AHHHH, THE GREAT INDOORS!!!

"We went camping in the living room,
And, though there were no woods,
Imagination supplied the trees
And made it just as good.

While Daddy pitched the tent
Mom lit a fire in the fireplace,
Which cast an orange glow
On the tent and Mommy's face."
The night of the big campout finally arrived, and boy were Bowden and Lucy excited about it. Bowden kept saying, "This is the best night we've have ever had in this house."

The kids ran around for a long time making merry and soaking up the novelty of the evening and the undivided attention of Mommy and Daddy.

Sarah found some nature sounds on the computer, and so we were serenaded by crickets as we roasted marshmallows over a roaring pine fire.


After the marshmallows we herded the two excited little campers into the tent and I read the final two chapters of "King of the Wind," which is the book I have been reading them at bedtime for the past week or so. By the time I got to the last page both of them had conked out. I'll have to tell them what happened tomorrow morning.

Sarah and I sat up by the fire talking for a while.



...and then Sarah went up to our bed and I am about to crawl into the tent.

Going to sleep is the worst part about camping out... or is it camping in? I'm confused.

Good night!

10/9/2008

Up at 5:00 and out the door for my Thursday morning men's study. Started work at 8:15 and stopped work at 4:00 pm- went to the dump and and stacked wood for a while in the morning and did mostly office work in the afternoon. After work we all went to Bowden's soccer practice, and then hustled home to whip up some victuals and clean house before our junior high small group came over at 5:45. We had 8 kids, which was less than the 11 we had last week. It really isn't much of a small group, but they are all very well behaved and I come away feeling encouraged usually. Put the kids to bed, and then laid down to read in bed for a while and the next thing I knew Jack was crying and it was 6:00 in the morning.

$4.49

27f or 5

AMERICAN CHURCH LIST TRIVIA

Which of these three broad denominational affiliations has the most churches in the American Church List Database:

METHODIST
LUTHERAN
OR
PRESBYTERIAN

*and for bonus points, which broad denominational affiliation has THE MOST churches in the database.

I'm going to bed.

10/8/2008

Sarah spent most of the day off the hill with Lisa and Emily doing shopping and such. Thus it fell it to me to drop Bowden off and pick him up from kindergarten. Bowden also "worked" with me in the afternoon until Sarah came back home. I got off work at approximately 4:30. In the evening (sixish) we drove over to the Fredrickson's for our Wednesday night gathering. We rotate where we meet, which is working out to be really fun as well as practical. As I type I am putting off getting ready for my early morning men's study, but I am newly fortified by a cup of coffee so I'm gonna ride that wave until I wipe out into the ocean of sweet oblivion. I bid you adieu and goodnight!

Unknown Amount

Also unknown

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH...

I am giving the coveted Hutela AmaDundar endorsement to John McCain and Sarah Palin.

HUTELA AMADUNDAR!!!

10/7/2008

Worked from 8:30 until 5:45. When I went into town to get the camp's mail I swung by Franz's house to drop off a jar of rose hip jelly as a thank you for letting me pick on his property, and he called me back in the evening to say that he and his wife as well as a doctor friend of theirs had tried it and decided that it was "the best jelly or jam we have ever had." He told me I could come and clean out his rose bushes and he had even scouted out a few other prime picking spots for me. I'm too busy to dedicate any more time to it though. At around 8:30 our new friends Brian and Britney Fredrickson and Dylan and Katie Dachtler came over for dessert, coffee and two games of settlers of Catan. I finished off the evening by making Bowden's lunch for tomorrow- Rocket ship and star shaped pancakes with an individual serving of syrup, juice box and some apple sauce. Got to bed way too late- 1 am. Why do I do this to myself?

$0.00

13 down 2

10/6/2008

Monday is my day off. I spent most of the day making rose hip jelly and cleaning up the mess that ensued. The end result was six jars of beautiful jelly and two jars of syrup. In the afternoon Sarah and I took enchiladas over to the Whites for dinner. We put the kids to bed over there and stayed until 10:30 playing Settlers of Catan. Then we gathered up our progeny and drove home.

$80.74

2L

TWO DAYS WITH ROSE HIPS.

Yesterday, after church, Sarah and I took the kids down to the gully by the ball field where there is an enormous wild rose bush covered with bright red rose hips. As soon as we started picking Sarah began commenting that she had seen much larger ones on her walks with Emily. I was reluctant to abandon the bush because they were plentiful and I liked the idea of all of the rose hips coming from Camp Maranatha, but I eventually relented and we loaded up the van and drove to other spots along Idyllwild Creek and Strawberry Creek. Sarah was definitely right and I was very grateful that she persuaded me to go elsewhere. Those little rose hips from our gully were very much inferior to the other ones we found.

We ended up picking most of the rose hips from a spot next to Strawberry Creek. The owner of the land graciously allowed us to pick them on his property, and in gratitude I set aside a jar of jelly for him.

Dennis Cavanaugh, one of our friends from church, saw us picking and stopped to talk for a while.
There are some big beautiful rose hips down by Strawberry creek.
We ended up filling four buckets, which ended up being the easy part of the job.

Sarah's and my fingers were stained and sticky from picking so many.
I spent the rest of the day sitting in a recliner separating the rose hip from the remnants of the blossom.
The end result was seven quarts. I only used four quarts. The remaining three quarts I froze for a more ambitious day.
Boiling the bright red jewels. They kind of remind me of cranberries.

Mashing up the rose hips into a deep red mush. If you had walked into the house at this point it would have smelled a little like rhubarb.
Then Sarah strained the mash through a cheese cloth, and this was the byproduct. It looks a lot like ground beef.
Then I took the strained juice, and added Pectin, lemon juice and sugar (lots of sugar).
Then we canned the finished product, and here they are- six jars of rose hip jelly. I also made two more jars of rose hip syrup for use on ice cream, pancakes and such. I'm pretty proud of this experiment, and it truly is delicious.
Two days eaten up by rose hips so I can eat up some rose hips. Fair trade?

MY SHOES- #4

During my first week at the police department I was handed a catalog by my field training officer (FTO) who explained that every year the city of St Albans bought each officer a new pair of boots, and I could pick any pair of boots I wanted. I thumbed through the catalog, and selected a rather cheap pair because I felt weird about picking out boots that might cost the taxpayers of that fair municipality more than $50.00. Most of the other guys ordered boots that cost nearly $200.00. I was the only one who was sufficiently civic minded to be cost conscious when it came to my boot selection. When I took my order to the administrative secretary, Ruth, she said "Really?" and then shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "Whatever. I don't care." They were crummy boots, and my FTO told me that they looked funny... "like snow boots." By the end of that first year I felt like the city of St Albans was enormously indebted to me for hours and hours of overtime (both paid and unpaid) as well a lot of abuse. I remember that first year was pretty tough. So the next year when Ruth dropped the catolog onto my desk. I flipped to the page with this pair of boots, plunked my finger down and said, "I want those," $239.99. Thanks St Albans!!!
I ordered three such pairs during the remainder of my tenure in St Albans, and really only wore one of them. When I left the department I gave away two pairs which hadn't seen much use and kept this pair. Outside of a police uniform I think they look a little funny, but today, due to some unfortunate circumstances they were promoted out of obscurity to second string. It has been an awful 24 hours for my footwear.
Yesterday the sole on one of the dexters flopped loose and my attempt to rip it off and make them into a pair of moccasins failed. October 5th was the end of the road for my storied Dexters.
...and then this morning my beloved sandals gave up the ghost as well.
What a loss!!! I think it's time for some new shoes.

10/5/2008

An intoxicatingly beautiful morning in the San Jacinto Mts. Cooler temperatures and yesterday's rain made everything crisp and new. It was cold this morning with the mercury resting in the upper 30's. I could see my breath as I went under the porch with Lucy and Bowden for some firewood. The first fire of the season graced our hearth. This was sarah's turn to do Sunday school so I sat by myelf in church. After church we went all over town gathering rose hips, and I spent the better part of the remainder of the day plucking the withered blossom from the end of the hips. Josh, Emily and their brood came over after dinner and hung out for a couple of hours. Sarah, Emily and some other ladies went up to katie Bayer's house to watch a movie. Sarah didn't get home until after midnight. I drew some lunch box pictures for the kids before bed. All told, we had 7 quarts of rose hips at the end of all that work. I'll try and make some jelly tomorrow.

$44.38

8

2

You know that song that goes "One is the loneliest number?" Well, when I was younger I actually thought it said "...and two can be a badass one, it's the loneliest number since the number one." So all these years I have thought of 2 as a troubled and brooding number. You know, a real badass!!!

WEEK 5 IN THE NFL AND THE GUEST PROGNOSTICATOR IS MY BROTHER, JOB

Titans vs. Ravens- Ravens
Chiefs vs. Panthers- Panthers
Bears vs. Lions- Lions
Falcons vs. Packers- Packers
Colts vs. Texans- Colts
Chargers vs. Dolphins- Chargers
Seahawks vs. Giants- Seahawks
Redskins vs. Eagles- Redskins
Buccaneers vs. Broncos- Broncos
Bills vs. Cardinals- Bills
Bengals vs. Cowboys- Cowboys
Steelers vs. Jaguars- Jaguars
Vikings vs. Saints- Saints

10/4/2008

A beautiful day here in Idyllwild. After lunch the temperature dropped sharply and it began to drizzle. Mist was curling through the woods, wood smoke wafted from origins unknown, and Lucy helped me stack fire wood under the porch- very 802. Worked from 8:00 until 4:00 pm. Sarah worked dinner down at the kitchen. Went for a walk before bed.

$0.00

0

10/3/2008

Worked from 8:30 until 4:00- mostly getting ready for the three groups we are hosting this weekend. Sarah went for a walk with Emily and Lisa T. in the morning and then joined her new friend, Sarah Miller, to hang out in town before picking Bowden up from kindergarten. After worked I biked over to the school to join Sarah and the kids for the much anticipated matchup between the Fighting Irish and our very own Bobcats. It was a good game. Bowden is really improving. After the game we rushed home, and I gave the kids their baths while Sarah made dinner (Pasta Prima Vera). Some girls from the church, including Larissa Shirley, had offered to babysit any and all kids from 5:00 till 9:00 as a fundraiser so they could go to camp, and Sarah and I took them up on it. At 6:00 we dropped them off at the church and went out on the town. We had dessert at Cafe Aroma before driving down to the coffee shop where we hung out and talked for a little while. We picked up the kids at around 8:15.

$42.05

8

WIDJIWAT LULLABY- "If Only Rocks Were Edible"

I have to give partial credit for the creation of this lullaby to Teddy Kennedy. During our first winter in Idyllwild I wrote "If Only Rocks Were Edible" as a poem, but were it not for the Senior Senator from Massachusetts the poem would never have morphed into a song. Let me explain. I have never cared for Sen. Kennedy's politics, but I have always very much admired his abilities as a speaker. He speaks with a crackling electricity and the words just seem to drop like hammers as voices them. I always stop if I'm skipping through the channels and I see that Senator Kennedy is speaking. The man has a gift. He could be reading the ingredients on a shampoo bottle and I would be hypnotized by the vigor and staccato.

...but I digress. One Friday during that first winter I was walking through the snowy camp turning on floodlights and boilers ahead of a guest group's arrival, and as I walked I was reciting my newest poem, If Only Rocks Were Edible, in my best Teddy Kennedy voice. I spoke with great passion and even pounded a railing as though it were a lectern on the floor of the Senate, but somehow as I recited the poem it magically morphed into a song with a little tune and everything. That would never have happened if I hadn't just watched Teddy Kennedy's appearance on MSNBC which showed clips of him railing against one thing or another...blah blah blah...but nobody can blah blah blah quite like Teddy Kennedy.




IF ONLY ROCKS WERE EDIBLE

If only rocks were edible
I wish that it were so
Instead of to the market
To the quarry I would go

I'd boil up some granite
And nibble on some slate
Pickled Quartz and Limestone steaks
I'd heap upon my plate

Bowls of pebbles and chips of shale
Laid out like finger food
I think I would like marble best
If it were chopped and stewed

The one concern I'd have
Is what would happen when
The rocks which I had eaten
Come out the other end

Metamorphic,
Igneous and Sedimentary
Mix 'em in a pot
You'd have a rocky recipe

Wanting something sweet?
Then there's something you should try.
Nothing hits the spot
Like a piece of gravel pie.

With zero fat in every snack
They're good for your waist
Even so, I must confess
They're an acquired taste

I urge you all to disregard
My Mother's belief
That eating lots of rocks
Could be harmful to your teeth.

I should add that as I was telling Sarah about my plan for the above video I told her that I wanted to wash a rock off in the sink before adding it to the stew, but I wasn't going to do that because the sink was full of dirty dishes. Sarah said, "Do the dishes." So I did, but then I forgot to do that. This is kind of fun, like "Behind the Music," on MTV.

10/2/2008

Up at 5:00 and out the door for my Thursday morning men's study. Worked from 9:00 until 4:00 doing mostly maintenance work. Stopped by the Inn before lunch to see their new units. They look really nice. Sarah spent a good part of the morning hanging out with Emily over at her house. After lunch, Bowden and Lucy came and helped me for a while at work. It was picture day for Lucy at preschool as well as for Bowden's soccer team. That's why Lucy is wearing that cute little dress. She's adorable.


Before getting back to work, Lucy, Bowden and I picked Mommy some wild roses from the edge of the gully. They were very aromatic.
When I went into the office to fill the little vase with water, Bowden found a walking stick outside, and very carefully brought it in to show me. I have seen walking sticks many times, but they always amaze me. They truly do! Just amazing.
"God cammouflaged it, Daddy." "That's right, Bowden."


Then I drove around and emptied the big trash cans throughout the grounds. Here I am with my pack of Trash Hounds.
I've done this lots of times with Bowden. We like to play a game where we pretend that he is a trained "Trash Hound." I always call Bowden out of the truck with lots of excited whistles and then he runs around frenziedly checking trash cans. If he finds a can that is more than half full he points and begins barking to alert me. Then I run up, trash bag in hand, and say "Whatya got boy!" Lucy is new to the pack, but I'm starting to train her too. She shows promise and I think she'll make a fine trash hound someday. She's got that killer instinct.
"C'mon back boy!"
"C'mon Lucy!"

We had a our junior high small group over in the evening for our weekly gathering. I really enjoyed our time together. Fell asleep on the couch before stumbling up to bed at approximately 3:30.

$272.00

5L

DON'T LAUGH!!! I KNOW I DON'T HAVE A NICE SINGING VOICE. HERE IS A WIDJIWAT LULLABY.

Since Bowden was born back in 2003 I have a written a number of lullabies for my children. I have no illusions about the quality of my singing voice, but I decided to share them with you, my adoring fans, anyway. My kids seem to like them and that is all that matters I guess. I'm their Daddy, and though I am decidedly tone deaf, they still seem to enjoy my humble efforts. I tell them that Widjiwats write the songs, so I will title this recurring feature "Widjiwat Lullabies." Unfortunately blogger won't let me post audio recordings so the only way to do it is by video. Pretty boring video I'm afraid. I'll try to spice them up in future installments.




I wrote this first lullaby, Plip Plop Raindrop, while Bowden was still in the womb. He came into the world nearly two weeks past his due date. I was still working for the police department back then so I would drive around on patrol working out the kinks in this song while I waited for water to break or some other development. I remember singing Plip Plop Raindrop to a very irate young man one night on the way to the correctional center. As I recall he didn't enjoy it much. I can't blame him, after all, I didn't particularly enjoy listening to him either. The lullaby was ready to go when Bowden was finally induced on June 10th. Maybe I'll try and talk Sarah into singing some of these songs for me.

PLIP PLOP RAINDROP

Plip plop raindrop, falling on my rooftop
Plip-plip-plop will it ever stop?

Peep peep peepers peeping by the pond
Peepers peeping an evening song.

Splish splash big bass jumping in the lake
Splitting the silence of daybreak

Whack whack lumberjack chopping down a tree
Maple, pine, walnut, hickory

Rip tear black bear diggin for some grubs
Mamas got to feed her hungry cubs

Pitter pat kitty cat running to her dish
She's hoping for some tuna fish

Crash! boom! Raccoon digging through the trash
When the dogs are out it's not so brash.

10/1/2008

Worked from 8:00 until 3:00 pm. Took off early from work to do some last minute prep for the Wednesday night gathering (move some folding tables, chairs and such up to the house). Nine folks showed up, two of the couples who came last week were sick. It was a good time, and I think with practice I will get better at facilitating. After all it is more or less what I want to do with the rest of my time on earth so I'm resolved to look at every gathering as an opportunity to practice and hone gifts. Sarah had some good suggestions on how I could improve. She says I'm "too leaderish." I know what she means and she's right. We had some worship in song led by Steve Koch, which was really cool, and the plastic bag omelettes were a big hit. I'm glad that the group is starting to gel, and I am super excited about it. It'll be a lot of work added to a pretty tight schedule, but I think it will become a highlight of my week. Went to bed way too late. We're tired a lot these days.



$0.00

10H!!!

AMERICAN CHHURCH LIST TRIVIA

So, nobody got the top three states or the bottom three. The top three states (with the most churches) were Texas (28,602), California (23,747) and North Carolina(18,326). The bottom three were Vermont (665), Rhode Island (736), and Wyoming (806).

Here is another challenge. One yankee greenback will go to the first person who can tell me which church size represents the greatest number of churches in the AMERICAN CHURCH LIST DATABASE:

1-99 Members
100-199 Members
200-499 Members
500-999 Members
1,000-2,999 Members
3,000-4,999 Members
5,000 and above Members

9/30/2008

Worked from 8:00 am until 4:30 pm with a nap in the afternoon. I felt very tired all day. Nanny stayed until just before dinner- too short of a visit. Sarah and Nanny went for a morning walk with Emily White and Lisa Towler before heading over to the coffee shop where Nanny treated Sarah to a cup of Joe. I rode my bike over to Bowden's soccer practice in the afternoon, before zipping home to make waffles. We invited our new friends Chris and katy Bayer over for a chicken and waffle dinner (I'm forever grateful to Chad and Tricia for introducing me to the dish, truly haut cuisine).

It was a lot of fun hanging out with the Bayers, and we hung out until eleven discussing the new coffee shop where Chris is manager and swapping stories. They brought a mud pie that Katy had made that proved to be the perfect chicken-and-waffle-chaser, and so I slid into bed at approximately midnight feeling a little sluggish from the calorie rich dinner, and slumbered like a hibernating bear.

$903.48

2L