Densten Christmas

Over the highway and through the lake effect storm, we traveled to Grandmother Densten’s house in Madison, Indiana for Christmas (Herb’s house too). A 14 ½ hour trek was worth it for a wonderful holiday time with the family.

While there, we celebrated Jeff’s 17th birthday. Poor Jeff was the only one under 50 years old among the 12 assembled family members.

The biggest attraction was “The Sister Act”. All four sisters were together for the first time in several years and made up for lost time with their hilarity, shop ‘til you drop contests, and collective cooking and cake decorating efforts.

The “Band of Brothers-in-law” was their usual reserved and conservative selves.

And a gathering of the Densten family just wouldn’t be the same without a game of Pond Scum or two and a variety of parlor games, this year Guesstures and Catchphrase (Music)

The gift opening is as much fun as anything and Herb and Iris continue to prove that we all are just kids at heart.

Returning home to our quiet house and relatively meager pile of gifts under the tree, Jann and Jeff survey the tree for their gifts. And yes, Jann received the Santa clock she wanted.

For more photos of the fun and frivolity in Madison, check out the photo album “2008 Densten Christmas” on the right side of the page. A movie of our Guestures guesses and gestures could be in the making if I ever find the time for editing.

Windmills

New farms are being established in Steuben County. Windfarms. This series of 50+ windmills in Conhocton will be going on line soon. Another will start construction in Prattsburgh this winter. More are planned for Hornby and West Union.

Political Genius - Me

The video is funny. Voting for Obama is not funny, it's dangerous. I endorse John McCain for President and I approve this message.

Second Day Success

The cedar waxwing is one of my favorite birds. Smooth with pretty markings make it particularly attractive. I hadn't seen one in the valley for quite a few years, since the beaver dams were abandoned. But on this day, I became quite acquainted with them.



It was bitterly cold that morning. So cold, it seemed the world had frozen. There was no sound. No wind. I chose to hunt from a tree stand far away from the house so I could warm up on my way there. And it was on a south facing slope so I would catch the earliest rays of sunshine on this clear crisp morning. For those of you who know the valley, it was near the "upper gate". The oppressively heavy cold air even pushed the chimney smoke down to the ground and it drifted down the valley floor. As daylight broke, I saw just one lone doe stiffly walking through the cold looking for a breakfast that might get her blood going. But the sun did break over the horizon shortly and it quickly began to warm, and the cedar waxwings began to flock in for a breakfast of bush honeysuckle and autumn olive berries. The enjoyment of their company was short lived however as dozens upon dozens sat in the tree above me, and promptly dropped their eaten fruit remains on my head. And my clothes. And my bow.

I began to consider abandoning my post due to the nuisance, but decided instead to try a tree shaking dispersal method. It would work. For five minutes or so. But they would return and resume their annoying habit of dropping their red staining masses of digested fruit. So for the next two hours until their breakfast hours were complete, I continued to shake the tree every few minutes, and in a rush of wings, they would fly off to another tree. To the delight, I'm sure, of the laughing deer watching in seclusion and enjoying my dilema.

Persistance paid off however. Shortly after nine, I was able to harvest this 9-point buck.

And Nick shot this 8-point later that afternoon.

First Day of Bow Season

This morning was cold, very cold. A heavy frost that looked more like snow than frost. Pretty. But it made a lot of noise when the sun started melting it. Just another noise in a very noisy woods to keep you on your toes. I didn’t see much, a small doe that snuck in from behind me, then came back an hour later. A small bear a couple of hundred yards away, down by the spring. My afternoon was interrupted by a trip back home to take Jeff to work. Jann was at a conference. A quick stop at Home Depot to buy a new freezer. I didn’t get back to the valley until 5ish and so I just went across the road from the house and sat in a tree stand there behind the small grove of pines. I couldn’t afford the luxury of time going to a more distant and what one might presume to be a more promising locale. I did see a group of doe bedded there Thursday night, so thought I would give it a try.
It was a blast! About 5:30, an average size black bear jogged through the woods about 50 yards away, headed towards some apple trees by the log landing. It was the last I saw of him. But I was excited to be quick enough with the camera to get my first picture of a bear this year. Then about 6:00, a small 4 point buck showed up, accompanied 5 minutes later by 5 does. He chased them around and they played hard to get. It kept me entertained for the next half hour. I had several opportunities at shots, but I just couldn’t muster the will.

Three Strikes and Out

Arrived in Biscuit Hollow at 6:45 tonight, very dusk. Noted a black spot in the skid trail above the log landing just up the road from the house. Pulled in and shown the headlights on it and discovered it to be a LARGE black bear. I watched it eat apples for about five minutes before it ambled up the hill. Tried to get a picture but it was too dark. Even with the headlights. Then as I drove down to the house several deer ran across the upper yard. This promised to be a good weekend! Tomorrow, I’ll go out early at the crack of dawn and do some scouting for deer, set up a few tree stands during the day and do some chores. Scout some more in the evening, and then Saturday is the first day of bow season. Deer AND bear.

Then I walked in the house and my plans changed. Remember I had furnace problems here a couple of weeks ago? Then the hot water tank at home? Well, it’s baseball season and hopefully the cliché, “Three strikes and you’re out” applies. Out of bad luck that is. The circuit breaker to the furnace had tripped. Flipped it back on and the furnace started right up. What else is on that electrical circuit? The freezer full of meat…. While there was still some bags of ice that had not thawed, all of the meat had. And who knows how long it had been thawed. So tomorrow I’ll be cleaning out the freezer; dumping all of the meat. Yuck! Good thing deer season starts Saturday so I can start anew stocking the freezer.

With luck.

Ummm, maybe it had better be a new freezer. The old one has to be 40+ years old.

I Left My Heart.... In Arizona

Our visit this weekend with our first and only grandchild, Elena Morehouse, and her parents, Adam and Rachel, was absolutely delightful. I do believe that Elena must be the most beautiful, well adjusted, healthy, advanced, lovingly and wisely nurtured, 10 week old baby on the planet. Hold on, before you roll your eyes and dismiss the gush as another granddaughter smitten grandpa’s emotional ramblings, I have strong analytical proof of my assertions.

Just look at these pictures! I hardly think one could disagree.

For the three days we saw her, there was nary a tear, only some gentle and civil requests to her mother for some occasional creature comforts, and abundant smiles and laughter. She attended church with us Sunday without putting up a fuss and sat quietly through the service with her hands clasped in prayer on her lap, eyes reverently closed as to avoid distractions. And for our Sunday afternoon activity, she opted for a beautiful drive in to the Huachuca Mountains, then an athletic hike up Coronado Peak.

Adam and I both agreed that as typically legalistic minds, we have correctly and astutely arrived at the undeniable truth, Elena is simply the most beautiful baby girl on the planet. I am confident that if we had consulted the Army’s military intelligence emotion eliminating gurgle code interpreting algorithms and statistical analysis, we would have come to the same conclusion.

Weekendus Interrupto

I headed to Biscuit Hollow early last Friday morning with a long list of tasks to complete over the weekend. But first, unexpected furnace repairs Friday afternoon. Then on Sunday, an early morning emergency plea for help from home. I hurriedly headed back, responding with my crack plumbing skills (pun intended) for what expectedly turned into an all day adventure to replace a burst hot water tank while Jann valiantly tackled drying the flooded basement. The combination set me way behind schedule for the things I needed to get accomplished in Biscuit Hollow.

Most unfortunately, my quick departure from the Hollow left a number of projects undone and even worse, half done, necessitating my return and another day away from the office. Major accomplishments included spreading fertilizer over 21 acres and lime over 4 acres.

Frosty Morn

The promise of a beautiful fall weekend did not disappoint, as I awoke to a frost Saturday morning. As the sun rose, it made for some spectacular scenes and as the day wore on, the outlook only improved. Here are just a couple of shots from Saturday morning. It takes too long to upload photos on dial-up. I’ll try to take more, and share more when I get back to civilization.

Let The Show Begin

Sorry for the long delay in updates. Besides being busy, I just did not know how I would ever top the last entry. Realizing that, here's a pretty good display of God's creation too. However, just not as adorable as Elena.

It was a beautiful weekend in Biscuit Hollow. I saw a large bear in the buckwheat. It was warm, sunny, and colorful. Yes, the fall colors are really beginning to show. So, without further ado, let's get on with the show!

Elena Morehouse

Adam and Rachel have a site on Shutterfly where you can see pictures of Elena. I have also added the link to the family blogs list.

More Morehouse

Elena Michelle Morehouse

Here's the happy new Morehouse family! Meet Elena Michelle, born at 5:38 this morning. Mom and baby are doing terrific!

New Pond Denizen

A gift from the Wilsons.

Memorial Day 2008

I know Memorial Day was two months ago. I have some catching up to do. There's some pictures coming even older than this.

It had become somewhat of a tradition for the Morehouse Clan to convene in Biscuit Hollow on Memorial Day weekend. But with us all spread out across the continent, it has been awhile since anything organized has been attempted. This year was no different. More by happenstance or even Divine guidance, most of us ended up there this year. Bonnie was in from Michigan to be with Tom and his wife Sandy who was tragically taken from us during this time following a heart attack.


Lynn, Gail, McKenna, and Gail's parents were here. Oh, and Lucky, their new dog.


Tim and Bessie were there as well, and Pat and Butch dropped in for awhile.

Despite the very sad experience of losing a member of our family that weekend, it was good to be with family.

Grandmahood

There are two very nice young men that live around the corner from us. We'll call them Sam and Noah, because that's their real names. Jann stopped by last week when they were having a yard sale and noticed they had a cane for sale. I'm not sure how it all came about, but the topic of us becoming grandparents soon apparently came up and the boys thought that was hillarious. Obviously because Jann just looks way to young and beautiful to be a grandma. Several days later, we found this wonderful gift on our front door.

Not to be outdone, Jann put on her best grandma outfit, baked up a batch of cookies, and delivered them warm from the oven to those young whipper snappers.