Down the Rabbit Hoel

Why I love backpacking Part 5: It Rocks!

On February 1, 2022

When you are out exploring in the woods, you see all kinds of amazing things. Don’t forget to look at the earth itself. It has stories to tell!

Here is a small cave in southern Indiana. These pictures are many years old – now they do not want people to enter these caves as it is damaging habitats and spreading disease among bats.

Just outside the cave, you can see the hillside and down to the shore of Lake Monroe.

If you head on down to the lakeshore, you can see a variety of colors in the rocks along the water. The different types of rocks wear away and you get amazing patterns. Occasionally, you will also find fossils.

Keeping track of the Links – and the Hoels, Kelloggs and James – Information

By Michelle

On January 28, 2022

In Family History

We became the family historians kind of by accident. Walt always says that his brothers elected him when he wasn’t there. At any rate, we were given a bunch of typed and hand-written sheets of family history and genealogy put together by Georgie (Walt’s mom) and Leonard Brune, Georgie’s second cousin. There were also photocopies of newspaper clippings and a few documents.

A Year of Homesteading on the Digital Frontier – Happy Birthday to Our Blog!

By Walt

On January 25, 2022

In Uncategorized

Just over a year ago we started our blog. It has been… interesting.

Eleven Tons of Thunder – Grandpa’s Minneapolis Tractor

By Walt

On January 21, 2022

In Family History

When I think of a farm, I naturally think of a tractor. Every farm has a tractor. Most farmers have more than one. Even when I was a kid, farmers would have a “small” tractor for routine hauling and lifting jobs, and a bigger tractor for plowing, cultivating, and other heavy field work.

But in the early 20th century, most farms didn’t have any tractors at all. Farms were smaller, and the most of the work was done with horses or oxen. Tractors did exist, but they were specialist tools. They needed a different set of skills to maintain and operate, and they were quite costly. Since a typical farm only needed a tractor for a few days a year, it made more sense to pay someone to run their tractor than to buy your own.

What’s for dinner? What ya got soup!

By Michelle

On January 18, 2022

In Cooking

As I’ve mentioned in a few other posts, such as this one and this one, I like to have things prepared in the freezer for easy dinners. Sometimes, dinner comes from the freezer, but in a different way.

Happy birthday, Glen McCain

By Michelle

On January 14, 2022

In Family History

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

By Michelle

On January 11, 2022

In Sillyness

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

By Michelle

On January 7, 2022

In Family History

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

Keeping the crust down – Pie weights

By Michelle

On January 4, 2022

In Cooking

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

By Michelle

On December 31, 2021

In Family History

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!