Author: CW Spencer

Study Hall Shenanigans
April 16, 2020

Study Hall Shenanigans

April 16, 2020 A gray squirrel family chose to “shelter in place” with us this year. Mom and/or Dad built the nest on top of a large, front porch pillar. It was only a few weeks until I heard the first ruckus made by the babies. Must have been milk break time. What else do newborns have to do but eat and sleep? Sadly, the noises stopped early April. Mom might have taken her brood and upsized. Maybe they were driving her nuts in those close quarters. I imagine people moms and dads in our …
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It’s Already Happening!
April 9, 2020

It’s Already Happening!

April 9, 2020 In a recent post, I wrote about our basement cleaning project. Since then we’ve begun throwing more stuff out, but we’re already wishing we hadn’t. I figured we’d at least have a little grace period, but apparently Murphy’s Law doesn’t mess around. Can you find what’s missing in the above photo? Neither can we. It’s the rubber sealing ring that is supposed to be in the lid. We found the pressure cooker a few days ago. We pitched a perfectly good ring a few weeks ago. I don’t know why the ring …
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Angel in Plaid
April 4, 2020

Angel in Plaid

April 4, 2020 Yesterday I started to get bored sitting around the house, where nothing much was happening. But early April has treated us to a mild day, so now I’m sitting on our front porch watching nothing much happening from here. Something in the breeze stirs up a memory, with all its accompanying emotions, that goes back to a day when something did happen out here. Something big, at least from my perspective. I recall it like it was only yesterday, though it was in fact a couple decades ago. It was an encounter …
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March 28, 2020

The Law of the Overcrowded Basement

March 28, 2020 The other day a friend asked how I was spending my time during the coronavirus lockdown. I admitted to wasting a lot of it in front of the various screens in the house. But it’s not been a total loss, I told him. I was also spending extra time in the Bible, doing some needed repairs around the house, and even cleaning out the basement. Rick chuckled. The kind of chuckle I’d get if I’d just said I’d given up eating cookies forever. What didn’t he believe? Not the Bible reading part; …
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Polar Bear Cookies and Warm Christmas Wishes
December 24, 2019

Polar Bear Cookies and Warm Christmas Wishes

December 24, 2019 A couple weeks ago my wife had her kitchen set up to make desserts for our annual Bible study Christmas party. Our group has dubbed Bonnie the “Dessert Queen,” a title hard-earned over more than a decade of concocting culinary masterpieces. (She would not agree with that term.) You could say her desserts are just good for the heart, in a nonbiological way I mean. One of her choices this year was polar bear cookies. I offered to help and she said yes. It’s not often I am welcomed into the Queen’s …
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A Hiking Spike on Ohio’s Buckeye Trail
November 11, 2019

A Hiking Spike on Ohio’s Buckeye Trail

November 11, 2019 It was hard to miss the long line of hikers crossing the Little Miami River in Milford, Ohio on the sunny afternoon of October 20. Close observers might have even noticed a tear coursing its way down the cheek of a hiker or two. Those tears were most likely generated by a mixture of emotions. Joy in the completion of a five-year 1,400-plus-mile journey around the state of Ohio on the Buckeye Trail. And at the same time, possibly sadness that in a few hundred yards they would be finishing the trail …
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