Down the Rabbit Hoel

Stories of family, creativity, and diverse distractions.

Happy birthday, Glen McCain

Glen McCain was born January 14, 1907 in Ohio. His parents were Charles Hudson MaCain and Sarah Jane Hoel. Sarah was the sister of William Henry Hoel, Walt’s grandfather.

Keeping Christmas Up a Little Longer

It’s a bit of a let down to put away the holiday decor. All the bright colors and lights brighten up winter days. We take down our tree after Epiphany. There is one bit of Christmas that is always the last piece to be put away.

Traveling back along a family line – Kelloggs

Sometimes you can go back a ways. The Kellogg family line has been traced back for many generations.

Keeping the crust down – Pie weights

Homemade dark chocolate pie

I wrote about pie crust in this post, but my pictures were of a two crust pie. When you are making a single crust pie with an unbaked filling, such as pudding, you need to pre-bake the crust. This is often called blind baking a crust.

Some recipes may call for par baking, which means to partially cook a crust.

To keep the crust from puffing up too much, you need to treat it in some way. You can pierce it all over with a fork or you can use some sort of weights.

Reading the society pages for genealogy research

A common source of information for family research is newspapers. There are any number of things that can be published in the paper that might provide information about a person. Obituaries, wedding and anniversary announcements are the most common items found. The social pages often had items on travels, jobs, colleges, and reunions. Even the local police reports may have interesting tidbits!

Why I love backpacking Part 4: Seasons – Winter

Every season has something to offer when you are out in the woods. We haven’t done a ton of winter camping, but we enjoy getting out whenever we can.

Merry Christmas!

Michelle and I would like to wish all of our readers a Happy Holidays and a Joyous New Year!

Why I Love Backpacking Part 3: Foggy Mornings

When you are out backpacking, waking up in the morning and seeing the sunrise is a beautiful thing. Some mornings are foggy and provide a soft view of new beginnings.

Sometimes you are looking out over a lake.

Morning fog over Lake Monroe – taken in 2013

Happy birthday, Aunt Fran!

Frances Veronica Link was born December 18, 1926 to William John and Elizabeth Wellman Link in West Point, Iowa. She lived there until she graduated high school.

Fran, Georgie, and Louise Link, 1928

Gifts to my future self – greasing life’s squeaky wheels

The holiday season seems like an appropriate time to talk about gifts. It is nice to be given a gift, and even better to give gifts. One of our traditions is to wrap our gifts in interesting packages – to disguise what it really is. This post isn’t about gifts to others, but gifts to my future self.

Presents from a few years back. Walt was extremely creative!

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