The Stone House Scribblings

Winter Picture Post...Happy Things

2012-01-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

A Home Winter Collage for the Children Far Away

Frost on the Windows in This Old House

Which one of you girls did Gladys Martin send this plant home with? A Rabbit's Foot Fern. It is outdoing itself this year, gloriously.

A Fine Winter Morning of -16*

Smoke From the Boy's Cabin

The Current Work Table

Uncle Amos and Auntie Carol created this wall hanging of old barn boards and a placemat. I love it.

You're in our Thoughts Every Day, Children.

I hope you enjoyed the winter scenes at our house. Stop in for coffee anytime.

The Story of the Lost Book and the Pink Notice

2012-01-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, in a land nearby, there lived a family who enjoyed reading books. The man of the house was a logger and sometimes the logging took his family with him to "the bush". When the whole family went logging most of the people in the family had time to read books. So they would find the local library and browse, bringing home arm loads of books at a time.

Sometimes because they also had a library at home they would end up with double arm loads of books on the coffee table and some books from some libraries would end up going "back" to the wrong libraries. Libraries don't like this. Most libraries have computer systems that keep a running inventory on their books and they know just where they might find a wayward book by looking it up.

This past fall our family was pinned with a "wayward" book. The Secret of Grandfather's Diary was not to be found. They looked in all their personal bookshelves, and under the couches and behind the beds, but it was of no use. The library that owned the lost book was getting pretty owly about it and demanded to be paid 25 dollars or else.

The family chose the "or else" route and decided to buy a replacement of the book for the library. The one librarian was dubious that this would suffice since the special number on the book had to be the same as the special number on the lost book. But a different librarian said, "Pish, just order a good copy of the book and bring it back to me. It will be just fine."

So the family ordered a hardcover copy, a replacement of the old rag tag paperback book that was lost. In a couple of weeks the book came to their house. The lady of house opened the package and out came a lovely, old, brown book that appeared to have never been opened, probably never had been read. It was a beautiful copy.

They went to the library the very next week and "returned" the book, paid the five dollar fine and scattered to browse. A few minutes later, the front desk librarian brought the same book to the lady of the house and handed it back to her. "This book is too old to have on our shelves anyway, so you may keep it as your own." She said. All is well that ends well, right?

The very next day, there came in the mail a pink notice from the library that had been sent out a few days before saying, 'that unless said book is returned in said amount of time the situation would be turned over to the city police as stolen property and said patron would be charged with thievery...'.

What a sad policy for the community library to have in their use. The lady of the house did call to the library and made commentary to that effect. "What if a little child has lost a book?" One wonders if the police in that community have nothing else to do all day but to go about the locality collecting fines for "stolen" books for the local library.

Home Scenes

2012-01-18T05:22:00.000-08:00

The Stove That Keeps Us Warm All Winter

New Mantel Decor

Fixing The Fire

Getting Grandpa's Flashlight

Abraham Lincoln

Current Baby Toys

Quiet! I'm On The Phone.

It Was Monday Today, All Day

2012-01-16T17:35:00.000-08:00

We actually had a fairly good Monday today. Everyone who was feeling a little less then well, recovered nicely today with only a bit of sore throat lingering. We had school for Brad and Amy here at home. Frances had school for Ginny and DJ at the Weavers till noon. Then she hung insulation for a couple of hours. She advised us at supper time that breathing that stuff can't be good for you. The men logged and fixed things. Just normal little logging or pickup issues. No worries.
Brad had instructions from his dad to study up on the history of the A-bomb and Hiroshima. No special reason, It's just time for Brad to understand. If you ever do that, be prepared for some rather horrific information. It throws a new light on current events: like Iran having uranium enrichment capabilities. I wonder how often the A-bomb fathers would have liked to "put it back".
The dryer has been dead for a few weeks now. I have decided that the heroics of drying laundry on racks and everywhere else are tiresome. Elv's black Sunday pants came out of the washer today covered in wet paper litter. That clinches it. Anybody have dryer to sell?
This evening the family is busy in various places. Lance went down to Radison for a First Responser's Class. Elv is over at the fire hall working on fixing the wiring on one of the trucks. Whoever professionally wired it last time failed to put any fuses in there and they nearly had a fire in the fire hall. Odd. The girls are studying or reading in their rooms. Brad is at the desktop. We'll have normal family time tomorrow evening, I guess.
And that's all for this time. My scattered thoughts from all that has happened in the last week are still just that... scattered. I'm banking on that verse from God's Word. " I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

Except Ye Become As A Little Child...

2012-01-14T05:41:00.000-08:00

A Benny Post

These are not good pictures at all, but they'll have to do for now. Benny lives in a world of doting uncles and aunts and all adults. Last night he figured out how to turn the lever to run the little electric train. Imagine being the midget among giants, having a vocabulary of about five words. Despite these major difficulties, Benny manages to have a place in the democracy of our family. He is totally oblivious to the facts of his age or ability. He means to be one of us and nothing deters him. He loves and accepts us and is unable to carry a grudge for longer than two minutes. He expects the same from us.

Grandpa has a flashlight that needs to be checked for functionality during each visit. Anything that moves or makes noise must be investigated. If you have a break-down, Benny will be glad to "help".

Spend time with a "little one" today, if you have an opportunity to so.

The Rhine River, Kauffmans, GF Double Chocolate Cookies, and a Brother in the Marshfield Hospital

2012-01-05T15:43:00.000-08:00

And yes, I know the title is too long, but too bad! It has to be that long to get it all in.
Shall we start in Marshfield or over in Germany?
I am TRYING to write a/the story of when my mother's people came to America back in the 18th century. Today I've been on the Rhine telling, (okay maybe I do too much telling and not enough showing, I have never said I could actually write right), about sick babies and distraught women, and second-guessing husbands. Not much has changed, has it? Well, yes it has. Travel has changed. Hygiene and ship cleaning have changed. Ships have changed. The reasons for cruising up the Rhine have changed. But people haven't changed so much. So I am trying to tell you all about why a family would leave home and country to find a new life in a new world at the great cost of even losing their babies to illness.

After eating all those holiday cookies and candies, we were ready for honest meat and taters and no deserts for a few days. Especially after getting on the scales. Never mind. But today I decided to make GF (gluten free) cookies again. This time I made double chocolate cookies. The first two pans were not done enough and while the second two pans were in baking I had to go pick Frances up from her teaching job, so I put the timer on and had Brad lift those out of the oven when done. The second batch was picture perfect with beautifully cracked surfaces. Only thing, they were crunchy done. Oh well. Frances won't eat GF cookies. Too much beany taste for her. Brad says they're the best. So there you have it, a good cross section of opinion at our house about GF cooking.

All the while we were baking and on the Rhine, my brother Eric is waiting in the Marshfield hospital for a doctor to come and tell him what can be wrong with him. Last week they told him he had a something the size of a baseball on his lung, most likely fungus. Meds and pain killers for that. Last night he had an attack of some sort, full of pain, at which they finally decided to throw nitroglycerin. That finally helped. Today they did more ex-rays and another CT scan and then left him to wait all day in his room for word/diagnosis/anything. Evening and dark are here and we still haven't heard. Odd!

We cleaned the church today. What a good thing. We vacuumed up a lot of little things, mostly paper, I guess. And cleaned two scuzzy restrooms. And picked up illions of toys in the nursery. While I clean I can't stop seeing where there ought to be church appropriate wall hangings. And certainly, we could have rid of that tablecloth in the entry and use trivets for the hot casserole dishes instead? Please? But nobody else sees it like that, so I quietly allow the beauty of that lovely oak table to be hidden. It's not a hill to die on. There seem to be fewer and fewer hills to die on. Peace and tranquility are more important than a LOT of things that don't really matter after all. Are those last two sentences redundant?

And where is winter? The snow was melty today. Chinook weather. The laundry dried on the lines outside without once freezing and clacking together like chunks of wood. Sunshine, too. Beautiful January weather, unless you have snowmobiles to rent out to rich tourists.

If Jesus Should Come For Me This Year

2012-01-02T04:26:00.000-08:00

Ready or not, He will come, someday, for each and all of us.
If there are changes I ought to make before Jesus comes, then today is the best time to make those changes, right? I don't think you can quickly get ready for Jesus to come for you, appropriately, that is, unless you have never taken Jesus as your personal Saviour. In that case, the sooner the better for you to turn to Him.
I would love to keep our house in a condition for company at all times, but this is not always the case nor it is it even practical at times. We LIVE here. So if you get a notion to stop in without calling first we will welcome you no matter how the house looks. Just so, we ought to be living every day as our last day. Some days don't look so pretty, just like our house. But does that make us any less prepared for His return?
There is also a big difference between getting company and Jesus coming. You end up re-cleaning after company no matter how perfectly the house shone before they came. But when Jesus comes, a squeaky-clean house won't mean anything to anybody. No more cleaning. Now we're talkin'!
Knowing Jesus could return at any moment keeps me living rightly in my relationships. How will I be remembered? And will the people in my life have been encouraged to live for Him by the things I have said and done?
I remember hoping that Jesus would wait to come till after we were married. After that it was to wait till the children are all born and raised. We are silly, aren't we? The glories over there are not to be compared with anything here.
So the question doesn't motivate me to any specific list or makeovers at all. My answer is: Even so come Lord Jesus. It is all about what Jesus did already. I am banking on that.

On the other hand: I hope to be able to be here for our children while they walk through the teen years. I want to hear all about their trials and triumphs. I want to be part of their training team when it comes to learning how to order their lives
I want to grow old with my husband. We have dreams to fulfill and goals that we're walking together toward. After the children have all flown the nest there is a life for the two of us that we plan to enjoy. If God wills.
I have no guarantee of being able to fulfill these dreams. Elaine and Elsie were taken home before the children were all gone and before their "couple dreams" could ever be launched. So I realize that every moment from here on out is a gift from God and NOW is not to be wished away in the pressing toward tomorrow's dreams.
What would I like to do before I die? 1. Win a Newbery Medal award. 2. See Norway and Switzerland in person. 3. Get snowed in at the cabin for three days. 4. Enjoy our family and friends every minute that I have remaining.

My Favorite Christmas Gift This Year

2011-12-30T12:41:00.000-08:00

Elv and the boys set up shop in the mini barn this year to make gifts for the women of the house. They had several evenings into the project and nary a word did they breathe of what they were doing. And, of course, we didn't ask, enjoying the whole idea of them making our gifts this year.
I was pretty sure it would be something metal and perhaps have to do with a cabin type something. But I have to say we were all quite wowed over the result of all that work and secretive planning.
The mirror part of this still blows my mind. Elv bought a full length mirror from which he cut the mirrors for these lamp holder/reflector beauties. They are etsy-able, if you ask me.

A Supper Table For Amy's 16th Birthday

2011-12-23T10:31:00.000-08:00

What is more special that a 16th birthday? Well, maybe there might be some things a little more life changing than a birthday, but this one is pretty special to our family. She did NOT want a party, but when we started on this brainstorm to make a pretty table for supper she was Johny-on-the-spot.
Frankly, I think this last picture of Elv and his daughters is precious. Hope you enjoyed the tour, again.
Merry Christmas and God Bless Us Everyone!

Chocolate Covered Ritz Crackers

2011-12-22T09:54:00.000-08:00

What's Happening At Home

2011-12-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

I am writing this a few days before Christmas. It is Amy's birthday today so she and Frances are taking a break from Christmas preparations to watch a Jane Austin movie for a couple of hours. They're sitting here "wired" sharing earphones in front of the fire with me. I have my music to myself.
Brad is over at Delvins helping Ben, Lily's father, today doing insulating. Lance is running Delvin's logging machine so that Delvin can be at home to help on his own house. Yesterday Frances and Charity made Christmas goodies here with help from Dot, Anna, Amy and I. Lovely mess and the result was 25 plates of cookies and goodies to pass out to the parents of the Children's Ministry children on the rez. That's a lot of caroling, right? But they said it was fun and went over well with everyone.
Anything can happen just before Christmas and usually does. The woods machine broke down so Elv ran to Superior for the parts yesterday afternoon, then stopped in here to ask Brad and I if we'd like to go with him to the woods since he would be working into the evening working on the machine. I gathered up the neck scarf I was crocheting for Jenny and gifts to wrap, my current reading, and computer to go with him. Brad grabbed a cedar board and his jig saw and jumped in, as well.
So while Elv took the machine apart with the aid of his collection of strong lights, Brad and I continued our Christmas projects. I sat in the cab with the interior lights on since the pickup was running all evening as Elv worked anyway, to do mine.
First thing, Brad needed me to help him draw a pattern for a rubber band gun. (To all you moms out there. Be prepared to even to help with guns now and then, being a good mom.) He wanted the shape of a hand gun to cut out with intentions to mount a clothespin on the flat top of it for the obvious purpose. He had to draw a little one to show me how it ought to look and then told me how to draw the one of proper size in a torn off flap of a cardboard box.
I finished the scarf in good time and had time to wrap the four gifts for Jenny and family. Besides I got well into a Jessamyn West novel before Elv came a verdict on the water pump.
"All the fins are gone on the pump." He had that look that guys get when something weird/bad/interesting happens to heavy equipment.
"So they're inside there somewhere." I suggested thinking about another engine one day long ago sitting by the road on Fourth Of July pass in the Bitterroot Mts. of Idaho where a little screw at the top of the engine fell down into the bowels thereof and killed it.
"Well, in the cooling system somewhere, yes."
We headed home then to solve tomorrow.
As we walked in the door the young people who had been out caroling followed us in. We must have had a dozen noisy boys and girls standing around laughing and talking. Noah was opening a box that came while he was away. He popped the air wrap noisily with plenty of good will and help from the others. You couldn't walk for the press so to speak. Most of them weren't staying and boots were dripping onto the floor giving the rest of us wet socks. We love a house full of youth at any time.
The rubber band guns turned out beautifully. When we got home Brad sanded them and had Amy help him get the clothespins glued on there while he cut a ridge to hold the rubber band taut. I wrapped them individually and labeled them. All done. I wish all Christmas creating was that easy and successful, don't you?
Gifts are adding up little by little on the lamp table in the living room. There are still more to come. The Christmas card/family pictures have not arrived. Tracking tells me where they were as of the 17th. Why should it take 4 days to get here from the cities? These particular cards are our third attempt at a family picture, to boot, and now they've evaporated. Can't win for losing!

Our little family of six will have our Christmas day on Saturday here at home. On Sunday we are to go down to Sparta to visit Mom and the Grabers for the day.

Christmas Tea Centerpiece

2011-12-14T08:41:00.000-08:00

I have umpteen projects cookin' right now, so I shouldn't be playing with my camera. But how else is a person supposed to show her mother?! This is for you, Mom.

Star of the East

2011-12-14T05:59:00.000-08:00

Jenny posted her thoughts about this song questioning the theology of same. It really got me to thinking about some of the old songs/carols we sing so often. I realize that sometimes the poetry kind of takes precedence over accuracy. So I am posting the lyrics here to let us see for ourselves.
Star of the East, Oh Bethlehem's star
Guiding us on to Heaven afar!
Sorrow and grief and lulled by thy light,
Thou hope of each mortal, in death's lonely night!

Fearless and tranquil, we look up to Thee!
Knowing thou beam'st thro' eternity!
Help us to follow where Thou still dost guide,
Pilgrims of earth so wide.

Star of the East, thou hope of the soul,
While round us here the dark billows roll,
Lead us from sin to glory afar,
Thou star of the East, thou sweet Bethlehem's star.

Star of the East, undimmed by each cloud,
What tho' the storms of grief gather loud?
Faithful and pure thy rays beam to save,
Still bright o'er the cradle, and bright o'er the grave!

Smiles of a Saviour are mirror'd in Thee!
Glimpses of Heav'n in thy light we see!
Guide us still onward to that blessed shore,
After earth's toil is o'er!

Star of the East, thou hope of the soul,
While round us here the dark billows roll,
Lead us from sin to glory afar,
Thou star of the East, thou sweet Bethlehem's star.

Oh star that leads to God above!
Whose rays are peace and joy and love!
Watch o'er us still till life hath ceased,

We sang this old carol a couple of times while caroling last week. Our song leader led it in a fairly quick tempo and it suddenly became quite nice for a change. I have heard this song plowed almost into the ground, which calls for undo portions of lung space and effort.
Do the lyrics make ecclesiastical sense? Well, it's poetic poetry, true. But considering the seeking of the wise men as an example to us might make the lyrics mean something after-all.
I'm sad that nobody ever sings the "additional ending" as it is dubbed in Zion's Praises.

Found On The Office Wall Downstairs

2011-12-13T16:23:00.000-08:00

People are often unreasonable and self-centered

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are honest people may cheat you.
Be honest anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.
Author Unknown

A Chimney Fire @TheStoneHouse

2011-12-10T20:10:00.000-08:00

It all started with a lovely warm fire in our sitting room stove this morning. Of course, Elv and I had no idea that we were creating the setting for a fire call. Just a nice morning of coffee and quiet time by the fire.
The plan for today was for the children and me to haul firewood from the woods. Elv thought there would be around 4 loads and he would assist us in loading at the woods. So Elv and Lance left for a short day of work with intent to help us later. Lance planned to be home to study for Sunday School teaching this afternoon.
Everything was ticking along as planned. Elv and Lance were off to work. I had made a quick breakfast of pancakes for the children and stacked the dirty dishes in a sink of hot water. The girls were getting ready to go out the door when we noticed an odd smell.
I followed my nose downstairs to till I came to a stop leaning over the stove looking behind it at the chimney door behind the stove. It is a cute little door with a pretty design all painted white with a little catch just right for keeping it closed. The problem now was that it was all glowing red as if there was a fire in there. Wait! The fire is supposed to be in the stove, not in the chimney.
I quickly called Elv who advised me to call 911. I did that and dispatch seemed to know who I was and where I was calling from. Neatest thing since sliced bread. All I had to do was to say I had a pretty good chimney fire.
But first I must back track a little. Last night at the supper table, Lance who is Lieutenant on the fire department, was bemoaning the fact that Bass Lake Fire Department could soon be without a chief and therefore no longer in existence. Well, I certainly couldn't see a problem with the department today.
In about three shakes after dispatch paged the crew I had six guys milling around in our basement sitting room solving and throwing their potions on the fire. Lance had the little hand held xray machine that gave him the temperature of the chimney walls in the house here. And they all decided that the fire was indeed at the bottom of the chimney and nowhere else in our house.
Since the fire in the stove was almost out, the chimney fire seemed to be as well, we decided to go ahead and haul firewood as planned. After the first load I came in and checked the chimney wall again by laying my hand on it. OOH! Very hot yet. Hmmm.
I think we put on 250 miles today hauling firewood. Eight loads later the woodlot is quite full of it. While Elv finished up the last two loads, Lance and I cleaned out the bottom of the chimney.
We pulled out buckets of black stuff and it was STILL quite warm. I saw a coal once as we worked. We put the pans/buckets outside the door and left everything in the chimney/stove area open and airing for Elv to inspect when he got in. Then we could put the stove back and clean up the mess.
The mess was mostly a dirty white film all over everything in the room including me by the time we were done. But it cleaned up easily with the vacuum sweeper and mopping water.
After supper Elv went outside for some something and noticed that one of the pans of creosote on the patio that we had taken out of the chimney after the fire was supposedly out, was now a mass of red hot coals burning away nicely in the open air. Does anyone wonder why chimney/house fires are notorious for restarting?
Elv says that if I need that much attention, I am just to let him know after this. He even offered to stay home from work on Saturday morning if that's what it takes. :) I have always wondered what it would take to get him to not go to work on Saturdays. :)
We're all grateful for God's loving care over us today, and for a quick response from BLFD.

The Family Picture 2011

2011-12-09T04:10:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas.

Christmas Mittens

2011-12-06T17:25:00.000-08:00

For Gwen

Progress In December

2011-12-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

A light snow is falling outside all day, recoating the six lovely inches that fell late Saturday night. We woke up Sunday morning to a changed scenery. THIS snow will stay.
In our story hour book, we have gotten Ben Hur off the galley ship and adopted and enriched by one, Arrius. The old former servant, Simonedes, has appeared on the scene, apparently only to complicate life further for our hero. The children are patiently enduring Wallace's pontifications on culture, history and religion as we go along because the story line is too interesting, faithfully resurfacing at regular intervals. I am pleased to discover that their dad has instilled enough ancient history to round out the story for us.
And we've decided who has whose names around here for Christmas. The train and house setup on the big windowsill runs and lights for Brad. Elv really likes it, too. The mini-barn has been converted to a workshop for the guys who are creating gifts this year.
And now it is time to bake cookies. I hope to shop for baking supplies on Thursday so that we may begin.
While we make some steps forward, we slip back in one other important step. The family collage card with which I was so pleased, came back from printing quite blurry. It seems that Picasa 3 carefully downsizes the picture at some point in the collage creating, but you can't discern that until you get it printed. Thankfully, I ordered only 10 of them because I wanted to see them before ordering 50 of them. Wasn't that wise of me?
Our dear niece/cousin Adnrea has sent out her lovely invitation to the family. We are all cordially invited to attend "festivities" in her parent's southern estate in South Carolina over Christmas weekend. The personally crafted card is so beautiful that I have added it to the centerpiece tea tray on the dining room table. Wouldn't she be shocked if we all took her up on it and showed? Wouldn't it be fun? I even hesitate to send kind regrets at this point. One can dream, right?

A Skiff Of Snow And Other Stuff of December

2011-12-01T19:27:00.000-08:00

All we have is a skiff of snow. Not enough for anything but making the back roads slick and to be able to say that there IS snow. Not enough to play in, or make a snow man of, or plow even. I doubt you can measure it although I saw that someone thought 1/8th of an inch would be considered a skiff. So maybe we have an 1/8th inch of snow. In which case if the sun shines tomorrow we will soon have even less snow...no longer the skiff of which we speak tonight.

The frustration I encountered today was getting well into a crocheting project only to discover that the directions were defective. I simply couldn't come up with what the picture showed for a shell border if I followed the directions. Now I LIKE to follow the directions when I am crocheting because the result is much more satisfactory and besides I get a kick out of producing something beautiful from what my children declare is nonsense writing. So I made the difficult choice of abandoning the directions. Now what I have looks like the picture but I can't say that I am satisfied. Sigh! Oh well.

Happy things in our day were as follows: Amy crafted a stable of cardboard and set up the dear old nativity set that I found at Salvation Army two years ago. She used straw, pine boughs, lights, and quilt batting to create a lovely scene in a deep window sill.

Also Amy and I went along with others from church to sing to the old folks at the rest home this evening. We had instruments and good, willing singers so it was nice to belt out the carols and other favorites for those dear old listeners. The Old Rugged Cross was mellow and slow and lovely.

A very unfortunate happening was that when I went to put my contacts in to go out this evening I discovered to my horror and intense pain that the saline solution was not saline solution but cleaner disinfectant for contacts. Nearly killed my eye! Wow! So out went a perfectly good set of lenses and the new lense felt lovely shielding the burned lid from the burned eye. Always read your labels!

More happiness is that Elv's new job is within minutes of TheStoneHouse! This is a major Praise!

And Christmas is showing up everywhere, again. I love this season.

Pine Cones Again

2011-11-30T17:53:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to the pinecone curing post for those of you who had more questions.

The Days Between

2011-11-28T12:15:00.000-08:00

We have three short weeks between the two holidays in which to have good school, bake Christmas cookies, listen to Christmas music, and plan and prepare for our family Christmas events. I enjoy these days.
Today is Monday after Thanksgiving and the boxes and bins of Christmas decorations have been dug up and are sitting here in the living room. My radio is tuned to Chris Rice's Christmas Album Living Room Sessions, thanks to the link Dru sent to me this morning by chat. The children are studying while I putter about the laundry,dishes, scribbling, and boiling and baking more pine cones for wreaths.
Downstairs in the pantry lies a large trash bag full of cedar boughs. We're hoping to make a couple of wreaths soon. Frances wants us to bake cookies very soon...something about a Children's Ministry event.
Thursday evening we will be singing carols at the nursing home for the old folks. And at church for the next few Sundays some of us will request Christmas hymns during worship time. Sometime this month we will bundle everyone up of an evening as a church family and go about the neighborhood singing carols on front porches where ever we are welcomed. After the evening of getting worn out with running between cars and houses, and hoarse from singing the carols, we will gather somewhere for hot chocolate, finger foods, games, and fellowship.
All of this to say that I am thankful for a country that openly celebrates the most wondrous event in history, that of God sending his Son to earth as a baby. "His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."
And Handel's Messiah strains will again soar into the vaulted ceilings of cathedrals and auditoriums shouting out the facts of the matter of God's purpose and plan in sending Jesus to earth once and soon again to gather us home. I pray again, that this year those singers and hearers will pay attention to the message of the grand and gracious words being sung out of God's own Word. It seems to me that every new Christmas season is another opportunity given to us from God to turn to Him. I feel like the little Herdman girl in her angel costume yelling out to the congregation, "Hey you, Glory To God In The Highest, And On Earth, Peace, Good-will Towards Men!"

Thanksgiving (News for Grabers)

2011-11-26T17:09:00.000-08:00

But you can listen in if you like even if you are not a Graber.

We spent our Thanksgiving at the cabin. On Thursday we had dinner at Lattins along with the Martins and Kathy. I don't have any pictures of that day because last minute I left my camera sitting on the kitchen window sill after thinking about what a pain it is to be responsible for taking a few pictures. My dear old camera doesn't work right anyway. I have one good setting and it is for outdoors unless you don't mind blurry pictures and I do mind.

So there it sat while we enjoyed long hours of visiting and sharing delicious food with friends. Gideon made the sweet potato hot dish. Good job of it too. The marshmallows slid on the top a little as it was being lifted out of the cook stove oven, but we didn't mind at all. There was a turkey, and numerous vegetable dishes, salads, mashed potatoes and gravy, pie and cheesecake. Plenty and more of everything a Thanksgiving dinner should be. Yes, I should have had pictures of the table of young people playing games, and of the lace covered serving table and of the circle of older folks visiting.

All of following is of the rest of our "three Saturdays in a row" as Dena said in her text to us commenting about Thanksgiving celebrations.

Benny was good as gold the whole time.

We had not only one puzzle to work, but two. At Lattins on Thursday we started a Kim Jacobs puzzle. Susan says they've finished it. Then we started a lovely 1000 piecer at the cabin where it lies unfinished for anyone who wants to work on it. I would give you a link for that puzzle too, if I could remember the name of the artist.

On our list of things to do during Thanksgiving vacation was to take away the opening in the living room ceiling to the upstairs of the cabin. The idea to add more light to the living room by having an opening turned out to be a waste of floor space upstairs for the most part. So we have been wanting to put the floor in since the beginning. Elv and the boys got it done. Presto, we had more sleeping space upstairs, as well!
AND we got our family picture taken. Evidence comes later. That is, we took a family picture of those of us who live here at home now-a-days. For this year you married children will have to be off the picture, I'm sorry to say. It is terrifically hard to get a whole family picture when some people live in Thailand and others in Wisconsin while even others live in Nebraska.

Elv worked on the plow truck again. The hope is that there will be a way to plow snow on Joshua Rd this winter.

Lance keeping Frances in line, as usual.

Yes, we took our usual walk to the tippiest -top of Buck Mountain that overlooks the world as we knew it on the North Shore.

What's For Dinner?

2011-11-17T08:31:00.000-08:00

Especially for Thanksgiving dinner. I remember when we were first married I didn't have to think about that. Our family was young and small and we were still getting together with one or both of our family's homes for the day.
All I had to do was fill out my one-dish assignment and made sure everybody had clean clothing, an extra set and "orange" to wear for walking, and maybe skates if it there was good ice.
Arriving at home the familiar dinner smells met us as we got out of the car. At Elv's folks home there was turkey AND ham from which came the two choices of gravy. Then the sweet potatoes that had been julienne d in plenty of margarine and brown sugar, mashed potatoes whipped to a typical Mennonite creamy smoothness, (none of your lumpy mashed potatoes for us) and numerous side dishes. And pie. Elv's mom makes good pie and always has plenty of them for lunch and supper and snack and take home. You would think that at 85 years old someone else could do all that work, but nobody wants to try to match her brown sugar pie. Don't look at me. Jenny has made a successful Brown Sugar Pie, but that's another subject, completely, and one that Kay ought to take up again.
At my mom's house the meal is simpler and not necessarily in the traditional fashion. For one thing she doesn't bother with cranberry anything since nobody likes it much anyway. And I don't know that we ever have sweet potatoes either. The turkey is always perfection and plenteous. Mom makes plenty of a simple meat n taters meal, but she goes all out for a perfect table.
The glassware sparkles spotlessly on a white table cloth. Mom taught us girls that you don't wipe glassware dry, you wash it in the hottest water you can stand and then hold the clean glass under the running hot water, the cold tap off, then tip the glass over onto a clean tea towel. And wait. When they're dry in a few minutes you hold them up to a light and with a clean lint-less towel you may gingerly and carefully touch up for any left over water spots.
Mom is a great one for center pieces. And hers are always very pretty and pleasing. A collage of candles on her own crocheted doily is probably one of my favorites.
And now it's my turn to plan and please for Thanksgiving since my mom moved off into the sticks of the Northwest and Elv's family doesn't always get together anymore since we all have our own children coming home. Now in case you can't tell it, here's where the plot thickens in my story.
I told you before that I'm not a good cook. What I mean is that I don't like to cook. Hypothesis:Good cooks like to cook. So ideas, inspiration, and the yen about cooking all evade me, always. My favorite line for a planned carry-in is this: You tell me what to bring and I'll be happy to do so.
Thanksgiving is next week and I am trying to get excited about cooking up a traditional (boring if I do it) meal again for my loved ones. If one of the children offers to plan and prepare a snack bar or a salad bar or ice cream only instead, I'll jump at it. So don't do that unless you're serious.
Meanwhile I have been planning ahead and there is a ham AND and a turkey carcass residing in the freezer even at this time, a whole week ahead. I have been riding high on that little triumph for a week already. But we're skidding to a landing now with the knowledge that along with baking one or both of them up in the cook stove, I have to do the potatoes, Mennonite creamy and candied like Mom's respectively. What for side dishes? Elv will suggest/expect baked beans.
Salads and deserts must be thought up and created. I wonder if I can get Frances to make cheesecake and Charlotte to make salads. Now there's an idea. No, I don't care what kinds. Please don't ask me.
The ideas I CAN come up with for Thanksgiving are about visiting and playing. We could play board games and visit. There are hikes to take and wreaths to make. Sometime we ought to exchange names for Christmas. And there're pictures to take of all the activity and babies to hug and tease. And songs to sing. And coffee to drink. And books to read. And letters to write. And traditionally we must have a new puzzle to put together.
I know you can't really have a proper Thanksgiving without food; but for me it's more about fellowship around a puzzle with the cold being held back by fires in the stoves and snow falling outside. That, my friends, makes a perfect Thanksgiving!

Another Thankful List

2011-11-15T08:34:00.000-08:00

For balmy November days. No snow, no rain, no ice. Just sunshine and a few cloudy days in between. Amazingly warm, sweater days.
For one, dead, old fridge sitting on the patio. Because it stands for the new fridge in our kitchen that God gave us for free.
For quiet school mornings.
For brainstorms. The current brainstorm is to make our own wreaths this year of spruce boughs, mountain ash berries, and pine cones.
For red crochet yarn that my mom left behind and I found several days later. It is being crocheted into an Amaryllis Christmas doily.
For stacks of line-dried towels after a long weekend of growing piles of dirty laundry.
For Thanksgiving vacation just around the corner. Three days to eat, make wreaths, fix a floor, visit friends, hike, and play.
For prayer. How would we live without it?

Wherein I Tell Shilah What My LIfe Is...

2011-11-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

Because she wanted to know why I never talk to her or more particularly why she never hears from me or Evie and what had she done to deserve to have such silent sisters. The following is some reparation for my neglect, I hope. I am being "efficient" and posting it in a blog as well, albeit slightly revised for privacy purposes.

My life is mostly keeping home for Elv, me and the children that still hang around here most of the time. I still don't like to cook. I had this neat idea that I would pretend I have a cook who WANTS to do the cooking. And we would sit down, she and I, and find recipes and menus together. Then I would make a grocery list for her and send her shopping and each day I would sit with her and tell her what kind of meal our family wishes to enjoy in the evening including the table setting and decorations. I would order up anything I wished to enjoy. Then I would turn around and tell me I am she...so get on it now. I thought maybe it would help all the blahs I am enduring with wheatless food and meals.

Besides the meal battle there's homeschool hours. I have two of them in school and the three of us have fun, bookish discussion every day on all sorts of subjects from hydrogen atoms to adjective phrases. And we're reading Ben-Hur for story time.

There's the home management part of my life. I have been going to paint the ceilings for years. They're still not painted. Maybe next spring now after we're done firing the stoves. I noticed yesterday that I need to dust my bedroom and sitting rooms badly. Several months ago I thinned out a whole bunch of books that didn't mean anything to me and gave them to Salvation Army and the big old bookcase to Charlotte. That makes more room in my house.

Then I took Grandpa Skrivseth's old bookcase to the cabin where it fits perfectly under the windows in the front room upstairs and holds lots of books. Each time we go up we take a few more.

Yesterday, I stopped at the SA store to look for a big heavy covered soup kettle. I envision a red pot wherein you can cook up two gallons of soup and serve the army. Is there such a thing?Something like this. What I did find was a blue teapot and a bluer coffee carafe for the cabin.

And there was an ugly wall sconce with a candle inside a lamp chimney for a dollar. I wanted only the lamp chimney, the rest can go in file 13 for all I care. Lamp chimneys seem to cost about six dollars a piece around here. I have 14 lamps at the cabin and three more that need chimneys so I always am on the lookout for such things.

We have been feeding a few armies lately because we have been helping our friends move their business out of town to home and it is a huge undertaking. I can't really lift or scrub much but I can cook and play hostess and innkeeper. I'll be doing that again Friday and Saturday up at the cabin near to where our friends are working. Thankfully, I have had lots of good help from other friends in preparing and serving food.

Projects And Snow

2011-11-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

Today I have been entering names and addresses into an Exel Document. I have almost 400 more to enter. There are last names like Sve, Johnson and Halstread. I found Lundgren and Olson, but no Yoders, Millers, or Hostetlers which tells its own story.
I started a new Christmas doily today. I am on round four and it already looks like something. I can hardly lay it down.
The carrots should finally have been dug today. Bummer, now it might snow. :)
The laundry dried quickly outside for a change. I have been resigning myself to a two day wait till I can bring it back in dry. Not today. All done in one day!
So let it snow. I have projects aplenty. And plastic to put on the windows. Winter's a-coming.
Our ordered hardcover copy of Ben-Hur arrived today in the mail. I read the first two chapters to our school children today. When I laid the book down Brad said, "Uh, I know who they are." :) 12 year old boys are so smart!
I am looking forward to cozy reads by the fire at break time far into the winter.

My Thankful List

2011-11-06T14:31:00.000-08:00

Elv gently reprimanded me yesterday. You're a different woman now that we've decided to change the schedule back to fewer hours. Okay, I admit it. I'm pleased about that decision, inordinately so. We had further bantering discussion about how he ought to have married a woman who wanted money more than time together. We're both happy that he married me!
Those of you my friends who were in the back ground the last four months tsking over my "unnecessary" stress over his long hours can go ahead and do that. I am shamelessly delighted to have it over with. Yes, that sentence is ungrammatical. But "over with" is what I mean so it is what I write. Elv's theory of language usage works for me in this case. Which is: as long as I am communicating to you what I mean, it doesn't really matter about grammer, so there.!
But, back to my list. I am thankful for these lovely fall days. October weather is reaching in to November and not letting go. I suppose we'll pay for this, but while it lasts, we are enjoying it.
I'm thankful for Saxon Math for our 15 year old. I have taught Math for almost 8 years with Abeka. This new Math is just plain fun. Not only do you learn the how of Math you get to finally learn the why of Math.
I am grateful for a new computer, too. Lance walked in and handed me a new still in the box computer the other day saying, "I love you, Mom." No, Aunt Amy, he didn't do it to impress anyone. Just me, I guess. And I am. I have work stacked up to do on my computer...now I can do it.
I am thankful for dry pine for firewood this time of year. There's nothing like a snappy fire in the stove on a grey blustery day in November.
I am thankful for work for Frances, at last. She gets to teach two first graders several days a week and three other children piano once a week. Yes, it means that I have to get out of the house and chauffeur her about till she gets her license in January, but that's okay.
Then there's the usual things that people generally say they are thankful for like a good husband, our children, the wonderful grandchildren, health, home, friends, and Salvation. I AM very thankful for all these things, too. But most of all I am glad to FEEL thankful again for all our blessings.

Ramblings From The Scribbler

2011-11-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

Gone are the blue skies of October. And now are the grey skies of November. Lawn chairs and outdoor grillings have been abandoned. It's too cold for evenings of patio fires. The flower foliage stands dead and soggy in the garden. We're in that inbetween time of putting autumn away and before taking the holidays out for the 2011 rendition.
We went shopping last night in Rice Lake. Can you believe it? Christmas has already arrived at KMart and Farm & Fleet, at least the commercial version of it. What a waste. We haven't had a go at Thanksgiving yet! I still have carrots to dig. All their hurry won't change a thing about the calendar. We'll take the proper amount of time there is to savor today and the rest of fall, so there.
Here are some leftovers I found on picture files of this fall.

Have you all seen this one before? I like this picture. The only way to get a really great picture of Elv is when he has no clue it is happening. He was quickly fueling the machine prior to a walk in the woods with the family.

And a random picture of our front door a few weeks ago. Now the geranium is inside gracing the entry with lots of blooms. The trick to blooms is Miracle Grow for Blooms. Thought you might like to know that.

This one is just to show you that dead foliage has a certain beauty, too. You can find beauty almost anywhere if you care to look for it. Same is true for happiness....in the eye of the beholder, you know.

More. Okay, so I was playing with ordinary Arla caliber pictures on Picasa 3 and discovered the warmify and saturation options. Ummm, you camera geeks...isn't that a little lame?

Just like a magazine picture. This is from our annual Copper Falls excursion. Clark got a lot more and better pictures than I did with my relic of a camera.

Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten Free)

2011-10-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

    Here is the most popular cookie recipe at the Grabers right now. I concocted this recipe out of sheer desperation when I was sincerely craving a cookie after being relegated to a gluten free diet since spring. I realize that there are very few folks out there in my readership who want this recipe. But you never know...

                          2 sticks of real butter
                          1 cup peanut butter
                          1 cup brown sugar
                          1 cup white sugar
                          4 eggs
                          1 tsp baking powder
                          1 1/2 soda
                          1 tsp vanilla
                           Bean flour
                           Brown rice flour
                           1 package of milk chocolate or peanut butter chips

It is a good idea to sift the bean flour. I didn't put amounts on the flours because its anybody's guess how much exactly to use. I use mostly or all bean flour depending on what I have on hand. Make a good stiff dough and drop by teaspoons full on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes, turn and then time for a few more minutes.

Note: You can warn the dough snitchers or not as you wish, but I'll tell YOU that the dough is nasty.   FINALLY! I don't have to worry about empty spots on my ready-to-bake pans. :)
Don't worry, two of my pickiest cookie boys, (Jaden and George) will vouch for the yummy of this cookie.

29th Anniversary

2011-10-25T15:39:00.000-07:00

It is time to post again. What shall it be? Well, the purpose of this blog is to update our family and friends. So then, I guess I ought to post the things we've been doing.

Elv and I had our 29th anniversary the beginning of October. We just got around to taking some time off to vacation and celebrate. Except we worked at the cabin instead of vacationing, really. There were windows to wash, floors to clean, dishes/kitchen to arrange, trees to remove, brush to clear and weeds to whack.

We've been told that there is a place on Buck Mountain from which one can see Lake Superior. One of the projects of this weekend was to find that spot. Elv took his GPS and we found a trail that seemed to be leading us to the top. After hiking on this land now for a couple years and always wanting to see this place our anticipation was pretty keen. We found it! From up there on a clear day (such was the day of our first view), you can see the Splitrock lighthouse on this shore 3 plus miles away and the Apostle Islands miles across the lake. This is a little more than a 1/2 miles hike from the cabin at the end of a very passable hiking trail.

This picture is for Gabe, Elv says. Lacking a tractor to pull; Elv decided to put the Jeep to work. Thanks to our friend, Brian, who limbed the trees we had cut down that were too close to the house, we saw the potential in a spruce log. Hopefully some of them will become upright posts and cross beams in the cabin one of these days.
And while we were away, the children had a nice visit with Grandpa Sids. Thanks Dad and Mom for spending Friday with them. Frances is very happy with the bookcase you built for her, Dad.

Curing Pinecones for Seasonal Decor

2011-10-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

We have been collecting pine cones for our friends who will be making wreaths for sale this season. The wind has been handing them down to us from the tops of our tallest white pine trees. To avoid getting pitch on our hands we wear gloves to gather them by the box full.
Amber explained that they boil and bake the cones before adding them to their wreaths. So I found an old rusty tea kettle with a good opening and proceeded to try it myself. Unfortunately I think I've ruined the good meat tongs but how else could I hold the cone under the boiling water? The pitch melted off the cone immediately and the whole cone closed in my grasp as I lifted it out onto a foil lined cookie sheet. The incredibly aromatic pitch rolled to the edge of the kettle and collected there. After a while I lifted out the long yellow stickiness and gingerly placed it in the trash can. But I wonder what it could be used for?
While I baked pans full of cones in a slow oven the whole house smelled strongly of pine. In about an hour the cones had reopened and dried completely. The result is a shiny shellacked looking cone. They're beautiful and perfectly safe to handle now.

I have had several people ask me how long to boil the cones. I held them one at a time under the boiling water for only a few seconds. You can see the the pitch rolling off. Then I baked them on tin foil in a low oven for an hour or so. Hope this helps.

School Pictures 2011

2011-10-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

Each fall we try to get updated portraits of the children. I stand and click pictures one right after the other until I have over a hundred of them. We chose various places to pose. And they horse around the whole time making jovial fun of themselves and each other to convince all of us that it doesn't matter that we are supposed to be getting a frame-able shot.
Without exception the best shots happen by accident. Suddenly I realize I have gotten a good shot and the minutes of standing there telling them to move over, or back up, or look at me, not each other have finally paid off. However, I get a kick out of all the time it takes. Because I always get a funny picture too, that is far more revealing of the real deal inside of them than the carefully arranged pose with all eyes open and no surprise shadows.

I probably have the funnest children in the world. I could be prejudiced but I doubt it. :)

October Days In Wisconsin

2011-10-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

Firewood Days

Pine cone days.

Exploring days.

School pictures days.

Dawn Till Dark Logging

2011-10-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

That would be good name for the logging business. Because it would be quite accurate. So one day this week Frances and I went to the job and presided over the repair of one machine while Brad rode along with Lance in the other machine. Frances and I took a walk too. But mostly we stood around and watched.

The landing at present. Lance has been loading to this landing for about a week. He has various sorts started as you can or maybe you can't see. There's a bolt pile, a pulp pile, a firewood pile, and I'd guess a pine bolt among others I don't know about.

Frances got right up there and looked in on the turbo replacement job. It worked like a charm when it was done, too.

I liked this picture. So I'm adding it here.

By and by we asked Elv if we could build a fire. He pointed to a spot about in the middle of the landing where there is zero vegetation. It had rained all morning, but we found a few dry twigs and sticks and added red pine bark as we went along and had a nice warming fire.

And it got dark while we warmed and waited for the guys to get done working.

I could do this everyday. Elv and I call it "smoking a cigarette". Before any of you gets offended I'll tell you that if you had read the book Love and Respect, you'd know what we mean. It's like this: He putters around outside on the weekend or in the evening fixing the car or the lawn mower and she sits by and watches or reads as she wishes, but she's there and it does something for the relationship whether or not they actually visit. The couple the author took this example from would do just this. He would fix and she would sit smoking, not talking; but being there together. I am not advising the smoking part at all.

What do you call this? Not really looking for a better name. I'm just wondering how it works for you?

Back Home Again

2011-09-30T17:56:00.001-07:00

We’re coming home to stay. No more packing our projects, clothing and food into the Jeep twice a week. We can stay at home. It’s time for fall work: raking, window washing, and for tucking in flower beds. It’s time for school routines and fall family parties.

Copper Falls 2011 and Other Rambles Through the Woods

2011-09-30T15:03:00.001-07:00

Actually this was a purely random shot that I got when I asked them to please face the camera. Nobody was trying to be “cool” at all. Although I believe Lance was being a little obnoxious which you can see as plain as day. Most of the rest of the pictures that I took that day at the park are blurry and ineffective.

But the day at Copper Falls was beautiful and nice right down to Frances’s homemade cheesecake. Nothing rounds out a long walk on a chilly fall day like a picnic of hotdogs, beans, and desert.

In other days of our lives: Amy has been in Nebraska helping Jenny since the 22nd of August. That’s long enough now. Clark and Charlotte plan to fetch her home by next Monday evening.

Elv bought chocolates for me. I told Brad he could have one of them if he could pronounce the name of them. (Ghirardelli) Very nice chocolate. Lance handed me a gift card for Bath and Body Works. (A friend of his had given the card to him for HIS birthday in May. Which was a joke because Lance wouldn’t go to such a place. ) A couple of three-wick candles of marvelous fragrance are the result of that generosity. Frances brought me a dozen small, red roses after all the other gifts and special things for my birthday. (They were on sale at Wal-Mart and she couldn’t resist.)

Wringer washer days seem to be over. We found an old reliable Kenmore on Craigslist. I enjoyed using the wringer washer but it is a lot easier job to let the automatic take over, I’ll admit.

We are still working on salvaging the downed trees from The First of July Storm. We, includes many of the loggers from the surrounding areas. All day long, starting before daylight, the log trucks roll by. The current log trucks pull as many as four bunks of 8 foot logs. There are processor, forwarders, and feller-bunchers all over the woods. Elv and Lance seem to know who is who in the logging crew society just by the machines they’re running. It’s something guys can do, I guess, keep a running inventory in their heads of who owns which machine.

When I take lunch to Elv and Lance or drive in to get the pickup for a fuel run, I always hope that I don’t have to meet one of the log trucks on the no-passing-possible trails. I have gotten pretty good at getting off to the side over the years. Only once have I nearly been run over by a truck. That time the road had snow banks up both sides and the truck was coming down the hill toward me. I negotiated the corner and tried to stop. We BOTH tried to stop. We DID stop, finally. Jimmy’s truck was sorta kinked up against the snow banks on both sides the road while my van hugged my snow bank and settled into the edge. I could drive out but Jimmy couldn’t. My fault, I think, although I believe we both had radios at the time. So when there is a truck coming on a narrow woods road, I don’t wait around, I pull over into the woods/weeds/toolies as soon as possible. Believe me, a log truck on a woods road is an amazing critter…you notice that as they steam on by.

Besides getting a lot of pictures scrapbooked and quite a few books read, we brought a canoe and have looked the lake over now. There are about 12 or so residences on Pear Lake. Most of them are summer homes, so the lake is very quiet. The loons have flown away for the winter, too.

Someone tooted at us today while we were seated on the shore, sunning and visiting. At table tonight Elv and Lance helped us decide who it was. Grey pickup, antenna, and such pieces of info gave Lance the clues. “Hello, Rod,” we all say. So the woods is full of friends and people we know these days, I guess.

Elv and I had plans to take off for a anniversary weekend away. But today the processor broke down, again. This is the third week in a row he had a breakdown and something new each time. I prayed that God would protect our weekend, but now I wonder if I should have left well enough alone. Time will tell.

Just a Note

2011-09-28T07:26:00.001-07:00

To say that we are busy over at Heartwood and offline most of the time. We’ll be back.

The Truth About Why Modesty Is Important

2011-09-24T09:26:00.001-07:00

Finally! We can stop fooling ourselves, moms and girls. One godly guy had the courage to say it like it is.

Home Keeping In Autumn

2011-09-20T07:34:00.001-07:00

Now that fall is here, we get to rejuvenate our home decor. Somewhere we have a few things stored away. Frances is finding it today and is at home creating for us. (While I am over here at the house near the job brainstorming about what to beautify at home.)

The big pot of mums should be put in a seeable spot on the patio near to where a new rick of firewood ought to be stacked up against the house. Wood against stone will be the result which is rather pleasing to the eye in my book. There are a couple of grapevine wreaths somewhere, one of which ought to be stuffed with all things autumn and hung on the nail opposite the Welcome To Our Cabin sign by the door. There will cobwebs to sweep down.

Inside the house there are things to do, as well. The mantel piece, the centerpiece for the table and the china cabinet surface should all be set with fall leaves and things.

The refrigerator is full of tomatoes to be turned into pizza sauce later this week. Charlotte will come to help and we will have a grand mess of creating. We’ll use the thick sauce and add garlic, onion, Italian seasoning, basil, oregano, Jalapeño peppers, and tomato paste. Then we will let it simmer… fill the house with fragrance while we wash pint jars. In the end there will be rows of bright pints of pizza sauce to share and store in both our pantries.

Last time I made this I took Amy’s advice and cooked the onion and garlic and peppers with the last batch of tomatoes so that it all can be squeezed through the Victorio Strainer all at once. Then you have no lumps, only wonderful flavor. The Italian seasoning gave it the grand finale in color and texture.

My family was impressed. “That stuff warms you all the way down!” This is a good thing at our house.

Then there are lumps of gold (pumpkins) still out on the garden to be turned into canned pumpkin sauce for pies and custards. We will bring them in with the wheel barrel and have a picture or two of it before performing a grand butchering of them. I have used the pressure canner to soften the pumpkin before, spooning it off the rind. But is this the best way? Pressure tends to altar the taste a bit and rob us of the vitamins. I want your ideas.

This winter on cold and blustery afternoons I will measure eggs, milk ( cream would be better), spices, butter, and brown sugar into the blender with the pumpkin sauce and blend. Next, I will pour this into a glass cake pan and gentle slide it into a heated oven. It will bake till it thickens like a custard pie. We’ll eat it warm for desert with milk or vanilla ice cream.

I don’t want to forget those two rows of carrots. I am thinking that if we top them and throw them all into the conventional washer full of water that we can shorten up the cleaning of them by quite a bit. Is this a bad plan? My aunt used to wash her baby cucumbers that way to get all those prickles off for canning. Seems to me that a few minutes with the dasher in plenty of water ought to be a perfect way to clean them. I can easily visualize a row or two of canned carrots on our pantry shelves.

Frances and I enjoy Julienned carrots a lot. I know… the calories add up terribly with all that butter and brown sugar, but we try not to think about that too much. It’s a yummy addition to a snowy night’s dinner.

We found hazel nuts still on the bush the other day when we were walking in the woods. Each crinkly husk hides a tiny, brown nut that you must crack with a pliers to get the meat thereof. Very sweet and mild tasting. And the rose hips are glorious this year. I am still thinking about them. They supposed to make good jelly that tastes a lot like red zinger tea.

Apple time is coming soon, too. We’ve been out of apple sauce for months.

As I Was Saying…

2011-09-19T09:50:00.001-07:00

Okay, here is what it can be like to be a mom with adult children. I really wasn’t planning to have a case in point for you Amy, when I posted last in comment to your post, but life happens and I think this fits.

Frances is hoping to go to Thailand to help her sister, Lisl, for two or three months. The two of us have worked hard all summer to raise the money for her trip to Thailand. She has enough now. Next we have to find a way for her to go, traveling WITH someone. Elv has decided firmly that she shall not fly alone overseas. The last two statements are a recipe for red tape, seemingly too complicated to cut.

So, Dru finally found two different couples, Merle and Edith Burkholder flying out of MSP and Bob Miller and wife flying out of JFK. Elv and I trust both of these couples. So we contacted them and got their okay and itineraries and then called Golden Rule to perform the miracle of matching one of them to a seat for Frances. Bob’s flight is for the end of the month, Merle’s for two weeks from now.

Well, it turned out that Bob’s flights were full. But Merle’s flights had a seat costing 1300 dollars, one way.This is what we expect to pay for a round trip ticket. After Frances and I recovered from the shock of that exorbitant price we decided to let Elv decide by morning. Our deadline for Visa work was narrowing down to a 12 hour window. I HATE this sort of thing. It’s stupid and harrowing and worrisome to me. What if the visa doesn’t get back in time? What if the ticket is non-refundable? What if we don’t get her to the airport in time? And besides, what if we can’t come up with a return one-way by the time we want her to come home.? So, I sat at the supper table and couldn’t eat (I ate wheat by accident and was feeling horrid),trying not to lose it by bursting into tears like a teenager and worry poor Frances who was already tied in knots.

Elv and Frances, with Clark’s help, decided to go for the expensive,one-way ticket. I went to bed with shattered wits and a complete dependency on God who knows better than I do what our children need. Too bad for me that I lose 6 months of our 17-year-old’s life! The sky had fallen in for me and I couldn’t rightly account for it. We had been planning and working for this, but now here it was and I could not figure out why I felt so badly.

I did get some sleep which was an improvement over the night before. In the morning, Dru’s called from Thailand and wanted to know what the ticket was costing anyway. We were planning to call Golden Rule and purchase in about two hours. They encouraged us to not take this ticket but to wait for a cheaper, later time to book. Elv and I took that as our answer to wait.

Praise The Lord! I felt like I was floating because the truck got off my head and heart immediately.

Even Frank’s aftermath has nothing on that truck at all. I am so relieved!! She feels better after talking it out with her dad and Dru and Lisl again. It will still be a pain to find somebody who is planning to fly but hasn’t bought tickets yet, but God knows each person and plan on His globe and we’re going to let Him find a way.

If any of you know someone planning to fly to Thailand, who doesn’t mind a tag-along, anytime from November to January, please let us know as soon as possible. Please, tell those people to call us BEFORE they book. It will be much easier to book two flights than to try to match one to an already booked flight. How well we know!!

Afterward: This morning which is three days later, we called the GTO office in the US and asked if they had anyone flying to Thailand. In about five minutes, Frances was added to a list of girls planning to fly in January and returning in March! Tickets will be purchased some time in November for all of them.

Frances and I both are asking, “So what was that all about?” “If only I had known this three months ago. Think of all the headache I could have avoided.” were Frances’s comments. I guess it was something we were supposed to work through, because we did learn a lot along the way.

Being a Mom

2011-09-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

In reading Amy's thoughts about being a mommy to little ones 24/7 and all that goes with it, I got to thinking about my own stage of life. All my babies are gone and I would be one of those that Amy is referring to as "an older woman".

So is my life easier than Amy's? I don't know, honest I don't. I can't promise that having those boys out buying cars and getting married is any easier. Oh yes, they can take care of themselves more or less now. Our boys can cook for themselves and wash their own clothing if they have to, and keep their rooms cleaned now. But I don't go so far as to say that MY responsibility toward them is any easier...just different.

My prayers for them have changed. Instead of praying for their growing up things like physical safety and wisdom to train and discipline; I am praying for their moral safety, their search for a life work, and for their future wives if they aren't married yet. I pray for their ministry (every man has one), and for wisdom for them because the world they live in is so much more deceptive and ungodly than the world we where started out our life/journey... I think.

I suppose I get more sleep than I did when the children were babies. But again I'm not sure. Now I lay there praying for the children in Thailand, in Nebraska, and those living here at home. I am listening for the footsteps of those children out playing V-ball till 10 PM and praying for them that when they're sitting at McDonalds afterward that they'll be wise and remember Whose they are and Who they serve.

Someday when it's time to send your little girl, who somehow got to be 17 years old under your very nose, to Thailand on an international flight you'll be hard pressed to think that this is any easier than having her at home, age 10, whining about Mac and Cheese for lunch.

Oh yes, I am happy to see our children grow up. I don't miss the baby days. I just thought you ought to know that the race isn't over for me either, yet. Just keep praying and running, all you mommies with wakeful, naughty babies. God created us to do what we do, I don't see what could be a higher calling after all, do you?

Summer is Giving Way to Fall... and Other Ramblings

2011-09-07T07:47:00.001-07:00

The green of the leaves and grasses is old and faded. I tend to mourn the passing away of summer even while relishing the arrival of cooler weather. Swimming and sweating are done. There’s school instead. It is time for canning and cleaning away the crop of cobwebs in all the ceiling corners.
Speaking of spiders and cobwebs. It is better to vacuum them up. Imagine sweeping down spiders and webs with a broom. The spiders go where? I feel crawly just thinking about that. When you merely disturb their career for a day or two by catching the web on a broom, they’re bound to be back to rebuild. It’s much less creepy to extend the sweeper hose and watch those spiders and their creations disappear into the end of the nozzle forever.
I babysat Benny while his parents went fishing on Labor Day. Benny likes me a lot, so them leaving him with me was easy. He thought I should sit and play with him and I did some. When I went back to my work; He followed me around hopefully but only until he saw I was useless and then he began his own explorations. At a year old, he walks and climbs and investigates. So you can’t really have him out of sight. It has not been that long since I had a baby of my own, yet I realized with the grandbabies home this summer that we have forgotten how much care and time babies take. Being Marmee is the best! You get to have all the fun of babies and sleep at night, too.   :)
Then there are the methodical thieves in our neighborhood. They have successfully broken into and cleaned out the local church building more than once…of computers and school equipment. Our house is two or three blocks away, so we’re locking everything up again, too. We are frustrated. We have lived in this little village for most of 25 years and have never needed to lock anything. We’ve gone for trips for over a week and left the house open before. Those innocent days seem to be over for us.
Our house is for-sale-by-owner, as it has been for several years already. The reasons are obvious. Unfortunately those same reasons are why it will take a miracle to sell it.   If we didn’t like our house, we’d really be in a jam. Or if we HAD to sell it, which we don’t.

Here’s one of my latest wonderings. Our providers spend hours, days, weeks, months, and years working to bring home the bacon. Have you ever thought of how mundane and endless that must feel for them? Even though Elv enjoys his job; the fact is that it gets really boring sometimes. And getting out there every single work day takes what my mom calls “stick-to-it-iveness”.   I think we women ought to consider our rich and varied days of home creating, baby care, teaming up with our teens, and chumming with our friends over the phone or tea times as wonderful privileges. I would hate to have to trade roles with my man…I think I’d fail it.

Get rid of the fruit flies by luring them to their deaths. Pour a little apple cider vinegar into a quart jar. Roll up a piece of typing paper to the shape of a funnel. Put the small end into the jar with most of the paper standing out of the top of the jar. Very soon the vinegar in the jar will be full of floating fruit fly bodies! Eww! But that is SO much better than all over the kitchen. Or you can keep house like my mom and never have them in the first place, but I don’t know how to do that.

Home Is Where You Hang Your Hat Part Two

2011-09-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

Top of the china cabinet redo. I had time to clean at home in TheStoneHouse today. Besides playing around with this, I tried Amy's Pizza Sauce and now there are 13 cute little pint jars of beautiful sauce. (Pint jars are so amazingly tiny and quaint, after quarts and half gallons jars for years of canning.) The pictures I took of them are garish due to the blue towel, so you'll just have to imagine you can see them.

I thought I liked those critters up there, but after looking at these pictures, I took them down. They remind me of Thailand and those people we love living there, so I keep them...but not on the china cabinet afterall.

The famous Mallow that we plant every year from last year's seeds.

The garden from my desk window.

     Now you have it. Scenes from both the places we hang our hats these days. It does a lot for the stranger and pilgrim concept.
    Next week all of our children will be gone from home for a few days. It will be just Elv and I at home/work. Just us for meal times, and devotions. While Elv is at work I will be home alone. One of my friends said, "Oh my, I'm sorry, " when I told her. Wait! I was kind of looking forward to it. I guess I am selfish. But just think. I'll have hours to write or scrapbook without interruption. This is priceless! Let's hope I CAN write and plan layouts. Maybe it will be so quiet that I'll be jumpy and tense. Isn't that pathetic? It is a sure sign that I have never really had 3 days of solitude! I have never WANTED solitude before. Is it okay to look forward to this much quiet?
    So I have been chasing this guilt around, desiring to keep this chance and not let it go. I keep thinking how I will fill it with "profitable" occupation.

Home Is Where You Hang Your Hat

2011-09-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

Elv and Frances are enjoying renovating The Beast (one little ole Sidekick).

A pot of glorious mums from my friend Susan. It's perfect for the front door at Heartwood. Frances and I have decided to bring it in for winter and coax it.

The flowers in our garden are beautiful this year. We are taking lots of pictures and cutting bouquets. Clark I wish you come take some cottage garden pictures for me to look at next midwinter when I need a lift.

These machines attract a lot of attention on this particular job.

So yes, home is where ever we are at the moment these days. This past week we had sewing, scrapbooking, reading, and schoolwork for our occupations while the men worked. Johns and Jakes came out to supper with us on Wednesday evening. What richness, to have company again. On Thursday we found a conservation tower that stands at the top of a high hill. Even on the ground you can see out for miles. No we didn't climb it.

Computer Woes Beset Me

2011-08-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

It is not fun at all. All my old familiar pages are gone. Oh, the computer comes up just fine, but the "local profile" seems to be unable to load. Which means that my desktop is all slick and clean and sterile. The picture of Jube and Hava are missing from the background. My pictures have totally disappeared unless I go into Picasa 3 where suddenly they all come marching out of the shadows to appear on that program... only to be gone again when I shut down the computer.

My bookmarks have all gone into hiding, too. And if I want to see my personal google pages I have to sign in fresh each time. The drop-down is empty and impersonal. In short, nothing is familiar or mine when I open up the computer. Memoryless computers are frustrating!

It's been ages since the batteries have taken a charge. So if the cord gets bumped or the electricity hiccups the computer crashes. Could that be why things aren't working so well by now?

Someone dumped coffee on the key board last week and some of the keys are still suffering the after effects of that...kind of sticky. The coffee dump doesn't really matter...I don't expect to be able to use it much longer, anyway.

The lid has been floppy for years...yes, really. If I am the only one handling it the screen stays on nicely. But if some other unsuspecting user comes along and attempts to sit down with MY computer, the screen goes blank/black and that's that. I kinda like this feature. It serves them right, messing with my laptop!

The only cure to all these ills is a new computer. I don't WANT a new computer. I want the old one to stay working. I dislike new phones, cars, computers, watches, cameras... I am frustrated with "planned obsolescence". If my current stuff works I am completely content. It seems like such a waste of time and dollars to go through this many different gadgets in one life time. Gimme one good tool and I'll use it forever.

Okay, all you computer gurus. I am looking for a computer with a tough body that will last, say, ten years, or so. I need lots of memory/space for pictures. I have the Word program that I will load onto it. Make The Cut is saved onto a flash-drive and will be installed. I need good WIFI, a card reader, a DVD drawer, a web-cam, and a coffee resistant keyboard. If the skin could be pink or periwinkle blue in color, that would a nice little perk. I don't have a lot of money, but I'd prefer a brand spanking new model.

My August Garden

2011-08-26T15:51:00.001-07:00

How could I know that when we planted the garden this spring that we wouldn’t be home to enjoy it? Fortunately Brad and I mulched it with cardboard and old hay so the weeds have not taken over. Each weekend while we are home I feast with my eyes and gather bouquets for the table.If any of you is driving by our StoneHouse anyway; please stop in and cut a bouquet for your table or your friend. There is a pair of scissors in the kitchen can you may use if you wish. Please, put the scissors back in there when you are done. I guess I don’t need to know how many of you will take me up on this, but it would be fun to know.

We’re studying the book of James in Sunday School right now. Chapter 1 advises that we ask for wisdom and not dally around with indecision. We ought to walk slowly and quietly enough through life to take time to acknowledge God in all our ways, but to keep walking…not to be waiting around kneeling at doorways, undecided about His will. Like a wave, driven in the wind, tossed exactly describes indecision. There is no peace of mind in that.

A Picture Post of Family Week

2011-08-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

More Glimpses of Logging and Living Near Heartwood

2011-08-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

This wasteland was forest before the big storm. Next spring there will be aspen regrowth as high as your head here. Many years from now there will again be the beautiful hardwoods but not before the aspen has its day.

The Wild River is brimful these days.

The Week in a Posting

2011-08-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

This post is for my mom mostly, but the rest of you can read it, too if you like. I'm just catching her up on our life, again.
First of all, we have to show you how Mondays work right now. Elv gets up and leaves the house at five or so and heads out to work. I end up getting up after coming fully awake against my will when I would rather snooze two more hours. But what has to been done all in one day so that we can join him over at the job in our other house for the week brings me fully awake and running when my feet hit the floor.
As you know, we are doing laundry the old fashioned way this summer in the wringer washer outdoors. That means that one of us girls has to spend the morning getting it all through. There is no such things as just "starting" the laundry and going on to other work when you use a wringer washer. If you "start" you must also stick to it and finish. I had it going by seven on Monday and all out on the lines by ten o clock or so. Well done! Pat my own back. I actually enjoy this method. You have time to pray, think, plan, and you handle each piece and can minister to stains more effectively.
Frances woke that morning with a pain on her abdomen. Very strange. She looked it up and eventually we concluded we ought to have it checked. So we ended up hurrying our whole day to meet her 4 PM appointment in Minong on our way over to Heartwood House.
We packed food, clothes, the serger and schoolbooks and left here before 3 PM.
The owners of the house had been in all weekend and left us a nice note about how the house looked for them from our clean last week, and offered the use of their row boat and paddle boat. (We couldn't find that paddle boat, anywhere!) But they hadn't vacuumed and their pets had left hair all over. So before anything could happen we had to tackle that. We brought our new sweeper with us and found most of it, we think. My poor family has been conditioned to non pet cleanliness. What a pain.
On Tuesday we did our first fuel run for Elv. That means that we take the Jeep to the woods and trade for Elv's pickup and take it in to Minong where we fill it with fuel for the machine. That pickup is huge and cumbersome. But it drives okay and Brad does the climbing up to hold the fuel nozzle into the tank opening. Why do they make fuel nozzles so huge? The tank holds 90 plus gallons. Do you know how long it takes to fill it? You watch the ticker roll on and on till its well past 300 dollars. Very horrifying. But I just walk in to the station then and tell the cashier to charge it to the boss and sign my name. Easiest thing in the world.
In the meantime, the children had spied a library and wanted to go see it. We did. It was closed. But the free wireless Internet worked just fine sitting out in front. I posted and checked my email.
Then I put that ole tanker into reverse to back out and go. I backed and just as I braked to go forward, we came to an abrupt halt. Bump! Oh No! I jumped out and ran back to see two very startled old people coming from their Lincoln van scolding and aghast with me. I apologized profusely and insisted we call the police, which I did. I don't think they even had a phone. Well, I got off pretty easy for how dumb I was. We shared the same insurance agent and the chief of police of Minong deemed our fender bender a non-reportable accident. ( Have you ever heard of that?) No fine, no scoldings, just kind words and smiles from the man whose fender I ruined.
The rest of the week was boring and normal after that, for which I am grateful to God. I sewed a dress for a friend, and the children read and studied and helped with what little housework there was.
I also read Homestead and enjoyed that immensely. I couldn't lay it down. All the feelings and ideas that Elv and I enjoy about the adventures of having land and a cabin off the grid are in that book. You wouldn't understand. But the one statement says it all, We had to let go of what people thought. I believe that is probably true for all adventurers.
We found wild raspberries in the woods but Brad and I picked them all in a very short time. I couldn't find more and finally gave it up when I stepped in water up to my ankles in the brush. There's enough for a small desert, so far.
Oh, about Frances's appointment. The pain seems to be only a muscle. The doctor, however, whom we had never met before, had been to Thailand, and other places on the globe and wanted to visit about it. He had a list of shots she ought to have, and other such pieces of advice. When we walked out he was still talking and only said goodbye as we got to the door of the waiting room.
Oh, and the library in Minong. We had to do another fuel run on Wednesday and the library was open that day. Such a tiny, quaint library. But there were books that we love on the eight or so shelves and the librarians were two ladies with Hispanic? accents who scanned our books and said we could have them for a month. "We trust you," they said. Frances found the book Miracle at Carville. She enjoyed it so much. I will read it next week.
Gladys Martin says we ought to try that grocery store in Minong, as well. "It used to be a pretty good store," she told Frances. Maybe we'll have to go see what we think next week.
So, it was a good week. Elv got billable hours in of the proper amount and the machine did not break down even once. Praise the Lord.

Logging At Heartwood

2011-08-02T11:22:00.001-07:00

We are on our fifth week of logging over by Minong where the the wind took down acres of trees last month. Loggers from all around are working here to harvest and salvage the downed timber.

Two of us families from church are living over here during the week right near the job. Our family is living in a rented cabin across the highway from Pear Lake. The other family parks their motor home in a state park near to the logging truck route he runs.
It is a lot of work to maintain two dwellings/lives. Neither of us has a way to do laundry during the week on the job so we’re hauling our laundry home on the weekends for washing. We haul food, clothing, and everybody’s projects back and forth from home to work and back again. It takes commitment and the willing help of the children to keep it happening week after week. And even then we all get tired of the weekly rounds.
But we are not complaining. We’re having an adventure as well. How else would we get to live by the lake? The landlords here have offered us the use of the paddle boats and the rowboat if we wish. Besides, Frances has staked out wild berries to pick. (Maybe berry picking doesn’t seem like much to you, but it means that we live in the woods proper as opposed to living in a village with trees but no privacy.) Wild berries make the best Mennonite cheesecake delight there is.

The biggest advantage of living next to the job is that Elv isn’t wasting precious family time driving an hour to work and home everyday. And fuel. But I get tired of talking about pinching and counting pennies so we’ll leave that subject alone.
Big news here is that the children have decided that this is as good a time as any to start school this year. The two of them have spent the morning studying.
Will it be worth it? Isn’t that always the question in life whether or not we pursue a living in conventional settings? Perhaps we measure success differently than the more mercenary. We believe that if when it is over we have had quality family time, a collection of worthwhile memories and have made a living to boot, it will have been a success. (I sure hope to have a new computer, too, by that time.)
Berry Delightful Mennonite Cheesecake

Wild Berries 4 cups
Water 2 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Cook clear jel (I don’t know, enough to make it thick)
oatmeal 4 cups or so
brown sugar 1 cup
butter 1 stick butter
cream cheese (neufchatel makes a drier more stable product) 1 or 2 packs, depending on how much you like.
powdered sugar couple TBLS
whipped topping at least one 8 oz tub, more if you use 2 packs of cream cheese.

Mix brown sugar with the oatmeal ( blended or not as you wish) and pour melted butter over it and mix to make a crust. Press into a 9 by 13 pan and set aside.
Beat cream cheese with a little bit of powered sugar to make it smooth and beat in the whipped topping until it is a thick, almost not spreadable consistency. Spread over the crust in a 3/4 inch layer with a table knife. I dollop it on with a big spoon first and then spread.
But before making the crust or the cream cheese layer, boil the berries with water and sugar and thicken with clear jel and cool. (You can add a packet of a complimentary flavor of Jell-O if you want more sweetness, flavor and a Danish consistency.
Please don’t ask me for more specific measures. I usually just put it together and these amounts are a guess anyway.

Northwoods Entertainment

2011-07-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

We found this guy at the Heartwood House where we will be spending the greater part of our weeks for the next few months. He provided us with some chuckles when we discovered he could be such a ham. Ah! nothing like a reason to smile while getting used to a different home.

2011 Camping With Friends

2011-07-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

Camping where the men cook...always!

Where couples can go out for a canoe ride anytime.

Watching the non-stop ladder golf.

Camping, where it's okay to ride the chainsaw.

Camping where the canoes are always loaded and always on the water.

This looks a little over the top, but it wasn't really. The boats were too loaded and not moving very fast at all....it ended up being mostly funny watching all those young men make waves for each other.

Like I said...men cooking.

Camping... where babies are allowed to get as dirty as they wish.

A place to watch the action.

Lawn Chair Bouquet

A juicy caterpillar.

Gideon is fairly mesmerized by Benny's devotion.

This is only part of the crowd of campers this year.

Someone supplied a little blue paddle boat and the smiles tell you what they thought of it

More boys playing in the water....I don't know what they're doing.

She played beautifully.

Sitting and visiting.

And playing games.

This is what happens by Sunday afternoon.

What Is A House To You?

2011-07-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

  This is the house my dad grew up in. We went back the other day just to see it again. Right now we have reason to think about houses and what they mean. Living in two houses at the same time makes you do that. So I don't know what this house meant to my dad, really; but I know what our house here at home means to us these days.
The house we're to be living in over at the job is a new, nice enough house. But it is full of others' things and it isn't ours. So we're going to be grateful for a place to call home those few days every week and we're NOT going to complain. Got that?
I just feel a little displaced right now, even though we have the stone house, the cabin, and now a job house. It's kind of messing with my mind, I guess. The stranger and pilgrim concept is growing on us by leaps and bounds. That song I Need No Mansion Here Below keeps running through my head.
It isn't the houses we live in, but who we ARE in Christ that matters. Any chair and table in the early morning hour should be sufficient for a place to have quiet time and coffee, right? Any kitchen to make a good meal, any dining place to sit as a family around the supper table, any sitting room we can still have family time, right?

Afterward

2011-07-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

In spite of grumbling yesterday; the tide has turned. We have a house on the job now, and the weather has returned to near normal temperatures. It's amazing how the head clears when the air does both in the weather and in that we get to live together as a family again. Cheers!!

Just Ramblings

2011-07-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

First about being in limbo: Elv is working an hour from home and staying there in a the "Tamarack Residence" at Heartwood this week. The room is a little duplex with lots of bunks, a very modern fireplace, a teeny kitchen, a massive, many partitioned rest/shower room, and tile floors. We thought about going over there and being with him in the evenings at least, but thought better of it, too.
The boss is still working on renting a house near the job. Meanwhile we are separated most of each week. Family devotions, supper time, and morning coffee are not much fun without Elv at home. I looked up that word limbo and here's what I found: in a state of uncertainty, neglected, up in the air, in abeyance, ... That describes our life exactly right now.
When limbo is over, we shall then enjoy family life more than ever. That's a good thing, I guess.
Then there is this hot weather that we are enduring not so well. I have lived in Wisconsin all my life. I don't care what the statistics claim...this is new for us. I feel claustrophobic and it's getting to me, knowing that the only way to exist is to stay downstairs in the basement sitting room where our only AC is located. One day of 95 degrees is kind of a novelty, especially if it is nicely followed by a relieving thunder storm. But now the novelty is over. Let patience have her perfect work!
Now, a happy thing. The girls cleaned the pantry under the stairs yesterday. Now instead of a jumble there are tidy rows of jars and pantry things. Beautiful. Thank you, girls.

Another Post About Visiting Northern Minnesota With The Aunties

2011-07-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

Dad, did I tell you how we lost and found the Graceton Depot? The Aunties and Trenda and I decided to go driving around to see the old places. When we drove into Graceton and crossed the tracks the old depot was missing. The Aunties noticed immediately and set up a howl of protest. Oh well, so it was old and it's gone was my thinking and what could be the big deal?! But we found the house where you lived as a boy and the old cemetery where the Grandparents and Uncles are buried.

We continued our search of old places and stories and by and by we headed back to Aunt Enorans house by Lake of the Woods where we were staying. Somewhere several miles from Graceton we found our lost depot in a garden. As you can see the depot is a treasure to more than just The Aunties. A little creek (krik) runs through the yard from under the front stairs there. I suppose the creek is a man-made affair but it looks really quaint and the depot looks happy and proud nestled there in the garden. You will have to ask Carol whose yard this is. I'm sure she will know.

Good Taste Matters

2011-07-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

Amy posted about choices and finding joy and contentment wherever we are today. Read it here. She did a grand job of saying it well.
The quote at the top of her post set me back just a little. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves." -Henry Ward Beecher-
Now I don't really have a pick with the quote itself, but this week our family had to reconsider the connection between pride and being deserving.

Elv's work takes him a hour from home, logging in "blow-down". I'll skip all the details of the storm and how the woods looks...it's bad. He is expected to put in "marathon" hours on this job since it is a resort/retreat/convention center for an exclusive group of folks...never mind who it is. Anyway, they were putting him up in this cabin or that motel room where ever they had an open room in the complex and feeding him too, in the dining hall, if he wanted to take the time for it. The cabin/condo they suggested for us just never materialized due to other reservations. Which doesn't matter here either, but the upshot of it is that we ended up taking the travel trailer up there and parking it by the warming shack at the back of the property where most of the trees were down way back in the woods. We lived there for two days and decided that maybe we could be content like that for a few days every week till freeze up anyway. We'd have family time in the evenings that way and the kids found blueberries to pick and there were acres of woods to explore.

As of yesterday word got around, I guess, that the gypsies (I don't know what term they used; but Bob assured them that we were not what they thought), had moved in on the resort till it reached the ears of the big-wig at the top who lives out of state. Never mind that the gypsies were hired to log on their property to clean up their complex... it was not okay!

I told Elv that I am not homeless, as it happens, and I will not wait around for eviction notices. We moved home this morning. As soon as the boss finds us a house to live in by the job we'll move back.

But now I wonder if our contentment with travel trailer living just to keep the family together was taking things a bit too far. I have a feeling that we should have had more pride than we did , so that we could have avoided the embarrassment we were headed for. Seems to me that our zeal to get it right by the family over-rode good taste and made us look less deserving than was necessary.

So I don't think I totally agree with Mr. Beecher, after-all. Brother Andrew had to learn this lesson too, when someone finally clued him in that God isn't stingy and to have a few nice clothes is okay, even for missionaries. I believe that God has a plan for keeping our family together while this particular job gets done and we are ready to do whatever that is without making ourselves look gauche.

Note: It's generally considered okay for a logger to pull in a travel trailer and live on the job if he chooses.

A Little Old Church

2011-07-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Does any of you recognize this building? Our family, the Skrivseths, do. Too tired tonight to explain...just home from a weekend with "The Aunties" as Trenda and I dubbed them, but till later, here is a teaser.

7/10/11 Okay, I'm back.

It's the little Mennonite Church in Graceton, Minnesota. The doors have been closed for years now and the grass and brush are taking over. Never again will the bees buzz outside the screens and the thunder and whistle of the train be heard during the preaching of the Word. "My Jesus I Love Thee" will never again be sung within those walls. No more swinging bare feet patiently waiting in the hush of quiet for dismissal. No children will run about in the sandy parking lot after church while the moms and dads visit. The little church stands alone, slowly receding into the overgrowth.
It was so sad when the doors closed. It seemed like a failure to those who watched it happen. I remember hearing the talk about it when I was a listening little girl. Daddy's disappointment was palpable and we didn't even live there.
Forty years later I realize that the story was not all told. From just one of the families who started out serving the Lord there, are preachers, missionaries, faithful grandchildren and great grandchildren belonging to churches all over the United States, Canada, and even a family or so in Central America.
So maybe you're in a major church transition for whatever reason. Maybe it seems to you that the Enemy is winning right now. Don't be so sure. Trust in God who is in control. You never know. Faith is bigger than Failure.

Weekend In Pictures, My Version

2011-07-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

This is a Canada Anemone

This is the cabin right now.

Watchers while Elv and I worked on building a usable outhouse. I didn't post a picture of that important edifice.

Then we went down to the shore and enjoyed the lake for an hour.

I combed the beach for fairy tears and found a few, too. The blue one is my favorite.

Elv worked so hard getting the outhouse ready and then on Tuesday morning couldn't stop improving and tore out a no- longer-necessary wall indoors and presto we had a new dining room space. You'll see that down the line here somewhere.

Elv's mom was with us, too. She is 85 and young at heart. She had her feet in the water right along with the rest of us. The water was rather chilly.

Clark is always playing with his camera and these two are his favorite subjects.

Just a picture of cabin life. Benny thought it was wonderful.

We enjoy using the oil lamps for lighting after dark.

Yes, now that it is warm summer we just put the Coleman camp stove on top the cook stove for cooking.

So we worked hard and played hard. I didn't show you any pictures of the fireworks evening in town. Lattins took us along with them. The small community of families came out and sat on the large grassy green in front of the library. It was fun small town stuff and Jan Karon woulda had a ball.

Happy Birthday, Mom

2011-06-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

My mom has a birthday in a day or two and will be one year older. I bet you thought I was going to say how old she is. Not me. Mom is forever young in a lot of ways.

Mom teaches us to enjoy work. Work is therapy. Work is a healer. Work gets your brains back in your head after too much play and fun. She is right. Thanks Mom for encouraging me as a child to enjoy each accomplishment by telling me to "see how nice it looks now?" after a weeding a row in the garden or cleaning a room.

Mom says routines help when things hurt too badly to bear. There have been a few times in her life when she experienced that, so she knows what she is talking about. She has instructed us to keep at the routines of living and loving to soften the hurts. "Time is a great healer." she says.

Mom takes care of her friendships. She isn't very organized about remembering birthdays but she more then makes up for it with spontaneous phone calls or gifts or invitations to her house. I live across the nation from her but I can tell this is happening. She tells me what she and her friends have been doing...anything from going out for coffee to taking walks in the wild life refuge.

Mom loves my dad with all her being. They are quite a team. They've been married for almost 50 years and they are more in love than ever. Oh, they fuss at each other and they "fetch each other up", but more than that they think together. They still have dreams to fulfill together. They do projects together. They pray together. They pray for all nine children and spouses and grandkids and great grandkids every single day by name.

Mom is still busily trying to read every good book there is in the world. And she's working on a quilt for each grandchild. Ask her sometime which one she is working on now. Oh, she'll try to tell you how imperfect they are and all that, but don't be fooled by that. The quilts are coming out splendidly.

When Mom was in high school her interests and skills were evaluated to give her direction in choosing a college and vocation. She rated highest on lawn and garden design and care. Well they hit the nail on the head there. Her gardens and lawn are perfection. I wish I could see them, again. One of you Idaho camera people could take a bunch of pictures for us, you know.

Her children shall rise up and call her blessed. That's straight out of the Bible, Mom, so you can't scold a word to me for doing this. I love you, Mom.

Sunday Evening Picnic

2011-06-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

We had a picnic last night at the Ojibwa Park with our two nieces from Sahth Cahrahlahnah. They take a lot of ribbing for their drawl. But, they pass it right back so it is okay.

They brought a real watermelon for us. Let's have none of your wimpy, seedless tastless versions. This is the kind of watermelon on which you use the largest knife you own, simply because of its size. The only logical way to eat it is to cut it in nice wedges and eat it outside so that you can drip on the grass. It was truly a tasty picnic watermelon.

Elv wondered if we would want to picnic without facilities and have good privacy or would we like to have a few facilities and sacrifice privacy. We picked facilities and ended up at the park with nobody else there anyway. We were a crowd all by ourselves. We had a yummy supper of haystacks and Strawberry and Blueberry Delights besides the melon.

I don't know what this is about. But these two were a team.

Clown Cousins

This took a long time.

But we finally ended up with this little moment of no open mouths and all open eyes, sorta.

Another one of the clowns I live with.

The whole gang.

The big boys had fun making this thing go round fast with the girls on board.

This Day In June

2011-06-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

~ Havilah Glory was born this morning in Thailand to Dru and Lisl Lattin. The name is creating some interest and exclamation in our world. Is it my fault for naming Lisl such an unusual name...maybe I started something? Aunt Eva called me when Lisl was three days old and said, "Don't you dare change her name...they got used to Todd (the name she chose for her oldest son) and they'll get used to Lisl's name, too!" I'm with Eva and Lisl here; because the name Havilah is beautiful.

~ Today I picked the first respectable amount of strawberries out of the garden. Pies!
~ VBS is in process this week. For the first time in many years the Native American children from the reservation nearby are coming each day. If just one of those children finds the Lord from a seed sown this week; it will be well worth the hustle and bustle they create at VBS.
~And the rain continues. We haven't had such a lush June as this in years. The lawn needs mowing every week even on sandy soil in Hayward.

God Will Take Care Of You

2011-06-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

We found this glorious iris blooming with the others yesterday. The rain had weighted the one stem of it down to the ground. Yesterday there was one white iris in full bloom and two buds on the same stem. By this morning another bud opened into this huge flower.
The funny thing about this white iris (Lacey Snowflake) is that nobody remembers planting a new rhizome in our iris patch behind the house. And we would be delighted to know of any of you remembers giving us rootstock for a new iris. From where did this beauty come? I have decided that if God can give us a surprise beauty of this size and richness in the flowerbed; He can supply need in the rest of our lives in the same generous proportions without any extra help from us whatsoever. Praise The Lord. The verse I woke with this morning was: Praise the Lord, for our God inhabits praise.

What's Happening At Home

2011-06-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Since the fabulous front loading washer is no longer functional we have been doing the laundry outdoors with the help of this old relic. It is really quite efficient. I can get the whole huge laundry on the line and drying in about 2 1/2 hours. Working over the open washer grabbing at the socks that need turning and scrubbing a little more soap into them for whitening is enjoyable to me. After years of pulling graying whites out of the front loader and no way to make a difference; I am no longer literally locked out of controlling how long the whites stay in the washer. Someone called while I was washing the other day and hoped that I wouldn't eventually digress to the wash board. I won't. We are planning to replace the automatic washer, but not a front loader please.

We've been doing the laundry with this faithful old Matag washer.

Sewing dresses this week.

Amy's "new" serger that made our sewing project just fun.

Amy had saved up a little money and decided that she wanted a serger. So we found one listed on Craig's List. We took the day off to fetch it from over by "The Cities". We sewed up four dresses in the last two days, all with lovely finished selvage (or selvedge) edges.

We had the whole table set up in machines. The hemmer was a joke. Does anybody know how to run one?

A huge white iris blooming with the others this year.

And Brad is getting paid to eliminate the rodents around here. That's because we are tired of sharing our house with them. Frances counted six (6) squirrels playing in a tree near the house this morning. If you are one of those folks who believe squirrels to be cute critters to watch; please come and get as many as you like. They're free for the taking.

How Did That Happen?

2011-06-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

Despite best efforts, and convictions, and plans, things happen. Here's an example.
We found out that Brad has never had the MMR series of immunizations. He is twelve years old. How did that happen? He has had the chicken pox immunization, of all things, and polio, and HIB. But not the MMR! I could care less about the chicken pox vaccine, but we DO care about getting the MMR series. I'm the lady making noises about people riding on the backs of those of us who get immunizations. I'm the mom who makes herself obnoxious preaching to her grown children to get their children immunized. So today Brad, big boy that he is, got a shot in the arm...actually a shot in each arm. He now has the current d Tap, and the first of two MMR shots. We are to return within 60 days for the second one.
Here's your reminder, moms, to get those children's shots finished up. I'll say this for our goofing up: Brad never whimpered a bit. :)

Lake Superior Winnowing

2011-06-10T06:46:00.001-07:00

Elv and I parked the Jeep by the shore in Kitch-Gami park in Duluth last night. It was about 48 degrees and the water was a grey green color in real life. I wondered why the camera picked up the blue that we couldn't see. The seagulls thought we were bringing hand-outs and kept watchful eyes on us to be the first to respond. If we had thrown them food they would have squawked and squabbled noisily with one another till the last crumb disappeared. But that's not why we were there. We were on a date and in the mood to sit and watch the waves. I had my camera. I am always on a hunt to get a good picture. I have taken hundreds of them and only a handful are really good, and even those, I am not sure of. Elv's comment about the waves, wind, and seagulls was that it was soporific. At any rate, when life gets too busy to have time to sit and watch the waves; you know something has to change. Watching the waves helps us sort the important things from the chaff of our lives! I would recommend it to anyone; but especially to those folks who believe that they have more important things to do than to watch Lake Superior waves. Nobody's work is SO important that they can't take an hour to watch waves, a running river, or the wind playing over the hayfield. What a waste to build mansions and businesses and never really live in them or reap the benefits.

Just Some Notes On Life At The Stone House

2011-06-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

~ We had a few days of hot summer, but the northland cool weather has returned.
~ Yesterday we put up a worktable in the sitting room down stairs under the AC for scrapbooking.
~ And we took down a big, old bookcase in the process of making a workspace. Charlotte has dreams of painting it white and having a place for books and things in Benny's room.

~ And we have plans to take about four big boxes of books and dishes to the Salvation Army used shop.

~ The girls and I cleaned a rental house today for Select Industries. It was hard work but the pay is good. And the house is much cleaner.
~ Tomorrow I get to clean a very old, rustic log cabin on Lake Windigo. I hope to take Amy along and see if she will draw it for me again.
~ All the trees are green, and I saw baby zinnias when I watered the garden this morning.

Accepting Criticism

2011-06-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

I am still learning about this. You'll notice I had used the carefully chosen phrase "constructive criticism". I don't care for criticism, to be honest with you. I have always worked very hard to conduct my life and manners in such a way to avoid criticism because of my aversion to it. Which has been a huge problem to overcome. Elv will still tell you that I don't do well with it. I have at least learned to listen to criticism with my ears and my heart open to get from it what I can use. It still annoys me immensely to be approached about something I had especially taken care to do correctly. I know that no one likes to make a mistake but I am fairly certain that I have an overdose of pride in this area.
I have found a lot of consolation in remembering that other people make mistakes, too, and that we all are allowed to be human and need improvement. I try to not take criticism quite so personal so to speak and keep in mind that I should at least try to make the connection between what I said or did and what caused the issue to merit criticism. In other words, I try to hear/see it from his or her point of view and not be quite so stuck on what I consider to be the truth of the matter. Mom used to say to me, "Arla, you need to hear how you just sounded." And my siblings, family and friends now still tell me that in a lot of different ways. So I think I have made some progress in working at trying to hear and understanding how the other person is feeling or where they are coming from in their actions and words.
I have this theory that because I am a people pleaser and permissive and rather impressionable I tend to think that others should give me the same amount of latitude that I in my laxness give to them. When they don't, I feel extremely crushed and misunderstood. I am learning that maybe there are times I need to confront as well, and then it helps me to have a better attitude when I am confronted. Sounds weird, I know, but there is something in this for me.
Most of all it is important to remember that we all deserve death except for what Jesus did for us on the cross. The song Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross really speaks to me in those times I make mistakes. If you really pray that; you will find opportunity to take your sins and faults to the cross with a lot more clarity and humility. It helps everything.
The bottom line then is: to WANT to learn.

Chipmunks Again

2011-06-06T06:11:00.000-07:00

It was exactly one year ago to this very day that I posted about the chipmunks in the ceilings of our basement bedroom. The running, somers-sualts. back flips, slides, and squeaks over our heads began very early this morning around 2 AM. Words like infestation amd pestilence come to mind. Brad shot many chipmunks last summer. Did they reproduce during the winter? So I have asked Elv to bring home a new box of Bounce dryer sheets tonight. We'll get them out of the house at least that way, but we're going to set rat traps and be done with those critters altogether, we hope.
Then there's the strawberry patch. You can't beat the chippy's to the patch. They prefer the largest fruits partially ripened. Therefore we shall have to be entirely rid of the critters before strawberry pickin' time.Wish me all the best in the earthly battles of this week.

Graciousness

2011-06-02T19:09:00.001-07:00

I just read Lucy’s blog again and was brought right up short…again. Her honesty always encourages me. She seems to have found the way to be honest and completely human without making us sort through the laundry so to speak. I think of a lot of things to blog: feelings, ideas, frustrations and struggles, but I don’t really feel comfortable in the end to share them on blogspot.
I suppose I am overreacting to the no-holds-barred-tell-all that happens sometimes in the world of Facebook and Blogger. And the result is that I tend to come across as a “surface” person. And I am not. But I’ll admit that it is really easy to slide over the real stuff of life and simply talk about the daffodils. It’s less bother and there are fewer words to eat and apologies to make.
Two years ago when I started blogging; I made a commitment to be an encourager and a helper in all that I posted. And I think I have been a little anxious to not feel too vulnerable on the one hand or preachy on the other. I really do want to aim better at what I started out to do in the beginning.
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer each one. Colossians 4:6
PS I’d be open to constructive criticism, as well. :)

Accomplishments

2011-06-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

Today has been a good day of getting things done. Things other than what I had hoped to get done but that turned out to be okay. First I was going to plant garden. And we hoped to buy a few patio brick to replace the winter's crumbling of bricks. The garden needs to be tilled up yet before we can plant, too, and that remains undone.

Our day started with Elv's boss bringing in several gallon bags of venison, four large white onions, dried red jalapeños, organic beef broth in the cutest little cardboard boxes with pour lids, and empty jars. To date I have 15 jars of venison stew meat in the process of being canned. Sure hope he enjoys it.
But I needed jar seals first, and a few groceries. But before that I had to go to the bank and cash a house cleaning check. So Brad wanted to go with me to get his yard work check cashed. And Frances wanted to do returns at the library, and Amy went along to coach me in my garden seed shopping. She said that it was really Jenny's job, but she'd go ahead. "Jenny isn't here!" I testily reminded her. We bought seeds, onions sets, and red bark for the flower beds.
Walmart didn't have the right patio bricks at all, and neither did Hardware Hank's garden center. I didn't even bother checking at ABC lumber by that time. Which meant that I had a few dollars to spend at the local Salvation Army used shop.

The used shop shopping was highly successful. This is the time of year when the cabin owners come up to the big vacation land over Memorial Day weekend to clean and rejuvenate their second homes. They take lots of perfectly good furniture, and household goodies to the used shop and buy new stuff. It's a bonanza for the likes of the Grabers! We found new throw pillows, bed sheets, a lovely "vintage" (don't laugh) candlestick holder, picture frames and doilies. We left a lot of stuff there that we would have enjoyed, but enough money and time spent. We left a few things for the rest of you.
From there we stopped by McDonalds and the girls bought 2 sundaes and 2 Caramel Frappes. Yummy iced coffee! Brad didn't spend a dime all day. He has a 22 in mind. "I figure it might cost $150.00," he announced and has a bit more to save yet. Brad can happily not spend money, period.
What we didn't do and should have done is shopped for Tilly, Lisl's new little girl who is about to be born.
I almost forgot to mention the biggest accomplishment for the day. The writers group mailing is about to arrive in my snail mail box and I had nothing to contribute to it. I have been praying about that and each time I pray I am reminded about the story I had been writing chapter by chapter. Okay, I get the point. Sat down today and the next chapter got itself on paper, I mean on the computer Word document, just like that! Too bad they all aren't that easy. The hardest part is knowing good and well it may never be publishable. At least the writers in the group will tell me what's wrong with it and even maybe what's good about it, we hope.

Summer Is Here

2011-05-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

One of the ways we know it is summer is that we cleaned a vacation home today. Summer cleaning jobs have begun. The lake shore was fascinating with the waves crashing on the beach in this wind. I would stand there and just watch them. But since we are paid by the hour I don't do that. Another way to know it's summer despite the predictions that we aren't going to get summer this summer is that the lawn is getting mowed weekly. So bring on the under 90 degrees weather. Maybe for the first time in years we will have a normal Wisconsin summer. No need for AC. We will have cool, sweater evenings. Sounds good to us.

Morning Storm

2011-05-30T05:09:00.001-07:00

So far it is just gently raining. I can hear the rain and feel the sweet coolness through the open window. Will we get the hail and wind?
We have a bear now! He was investigating the compost pile the other evening. Elv took the Jeep over there and honked him off, but he only climbed a tree nearby. But then he changed his mind immediately and came down to climb up a different tree just close to the compost pile. He finally left when he realized that our place was too noisy and distracting for the careful perusal of the compost pile that he had in mind. But we know that he will be back. So annoying. I admit it was a little exciting for all the children, Lattin and Graber, to watch the whole show.

A fun Grandpa coming up, wouldn’t you say?

By the way, am I the only blogger that wishes the lurkers would own up and comment now and then?

Current Questions

2011-05-25T08:12:00.001-07:00

~ How much does a cubic yard of gravel weigh? Elv called me from work to ask. Answers.com says it weighs 2700 pounds. He is brainstorming a dump trailer for gravel hauling.

~ Where are my paint brushes? I am cleaning the living room today and there is great need of touch up with both paint and varnish.

~ What will old white oak boards look like with the grey exterior planed off? This question is rather exciting to me. We came into possession of these boards to potentially turn them into countertop. Don’t laugh, it is being done. Elv and I thought we were being so creative and original until we looked it up. Lesson learned: If you can think of it; it’s been done.

~ How do you hem a cape? Frances made her first caped dress the other day and the hemming was very uneven and rough because I have never had occasion before to show her the trick. Today is the day for 101 on cape hemming.

~ Why did ten police and three fire departments with their thermal imaging equipment get called out to the Res Monday night and “nothing” was going on? We’d really like to know. Not knowing opens up the ugly possibilities and we’d like to be reassured that it wasn’t/isn’t as bad as the imagination can conjure.

More Ordinary Adventures

2011-05-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

Lance William (22)

Frances Rose

Today Frances and I talked about being seventeen and how it was my worst teenage year. I remember feeling like all my roads were slow downs. Part of the reason for that, of course, was the fact that up ahead at the big 18 the man who wanted to court me could...legally. Little did I know how marrying him would take me speeding along to a day like today. Like today when one of our daughters would be 17 and working to pay for a ticket to fly internationally, and waiting for life to develop about her favorite missions dream, and all the other dreams of girls. Like today when the children would push me in the work and take charge of getting a picnic around for the evening meal in the woods on Elv's job.

Have you ever wondered what it was that grabbed the tree and rolled it through the delimbing and cutting process? Here I am taking a picture from the back of the dinosaur of our picnic supper.

Tailgate supper in the woods.

Those pine logs are 16 footers. We speculated as to what they will be used as...have to ask Elv.

This is where you'll find Elv 5 days a week all day long.

Drawing and please don't notice.

Now this is strictly a pose and not a very good one. Everybody is entirely too aware of how pretty she is.

Wood violets and you CANNOT capture the color on camera...at least I can't.

Dog tooth violets

Scouting for a bouquet of blossoms for Mom.

Lance often says, "Mom, what are you thinking about...are you thinking about me?" He doesn't have a clue how much I think about him and pray for him and for his future.

Ordinary Adventures

2011-05-15T13:17:00.001-07:00

Brad mowed the lawn in an hour this week. That piece of info is just for you, Lisl. (Do you remember being frustrated that he took so long last summer?) He sang loudly while he mowed. I remember singing/harmonizing with the sweeper and the lawn mower. I even sang with the tractor while disking for corn planting. He sings while he runs the wood splitter and the lawn mower. I also remember singing in the milk house while washing the huge stainless steel bulk tank. I would lean way in to the big open tank where sound would bounce all over the place and try to sing all three part: soprano, alto, and high tenor. I got the tank cleaned for the next installment of Daddy’s hard won "ton of milk a day", but I made a lot of noise, too. I should have gone in for “voice” at that time of my life. Woulda been all primed.
The living room stove began to puff this week. We had a horrid time getting any kind of fire to develop in it and when we did, there would be these occasional blue clouds come puffing, streaming, and billowing out from between the shut doors. It was horrifying. (It’s good we haven’t done the spring cleaning yet.) So Elv took the indoor pipe length outside while I put a half sheet pan over the opening on the top of the stove and shook out some ash. But not enough to cause puffing. So then he went up and took off the top length and cleaned it slick as a whistle, and they took the cleanout plate off as well, and removed more creosote and ashes. Now the fire burns nicely with no clouds of blue.
I needed to go to Rice Lake and pick up Brad’s new glasses. They had two pairs of new glasses for Brad! Nobody could figure out how that happened. “That was the Lord,” said Susan. Amen. I bought fertilizer for the strawberry bed, and bedding plants for the patio flower beds. Decided on petunias for a change. Red and white in remembrance of my moms flowerbeds at home long ago. She always planted red petunias and white alyssum. Walmart didn’t have alyssum so I just bought white petunias instead.

What's Happening At Home

2011-05-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

We had a church picnic for Mother's Day. We have had occasional church picnics over the years and they are always a success, if I may say so. The pleasures thereof are numerous as you can see.

Plenty of ordinary, yummy picnic food.

Benny's version of a picnic.

Gotta have volley-ball.

Gotta have marshmallows.

Tree climbing, too.

Then on Monday the children and I went up to the cabin to clean.

This is a before picture of the creek area. Behind that row of brush and trees is a creek with a wide flood plain. We heard the mallards through the open windows at night talking to each other. And someone said the Marsh Marigolds were blooming down there. And there was mention of blue herons nesting there. We wanted to see what we could see.

Abram manned the saw.

The boys wielded axes and hatches.

I couldn't keep my hands off the project. It is so exciting to have the brush cleared away.

Brad was using a hatchet he found.

Miriam helped to pile up the brush.

And this is after we were done from the dining room. We left the willow, the birch, and one spruce to decide about later. Now! maybe we can see the ducks, herons, and flowers.

Plenty of natural light.

It's getting more and more like home.

The back of the cabin looking at the potential upper deck.

Nothing like a group of children playing Rook around the table to serve as a completion to our cleaning project.

Springtime At Home

2011-05-06T06:19:00.001-07:00

Linking with Frog's Blog today.

The Children's Perspective
Frank did such a good job on this that I just thought you all ought to see it. The apple tree wasn’t a crab apple. It was a real apple tree of unknown name and pedigree and having never been pruned the apples grew up high in the air, impossible to reach. One year we actually had a crop and when they fell we gathered them only to have a farmer’s bull come up to the porch where we were working to eat them all up. We hoped he got a belly ache from that!

May

2011-05-04T06:12:00.001-07:00

~ The end of school. Yippee!
~ The end of winter. Yippee, Again!
~The end of messy firewood in the house. There’s nothing like a cozy fire in the living room stove in winter; but there’s nothing like the dirt as a result!
~ The time for spring cleaning.
~ The beginning of green everywhere.
~ And spring wild flowers and warm sunny days.
~ The family is talking about going fishing soon.
~Elv has promised me a canoe date. We will take the green canoe and go explore the Billy Boy Flowage.

The Heroes Are Fading

2011-05-02T17:44:00.001-07:00

I wish to issue an official complaint that the heroes are fading. And I miss them. I miss the security of knowing someone big is in charge of my world.

I truly admired them. I thought they could do no wrong. I thought they knew the answers. I thought they were never frightened or unsure of what to do next. They created goodness for me at home, at church, and in the big, bad world. When I had a worry about the future, all I had to do was to know that “they” were going to fix it. They would discipline the dissenters and the disorderly persons while upholding good character and righteousness. This goes for church AND for the political world.

They would also plan the parties. Someone bigger and better than me always had a good plan for our social life, like birthdays, Christmas, and celebrations. On Easter morning in church someone picked out anthems to sing, a sermon to preach, and something special to share with the congregation.

When it came time for elections the all-knowing, responsible elders in our world would demonstrate greatness and appoint one of their own to presidency or governorship. I trusted them to get it right, to have integrity and tact in all that they decided about us and our collective interests.

Suddenly “they” is us! Now it is OUR fault if the whole thing falls flat. Frankly, I am disappointed. You mean to tell me that the big people were just like I am now? Do you mean they were scared too, of making the wrong decision at times? Are you serious that they messed up and said things they shouldn’t have said and did things they should not have done? They actually had to go back and make apologies?

I feel just like the little kid who finally figured out that Santa Claus is a myth. The magic is gone! Now, it’s up to me to offer respect and love to my church and my world with more honesty than ever. Now it’s my turn to plan the parties, pick the anthems and be on time. Just because their secret is out does not mean I should not continue to pass the trust on to the children.

You know, it is comforting to know that in the end it is possible to pass on trust even after you realize the facts. It is not about fooling anybody really, it is about choosing to love and admire those who are doing their best to follow righteousness in spite of their humanness.

I really hope that I am helping to create a world where youth still trusts the big people. And it IS kind of nice to finally grow up and smell the coffee.

Rainy Day Ramblings

2011-04-26T09:12:00.001-07:00

I noticed something yesterday. I took a pickup like this to town to do my grocery shopping instead of

This.

(These are just google images of the two vehicles.) Is it just me or do people notice vehicles? I don’t mind driving old, not-so-pretty vehicles as long as they get me from point A to point B okay. My cut-off is when the vehicle attracts the attention of the local cop like the last time I took the Jeep out because the license plates are still out there in the snail mail world somewhere. So I took Lance's and found out that new and nice means something to people. I guess I am a little fuddy-duddy, but methinks folks put a little too much stock in looks.

Nice rainy day today. I stepped into Northwoods Craft and Gift this morning to buy a roll of white crocheting thread. I suggested to the lady behind the counter that we get to enjoy a nice rain today. She said, “Enjoy?” I assured her that yes we will enjoy it since rain is what will green things up. What wrong with rain? I love a rainy day especially in the spring. You can about see the grass turning green hour by hour!

Elv and I have decided that the old metal shed out back must go! It’s heavy enough to bring a good scrap check and it is ugly! We thought we would just turn the check into a shed-in-a-box or something. We also planned to take pictures of The Tub, the old red boat, and put it on Craigslist for sale. In the meantime Delvin got wind of our plans and wanted the boat for his family use, so Elv suggested they trade… “I’ll give you The Tub and you give me your old covered trailer for storage.” Elv and Delvin do this sort of horse trading all the time. They trade time for goods, time for time, goods for goods and tool use for tool use…whatever. Almost never does money change hands…we won’t say why that is but I personally believe that is ONLY because they don’t have that on hand, usually. There is a certain saws-all that goes between our two places that I cannot remember who owns. I ask Elv now and then and he tells me but I keep losing track because when Elv wants to use it he goes over to Delvin’s and gets it and then when Delvin wants it, he comes over here and gets it. They don't even bother calling unless they’ve lost track of who has it. Anyway, the storage trailer is perfect for storing the valuables that were in the ugly metal shed and Delvin’s children are ecstatic about owning The Tub. We hope they have just as many happy evenings of family fishing as we enjoyed over the years.

The More You Look, The More You See.

2011-04-24T09:15:00.001-07:00

This is true for watching nature, looking closely at a flower, or even tackling a clean-up job. The same is true for our relationship with our Savior. Our life- long perusal of His Word and our endeavor to live righteously in the Spirit constantly reveals His holiness and our unworthiness. Even in our worship we delve deeper and deeper into the riches of His goodness. Seeing Jesus never becomes old hat when we are truly taking time every day to look for Him.
If this doesn’t seem true for you; please slow down and consider an eye exam. There is an Ananias for you, too. The scales will drop off and you will see. Acts 9.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

Second Saturday In a Row…

2011-04-23T11:49:00.001-07:00

That some of us are still sick. Being sick helps me to remember that health is a gift. A gift is something you just get for no special reason. You have no control over how they come, who gives one, and when you will get one. Despite all the healthy fads out there; I suspect that good health is a gift in pretty well every sense that I have just listed.
Sickness also helps me to appreciate the ability to work. When work is denied me; I see it laying around everywhere, making my fingers itch. The lawn needs to be raked clean of acorns, stray sticks, trash, and dog finds of all sorts.(I keep seeing a deer skull out there. Sometimes it is bleaching in bony motionlessness in the sun by the mailbox and other times it is staring blankly at us near the patio just quietly waiting for Jack to come toss it around or carry it to a new location.) The ceilings in our house need painting very badly. The walls in this living room need a coat of washable paint. I DID scrape the inside and scrub the outside of the glass on our stove doors…my fires are beautiful again. Work is a privilege that was created before the curse and I can’t wait to have it back.
Because this flu lasts so long being sick helps me to empathize with people who have chronic conditions. Every morning I drag myself out of bed and ask if today I will be better than yesterday! And everyday is NOT better. Now I am confident that the flu can only last so long…maybe 14 days or so at most, but some folks get up every morning and face the facts that Day 14 is somewhere way out there….maybe in Heaven. I think I understand more clearly why they have to work on not being discouraged. It is really depressing to feel badly day after day after day.
Now I have just proved to you how sickness can be a good thing.

Pussy Willow and Lace

2011-04-20T12:53:00.001-07:00

The Pussy Willows are out/blooming/in evidence. So now we have a down payment of spring in hand.

And I have discovered how to combat wasting time being sick. This crocheting project is just the thing. Anybody need a large table doily? The husband and son are impressed: husband that I am not bored, and son that I don’t have stiff fingers. Value is such a relative thing!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11

Projects and Messes

2011-04-17T13:07:00.001-07:00

Charlotte asked me this question.
But I want to know, how did you do projects like that when your kiddos were small? Till I make sure my men are fed, have clean clothes, and habitable living quarters; there's not much time left for painting projects. Which makes me depressed, because it takes FOREVER to get one completed! So what's the answer?
I want to hear from others, too. Here’s my thought. You can’t do a home redo project, sewing, or painting without having a mess. Projects and Messes go together like cake and ice cream, pancakes and syrup, camping and fishing, pencil and paper, boys and girls, or red, white, and blue. If you plan to do a project; prepare your family for the messes part of it. You simply can’t do all the normal dailies and expect to still have time to create. My mom always said this as she launched a new home project, “It’s gonna get worse before it gets better!” in reference to messy floors, stacked up furniture, or undone dishes.
Okay, over to you. What do you do?