I've Looked at Clouds from Both Sides

In the last few months I've had the occasion to fly to Detroit three times for work.  Its been a few years since I went anywhere by air. Just over five years, to be exact, when we flew to Texas to visit Moosebeere while he and his family were living there. In recent years, flying has become quite an adventure, much more complicated than it used to be. 

Flying is amazing, however, regardless of what you have to go through to get in the air.

I am always amazed by how fast the ground falls away once the plane gets off the ground.  Once the wheels leave the runway it is only a matter of minutes before everything looks small, everything begins to look just the satellite view from Google Maps.

Then you're up in the clouds.  Clouds are amazing, especially when you're right up in them.

When I was a kid at home I used to look up at the cumulonimbus clouds and image I had some way to get up and fly around them, dodging about, in and out of the nooks and crannies about them, staying always out of them but all around them at the edges.

When you fly you get to see the top side of the clouds sometimes.  In these flights back and forth between Detroit and here the plane cruises at about 5 miles up.  The clouds sometimes look like the piles of snow; fresh, clean, white snow.  Unless, of course, they're dark storm clouds.  Fortunately, we didn't have to deal with any serious storms on any of these trips I took.

And there was the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.  It's kind of hard to see in this picture, it was getting dark as we flew west into the sunset.  Its hard from the air to tell where you are; I couldn't guess where this was.

On this last trip, a little farther west out over the lake, the clouds flattened out.  It reminded me of quilting batting, all stretched out, ready to be sewn into a new blanket.  Like I've seen plenty of times as Brombeere, or my Mom, or my grandma have sewn quilts over the years. 

Flying is sometimes uncomfortable, I've never had the pleasure of flying first class, and getting through big airports, or through security in any airport, is a hassle now days.  But if you end up with a window seat and have a decent view outside, its really amazing.

What a Difference a Few Weeks Makes

Sometimes spring can be an amazing, a dangerous thing.  During winter the ground freezes hard and won't absorb water at all.  If spring warms up slow enough that's no problem at all.  If we get a warm spell and the snow melts fast, that can be a problem.  All that water from the melting snow, which would normally go down into our sandy soil, ends up going across our sandy soil.  If  you add heavy rain on top of a fast melt you can really have problems.  That's what happened this year and the result was the river that runs through town got very, very full.  Low laying areas got flooded.  That all began back in the middle of March.  Rain falling faster than the ice clogged waste water system could handle it.  By mid-April the ground was still frozen when we got some real heavy rain.  Water levels on the river got really high.  I went down by the river, along a route I occasionally take on my bike (in dryer weather) and took a look.

Before

After

My main interest was to see if the trails were drying out.  I had no idea the river was as high as it was.  A little bench on the river, that I sometimes stop at, was nearly in the water.

Before

After

In the "after" picture you can see two benches that are right down on the river.  In the "before" they were both completely under water and out of sight.

Before

The trail, where it comes out of the woods, was totally flooded and impassable.  You almost don't notice the gates in the "before" picture.

After

A little bridge on the old road wasn't submerged but the river was right up to the bridge.

Before

After

Another little bridge, almost just a sluice, really, was inundated with water.  Totally overwhelmed.  At this little bridge, the water was up over the bridge.

Before

After

People sometimes forget that when the ground gets this wet and waterlogged, it can take a little while to dry out.

Before

The road, which is always barricaded, was underwater.  It doesn't seem likes its ever a good idea to try to drive a vehicle around a barricade.  Especially when the ground is totally water soaked and soft.

After

Judging from the tracks, this was probably a truck that did manage to get out without being towed.  Then again, if it was winched out, that could be done without leaving tracks from the truck that did the winching.

In any case, its amazing to me to see the things that Mother Nature sometimes does.  And I'm glad that the trails have dried out and are passable again.  There's one spot on my favorite section of trail that is still being repaired.  It was submerged for a couple of weeks and because the water was fast moving, the trail sustained some damage.  The water has receded but the trial still needs to be repaired.  This isn't my photo, its from the folks that maintain the trail.  But it shows the damage.

This section of the trial still isn't open.  But once its open all the parts I use on a regular basis will be open again.  That will be a happy thing.  In the meantime, there's plenty of good trail open and available for use!

A stretch of trail high enough above the river that it didn't flood

Spring has sprung!

A Construction Project

Recently there was a traveling dinosaur exhibit in the neighborhood.  Since we had some grand-kids visiting with us, kids who enjoy that kind of thing, we decided to head over that way and see what they had going.  They really had a lot of cool things.  Things that kept the kids interested for a couple of hours.  I was a little surprised.

One of the things they had was a couple of puzzles.  Lots of pieces and no instructions or pictures of the fully assembled creature.  The only hints were little numbers painted on each piece and where each fit together.  So find the two pieces with whatever number you're looking for and find how they fit together.  That was all there was to go on.

When fully disassembled, the puzzle looks a bit intimidating.  Not much to suggest what it will be when put together.

But I have a little grandson who is pretty interested in dinosaurs.  A couple of them, actually, but only one was with us that day.  And he decided he wanted to put it together.

So he sat down and got to it.  One piece at a time he began looking for numbers and putting pieces together.

Here and there, people would be there to watch and offer suggestions but for the most part he worked by himself and kept at it.

Gradually the creature began to take shape.  At one point he had to stop and redirect his approach.  Pieces kept coming undone so he had to back up and start over from a different angle.

It was the ribs.  At one point, what he had together was resting on the ribs which kept pushing them up and off the back piece, causing them to come apart.

But he solved that problem by putting the hind legs on so that it was in a standing position, taking the pressure off the ribs so they stayed in place.

Toward the end a couple of other boys came by and got interested.  They wanted to help with the finishing touches.

He had no problem with that and before long, the three of them had gotten the whole thing together.

And there is was, a fully assembled dinosaur.  It didn't really say anywhere what kind it was but to me it sort of looked like a Megalosaurus.  Who's to say.  But in any case, he was happy with it.  It sure was a great lizard. And then, quick as could be, he was off to something else.

More Yummy Stuff in the Kitchen

A while ago I made some Irish soda bread that turned out pretty good. It hadn't involved any yeast, or kneading, or all that goes with that. That made me feel like I might could tackle some regular bread, like my Mom used to make all the time.   So today, while I was looking around the Internet for something else, I came across a recipe for a cute little loaf of turtle bread.  Really, it's just regular white bread shaped like a turtle.  So I saved the recipe and came home to try it.

The list of ingredients was not too intimidating, even though it did call for yeast.  So I got all the stuff out and got started on it.

It was simple enough.  First all the dry ingredients go together.

Then all the wet stuff.

Then you put them together and mix them up real good.  Gradually, add more flour until its the right consistency for good bread dough and then let it rise, or "rest" for a little while.

It only had to rest for ten minutes.  Then you shape it, assemble all the pieces on a pan, and let it rest for a few more minutes.  Add a couple of craisins for the eyes and it's all done.

Score the back to make a proper tortoise shell, let it rest a little more, and pop it in a preheated oven.

Cook it for a while and pull it out.  And there you have it - a cute, yummy, little turtle.  The recipe doesn't make a lot, the turtle was only about ten or eleven inches from tail to nose.

Let it cool a minute or two, add some butter and honey, and you have a really yummy treat.  And it turned out very good.  Not bad at all for my first time at real bread.  Yeah, I suppose the Irish bread was real bread but this one, because it had yeast, needed kneading, and had to rest a couple of times, seems more "real" to me.  I might have to do this again.

The Good Stuff

The other day after church we had set food out and dinner was "do it yourself", which is often the case at our house on Sundays.  Keep it simple on the Sabbath, use up leftovers, and all that.  Anyway, I was having some strawberry shortcake and a certain young lady came in and saw it.  She said she wanted some but her Mom said she could, but she had to have some "good stuff" first.  After finding out what she wanted, her Mom began making it.  While her Mom was making her a plate, this little lady looked at me and said, "You're having good stuff.  Dessert is good stuff."  I couldn't disagree with her at all.

Easter Traditions

When I was a kid growing up we had Easter Egg hunts at Easter time.  The Easter Bunny would scatter Easter eggs all over the front room and then the four of us kids would have a grand time finding them all.  It made for some chaotic moments as we'd each spy an egg here or there and then make a dash for it, hoping to get it before one of the siblings beat us.  One up-side was often not all the candy eggs got found and a lucky child would occasionally find a missed egg in the days or weeks after Easter.  The down-side was that not all the candy eggs got found and they'd liter the house here and there for days and weeks afterward.  I suppose that wasn't so bad of a down-side because as soon as a missed candy got noticed it was take care of.  Nobody had to be asked to take care of it whenever one turned up.

Anyway, the first few years we had kids old enough for Easter Egg hunts we did it that way, just scattered candy eggs and treats around and let the kids find them.  But for the sake of ease, after several years we began having treasure hunts, complete with clues and searches.  It got real fun as the kids got old enough to have the clues be riddles, rather than simply telling them where to find the next stash.  So we'd have one clue stuck somewhere out of the way, hoping it wouldn't get noticed right away.  We didn't want any of the kids finding the first clue and following them all, learning where all the stashes were ahead of time.  Yeah, sometimes some sharp eyed kid would stumble onto a stash and follow the clues from there but I don't think that happened very often.  Anyway, one clue would lead to another, through four or five clues, each with a stash of goodies, until they'd found them all.  Then we'd sit down and divide the goodies in each stash between all the kids so that it came out pretty much fair.  I liked that lots more than just laying candy out helter skelter and letting the kids go wild for several minutes.

Anyway, there came the time when all the kids had grown up enough that we quit having Easter Egg hunts.  But this year we had kids and grand-kids home for Easter, almost half of the grand-kids.  So we decided to have a traditional treasure hunt; clues, stashes, and everything.  We stuck the first clue on the fridge figuring that with all the other stuff sticking to the refrigerator door no one would notice a little piece of paper with the first clue.  Well, that turned out to be a good idea that didn't work.  Fortunatley, while the kid that found the first clue did follow them all, she did not disturb any of the stashes.  So when it was time everything was still intact and ready. Grandma pulled the note out and the hunt was on!

 

The first clue sent them scurrying into the laundry room, looking in the dryer.

Didn't take them long there at all.  The next clue sent them off to the drawer in the kitchen where we keep all our measuring cups and spoons. I had been a little worried about having a stash in that drawer because we have one or two little boys who love playing in that drawer.  But it worked out okay.

The next clue sent everyone to the coat closet, where we keep a crate with all the winter hats, mittens, gloves, and scarves.  We didn't bury the stash in them, but maybe we should have.

The last clue sent them all back into the kitchen, to the cupboard where we keep most of the mixing bowls.

This was the big stash.  The first three had been little baggies, teasers with just a little bit a candy.  But this last one had an Easter bag for each child, a bunch of candy and a couple small toys.

They all had fun, everybody got excited and had a good time.  Just like old times.  It was fun.  Little kids and magic, it never goes away.

Listening to Conference

We spent conference weekend with Heidlebeere and her kids.  That was a good time. The kids are small so the level of reverence and attentiveness expected is relatively low, mostly just good enough so that the adults in the room can pretty much listen to conference.  We had that at Heidlebeere's house.  That was nice.

Some of the time was spent in acrobatics.  That was interesting.  First one way ...

... then another.  The part I liked, though, was when he drew me some Chuchus from the game Zelda.  I've never really played that game so I was unfamiliar with it.  But he introduced me.

Not only blue chuchus, which is how they're found in the game, but also yellow chuchus (which are red) and red chuchus (which are yellow).  His favorite was the green ones, though.  With their eyes open, with their eyes closed, in the grass with their eyes open, and in the grass with their eyes closed.

My favorite part, though, was when he wrote on the back of each one.  I liked that.