Wyberta Johnson was born on August 11, 1920 to Walter and Ellen McCabe Johnson. She was born in New London, Iowa. Wyberta is the sister of Walt’s aunt, Eleanor Johnson Hoel. You can read more about Eleanor here.
Let me level with you: a lot of levels at the stores aren’t actually level. If you use such a tool to hang a picture or mount a shelf to the wall, you’re not going to like the result. Today I’m going to show you how to test a level before you buy it.
Kenneth Andrew Shively was born on August 4, 1913, to George and Dana Hoel Shively. Dana Hoel was the daughter of John and Lydia Hoel. He was born in Lansing, Michigan. Kenneth is Walt’s first cousin once removed.
The first baby quilt I made in flannel was a jungle themed quilt. I was making it for a co-worker. She was doing a jungle theme for the nursery, so I did my best to come up with a fun quilt. This was another quilt where I didn’t have a pattern, just some sketches of jungle animals.
Mathilda Rose Link, best known as Tillie, was born on July 28, 1915. She is the daughter of John H and Josephine Schulte Link. She was Walt’s 1st cousin once removed.
I recently wrote about preparing to run games at a convention – specifically at Origins Game Fair. That’s over now, so let’s look at how things went.
Arthur Hilbrands and Myrtle Ester Hoel married on July 21, 1936 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Myrtle is Walt’s 1st cousin once removed.
This year I am hosting some games at two conventions, Origins Game Fair and Gen Con. One takes place out of state. The other is a 45-minute drive from home. In both cases I need to pack everything I need. But I must pack light, because I have to carry the game materials a fair distance through the convention to get to my game table. So today, let’s talk about organizing for conventions.

James Anderson Hole was born on July 14, 1809. He is Walt’s great great grandfather. James is the furthest back we have been able to trace on the Hole/Hoel family line.
We’ve written a couple of posts about taking care of your camping and hiking gear (here, here and here). Today I thought I would talk about a fairly common part of gear and clothing that can cause issue. Drawstrings can be found on clothing, packs, stuff sacks and sleeping bags. It’s easy to have a drawstring pull out of the casing if you aren’t careful.