Recent Fun Outings

Last Tuesday, we met Rob's family at a local restaurant for dinner. Much of the motivation was Carrie's birthday, but of course, we also got to see Penny and Eleanor. I know it is said over and over, but these little ones change so amazingly fast in their first years. We hadn't seen Penny in about a month, because we were at the lake, and by the time we got together again this week, she was all bright eyes and smiling.

Eleanor was sporting a cute new haircut. She is currently developing a very precise "within the lines" artistic technique now and is using color liberally. I'll have to get her together with her Great Aunt Paula, the artist—Paula would love that. Eleanor and I also had breakfast with her Pop on Friday morning. She is quite the story teller and regaled me with tales about muskrats and other wetland creatures appearing in a coloring book she brought along.

Last night, Will and Anders were in town, and so I suggested we all go to see a Hawkeye men's basketball game. This was Anders' first official Hawkeye sports outing. During our walk over to the arena, I tried to describe the big building to him. He was very excited, and his eyes were as big as saucers when we entered and he saw the large oval seating areas and basketball court below. Naturally, he was decked out in his official colors and cap.

He got right into the clapping for the band music and player introductions. There were lots of questions to be answered throughout the evening.

Anders and Grandma were doing moves to the music.

Anders had previously seen Herky at the Homecoming Parade a couple weeks ago, and so he was constantly trying to keep track of where Herky was and what he was doing. I thought it was just too good an opportunity to pass up and wanted to get a picture of him with Herky. However, the reality of being near that big, scary Hawk became overwhelming as we drew close. I thought he might pose with Herky if his dad held him, but Anders was not having any of it. He loved watching him, but he didn't want to be buddies with him—at least not yet. Later, he wondered where Herky slept and had other questions about him, so I guess he wasn't aware that there was a real human inside that head.

Copper Falls State Park

We are nearing the end of our last two weeks at the lake for the 2011 season. If I counted right, we will have been here for a total of 114 days—almost 1/3 of the year! During these final two weeks, we have done a little fishing and put another batch of fish fillets in the freezer. However, it has been pretty cool out on the lake. Our dock and boat lift have been pulled up onto the shore, and the deck furniture has been stored and covered. We have had the boat winterized, and it is now stored away in the garage. After one final use last evening, our hot tub is being winterized this morning. We have really enjoyed that nice 102º water on these cold nights, even though the trip to/from through 30º to 40º air can be challenging. We will probably be back for some cross-country skiing in January and/or February to start off the 2012 season.

Yesterday, we decided to expand our knowledge of the area by traveling north to Copper Falls State Park. Click here for access to the Wisconsin DNR's park information page. We had heard of this and another park through friends, and a hike in the woods on a sunny fall afternoon seemed like a good way to get out and about. The park is about 45 miles from us—about an hour's drive, and what a beautiful area it proved to be. Wisconsin changes quite a bit as we drive north towards Lake Superior. While it is relatively flat in the area near us, there it is quite hilly, with deep valleys and more rock. I'm eager to go back next summer when family members come to visit. A picnic and some hiking and sight-seeing will be something that I think everyone will enjoy. I'm pretty sure the grandkids will like it.

Kathie posed for me on a foot bridge that provides one of the entrances to a hiking trail that loops around the falls and gorges that are the park's main attractions. The park is geologically interesting, as it is evidently formed from large basalt deposits from ancient lava flows and subsequent ruptures that created the gorges. (If Rob and his family come for a visit next summer, he can explain all of this to me. It will be a test to see how much of his geology major has been retained.) The Bad River flows through these very deep gorges now, and there are two impressive falls along the way.

This is Copper Falls, which drops only about 12 feet today. Evidently, it dropped about 30 feet in the 1900s, but erosion and other impacts have changed that.

A bit further downstream, a second river flows into the Bad River. Well, actually, it falls into the Bad River at Brownstone Falls, which you can see here. Note the tannins, which color the water. The gorge was so deep along here, and the falls created so much mist, that we felt like we were in a rain forest. The trees were covered with droplets of water and were very, very green. I know the area would be especially pretty when the deciduous trees still have their leaves.

The park benefitted from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) work in the 1930s. Most of the park structures were built during that time, and the bridges, park shelters, and railings are all made of nice, big timbers and logs, creating a wonderful look and feel. One of the structures is this observation tower, which you can reach after climbing a long series of stairs comprising 114 steps and 14 landings (Kathie counted them), followed by a hike along a trail that follows a high ridge, which has its own great views to the park below. I elected to climb to the top of this structure too, and I admit that my legs were really feeling the exercise of the hikes and all the stairs by the time I was done.

I thought I might be able to see Lake Superior from up there, since we were only about 20 miles from the lake while in the park, but I couldn't make it out. Probably, it was hiding in the gray distance or was simply too far off. Nevertheless, the views in all directions were spectacular. I bet the fall colors would be impressive from up there.

I took the following two pictures so that Will could see some other types of timber construction. I thought the iron hangers used for the beams and which were made from 3/4" strap iron were impressive. This tower was so solid that I doubt you could ever feel any movement in it.

Like I said, I eagerly look forward to another visit sometime. We also want to check out Morgan Falls and St. Peter's Dome, which are nearby, on another outing next year.

For Dad

My dad was a Cardinals fan, so I know he would have enjoyed watching the World Series this week. The Cardinals are already up one game to none. Alas, my beloved Yankees didn't make it. So, here's hoping that the Cardinals sweep those nasty Rangers.

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Splitting Wood

You may recall our having some dead trees cut down around our property in WI last July. Three of them were ones I wanted to cut up for firewood. It is important to have fuel for all those s'mores events when grandkids come for visits. My good neighbor, Jerry, had offered to help me split the wood, once I got the trees "Tootsie Rolled." Up here, that is how they describe the process of cutting a tree into short logs.

Jerry owns a splitter, a machine I have seen but never worked with before. So, I was looking forward to that experience. I love seeing different machines and how they work, of course. Here we are assessing part of the pile of logs waiting to be split. By the time this picture was taken, we had already split about half the pile.

The splitter uses a good-sized hydraulic cylinder to press a wedge into the ends of the logs. The wedge consists of two parts, a narrow, sharp, leading wedge followed by a wide, separating wedge. The machine was amazing to me in terms of its capabilities. Jerry says it can handle much larger pieces if you tip it up into its alternate vertical position. Working with it at waist level is much easier, though, in terms of reducing the amount of bending and stooping one must do. Important safety tip: Keep your fingers away from being between the wedge and the wood. (We did!)

Of course, Jerry really had the techniques down for operating his machine, so I did most of the work of grabbing and placing the next log and then tossing the pieces into my wheel barrow. It is kind of fun to see the inside of each piece. Most of the time, it was just nice Spruce grain, but occasionally we saw some color or figure in the grain, or we might encounter some insects (ants, worms) that had taken up residence inside.

You must know that Kathie took these pictures. She was busy stacking, when not photographing. I would deliver each wheel barrow full of split wood to the area where we keep our firewood.

Then, Kathie created this nice, neat stack of wood. This is probably about 2/3 of the total. We'll have plenty of nice pieces next year for sitting out by a cozy fire near the lake or for roasting wieners or marshmallows. Thanks for all the help, Jerry!

Here's To Us

Twenty-one years ago today, on a beautiful sunny afternoon, Kathie and I were married just inside the lobby of the UI Theater building. We were blessed to have our children and lots of good family and friends around us. The years since have been very happy ones, as the pictures below will attest. Lots and lots of smiles came from the many happy occasions, celebrations, travels, and times together that we have shared. We appreciate the support that our children and friends have always shown us.

How can one possibly measure the very positive difference that another has made in their life? Kathie has been an extraordinary life companion and has helped me in so many ways to achieve, enjoy, benefit, survive, appreciate, thrive, value, ... Most of all, she has loved me, in spite of all my warts and flaws, both the visible and invisible ones. I love her and treasure her friendship and place in my life more than it is possible to express, and I hope that we will be able to share many, many more years to come.

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart!

Recent Projects

Haven't had anything in particular to post this past week, so I thought I'd share a couple projects that I finished and delivered in early August.

I had promised to make something for Sarah and Josh as part of their wedding present. I asked them to give me some suggestions. They mentioned that they had received three decorative serving plates, shaped like leaves,  as a wedding gift from someone else, and they didn't know how to display them. I thought about various shelves, but they all seemed too ordinary and not very special. Eventually, I came upon the idea of using a piece of burl or a wood slab somehow. There are places that sell slabs and burl, usually cut as cross sections of tree trunks. Many have highly figured grain and are used for such things as gun stocks, clocks or clock faces, or, if you can find bookend pieces (slabs that were adjacent to each other on the tree), small end table tops. I ordered a walnut slab from a shop in Webster City, IA, cleaned it up, and installed some walnut supports on it for the plates. Here is the final product, nearly a year after their wedding! Sarah and Josh seemed pleased with the results. This was a fairly different kind of project for me, maybe closer to art work than carpentry. My sister, the artist, liked it, so that made me feel a little glow.

Around the same time, I finished up a high chair for granddaughter Maia. This is actually the second one of these I have made, the first being for Eleanor. Hers was made of rock maple, and this one is oak. I let the UPS Store package and ship it to Maia for me.

It arrived safely in Nashville, and so here is Maia giving it a test drive. Actually, the color of the chair in this picture is more accurate than the one above (too much flash!). She seems surprised that her grandpa could actually do something like this. Sometimes her grandpa is too.