A rose by any other name…

On Valentine’s Day, I gathered with some people at Church to make Valentine cards to deliver to residents at an assisted living center in North Aurora. Each of the residents would be getting a card and a carnation. Though the residents vary in age, all are incapable of living on their own due to mental or physical disabilities.

I am not a “believer” in Valentine’s Day, so I generally disregard anything associated with it. To be honest, as I was gluing little pink hearts onto purple cards, I was thinking that it was all kind of cliché. I thought the residents would look at the card and carnation as a novel gesture, but ultimately as somewhat impersonal and trite. I could just imagine them saying “Wow…you shouldn’t have…really”.

When we got to the home and began passing the cards and flowers out, I saw that my misgivings couldn’t have been further from the truth. I could see the joy on the residents’ faces as we handed them our hastily constructed cards and inexpensive flowers, things that most people would disregard as trivial and bothersome.

As I watched some of the residents hold their carnation to their nose, taking in the scent as if it were the most beautiful fragrance, I was struck by a thought…my unwillingness to slow down and appreciate small, seemingly insignificant things, like a carnation, is unfortunate. They treated a carnation the same way we would treat the most exquisite rose.

While there are a number of thoughts I can take away from this experience, the one that sticks out the most is that in all of the “important” things we find to fill our time with, somewhere inside us is that same level of appreciation. As trite and cliché as it may be, we need to be reminded to stop and smell the roses…and maybe even the carnations.

The floor beneath the floor

Spurious comments regarding my criminal activity notwithstanding, I'm glad to see that my posting privileges to Barnhart Central have not been revoked. And I suspect you'll be glad too (at least in an empathetic sort of way) when you see the photos of my weekend's work. I decided to use Lisa and Ann's upcoming visit as a good excuse to refinish my living room and dining room floor, and here's a brief photo journey along the way.

The drum sander (with 12-grit sandpaper), about to make the first pass (Friday night).

What 12-grit sandpaper hath wrought.

Another photo of the living room after the 12-grit pass (Saturday evening).

After a pass with 36-grit sandpaper, I found myself needing to fill a few gouges and cracks. Thanks for the wood glue/sawdust tip, Steve. That's worked well for me.

Au revoir, purple paint (Saturday evening).

The living room floor after passing over with a 50-grit sandpaper (Sunday morning).

Winter sunlight shining on a smooth, "nearly-new" floor.

The dining room floor, ready for a final screening and the first coat of polyurethane (Sunday afternoon).

The hard work's done. Applying the polyurethane should be much easier and quicker. The hardest part is just waiting till its fully dried. But I should have a newly-refinished floor by the time Lisa and Ann get here Saturday evening. Which reminds me, Lisa, do you still wear golf cleats indoors? I might need you to take those off at the door.

Update from Wednesday evening:

I applied the final coat of polyurethane this morning, letting the floors dry while I was at work. Here are a couple pictures of the finished living and dining room floor. Now they just have to dry for a few days before I can move furniture into these rooms.

Benjamin, Steven and Daniel: Suspected Criminals

It's a dark day for Barnharts everywhere, but I must dutifully report that there are wolves among us sheep. Have you been wondering why your checking account seems abnormally low? Puzzled by the recent loss of all your finest jewelry? Have you recently walked out of Meijers to find yourself a victim of grand theft? These are all signs of crime. And the following article will helpfully guide us toward the perpetrators:

http://www.livescience.com/culture/090128-names-crime.html

Interesting. Both myself and Dad are the only upstanding fellows in this whole bunch (according to the first line of the article, which is all I read). Things are starting to make sense now. I'd always wondered why I felt a vague sense of dis-ease around Daniel. In the presence of a crimial, I now see! And here I'd already assumed my discomfort could just be attributed to his prolific activity in the post-gastronomic regions.

Show Us Your Snow!

Alright, it's time to see who's got a real winter and who doesn't. Please add your picture to this post with a short caption. Make sure to include some young children for scale or tell us how many childs the snowbank is.

January 20, 2009 (Ben)

Well, Steve, thanks for kicking off this Arctic challenge. Scientists have shown that unwarranted pride can actually generate a small amount of heat for the human body. So take pride knowing that you're doing your part to make sure each of us stay warm. In addition to the pride you can derive from that "nothing but snow" forecast.

Unfortunately we Minneapolitans are not blessed with the deepest and coldest Great Lake on our doorsteps, so we have to settle for numbingly cold temperatures. This is a little graph of our temperatures over the course of the last week.

Pay special attention to that stretch from midnight Tuesday to midnight Friday where our highs were zero degrees. Man, I'm feeling a little warmer already.

January 21, 2009 (Rachel)

Here are a couple of photos to give evidence to the vast quantities of snow we've been blessed with (these were taken on the Friday of the posted weather forecast for Houghton). Our girls LOVE the snow (thankfully!). Please note that the snowbank to the right of the girls is significantly higher than either Steve's or my head, and completely dwarfs the girls. But it does make a great sledding hill down the other side (into our yard, not into the road).

January 22,2009 (Lisa)
Well, I didn't PERSONALLY take this picture, but this WAS taken somewhere in Kalamazoo. I think we have about 2 feet of snow right now, which doesn't seem like a lot compared to Steve and Rachel's pictures...

January 23, 2009 (Steve)

In case you all were wondering what the rest of January's weather will be like, I just pulled this gem of a forecast off the National Weather Service website.

JANUARY FORECAST

THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER (CPC) IS FORECASTING EQUAL CHANCES OFABOVE AND BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION AND AN ABOVE AND BELOW NORMAL MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OVER ALL OF UPPER MICHIGAN IN JANUARY2009.

Februrary 1, 2009 (David)

I know I'm a little late to the game, but I figured I'd save the best for last! Although we might not get as much snow as Michigan, nor as cold of temperatures as Minnesota, I still suffer immensely. Four times a week I set out on my bike for the four-mile trek to class. When temperatures are around 20-30 degrees, I'll actually arrive to class sweating. In the teens and below however, parts of my body begin anxiously volunteering to bail ship and venture back to my warm apartment without me. Friday night, I decided to take my camera along for the ride to get a nice clip of how it feels to be riding my bike right now. I quickly learned that the videos I tried to shoot were rather boring and lacked the bite of that wind chill. By chance, though, I just happened to spot something at the side of the road and had my camera with me to document:

Floor Revival

I felt a little like the character in Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" this weekend as I started tearing up damaged floor boards. But I didn't find any beating hearts underneath my floor. Or money, either. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I find that stash of Confederate silver.

Here are some photos of the process.


1 - Cutting out the center of the damaged floor boards so I can remove them individually.


2 - A clean opening.


3 - There were three damaged boards together, so I took them all out.


4 - Nailing in the replacement floor boards.


5 - Almost good as new. Just needs to be sanded, along with the rest of the floor, and poly'ed.

There are bigger gaps between some of the boards than I'd like, but I think it will all blend together a little when it's finished. I was a little bothered by them at first, but then I started noticing gaps between boards all over the floor, and I didn't want to show up the previous high-quality workmanship.

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.