Happy Birthday Ben!

I hope you aren't this cold on your birthday.

Thanks for being the kind of brother you always want to have around. (for the record, I have three more of those, but it doesn't happen to be their birthday today)

Bake it - make it - take it - blog it

As Steve hinted at in his previous post, our blogging activity has been sadly lacking. Personally, I always feel the need to have a meaningful or at least funny post, which doesn't always make itself readily available to my mind when I'd like.

So I thought I'd try an experiment. I've created a new blog where I plan to chart the progress of my baking projects. As there is no lack of creative talents among you, I'd like to invite you to post as well about anything you can bake (cook, saute, fry, etc.) make or take (as in photos - not whatever you can steal).

This is my 2009 blog activity stimulus package. Use it wisely my friends.

For Comment

It seems there hasn't been much activity on the blog this past month so I will present this photo for your comment.

You can provide interpretive insight, compare and contrast, try to tell a story - it's wide open.

Have fun!

A side note on the lack of posting activity herein:

I've checked the stats and found that the posting frequency has taken a dive during this blog's three year life. The numbers are simply shocking:

• 2006 - Average 11 posts per month
• 2007 - Average 6 posts per month
• 2008 - Average 3 posts per month

Now I don't know whether to blame this on the economy (why not?), the removal of internet service at 1208 (a little more likely), or lack of writing talent (perhaps, but... no). On the other hand, maybe we have gotten so efficient in our communication that we are now posting what took four times as many posts just three years ago. If I interpret these statistics correctly, we will soon be posting only once a year. Worse yet, the blogobots will start to deploy negative posts and that would really hurt. Let's hope for a rally in '09!

DAVID'S ALGORITHM SCANDAL UNVEILED!

Perhaps you, like me, have been fooled on occasion by the quiet and insidious ways of Mr. David Barnhart. (though I suspect none of us can speak to that experience as often as Daniel)

Well dear friends, I've once again uncovered our scheming brother's ways, and this time he's using his superior programming skills to lull us into cooperation. Please note the following program, first spotted as a comment on Rachel's gift post.


CREATE VARIABLE LIST "BARNHARTKIDS"
SET BARNHARTKID[1] = "ANDY"
SET BARNHARTKID[2] = "BEN"
SET BARNHARTKID[3] = "DANIEL"
SET BARNHARTKID[4] = "DAVID"
SET BARNHARTKID[5] = "JANELL"
SET BARNHARTKID[6] = "LISA"
SET BARNHARTKID[7] = "RACHEL"
SET BARNHARTKID[8] = "STEVE"

CREATE VARIABLE MYFAVORITECHRISTMAS
SET MYFAVORITECHRISTMAS = 4

STEP (VARIABLE X) FROM 1 UNTIL 8
{
PRINT "BARNHARTKID[X] WILL GIFT " + BARNHARTKID[X*MYFAVORITECHRISTMAS/X]
}


Does anyone else notice something peculiar? Whys does MYFAVORITECHRISTMAS = 4? And why does every [X] give a gift to MYFAVORITECHRISTMAS?

It is our duty to ferret out this type of corruption and prosecute the perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law. I am taking suggestions as to what an appropriate punishment will be.

Tomato Report #2

I think I can say with confidence that the growing season in Minnesota is over. We've been down in the twenties several nights in a row, and the grass is crunchy with frost in the mornings. So I thought I'd make good on my promise to keep you all updated tomato-wise and let you know how things turned out. A few weeks ago I pulled off all the green and orangish tomatoes (and two habanero peppers) and they're currently sunning themselves on my windowsill, as you can see here.



The plants looked pretty sad without their tomato finery, so I pulled them out and eventually put them in the compost pile. Here they're taking a well-deserved break next to the sidewalk, moments away from their long journey back into soil.




Lisa, I sent a bushel of tomatoes your way, but it came back to me. Somebody scrawled this note on the package: "We no eat this food. Not good food yum." I hope that was one of your roommates.

Lucy Returns for Halloween!

Word has it that Lucy made a Halloween appearance, somewhere in the vicinity of Kalamazoo. She was caught heisting a bag of food from a nearby restaurant. Sounds like Lucy is still getting herself into trouble! I wonder if there were any other Halloween appearances by well-known people, or characters. Please share, if so.

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Tis the night before Tuesday, October 21st,
The eve of one’s birthday; it’s Rachel, of course!

The mother of two precious, sweet little girls,
One with blond hair, the other with dark curls (pretend, if not)

Spending her days lovingly caring for them,
A woman of great virtue, oh what a gem!

How proud would Kris be to see her little girl,
To whom she gave life and raised in this world.

Now giving her life for these precious ones.
Raising little girls, and maybe someday a son!

For two special people, I give thanks to you God,
For the Mother, now with you, who birthed a child;

And for the child who grew to be a virtuous woman,
Happy Birthday, dear Rachel, may it be a special one!

Christmas Gift Stuff

Hello all. This is a rather utilitarian sort of post for me to make (sorry, no photos), but something that involves all of us (kids, anyways). I know it's only October, but in the Hancock Barnhart household, we're already starting to think about Christmas...if only to figure out who we are privileged to gift this year and give us enough time to work on their gifts. So, all of that to say....we need to do our gift exchange list.

Some of you may (or may not) remember Steve's creative listing of names for the exchange last year (determined via email)...and I propose we use a similar list for this year. I believe that the list was in alphabetical order by first name, and then we paired up top to bottom (then 2nd to 2nd from bottom and on through the list).

Here's our list of names in alphabetical order...

Andy
Ben
Daniel
David
Janell
Lisa
Rachel
Steve

I propose that we gift the person 2 names below ourselves...this means that none of the married couples end up with their spouse's name, and no one gifts the person they had last year. For example...Andy gives a gift to Daniel, Ben gives a gift to David, etc.

If there are comments, please leave them for everyone to check out so that we can get these "officially" listed by the end of the month (if not sooner).

Thanks for your input. Looking forward to an exciting holiday season with y'all.

Tomato Reprise

This spring I decided to plant some cherry tomato seeds. A couple frosts later, I begrudgingly went to the store and just bought a nicely sized tomato plant. The store plant did well, living on my roof, and it gave me a couple tomatoes before dieing about a month ago. Meanwhile, a few of my seeds miraculously came up. I planted them in a tray and set it outside my window.



The seedlings didn't look too healthy, and I saw such little activity from them that I was preparing my books for another write-down. About a week ago, though, I noticed little tiny tomatoes. By this time, I had forgotten that I'd planted cherry tomato seeds. I was pleased to have some fruit, but not so thrilled about the size...especially when they obstinately refused to grow larger. I chalked it up to the small planter tray that didn't let the roots stretch out or something like that. Just a couple days ago, the dwarf tomatoes actually began turning color, and I finally ate a few. It was only then that I remembered that these were the descendants of my cherry tomato seeds and all was right with the world after all.

A Football Player's Lament

Hey, hey, what do you say, he got the ball and hiked,
But things did not go quite as well, as Daniel would have liked.

Can’t tell you what all happened, for this one thing I know,
Working in the concession stand leaves no time for the show!

They must have tousled over the ball, and ran it up and down,
Or crashed headlong into a heap of players, upon the ground.

Not sure anyone saw it, for they were all down at the stand,
Buying hot dogs, pizza, pop and such and putting money in my hand!

But alas the lines there dwindled, and the noise too died down,
And I heard the words, “We’re losing,” and knew there’d be a frown.

It’s so hard to lose at high school sports, and feel the crushing defeat,
But he will learn that losing a game includes how defeat to meet.

To strive to do your very best, and realizing all the more,
How loved and valued you really are, despite the final score.

For winning is so much bigger than playing a game and not losing,
Loving Him, and one another, is winning of our God’s choosing.

Having the heart of our Father, and caring for your “brother,”
This is winning that really counts, and truly helps each other.

So pick yourself up, learn what you must, and keep on keeping on,
Striving to grow as our Father intends, long after the game is done.


"With borrowed will, 'Get up', she said, 'You haven't lost at all, for winning is not more than this: to rise each time you fall.'"
-- D.H. Groberg

Reeths-Puffer Wins!

Rah! Rah! Sis-boom-bah, let’s get the ball and hike!
3-6-9 (actually 11), all in a line, ready to run and strike.

Twas just the night for football, for all sportsnatic fools,
No place to park and stands were full, last night, at Fruitport High School.

Who’s that #61, out there on the field?
Why, it’s Dani…oh I mean Barney Boy, who has the ball to yield.

First game of the season, and back and forth they went,
But in the end, 15 to 9, to Reeths-Puffer the victory was lent.

And so we say, “Congratulations!” to Daniel, the youngest “bro,
Sweet victory on your 1st Varsity game; that’s the way to go!

Tomato Report #1

What do they say about new homeowners and their gardens? Something tiresome I'm sure.

Maybe this picture doesn't appeal to anyone who didn't just move into a house two months ago, but I'm pretty proud of this tomato (one of about a dozen growing currently). I got a late start on a garden this year, and I'm not sure whether or not these tomatoes will ripen before frost comes, but it's good to see them trying. I'll be sure to keep you all up-to-date with the tomato reports.

A Storm To Make Mom Proud

About a week or so ago, we had a really heavy storm. I was sitting in my apartment that evening, reading, when I realized that I had been hearing sirens blaring in the distance for five or ten minutes. I stepped outside my door and saw some of my neighbors on their deck. They explained that these were air-raid sirens going off because a tornado had been spotted. Luckily, the tornado didn't get anywhere close to us, but as we sat outside, the wind picked up and the sky grew dark in a matter of minutes. Then it started pouring harder than I've seen since, well, a tornado went through Muskegon last summer. The rain is a little difficult to see in the video, but you can definitely catch just how much lightning we got.

A New Star at Navistar!

Rah! Rah! Sis-boom-bah!
Janell got a brand new job!

Caterpillar was too slow,
As caterpillars are want to go.

Navistar nearly lost out,
But then they did a round about;

And to their senses soon they came,
And wanted Janell, just the same.

"Refreshing" is what they thought of her,
And, of course, Mom couldn't agree more!

Best wishes, Janell, so happy for you!
They'll be so glad to have you on board, tis true!

An August Article About Activities

Just a note to let you know that the Hancock Barnharts have been "enjoying" a rather busy summer. I've posted some photos to my picasa albums (http://picasaweb.google.com/rachel.barnhart/) in order to keep you all visually up-to-speed on the happenings of our lives.
If you'd like to see photos of the 4th of July Barnhart/McCann gathering (Lisa), we've got some there. If you're interested in seeing how honey bees live and work, check it out. If you want to see some beautiful local (Hancock) hiking trails, we've got that covered. If you want to take a quick trip to the zoo, but don't want to actually leave the comfort of your own home, visit our albums. And if you just want to see photos of two adorable toddlers (that's right...we have 2 "upwardly" mobile children in our home as of 2 weeks ago!), there's plenty of those to go around.

(I apologize for being so delinquent in getting these posted, but I figure that it's better to actually post some at this point than to continue procrastinating on it.)

Enjoy.

Happy Monday, Everyone

Monday is a shirt that's just a few sizes too large.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Yes, she changed our diapers
and woke us up for school.
In return, we played outside,
until the night grew cool.

She helped us write our state reports
and made us play our scales.
And in the case of arguments,
meted justice without fail.

So join me on this special day,
and wish her all the best.
It's happy birthday, Sandy.
You really are the greatest.

La Maison de la Porte Jaune

Well, I'm embarking on my fourth week in the new house. And since I've bored regaled so many of you with all the minutiae glories of this money-pit I thought I'd post some new photos to give you an idea what I've been working on.

First, I decided to put a new (used) front door, and I made it yellow, in honor of Lisa.


















I was about to clean my kitchen floor the other night, but I decided it would be far easier (and more fun) to simply tear it out. As it turned out, there were about four layers of flooring on top of a pretty nice maple floor.
























And one of the joys of home ownership is cleaning up the things that fall in your yard. Sometimes that's your neighbor's dog's "gifts." Other times it's the top of the silver maple that came down in the windstorm. UnfortunatelyLuckily, nothing was damaged (except for some of the fence). Here are a few pics I took before the clean-up.

I feel like quite the nagger, but...

I seem to recall writing a similar post to this one a few weeks ago. I'm just curious if anyone has good pictures to share from this past weekend. In leu of the correct pictures, I will now endeavor to recreate the weekend using similar pictures.



The cookout to feed five-thousand, or at least Daniel, Karl, and Andy


Aurora has quite the fireworks show





A romp through the sprinkler for the kiddies


The perfect end to a busy day

Dear Ella and Elisabeth,

Uncle Andy found these really great giraffe chairs, but they are a little too small for us to sit in. Do you know anyone who might be able to fit in these chairs?

Thank you everyone!

Thanks to everyone's generous contributions, I am now the proud owner of a beautiful Yamaha guitar. This picture isn't quite as heroic and dramatic as the one dad drew for me in my birthday card, but it will have to do.

more picutures II

Pictures of us working on garage, Ella was supervising from the hammock.

More Pictures

Here are some pictures of the mighty builders and the Tower of Babel, just before the confusion of languages. Or maybe this was the garage, just before lunch, I'm not sure, it has been a couple of weeks.

Re: Garage

Barnhart Birthday Girl (we have two!)

Soon there'll be a birthday girl, whose name I shall withhold;
I'll write a little riddle and you guess who and how old.

She didn't use to smile a lot, when she was very young,
A pouty lip would often protrude well beyond her tongue.

And then would come a backward kick to ward off woud-be teasing;
Ah.....you know of whom I speak, but now she's much more pleasing.

In fact she wants to help mankind, Music Therapy to them bring;
And one of the ways to do so would by by gui'tar string.

So as you solve this riddle, and guess just who she be,
You also may be wanting a birthday ide-e (altered for rhyming purposes!)

She wants to buy a gui'tar and play with lots of soul,
And grateful she would be for contributions toward her goal!

Garage?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm a little curious as to what the garage looks like right now. Does anyone have pictures of the almost finished product? Or could someone maybe post a pictorial story of the making of the greatest garage on Giles Rd?

Another Birthday Boy!

Today we have a birthday boy and David is his name,
The one who never would play by the rules of different games.

Bored he was with conventional, that describes this mister;
And so he took to creating anew, involving little sister.

Such a good sport was she, willing to play with big brother,
Unlike one who played precisely by rules; yes, that would be Mother!

Eventually he challenged himself with another kind of trick,
And taught himself to program computer in GW Basic.

Who would have thought that little ole David would end up (for now) like this,
Programming computer for Alcoa Howmet, with an IR degree, no less!

Hard telling where he’ll go from here, but challenge will be a part,
For our birthday boy likes challenge, that’s been evident from the start!

So, Happy Birthday David, unique and special are you;
Fear not to be unconventional, and “to thine own self be true!”

April Kayak Adventure

April...the month of sun, then snow (and school "snow days"), then sun again, and then some more snow, and then a bit of sun. The month that can't decide whether to be winter or spring, impetuously changing from day to day. Today it decided to be quite spring-like (as opposed to last Friday when we had blizzard warnings and the big kids had a snow-day from school). The temperatures ranged into the 50s, the sun shone brightly in a beautiful, blue sky dotted with clouds, the snow melted with a steady stream of dripping, and the ice continued to break up on the local bodies of water, namely the Portage and the Pilgrim River. Which brings me to the reason for this post.

Our kayak had it's first venture into the water today for the 2008 kayak season. Crazy though it may seem, we were able to kayak while there is still snow on the ground, and even ice on most of the Portage. Steve and I put our tandem kayak in on the Pilgrim River, right near Steve's new office, and paddled downstream out into the Portage, and then back upstream, spending a solid 40 minutes on the water. We were blessed with the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful spring day sans kids, thanks to our good friends Kit & Julie, who had them over to play with Cameron & Olivia (they got to splash in puddles and go for a walk). And since we get to get out and "play" today, we though we'd show you how beautiful it is here in Hancock/Houghton!

Here we are pre-kayaking. The kayak is ready to be off-loaded from the Subaru and put in to the Pilgrim River. I'm wearing my life-vest already so that I don't have another thing to carry down the hillside while helping to haul the kayak down.
And here we are, having completed our kayak journey along the Pilgrim River. The kayak is waiting for a lift back to Hancok via the Subaru, and Steve and I are ready for a late dinner. It was a beautiful day! Hoping to have many more like it!

Easter Darlings

Greetings, fellow Barnharts, from the land of Easter snow. We pray that you each enjoyed a blessed Resurrection Day celebrating the resurrection of our Saviour! In honor of the festivities, the girls got new or "new/old" dresses to wear to church. And they looked absolutely darling. So we're posting a photo for you to see them too. Please note, Ella's special doll "Jenny" got a new dress, too, and so got to go to church with us this morning.Here are a couple of "random" photos of the girls. Ella and Elisabeth both like to help with laundry, and to watch the clothes go 'round in the washing machine. Here they are "helping" out mom.
Ella is a great big sister, and she likes to play with Elisabeth. She's helping Elisabeth "drive" the car around the living room, and doing a great job of it! We start them young.

Noisy Pets

As I was working at my kitchen table today, I kept hearing tiny little smacking noises coming from the direction of the hamster cages. A little surprising, since they're usually asleep all day. Not quite. Chief must have decided to get up for a little midnight snack (err...midnight for him). He dug up one of the almonds he's been hording and sleepily sat there chowing down. He really is lazy - didn't even bother to get up from the little nest that he's made into his bed.

The New Haunt

Even our buildings are cold

It's so cold here that our buildings are growing icicles just to stay warm.

Okay, so that's not really true. This is a bar/restaurant just around the corner from Milkweed, which caught fire and burned last Wednesday. The firefighters doused it with water, which then immediately froze because it was -5 that day.

Nobody was inside the building at the time, though I heard that one cat died. I've told the arson detectives to check in with suspects in Muskegon, Michigan – two naughty dogs named Nikki and Twila.

Call of the Wild

At first it was only a whisper, then I could hear it louder and louder until it was so loud that I couldn't ignore it. It was a rather high pitched voice or maybe the sounds of many small high pitched voices. I listened at the stairway, nothing, then at the basement door; no, the sound isn't coming from inside. I went to the outside door and as soon as I opened it I knew what it was. It was the sound of millions upon millions of freshly fallen snowflakes. They were all crying in unison saying they wanted someone to play outside, someone needed to wrinkle up the smooth blanket they had formed over all the earth. To bust through the monotony of their world and make tracks and piles and holes in the white canopy they had been building all day long.

As soon as I was outside, I could hear other voices, these were farther away and more mechanical. They were not the voices of nature, small and high pitched, these were deeper, more solid, voices. They were calling for help, they were cold voices, they were voices that said they wanted to be warmed, and they wanted to move and free themselves of the stillness that made them cold. Daniel and I got in the car, I had a good hunch where the second voices were coming from, and sure enough, as we pulled into Mom's old driveway the sound was unmistakably coming from the barn.

We found them in the barn, shivering, with skis and tracks frozen to the cold concrete floor. We broke them free and dragged them outside into the deep snow. "Please" they asked, "just a little gasoline?". And then, ever so timidly they begged for us to pull their starter cords. When we did, their engines roared to life and all modesty left them. They belched out foul smoke and screamed for us to pull hard on the throttles. When we did, they chewed into the fresh white snow and threw it far behind them as their skis plowed ahead cutting deep gouges into the path that their headlights blazed in the dark night of woods and fields. "Faster! Faster!" they screamed when we raced down the empty dark road with only the light of their headlights and the white billowing snow following behind. Finally after crisscrossing paths through fields and woods we ran them back into the barn, the noisy engines died as we hit the kill switches. They were hot and dripping wet, I could hear them huffing and puffing as we closed the overhead door and a whispered "thank you" from a tired and once again timid voice came from inside the barn as we walked away.

The snow was quiet now as it surveyed the damage done to it's beautiful coat. No longer smooth and soft, it had been chopped and cut and diced by skis and tracks going every which direction. But it was not complaining, it had asked for someone to play in it, and besides, it knows tomorrow's forecast calls for 3-4 more inches. By then the small voices will call again for someone to break the monotony of the white smooth blanket.