly shorter now. Would like them to stay brighter longer, but not too much I can do about that. We had are really beautiful day again yesterday. We sure can use rain though. There are several forest fires to the east and one to the north of here. Most have been contained, but since they are in timber, will take a while to out. One is at the sight of an old sawmill and the fire is burning 4' underground in the old sawdust. The fire department said that would probably burn for a month or two, even though they are pouring water on it constantly.

So .... besides having a Turkey Trot yesterday (which was way cool!), we went to the thriving metropolis of Alpha yesterday to check out the new Alpha General Store. It really is nice and is set up similar to an old grocery store from my kid-ship era. Only difference is the butcher counter is missing. No carts, but I think they do have baskets available to carry. Shelves are cram packed and high in narrow isles. Also an ice-cream counter. Something we will need to check out. Their prices are reasonable and cheaper on many item than Crystal Falls. Like milk is about a dollar a gallon cheaper! We did pickup a couple of things to take along on our trek to Churchwide Assembly. I think we will be stopping in there some often, especially to check out the ice-cream.

The store building is detached from the school and served originally as the bus garage. The last use, before the store, was for the town’s fire trucks. I thought it may have been the old industrial arts shop, but in chatting with the owner, the old shop is in the basement of the main school building, complete with the old machine electrical hookups and safety instructions on the walls. Bet there is a lot of gray and/or green paint there too! Seems all shops used those color schemes eventually. Sometime I will have to con the owner into letting me go into the old shop to look around. I probably have set a couple up very similar to it.

The main reason for the trip to Alpha was to mail some papers to the Netherlands. We had the postmaster scratching, especially when we wanted the envelop sent registered mail. It takes a whole different set of paperwork to do internationally. She did accomplish the task and was apologizing for the high cost. Much higher than the normal rate. She wasn’t used to the high cost at all. Of course we/I had to tease her a bit too, since she will probably be learning more about sending things to the Netherlands.

I finally found a dealer for the water filter replacement elements thanx to the web. Turns out there is a dealer in Crystal Falls that handles them. Boy are they expensive though and need to be replaced every 3 months. We will have to find a place to purchase them as cheaply as possible in the near future, then will buy in some bulk. We will check out the local guy first though.

The weather finally cooperated enough so I could start the repairs of the old water shut off. In the hot sun, I really didn’t want to work in a 5' deep hole in the sand. Too much like a solar oven! Since the electrical wiring for this house and the shop are also at the bottom of the hole, I have to pick my work time so I can shut off the electrical service and not cause too much disruption. Don’t want no grumpy woman in my house! Also I really don’t want to be a crispy critter testing the electrical service for breaks.

Monday morning, about 3:30 A.M., we leave Guds Nordtre to drive to the airport, near Gwinn. From there to Chicago via a stop in Green Bay. It will be interesting to be in Green Bay on the other side of the security lines and wait for take off again after a 30 minute stop-over. With the time change, central to eastern to central again, we arrive in Green Bay 20 minutes before we take off from Sawyer International Airport! I think we are on the first flight out for the day on Monday. I was able to download my ticket from the website, but need to wait until 24 hours before takeoff to download Margriet’s. Not sure of the reason, but think it has something to do with my ticket on a corporate account and her’s isn’t. At least everything is paid for and we should be in good shape - at least until we get to Chicago, then the adventure starts. We are looking forward to the Assembly, but not too sure of life in Chicago.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris ><>