Wilton

I was in Wilton yesterday! My friend Kathy Puffe and I drove up to visit a MOPS mom who had twin boys three weeks ago. I took a couple of flannel baby blankets, and we brought her some freezer meals. In addition to the twins, she has two girls (6 1/2 and 5) and a boy (10 months). Needless to say, these twins were a surprise pregnancy! But the babies are healthy, the other children are adjusting well, and Christina is getting a lot of help from friends and family. She said we can come anytime we want to hold a baby. :)

Of course I had to drive by Grandpa and Grandma Hochhalter's old house. There have been a few changes.

The gray paint and gray metal roof look nice. I suppose those old windows aren't very efficient, but they give it that vintage look, along with the stone foundation. We noticed that there's a treadmill in the porch, a nice cool place to work out!
The biggest change is the attached garage addition on the east side. It looks almost as big as the house, but they tied it in pretty well.
This is the view from the alley. It looks like they moved the old single garage to the back of the lot so it can be accessed from the alley. No longer any flower gardens in this area. The addition ties into the back entrance/porch area.
Notice the old green metal garden shed. Looks familiar . . . was that Grandpa's?

I don't know how recent these changes are, or who lives there, but it was nice to see the house well cared for. The double lot and nice big yard are still one of the best things about the property. Is the house 100 years old, Mom? I seem to remember that your Grandpa Holmgren built it.

It was fun to see the house again. Many happy memories for me there.

Taboo Around the Table

Mary Did You Know? (by Voices of Lee)

Here's a very recent recording (probably from a phone) of Voices of Lee, the group that Alyssa is in. She was really excited about this song. So I figured I would share it with you guys. She doesn't have any solos here, but it's still pretty sweet.

Christmas is Coming! The goose is getting fat.

Christmas is Coming!

Hey family. Just a reminder to get presents for Prentice Landing. I'm excited about this. Mr. Totem would like a scarf.

Cincy Life!

 So, here I am in Cincinnati. Sometimes it's hard to believe that I live here and this is my school! Here we see the football stadium that is dug in to campus. It's pretty awesome to see and when it is warmer, you can hear the marching band rehearsing for football games. Football is a pretty big deal on this campus. 3,500 seats!

 Here we see a picture of my room (I share this room with a good friend of mine, Jason. We went to highschool in ND before he moved to Ohio.) I have recently switched quilts to my specialty Grandma Phyllis Camouflage quilt since it doesn't hang over so much. I was blessed by my roommates and friends in the area so that when I showed up in Ohio, I had a bed, a dresser, a desk and a chair available for me. Lord thank you for your blessing! May I use them to bless others.

 The parking on the street is the biggest hassle. But, I don't drive hardly at all so it's no big deal. Not all drivers know how to parallel park very well. Had to laugh when I saw this. (my corolla is parked right behind this car.)

 There's an artist that I've been interested in for a while. His name is Matt W. Moore. He does a lot of geometrical shape stuff with spraypaint (usually on canvas.) He had a residency at a local art studio in April and did a mural downtown that I had been wanting to find since I got here in Sept. (it's off the beaten path.) So, my roommate Nick and I went running a week ago, Friday and found the mural. So happy to find it non-vandalized (although we spoke with an art studio employee who said he had to wash off some obscenity a few weeks back).

 Here's our house! 2369 W Clifton Ave. We love it here. There are 5 guys currently residing under this roof. They are all believers in Christ and that is a monumental blessing. We get along well and we have pretty cheap rent. This house was built in 1896 I believe and really has a nice interior. A non-functional (at least now) fireplace is featured in every room!

 If you notice the overgrowth in the house picture, be relieved to know that we did not leave it that way. My Phillipino roommate Mark and I did some landscaping in the front to remove all the volunteer trees (there were many) and then we laid down some UC colored mulch to finish it out real nicely. some of the small greens have come back, but we like the personality.

This is my super sweet desk that I got from Andrew Mole's parents house in Wilder, KY (15mins away.) Andrew is an old roommate of Michael's and a dear friend of ours. He took Michael and I skydiving a couple years ago too! I really feel comfortable in this space and we are only 5 mins walk from campus. Another blessing is that we live on the same side of campus as CCM (the music building.) So, I can get to all of my classes in 7 minutes walking.

Sometimes we go shopping together as roommates and feel that pictures are necessary. Here is Jason. He'll be featured on Lowrider Magazine's 2012 Calendar. That was $300 of groceries. We find joy in the simple things.

I made Grandma Phyllis' buns yesterday for the first time. As you can tell, I'm already getting in the Christmas spirit. The baking was exciting and fun and the result was great. My roommates thought that I did well and were amazed at my baking skills. It runs in my Swedish blood. I am headed to TN this Tuesday for Thanksgiving break. I will be spending most of the break with Alyssa and her family. I am obviously very excited about that.

Wish I could share these with you. Maybe over Christmas I will make them again! Love you all and please write an email or shoot me a text if you're wanting to know more. I'd love to talk to you and see how you are doing. Thanks for reading!

Prebys on Music

Greetings world. It's been a while for me since I've blogged. Let's get it pumped up around here. About a month ago I did an interview with Scott Prebys, a local music guy, for his program on the public access channel. You can view the program by going to this site:

http://www.dakotamediaaccess.org/channel12/program-information/prebys-on-music/

Clink the link with my name. Hope you enjoy.

Michael

Homecoming, etc

Hey everybody!

Just wanted to let you in on some news that happened over the weekend.

I, along with Lexy and about 50 others, participated in the Homecoming 5K Run on Saturday and............I won it! I started out ahead and basically led the whole way, ha. My time was 19:41. It was pretty fun. The link to the Jamestown Sun article is below so you can have proof!

http://www.jamestownsun.com/event/article/id/146509/group/Sports/

It was a fun weekend with Lexy, Jeff & Marissa, friends, and some awesome Scrabble time with Grandma at her sweet, spiffy, new-look condo! The 4 of us (Lexy & I, Jeff & Marissa) had a blast throughout the weekend with our own splash of activities as well. Check the Frontier Village and pumpkin pictures on Facebook for more visuals!

Love, Austin

New Job. New Apartment

1. Anders and I moved at the beginning of July into our own apartment, wahoo! I keep meaning to take some pictures to show everyone but that would mean I would have to clean up a bit... I decided to just take some quick pictures, threw the dirty underwear in the corner so you can get an idea. You will get a "lived in" feel. We brought some things home from Jamestown that are now working perfectly for us: desk from grandma's sewing room, "chester drawers", Grandma Ruby paintings in bedroom, turquoise tulip chair. I'm going to paint the desk and another sewing table not pictured, any paint color suggestions would be appreciated. We are loving our new place, we have good friends living next door and 3 other families from our church on our block.








2. I started a new job working as a para in a classroom for K-2nd graders with Emotional Behavior Disorders. It has been CHALLENGING! We only have 7 kids, but many of them have highly aggressive behaviors. They are absolutely darling children, but they also bite, kick, hit and swear like sailors! It's been a learning experience, and I daresay it is getting better as the kids are settling in, but after this year I will have the behavior management skills to work just about anywhere. I really like the team of teachers I am working with and feel very supported. I am also SOOO thankful to have a full time job with benefits!

Moving Day!

After 43 years in one place, Mom's made the big move! Many things had been moved already, such as dishes, clothes, books, and many boxes. Mom had already been filling all those great closets and storage areas with her things. Saturday was the day for the furniture and the final move. We rented a 17' UHaul. Friends came along at just the right time, some to load and some to unload.

Glad we weren't packing for a cross-country move! The truck made three trips back and forth.
The view from Mom's balcony. A nice ramp down to her garage. Some things came up the elevator, some up the nearby (and faster) steps.
We drove out to the lake Friday night to get the trailer and four-wheeler for moving the piano down the hill. Carolyn had come up with the great idea of taking it out through the kitchen rather than down the stairs. Tom took lid, pedals, and legs off the piano, and then strapped it to a skid borrowed from Dave Morlock. The guys rolled it through the kitchen out onto the deck, then loaded it onto the trailer, and Tom SLOWLY drove down the till with four guys bracing the piano. It worked! Then onto the truck, across town, off the truck . . .
The careful measurements and calculations worked out. The piano fit onto the elevator!
Most of Mom's stuff was in the condo by 12:30. Time for a first meal in her new place! Tom, Lexy, Austin, Dan and Andrew Hornung, and the happy new condo resident! A couple of condo neighbors brought goodies.
Deb Hornung insisted on this posed shot. Looks like I'm having so much fun! I didn't have anything to do with moving the dryer, but it was made easy with the use of a great appliance dolly borrowed from Bismarck friends. Tom hooked up the washer with new hoses, and refitted the dryer (undoing Keith's adaptation of venting the dryer out the side through the wall).

It was a lot of work, but all went smoothly. So thankful for all those who helped. We're looking forward to many happy memories in Mom's new home.

A World Without Birds

I was sitting on my parent's back deck and realized how much I love hearing birds chirp. So, I wrote a poem:

A WORLD WITHOUT BIRDS by Joel Land:

A world without birds would be such a drag.
A world without bird turds and baby bird slag.
A fresh fertilizer for all of the world.
A soil that intrigues boys and disgusts the girls.
Imagine the sadness in one earthworms life,
If he didn't have a dirt home to offer his wife.
Consequently, the worm becomes foods
For hungry infant beaks to which the mother bird broods.
If animals were aware of this dreary cycle,
They'd all be depressed.
The way of the world is just order and mess.
I must confess, I applaud the birds ways.
They do what we don't, and have yet to complain.
To live and provide, to love and then die.
Ah, to see through the sparrow's eye.


ps. maybe this is the way to spruce up the fam blog? everyone who reads this must pen a poem and post it.

pps. Grandma, this one is for you.

Jamestown College Choir in concert

They were so good that I had to hear the concert twice! The choir came through Bismarck on Monday, March 14th, at the end of their California tour. Michael and I went to the concert that evening at First Presbyterian. Tom was in Dallas so he missed it. Their home concert was scheduled for Sunday, March 20th, at the Basilica in Jamestown. Tom wanted to drive over for it, so I decided to go with him. The concert was even better this time, and I loved hearing all the music again. Above: Austin is in the middle of back row, Jeff is holding down the Tenor I section, with the red candle just above his head.The cousins posing with their biggest fan. Jeff's hair is a lot shorter than when I saw him on Monday. I hear that campus stylists-in-training were vying for the chance to cut his locks. Such handsome men in their tuxedos. Wish you all could have been there!

Backyard Nature with Joel

Well, I'm now done dog-sitting and I'm back at my house on Highland Avenue. It's been rainy and cloudy all Spring Break. But, this morning I got up and was looking out the window and saw all these creatures in about 5 mins. I would've taken pictures (they were only about 5-10 feet away through the window) but I believe my camera was stolen by the airlines coming back from Miami. So, you'll have to take my word for it.

The Mockingbird. A very common TN bird. Very playful and fun to watch (much like a Kingbird.)

The Squirrel is the obvious frequenter of our yard. They are all over the place here in Cleveland, TN.
Next is the Carolina Wren. Our neighbors own a few birdhouses and these wrens occupy one of them.
Blue Jay. These birds are very aggressive but incredibly skidish. A brilliant example flew down and landed right by the window. What incredible blue! I think there's some Prentice blue in there somewhere.
I saw the female Cardinal first. She hopped around the corner with her brilliant red beak.
Not far behind was the male Cardinal. What a pair.
This was the new species I have never seen before, much less in our yard. At first I thought it was an oriole but after some research, I found it is the Spotted Towhee. A very pretty bird. You might call it a Luxury Robin.
The Spotted Towhee, pair of Cardinals and the Carolina Wren all appeared at the same time