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.

A Side Stop

A while back we were going to visit Heidlebeere and decided to take a side trip, the scenic route, if you will.  Highway 131 runs along side the Kickapoo River, which is the longest tributary of the Wisconsin River.  As a river, it begins near Wilton, WI and winds and twists its way south, eventually reaching the Wisconsin River 126 miles later.  However, as the crow flies, its only 60 miles from its beginning to its confluence with the Wisconsin River.  That's one crooked river.  And, while its doesn't match the river turn for twist, Highway 131 stays pretty close most of the way.  So that's the way we decided to go.  Get in a little sight-seeing since we were headed that direction anyway.

We also made one stop along the way.  Well, we stopped more than once, but we only stopped once to do any sight-seeing. That was in the southwest corner of the Kickapoo Valley Nature Reserve, just north of La Farge, WI.  There is a little covered bridge there and I'm a sucker for covered bridges.

This little covered bridge is on the Old Highway 131 Trail, and is part of the reserve.  It was a nice little area.  We weren't able to drive all the way to the bridge because the road was closed to vehicle traffic.  But it was just a short walk down a paved road to get to the bridge.

This was mid-way along the river so it wasn't real wide at this point.  The trail is open to vehicles later in the summer but not at the time we stopped.

It is a nice little bridge, more open than some we've visited.  That's kind of nice.

Looking south along the river from the bridge. 

Its a slow, easy river at this point, not very wide.  We were there in the evening.  We were also the only ones there at the time so it was nice and quiet.  About the only sound was all the birds, and there were plenty of those.

Looking north along the river from the bridge

It was a very peaceful, quiet little hike down to the bridge and back.

We walked across the bridge, and around the area for a little while.

Out on the river there were a couple of geese, I would guess from the sound of the honking. We never actually saw them.  We just heard them. I'm not sure what they were doing but there were sure making a lot of noise about it.  Almost sounded like a disagreement, got pretty loud and heated sounding for a little bit.

There were some interesting rock formations here on the trail and all along the river that we'd been seeing as we drove through the area.

Lots of trees down.  Made for some interesting scenery.

As we were heading back to the car the sun was reaching the horizon.  It was a good stop.

The bridge and the whole drive was interesting.  On this drive we saw an elk, an Amish farmer out plowing his field with four draft horses (he was standing on the plow), a goat standing on what looked like a dog house, and three Amish buggies.  And, of course, the covered bridge.  This was a very nice drive through the "driftless area", the area at the leading edge of the glacier that once covered most of Wisconsin.  Basically most of the southwest corner of he state.

Later I discovered that a few miles north of this bridge, still on the Old Highway 131 Trail, there is another crossing of the Kickapoo River with a covered bridge.  Of course I added it to my list.   All the way down Highway 131, as we took in the hills and valleys, we kept thinking this would be an even prettier drive just a little later in the season, when all the leaves were out on the trees.  Next time we go we'll have to stop at the other bridge.  That would pretty nice.

Commonplace Book

 A Commonplace Book. “Commonplace”, from the Latin 'locus communis', meaning “a theme or argument of general application.”  For me, it is a collection of thoughts, ideas, anecdotes, poems, observations, and quotes that stood out and caught my attention, some with comment, some without. Essentially a scrapbook, a repository of thoughts too good to just pass over and let go.

“Yesterday I was so clever I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I am changing myself.”

(Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic)

“For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.”

(Isaiah 44:3-4)

“This is the principle of stewardship. As the kingdom grows larger, more and more responsibilities have to be delegated and stewardships handed out. Men respond in different degrees of valiancy to their stewardships. God is very patient and long-suffering as he waits for some of us to rise to our responsibilities. He usually gives a man a long enough rope and a long enough time either to pull himself up to the presence of God or to drop off somewhere below. But while God is patient, no puny arm of man in his stewardship can long impede or pervert the work of the Lord. The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind ever so finely.”

(Ezra Taft Benson, BYU Devotional, December 10, 1974)

“The Light of Christ should not be confused with the personage of the Holy Ghost, for the Light of Christ is not a personage at all. Its influence is preliminary to and preparatory to one’s receiving the Holy Ghost. The Light of Christ will lead the honest soul to “hearkeneth to the voice”, to find the true gospel and the true Church and thereby receive the Holy Ghost.”

(Joseph B Wirthlin, April Conference 2003)

“It seems almost beyond comprehension to think that He paid this enormous price for me and for each of you. And yet, as far as we are concerned individually, unless you and I do our part, His atonement will have been in vain. It is that covenant relationship—that mutual trust—that makes His atonement such a personal gift. It brings us protection, perennial hope, and the promise of joy.”

(Russell M Nelson, BYU Devotional, 6 January 1991)

“Happiness is reflective, like the light of heaven; and every countenance, bright with smiles, and glowing with innocent enjoyment, is a mirror transmitting to others the ways of a supreme and ever-shining benevolence.”

(Washington Irving)

“Yet whatever he learned about ministering more effectively, he also saw that he couldn't hold every marriage together or ignite every wavering testimony. But he did learn to take personal problems seriously, and that alone expanded his vision and that of the people he counseled.”

(Bruce C Hafen, describing Neal A Maxwell during his time as bishop of a college ward in A Disciple's Life, the Autobiography of Neal A Maxwell, Deseret Book 2002, 310)

“When the flurry of motion became too much, she looked up ahead and fixed her gaze on a particular tree, following it as it slowly approached, streaked past, and the gradually receded behind her. Was life like that? You could look ahead to the future or back at the past, but the present moved too quickly to absorb. Maybe sometimes.”

(Brandon Mull, Fablehaven, page one)

Jesus, Lover of My Soul

Jesus, lover of my soul,

Let me to thy bosom fly,

While the nearer waters roll,

While the tempest still is high,

Hide me, O my Savior, hide,

Till the storm of life is past.

Safe into the haven guide;

Oh, receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none;

Hangs my helpless soul on thee.

Leave, oh, leave me not alone;

Still support and comfort me.

All my trust on thee is stayed;

All my help from thee I bring.

Cover my defenseless head

With the shadow of thy wing.

(Hymn 102, Hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1985)

Sugar Cookies are the Best

The other day we were down in the store room looking for some photographs.  We did find them but we also found something else, cookie cutters.  We also had a stash up in the top of the pantry.  It was suggested that they should all be donated, cleared out and gotten rid of.  I suggested that instead of just tossing them we should go through them and see how many duplicates we had.  Surely with as many as we had there must be some duplicates. Maybe we would just get rid of the duplicates.  I didn't really want to get rid of them all, they're used with sugar cookies and sugar cookies are so much fun to make and frost and even more fun to eat.  But anyway, that's kind of where we left it and nothing happened after that for a little while.

So today I decided to go though them and see just what we had.  I pulled out the table and got them all out.

I dumped them all out and and began looking through them.

I began by picking out all the letter shapes.  There were some number shapes, too.  No nine, you can just invert the six for that.  And no zero.  you can just use the letter "O". Only one punctuation shape.  That was a little disappointing.  But what can you do?

Then I sorted out a bunch of emoji cutters we had.  Interesting.  Not sure we'll keep them.  I don't really use emojis in my online communication.  Maybe, maybe not.

Then all the Valentine's Day shapes.  I was surprised at how many of those there were.  Popular holiday for cookies, I guess.

We also have a bunch of Halloween shapes.  Another popular shape.  Give away cookies for treats?  I suppose you could, depending on where it was at.  Door to door I'm not sure they'd go over well.  Have to be careful these days.  But at a church social?  Sure!

We also have lots and lots of Christmas shapes.  Of course!  What better excuse to make cookies than Christmas?  Some people go all out with Christmas baking - why not include cookies?

We also have several Easter themed cutters.  Cute.  Easter, which could also include some spring shapes, like flowers.

Then there were a bunch that were transportation themed.  Except maybe the cowboy hat.  Not sure how it fit in.  Maybe I grouped it wrong.

A few dinosaur shaped cookie cutters.  I have a couple of grandkids that would love to put them to work.

And a few martial arts cutters.  They were part of a set we bought several years back.

Some sports themed shapes.  Not sure how the bone or fish fit in here but that's where I put them.

Then these.  Yeah.  They probably won't survive the purge.

Some teddy bears.  Everybody likes teddy bears, right?

And the miscellaneous shapes.  Some of these could have gone into some of the previous groupings.  Like the shirt?  That was from an "ugly sweater" kit we bought once.  That's kind of a Christmas theme, right?  Or at least winter.  Maybe those two "J's"are actually supposed to be candy canes and should also be with the Christmas shapes. And the round one could be the sun, so maybe it should have been with the Easter shapes.  But since there was also a moon I put them both here.  And the star could have been Christmas but since it has six points I didn't think it really fit.  You could get into the whole Jewish question but we won't go there.

And then there were some sets that obviously went together.  Shapes meant to be used together.  Like these star shapes?  We make Christmas trees with them.  Stack the cookies all up, stick them together with green frosting, and put sprinkles on to make wonderful Christmas trees.  I suppose those might have gone with the Christmas shapes but since we have these other sets I made them a category of their own.

And then Brombeere's favorite, a little frog.  Yeah, she likes frogs.  In a class by itself!

In the end I don't think we're going to get rid of very many.  I bagged them all up by groups and stuck them in a big tote that would hold them all and took them back down to the store room.  Its a clear tote so it will be easy to find next time we want to make sugar cookies (I hope).  We have a number of kitchen things down there that we don't use real often.  If we keep them all more or less together maybe we'll be able to keep track of them and actually use them from time to time.  So it was a good exercise.  And I feel good about keeping most of them.  After all, sugar cookies are pretty much the best kind of cookie there are.