tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34510393789925857872024-02-19T06:58:05.621-08:00Grandpa Jim's GardenMy intent is that this blog will help me communicate better with my children and grandchildren. I plan to post about my day to day activities as well as including some family history stories that my grandchildren may enjoy.Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.comBlogger373125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-3074186549455656982021-01-28T21:56:00.000-08:002021-01-28T21:56:17.090-08:00Making Ukuleles - the Devil is in the Details I have taken an approximate two year hiatus from my blog. This wasn't really intentional, it just happened. Before addressing more current happenings, I wanted to finish up some older business. I had left this particular post languishing as a draft and thought it deserved a better fate. I organized it a bit better, made a few adjustments, and here it is.<div><br /> I collected all of my work in progress photos of my ukulele for those who are interested in more of the details of ukulele construction. Sadly, I didn't take a photo of every step as I was more focused on learning how to make an ukulele than on documentation of the process.<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-dtBnXOZ62qohfkz3iQcBaOz3-N1CoQKtnJ0JP67pgWFuPvMPOvEHutS7e8ors-OlVQpcqed6BMU1PU6gX_qjDdEVtAWqkqe2nkOjPVgvLWYfrr3fUe9-Mp47cS6NMS5Z1yA3UrDlvM0/s1600/IMG_2632.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-dtBnXOZ62qohfkz3iQcBaOz3-N1CoQKtnJ0JP67pgWFuPvMPOvEHutS7e8ors-OlVQpcqed6BMU1PU6gX_qjDdEVtAWqkqe2nkOjPVgvLWYfrr3fUe9-Mp47cS6NMS5Z1yA3UrDlvM0/s640/IMG_2632.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">Gluing on the kerfing in preparation for gluing on the top and bottom</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div> Kerfing is glued to both the top and bottom of the ukulele's sides. The kerfing functions as a gusset, providing a larger surface for attaching the top and and the bottom of the ukulele to the sides. It's called kerfing because it usually consists of a strip of wood with lots of partial crosscuts such that the wood becomes flexible. The width of a saw cut is termed a "kerf". Instead of actual kerfing, Bill manufactures his own substitute. He steam bends a number of thin wooded strips using the same form he had used to bend the ukulele sides. He then glues those strips together to make his "kerfing". He originally adopted this method because kerfing is actually quite expensive to buy considering what it is. In the following photo the laminations of the kerfing are clearly visible.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBQY3WiHdd3rkpXqKrdQNCy3RBQWLGzZdK2HihGL9z6HhSCVxdxnR9x07q-8fRUxj25c1yPkeuRD0ZLLJ3dj_4lc_l7wFwO_pT3Q3_dErhKuP6U9itdlIByj38tmf3YaPT7OPJ3-9bFQ/s1600/IMG_2633.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBQY3WiHdd3rkpXqKrdQNCy3RBQWLGzZdK2HihGL9z6HhSCVxdxnR9x07q-8fRUxj25c1yPkeuRD0ZLLJ3dj_4lc_l7wFwO_pT3Q3_dErhKuP6U9itdlIByj38tmf3YaPT7OPJ3-9bFQ/s640/IMG_2633.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">A different view of gluing on the kerfing<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><span> The top and bottom are glued on to the </span>kerfing which provides a reasonable amount of surface area for the glue joint. Without the kerfing an approximately 16th inch thick front or back would be glued to an approximately 16th thick side resulting in a pretty feeble glue joint. The clamps are placed as closely together as is practicable to insure a solid glue joint. The following picture clearly illustrates the old adage that a woodworker can never have too many clamps. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3h2JqGA_BqYROltpdhiE1_ZPG90h1BBl_DTJl48_Bi-NDO1pG62xtO8klOUMuaGWreg5krRGCGhzwxUkjirlUN96Hs_D5ELibTkmmSNz-FI8bOuf9sjcn8QGMFBHc-q-U81wqMZddlYc/s1600/IMG_2914.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3h2JqGA_BqYROltpdhiE1_ZPG90h1BBl_DTJl48_Bi-NDO1pG62xtO8klOUMuaGWreg5krRGCGhzwxUkjirlUN96Hs_D5ELibTkmmSNz-FI8bOuf9sjcn8QGMFBHc-q-U81wqMZddlYc/s640/IMG_2914.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">Gluing on the top<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
The top and bottom of the ukulele are made with some fudge factor in mind. Therefore, after gluing on the sides, both the top and bottom need to be trimmed to fit. I did this with my freshly sharpened pocket knife. I was pretty nervous about the trimming process but I really shouldn't have been. After all the trimming, a mini router (dremel tool with a very expensive attachment) is used to cut a place for the perfling and binding. Perfling is the fancy trim around the edge of the face of the ukulele. Binding is the fancy trim going around the sides of the ukulele, adjacent to the perfling. It is obvious to me that spell check knows next to nothing about building instruments. It really doesn't like the word perfling and is absolutely sure that I really mean to say "periling". The process of using the router was further complicated by the fact that neither the top or bottom of the ukulele is flat. An inexpensive factory made ukulele does indeed have a flat top and a flat bottom. However, the top of a nice custom made ukulele has a 25' radius curvature, while the bottom has a 15' radius curvature. Imagine a 25 foot ball formed of a thin shell of wood. My friend Bill has a special jig that allows his little dremel tool turned into a router to follow that curvature. The curvature isn't very noticeable if you don't know to look for it.<br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvn91J14qcRaE9onfOckeey71rNX1ILkWXlwKSNYgHsxfwe7cGLgXOVoRmilVK5YaKQQS1RiXeI5tx1EHd4oQEHEOiRbqaYEEvX3Aqr5sMeFB4gL2CwqPRz2OqOJmAPl0ZtAwfXBV1xY/s1600/IMG_2934.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvn91J14qcRaE9onfOckeey71rNX1ILkWXlwKSNYgHsxfwe7cGLgXOVoRmilVK5YaKQQS1RiXeI5tx1EHd4oQEHEOiRbqaYEEvX3Aqr5sMeFB4gL2CwqPRz2OqOJmAPl0ZtAwfXBV1xY/s640/IMG_2934.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">The top has to be trimmed after it is glued to the body.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
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The walnut rosette was cut out using yet another specialized jig for Bill's dremel tool turned into a router. The same tool was used to make the sound hole and to cut the channel for the rosette into the top of the ukulele. A brace is glued to the underside of the top to support the rosette and sound hole area. This support piece makes it a little less dicey to router out the area to be occupied by the rosette. The thickness of the top and bottom pieces is only .07 inches thick. Less than an eighth, but a little more than a sixteenth. I failed to take photos of a number of construction steps because at the time I was seriously absorbed into learning how to make an ukulele as opposed to documenting how to make an ukulele.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYSiixDbJVtUBnCVZAh8OXIGKjS28Ve4pWIZa64XgGM24z2Qb6Z1QLWbjTswZEOFbOm13TQm9gueVeu4KQUpGn69R-549mFVdRPmUp-1fCH0KcfEVJk1xoKyGqb-gFncH-aIMSFqownFE/s1600/IMG_2935.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYSiixDbJVtUBnCVZAh8OXIGKjS28Ve4pWIZa64XgGM24z2Qb6Z1QLWbjTswZEOFbOm13TQm9gueVeu4KQUpGn69R-549mFVdRPmUp-1fCH0KcfEVJk1xoKyGqb-gFncH-aIMSFqownFE/s640/IMG_2935.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">The Black Walnut Rosette</td></tr></tbody></table>
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At some point a small crack developed in the back of the ukulele. Fortunately, this was easily repaired with a little bit of super glue. Thin super glue is used so that the glue will readily wick into the crack and the adjacent wood fibers. The finished repair would have been more visible, but for the spalted pattern of the wood which resulted in some needed camouflage.</div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZXzUqEl4MKSukOTW17M8gUCGkisRdjmHyNrAFgFGOEXhwpOophh9OMjwT0z89pzHN1BcPqi8hV1-n1xqByYNuoIL6lfwDuLdDeD3vr9dH61mR-vMcJqTiHeFZJ5N-7mtsR5El5l8vNE/s1600/IMG_2936.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZXzUqEl4MKSukOTW17M8gUCGkisRdjmHyNrAFgFGOEXhwpOophh9OMjwT0z89pzHN1BcPqi8hV1-n1xqByYNuoIL6lfwDuLdDeD3vr9dH61mR-vMcJqTiHeFZJ5N-7mtsR5El5l8vNE/s640/IMG_2936.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A small crack developed on the back</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br /><br /> The addition of the perfling and binding add a great deal to the beauty of the instrument. We used black walnut and maple for both the perfling and the binding so it matched the rosette.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKVaTAqI36ui_BOsb6M-ZCAs21-7uy2L1DMe91qDUd64ZFvJltyrTXSsjavi8FVzac6yJ14jePQVOpB4a2PUvic0znYPiJSvHQDXNjRJl7AfA_n_NqO9fn4k7Egik-N-3LMNo5mzXbO6Q/s1600/IMG_3125.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKVaTAqI36ui_BOsb6M-ZCAs21-7uy2L1DMe91qDUd64ZFvJltyrTXSsjavi8FVzac6yJ14jePQVOpB4a2PUvic0znYPiJSvHQDXNjRJl7AfA_n_NqO9fn4k7Egik-N-3LMNo5mzXbO6Q/s640/IMG_3125.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The addition of periling and binding</td></tr>
</tbody></table> </div><div> <br /><div><span> </span>The spalt pattern is caused by a fungus growing in the wood. The dark lines are actually where one fungus colony ran into another fungus colony. The symmetry of the pattern is obtained by book matching two consecutive slices of the board. The boards are stacked in order with the same orientation and then opened like the pages of a book to produce this sort of symmetrical pattern.</div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5LzJYauNIWqw-lw_W5FwYT7gJqC1pvMS_QyO2xO9afiPA7IOEyiFtQ5QlF4VN7NvfiRim3GjPj4zkxp4HqtbfvoSGovwy4eqpvfg1gaLoWDFoRn-1MrsrD7hd_4X761uVJWGmp0c3vvM/s1600/IMG_3127.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5LzJYauNIWqw-lw_W5FwYT7gJqC1pvMS_QyO2xO9afiPA7IOEyiFtQ5QlF4VN7NvfiRim3GjPj4zkxp4HqtbfvoSGovwy4eqpvfg1gaLoWDFoRn-1MrsrD7hd_4X761uVJWGmp0c3vvM/s640/IMG_3127.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A close up of the spalt pattern</td></tr>
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<br /><br /></div></div>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-78070459953227186192018-09-20T09:10:00.000-07:002018-09-20T09:10:13.843-07:00Dirty Work is Afoot I spent a few days a few weeks back assisting my son in building a 10 feet by 20 feet rammed earth cabin. It involved some serious manual labor, shoveling dirt, gravel and cement into a mixter, adding the correct amount of water, then mixing it all until the water was evenly distributed. I was quite happy to oblige, when after a few days of hard labor, they determined that the most helpful thing I could do was to take their kids off their hands for a week.<br />
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Rammed earth construction has been around for a very long time. It simply involves mixing some dirt with a little water, then pounding the dirt into a form. It is a little more complicated than that, but not a whole lot. The dirt has to be the right mixture of sand and clay. In my son’s case their soil contains a lot of clay. Therefore, they are mixing equal parts fine gravel with their native clay soil. After some experimentation they determined that 3 shovels of gravel and 3 shovels of their clay soil, mixed with a little less than a quart of portland cement and about a half gallon of water, produced a mixture with the right consistency. The cement serves as a stabilizer and makes the wall more resistant to moisture.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU4s8cPPeLRf7SL6joGlwM6Hx9aFc1pdVbJUKENYrxSDqqBLnyYNtdBGyh2CBWQhtnUV55y8FJfFbIZDLSGZtWXL2zUP-jFrOcauLh0ttheSTTEltSdvNGXLNEPJ6MyyqjIKhxZPlDEck/s1600/IMG_3811.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU4s8cPPeLRf7SL6joGlwM6Hx9aFc1pdVbJUKENYrxSDqqBLnyYNtdBGyh2CBWQhtnUV55y8FJfFbIZDLSGZtWXL2zUP-jFrOcauLh0ttheSTTEltSdvNGXLNEPJ6MyyqjIKhxZPlDEck/s640/IMG_3811.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Tunnell screening the native clay soil to remove clods, sticks, roots, etc</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN2YaP9puDDCFyvmbsE-vuQWdXaAyREWJySf7Y0KzpOGscWae9YpwxyVYgEkVqOeOLx2FAPvgN5Ag2IZbTEZ9QmrK5lnmX5G_x-3kIoHnLFx-pCLTPfXsHIbB6Bvl_DADxUMOdV4P98Pg/s1600/IMG_3813.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN2YaP9puDDCFyvmbsE-vuQWdXaAyREWJySf7Y0KzpOGscWae9YpwxyVYgEkVqOeOLx2FAPvgN5Ag2IZbTEZ9QmrK5lnmX5G_x-3kIoHnLFx-pCLTPfXsHIbB6Bvl_DADxUMOdV4P98Pg/s640/IMG_3813.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My son, James, working at the top of the form, added the mixture and tamped it into place</td></tr>
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They poured a very stout foundation for the cabin, 18 inches thick. I’m not sure how deep the foundation is. There are 3 foot long pieces of rebar sticking out of rhe foundation to help secure<br />
The wall to the foundation. In addition, they are also planning to add a concrete cap to the top of the wall, intended to help bind the wall sections together.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pile of fine gravel</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pile of sifted clay soil</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bags of portland cement</td></tr>
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There are some serious advantages to rammed earth construction. The completed building has an incredible thermal mass which tends to stay cooler in the summer. It also is relatively inexpensive. The major down side that I could see was a whole lot of serious manual labor. Also, if you are building it without the benefit of heavy equipment it seems to take quite a bit of time. However, with the heavy equipment it goes much faster but isn't so inexpensive.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3TbtdlVKqquyRNXuGVguC4_LYxiRJEsqL03BKW6pk5kTPYUJI2f-_S-geblOIbqcw-ZjpFc0AU9ARVVaSZBAYwNUCwwQjtUx_l2yv4GNHYpSSAhGLpZ5tvXKfp8eG0dr9ZsWaQmeR7Q/s1600/IMG_3830.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3TbtdlVKqquyRNXuGVguC4_LYxiRJEsqL03BKW6pk5kTPYUJI2f-_S-geblOIbqcw-ZjpFc0AU9ARVVaSZBAYwNUCwwQjtUx_l2yv4GNHYpSSAhGLpZ5tvXKfp8eG0dr9ZsWaQmeR7Q/s640/IMG_3830.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A completed section of wall</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tunnell family picture on the scaffolding</td></tr>
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<br /><br /><br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-80186339197192894642018-09-14T23:09:00.003-07:002019-02-05T10:45:13.256-08:00Family History Friday - Jonathan Calvin Cunningham in the Civil War - Part I This post was inspired by a recent addition to the Richland Family History Center. Someone donated a 244 volume set entitled, "The War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies". It contains a massive amount of correspondence, reports and orders from both armies which the US Army started compiling shortly after the end of the Civil War. Technically, it is around 130 volumes, but many volumes consist of more than one book. There are a total of 244 thick books which take up a whole section of shelving in the basement of the Richland Family History Center. There is a lot of detailed information about where particular units were assigned, specific orders given to those units, and after action reports.<br />
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About a month ago, while searching on Ancestry, I discovered the enlistment, muster, and discharge records pertaining to Jonathan Calvin Cunningham, my third great-grandfather. I was able to attach those documents to him in my Ancestry tree. Since my tree is public, anyone is welcome to take a look at them. I have always been intrigued by Jonathan Cunningham's Civil War service. First of all he was born in Tennessee, lived on a plantation with slaves, found slavery to be repugnant, and moved to the Ozarks in northern Arkansas to get away from it. After the Civil War broke out, Jonathan Cunningham went to Missouri and enlisted in the Union Army. When he returned home after the end of the war, his wife divorced him because she couldn't handle the shame of being married to a yankee. Obviously, he made some serious personal sacrifice in order to stand up for his principles. I found a few stories about his Civil War service in "The History of Baxter County". The muster records provided his unit and the dates of his service.<br />
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I will start with facts that we know from his military muster records. Jonathan Cunningham enlisted in the Union Army at Pilot Knob, Missouri on July 5, 1863. Pilot Knob is in southern Missouri, east of Springfield and west of Cape Girardeau. He joined Company C of the Second Arkansas Cavalry and served in that unit until he was discharged in August, 1865. He may have had prior service in a Union infantry unit, but I've not been able to confirm this yet. There are bimonthly muster records which indicate the soldier's current rank and company and whether a soldier was present with his unit, absent, wounded, sick, etc. A review of his muster records show that he was present with his unit from July, 1863 through October, 1863 and that he was promoted to Corporal in September, 1863. During November and December, 1863, Jonathan Cunningham was absent from his unit, on detached service to Fort Smith, Arkansas. From January, 1864 through June, 1864 he was present with his unit, but was sick in a government hospital in Springfield, Missouri from July, 1864 through October, 1864. He was again present with his unit in November and December, 1864 and had been promoted to Sergeant. The nature of his illness is not mentioned. Serious illnesses were not uncommon for Civil War soldiers and many soldiers died from diseases such as dysentary, typhoid, and cholera. He was then present with his unit from January through August, 1865. He served with Company C for his entire term of service.<br />
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Included with the muster records was a description of Jonathan Cunningham. He was 5' 6 3/4" tall, with black hair, gray eyes, and a "florid" complexion. (I'm thinking of your basic red-faced irishman) The description indicated that he was a farmer, 33 years old, and further provided his place of birth as Hamilton, Tennessee. The final muster record shows that he was mustered out of the army in August, 1865 at Memphis, Tennessee. At the time he left the army he turned in a revolver (probably a Colt), a Sharps carbine (a type of rifle with a relatively short barrel), and a saber. So at this point we know when he served, his rank, that he served in a union cavalry regiment, what weapons he carried, and a brief physical description.<br />
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Now back to the 244 volumes of "The War of Rebellion". Each volume has on the spine of the book, the time period and the location covered. I was able to determine which volumes pertained to Missouri and Arkansas, from July, 1863 through the end of the war. I looked in the index of each relevant volume and found a list of all the pages which included a reference to the Second Arkansas Cavalry (Union). This may sound like relatively dry research, but I found some of the reports and letters were very interesting and once in a while a bit funny. One of the first things I learned is that during 1863 and 1864, the Second Arkansas Cavalry served primarily in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. They were often used as single companies attached to other full regiments. It seemed that they were possibly used as scouts. This would make sense to me as the unit consisted of men from the areas being patrolled who would be familiar with the territory. For example, a regiment such as the Tenth Illinois Cavalry would go on a patrol or mission into northern Arkansas and would take with them one company of the Second Arkansas Cavalry. A cavalry regiment seemed to consist of about 200 men while a company consisted of about 30 men.<br />
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I found another reason why the Second Arkansas Cavalry may have often operated as individual companies. In a letter, dated November 12, 1863, General John Sanborn reported to his commander, General Schofield, that while on paper, he appeared to have a sufficient force, much of his troops are not adequately armed and supplied. He listed the Second Arkansas Cavalry as a specific example, stating "A small portion of the Second Arkansas is mounted and armed." I noticed that after action reports in addition to listing the number of men killed or wounded on each side, invariably mentioned how many horses they had captured and whether any horses had been killed. <br />
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The first report I found pertaining to the Second Arkansas Cavalry is a somewhat funny story that I will term "The Great Bacon Debacle". On July 25, 1863, just a few weeks after Jonathan Cunningham had enlisted in the Second Arkansas Cavalry, a company from that unit, commanded by a Captain Carpenter, was assigned to guard Union supplies in a small Missouri town with the colorful name of "Hogeye", also described in some of the reports as "Buchanan". When the company was attacked by guerrillas, they burned the supplies and fell back to Cape Girardeau. The supplies destroyed included 45,000 pounds of bacon. I have a hard time imagining just how much bacon that would be. Brigadier General Clinton B Fisk, the Union commander of the District of Southwest Missouri, and obviously a bacon lover, referred to the incident as follows:<br />
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"The abandonment of Hogeye (Buchanan on the map) and the burning of the supplies by Captain Carpenter has the appearance of having been very disgraceful and cowardly. The captain and his company are now safe in Cape Girardeau. I suppose I have no authority in the premises, as it occurred within General Davidson's jurisdiction."<br />
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If bacon isn't worth fighting for, what is? I think it is unlikely that Jonathan Cunningham was involved in this incident as Company C was commanded by a Lieutenant Orr, rather than Captain Carpenter. Also, the incident happen just three weeks into Jonathan Cunningham's military service. It sounds like Captain Carpenter came very close to being court-martialed. However, I found a number of instances in which a company of the Second Arkansas Cavalry was assigned to either guard supplies or escort a supply train. The term "supply train" refers to a number of wagons pulled by mules and doesn't necessarily mean there was a locomotive involved.<br />
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I found a document called the "Organization of troops in the Department of the Missouri" dated December 31, 1863, which indicated that nine companies of the Second Arkansas Cavalry were then assigned to Cassville, Missouri, while one company, Company K, was at Springfield, Missouri. Referring back to the muster records, Jonathan Cunningham was on detached service at Fort Smith, Arkansas during November and December, 1863. Fort Smith is located south of Fayetteville in northwestern Arkansas. There was a road that ran south from Cassville, Missouri through Fayetteville, Arkansas, on to Fort Smith. It was referred to as the "Wire Road" because there was a telegraph line that ran along the road, which was also used by Union supply trains. I found a number of reports of patrols conducted by companies of the Second Arkansas Cavalry along this road. The telegraph line was in need of constant repair as Confederate troops, guerrillas, and even sympathizers were frequently cutting the line. I found one report in which a mother and her daughter were caught attempting to cut the telegraph line. Guarding supply trains, protecting the telegraph line along the wire road, and searching for Confederate regular troops and guerrillas seemed to have been the primary activities of the Second Arkansas Cavalry in the latter half of 1863. I also found a few Confederate dispatches which indicated that all or part of the Second Arkansas Cavalry was at Fort Smith on a few occasions.<br />
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Some of the after action reports only refer to the fact that a company of the Second Arkansas Cavalry was present during the patrol and don't provide any additional details. Usually the specific company isn't mentioned, but on a few occasions the commander is named. If Company C or Lieutenant Orr are specifically mentioned and the muster records show that Jonathan Cunningham was present with his unit at the time of the action, then it is very likely that he was a participant. However, even if I don't know whether Company C was specifically involved in a particular patrol or skirmish, all of the reports still provide a good sample of the types of activities he might have experienced. I will provide some specific examples in my next installment,<br />
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-57724037814725339412018-09-02T16:27:00.001-07:002018-09-14T18:34:23.803-07:00Ukulele Number One Since moving to eastern Washington I have met a wonderful new friend, Bill Willis, who loves to make ukuleles. Bill is an chemical engineer by profession and is a serious detail guy. He has put his heart and soul into his hobby and has produced some gorgeous instruments. Even better, he was willing to share his talents and accepted me as an apprentice ukulele maker.<br />
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As it just so happened I had a one inch thick birch board left over from a tree that used to grow at the corner of our yard in Snohomish. The tree had been cut down by the power company because it grew too close to our power lines. They offered to cut it into firewood length for me, but I asked them to cut them into ten foot logs. I had no idea what I would ever do with the wood, but it seemed a waste to turn this birch tree into firewood. I then persuaded my son-in-law to help me load it onto a truck so I could haul it over to the house of a friend who owned a Wood Miser bandsaw mill. Ten foot long freshly cut birch logs happen to be somewhat heavy. The slab cut boards ended up at the Beez Neez Apiary Supply where they dried until they became useable lumber. I used most of the wood for various projects at the bee store. Apparently, none of the projects were very memorable as I honestly can't recall what I did with a whole birch tree. However, I had this one board left, and it coincidentally had come from the middle portion of the tree so it was close to quarter sawn. That happens to be important when you are selecting wood to make into the body of an ukulele or guitar. It also had some beautiful spalt, which is a type of figure left in the wood by a fungus.</div>
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I took my birch board over to my friend's house where he resawed it into very thin boards on his bandsaw. There were a lot of knots to avoid, but we ended up with some nice useable pieces for the back, front, and sides of an ukulele. I'm not sure as to the exact date we started this project, but it was well over a year ago. One reason it took so long was the fact that Bill was very patient in giving me the opportunity to do as much of the work as was appropriate for my skill level. I can only claim to have done about one third of the work, but I was able to watch the entire process from start to finish.</div>
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We finally finished it around the end of May, 2018 and it turned out to be very beautiful. It was so pretty that it was hard to do more than sit around and look at it for a few weeks. That was just as well as it took several weeks for the strings to stretch sufficiently that I didn't need to retune after each song. I have a lot of photos of the ukulele as it progressed along which I intend to share in this blog. However, I'm now working on several other ukuleles which hopefullywill involve me doing a much greater portion of the work. The body of this first ukulele is made from spalted birch. Black walnut was used for the rosette, the binding, and the veneer on the head piece of the neck. The neck itself is a combination of maple and black walnut. The fretboard and the bridge are made of macasser ebony, while the nut and saddle are made of Indonesian water buffalo bone. Spruce and pine were used for the internal bracing and the tone bars on the back and front of the ukulele body.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia1MqVjVMcR_cvjrVGaABp7r2nAF5r09wQQi7vp_RR2Ty3PWH2BBLCjgVo02K4LyUmQfLbeQf-nj60XNeUhZ9SHevvOGxpsU7uLN0Hp-iXG2YBjK62mhjRcJhCVqbtx-9RQSgDwANL3R8/s1600/IMG_2934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia1MqVjVMcR_cvjrVGaABp7r2nAF5r09wQQi7vp_RR2Ty3PWH2BBLCjgVo02K4LyUmQfLbeQf-nj60XNeUhZ9SHevvOGxpsU7uLN0Hp-iXG2YBjK62mhjRcJhCVqbtx-9RQSgDwANL3R8/s640/IMG_2934.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is just after we glued on the top of the body of the ukulele. It still needs to be trimmed.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Tx7v-MYxwODBGwGU3V4Z-NHYq5-02mkWuZRdRLbzCCiEwj6OfsCYSCEmzIsCqxLPy3NzMaxk8Mf1cbrPKb5sXfVOkaLbkoG7zKbeV4rIujVoFPTbngnIb_YYk3H-nNy_WKc_fs-t8Rs/s1600/IMG_2935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Tx7v-MYxwODBGwGU3V4Z-NHYq5-02mkWuZRdRLbzCCiEwj6OfsCYSCEmzIsCqxLPy3NzMaxk8Mf1cbrPKb5sXfVOkaLbkoG7zKbeV4rIujVoFPTbngnIb_YYk3H-nNy_WKc_fs-t8Rs/s640/IMG_2935.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a close-up of the black walnut rosette, with Bill's label visible.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJMicv07SO-fTa447GowXfQbS9pTGaeDKujE6Uxr2yS5E0-Iq-Qjb1xg_FuXMbiKjoM4bxLQxRFw7izidc_KtYLoh_HDb8bkqjHv-vy-JSQXsyphVPxBxFKq61ObBVCWMeQAY_sbn2yo/s1600/IMG_2936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJMicv07SO-fTa447GowXfQbS9pTGaeDKujE6Uxr2yS5E0-Iq-Qjb1xg_FuXMbiKjoM4bxLQxRFw7izidc_KtYLoh_HDb8bkqjHv-vy-JSQXsyphVPxBxFKq61ObBVCWMeQAY_sbn2yo/s640/IMG_2936.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the back of the ukulele body which still needs to be trimmed.</td></tr>
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I took up playing the Ukulele about five years ago. We do a bi-annual cousin camp for our grandchildren to encourage stronger relationships with their cousins. We chose to do an Hawaiian theme that year. We had a friend from church who was willing to give hula lessons to some of our grand daughters. That required me to learn half a dozen chords on the ukulele so I could accompany their hula performance. Then Linda bought some cheap ukuleles on line which we made available for the kids throughout our weeklong cousin camp. Now, five years later, about half of our 26 grandchildren play the ukulele. I therefore have a long waiting list of kids who would like me to make an ukulele for them. I'm only 66 years old and am pretty healthy. We'll see how far I get.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the completed ukulele</td></tr>
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-82813398169162100212018-06-09T05:50:00.000-07:002018-06-09T05:57:01.693-07:00 It has been a very busy fall. As much as I am enjoying our extra acreage, there is a lot of work associated with more things to maintain. I am in the process of rehabbing our old barn. It is structurally more sound than it first appeared to be. It's primary faults are a few broken windows and a dilapidated west wall. In fact, half of the west wall was missing. That is a significant problem as that is the direction of the prevailing wind. I am in the process of reframing the west wall and replacing the two broken windows so that the barn is more weather tight and provides better shelter to the animals.<br />
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I'm also working to replace or repair most of our frost free hydrants. We have a total of five. The only one that was working was the one in the back of the quonset hut, the least convenient to use for watering the animals. This past week I was able to replace the one in the back pasture near our well house. Now I have two working frost free hydrants. This will save me a lot of work watering animals this winter. It was also a major personal victory for me as plumbing isn't my strong suit. There is another non-functioning frost free hydrant in the barn that is next in line.<br />
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I'm planning to plant blueberries and raspberries next spring. I've decided to plant them behind the house near our underground propane tank. That patch of lawn is relatively small and is very difficult to mow with the riding lawn mower. I don't think it will take any more work to tend the berries than it currently takes to keep that small portion of lawn mowed and edged. In order to get rid of the grass I'm covering it with a layer of straw and leaves from our maple trees, then covering it with a tarp. Hopefully the grass will be gone by next spring. <br />
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I was really pleased with our vegetable garden this year. Most things we planted did very well, with a few minor exceptions. First, the baby geese harvested my red cabbage prematurely. Then Buster, our goat, got out and finished up what the geese hadn't eaten. We had already harvested a lot of the green cabbages so the cabbage crop wasn't a total bust. My attempt at sweet corn was indeed a total bust. I planted it a bit late and I simply picked the wrong spot in which to grow it. That spot wasn't adequately watered by the sprinklers and was too far away from any hydrant to water it with a hose. I also had somewhat of a crop failure with my Floriano Red Flint Corn, also because of sprinkler issues. I did end up with enough of a harvest such that I can try it out. This is a polenta variety.<br />
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There are several different types of corn. The primary difference between the different types is how much of the kernel is pericarp versus endocarp. The pericarp is the outer layer of the kernel that has the color. The endocarp is the white inner portion of the kernel. Flour corn has a fairly thin pericarp with most of the kernel being endocarp. Dent corn has a thicker pericarp and less endocarp. Flint corn is mostly pericarp, with little or no endocarp Everyone is pretty familiar with sweet corn, field corn, and pop corn. Field corn is dent corn. The endocarp dries and shrinks quicker than the pericarp, resulting in the characteristic dimple in the end of many of the kernels. Pop corn and sweet corn are both types of flint corn. Most people are less familiar with flour corn as it is not something you would normally find in either a grocery store or a farm stand. The pericarp is best cooked by boiling as in corn meal mush or polenta. Thus flint corns are best suited for polenta. The endocarp is best cooked by baking. Thus flour corns make better cornbread than flint or dent corns. Dent corns end up in the middle, not being best for anything, much like all-purpose flour. You can grind up dent corn and make a decent cornbread, but flour corn works better. Most of the corn grown in the United States is dent corn. It is grown both for animal feed and for processing into a wide variety of food ingredients, such as high fructose corn syrup.<br />
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My paternal grandparents and my maternal great grandparents all grew corn, undoubtedly field corn. Enos Henry Sinor, my mother's grandfather, rented two miles of railroad right of way to grow corn. He used a lot of it to feed animals, but he also took a significant amount to be ground into cornmeal. The miller kept a third of what he ground as his payment. They had fresh cornbread almost every single day.<br />
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Most of the corn I have grown over the past ten years have been various types of flour corns. Since I was living in western Washington for most of that time, I was very limited in the varieties that I could grow successfully. We just didn't have enough heat in the summer to grow most kinds of corn. I did have success growing some very short season varieties such as Painted Mountain, Mandan Red Clay, and Ruby Gold, all flour corns. Usually the rains would start before the corn had adequately dried down and I would have to bring the corn under cover so it didn't go moldy. Now I am living in a place with plenty of summer heat. I can probably grow about any variety of corn I chose.<br />
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Last Saturday I paid a visit to Bill's Berry Farm near Grandview. I went to get a load of straw bales to use as bedding for the animals and mulch for the vegetable garden. The straw was located next to a five acre corn maze. Bill was lamenting the fact that the corn was going to go to waste. Apparently not many local Grandview farmers still grow field corn to harvest as grain. Most of the local corn is now harvested green and made into silage for dairy cows. The only nearby farmer with a corn combine didn't want to get his equipment dirty for just five acres. I asked him if I could have some and he said I could. After loading my straw I picked enough field corn to fill half of the back seat of my pickup. Most of it will go to my chickens this winter. I will keep some of it on the cob as the chickens seem to enjoy having something to peck at. I will run some of it through my corn sheller and crack it for the chickens.<br />
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Author's Note: I was looking at my blog this morning as I had not been posting for some months. I discovered this draft from last fall and decided I should go ahead and post it. A lot has happened in the past six months, to include a wonderful experience with bottle lambs, the hatching of a new generation of geese, progress on the old barn rehab, and the completion of my ukulele. I'm going to try to get caught up and cover those subjects in my next few posts.<br />
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-17150255728069699502017-10-20T22:18:00.001-07:002017-10-20T22:24:53.492-07:00Moon and Stars Watermelons A serious up side to our move to from the west side to the east side of Washington State is the increased warmth and the resultant longer growing season. This allowed me to grow watermelons in my garden for the first time since 1977. I grew four different kinds. One plant was a Sugar Baby, a type of small personal sized watermelon. I grew that at Linda's request. I have to confess that I am a little unclear on the concept when it comes to growing small watermelons on purpose. I misplaced one of the seed packets so I'm unsure of the names of one of the varieties that I grew. It was a nice round red-fleshed watermelon that ripened earlier than the others. I also grew an orange-fleshed variety called Tendersweet. Those melons were medium sized and were somewhat elongated. However, the obvious "Star" attractions of the watermelon patch were the red-fleshed Moon and Stars watermelons. These were the last to ripen, but they were easily the largest melons. That plant set two melons, the largest one weighing 34 pounds. The reason for that name is pretty obvious. The melons start out green striped, but at some point the skin turns darker green and lots of yellow dots appear all over the melon. The yellow dots are the stars while the big yellow patch on the underside of the melon is the moon. They are really quite pretty watermelons.<br />
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Moon and Stars is an heirloom variety. Obviously it has seeds. Another trait of many of the older watermelon varieties is a much thicker rind than most modern watermelons. Obviously some people considered a thick rind to be the sort of flaw that needed to be bred out of watermelons. Anyone who has raised chickens would disagree. Watermelon rind is my chicken's favorite treat. I usually throw all of the watermelon rinds into the chicken pen. The following day the rinds are like curled up pieces of green paper. The chickens peck out everything except the green skin.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moon and Stars Watermelon</td></tr>
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Another benefit to a thicker rind is the possibility of pickled watermelon rind. I remember my mother making pickled watermelon rind when I was a child. This is a well known pickle in the South. On the other hand, when the subject of pickled watermelon rind is raised, people from the North will often comment that they had never heard of such a thing. I wasn't raised in the South, but my mother was.<br />
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Recently my sweet wife gave me a special gift, a book entitled "The Joy of Pickling". This book happened to have three different watermelon rind pickle recipes. I tried out two of them. The first recipe was called Gingery Watermelon Pickles and involved first soaking the peeled watermelon rind in pickling salt. After a six to twelve hour salt soak, the pieces of rind are rinsed and cooked in a syrup seasoned with lemon, ginger, cinnamon, cardamon seeds, cloves, and allspice berries. The second recipe was called Minty Watermelon Pickles. In this recipe the peeled watermelon rind was first soaked in pickling lime (CalciumOxide) for eight to twelve hours. After rinsing, the pieces of rind were cooked in a seasoned syrup containing the same seasonings as the first recipe. The only difference was the addition of a sprig of mint to each jar before it was sealed. Both recipes turned out well. The primary difference was that the first recipe produced a somewhat soft pickle while second recipe produced a very crisp pickle. I actually found the pickles made with lime to be a little too crisp. I will have to try it again with a reduced time soaking in the lime water.<br />
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My mother sampled the Gingery Watermelon Pickles and commented that they tasted very close to the watermelon pickles she remembered growing up in Arkansas. However, the watermelon pickles she had as a child had more sugar and less vinegar. I was surprised by this as there was a lot of sugar in the syrup used in each of the two recipes.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gingery Pickled Watermelon Rind</td></tr>
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-28261696067736082302017-10-17T22:29:00.002-07:002017-10-17T22:29:29.954-07:00Mom's Very Well Used Cookbook My sister recently shared with me a cookbook my mother had given her. It was a very well used cookbook that my mother had received as a wedding gift about 67 years ago. The cover was gone so I don't know the name of the cookbook other than it isn't The Joy of Cooking. I know that only because that was Mom's other "Go to" cookbook. Of particular interest to me was the fact that the book contained 5 recipes my mother had added in places where there was a convenient amount of blank space. That seems to me to be a very good feature in a cookbook, room to add additional recipes. I thought I should preserve these recipes and some of the stories behind them.<br />
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The first recipe is called quart relish. This recipe came from Mrs Washburn, the mother of Glen Washburn. My father met Glen when they lived in Rock Island, Illinois. They were both members of a local motorcycle club and became good friends. Glen was a large man and owned his own heating and refrigeration business. He lived at home with his parents until he finally got married in his thirties. My mother indicated that his living at home wasn't a case of failure to launch, but simply a matter of taking care of his parents due to their limited income. Glen Washburn had an incredible knack of showing up at my parent's home whenever my mother had just baked a pie or his favorite banana cake. His mother's quart relish recipe is a fitting memorial to their friendship.<br />
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Quart relish gets it's name from the fact that the relish is made from a quart each of the seven main ingredients. The recipe for Quart Relish is as follows;<br />
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Mix together one quart each of ground Cabbage, Green Tomatoes, Onions, Unpeeled Apples, and Bell Peppers. (However, the apples should be cored)<br />
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Press out the excess liquid and add one quart of vinegar, one quart of sugar, one tablespoon of mustard seeds, and one tablespoon of salt (obviously pickling salt).<br />
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Mix all of this together and bring to a boiling point. Simmer for five minutes and pack into sterilized jars. Makes approximately 5 quarts.<br />
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I would like top add a few editorial comments. This recipe is elegantly simple. The only thing difficult about making this or any other relish is grinding up the vegetables in a meat grinder. Note that the instructions didn't include water bath canning of the finished product. When my mother was a young housewife, this type of open kettle canning of jams, jellies, and pickles was common. Since the relish contains a fair amount of vinegar and sugar, chances are good that it would keep well without water bath canning. I don't ever remember any of Mom's quart relish lasting long enough to go bad. All the same, I would recommend processing the finished relish in a water bath canner for ten minutes. I have not used this particular recipe although I have eaten a fair amount of quart relish over the years. It is quite tasty and the recipe is worthy of recording for posterity. My sister and her daughters recently made a batch of quart relish and I was a fortunate recipient of a pint. I haven't opened it yet only because the flavor of most pickled products improves if one has the patience to wait three weeks after the pickles are made before the pickles are eaten.<br />
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While we are on the subject of relish I think we should list Green Tomato Relish as the second recipe. I made this relish just a few days ago and I was very pleased with the results. It came out very close to the store bought sweet pickle relish that I love to put on hotdogs. Mom was fairly certain that she got this recipe from her grandmother, Lillie Etta Heiskill, the wife of Enos Henry Sinor. The Sinors were subsistence farmers in Baxter County, Arkansas. They raised most of their own food in a one acre vegetable garden and as my mother put it, "They weren't the kind of people who wasted stuff."<br />
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I too had a large vegetable garden this year, although I don't think it was anything close to an acre. It was probably closer to a quarter of an acre. That is still a fairly large garden by today's standards. I planted about ten tomato plants and they produced profusely. In anticipation of frosts in the not too distant future, I started pulling up the tomato vines for the compost pile and harvesting the tomatoes, ripe or not (mostly not). I ended up with three five gallon buckets full of green tomatoes. Some of them I plan to store and let them continue to ripen. However, that isn't a workable strategy for 15 gallons of green tomatoes. Therefore, I was very happy to give the green tomato relish a try. Between the green tomato relish and three other green tomato pickle recipes I've tried, I'm now down to a mere ten gallons of green tomatoes ripening in my shop.<br />
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Green Tomato Relish<br />
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Ingredients:<br />
1 cup of salt ( pickling salt of course)<br />
1 gallon green tomatoes<br />
1 gallon ground cabbage<br />
1 dozen medium onions, ground<br />
1 dozen sweet peppers, ground<br />
12 to 16 hot peppers, ground (according to taste). I only added a few Jalapeño peppers, partly because I only had a few hot peppers on hand and partly because I don't like really hot food.<br />
6 cups of sugar (or more)<br />
2 teaspoons of powdered dry mustard<br />
1 teaspoon of ground cloves<br />
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon<br />
1 teaspoon of ground turmeric<br />
1 teaspoon of celery seed<br />
1/2 gallon of vinegar.<br />
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Directions:<br />
Add the salt to the ground tomatoes and let stand. (The instructions didn't indicate how long to let the salted ground tomatoes stand. I simply ground up the tomatoes first and let them stand while I ground up the other vegetables.)<br />
Drain the remaining ground vegetables in a cloth bag.<br />
Drain the tomatoes.<br />
Mix the drained vegetables with the tomatoes.<br />
Add the sugar, mustard, cloves, cinnamon, turmeric and vinegar.<br />
Boil five minutes.<br />
Add the celery seed.<br />
Pour while hot into sterile jars and seal.<br />
Makes approximately 20 pints.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green Tomato Relish</td></tr>
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I have a few comments to make about this recipe. Note again the absence of water bath canning in the instructions. I processed my relish in a water bath canner for ten minutes. Also note that most recipes from the 40s and 50s made large volumes of finished product. Big families were more the rule then. Also, while this recipe is not complicated, the grinding is a bit of work. My feeling is "In for a penny, in for a pound." If I'm going to the trouble of getting the meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid mixer dirty, I'd rather do it for 20 pints of relish, rather than for a mere five pints. Besides, the relish turned out so well that we will probably end up giving some of it as gifts. If I don't make 20 pints, there may not be enough relish to last me until the next time I have a serious surplus of green tomatoes.<br />
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-28398918831068176502017-06-29T22:23:00.001-07:002017-06-29T22:23:32.709-07:00An Adventurous Trip to the River. A few days ago (I believe it was Monday) Linda and I took two visiting grand children to Leslie Grove Park in Richland. It is a nice park on the Columbia River in the north part of town. The purpose of our visit was to give Natalie (9) and Conner (7) a chance to cool off playing in the river. As we arrived at the park I noticed the wind had picked up a bit. As I blew up an air mattress (shaped like a sea turtle) I was questioning the wisdom of letting the kids play at the river with this much wind. I knew there was no diplomatic way to be the wet blanket. Just as I was about to tell the kids that it was too windy, I looked down river and saw a big blur that was heading our way. It was like the sandstorm scene in the movie Hidalgo on a smaller scale. You could see lightning and rain coming our way.<div><br><div> The front hit about ten seconds later as the wind changed almost instantly from about 15 mph to 40 mph. We were running to the car as we were pelted by sand from the nearby beach volleyball courts. Shortly after we managed to get the kids and our stuff loaded into the car the deluge hit. Richland gets less than ten inches of rain in a year so it is a very rare occasion to see serious rain. Instead of an afternoon at the river we settled for a bit of an adventure and a trip to Wendy's. </div></div><div><br></div><div> Our granddaughter Natalie is a serious cat lover and has been trying hard to win the affection of our somewhat grumpy cat, Mrs Buzz Saw. It is a source of serious frustration to Natalie that Mrs Buzz Saw spurns her efforts to make friends. It irritates Natalie all the more that I generally ignore the cat, who responds by showering her affection on me. I'm not the one who dispenses kitty treats. I'm not the one who feeds her or calls "kitty kitty". Yet I'm the person Buzz Saw follows around when I'm working outside. When I sit down to watch a Mariner game the cat always comes to me when she wants to be petted. Natalie has made an effort the past few days to try pretending she didn't like cats. She was hoping some aloofness would help draw the cat to her. Sadly, she just couldn't pull it off. The cat seemed to recognize that Natalie's apparent apathy towards cats was insincere.</div>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-19641155936790938252016-11-28T07:59:00.000-08:002016-11-28T07:59:08.099-08:00Elk Hunting in Wyoming<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I returned from a trip to Lander, Wyoming a few weeks ago. I had been invited to go elk hunting by my good friend Quentin, who used to work with me at the Beez Neez Apiary Supply. The elk hunting didn't go too well because of the unseasonably warm weather. The elk were still in the high country because there had been no snow to drive them down to their winter range. Unfortunately I had a tag for the area where the elk weren't. I did see a few large herds of elk about 5 miles south of our hunting area. The elk hunt may have been unsuccessful, but it was still a wonderful trip. I saw a lot of incredible scenery and enjoyed hanging out with an old friend. It finally snowed the day before I left to come home. I had the adventure of hunting elk in a Wyoming blizzard. The visibility for most of the day was about 20 feet. An elk would have had to trip over the truck for us to shoot one.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our view from the truck, waiting for better visibility</td></tr>
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Our hunting area consisted of several hundred square miles of prairie intersected by the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail and the Pony Express route. Our area included the place where the Willie and Martin handcart companies crossed the Sweetwater River and the Rock Creek Hollow memorial site. We visited the Rock Creek Hollow memorial twice, once in pleasant weather and once during the blizzard. I am amazed at the faith of the early saints who were willing to endure incredible trials for the gospel's sake. The weather was miserable with good clothing. I could only imagine the misery of the poor hand cart pioneers who didn't have the benefit of good winter clothing. I later learned that Quentin had helped build the stone memorial at Rock Creek Hollow when he was 14 years old. His ward built the memorial as a youth project so Quentin hauled rock and mixed mortar.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Willie Handcart Company Memorial</td></tr>
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We may not have seen a lot of elk, but we sure saw a lot of Pronghorn antelope. I would estimate that we saw over 1500 antelope on most of the days we were hunting. Each antelope herd consisted of about 50 to 100 animals and we usually saw more than 20 separate herds on a given day. Sometimes they stood and watched us, but usually they would take off running. It was impossible to count them all. The Pronghorn is North America's fastest land animal. Quentin told me that they can reach 55 miles per hour. Their horns are quite unique in that they shed them every year. We stopped at one point when Quentin noticed a pronghorn shed lying in the middle of the dirt road. After I had picked it up he told me that he had only found about five pronghorn sheds in his life. Amazingly, I found another one just five minutes later. They turn grey as they weather and look just like a stick on the ground. I wouldn't have been able to spot it except for the fact that I noticed it was hollow.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where the deer and the antelope play</td></tr>
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The above photo shows a herd of antelope on the ridge line with a solitary mule deer walking in front of them. This was one of the few antelope herds that just stood and watched us. In addition to the multitude of antelope, I also saw numerous jack rabbits, sage hens, wild horses, and one coyote. We mostly saw the jack rabbits in the evening while we were driving back to the paved road. The jack rabbits' fur turns white in the winter. Normally that gives them pretty good camouflage. It was having the opposite effect because of the absence of snow. The white jack rabbits were looking pretty exposed. I'm sure they were feeling pretty relieved when the snow finally arrived.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sage hen hiding behind a clump of sage brush</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A white jack rabbit attempting to hide by holding still</td></tr>
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We probably saw about 40 wild horses, usually in groups of 5 or less. Quentin told me that they used to hold round ups to reduce the wild horse population. I had heard about programs that allowed people to adopt a wild mustang. That currently doesn't happen because some environmentalist group filed a lawsuit. I'm not sure what their objection was. Note how even the hoof print is in the photo below. Since they spend a lot of time running on rocky ground their hooves wear fairly evenly. It is all of that standing around on soft ground that makes horse shoes necessary. Based on the number of hoof prints I saw I'm thinking there are a whole lot of wild horses roaming central Wyoming.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wild Horses</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Hoof Print for Hannah</td></tr>
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-56044720335777589482016-11-21T06:49:00.000-08:002016-11-21T06:49:58.087-08:00Speaking in Church A few weeks ago, Linda and I both spoke in church. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as Mormons, we have no paid clergy. Various members of the congregation are given opportunities to speak each Sunday, usually on an assigned topic. Linda and I were both assigned to speak on recognizing and following personal revelation. One of my daughters has since requested we provide copies of our talks for her children. Since communication with my grandchildren is one of the primary purposes of my blog I thought I might as well just include it in the blog. I'm somewhat inclined to ad-lib so I usually don't give a talk exactly how I wrote it. However, in this particular case I followed my written remarks fairly closely. After all of that preamble, what follows is the talk I gave in the Desert Hills Ward on October 24th, 2016:<br />
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Since we are relatively new to the ward I thought I should give you a brief introduction to our family. Linda and I both grew up in Richland and graduated from Richland High School. In fact, we met in the Carmichael Junior High School orchestra. I served a mission in Northern Italy and we were married about four months after I got home from my mission. We moved away about a year after we were married and then spent seven years in the Air Force living at various times in Monterey, California, San Angelo, Texas, Bellevue, Nebraska, and Eielson AFB, Alaska near Fairbanks. I then was hired by the FBI and we spent 9 years in Houston, Texas followed by 13 years in the Seattle Division where I retired in 2006. For the past ten years I have owned a beekeeping supply store in Snohomish, Washington which hopefully will be sold by the end of the year.<br />
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We have 25 grand children, soon to be 26 grand children. I tell people that I am wealthy beyond my wildest dreams. I would refer you to Proverbs 17:6 "Children are an heritage of the Lord....As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man...Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them." My mother, Cozette Tunnell, has lived with us for the past ten years or so. I keep telling Linda that I should get one of those T shirts that says "I still live with my mother." One of the remarkable coincidences in our family is that not only do I share my mother's birthday, but we have two grand daughters who also share our birthday. some of this brief bio actually has some relevance to the topic Linda and I have been asked to address, which is recognizing and following personal revelation.<br />
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I would like to start with a little foundational material, quoting from the second paragraph of the Family Proclamation..."All human beings - male and female - are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and as such, each has a divine nature and destiny." We can learn a great deal from this short quote. First note that it says "beloved spirit son or daughter". So we are the spirit children of heavenly parents who love us and we have a divine nature and destiny. I would offer that divine destiny means there are important things that God wants us to accomplish in this earth life.<br />
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I would also refer you to 2 Nephi 2:25 "Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy." So not only are there important things God wants us to do in this earth life, part of that divine destiny is having joy. So God wants us to be truly happy. Not the fleeting happiness that the world seeks, but that abiding joy that comes when we live our lives in accordance with God's will and do our best to follow his counsel.<br />
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Then I would refer you to the numerous scriptures where we are commanded to pray and to seek knowledge, understanding, and guidance from our loving Heavenly Father. One of my favorites being James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."<br />
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So the basic principles are pretty simple. Let's review them once more.<br />
1. We are the beloved spirit children of heavenly parents.<br />
2. We have a divine nature and destiny.<br />
3. That divine destiny means there are important things we are supposed to accomplish during our earth life.<br />
4. That divine destiny also means we are intended to have joy.<br />
5. We are commanded to ask God for guidance and direction and we are promised that He will give us wisdom liberally.<br />
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I would suggest that a great place to start following personal revelation is to read your Patriarchal Blessing. If you don't have one, talk to the Bishop and do whatever it is you must do to be worthy of a patriarchal blessing. I know that there is a younger age limit in that the Bishop has to determine you are mature enough to be ready to receive a patriarchal blessing. apparently the only upper age limit to receiving a patriarchal blessing is that you aren't dead yet.<br />
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My patriarchal blessing has been very helpful to me in that it has functioned as a road map to important life goals, such as serving a mission and marrying the right person in the right place. Linda isn't mentioned by name in my blessing, but I was promised that I would find a good girl who was willing, able, and prepared to go to the temple. I feel very strongly that marrying Linda was an important part of my life's mission. I prayed about that decision and realized that I wouldn't find anyone who would be a better mother to my children. That important prayerful decision has payed enormous dividends in my life as so much of my present happiness stems from it. If you have made a prayerful decision regarding marriage it also makes it much easier to persevere through the difficult times that happen in most marriages. I am not saying that it is church doctrine that there is only one right person for each of us to marry. I just know that I was supposed to marry Linda and my life has been blessed because I followed the Lord's counsel in that decision. My patriarchal blessing also contained important counsel about obedience and following the counsel of church leaders as well as accepting assignments to serve in the church. I have never turned down an assignment to serve in the church and I know I have been blessed because of being willing to serve.<br />
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The principles may be simple, but the application of the principles can be difficult at times. Linda and I have tried to seek direction from God in our lives. I think in general we have done a pretty good job of getting direction from God in all of the important decisions we have made in our lives and in following His counsel. At times though it can be really difficult. We truly are like little children compared to God. He understands everything while we understand relatively little by comparison. As a result we often don't ask the right question. Linda gave one personal example of this regarding our transfer back to the Pacific Northwest. In that case we got the right answer, but not for the reason we thought. I'd like to give you another one where I received an important answer to prayer that didn't mean what I thought it did at first.<br />
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Before we left Texas, my oldest son went through chemotherapy treatments for cancer. The chemotherapy did a fine job of kicking the cancer to the curb, but it was very hard on him and damaged his immune system. Jonathan was a very smart boy. He was a National Merit Scholar and had earned a free ride scholarship to the University of Texas. It was his heart's desire to use that scholarship to attend the University of Texas. All of this happened and then I finally got the transfer orders sending us back to Seattle. It was very difficult for us to let him go away to school at the same time that we were moving, but it felt like it was the right thing to do. A month or so after we left Texas, Jonathan fell ill and Linda flew down to Austin, Texas. I followed a week later and I was able to see my son right before he died.<br />
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When Jonathan was so sick I had earnestly prayed to my Heavenly Father and asked if he would be okay. I received a very powerful answer that my son would be okay. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket of God's love. It was very comforting and I assumed it meant that Jonathan would be healed and recover from his illness. But that wasn't the question I had asked. I later realized that from God's perspective this was not a tragedy. Jonathan was a very good young man and he was more than okay. Even if I had initially misunderstood the meaning of the answer to my prayer, it was very comforting to feel God's love. I knew that He was mindful of us and the pain of our loss, but that our son was where he was supposed to be.<br />
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At times I have been inspired to do things that were important for me to do, but I didn't realize it was inspiration at the time. This is sort of like Christopher Columbus being inspired by the Holy Ghost to seek out the new world. We know from one of Nephi's visions in the Book of Mormon that Columbus was inspired by the Holy Ghost, but I suspect Columbus may not have realized the source of his obsession at the time. My enlistment in the Air Force falls into this category. Linda's brother had joined the Air Force and I had given him a very bad time about that decision. Then, within a year, I did the very same thing. I could offer no logical explanation at the time for my flip flop. As I look back on my life I now realize that I was supposed to do that and I can see how it impacted the rest of my life. I went into the Air Force with a guaranteed job as a linguist. That is how I learned to speak Russian, which subsequently helped me get hired as an FBI Special Agent. I can't take much credit for making that decision other than I did have a strong desire to do the right thing. I was living the gospel and doing my best to keep God's commandments. Maybe the Lord knew I wouldn't be able to understand why I needed to do that so He just gave me a desire to do it and let me figure out the why when I was ready.<br />
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So God cares about where we live, who we marry, what we do for a living, how we serve in the church, and a good many more things. He even cares who leads the music in the Primary. I served in the Bishopric for a while in our prior ward. One of my responsibilities was the Primary. Staffing is sometimes a problem in Primary as not everyone seems to realize what a special privilege it is to serve the children of the ward. So one Sunday morning in Bishopric Meeting I was making recommendations to the Bishop regarding staffing the Primary. I also suggested that I should inquire about a particular sister's music background in order to determine whether she might be a good choice to serve as the Primary Music Leader. Our Bishop was very particular about making prayerful decisions about callings. He would usually prayerfully ponder names for weeks before making a decision to extend a calling. In this particular instance he surprised me and approved the name on the spot, directing me to extend the call. When I met with the sister a week later, I extended the call and she readily accepted. I then asked her about her music background and learned that she knew three chords on the guitar and could play "Hot Cross Buns". However, a week earlier she had the thought come into her head that Primary Music Leader would be a fun calling. She put a lot of effort into learning her calling and was a wonderful Primary Music Leader. The children readily responded to her kind gentle demeanor. I consider her to be a great example of a woman of faith. She had every excuse available to decline the calling, but accepted it without hesitation. She understood that who the Lord calls, He qualifies. She had the faith that she could learn whatever skills she needed to serve effectively in that calling. As I have thought about this since, I think I now realize why the Bishop was inspired to immediately approve the calling when I had merely suggested that I inquire about her music background. If I had known that she had so little music background, I probably wouldn't have suggested we consider her for that calling.<br />
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When we pray for guidance it is critically important that we pray with real intent. That means we have to be willing to act on the answer. He doesn't answer our prayers for guidance because we are merely curious. With this in mind I would like to tell you the story of how we ended up moving to the Desert Hills Ward. Linda is the one who received the initial spiritual promptings that we needed to move back to the Tri-Cities. I'm sure the Lord told her first because she was more willing to listen. I was quite content living where we had lived for the past 24 years. I had lots of friends from church and from the community. I had a big vegetable garden, my grape vines that I had started from cuttings, and fruit trees that I had grafted. I'm the sort of person who puts down deep roots. I was serving as a family history consultant in our ward which is a dream calling for a family history geek. I felt like I was making a serious difference in that calling.<br />
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When Linda first brought up the idea of moving back to the Tri-Cities I was somewhat skeptical and even a little grumpy about it. Okay, maybe I was a whole lot grumpy about it. However, she persisted and even pulled out the "I let you buy a bee store ten years ago" card and I had to agree that it truly was her turn to get to do something she wanted to do. However, just because I had agreed to it doesn't mean I had a good attitude about it. However, I also agreed that I would make it a matter of serious prayer. I think I prayed about it for more than a month before I received an answer. We had come over to visit Linda's sister Liz, who lives in Richland. While we were there the Spirit confirmed to me that we were indeed supposed to move back here. With a very clear confirmation from the Spirit my attitude about moving changed significantly. The move was still very painful and a great deal of work. It is just so much easier to do hard things when we know that they are also the right things. I still don't know all of the reasons we were supposed to move here, but I do know some of them. I'm sure I'll understand more with time. I always seem to understand life better through hindsight. However, it is a very good feeling to know that you are where the Lord wants you to be. It is also a wonderful feeling to know that He cares about where we live and that He still has service He wants us to perform and things He wants us to accomplish.<br />
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-4605735554703219532016-11-06T21:49:00.001-08:002016-11-06T21:49:09.489-08:00Birdwatching with Ali Every day that I am home I start my day by taking Ali on a walk. A purebred English Setter, Ali doesn't consider these walks to be recreational. As far as she is concerned she is on a hunting trip. Ali spends most of our walk diligently nosing the ground for the scent of quail, straining at the leash until she smells what she is seeking. Once she has found the scent, she goes into stalk mode, walking carefully and more slowly, looking for her prey. When she finds the birds, she goes into the classic "on point" stance. She takes her hunting seriously and I find her quite entertaining to watch. I would have never guessed she is 13 years old from watching her hunt for quail. She also pointed at ducks when there was water in the canal and occasionally points at the doves or the herons.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Grey Heron Roosting Above the Beaver Pond</td></tr>
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A few days ago Ali came to the point position quite suddenly pointing toward a thick brushy area along the canal road. As I was looking for the quail I thought she had found, a mule deer doe jumped up from behind the brush, not ten feet away. I guess that is why its illegal to hunt deer with dogs. The deer rely so heavily on their camouflage and their ability to hide. With a dog on their scent, the poor deer have no place to hide. A few months back she pointed at a mink on the canal bank. It really is fun to watch her work.<br />
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I had been giving Ali the freedom to roam our property as she seemed inclined to stay put. However, she has recently started taking herself for "walks" down by the empty canal. Her walks have included supplemental activities such as rolling in the dead fish in the drained canal and crawling through the brush collecting cockleburs. After such a "walk" yesterday afternoon she came home a dirty nasty mess. I gave her a bath and spent several hours combing the burrs out of her coat. Wet dog may not be a pleasant smell, but it is light years better than dead fish.<br />
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-35562213109115833152016-10-17T21:51:00.000-07:002016-10-17T21:51:21.227-07:00Western White Clematis, also known as Virgin's Bower<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have finally discovered the name of the most likely source of my unexpected fall honey crop. A friend from church advised me that the mystery vine, covered with white flowers is none other than Western White Clematis, also known as Virgin's Bower. Once I had determined the name of the plant, I went on line to learn more about it. Several web sites listed it as a minor honey plant, indicating that there usually isn't enough of it in one place to make a major contribution to the bees honey crop. In our location it is quite plentiful along the river and the canal. Every time I looked at it in late August and throughout September the blossoms were being worked by lots of honeybees. It is very possible that there were other plants the bees were also working at that time, but I didn't notice any. I took the dogs on a walk down by the canal almost every day that I was home so I have about six weeks of observations as to how much the bees seemed to like that particular blossom.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Western White Clematis, aka Virgin's Bower</td></tr>
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There is one way I can remove all doubt as to the source of my August and September honey harvest. I can mail a sample of the honey along with a fifty dollar check to Texas A & M University. They have developed a pretty accurate method of determining the floral source of any given honey sample. They first determine the pollen content of the honey. I'm not quite sure how they do that, but every floral source leaves a pollen fingerprint. When the bees are collecting nectar they can't help but get some pollen in the nectar. Based on the percentages of the various types of pollen found in the honey, the scientists can determine what the floral sources were. Normally I am not sufficiently curious such that I would pay someone to determine the floral source of the honey my bees had collected. Due to the fact that we are living in a new place and I am unfamiliar with what is available for my bees, I'm a little more willing to pony up the money to get a definitive answer.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After pollination the blossoms develop a hairy look similar to the Truffula trees in The Lorax </td></tr>
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Another interesting thing about our new home is that there are lots and lots of praying mantises on our property. I've found large green mantises and large brown mantises. I've also found a lot of mantis egg cases in all sorts of places. A month or so back, I was downstairs talking to my mom when I heard a blood curdling scream from upstairs. I ran upstairs only to find Linda doing the praying mantis version of the bee dance with a very large praying mantis clinging to her shoulder for dear life. Apparently, the mantis had climbed onto her shoulder when Linda had gone out onto the front deck to water some plants. I think it was a pretty traumatic experience for the both of them. I was able to rescue the mantis and return her safely to the outdoors. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The very mantis which terrorized Linda so much</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Mantis Egg Case</td></tr>
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<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-90786714953370255842016-10-04T10:07:00.000-07:002016-10-04T10:07:39.369-07:00Meeting a Mink On my daily walks along the canal with the dogs we often see wildlife. The list thus far has included deer, a beaver, a muskrat, bullfrogs, a turtle, Canada Geese, Mallards, Kingfishers, White pelicans, California Quail, and Mourning Doves. Ali particularly enjoys "pointing out" the quails. So yesterday morning I'm walking the dogs and we had just crossed the bridge to turn south on the canal road when Ali drops into the most beautiful point. I was puzzled at first because she was pointed in the direction of the canal. Just across the canal is a place where there are often quail, but Ali usually ignores the birds that aren't on our side of the canal. After a moment I realized that she was pointing at a little mink on the canal bank not six feet away from us. <br />
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At this point Oreo lunged after the mink which then moved down the bank to hide in the horsetails growing there. Oreo was extremely lucky that I had a firm grip on his leash and he wasn't able to have his heart's desire at that very moment. If he had gotten loose that little mink would have probably rearranged his face and caused him some serious injury. The expression "Wild as a mink" has a very firm basis in fact. They are very much like a weasel with bigger teeth and claws. Fortunately, I kept my grip on his leash and Oreo still has his rakish good looks.<br />
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The close encounter with the mink got both of the dogs seriously excited. Ali was in serious hunting mode for the remainder of the walk. I am amazed at her energy when she gets into hunting mode. It is hard to reconcile that with her 13 years of age. Oreo often tugs hard at his leash, but usually settles down by the second half of the walk. After meeting the mink, they both drug me along all the way back to our driveway.<br />
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I looked up minks on wikipedia after we had finished our walk. I didn't realize they lived in our area. I expected that they would more likely be found living in the mountains. As it turns out minks eat a lot of fish, frogs, and tadpoles and like to make their dens along rivers and creeks. In fact minks will often attack and kill muskrats and then take over their homes. Our canal is absolutely full of small fish, frogs, and tadpoles so I guess that was a perfectly natural place to find a mink.<br />
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Speaking of Ali's age. I found her pedigree as I was preparing to take her to see the vet. Her full name is Miss Ali Girl, born on July 3, 2003, the daughter of Valley View Bandit and Valley View Debby. Since English Setters are hunting dogs, the pedigree actually lists how well her immediate ancestors had performed in hunting field trials. Neither of her parents had participated in the field trials but it appears that her maternal grandparents were serious hunting dogs. Her maternal grandfather, Whiskyndick's Lad Duffy, had placed 16 times in field trials, while her maternal great grandfather, CH I'm Dick Too, had placed 51 times in field trials. However, the most serious hunting dog on her family tree was her grandmother's father, Tomoka's Smokin Mike, who placed 120 times in field trials and produced 49 winners among his numerous progeny. With that sort of family background it is no wonder that Ali has such strong hunting instincts and knows just what to do when she sniffs out some quail.Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-69557831746327434632016-09-20T21:39:00.002-07:002016-09-27T23:43:09.124-07:00Buster's New Home Towards the back of our property there is an old shed. The previous owners had once used it for cattle, but that had been a number of years ago. It was pretty nasty on the inside, filled with old junk and cow manure. I got to looking at the shed and found that it was more structurally sound than it had appeared to be. The west wall of the shed is indeed dilapidated and needs to be replaced, but the rest of the building is reasonably sound. I decided that it was worth rehabilitating the shed to serve as housing for our goat, Buster, ands whatever other animals we eventually collect. I'm thinking about eventually doing sheep and maybe pigs.<br />
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My daughter, Rachel, and her family visited us this past weekend. Her husband, Chet did some serious lobbying for favorite son-in-law status as he spent most of this past Saturday helping me clean out the old shed to make it useable. The first order of business was to pull out most of the junk and wood. After we had cleared out most of the interior, we moved one of the interior support posts so it was lined up with a second support post. Then we installed a third support post. We attached heavy duty cattle panels to the posts to create a pen. Yesterday and today I made and installed a gate for the pen. The pen was finally completed this afternoon.<br />
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The last task was to remove the piece of fencing that blocked Buster's access to the barn. I had Buster's full undivided attention while I worked on this. I don't think he was focused on the barn entrance as much as he was on the vines which grew around the barn entrance. Once the fencing was down, Buster immediately plunged through the opening and happily began munching on the vines. However, a few minutes later he did notice the entrance to the barn and went inside to check out the space. He seemed happy with the place although I'm not very good at translating goat bleats. The place still needs to be cleaned up a bit more and could use a few bales of fresh straw. I will also need to replace the western wall before winter comes. In spite of the work remaining to be done I'm happy to declare victory of the time being.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buster's New Home</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homemade Gate</td></tr>
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<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-76364342346941327482016-09-04T09:49:00.001-07:002016-09-04T09:49:16.422-07:00A New Place in the Sun I apologize for the lack of posts over the past six months. Frankly, I was too involved with preparing a house for sale, selling a house, buying a house, and moving all of our household goods to our new home in West Richland, Washington. The move was very painful for me. It was difficult to move away from dear friends and to leave my fruit trees, grape vines, and vegetable gardens behind. It was also painful to forego having a vegetable garden this year. However, there is also a lot of up side to the move.<br />
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First of all, it is much cheaper to live over here. We were able to buy more house for less money on three irrigated acres. The cost of many things have decreased significantly, such as trash pickup, electricity, and car insurance. Since we are trying to actually retire, living life a little more cheaply makes a lot of sense. Secondly, it is very nice being closer to my extended family, most of whom live in the Tri City area. It is particularly nice for my 84 year old mother to live closer to more of her children. Third, I can grow a lot of things in eastern Washington that I could never have grown in western Washington, such as watermelons and other heat loving vegetables and fruits. Other things are simply a lot easier to grow here such as tomatoes, grapes and cherries. I am really looking forward to next year's vegetable garden. While it is painful to start over with grape vines and fruit trees, I have a much bigger area here for such things. Lastly, at some point, after the sale of the bee store, I will have room to raise a small flock of sheep and to raise some pigs. At least that is the plan for now.<br />
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This past week I finally brought our pygora goat, Buster, to his new home. Friends in Snohomish had been goat sitting Buster for the past few months. Buster's welcome there had started to wear thin due to his escape artist ways. Fortunately, I had a seriously goat proof pasture all ready for him. I loaded him up on Wednesday evening and drove him over the mountains to his new home. The trip went well. Adjusting to his new home did not go as well. Unfortunately, Buster had a traumatic experience with a few dogs while at the goat sitters. This made him very nervous about our dog. Allie, and Oreo, the little dog we are currently watching for our daughter. Buster panicked when he saw the dogs, and ran into the well house, breaking a pvc pipe connection that caused a two and a half day water outage. We just finally got the water back on in the house late Saturday afternoon. The irrigation water wasn't interrupted as that is a separate system. However, things were a bit inconvenient for a few days.<br />
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We were real fortunate to have a new friend from church who is a retired plumber. We were also fortunate in that the repair process lead us to discover that the bladder in one of the pressure tanks had started to leak. A few days ago, I wouldn't have even known why that was significant. I have learned a little bit about plumbing and wells over the past few days. The pressure tanks provide water pressure but they also help protect the well pump by reducing the number of times the pump has to turn on and off. Apparently, starting and stopping are harder on a submerged pump that continuous running. Having two working pressure tanks extends the life of the well pump, which is a much more expensive repair. I'm still not feeling grateful to Buster, but it may have been a good thing that we had to fix the water system.<br />
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One thing I have really enjoyed about our move is our new dog. Allie is a English Setter, about ten years old, who we ended up adopting from the prior owner of the property. It only took a few weeks of regular walks for Allie to figure out that she was my dog. When she is off leash and we're sitting out front, Allie isn't content until she can find a place to lay down or sit next to me. She is very well behaved but seems to have a few quirks. First of all, she rarely barks. I have only heard her bark once since we have had her. That lone bark happened when Mrs Buzz Saw hissed at her. Her previous owner told me that she will bark at coyotes if they are at the back fence. We have taken her to the Columbia River a few times where we learned that she doesn't like to swim but enjoys wading. She also doesn't seem to know how to fetch. When I'm walking Allie, I have to hold the leash in my right hand and she has to walk on my right side. If I transfer the leash to my left hand, Allie will circle around behind and come back to my right side.<br />
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I try to walk the dogs first thing every morning that I am home. It gives me some incentive to get a little more exercise. I have been walking them along the canal road which doesn't have very much vehicle traffic. The climax of the walk for Allie is when she finds some quail, which she usually does. There are quite a few quail living in the vicinity of the canal and we have seen as many as 70 on one walk. When she smells the birds, she immediately comes to attention and goes into stalk mode.Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-92058845835511266622016-03-30T22:40:00.000-07:002016-04-07T00:32:53.457-07:00Mrs Buzz Saw Update - November, 2015 I was informed that some of my grandchildren were hungry for news about Mrs Buzz Saw's daily activities. I have some reservations as to whether that is a good idea. Mrs Buzz Saw tends to alternate between being lazy, behaving badly, and intense neediness. However, to comply with the wishes of my darling grandchildren I've decided to do this post anyway.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mrs Buzz Saw doing what she does best</td></tr>
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The above photo depicts Mrs Buzz Saw doing what she does for most of any given day, that is indulging in extreme laziness. She takes laziness to an art form. Her two favorite locations for this activity are one, on the back of the living room chair closest to the front window, and two, on our bed, usually curled up next to Linda's laptop. I'm not too sure the time she spends on our bed stems from any loyalty or love she feels for us. I think she likes to lie next to the laptop because its like sitting next to a little heater. The laptop's cooling fan sends a constant jet of warm air in her direction. I think she likes the back of the living room chair because of the wonderful view it gives her of small helpless birds should she actually wake up for a few moments.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Examples of Mrs Buzz Saw's Needle Felting</td></tr>
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Mrs Buzz Saw has a number of favorite activities that can all be grouped under the general heading of "behaving badly." She has recently taken up the hobby of needle felting. If she can get access to any of my wool bats she delights in working them over with their claws until they are all felted together such that they could never be spun into yarn. I would be more supportive of her needle felting if she formed the wool into any sort of useful shape. Sadly, she only does abstract free form sculptures. She also like to sharpen her claws on the upholstery. We got her a scratching post once, but she ignored it in favor of Linda's couches and chairs.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catching mice and rats does have my full support </td></tr>
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In addition to her needle felting Mrs Buzz Saw also enjoys hunting, specializing in small helpless creatures. This is a hobby which I halfway support. That half being the vermin she kills such as mice, rats, and moles. She really is a skilled hunter and does have some positive impact on reducing our vermin population. The half I don't support consists of all the little song birds she kills. While she eats a portion of her prey, she sometimes decides to share them with us. It is not uncommon to get up in the morning and find Mrs Buzz Saw has left a dead bird or mouse on the welcome mat. Once I found a rather long rat tail and an undetermined internal organ on the mat on the back deck. Sometimes in lieu of a bird there are just a few feathers. This morning I found a decapitated chickadee at my back door. I could add bird watching to her list of favorite activities, but she only likes watching birds as prospective prey. When I refill the bird feeder I have to remember to move the ladder back away from the feeder. If I don't take the time to move the ladder, Mrs Buzz Saw will climb to the top of the ladder and watch the feeder from a few feet away. Oddly enough, the birds are reluctant to use the feeder with a hungry cat sitting close by.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mrs Buzz Saw likes the "high ground"</td></tr>
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The last category, "intense neediness", usually manifests itself after we return from a trip. I will try to sit down to watch a football game only to discover that isn't going to happen until after Mrs Buzz Saw's need for petting is satisfied. My options at that point are to either walk downstairs to throw out the cat or simply give the cat what she wants and watch the football game over or around the cat for a few minutes.<br />
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<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-7623788039330803792016-03-30T22:38:00.000-07:002016-03-30T22:38:04.318-07:00Nature in my backyard. I haven't posted for a while, a reflection of things being busy at the bee store and teaching beginning beekeeping classes two or three days a week. We're getting closer to the package bee craziness, but at least all of the bee classes are through.<br />
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I had a quiet morning at home on Monday and was surprised to see a humming bird. I am amazed that such a small bird with such huge energy requirements can be active when the temperature is in the 40s. The high on Monday was only about 55 and it wasn't much above 40 degrees Fahrenheit at 8:00 am. Sadly, the humming bird wouldn't stay in one place long enough for a photo.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rough skinned newt when I first noticed him.</td></tr>
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On Thursday morning last week I was putting out the trash cans. When I went to move our big blue recycle bin I saw a little salamander next to the can. I needed to move the can but I didn't want to run over the salamander so I moved him out of the way with a stick. As soon as I moved him the salamander went stiff and bent into an odd position that exposed it's bright orange belly. I took some photos and then spent some time on the internet trying to identify the type of salamander. It turned out to be a rough skinned newt. That identification was later confirmed by a zoologist friend. The rough skinned newt is native to Western Washington and Oregon. They are poisonous to eat, their skin having the same poison found in puffer fish. Apparently someone once ate one on a dare and died a half hour later. That explained the odd behavior when I moved the salamander. His bright orange belly was advertising that he was poisonous.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibfvsUymllchu1e5rnBHaLo7NJDnRk9mvUM_o7b-mSnOr0K05fCUqfUj9Uma2uuimVtzmMhB-6hJfqFH9zMmeil-Z-Uu6Rqrd6GjbbfR_b4XIZKe8Sm4v6Bvg29_qfurCxIJZd2bv5WkE/s1600/IMG_1758.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibfvsUymllchu1e5rnBHaLo7NJDnRk9mvUM_o7b-mSnOr0K05fCUqfUj9Uma2uuimVtzmMhB-6hJfqFH9zMmeil-Z-Uu6Rqrd6GjbbfR_b4XIZKe8Sm4v6Bvg29_qfurCxIJZd2bv5WkE/s640/IMG_1758.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The newt after I touched him with a stick</td></tr>
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I was amazed to learn we had a local creature that was so deadly poisonous. If they were larger their poisonous nature might be more commonly known. As it stands, they are so small that even the most adventurous survivalist probably wouldn't be tempted to eat one. I'm guessing the death I mentioned above probably involved alcohol.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hBYAxBuSTB1mc9-t64ukuHDqTuijHJp05jUHn2oGyf_OMR_Qg2SHwWCilaqkJil9mGibpi-Xe3RCcLttpPKgsbM0rMVctZjqKpGJMUuuTGswXBL3ZnaMkKitgwn8b03dEAj9ZzKCPWg/s1600/IMG_1762.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hBYAxBuSTB1mc9-t64ukuHDqTuijHJp05jUHn2oGyf_OMR_Qg2SHwWCilaqkJil9mGibpi-Xe3RCcLttpPKgsbM0rMVctZjqKpGJMUuuTGswXBL3ZnaMkKitgwn8b03dEAj9ZzKCPWg/s640/IMG_1762.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morels growing in our yard</td></tr>
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On an edible note, I discovered these beauties growing in my back yard. More specifically, my grand daughter, Hannah Kang, asked me about the weird mushroom she found in the back yard. I was amazed to find they were morels. They were growing where we had briefly had an above ground pool for last summer's cousin camp. We had to bring in some dirt to even the lawn before we replanted the grass. I can only surmise the morel spawn was in the dirt we imported. Morels are supposed to form a symbiotic relationship with certain tree species. Morels are somewhat mysterious compared to other mushrooms. They don't appear in the same places from year to year. In Washington State they tend to appear in old burns up in the mountains. This past summer having been a bad fire year, this spring is predicted to be a wonderful morel year.<br />
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Morels also happen to be the first wild mushrooms I ever hunted. When I was about eleven years old we lived in Centerville, Iowa. My grandparents, Guy Dudley Tunnell and Sylvia Linnia Lee lived on an 80 acre farm, a few miles west of Mystic Iowa, about eight miles from Centerville. One spring we hunted for morels in a small oak forest across the road from my grandfather's farm. I knew next to nothing about mushrooms at that time. Someone showed me what they looked like and I got busy hunting. I think all kids enjoy a treasure hunt. I don't remember exactly how much we found, but it was a significant amount. We ate them sautéed. I remember them tasting a bit odd to my eleven year old palate. I learned to appreciate the taste more as I grew older. I used some of my backyard morels last Saturday in a wonderful mushroom gravy over pork chops.<br />
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<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-68715140497617057522015-12-10T23:22:00.002-08:002015-12-10T23:30:21.454-08:00Family History Friday, #18, Mary Ann Erskin and Jonathan Calvin Cunningham I thought I would write a little about my maternal third great grandmother, Mary Ann Erskin. She was the second wife of Jonathan Calvin Cunningham, his first wife having divorced him at the end of the Civil War. Jonathan Cunningham served in the Union Army and it appears his first wife favored the other side. We are descended through Laura Isabel Cunningham, born in 1872, the second daughter of Jonathan Cunningham's second wife.<br />
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I have been searching for information about Mary Ann Erskin since I was sixteen years old, when I first started doing family history work. At that time all I knew about Jonathan Cunningham's wives is what I learned from the census records. On the 1860 census in Barren Creek Township, Marion County, Arkansas, I found Jonathan Cunningham living with his first wife, Sarah P Cunningham, each of them 30 years old, and living with two daughters, Elizabeth, age 3, and Nancy, age 7 months. On the 1870 census, still in Barren Creek Township, Marion County, Arkansas, I found Jonathan Cunningham living with his second wife, Mary Cunningham. the census listed his age as 38 and her age as 22. They were living with two daughters, Nancy, age 10 (from the first marriage) and Mary E, age 1. On the 1880 census in Barren Creek Township, now in the newly formed Baxter County, Arkansas, I found Jonathan Cunningham as a widower, living with three daughters, Nancy, age 19, Mary E, age 11, and Laura A, age 7. At this point all I knew about Mary Ann Erskin was that her first name was Mary, she was born in about 1848 in Indiana, and that she probably had died before 1880. All I found was the one census record that made any mention of Jonathan Cunningham's second wife, Mary.<br />
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Over the years I would come back to Jonathan Calvin Cunningham's family and I did make some progress here and there. Some years ago my mother purchased a book about the history of Baxter County, Arkansas. Jonathan Calvin Cunningham is mentioned a number of times in the book, along with other relatives. I learned that Jonathan Cunningham grew up in a slaveholding family in Tennessee, but was very strongly opposed to slavery. He had moved to a part of Arkansas where there weren't many slaves in order to get away from slavery. He even declined his mother's offer to loan him sixteen slaves to clear his land in Arkansas. Jonathan Cunningham owned a boat landing on the White River, but wouldn't allow boats to dock at his landing if they had slave help on board. When the Civil War began, he enlisted in the Union Army to fight against slavery. Jonathan Cunningham is also mentioned in a book about men from Arkansas who fought in the Union Army, titled "Arkansas' Damn Yankees". I also learned from the History of Baxter County that Jonathan Cunningham had married Minerva Casteel and after her death had married her older sister, Tabitha Casteel. That book described Minerva Casteel as his second wife and Tabitha as his third wife.<br />
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Other interesting tidbits gleaned from the History of Baxter County include that fact that for a time Jonathan Cunningham was a riverboat pilot on the White River and that he was also part owner of a whiskey distillery. There was a story about a theft from the distillery that resulted in a serious fight between Jonathan Cunningham and one of the alleged thieves. The distillery was built up on piers to protect it from the river flooding. The enterprising thieves bored a hole into some whiskey barrels from under the floor and drained out some of the inventory. In the ensuing fight, Jonathan Cunningham is purported to have bitten off the man's ear. <br />
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I tried repeatedly to find a marriage record for any of Jonathan Cunningham's marriages, in Tennessee for the first marriage and in Arkansas for the second marriage. Eventually, I found a marriage record, dated 4 September, 1874 for Manevia Casteel, age 22, and Jonathan Cunningham, age 45. That would clearly make her the third wife rather than the second. It would also indicate that Mary Ann Erskin, the second wife, probably died before September, 1874. Some of this research was conducted on infrequent trips to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Some was conducted the hard way by ordering microfilms from Salt Lake.<br />
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At some point my mother turned up a letter from her great aunt Ellar (Lurellar Sinor) which listed in detail most of her Baxter County relatives. Aunt Ellar's letter was written in 1970, the year I graduated from high school. She listed four wives for Jonathan Calvin Cunningham as follows:<br />
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wife #1: Unknown, who had one daughter named Nan Cunningham(not the Nan made famous by the limerick).<br />
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wife #2: Mary Erskins, who had two daughters, Mary Evaline Cunningham and Laura Isabel Cunningham.<br />
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wife #3: Minervia Casteel, who had one daughter who lived, Jane Cunningham (It saddens me to read the phrase "who lived" as I know some of the pain that lies behind that phrase)<br />
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wife #4: Tabitha Casteel, who had two kids who lived, Caroline Cunningham and Jim Cunningham.<br />
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I gradually obtained a little more information regarding Mary Ann Erskin, but it was a painstakingly slow process. I still had no marriage record and I had no clue as to her family other than she was born in about 1848 in Indiana. Now we enter the era of indexing, when thousands of people labor diligently to index many different types of records so that they are searchable on the computer. Even better than that, Family Search and Ancestry do some searching for us and are always giving us little hints.<br />
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About a week ago I logged into Ancestry.com, looked at Jonathan Calvin Cunningham and saw such a little hint, the marriage of "Anna Jonathan Cunningham and Mary Ann Erskin" in Butler County, Missouri on October 10, 1867. The combination of Jonathan Cunningham and Mary Ann Erskin in the same record instantly grabbed my attention. However, I just knew that the "Anna" had to be wrong. Fortunately, I was able to look at the original record and verify that was indeed the case. The actual wording of the document (of course written in cursive) was "before me came Jonathan Cunningham and Mary Ann Erskin to be united in the holy bonds of matrimony". Two indexers and one arbitrator all looked at the word "came" and read it as Anna. We really need to help more people learn to read cursive before it becomes like hieroglyphs. It also shows just how helpful indexing can be, in spite of mistakes. So it wasn't indexed exactly correctly. It was done well enough for me to finally locate this critical record.<br />
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I took the next step and looked at the 1860 census in Butler County, Missouri and found Mary A Erskin, age 12, living with her parents, John and Mary Erskin, and her six siblings. There is still a little conflict as to her place of birth. The 1870 census indicates she was born in Indiana. The 1860 census lists Illinois as her place of birth. I also found her family on the 1850 census in Crawford County, Missouri. The surname was spelled Earskin, but the ages and names of the parents and children matched up. That record also lists her place of birth as Indiana. I haven't yet looked yet to figure out the locations of Butler and Crawford Counties in Missouri. Their marriage in Butler County raises all sorts of interesting questions. How did they meet? Did Jonathan Cunningham serve in the army with her father or brother? I'm also a bit curious about the difference in their ages. They both lived through the Civil War as well. Obviously they lived both interesting and difficult lives. I'll look forward to getting to know them better some day.<br />
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-49596379646883728222015-11-21T05:06:00.000-08:002015-11-21T05:06:50.940-08:00The Blustery Day We had a serious blustery day this week, although if came on Tuesday rather than "Windsday" ala Winnie the Pooh. I don't know what the winds got up to but we had two tree falls. One wasn't very tall, a big leaf maple that the goats had girdled a few years back. That one came up by the roots, but failed to do significant damage. It crushed one section of fence which wasn't actually fencing anything in at the moment. It had the decency to fall in such a way that it didn't damage any of my bee hives. The other tree fall was of much greater consequence. One of the main upper trunks of one of the big leaf maples broke off and fell to earth. The trunk section is about a foot in diameter at the point where it broke off the tree. It is stretched out about seventy feet across my bamboo, my raspberry patch, my Hudson sweet cherry tree, our glass and steel picnic table and chairs, and finally taking out one of my small espalier apple trees and part of our picket fence.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The remains of our picnic table</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking back towards the tree from which it fell</td></tr>
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It could have been much worse. At least two people were killed in the storm. One man's car was hit by a falling tree somewhere near Monroe. The other fatality that I know of was electrocuted by power lines. A lot of people haves been left without power too. Depending where they live that can sometimes take as long as a week to be fixed. We have friends who now have a tree laying through their living room. I feel fortunate that all we have to deal with is a little inconvenience and cleaning up a mess. The goat pen, the chicken pen and the duck pen are all still in tact. I don't have any animal containment problems that require immediate attention. It definitely could have been much worse. Besides, now my sweetie is telling me I need to buy a new chain saw.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The smaller maple came up by the roots</td></tr>
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I was at the Bee Store when we lost power there at around 4:00 pm. Since it gets dark so early there was really no reason to sit around in the store in the dark. I just closed up and came home. While driving home I noticed that a significant section of Snohomish was without power. Some time after I got home, Linda sent me to the store to pick up a few things we needed. While at Fred Myers they lost their power. When I arrived home I found we were without power as well. It was a good excuse to light some candles. The world was a much darker place before the invention of the electric light.<br />
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On a different subject, we in the<br />
<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-53291951389516712432015-10-30T08:23:00.000-07:002015-10-30T08:23:33.952-07:00Wild Mushroom Stroganoff with Moose Hamburger I went on a mushroom foray with my friend Ian a few days ago. We drove up onto Tonga Ridge where Linda and I had found the mother lode of Boletus Edulis a few weeks ago. We walked a lot more and found a lot less mushrooms than I had before. I suspect its late in the season for a place with that altitude. However, we did find three King Boletes, two of them very large prime specimens. We also found a gallon or so of Woodland Blewits and Golden Chanterelles. I sent Ian home with the Boletes while I kept the Chanterelles and Blewits. Chanterelles are relatively easy to identify. Their gills are blunt edged rather than sharp edged like most gilled mushrooms. Also the gills run down onto the stem as evident in the specimens below. I included the photo of the non-chanterelle as a warning. This mushroom was growing among the Chanterelles, but is obviously not a Chanterelle. It is important to look at each and every mushroom and not just throw them in the bucket because they are all the same color.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh31e87UBOxtQnJ-q4sVZnqMBI46q6qV0SAJMz-8pCiha6BIktgOBQMQcLAYP2R4CpJZI8KLuZDI5iLDNDnTv9_PWFQXQe1elfWUeLYFxwEWsIKxMuzJ4yyE9CChfKWzhAJ8M7uAnM-vLg/s1600/IMG_1376.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh31e87UBOxtQnJ-q4sVZnqMBI46q6qV0SAJMz-8pCiha6BIktgOBQMQcLAYP2R4CpJZI8KLuZDI5iLDNDnTv9_PWFQXQe1elfWUeLYFxwEWsIKxMuzJ4yyE9CChfKWzhAJ8M7uAnM-vLg/s640/IMG_1376.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chanterelles. Note that the gills run down onto the stem</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a Chanterelle. Note that the gills end at the stem</td></tr>
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I found a package of moose hamburger in the freezer last week. It was a gift from a friend that had gotten misplaced in the freezer. I decided to use the hamburgers and my Chanterelles and Blewits to make a lovely Moose and Wild Mushroom Stroganoff. It turned out quite tasty.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKbIZu1Igg7alfTNnn2x1FIRZtsv4rSMjo8Hvi7culpki3LoAc7bEysdiD9X-u9RZVhs4A7XTt_iAExLjLBgJCNRPXK9jQBR-D73LX_nFo5XgiBmnpBhB22b9DX_wlovBuRyctdKZR6Q/s1600/IMG_1379.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKbIZu1Igg7alfTNnn2x1FIRZtsv4rSMjo8Hvi7culpki3LoAc7bEysdiD9X-u9RZVhs4A7XTt_iAExLjLBgJCNRPXK9jQBR-D73LX_nFo5XgiBmnpBhB22b9DX_wlovBuRyctdKZR6Q/s640/IMG_1379.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moose and Wild Mushroom Stroganoff</td></tr>
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The other excitement we had this week was Linda's broken foot. As we were leaving Tuesday evening to attend grand daughter Abby's band concert, Linda slipped on the back steps. At first she thought she had just bruised her foot. By the time we got to Granite Falls High School her foot was hurting much worse. We passed on the concert and went to the emergency room instead. As it turns out she had broken the outside metatarsal bone in her right foot. Fortunately the bone was in the right place so it didn't require setting. They put a boot on it to protect it and gave her a pair of crutches. Today we went into Everett and they put a pretty purple cast on her foot. Its been an inconvenient week for all concerned.<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finishing touches on Linda's pretty purple cast</td></tr>
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-66549178365235163942015-10-11T08:10:00.000-07:002015-10-11T08:10:46.339-07:00A Pleasant Weekend with Grand Children Linda and I have had a very nice weekend hanging out with the Veatch children. Linda picked them up Friday evening so they could spend the night Friday night. I got up early on Saturday to drive Madelynn to Granite Falls High School so she could catch the bus to her cross country meet. After I got back home, I coached Natalie through making homemade biscuits. She did a pretty good job and should soon reach biscuit self-sufficiency.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjwdSTGTIJG9Zc53oFsquaPH2pSslOW1LxJAK4JLGcVgiggiBMdGJS9BdFBjV3zBsNVCSHYLg48qM9gQFBtjNdGVzR2wAo1l10l_3clhPMtkbc-4UDnt3Sp4tKbI6-GXgaImCxzeWPIm4/s1600/IMG_1293.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjwdSTGTIJG9Zc53oFsquaPH2pSslOW1LxJAK4JLGcVgiggiBMdGJS9BdFBjV3zBsNVCSHYLg48qM9gQFBtjNdGVzR2wAo1l10l_3clhPMtkbc-4UDnt3Sp4tKbI6-GXgaImCxzeWPIm4/s640/IMG_1293.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Natalie cutting out biscuits</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-s445_7uSl9jjUNOxifEcOxWY9PnbA8il0TFMUof3ALv3358hAzqPmnYthBtrIPwLLmxdQHRB63x3lbMV7UxxJvJBujeHi8Ug9KoxtExqXr0lZWCI68oGYNMtCtFxNsyV1t_Cxw6dZvk/s1600/IMG_1292.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-s445_7uSl9jjUNOxifEcOxWY9PnbA8il0TFMUof3ALv3358hAzqPmnYthBtrIPwLLmxdQHRB63x3lbMV7UxxJvJBujeHi8Ug9KoxtExqXr0lZWCI68oGYNMtCtFxNsyV1t_Cxw6dZvk/s640/IMG_1292.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Natalie rolling out the biscuits</td></tr>
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After breakfast, we went to Lakewood High School to watch part of the Hole in the Wall Cross Country Invitational. We specifically wanted to just watch Madelynn's race, scheduled to start at 11:40 am. We arrived ten minutes late, which was okay as Madelynn's race started 20 minutes late. It turned out to be a much bigger event than we had expected, with about sixty schools participating . That is an estimated 750 runners divided into ten separate races. This was the third year Madelynn has ran in this event. They have a shorter middle school race while the high school kids run 5,000 meters. While she didn't come close to winning her race, she made substantial improvement on her time with a personal best of 25:05. It rained cats and dogs throughout her race so she gets extra credit for grit. After the race, we took Madelynn back to her house while we took the rest of the Veatchlings back home with us.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaywEA2f8WBlO26dvpAEKnhwlP0xR1eb4dnAL3grfP0N5tqcyrLAxix4MFiiB_UK-dLYGg1HfOnY1nG9g7rEZ2h5mj0VPnv1nImgQihkZL92dHji8hZfwAJTBnyA4oYPNs0-UbEQZLC2k/s1600/IMG_1298.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaywEA2f8WBlO26dvpAEKnhwlP0xR1eb4dnAL3grfP0N5tqcyrLAxix4MFiiB_UK-dLYGg1HfOnY1nG9g7rEZ2h5mj0VPnv1nImgQihkZL92dHji8hZfwAJTBnyA4oYPNs0-UbEQZLC2k/s640/IMG_1298.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madelynn crosses the finish line</td></tr>
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Linda has always had a strong liking for all baked goods made with pumpkin. That includes, pumpkin bread, pumpkin roll, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, and pumpkin waffles. I saw an interesting recipe on the Yummly website a few days ago that I thought she just might like. Pumpkin Snickerdoodles. Combining one of Linda's favorite cookies with pumpkin seemed like a surefire winner. This particular recipe came to Yummly from the Iheartnaptime blog. The blogger adapted it from a Martha Stewart snicker doodle recipe. She had simply added cooked pumpkin and traditional pumpkin pie spices to Martha's recipe. This seemed like a worthy use of the leftover baked Potimarron squash I had in the fridge so I mixed up a batch of the cookies in my tangerine colored kitchen aid mixer. The cookies turned out very well. They even met with Linda's approval and she maintains pretty high standards when it comes to cookies. The only unfortunate thing was that I had made three dozen wonderfully tasty cookies just before Fast Sunday. However, the cookies will still be there to enjoy on Sunday evening.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_MfVb6aMsJDV1_dOT48O32mCbQw2MGObICmrGX3gjTBPxU8C22gku3E4maq4NW-YDH0E16z-KsQNYnwVq72moQJozIkkWxlNZc_SSPEP3JllGo3V5-KQmKsaajfjjavAau8BqOklr_y4/s1600/IMG_1304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_MfVb6aMsJDV1_dOT48O32mCbQw2MGObICmrGX3gjTBPxU8C22gku3E4maq4NW-YDH0E16z-KsQNYnwVq72moQJozIkkWxlNZc_SSPEP3JllGo3V5-KQmKsaajfjjavAau8BqOklr_y4/s640/IMG_1304.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unbaked pumpkin snickerdoodles</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRuiIbwlbLVW52EasoBUpQyXHwBvGW-KVmm3T3St9gBNnOaMGhYUn85DiQXKaP5mAlN0WSUBVWl-VzwhJArZoy8aNwuSsQnYgeJ3taEy6rqbMZPMZHG-GeokLl3RiTGGekK9X1q2iIc4/s1600/IMG_1305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRuiIbwlbLVW52EasoBUpQyXHwBvGW-KVmm3T3St9gBNnOaMGhYUn85DiQXKaP5mAlN0WSUBVWl-VzwhJArZoy8aNwuSsQnYgeJ3taEy6rqbMZPMZHG-GeokLl3RiTGGekK9X1q2iIc4/s640/IMG_1305.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished product</td></tr>
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Linda was a bit tired after watching Madelynn run three miles in the rain. While Linda took a nap to recuperate, I took the rest of the Veatchlings to see the new Peter Pan movie. The outing turned out well although Conner was pretty squirmy during the action parts. We returned home to one of the Veatchlings' favorite dinners, orange chicken.<br />
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A little follow-up to my previous post about the King Bolete Mushrooms we gathered last Monday. I sautéed some in butter which Linda had then used to make a very yummy beef stroganoff. I dried most of them in our little dehydrator which reduced them substantially in volume. Last night I ran the dried mushrooms through the blender which reduced four gallons of fresh mushrooms into four half pint jars. That wonderfully tasty powdered mushroom can be added to soups and sauces. The best pasta dish I have ever eaten was a fetuccini which had the powdered mushroom added to the pasta itself. It was absolutely heavenly.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDKnmmnKgCWoiVqcC5sj6xrAUfIZvvvoo3K7eIcgwsRL3r2OM7KQ9GIoFSCVUW8UFwhxz7wTvAdt9U2OMTXtIVKpyonpDe3kK_wz7IQmBKbebQxWdUOoe_18XTxPmaVyhkS-_R7c_mSuA/s1600/IMG_1308.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDKnmmnKgCWoiVqcC5sj6xrAUfIZvvvoo3K7eIcgwsRL3r2OM7KQ9GIoFSCVUW8UFwhxz7wTvAdt9U2OMTXtIVKpyonpDe3kK_wz7IQmBKbebQxWdUOoe_18XTxPmaVyhkS-_R7c_mSuA/s640/IMG_1308.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dried King Bolete mushrooms from the dehydrator</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIvQbVqVnSIXhWxcgawmYKF6N7imEbqu3Dsgm3ZlwSGC6HGOVTPKlL8xp0Ip3MJbaU-m40um77qzg7Gn_QB6mRWkvyDXZ24d9GmnFRmJCDJT8Vn3M4wtz6P0cRAAmgGI-XDN6_XQelh0/s1600/IMG_1307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIvQbVqVnSIXhWxcgawmYKF6N7imEbqu3Dsgm3ZlwSGC6HGOVTPKlL8xp0Ip3MJbaU-m40um77qzg7Gn_QB6mRWkvyDXZ24d9GmnFRmJCDJT8Vn3M4wtz6P0cRAAmgGI-XDN6_XQelh0/s640/IMG_1307.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />Into the blender </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglfTwgR6eobD-8R0NEFNYwxMoasvBDuQnRHmm_mNM4PYu12HmE5viOJeXMcoij-iZJ9_LtbfmeEinOTjBG3LeTVn5w8zkzX9EtvwdAiS6u_DeLOoQZ9TLR_QKVmRi2xgZaBroQZQwfIBc/s1600/IMG_1306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglfTwgR6eobD-8R0NEFNYwxMoasvBDuQnRHmm_mNM4PYu12HmE5viOJeXMcoij-iZJ9_LtbfmeEinOTjBG3LeTVn5w8zkzX9EtvwdAiS6u_DeLOoQZ9TLR_QKVmRi2xgZaBroQZQwfIBc/s640/IMG_1306.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The very compact finished product</td></tr>
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-59864680112414675582015-10-06T00:32:00.002-07:002015-10-06T00:32:21.638-07:00A Glorious Day in the Mountains I took advantage of my day off on Monday to drive up into the mountains to find a nice place to sight in my rifle before deer season. I invited Linda to come along and we had a very nice day together. First of all the weather was beautiful, the leaves of the Big Leaf Maples in the mountains are turning yellow, and the temperature was comfortably balmy. The drive up to Tonga ridge was absolutely beautiful. I found a nice quiet place off the road part way up the ridge that gave me an adequate distance with a good backstop for sighting in the rifle. We actually stopped about 100 yards past the famous "Mother of All Huckleberry Patches" that I discovered with my mother almost twenty years ago, a good story that I will save for another time. Sighting in the rifle went quickly. We then decided to drive further up the ridge to see if there were any huckleberries left.<br />
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We drove another mile or two up the gravel road until the terrain leveled out some. We parked alongside the road and explored one of the numerous old logging roads that crisscross that part of Tonga Ridge. The bad news was that there was no sign of any huckleberries. I suspect that it had been a bad year for the berries due to the extremely dry summer. October is rather late to be looking for berries anyhow. We did notice a few mushrooms. There were some Panther Amanitas as well as some Amanita Muscaras. Both of them are very pretty, but poisonous. We also found a few Russulas and various other types, but nothing to get my mouth watering. Linda paid me a huge compliment when she told me that I was about the only person she would trust to tell her that a mushroom was edible. We decided to give up on the mushrooms and drive further up the ridge to find a place with a good view. As I was waiting for Linda at the truck, I heard her call out my name. She had stepped a little bit off the logging road and had stumbled upon a mushroom she thought looked interesting. As it turns out it was a Boletus Edulis, known in English as the King Bolete, and mushroom that is not only edible, but described as choice and delectable. As we explored the immediate vicinity we discovered a large number of the King Boletes and picked enough to fill our small ice chest.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTlh_8BHgxa6w65hhJaNgBrKJ_pk5yLY1rs_cHjx77TS3BfoOIG-P79poWy7nj-wlSThxM0HSmMLQgdLOdbmOAb_IOWZEekU2yW0O_V7N0jYB7m7n006tZmJIItjl6UOf1hHzArYLn1Ag/s1600/IMG_1262.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTlh_8BHgxa6w65hhJaNgBrKJ_pk5yLY1rs_cHjx77TS3BfoOIG-P79poWy7nj-wlSThxM0HSmMLQgdLOdbmOAb_IOWZEekU2yW0O_V7N0jYB7m7n006tZmJIItjl6UOf1hHzArYLn1Ag/s640/IMG_1262.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boletus Edulus or King Bolete</td></tr>
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Further up the ridge, near the trailhead, we found a place with a better view, suitable for a nice selfie of the two of us. The views from the road are not as expansive as they used to be. I hadn't gone up to Tonga Ridge in about ten years. During that time the trees have grown considerably taller. After the photo op we drove back down the mountain, heading for home. We stopped at Zeke's Drive-in on our way home for a celebratory ice cream cone and blackberry milk shake. We arrive home in time for me to watch the last three quarters of the Seahawks vs Detroit on Monday Night Football.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCD9dym6W92vNveUgRTxs4OYfn_Cs2KP9Ya92tq4abZJ0aANNtUMPutLtbKSzZSKJqwSC6wUQXSJP-DL-p1eYTU_g3G98nzRygu5dlKiZf1qAByzJAkTBynrtbGKnYAA4j6LUGXPm9ko/s1600/IMG_1265.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCD9dym6W92vNveUgRTxs4OYfn_Cs2KP9Ya92tq4abZJ0aANNtUMPutLtbKSzZSKJqwSC6wUQXSJP-DL-p1eYTU_g3G98nzRygu5dlKiZf1qAByzJAkTBynrtbGKnYAA4j6LUGXPm9ko/s640/IMG_1265.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me with my favorite mushroom hunting buddy</td></tr>
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I spent most of the evening cleaning and preparing the boletus for drying or cooking. The boletus dry very easily and can also be easily reconstituted. the dried mushrooms can also be powdered in the blender and used to flavor soups and sauces. The mushroom powder can even be used to make mushroom flavored pasta. The King Bolete is the only mushroom whose name I know in five languages. They are called Porcini in Italian, Cepes in French, Baravik in Russian, and Steinpilz in German.Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-23881326120952610642015-10-04T23:33:00.001-07:002015-10-04T23:33:18.044-07:00Family History Pie and Grape Harvest Update I held a training session this evening for the family history consultants in our ward. I felt that it went well. I'm particularly concerned about motivating our youth consultants to have more confidence in their abilities and the faith to trust God that He will give them the help they need. As a post-training treat I served two pumpkin pies. One pie was made with a "normal" pumpkin pie recipe, spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. The second pie was spiced with just ground allspice. This was how my grandmother, Sylvia Lee, made "squash" pies. I really liked her squash pies, but I can't seem to get mine to turn out exactly how her squash pies tasted. When I asked her for a recipe many years ago she told me that the only difference between her squash pies and her pumpkin pies was that the squash pies were seasoned only with ground allspice. As she didn't measure exactly, she couldn't tell me how much allspice to use. I suspect I may be using too much allspice. I have been mirroring the cumulative amount of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves from my pumpkin pie recipe to determine how much ground allspice to use. I will have to start reducing the amount and see if that turns out closer to the taste of Grandma Silvia's squash pies.<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghvxON2pKSLv1p7w3xOKCBOR-yNJzNE8wCGkYG1kJfu_gn0kuLRsK307ZX-GzeCoSltFd8ysHGROgIC_etglI6fkG_gLQMn5YGKoGaLWcShvPQpnNd5H2uFNOy6TOv2PoKRqppyj0IRj4/s1600/IMG_1260.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghvxON2pKSLv1p7w3xOKCBOR-yNJzNE8wCGkYG1kJfu_gn0kuLRsK307ZX-GzeCoSltFd8ysHGROgIC_etglI6fkG_gLQMn5YGKoGaLWcShvPQpnNd5H2uFNOy6TOv2PoKRqppyj0IRj4/s640/IMG_1260.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pumpkin Pie on the left, Squash Pie on the right</td></tr>
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The squash pie was well received by the family history consultants as well as by Linda, Don Jensen, and his wife Heidi. I even got some compliments on my pie crust. I gave everyone a slice from each pie. Everybody seems to like both pies, some preferring the pumpkin pie and some preferring the squash pie. Actually, they were technically both squash pies as they were made from the same Potimarron winter squash. I may have already done that little rant in my blog how the term "pumpkin" is botanically meaningless. There are four separate subspecies of squash, Maxima, Moscata, Pepo, and Mixta, all of which have some cultivars which are called pumpkins. Potimarron is from the Maxima subspecies which includes the hubbards and most of the better winter keepers. It looks like a Red Kuri and I still have a lot of them.</div>
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Grandma Sylvia was not a wonderful cook in that she had a somewhat limited repertoire. I don't think she did much cooking for her family as she grew up. Then she married my grandpa Guy Dudley Tunnell when she was just 18 and suddenly had to cook for Grandpa Tunnell and his three boys from his first marriage. I'm sure that was quite the "Trial by Fire". However, she made the best of it and there were a few things she became quite good at making. Besides her squash pies, she made the most wonderful beans and cornbread.</div>
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I finished juicing grapes yesterday evening. My total production for 2015 was 16 gallons of canned grape juice and a little more than 9 quarts of raisins. I may have made 10 quarts of raisins as Linda and some of the grandkids have been helping themselves to the raisins during the past few weeks. That is an incredible harvest from just eight grape vines. Now the only canning projects looming on my horizon are chickens and finishing the applesauce.</div>
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I had a wonderful surprise at work this past Friday. My good friend Ian brought by a nice little bag of Chanterelle mushrooms. I used part of them to make an eggplant dish. The recipe didn't call for mushrooms, but it seemed like a good fit. I made this sauce using onions, white wine vinegar, chanterelle mushrooms, and cream. I wasn't particularly crazy about the eggplant by itself, but the sauce was very good. As long as there was lots of sauce on the eggplant, it was tasty. Since I have more eggplant in the garden I need to find a few more good eggplant recipes. The rest of the Chanterelles are going into a French mushroom soup. I went ahead and cut up the mushrooms and sautéed them in butter as Chanterelles don't keep very well as fresh mushrooms.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiu546_4j3ldJUoRn5GMx2VohpuTUHq4Oh4_98znLHkTFD9u6-8eIlXnt2E8O1Ea28WLahrGf1tOClheE0Tcz7yNc-P-2eCmzP7i6R8a8eBDQNVCem89izEpf-_cOOmAOBoFZ0l27-cLk/s1600/IMG_1258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiu546_4j3ldJUoRn5GMx2VohpuTUHq4Oh4_98znLHkTFD9u6-8eIlXnt2E8O1Ea28WLahrGf1tOClheE0Tcz7yNc-P-2eCmzP7i6R8a8eBDQNVCem89izEpf-_cOOmAOBoFZ0l27-cLk/s640/IMG_1258.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cantharellus cibarius</td></tr>
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-87852740638818834242015-09-30T23:46:00.002-07:002015-09-30T23:46:34.434-07:00Fall Canning As we are approaching General Conference weekend, I'm almost done processing our plentiful grape harvest. So far I've made about two gallons of raisins with our little dehydrator and I'm up to 11 gallons of grape juice. That is all from just eight grape vines. The grapes have taken a back seat for the past few days while I've been canning apple sauce. I bought 100 pounds of Jonagold apples to go along with the harvest from our own trees. I've done 20 quarts of apple sauce thus far and I am not quite half done. I know that is a lot of apple sauce and grape juice, but I look at it as canning for the entire family. We try to distribute a fair amount of our home canned juice, pickles, and apple sauce among the family. Besides, home canned apple sauce is so much better than anything they sell in the grocery store. On the other hand, we can easily use several gallons of raisins in a year. We probably have oatmeal with raisins three or four times in a week.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freshly canned apple sauce is a beautiful sight</td></tr>
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I always look forward to General Conference. I try to watch as many of the sessions as I can and listen to all of the talks several times. I love the sincerity of the brethren. They present such a stark contrast to your garden variety tele evangelist. I will wait until the weekend to finish juicing the grapes just for the tradition of juicing the grapes between conference sessions.<br />
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I ordered a load of dirt today so we can replace the big divit left from the above ground pool. We're going to try to level our yard while we're at it. Both the back yard and the side yard have a significant number of uneven areas which are difficult to mow. Three yards of dirt will be delivered to our driveway tomorrow morning. I've already arranged for one of my young minions from work to do most of the shoveling. It wasn't a hard choice. I could either pay him to hold down the fort at the Beez Neez while I did all of the shoveling, or I could run the store and send him to my house for some quality time with my shovel and wheel barrow.<br />
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October is a good time of year to put in a lawn in Western Washington. Soon after we plant the grass seed, the fall rains will start, watering the grass more gently and regularly that I ever could. Grass grows very well in the cooler weather. Also once it starts raining we won't have to protect the new grass from visiting grandkids. No one wants to go outside to play in the rain.<br />
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3451039378992585787.post-68628741954419522002015-09-18T21:18:00.000-07:002015-09-18T21:18:37.551-07:00A Fun but Brief Trip to Oregon I made a trip to the Portland area this past week. The primary purpose of the trip was to deliver Linda's baby blue Vespa to its new owner, our daughter Rachel. Linda wasn't riding it and wanted it to get better use than merely as an ornament for our driveway. I have to admit that I was a bit sad to think that Linda won't be riding her Vespa with an ear to ear grin any more. However, I'm very happy that its going to a good home. I'm confident the Vespa will make Rachel's heart go pitter-pat and provide the same happy place that it did for Linda. Rachel will have to endure a little delayed gratification with the Vespa. It seems that Oregon has slightly stricter rules in that Vespa riding requires a motorcycle endorsement. In Washington that wasn't necessary because the Vespa was less than 50 cc. Rachel will have to take a class and pass a driving test before the Vespa can become her new happy place.<br />
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I spent Wednesday with the Arnetts in Hillsboro, Oregon and enjoyed an evening of fine dining. Rachel made alfredo sauce from scratch. I know I shouldn't have been, but I was amazed at how much better it was than any alfredo sauce from a jar. Rachel claims scratch alfredo sauce is pretty easy to make. We chopped up some smoked salmon I had brought down and sprinkled it over the fettucini alfredo for a little Northwest touch. Rachel also transformed one of my sourdough loaves into the most marvelous garlic bread. She added some chopped herbs (Rosemary, Oregano, and Thyme) to the garlic butter she put on the bread. The meal was served with a simple salad with olive oil and vinegar as the dressing and aqua minerale. We had plans to use some of Rachel's figs to make fresh fig clafouti. As it turned out, we were all too full to even consider dessert. She made the clafouti (a type of pudding) several days later and seemed pretty happy with how it turned out.<br />
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While visiting with the Arnetts I also spent some time in Chet's recording studio. It was a little brutal listening to a recording of myself singing. If I always remembered how badly I sound when I sing I would be much less inclined to play and sing in public. Since I enjoy doing it, I've decided to exercise some selective memory and just forget about that incident. I will continue to sing in public and let the poor folks who have to listen to it to just deal with the consequences. The moral of the story is that it is always always better to sing and play with other people so there is some camouflage.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honest, I really am very happy on the inside</td></tr>
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The following morning I drove to Forest Grove, Oregon for some quality time with the Kangs. A half hour after my arrival we were on our way to Tillamook. We had a very fun visit to the Tillamook Cheese factory (as always), bought some cheese, and enjoyed some ice cream. While eating ice cream at the cheese factory it was forcefully brought home to me that I need to make a concerted effort to smile more. Sarah took a selfy of us enjoying our ice cream and I looked seriously grumpy in the photo. I guarantee that I wasn't feeling the least bit grumpy on the inside, but I sure looked grumpy on the outside. After the cheese factory and a mandatory stop by the jerky factory, we finally drove to the beach at Oceanside, Oregon. It was a bit windy, but we all had a great time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, it was a very windy day at the beach</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the best Chloe could do for the wind-blown look</td></tr>
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After we drove home from the beach, we went to Autumn's soccer game (a 6 to 0 win for the Forest Grove JV) and took girls to dance class. Fortunately, the dance class was located near Momo's Hawaiian Shaved Ice. I finally got to experience shaved ice nirvana. We then visited Barnes and Noble before we picked up the girls from dance class and went home. It was a pretty busy day, but probably pretty typical for Sarah. Somehow we managed to squeeze in a little ukulele time before we spent the evening working on family history. Sarah helped me get my iPad better set up for family history and gave then me a little tutorial on using the Keynote program.<br />
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I drove home the following morning as I always do much better driving in the morning. Just for some variety, I took the back way to Ranier, Oregon before crossing the Columbia over to Kelso, Washington. It wasn't any faster, but it was nice not driving through Portland and having less freeway driving. I had a great time hanging out with my daughters and grandchildren, but as always, the visit was way too short.<br />
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<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318854221959043722noreply@blogger.com0