Is it Summer Yet!?

Remember last summer and all the camping out in the back yard that went on? Well, with all the warm weather we've had in the last week quite a bit of the snow melted off the back yard, enough so that the back corner of the yard had a pretty good sized spot of bare grass showing. So of course it needed to be camped on. And Himbeere and Schwarzebeere were just the guys to do it.

This was Friday, March 6th. The high that day was 42. That's warm enough, right? So up went the tents. Long about 9:30, when they went out to go to bed, it had dropped down to 30. Around 2:00 am, when they both came in for another sleeping bag it was only 28. That's not so bad, is it? Around 6:00 am, when they gave up and came inside, it was starting to get warm again; clear back up to 30.

Once inside they both slept until 10:00. Sleeping when you're cold is hard work. Later on Saturday the tents came down, which was a good thing. Today (Sunday) it has been snowing all afternoon. We have about 4 inches on the ground now and its still snowing. No more bare spots in the yard to put a tent on.

A Bit of Excitment!

Yesterday the boys had a scout activity, put on by the local council. A Klondike Derby. Among other things, they had worked a few nights ahead of time to build them a dog sled that the troop pulled in timed races at the derby. That's Schwarzebeere in the white had and Himbeere at the sled.


They also had show shoeing races. Some kids were better than others.

One event they had was fire building. They had to lay their wood, get it started and let it burn big enough to burn a string that was suspended from two sticks over the flames.

One of the last events of the morning was an inter-tube relay race. There was a small hill with a beach at the bottom and then a lake beyond that. The lake was frozen over but its been warm enough this last week that a lot of ice and snow has melted away and they didn't want any kids out on the lake. Plus, since it was a relay, the idea was for the boys on the team to stop the tube at the bottom of the hill so the next kid could grab the tube and head back up the hill as quick as possible. Schwarzebeere was the first one on his team to go down the hill but it didn't go quite as planned.

Instead of a smooth transition between boys there was quite a collision. Himbeere had gotten down into a football crouch and Schwarzebeere had managed to turn as the tube came down the hill so he was coming head first. The scoutmaster later described it as the meeting of two pile-drivers. Himbeere ended up with a sore arm, shoulder and jaw. But Schwarzebeere got the worst of it. We're not sure whether or not Schwarzebeere lost consciousness but he was definitely out of it for a while. He doesn't doesn't remember those few minutes right after impact. He was in pain and in shock so they called the EMT that was on site over. Then they called 911 and soon there was an ambulance there. When they found out about this neck condition (his Mom was there as a chaperon) they immobilized him and called in the helicopter.

The helicopter couldn't land right there at the bottom of the hill so they loaded him in the ambulance for a ride the few blocks to where the chopper had landed.

Then he was off on the 60 or so mile ride to the hospital where his regular doctor for his spine is. That worked out well. It took us a little longer to make the trip to the hospital in the car. Had to get ourselves together for the trip, too. And any time you go in through the ER it seems like you can plan on being there for hours, at least. At the hospital he got a CT scan and a full neurological exam. He was pretty drugged up for the pain by the time we got there but it was such a relief to see him moving his legs and arms. But all the tests came back okay, no damage, no lasting injury. So they sent him upstairs to spend the night in a room so they could keep an eye on him.

So he got to stay the night, eat hospital food and sleep. Sleep is about all he did the rest of the day. But today, after one night there, they let him go. He was glad to be out. One thing he wasn't happy about? They had to cut his brand new shirt off of him.

Kinda made him wish he'd listened to his mother that morning when she had suggested he wear old clothes to the derby. Oh, well. We're just glad he's okay.

Jamberry!

I have been looking on line for more kinds of berries because I do, after all, have 3 sons-in-law whom I’m very happy to have as part of my family. But I keep finding that to a surprising extent many of the different kinds of berries are really just different names for other berries I already knew about. With eight kids I’m beginning to think I’m going to be hard pressed to find eight more different kinds of berries. I think I have enough to cover the three sons-in-law but when the next one gets married I may be in trouble.

Science?

So this is kind of how it went.

Me: Want to try some tapioca?

Maulbeere: What’s that?

Me: It’s kind of like pudding.

Maulbeere: Really?

Me: Yea, only I have to tell you it’s got things in it. Little balls.

Maulbeere: Little balls?

Me: Yea, you drop all these little balls in and cook it. Then you end up with yummy pudding, which you like. And little balls.

Maulbeere: That sounds icky.

Me: No its not. You should try it. The flavor is worth the little balls.

Maulbeere: What's it made of?

Me: Tapioca.

Maulbeere: What's tapioca made of?

Me: It's not made of anything. It’s a basic element; nature's kitchen. End of story.

Maulbeere: Uh-uh.

Me: Yes, ma'm. You look it up. Its right on the Periodic Table; "Ta". Go look.

Maulbeere, coming back with her agenda from school, which has a copy of the Periodic Table in it: Okay, there's a Ta but its "tantalum", not tapioca.

Me: That's its scientific name. You know? Like, you and me, we call them wolves. But their scientific name is Cannis Lupus. Trust me. You’ll like it.

Maulbeere: Suuuuuuuure.

So then the big question is: did she try it? Yes, actually. And she liked the pudding but not the little balls.

A Thought for Today

A few days ago, for family scripture reading, we read in Alma 42. That was Alma’s counsel to his son, Corianton, and included a concept I have always liked; “… whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely, and whosoever will not come the same is not completed to come; but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds.”

I really like how it’s said in Helaman, chapter three; “Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked – And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.”

Those passages sum up the concept of our agency. It is entirely up to us what happens to us in relation to our final resting place in the next life. Our Father has set up a myriad of things to surround us and help us improve the outcome of this life’s test we’re living thru but in the final analysis, it’s up to us. We can blow off some or all of the help He’s given us or we can hold on tight to every bit of help the Lord offers. Like Alma told his wayward son; “… my son, do not risk one more offense against your God …” I like the phrase that Isaiah uses several times, “For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still”

When the subject comes up of why the Lord allows suffering we always trot out the scripture in Alma 60 about the Lord allowing the righteous to be slain so that judgment may come upon the wicked. Sometimes, when you bring that up, you hear back about how a loving God would not allow suffering even for that reason. Their sense of fairplay just doesn’t allow that kind of justice. But if God is going to give us agency then he has to allow us to use it if it’s going to mean anything. Otherwise he hasn't really given us our agency. The terms are laid out in plainness before us. We can either accept or reject them. They are not open at all to negotiation. And that’s okay. As imperfect humans we miss too many things to bring any kind of "after the fact" justice. But God is capable of doing that.

Another Monday, another FHE

So, way back on the 15th I had surgery on my left foot. They sent me home with a splint of plaster held to my leg and foot by something akin to an ace bandage. Then, after 10 days, I had to go back in to get a regular cast put on. That ended up being on a Monday so I'm thinking that maybe we could parley this into some kind of fun family night activity. So when they asked me what color cast I wanted and listed off several bright and fun colors they almost seemed disappointed when I said white. So later than evening, when it was time for the activity, out came the colored markers and we got started.

Schwarzebeere worked long and hard on his and came up with a very novel piece of art work. He was quite pleased when he was done. He is an imaginative kid.

Maulbeere got to work on her's.

Among other things, she did a portrait of our little pooch, SID - I mean Quasar. Quite artistic.


Himbeere's art work is always interesting, leaning a bit toward the abstract. This time he decided to showcase some of what he's been learning in his German class at school.

I'll let let you figure out exactly what he was trying to say.

And then Stachelbeere. He can actually be quite artistic when he wants to. He's turned out some pretty incredible artwork in the last few months.
But this time he opted for something simplier and a bit sci-fi, as well. And he signed his work with his new moniker.

But, like the old saying goes, "last the best of all the game."

This one is my favorite.

Technological Marvelings

Oh, the marvels of modern technology. Today a friend 1,500 miles away had lunch delivered to my door, all while sitting in her office at work. She called to see how things were going and make sure I was up to it, after having just had surgery. Then she ordered pizza and 20 minutes later it was delivered. Took longer to cook than it did to order and deliver. And it was yummy, too! I find that amazing. Having lived most of my life before the internet, back when just finding someone to deliver the pizza would have been a major undertaking, I think it’s cool that this kind of stuff is now so easy.

Ready for the Polar Bears Club?

Soooooooo, for New Year's Eve the youth in the branch decided to have a New Year's party at the home of one of the members that lives a little ways out of town. Among the festivities they planned was a dip in the hot tub, which was out of doors. Now to truely appreciate this you have to understand that all day the tempurature was way down. It never got above 10 (that was at midnight, as the day began) and by the time of evening they decided to get in the tub it had dropped down to -9.

Stachelbeere was the first in the water, followed soon by Schwarzebeere.

Didn't take him long to settle in. But then came the real fun. They would get out of the tub and take a roll in the snow.

Himbeere; seems a bit crazy to me.

Stachelbeere was every bit as crazy. This is the same kid that did the official Polar Bear plunge in the lake a few years ago. The water was 101 so I suppose that once they got back in they got warmed up pretty quick. He said the hardest part was getting back into the tub. You'd be a little cold while in the snow but when you'd get back in the water it would burn.

And then there was Himbeere's walks around the back yard. He had said he wanted to go sit on an old, broke down snowmobile that was parked out in the back yard but we talked him out of it. We were afraid he'd freeze to it and be stuck. It was amazing how the steam would rise off them when they were out of the tub. Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Betcha didn't know . . . . .

Wanna hear something profound? Tonight, our sweet little Himbeere shared this little gem of wisdom with us "You can't call 'em 'pits' until they got hair in 'em." Now there's a thought to ponder as you drift off to sleep!

Goodies, Goodies Galore!!!

I always hear the ladies work and church, when Christmas time comes around, talk about how busy they are because they have to get their holiday baking done. Wow. We don’t normally go all out with baking but this year we certainly did more than normal. The first bunch of cookies we did were kind of an experiment. The picture in the cookbook looked all cute and pretty. Ours didn’t quite turn out as nice. But they were still pretty yummy. They're supposed to be cute little teddy bears.

The next bunch we did were candy cane cookies. We even flavored them with peppermint. They turned out much better.

Then the art work really began. Blaubeere and son came over with all her equipment and we made some really cool looking cookies. Yes, those are paint brushes they were using.

They had bags of frosting, sprinkles to scatter on them. They were using “Royal Frosting”, which sets up a little harder when it dries. In the end, they made some fantastic looking cookies. I took some to work for a treat day and they got all kinds of compliments, ooohs and aahhs.

The next bunch we made have a little story to go with them. See, we wanted to double the recipe so we could have a few extra. But when it came time to add the sugar we accidentally quadrupled it. What to do, what to do. So, like any sweet-loving American family, we quadrupled the rest of the ingredients. So we certainly did end up with lots of this kind.

Then there was the cookie exchange at school. Take in a plate and bring home a bucket, a real assortment of all kinds of cookies made by everyone participating in the exchange. We ended up with not just cookies but fudge as well. That was great!

The goodies weren’t limited to just cookies, tho. We got some really yummy candied apples from Nicole. And we had a bunch of candied popcorn we’d bought from the scouts during their popcorn sale at the end of November.

So with all that, along with a few goodies we brought home from the store we ended up with more than enough Christmas goodies this year.

It all reminded me of when I was a kid and my Mom would do her holiday baking. She’d end up filling a couple of 5 gallon cans, with tight lids, full of every kind of cookie you could imagine. Then the cans would sit out on the back porch, where it was nice and cold to help them last. The nice part was that she was liberal as to when we could have some. Between the tight lid and the cold porch (you could only stand to be out there so long!) they didn't go too fast. We had all we wanted, certainly more than we needed. It was great. This is how great Christmas memories are made. Cool.