Flat-Emma Makes it to West Virginia & Back!

Meet "Flat-Emma" and her amazing traveling envelope. Both were part of a fun geography experiment that the Colfax third-graders tried.

Each child created a cut-out version of herself and mailed it to someone in another state. Emma decided to mail the paper Emma to Susan.

Flat-Emma came back via the school mail yesterday. She arrived with a nicely typed letter from Susan, describing their adventures during her stay in West Virginia. Also included was a thick packet of pictures showing Susan and Jay with Flat-Emma.

The letter and pictures were so nice and so descriptive of Susan's life these days that I thought it'd be fun to include them here on this blog... so we all can spend a little time with Susan. So (with her permission), here are excerpts from Susan's letter:

Dear Emma,

I am currently in my last year of school, which means I'm going to graduate in May! I'm very excited about that! And during this last year of school, instead of going to class I do this thing called 'rotations'. Basically all that means is that I go to clinics and hospitals, and learn what I am going to do after I graduate.

For the past month, I've been doing my OB/GYN rotation, which is taking care of women, a lot of whom are pregnant. It has been really fun and different from anything I've ever done before.

I'm doing this rotation at a clinic called the New River Health Clinic. What is special about this doctor's office is that it operates on a system called "sliding scale". This means that people without health insurance can come and get seen by medical providers for really cheap, sometimes even free, depending on how much money they make.

New River is an awesome institution, it provides many services to the area, including some surgical procedures and even dentistry at a decreased price for many people. Everyone who works there is super nice, professional, and incredibly smart.

Now that I've caught you up on what I do everyday for work and school, I'll tell you more about what we do for fun around here. When the weather is nice, we like to go out to the state parks. We took Flat-Emma out to two of them while she was with me. First, my boyfriend Jay and I took Flat-Emma to Grandview State Park. You might remember when you came to visit a few years ago before Leila was born, we all went there together! Grandview has beautiful overlooks of the mountains. It has many trails to hike, some easy for the whole family, and some more difficult ones that unsuspecting Wisconsin folk sometimes still take the whole family on [sad by true-- I'll vouch for that!].

It also has an outdoor ampitheater where it holds plays every summer. This summer they showed Honey in the Rock, the Hatfields and McCoys, and Highschool Musical. It is a very peaceful place to go when it isn't crowded. They have good secluded areas where you can just sit and read a book. While we were there, we took advantage of said opportunity. Not to mention, Flat-Emma got a little rowdy, climbing trees and playing in the dense forest [Corniness-- love it!].



We concluded that day of fun with a trip to Cheap Thrills, where Jay works. Cheap Thrills is a locally owned record store. It's a cool place to hangout and chill out. They sell lots of used CDs, DVDs, and other various musical supplies there. That night, our friend Mitch was working. He's a very interesting guy and fits in well there, although he seemed a little confused with Flat-Emma.

Another thing we like to do around here is go to antique stores. There are lots of them around. We enjoy sifting through the junk to find cool treasures. One of the things we found on this particular visit was a very old-fashioned otoscope, used to look into people's ears. It was very cool. We also found a bit of blue-and-white dishes that reminded me of your mom :).

After we went to the antique store, we ate at this awesome restaurant called Pies and Pints. They have the best pizza in West Virginia (in my opinion). We had a great time with Flat-Emma, and plus, she's a cheap date since she doesn't eat very much.

One more thing that I would like to include in this letter is a new hobby that I've acquired. I haven't quite mastered it, but I've gotten into making bead jewelry. My favorite thing to make is bracelets, so I thought that I would include one of my original creations for you to wear after you receive this letter. You might want to hang onto it, it may be worth something someday :).

[Bracelet pictured at right].

Thanks for sending Flat-Emma to me! I had a really great time taking her around with me and showing her what I do. I hope that sometime soon you can come and visit again so that we can do all the things that Flat-Emma and I did! I miss you a bunch and can't wait to see you at Christmas. I love you!

Your sister,

Susan

Now that's a pretty nice letter, isn't it?

I told Susan that the exchange had me feeling like we met Jay. It was fun seeing him try to keep track of Flat-Emma during all her crazy escapades. In fact, I suspect Flat-Emma may be rather smitten with Jay. She said he's very handsome (some might even say "hansive").

So what else has been going on around here? Well, Friday we had something like a blizzard.

There was no wind or cold temperature (not much like a blizzard, huh?), but lots of heavy, wet snow within a fairly short amount of time... I'd say 4-6 inches. By the time the kids got out of school, the roads were bad enough that their busdriver didn't even try making it up our big hill. Instead, he dropped all the kids living on our part of the road off at the bottom of the hill.


None of the kids were wearing boots that day... but at least my kids had pants and regular shoes on! One neighbor boy was wearing shorts, while a neighbor girl wore crocs (very flimsy shoes) without socks.

But the neighborhood kids have gotten to be friends, and I think all enjoyed the camaraderie and novelty of walking up the hill together through the thick and unexpected snow.

They made a bee-line to our house, to tell us all about it.

After warming up a little, it was back outside... for the requisite snowball fight. It looked awfully fun out there, so I bundled Leila up to see what she thought of all that white stuff (she seems to have mixed feelings about it... so do I).

Jon's home on Fridays, so he was there when the kids came home. I thought I'd make a quick run to the store to pick up the few things we were missing for our Harvest Party on Saturday.

I didn't get far before realizing that it was a mistake to leave the house. The roads were unplowed and my car doesn't have 4-wheel drive, so I had to be very careful not to get stuck or slide off the road. Also, many of the trees still have their leaves, so all that heavy snow really weighed them down. Trees bent low to the ground and big branches began to snap off and fall into the road.

I debated whether or not to turn around, but decided since I'd come that far I might as well finish my trip to town. With a little luck and effort I made it there okay, but along the way I passed four cars that hadn't made it and wound up in the ditch. I didn't dare stop because I was pretty sure I'd get stuck too if I didn't keep the momentum going (no one was in the cars anyway, as far as I could tell!).

It seemed kind of ironic, but the next day Jon had to plow our driveway and instruct Michael to shovel off the picnic table so we could have our Harvest party.

Some of the neighbors and I had come up with the idea for a Harvest party during an apple cider-making session we had in September. It was such a good time-- scavenging bruised apples off the ground with the kids, learning how to turn nature's apparent discards into a delicious drink (with patience, elbow grease, and the help of a good cider press). We talked about having an neighborhood bonfire later in the fall, with a potluck meal that would showcase the things we'd been growing in our gardens.

I offered to have it at our house. And with the exception of all the wet snow we were hit with the day before the party, things went as planned.

The food was great! We had all sorts of pickles, breads, and pies to try (interesting combinations, too, like wild apricot and raspberry pie). There was squash, cabbage, green bean, corn, and other veggie dishes-- all things we'd grown. For meat I made a sauerbraten out of venison and beef. The venison was from a deer Jon'd shot on our land last hunting season; the beef was from one of Johnne's cows, raised just up the hill from us. There were also beef sticks, pumpkin seeds, and salsas to munch on.

We ate indoors but moved outside to the bonfire after dark. The kids roasted marshmallows and caramels (heated on a stick till they're soft, then pulled into a sandwich between two salty Ritz crackers-- a trick we learned at Girl Scout camp). There were scary stories for the kids.

Michael inexplicably played his bassoon for everyone.

The next day we visited Jon's parents, hauling along some of the left-overs to share.

By the way... there's a cute story behind the outfit Leila's wearing, at left.

Jane had found this little Scottish-looking plaid outfit at a thrift sale, I think, and gave it to us when Leila was much smaller. I had it stored in a drawer in her room and must admit I had kind of forgotten it.

The day of the visit I rummaged through Leila's closet, looking for something she could wear. I heard Leila open the drawer of the nearby dresser. Then little footsteps pattered down the hall.

"What's she up to?" I wondered. I turned in time to see her running down the hallway, wearing nothing at all but that little plaid hat on her head (she'd just had a bath so was bare-bottomed).

It was so dang cute that I decided to take it as a sign that she should wear the plaid outfit to Grandma's that day.

Well, I'll close on that note. Hope everyone has a safe and spooky Halloween! And thanks, Susan, for letting Flat-Emma (and us) take a peek into your life!

A Plug for the "Little House" Books

The weather and the view here, these past few days, has been so bright and so beautiful that I'm feeling a bit sheepish for complaining about snow in my last blog.

Fall has not let us down this year. Last week's unwelcome snow melted quickly, and the warm breeze and vivid blue sky of these past few days has more than made up for it. It's truly been hard to spend time indoors.

Part of it is that we're still new enough to our surroundings here in Colfax that we can't seem to drive down the road without marveling "We live here! Yea!" The rolling hills and farmland, the trees and wildlife... SO much nicer than the scenery of our old neighborhood (no offense, Eau Claire).

And actually, truth be told, even during last week's so-called "bad" weather (when we got three inches of snow), there was nothing to complain about. I spent my days indoors all comfy and cozy, with Leila and a good book.

I've been re-reading the "Little House" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Before you scoff at me for reading children's books, let me encourage you to give these particular books another chance. An adult reader will have a greater appreciation for the things she's writing about.

She gives careful descriptions of how ordinary families got through their daily lives on the American frontier. Hint: it involved lots of hard work and specialized knowledge, passed down to children by their parents. People had to do almost everything for themselves. Nothing was readily available and nothing could be taken for granted.

Even simple meals were accomplishments-- collaborations, really, between family members who worked on the different aspects of each meal. If meat was served, someone hunted or raised the animal that provided the meat. Someone in the family butchered the animal, and others took care to save and preserve the non-food parts of the animal for their practical uses later... be it leather or the fat used to make lard, soap, or candle wax.

In other words, eating was the exact opposite of "fast food".


Now. I don't mean to idealize that point of history. There was certainly plenty wrong with it. I wouldn't want to live back then.

But people had an appreciation for things that we seem to lack today. They appreciated what they had because they knew what it was like to go without.

A bad economy and the reversals of fortune that many of us have experienced in recent years reminds us what deprivation is. That's a hard lesson to learn but it's not entirely a bad thing. Not if the result is that we become more appreciative of what we have, more careful with our resources, and more compassionate toward the people who truly go without... here and around the world.

That's what I've been thinking about lately, anyway. And the insight is partly due to reading all those Little House on the Prairie books.

For instance. As it snowed here and as Leila napped, I read Laura Ingalls Wilder's book "The Long Winter." In it Laura recounts how her family lived through one unusually long, hard winter in Dakota territory.

A series of blizzards, cold weather, and heavy snow blocked the incoming trains. Supplies they would normally have access to stopped coming altogether... for seven months. In that time, Laura's family ran out of meat, kerosene, and coal.

They lived in virtual darkness. But they plugged away at survival, and kept their kindness and their humor. In the last few months all they had to eat was wheat. They took turns cranking the wheat in a coffee grinder, to make flour so Ma could bake brown bread for their next meal.

Since there was no coal or wood left, Pa and Laura spent hours every day twisting hay into bundles. Their cold, chafed hands worked quickly to twist enough hay to keep up with the fire.

It was so cold they must never let the fire go out.

How can you read that story and not feel really, really lucky that you have a soft chair and a fuzzy blanket to retreat to?

I rest my case.

The Pumpkins Think It's Funny

Can you believe this??

The pumpkins find it hilarious. It's snowing here-- and has been all day long.

Yes... this is WISCONSIN. Many of our trick-or-treating expeditions involve winter coats and frozen fingers.

But-! I must protest this early snow. There are still so many leaves around here-- at least in Colfax. Many of the trees around our house are oak and still completely green. The rest of the trees are probably close to the peak of their fall color right now.

What should be brilliant red, golden or orange is now muted down and bleached out, under heavy clumps of snow.

Needless to say, the chickens are not amused. They've spent most of the day huddled in their coop or hiding beneath our backyard deck. I tossed them bread crumbs earlier, and they (eventually) came out to eat them... but they looked surly.

Jon is just about done with the winter chicken coop. He built it onto a pallet so that he could move it around the yard as needed, with his Bobcat. It has a roof but no shelves yet.

While Jon was working on the roof the chickens came over to investigate. They even went inside and looked around.

The kids were just home for a four-day weekend (teachers' convention). We were sick for part of it, but well enough to have neighbor kids over on Friday for a pumpkin-carving party.

We grew enough of our own pumpkins this year for each kid (and the neighbor kids) to have their own jack-o'lanterns. I cut the holes out of tops, and they scooped out the "guts", separating the seeds from the rest so we could roast them later.

The scooping took awhile, but Leila LOVED that part. After gutting them each kid cleaned up and designed their face.

The plan was for me to go around with the big knife (one knife, safely handled by the adult) and carve their designs for them. But after some urgent pleading and several nerve-wracking demonstrations of their ability to carve safely, I finally allowed the older kids to try carving their own jack-o'lantern faces.

Luckily no one was injured in the process, and everyone seemed very proud of what they had accomplished. I was proud of them too!

And I did manage to keep the knives away from Leila.

Many important lessons can be learned while carving pumpkins:

• Plan ahead!


• Keep your work spot tidy!


• Safety first!


• Big pumpkins look cool but there's lots of pulp inside.
  
  
• If you beg Mom long enough she'll let you have a KNIFE! (wait... scratch that one)

Jon is working in Superior now, but for the next few weeks plans to drive home at night. He has a company truck, and the guy he rides with would rather commute too. Of course, that means getting up at 3:30 every morning and driving two hours (one way), but he's going to give that a try, at least for a couple of weeks...

Today my "little" brother, Bill, came by for a quick visit, on his way home from Rhinelander. Bill's 25 years old now (can that be true?? He was born when I was still in highschool!).

He had to leave before Michael and Emma came home from school, but Leila and Coco got to see him awhile (Coco is a big fan of Bill's).

Well, I better hurry up and post this little anti-snow rant before the snow melts! Have a good week!

Feeling October

I'm opening this blog with what I hope is my first successful attempt at posting video. If it works, expect more of these home movie snippets from me in the future...

So! October has finally arrived. It's chilly around here. We haven't had that first hard frost yet, but it's been cold enough to bring the potted plants indoors and keep a fire burning in the furnace.

That seemingly endless supply of green beans we had this summer has finally dwindled away. We've picked our pumpkins and pulled the corn stalks up out of the garden. We planted winter onions and the day lillies that Hope's aunt gave us.

All of that leisurely wicker in the green house has been pushed aside to make way for firewood.

Jon is almost done with the "winter" chicken coop. It has four solid walls and a door and is heavily insulated. We'll hang a heat lamp from the ceiling. All Jon needs to do is build shelves for nesting boxes.

The past few weeks have been all about apples. Our neighbor (the one with a farm) has generously let us pick as many apples and pears from her trees as we thought we could use.

I've been making apple pies and canning jelly, sauce and pie filling. We've found that Emma's allergic to many store-bought jellies (maybe the pectin?), but she does fine with home-made jam made from fruit and sugar. I do "fine" on the home-made stuff, too! We've happily munched our way through two jars of Grandma Jane's strawberry rhubarb, two jars of Mark Valaskey's wicked mixed berry, and our neighbor Candy's sweet blackberry jam. Now we have a half dozen pints of apple butter and spiced pear jelly to work on!

My brother John came for a visit last weekend. He picked fruit with us and visited the farm. We played board games (Scrabble was a highlight!) and helped entertain Mom and Dad, who also came for a visit.

He admired our chickens until he noticed how large and nasty their droppings can be... especially when plastered on the steps of our foyer. It's charming to see chickens milling about, just outside your door, but there's definitely a down-side...

John, the kids, and Mom and I went to Goodwill and the Halloween super-store in Eau Claire, looking for costumes. Mom did not care for the overweight Vegas-era Elvis costume we saw there, or for the prices... costumes ranged from $30 to upwards of $60 at the Halloween store. We didn't buy anything yet... still looking for ideas. Emma was happy with several costumes she saw, but Michael didn't find any Hercule Poirot costumes (the 1930s Belgian detective he admires) and brother John saw nothing remotely like an Ottaman Turk.

Go figure.

Lots of grim reapers and French maids, though.

Yesterday afternoon Johnne (our neighbor with the farm), Leila and I visited Emma's third grade class. The other night at conferences Emma's teacher, Mrs. Cox, had mentioned to me that the class is working on a science unit centered around "simple machines". I suggested that we demonstrate how an apple peeler works (and then let the kids eat the apples that they peel). I had talked to Johnne before about bringing apples for the class, and she was all for it.

As it turned out, Johnne was able to come along and help. We had three apple peelers: Johnne's, the teacher's, and mine (thanks, Dad!). We set up three apple peeling stations and the teacher had the kids line up. Each child selected her own apple and used the peeler to slice it up.

It was a good time for all. We had come at the end of the school day, just after recess, so the kids were hungry and glad to have apples. The teacher made sure they did a little math (how should 20 kids divide themselves among three apple peelers?) and thought through the mechanical aspects of the peeler (screws, clamps, etc.). The third-graders also seemed to thoroughly enjoy Leila, who toddled around their classroom in her rubber boots and raincoat, eating apple slices and accepting their hugs.

I'll close with a few pictures of Jon cutting down a tree near our house. He was worried that this large tree, which leaned toward our house, would fall down in a wind storm and damage the roof.

Removing the tree was a challenge. First he had the kids and me leave the house and stand way over by the garden, in case the tree didn't fall in the right direction. Then he leaned a ladder against the tree and climbed about 30 feet into the air. He tied the ladder to the tree, and he also tied himself to the tree.

I made a little joke about "Don't cut down the part of the tree that you're tied to." And he said "Yeah, it sounds funny. But many people have done that before."

I started getting a little worried. His plan was to cut the tree down in sections, starting with several big, heavy limbs. I wasn't as concerned about those limbs falling on the house as I was on how he would manage to drop the branches without hitting himself or the ladder, just inches away.

To cut each limb, he had to reach upward practically on tip-toe (nothing like dangling a running chainsaw over your head), and cut away a wedge from the tree-- at just the right angle so that the branch would fall away from both him and our house.

It was nerve-wracking, and he probably shouldn't have attempted it on his own, but he did it.

Whew-!

I should mention quickly that Susan and Jay are definitely coming to visit in December, and hope to meet as many members of Susan's family as possible. They're flying over on December 5th and staying at our house. Jay will stay five days, then fly back. Susan will stay through Christmas, and then drive back with her mother and David.

We are very excited to see Susan and David again, and meet Jay.