William J Link was born on May 12, 1827 in Ellabach (Oerlenbach), Bavaria. He was the son of George Link and Anna Mary Limbach (Eihnbach). William was Walt’s great, great grandfather.
Taking care of your camping gear (and other items) means it will last longer and work better. It is more sustainable and will save you money. This is the first in a series about caring for your gear. Today, I am going to cover fabrics and insulators. Knowing what the material is will help you care for it properly.

On May 5, 1909 John H. Link married Josephine Schulte at St Mary’s Church in West Point, Iowa. John and Josephine are Walt’s great uncle and aunt. John’s brother William is Walt’s grandfather.
Sometimes when you start on a project you have an idea of what the finished product will look like but end up with something entirely different. Several years ago, I was planning a spinning stars quilt from a block I had seen. I had chosen some fun and funky fabrics. I packed them up and headed off to a quilt retreat. It was January, and it was the year that the Indianapolis Colts won the Superbowl.
Food is a big part of family gatherings. I’ve been thinking about family recipes a while. There’s always some favorite cake that grandma made or your uncle’s amazing fudge. We recently had some company and I baked my aunt’s Carrot Cake. It came out just as good as I remembered, and our company asked for the recipe. I gave them the copy I had printed out.
There’s nothing like a bowl of hot chili on a chilly day. But as soon as you talk about making chili on the Internet some twit will tell you that yours isn’t “real” chili because of <insert reason here>. So, for the benefit of such people, I’ve now created a handy checklist they can use to decide what’s wrong with the chili you’re offering. While they’re busy doing that, I’ll grab the last bowl from the pot. It isn’t quite like I’d make, but it’s tasty just the same. And if the picky people go hungry it serves them right!
Bernard Brune and Bernadine Wellman were married on April 21, 1903 in West Point, Iowa. Bernadine was Georgina’s 1st cousin once removed.
I do a lot of batch cooking and freeze items for later. Sometimes it is nice to do a smaller recipe, especially for desserts. We don’t want to be eating a cake for two weeks! Here’s a quick orange cake treat for two.

Sometimes it’s hard to write these posts. We lost cousin Dan Nelson far too young. Dan was born on April 14, 1962 to Leslie and Louise Link Nelson in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On this, his birthday, I wanted to share a few pictures of Dan from the early 1970s.
Michelle and I don’t generally do New Year’s resolutions. But we do try to make changes in our lives. Once in awhile it makes sense to make them at the start of the year, and this year was one of those times. We decided that 2023 would be the year of saying “yes”.