Visit

We had the grandkids over yesterday for one of the last times before they move. They love the split door between the office for the cabins and the rest of the house. Here's a picture of them with Debbie:

Narnia!

I love Narnia. I've read the books well over 20 times, maybe over 30 times. In college and grad school, I would read through them at the end of the semester or quarter to unwind (I also read a lot of kid's classics, too, but that's another story). When the kids were young, we read them at the supper table together out loud. I will find myself using examples of things from the books as illustrations fairly frequently.

Well, one of the surprises in the house here is the entryway closet

Yep, a hidden access to Narnia! It even has a lamp (OK, it's outside of Narnia, but hey, it's close enough!)

I suspect it was built around 1999 as a “Y2K refuge” or some such, you can see that it used to be accessed from a bedroom

It's fairly spacious inside. One of the first times the grandkids came over (we weren't even fully moved in yet), they all wanted to bring stools into it, sit on them, and play. We decided it would be fun, so we painted the walls and are going to allow them to post their artwork. We thought about letting them paint the walls, but decided artwork done elsewhere and posted was safer : )

More adventures in sourdough

The day I made the cinnamon bread, Joel, Renee, and the grandkids came over. Debbie's been at her parents place, assisting for a week or so; they figured I needed company! They brought the main dish; I supplied the bread : )

At that point I had finished the original loaf, so I had a very dense rye, a very chewy whole wheat, and the cinnamon raisin. I sliced up some of each for everyone to try. As expected, the rye bread wasn't appreciated—by me either! But, the kids liked both the whole wheat and the cinnamon raisin bread. I gave Renee some starter for her to experiment and I gave her my revised recipe.

That night, I decided to try rye again, but using my own ideas. I took a cup of starter, 1.5 cups of whole wheat, 1.5 cups of rye flour, and 1.5 cups of water. In addition, I used 2 teaspoons of molasses, 1 tablespoon of caraway, and 1.5 teaspoons of salt. I mixed that whole thing together and let it proof overnight. The next morning, I poured it out onto the counter; it was very moist, almost too moist to work with. I put it into a parchment paper lined glass loaf pan, let it rise 3 hours, and baked it at 350°F for 60 minutes (no preheating of the oven). I lowered the temperature to 350° this time (from 375°) because of the glass pan...

Again, the parchment paper fell off the loaf when I removed the loaf from the pan. That's great for reusing; usually you have to peel it off the bread after it sits for about 5-15 minutes (Renee lets hers cool completely before removing it—I'm not that patient!). I let the loaf cool for an hour, sliced it, and tasted it. Delicious!

But, that got me thinking. With normal yeast breads, rye bread doesn't rise very well. I've talked about my experiments with rye bread before. But, this loaf rose so well, I figured I'd try a denser loaf. So, I went with 2 cups of rye and 1 cup of whole wheat. I left out the molasses, to see if the sugar had anything to do with the rising, otherwise I left it all the same. Plus, I used all the rest of the molasses in the baked beans that afternoon!

I didn't grind enough wheat flour, so I fed the starter with rye flour. The next morning, I fed it rye flour again. Let me tell you, I think sourdough starter loves rye flour! It was about ready to overflow the bowl after only 5 hours. I've read people who say that they can't get starter to grow except on unbleached flour; they should try rye!

Anyway, I let the bread rise overnight, poured it out the next morning, and made a loaf. I didn't notice any less rise than with a 50/50% mixture. I let it rise in the loaf pan; after 2.5 hours, it was ready to bake! It actually rose better with more rye flour! I baked it as usual and let it cool for about an hour. The flavor was intense! You can taste the sour of the sourdough more.

I think I'm going to go with 100% rye this time, add the molasses back in, and see what happens...stay tuned!

How does your garden grow?

If you had asked me that earlier last week, I would have said it doesn't! I had been on the road for 3 weeks and forgotten to put the row cover over the plants in the hoop houses. During that time, the temperature dipped into the single digits Fahrenheit. And, the wind and snow had caused some breakage in the hoop houses. Not a good situation!

Before Saturday, I had only managed to get into the hoop houses once, and that was at night when the temperature was in the the teens. Needless to say, it was a disheartening experience. All the plants looked dead. Very dead.

I figured Saturday would be a clean-up and pulling of dead plants. Oh well, another experiment that failed. No biggie. It certainly wouldn't be the first time! And it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Imagine my surprise, then, on opening the door to the second hoop house and seeing green plants! Wow! Of course, I should have known better. Eliot Coleman warns about it; he says that on occasion he has entered a cold greenhouse before the sun has a chance to warm it and despaired. Everything looks dead. What insanity to try to grow things in such a climate. But, come back in a few hours and a marvelous change has taken place. Everything perks up and looks alive. That's exactly what happened to me.

Sure, the carrots took a major hit and won't grow anymore. But, they are still very edible. Everything else looks good. Some of it isn't far enough along to harvest; it will sit dormant now until early March.

We did decide to take down one of the hoop houses; I hadn't replanted much in it and the kids wanted to slide down the hill. So, I disassembled it, using the clips to reinforce the other house.

So, how does the garden grow? Surprisingly well!

Update: I went over there yesterday afternoon after posting this. Amazingly, the carrots are recovering as well! The ground they are in is barely above freezing, but the greens are all perked up and lively. God certainly made vegetation amazingly resilient!

Inclusio

No, that's not the name of a new Sci-Fi novel—or some new "enhancement" drug.

Inclusio is a technical term in ancient rhetoric whereby an idea is "framed" with an opening and closing statement. In Herodotus, we call the same thing a "ring composition." Fine, you say, but how does that have anything to do with the real world?!

Glad you asked! What? You didn't? Well, let's pretend that you did, OK?

I've been thinking about the last 9 years, from the time I started with Eisenbrauns until the present. I discovered that the time is marked by a whole bunch of inclusiones (Latin, plural of inclusio—I know, technically that should be genitive instead of nominative/accusative...). I've mentioned a couple of them earlier, but we'll start from the top:

<inclusio>
E-mail from Eisenbrauns asking me to apply for the position
<inclusio>
Stay at Super 8 motel
<inclusio>
Meet Jim at American Table restaurant for breakfast
<inclusio>
Rent bicycle from Trailhouse bike shop
<inclusio>
Return to Minnesota, rent a bicycle and the seat settles on a 40 mile ride because after adjusting the seat for my long legs, they don't tighten the seat post enough.

Nine years of wonderful stuff at Eisenbrauns, fulfilling a dream since graduate school. Our kids both get married and we end up with 7 grand kids. I get to have a greenhouse (OK, really a hoop house, but the same results).

</inclusio>
Receive phone call asking us to assist at Sawtooth Cabins. We know it is from God, so we move to Grand Marais.
</inclusio>
Come back to Warsaw to train my replacement and I stay at Super 8
</inclusio>
Jim and I have breakfast at American Table
</inclusio>
I rent a bicycle from Trailhouse—the same bike I rented 9 years earlier!
</inclusio>
The seat settles on a 35 mile ride because after adjusting it for my long legs, the seat post isn't tightened enough

<idle musing>
I think God has a sense of humor—or at least the Classicist in me does...
</idle musing>

On the beach

That's the title of a 1960s dystopian novel about the end of the world because of nuclear holocaust—also made into a movie. But, that's not what I'm talking about here. On Saturday night, Joel, Renee, the kids, Nancy (Joel's mother, who is visiting for a week), Debbie, and I went to the beach by Durfree Creek (about 5 miles from Grand Marais). We planned on having a fire, popping some popcorn, and then heading home once it got dark.

When we got there, Joel was talking to some one and they mentioned that Saturday night was a predicted meteor shower, the Perseids. Joel and family decided it would be fun to spend the night under the (falling) stars. So, Joel and Nancy went back to town to get sleeping bags, etc. Debbie and I decided we would only stick around until about 3:00 AM.

Once it got dark, the kids wanted to go to bed—after all, what can be more fun than sleeping under the stars? Debbie and I volunteered to wake everyone up once the show started.

There were some nice meteors here and there, about one every 5-15 minutes. That went on for a while with some very spectacular ones, but not the heavy shower that was predicted. Around midnight, I went back to town to get sleeping bags for Debbie and me. The beach was getting cold!

I think both Debbie and I dozed here and there—at least she nudged me for snoring too loudly and I heard her snoring, too :) When 3:30 AM rolled around, we decided it was time to call it a night and go home. As we were walking to the car, a bright meteor flashed across the sky as if to say good-bye to us. We drove home and crashed.

Sunday afternoon, I read that the shower started in earnest right after we called it a night...of course!

Toe jam

No, really.

I jammed my big toe about 2 weeks ago and the toe nail started to fall off. Normally, I wouldn't blog about such inane things, but the response of the grand kids was fascinating. The adults didn't want to see it or hear about it. But, the grand kids, especially Rachel, wanted to see it. Each day, she would ask if it had fallen off yet. Once it did, she wanted to know what I did with it (I threw it away).

The new nail is growing in nicely. At first, they wanted to see it, but now it is no longer of interest...there must be a lesson there somewhere

Sunday

This is the final post on our first week in Minnesota. As with all of these, it is one week behind reality...

Sunday was a slow-moving day. We spent a good part of the day with Joel, Renee and the kids. We rearranged some stuff in storage, organized and found room for other stuff. We were moving slow, but enjoying it.

We got over to the cabins late afternoon, intending to move in right away. We saw Dave as we pulled up and began talking. He pulled up a chair and we had a good time of fellowship. Again, if I'm learning anything, it is that people trump plans.

I hadn't checked e-mail since Wednesday, so in the afternoon, I checked it for the first time. Wow! Friday around 3:00 PM, a terrific storm had gone through Warsaw/Winona Lake. There were winds over 60 MPH. One of the casualties was a tree right in front of where we had been living. It hit the neighbor's shed, knocked out the power, and blocked our old driveway. Good thing we were gone! It didn't get cleared out until Sunday afternoon. We'd still be there!

Another victim of the storm was Andy's, Eisenbrauns webmaster, house. One of the huge trees on the island where they live had fallen—right on their master bedroom! No one was hurt, thankfully! Quite the storm. But, it was all wind and little rain. That part of Indiana is about 9 inches short for the year—quite dry. The storm only dropped about ¼ of an inch.

And that brings us up to date...

Saturday

You know the drill...

Saturday AM, I helped Joel put up gutter on their house. He works as a carpenter; they also do seamless gutters. When Joel and Renee bought the house, his boss had offered to let him use the machine to put gutter on. Saturday was the day it finally happened. Later, we moved the stuff over to the cabin.

Moving in always takes more time than you expect—especially when there are grandchildren to play with! We got going later than we planned, but people take precedence over plans.

We had to have the truck back in Two Harbors (1.5 hours away) by 9:00 AM on Sunday. That meant we had to return it Saturday night, That was a long 1.5 hours. The truck was empty, so I felt every bump and pothole. I felt like jello by the time we got to Two Harbors...

Friday--arrival!

The events in this post happened one week ago...

As I said, I pulled in to Grand Marais around 10:00 AM. Debbie and the grandkids greeted me. We had a good time talking and enjoying each others presence. In the afternoon we walked over to Sawtooth Cabins to see Dave and Geneva. They greeted us with open arms, showed us the cabin we would be living in and told us to take our time getting settled in. We went back to Joel and Renee's and began to unpack the truck. Because the cabin is a small one bedroom that is fully furnished, most stuff was going to be stored in their basement.

So, as we unloaded the truck; we had to sort into 3 sections: One section for storage, one section for Joel and Renee (we gave them some stuff we didn't need any longer—families with growing kids always need more shelves!), one to take over to the cabins.

Once that was done, we had to organize the storage and make it all fit! You don't realize how much stuff you have until you have to move it and store it! We got rid of a lot before we moved, but we still have a lot! It all fit, and is accessible, if necessary. But, Joel and Renee don't have much space left in that ¼ of their basement!

By the time we got all that done, it was too late to take the stuff over to the cabin. Instead, we went over to the cabin with some little stuff and did some analysis...

Travel day

Again, the events in this post were one week ago...

We were intending to leave on Thursday at 8:00 AM EDT. Leaving then allows you to get to Chicago just after rush hour and before lunch. As Dan at work says, if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans! We still had to clean and take care of all the last minute stuff. And, more neighbors came by to say good-bye. Hands down, people are more important than plans. No exceptions. So, we praised the Lord for the additional time with people and for the changes in plans.

Last minute details always take far longer than you expect... We finally left around 3:00 PM. Just in time to hit Chicago traffic :( We debated leaving on Friday morning instead, but felt that God was telling us to leave on Thursday.

The trip to Grand Marais is about 13 hours in a car—much longer in a truck! We planned to travel separately; Debbie had the I-Pass so she could fly through the tollway. I paid at each booth. It's much easier to travel separately. We both had cell phones, so we could call each other if necessary.

We agreed that if we got too tired, we would stop and sleep. I made it to just north of Eau Claire before giving out around midnight. So, I pulled off and slept for about an hour. Debbie called me from Superior and warned about the detours from the storms there a week earlier. She was planning to keep going.

I couldn't get back to sleep, so I drove for another hour, slept for a bit, drove a bit more, slept some more. Debbie got to Grand Marais OK, just as Joel was getting up for work. He told her it was OK to go in and kiss the kids. Only Rachel woke up, but went right back to sleep. Later that morning, Rachel woke up and told Renee that she had dreamed that Neenah (that's what they call Debbie) had kissed her! When Renee told her it wasn't a dream, she was thrilled!

Meanwhile, I was driving...It was beautiful watching the sun come up over the trees. I love northern Wisconsin; every valley has a lake—sometimes its more swamp than lake! But it is fun to drive. I got to Duluth-Superior just in time for “rush hour” which just meant there were more cars than normal :)

Joel had warned us that there was a detour on 61 because of the storms, so I just took the scenic route from the start. I stopped a few times along the way at pullouts; had breakfast from the cooler at one of them. I wasn't fully believing that it was happening. I finally pulled in to Grand Marais around 10:00 AM.

Where do we go from here?

Simple: Grand Marais Minnesota. When? End of June. Why? Because we will be assisting the fine folks at Sawtooth Cabins.

All good things come to an end this side of eternity, and it is time. I love my job here at Eisenbrauns, but it is time to move on. This has nothing to do with Eisenbrauns; don't go looking for hidden things that aren't there! It is just that God is leading us on.

Eisenbrauns will do fine without me and I will always look back with good memories of my time here. And, I hope to maintain my friendships with the people here. They are some of the greatest. You would have a hard time finding a better boss than Jim.

We are excited for multiple reasons—one of which is that our daughter and 5 of the grandkids are in Grand Marais. We are looking forward to being 13 hours closer to them—and only about 5 hours from our son and 2 more grandkids.

We sold our house, closing on it about 2 weeks ago. In a miraculous move of God, it was only on the market 9 days and we didn't take a loss on it. This in a housing market where most houses are on the market for 6+ months and people take 10-20% losses.

So, where are we living right now? Well, that's another God thing. The place we used to live opened up for 3 months: April-June. Just exactly the time we needed.

The only down side is that the move is timed so I won't have a garden this summer...

Look to Job

“Job is a book not so much about God’s justice as about the transformation of a man whose piety and view of the world were formed in a setting of wealth and happiness and into whose life burst calamities that put an end to both. How can piety nurtured in prosperity prove to be truly deep-rooted and disinterested and not merely a spiritual adjunct of good fortune (“God has been good to me so I am faithful to Him”)? Can a man pious in prosperity remain pious when he is cut down by anarchical events that belie his orderly view of the world? The book of Job tells how one man suddenly awakened to the anarchy rampant in the world, yet his attachment to God outlived the ruin of his tidy system.”—Jewish Bible Theology, page 223

<idle musing>
I'm in the midst of reading Job right now. A relevant post to these thoughts was posted by Renee very early this AM...
</idle musing>

Vacation

I bet some of you (all two of you!) are wondering about the lack posting here this week. Well, I'm on vacation! Right now, we're in Grand Marais, Minnesota where it is about 18 degrees F and it's been snowing lightly. We look out the south window of Joel and Renee's place and see Lake Superior! What could be better than that?

Oh, and we are getting to play with 4 of our grand kids. And, great times with Joel and Renee, too :)

I may or may not post again, but regularly scheduled programming will resume on Monday, January 30...

Very important visitors

We've got three of the grandkids with us this week and I'm taking half-days at work to be with them more. Consequently, I am not planning on blogging much, if anything this week! I'd rather spend the time with them. Hope you don't mind :)

More on food

<rant>
Debbie is at Joel and Renee's right now (go there for great pictures of grandson and grandma!), so I am making some (vegetarian) baked beans. Background: the smell of baked beans simmering overnight keeps her awake, so when she goes on trips like this, I make lots and freeze them—we both like to eat them :)

Anyway, I went to the local grocery store the other day to get some molasses for the baked beans. Normally, the molasses have been on the top shelf amongst the honey and by the syrup. Last time, there were three options: Grandma's™, Brer Rabbit™ dark, and Brer Rabbit™ light. But, not anymore. Now, there is only one choice, Brer Rabbit™ dark and it is on the bottom shelf. The top shelf is mainly honey, with some real maple syrup. The rest of the section, 3.5 shelves worth, is pancake syrup—you know, the high fructose, fake maple flavoring, sickeningly sweet stuff that is supposed to substitute for real maple syrup. The bottom shelf, where the lone bottle of molasses sat, is surrounded by light and dark corn syrup. :(

Doesn't anybody cook anymore? I wouldn't be surprised to see that the next time I go to buy molasses there isn't any. But, I'm sure I could buy some fake molasses made of high fructose corn syrup :(
</rant>

He's here!

The latest grandchild, that is. Some nice pictures can be seen here. That makes six, with one more on the way via Ryan and Emily :)

Yippee!

Vacation

We are leaving today and won't be back until December 27. I don't know if I will have Internet access consistently enough to post or not. I suspect not. Besides, I'll be spending time with the kids and grandkids :) So, merry Christmas to all and check out this post from last year about Christmas.

cute

I know I'm biased, but I think I've got cute grandkids. Last night, I was talking to our son, Ryan, on the phone and he told me he was sending a picture of Evelyn. Sure enough, it was in the Inbox this morning. Here she is, about 18 months old:



And, lest any of Renee and Joel's kids feel shorted, here's a link to some great recent pictures of them. Too bad I can't link to beansprout yet, but he (?) isn't due for another few months...