Minnesota in January

January 9, 2019

We are in our RV, a Dodge conversion van, about an hour east of Duluth.  Gunther is in the passenger seat, P. is driving.  Thanks to the miracle of wireless communication, I am surfing the internet, seated at the table in the kitchen area.  Gunther looks listless.  Earlier we walked him through a park with snow more than a foot deep.  He refused to try twice.  Turns out even though he can swim, deep snow stymies him.  Plus snow gets between the fingers of his paws and hurts him.

Our quest is to refill the propane tank so we can run the heater to keep us warm tonight.  Again, thanks to the internet we have excellent instructions to find the U-Haul business with a person there who knows how to refill our tank.  Our plan is to pull the camper in front of Todd’s house where we can sleep tonight.  This will provide us with a low-stress visit; I hope for a long visit with outdoor adventures.  That means struggling up and down hills in snow.

We bought candy in Park Lakes for our grandsons.  To bribe them.  They are both physical children, eager to play outdoors.  We want them eager to play outdoors with us.  And our dog, too, of course.

Our daughter-in-law is into making paper these days, a perennial hobby of mine.  Only she is a bona fide artist, with access to people, ideas, and materials to make hand-made paper that would be good enough to print with a letterpress.  My heart!

I tried making hand-made paper before, but I really didn’t know what I was doing.  The resultant product resembled wet Kleenex-brand tissues which, although I was able to make some crude valentines, was too friable and weak.  I have a book printed at Grabhorn press in San Francisco on hand-made paper.  That paper is strong and thin.  Turns out the secret of good paper is good paper pulp that must be thoroughly macerated by beating with a mallet, or something like that.  The pulp fibers are separated and not chopped up.