Tootlin' - Eagles and Buffalo

So, we're off tootlin' around the country side of western Minnesota and come across this pretty winter scene that I just had to share with you.

This is winter, also, but it certainly reminds us of unpicked cotton fields back home:

The "cotton" is actually little clumps of snow caught in the forks of tiny branches on the roadside brush.  We must be getting homesick, huh?

It's amazing how many places here DON'T have icicles.  That means their roofs are insulated really good.  This is a fishing resort on one of the "10,000" lakes in Minnesota.  But the lakes are frozen solid this time of year, so I guess snowmobilers stay here now.

Doin' a lil' more tootlin' and what to our wondering eyes appear but some Minnesota buffalo.

And even MORE amazingly (I tell ya', God is so good to those who are faithful.  He just drops in little surprises daily so that we're reminded he's still in control of all things!), even more amazingly we see ...

John's very first wild bald eagle!!  (I saw one on my tent-camping drive to Alaska with Granma Jo in 1999.)  Now, this guy wasn't just good enough to pose for about a dozen pictures, but he decided to do a fly around for us:

This was a pretty good photo, but, even though the next one only caught a tip of his wing, I like it, too!

Then he came back, sat in his "sentinel tree," and lets Granpa take even more pictures.  He moved from one spot to another, turning his head from side to side, as though he really was posing for us.  Thank you, God, you are so-o-o good to us! 

Snowbow !!

I've seen rainbows, double rainbows, rainbows actually touching the ground (but no pot of gold there).  Now we can say we've seen a "snowbow!"

I know.  It's hard to see, but it's there!

I could tell you how rainbows are made, but that's no fun.  Snowbows are made the same way only with ice crystals instead of raindrops.  I don't know if there really is such a word as "snowbow," but there ought to be!

Does Your Bible Look Like this?

Where is your Bible?  Did you know that there are some Christian religions that basically say, "Let the priest interpret this for you."  They, then, never open the Bible for themselves.

Others open their Bible, study it during services, and put it up until the next service.  They take extensive notes in a notebook or in some other way.

Still others never take notes at all.  They must have a MUCH better memory than I do!!

This is my Bible:

Some folks are horrified, absolutely horrified! that I would write in the Bible!  The Bible is just a book in my opinion.  The words are what is sacred.  I tried taking notes somewhere else, but they never seem to be where I need them when I want to reference them.  Sometimes, if we're hearing from a new preacher, I write his name next to the text he's preaching on.  It's always fun to run across it several years later.

But mostly it's clarification to what is in the text.  Or the Greek word something was translated from, which is immensely helpful in understanding the writer's intended meaning.

Simple, but very important things like Jews were not Baptized because they were "born" into the family of God, are learned and noted.  Baptism was only intended for non-Jews.  This morning the discussion was on the Greek word "Koinonia."  We usually think of it as fellowship, but see that list of verses I penned in on the right?  Those are all scriptures where the word "Koinonia" has been translated into lots more than fellowship.  Ultimately, Pastor Ray Russell here in Grand Forks, North Dakota said that Christianity isn't about the individual; it is about the body of Christ.  It's not about being the Lone Ranger. (I wonder if he knew that was a Texas reference, since he's from Canada?)  It's about the corporate body of Christ loving each other, caring for each other, sharing with one another, lifting each other up, because we are all a part of one.  If we don't come together for "Koinonia" the "body" will fall apart.  Also, isolation prevents growth, healthy growth.

Well, those notes will remind me, and they will help me share what I learned - maybe years from now.  Maybe my kids and grandkids will pull my Bible out at my funeral and begin to understand me better, be drawn closer to the Lord because of these notes.  Without those notes, preachers sometimes might as well be throwing their words to the wind.  Today's words were penned in ink - for the ages.

When I run out of room in this Bible, I will buy another and start all over.  So, what does your Bible look like?

Something Incredibly Rare in Local History

The Thortvedts.   This family was full of talent and industry; they utilized both to the fullest!

The father, Levi, was an inventor, fiddler and a published author (beginning with his diary in 1903.)  The whole family saved their "letters, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs..."  This, in effect, recorded what they and their community felt about the things going on around them on a daily basis. In this day and age, recording the events of the world is no problem - but who is keeping a journal of the everyday family?  It absolutely is not like what you see on ANY television show.  So?  Who's doing it?

In December of 1870, Tone Thortvedt served as a midwife at the birth of their neighbors, the Skrei.

Orabel kept alphabetical listings of people, places and events in the area:

She had literally VOLUMES of data:

She was also an accomplished artist recording what folks thought then was routine, possibly boring "life":

She records the story behind the painting as follows:  "This painting depicts the first stagecoach arriving on the Red River.  In the summer of 1859, the Minnesota Stage Company built a road from Saint Cloud to the new army fort on the Red River Frontier:  Fort Abercrombie.  They had two stagecoaches filled with passengers on their way north to Fort Garry (the settlement now known as Winnipeg, Manitoba).  The plan was to have the passengers go from the stagecoach to a steamboat that had just been constructed on the Red River.  Things did not go according to plan.

"Along the way the stagecoaches met Anson Northup, the owner of the steamboat.  Captain Northup informed them that he had no intention of taking passengers on his boat.  'If you want to run her,' Captain Northup told them, 'you'll have to buy her.'  In the end, the Minnesota Stage Company had a raft made for the passengers.  It took 22 days to float down the river to Fort Garry."

The "rest of the story" is about two sisters, the Stirling's, who had traveled from Scotland to meet Elleonora's fiancee, Robert Campbell, who ran Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca in northeast Alberta.  After reaching Fort Abercrombie they had to float on the raft for 22 days, then sail 300 miles to the tip of Lake Winnipeg and take a birch bark canoe for the last 800 miles!  Now THAT is true love!!

I love to talk story, as they say in Hawaii, but, with all of my blogging, how much of it is personal or records day-to-day events in our lives?  Things like the price of a loaf of bread (almost $3 now, and I remember Momma sending me into a 7-11 to buy a loaf for a dime) or the price of a gallon of gasoline. (When I first got married I remember gasoline wars between service stations and buying gas for $.14 - fourteen cents! - a gallon.  It, too, is now $3 or $4 or sometimes even $5!)  I write about history, ignoring the fact that someday WE will be history!  The Thortvedts did good!

Fargo, ND/Moorhead, Minnesota Historical Museum

Also in the Hjemkomst Center are several collections of personal memorabilia from a couple of prominent 1800's residents of Clay County. 

Now, the information at the museum identifies this as Annie Stein (1872 - 1923), but it sure does remind me of someone in "The Wizard of Oz..." 

Miss Annie's daddy started the farm with 148 acres, left it in 1861 to fight in the Civil War, and came home with a wife and baby son.  Her family operated the Georgetown hotel, a ferry across the Red River, a stagecoach station, and built up a farm of over 800 acres.  Her brothers ran a general store and a sawmill.

How does a well-to-do woman of the 1800's occupy her time while all the men are off tending to their businesses?  Apparently, if it was artistic, Miss Annie tried her hand (very successfully) at it.

In April of 1997, Grand Forks, just about an hour north of Fargo on the Red River, experienced a flood of Katrina proportions.  Their levies broke and almost the entire city was swallowed by flood waters.  The vast majority of structures we see today in Grand Forks are brand new, located farther from the Red River, behind larger levies.  Well, Miss Annie painted a scene that she witnessed of a Red River flood in Georgetown:   100 years ago, April of 1897,

She's a pretty good artist, eh?

She also painted scenes from the Spanish American War of 1898, scenes she copied from magazines like Harper's Weekly.  The horse is bleeding from a wound and the soldier is tending to it.

Yup, she was a pretty good artist.  There are lots more paintings and representations of her other artistic works, household items, and more stories from her life.  I really do like museums!

Hopperstad Stave Church

Also at the Hjemkomst Center, just outside the back door, we discover our second bonus of the day.

How absolutely gorgeous!  I'd trade in our log home for this any day!

The church, constructed of cedar, redwood and pine, is an exact, full-size replica of the Hopperstad Stave church in Vik, Norway.

How would you like to live in a country with a coast line like this - almost within walking distance of all of its citizens!  Over 15,000 miles!


Stave (referring to the construction) churches were built after the Viking Age in the 1100-1200's.  The use of vertical posts, or staves, evolved into wooden architectural works of art.  Guy Paulson began carving for this construction in January 1997, with the on-site construction beginning in August of that year.  The completed church was dedicated in 1998.  Eighteen 27-foot tall staves make up the core of the building, with the overall finished height of the church being 72 feet tall.  24,000 cedar shingles were used for the roofing.

See the covered porch all the way around?  This allowed people with leprosy to "attend" services and participate in communion as well as providing shelter for the church.

Gorgeous!!

Norwegian Trolls

These are the greeters for the Hjemkomst Center.  They are life-size wood carvings by Steinar Karlsen.  They were carved before a live audience at the 25th Annual Scandinavian Hjemkomst Festival in 2002.  Their images were on the official 2003 Festival Commemorative Button.  I don't think anyone ever gave them a name though.

Karlsen  has written books and poetry, composed songs, mastered painting and drawing before taking  up wood carving in 1990.  He has since created over 400 human sculptures for Scandinavian festivals in the Midwest.

This is the guy that pointed the way to the Viking ship (but he's not a troll.)

I like 'em!
 If you want a fun synopsis of Norwegian Trolls, go to http://www.squidoo.com/troll-of-norway
 

A Viking Ship In North Dakota!

Golly gee!  What will we find NEXT?  This is so-o-o-o cool!

Isn't this amazing?  Especially to find it in Fargo, North Dakota!  It is magnificent - and a real ocean-going Viking (replica) ship - it's been sailed to Norway!  You know that remains of a Viking colony has been found in Newfoundland, Canada, proving the Vikings (not Columbus) were the first Europeans in the New World.  No wonder the Scandinavians up here are so (properly) proud of their heritage!

 Here is a photo of the Hjemkomst sailing into Bergen Harbor:

The Hjemkomst

It took 72 days to cross the Atlantic from Duluth, Minnesota to Bergen, Norway.

The Hjemkomst was built by hand Robert Asp.  Vikings from the Ninth century took only a year to construct one of these, but it took a whole team of skilled craftsmen.  It took Robert six years. The keel is laid first and only has an 11 1/2" drop from where the upward curves for the bow and stern begin.  (Has anyone ever heard the term, "keel-hauled?"  It's an old sailor's punishment.  He'd have a rope tied around his waist and be thrown off the bow of the ship.  If he survived being hauled under the water under the keel, he'd be hauled back on board.  I'm thinkin' I'd only need to be "keel-hauled" once... - what am I saying!  I'd only have to know what keel-hauling was and I'm thinkin' I would never step out of line!!)

Once the keel was laid, you'd begin adding on the strakes (or planks) that form the hull of the ship.  You can see that the strakes overlap and are fastened together with a "Ro."  THEN the Viking's would form fit ribs into the hull.  (Special Agent Gibbs on "NCIS" does it the other way around - ribs first then the hull.)  Ultimately this is what Robert Asp and the Vikings would end up with:

The Hjemkomst keel was laid in 1974 and she was christened in 1980 at the Hawley Shipyard in Hawley, Minnesota. 

Robert Asp based his design on the Gokstad, a ship discovered in 1880 by archeologists digging in a clay mound in Gokstad, Norway.  The ship was apparently buried along with its wealthy Viking chieftain, probably Olaf Geirstada-Alf, after his death.  The clay preserved it, and his bones, for these 1,000 years - awesome for us!!  They also buried 12 horses, 6 dogs, and a peacock - not so awesome for them.  (I understand the horses and dogs for the afterlife, but a peacock?)

This is impressive - but there is oh-so-much more at the Hjemkomst Center!

Weather Forecast - or Pastcast

Wow!  What a weekend!  We had lows of 20-25 degrees below zero, and wind chill factors of 50 below.  There were blizzard conditions and white-outs.

I thought that kinda stuff only happened in Alaska!  There's cold, and then there is downright silliness!

Yup!  This is ice on the inside of the bedroom window...

 I think it's time for one of Granma's special recipes:

Day's End

Well, thank you, Lord, for a long and wonderful day.  And thank you, Granpa, for being a sweetheart and letting us make it to the headwaters of the Mississippi.

I just don't get it when folks say they see no reason to take a trip - even a one-day trip.  We always find something to surprise and delight us.  Who would have ever expected to find this beautiful piece of artwork here?

It's time to be getting on our way.  God has one more surprise for us, though.

Some of them stop on the other side of the road for a last goodbye...

as the sun finally sets in the west.

The First Colony of the United States

No, not the first colony IN the United States, the first colony OF the United States:  The Old Northwest Territory.  I never thought about that before, the fact that America had colonies of it's own...

THAT'S a big chunk of land!  Seems to be bordered by all the Great Lakes...

The Treaty of Paris in 1763, ending the French and Indian War against the British colonies in North America, granted all French territory on the "mainland" of North America to either the British or Spanish. The French and Indian War was the war George Washington cut his teeth on, so to speak.  He got his hinny whupped (as we say in Texas) by the French at Fort Duquesne in Ohio, but he learned from his mistakes, and we know the rest of that story...

In the Treaty of Paris, the British received Quebec and the Ohio Valley, essentially extending their northwest boundary from the northwest angle of Lake of the Woods to the Mississippi River.  (Itasca was the western boundary!  THAT's why it was important to find the source!  And we found it!  Cool!)

That's the little frozen lake behind the marker that the Mississippi flows from.

The port of New Orleans and the Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi were ceded to Spain in the Treaty of Paris for their efforts as a British ally. 

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, signed July 13, 1787 by the Confederation Congress (the United States Constitution wasn't signed until September 17th, 1787, so there wasn't "Congress" as we know it today)...  The Northwest Ordinance established a government for the Northwest Territory, outlined the process for admitting a new state to the Union, and guaranteed that newly created states would be equal to the original thirteen states.  It was officially titled "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North West of the River Ohio."

Thus began the westward expansion of America.  That's good because Granpa and I can now go all over and never cross an international border!

Wow, 1787 and this Ordinance outlawed slavery in the new territories.  Congress knew even then that slavery was wrong - they just weren't sure how to get rid of it.  It took the will of the people (Abolitionists for certain) to ultimately bring it about. 

This is interesting:  The Northwest Ordinance outlawed the right of primogeniture in the Territory.  That's the right of the first born to inherit the parent's everything.  We don't think about that much in America, do we?  That's another piece of the "puzzle of reasons" folks immigrated here:  if they weren't the first born son, no matter how wealthy the parents were, they received nothing of the inheritance.  The only way they could make their way in the world was to pull themselves up by their boot straps.  The best way to do that was to come to America.

Along these same lines, the Ordinance also established the awesome principle of American colonies becoming equal in all ways with the parent State if they were ever granted statehood.  (Kind of a government abolishment of the right of colonial primogeniture.)  These things were important to our Founding Fathers because they recognized first hand the harm that it created in Europe. 

Who Else Has Been Visiting the Headwaters?

This ridge between the two waters is THE beginning of the river flowing out of Lake Itasca that becomes the mighty Misssissippi:

Standing in the same spot but turning to the right ...

there she goes, off on her way to the Gulf of Mexico!  Along the way she will help out hundreds of thousands of people and animals and businesses...  Animals like these:

  

It's almost like being on hallowed ground.  It's so amazing that we live in America!  Thank you, Lord.

Headwaters of the Mississippi River

As we leave the restaurant in Bemidji, I begin looking at tourist information we had picked up and am pickled tink to find that we are just a few miles from Itasca State Park.  Now, why would that make me upside down and backwards happy?  Because the HEADWATERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER is in Itasca State Park, Minnesota.
 
A.  Whoever even THOUGHT about where the Mississippi starts?
B.   How did I accidentally stumble over this?
C.   It's in between us and "home" !!

Sun setting or not, we are goin'!

Another shock!  Lil' Miss GPS knows where it is!  Cool!

I just can't believe this:  THE Mississippi River, in Minnesota!  A snow-topped sign in Minnesota saying THIS is the Mississippi River.  No.  Must be a trick of some kind...

Pretty elaborate hoax if you ask me...

Archaeologists have discovered broken pottery, stone and copper tools around here left by ear-r-r-l-y Native Americans dating back 8,000 years.  They called the lake here Omushkos meaning Elk Lake and the resulting river Misiziibi or Great River.  I feel certain they had no idea how great a river this really was!

What makes a great river?  Well, how about measuring the distance from here to the Gulf of Mexico:  2,318 miles !!  But, so what?  Old Man River is great because of what it has done for people  - probably for 8,000 years! 

Semi-permanent villages were established here as long ago as 3,000 years.  500 years ago the Ojibwe/Chippewa settled here because of the beaver, mink and muskrat.  Plants like wild rice, cattail and bulrush made it possible to build more permanent structures and have something to eat without having to constantly move about.

But who first figured out it was the headwaters of the greatest river in North America??  Of course, conflicting claims - one official, one delayed and therefore unofficial.  Another hoax?  An 18-year-old dude with the XY (yes, XY) Fur Company wintered here in 1804 and again in 1811.  The Indians told him it was the headwaters .  He was the clerk for XY and kept detailed records.  But he didn't publish his records until 1856.  You snooze, you lose.

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft came LOOKING for the headwaters in 1832, named this place Lake Itasca which means "true source," and published his finding.

 IT'S NOT A HOAX!  IT'S THE REAL McCOY, er, MISSISSIPPI!

Minnesota's Lower Red Lake and Bemidji

On our trip up from Texas we were excited to see ice forming around the edges of puddles in marsh land.  By the time we got up to Grand Forks, entire rivers were frozen - and still are.  There has been snow on the ground in Grand Forks every day since we got here: some days more, some days less.

We've just come out of the east entrance to Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge, and we are on the shores of Minnesota's Lower Red Lake.  No surprise, it's frozen, too.

Now, you might think we would be tempted to just follow those tracks out onto that frozen lake, but no-o-o-o, our momma's didn't raise no fools!!  We're from Texas.  That lake might just take exception to that fact and swallow us right up.  We'll stay on solid GROUND, thank you. It is gorgeous, though.

We are headed to Bemidji (Be-mid-ji) now, a town of pretty good size.  Our little side trip to the Refuge has taken up some time, so we're thinking we need to consider a quick, late lunch in Bemidji and then head on home.

We stumble on one of John's favorites, Oriental food, and so he is a very happy man.  That's good, because I'm fixin' to push his limit...