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Building an Outhouse
It’s not very common today to hear somebody say “I need to build an outhouse.” In fact, most people will think you’ve lost your marbles if you tell them something like that. Most of the guys I know think it’s silly, because “Why can’t you just pee in the grass?” and for the people who don’t think that, it’s more like “Why? Don’t you have a toilet in your house?” In fact, after building the outhouse, Scott had to tease me a little and ask all of the people who came over for Rocket Club, “Is it normal for you to go to work and come home and your wife…
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Busy as a Bee
I’ve been busy as a bee over here, going from one project or task to the next, and in the process, transforming this place we call home. The results are just as sweet as honey to me, and all of that work and effort is creating little seeds that will someday turn into so much more. I don’t think the right question to ask me these days is “What have you been up to?” so much as it should maybe be “What haven’t you been doing?” I’m working hard to make our goals for the year a reality. It means shaking up the routine for the summer so that we…
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March 2020
Bookshelves, maple syrup, chickens, garage facelift, yard cleanup, Covid-19, statewide quarantine… Just your average March in Wisconsin. Just kidding. It wasn’t. In some ways it was pretty “business as usual,” but in others, man, we were all thrown a curveball! Thankfully, I felt like I had signals it was coming. March 2020 will go down in history, that’s for certain. I know I’ve been writing a little more than normal lately, so I don’t feel like I have as much that I should be writing about right now, but I still have things to fill you in on! Since February, I’ve been building bookshelves in our living room. I’m not…
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No Electricity
Between blizzards, wind storms, lightening strikes, tornados, and randomly downed powerlines, it’s not really a surprise when the power goes out once in a while. We expect it to happen a couple times a year. Thankfully, we are blessed to live in an area where “the grid” is well maintained and in pretty good condition. We’ve never experienced a brown out that I am aware of, and the longest I can recall we’ve ever been without power has been under 24 hours. But there’s no doubt about it, it’s inconvenient when there’s no electricity. Two years ago, lightening struck close to our house. We aren’t sure exactly what it hit,…
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Having a Plan
It seems that there’s a misguided notion of what it means to have a plan for an emergency, worst-case scenario. Having a plan for a worst-case scenario does not mean that you are afraid of what might come. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have faith in God to look out for you. It doesn’t mean you want or are expecting “the apocalypse” to come. In fact, it surprises me how resistant so many people are to the idea of coming up with a plan for such a situation, and have the naïve notion of “it could never happen to me.” I don’t mean to sound like I am picking…
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How to Make Your Own Sourdough Starter and Bread
Several years ago, my sister and I were talking on the phone about making homemade bread. I was just starting to get the hang of making bread by hand and not using a bread maker, and she was venturing into the world of sourdough. She started telling me all about how to make your own sourdough starter and bread, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to bother with making my own starter, so she offered me some of hers. Well, I made sourdough for awhile, but eventually my starter spoiled for a lack of care. I got some more from my sister when I was ready to start again, but…
