Tombstone Tuesday :: Jacob & Louisa Phend at Hepton

Hepton Union Church is located in Scott Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana. It is two miles south of Nappanee, Elkhart County and a mile east of neighboring Marshall County. Jacob Phend, my second great-grandfather, was one of the founders of the Evangelical Church at Hepton and owned the land upon which the original church was built. The current church building, shown above, is on or near the site of the original church.

Jacob Phend was also one of the founders of at least two other churches; one in Marshall County and the other one in Nappanee.

In the spring of 1852, Jacob moved his family from Greene County, Indiana to Marshall County. In 1865 he purchased the land in Hepton, eventually selling the land in Marshall County to his two oldest sons John and Christian. Jacob had set aside a portion of that land in Marshall county for the erection of a church.

Jacob and Louisa lived on the Hepton farm until 1890 when they sold it to their son John and moved to Nappanee.

According to the Archives of DePauw University and Indiana United Methodism, the "Nappanee Mission" was organized in the fall of 1891 in the home of Jacob Phend. In 1892 a wooden frame church was built by the Mennonite Brethren in Christ and the Evangelicals together and was dedicated in the fall of 1892. The two groups worshiped there together for five years and then in 1897 the Evangelicals bought out the MBC. The building was then rededicated as the Evangelical church. In 1905 a parsonage was built and at that time the church had a membership of 110 and Sunday school enrollment of 124. A new and larger building was built and dedicated on October 31, 1926.

Hepton Union Cemetery is located on the north side of the Hepton Union Church. The view above is looking north-northwest. The view below is looking to the east. The graves for the Fisher and Phend families are located on the west side of the twin evergreen trees in the center of the cemetery.

JACOB PHEND / JUNE 27, 1828
LOUISA C. HIS WIFE / JUNE 27, 1829 - APRIL 4, 1897
According to his christening record (at the bottom of that post), Jacob was born in 1829, not in 1828. He died on October 7, 1917. Louisa's date of death was also inscribed wrong, she died April 4, 1898.

Three sons - John, Christian, and William - as well as some of their children and one of Louisa's sisters are buried in surrounding graves.

Sunday Morning Sunrise

The pictures below are for Susan. As we were having lunch the other day she wondered what pictures I had taken that would show what it was like in Indiana while I was there but at the time I hadn't taken any. These were shot this morning, south of Columbia City on highway nine, as I was driving down the road. A little snow. Lots of cold.




Yes, I went back home for a few days. I had some things to take care of before I got further away. My sojourn in Louisiana lasted two weeks. Thank you very much, Ruth, for your hospitality. It was cold the first week there but we managed a few short outings. The last couple of days in Monroe were quite nice with the temperature reaching 70 degrees. Then I went north. Where the temperature never got above 20 for the week. A big Thank You to my brother Jack and his wife Beesa and to my friend Cindy and her husband Bill for allowing me to invade their homes for a few days.

The journey has resumed. I'm heading south again, still hoping for some warmer weather.

Mystery Photo #5

This is the fourth post in a series of unidentified photographs from the Charles Wiseman Family Bible. See this post for background information. Click on the "Mystery Photo" label at the bottom of the post to see all of the photographs in this series.
Tintype 2 3/8 x 3 3/4 Photographer unknown. As always, you can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Gunks Routes: Obstacle Delusion (5.9) & Teeny Face (5.10a) ...but still no Insuhlation (5.9)

(Photo: Maryana tackling the crux move at the first set of overhangs on Obstacle Delusion (5.9))




I found myself at the Obstacle Delusion/Insuhlation buttress again with Maryana the other week. Maryana wanted to lead Obstacle Delusion (5.9). I'd never been on it but she'd done it once before, taking a hang at the first hard roof, then getting lost and bailing off to the right.




I was excited to try it out, and of course being in this location made me think yet again about heading back up Insuhlation, the climb on whichI broke my ankle in . As it happened, while we were getting ready tostart Obstacle Delusion another party was finishing up the short first pitch of Alpine Diversions (5.8). This other party was planning to do pitch two of Insuhlation, so from my belay stance on the ground Ihoped towatch Maryana and at the same time get another look at Insuhlation.









(Photo: She may not know it, but having grabbed the jug,this climber hasdone the tricky startingcrux of Alpine Diversions (5.8).)




Maryana decided to do Obstacle Delusion as a single pitch. She ran right up the traditional 5.4 first pitch, placing almost no pro. Immediately she was below the big first roof. This was where she'd previously struggled, and unfortunately she struggled again and had to take a hang. I could see the hold she was going for-- it looked like a pretty big move. After she rested she got through it.







(Photo: Maryana in the steep series of overhangs that make up the second crux of Obstacle Delusion (5.9).)





The second crux of Obstacle Delusion seems to involve two different skills: (1) endurance and (2) route-finding. Maryana told me that her first time on the route, she'd wandered too far to the right and found herself lost in the 5.10 territory of the variation climb Teeny Face, then moved further right to Insuhlation, and finally bailed to the finishing moves above the roof on Alpine Diversions. This time, from the ground, we'd looked carefully at the guidebook and she found whatI believe is the correct 5.9 route. In the photo above she is just below and to the right of the shallow orange right-facing corner mentioned in Dick's book.




You won't get lost, I think, if you stay in the numerous overlapping overhangs. If you find yourself venturing to the right into the flatter, lighter orange-colored face, you are leaving Obstacle Delusion.




Maryana successfully negotiated the second crux through the series of overhangs, and after she put me on belay, I started up the route just as the leader in the other party was reaching the crux of Insuhlation.









(Photo: Climber following pitch two of Insuhlation (5.9); it is the same woman who is pictured above leading pitch one of Alpine Diversions. I regret that I have forgotten her name!)




This climber on Insuhlation seemed like a very competent fellow, but he was struggling with the final roof problem. And his pro was several feet below the roof.




I stopped climbing for a moment and watched him. I imagined his pro was exactly where mine was when I fell there two years ago. But I had pulled above the roof without finding another placement. He, more sensibly, was trying to place another piece before going any further. He worked a nut in at the roof, but I heard him say it was junk. He didn't clip it. Instead he warned his partner that he was coming off and let go.




As I watched him fall, swinging down andinto the wall, I thought he'd been so much smarter than I had been at that same location, and yet still this was a fall that could easily tweak an ankle. (Luckily he was fine.) I decided once again at that moment not to get back on Insuhlation.




But then as I negotiated the many overhangs of Obstacle Delusion-- finding them straightforward and well-protected, but pumpy and sustained (nice lead, Maryana!)-- I arrived at the top to to findthe leader on Insuhlation hadmade it to the top as well, finding other pro and finishing the route. Once he went back up,he said, he found both the pro and the climbing reasonable.




The mysterygets deeper again.









(Photo: Another climber leading Obstacle Delusion; shot with my phone from the High Exposure ledge.)




After we finished Obstacle Delusion Maryana and I dropped a toprope over Teeny Face (5.10a) and gave it a whirl. It too is steep and unmysterious. It isdefinitely a step up in difficulty from Obstacle Delusion,and it does not havethe same obvious protection opportunities. We both sent it on the first try with the comfort of the toprope, but I don't know if either of us will be leading that one any time soon. It features very good climbing, and it is totally worth the few minutes' effort to drop the rope over it if you find yourself at the rap tree and no one is coming up the route.




I'd love to go back to lead Obstacle Delusion. The line is a little indistinct, but the climbing is classic Gunks. Steep reaches between good holds, with great horizontals for pro wherever you need it. And Insuhlation, well.... I'm still scratching my head about it.

Mt. Rainier, Disappointment Cleaver

Someone had this crazy idea to climb Mt. Rainier on the 4th of July to watch the fireworks from the top. It might have worked, except it ended up being cloudy on the west side of the state!



We started out that morning and headed up the well worn, normally crowded, DC route. By the time we got above Camp Muir, all the climbers for that day had already come down. We had the entire upper mountain to ourselves! The Ingraham Glacier, Ingraham Flats and Disappointment Cleaver.



David on the nose of DC. Cadaver Gap and Mt. Adams in the distance.



David holding the hand line on the big traverse over to Gibraltar Rock.



David in the crater on the top of Mt. Rainier.



Doug in the crater.







The shadow of Rainier hitting some low clouds at sunset. It was really strange and pleasant to climb that route and not see any climbers above high camp. We did see a few distant fireworks in the Yakima area on our way down. It didn't turn out the way we had hoped, but it was still a great day to try something new on our favorite mountain!

Time for Play

Here is a photo of Traveler playing in the little bit of snow we got last week.

Wordless Wednesday :: Schooldaze ~ Third Grade

Stormy and Tuffee

A race between Stormy and Tuffee

Dry pond

After Hurricane Katrina last August, it did not rain until the first of October. Then it was dry again for a long while. The pond shrank.

It's deeper at the far end than it appears, but I had nightmares of fevered fish rescues... up to our knees in muck, trying to corral flopping fish who couldn't understand the concept of their own salvation.

I had sometimes wished for a little mud edge in the summer, which might prove attractive to migrating shorebirds. But that's a lot of edge, and the shorebirds are long gone.



Before the end of the year, it started raining again... better, but not yet normal. I heard it's supposed to rain all weekend, so maybe that will help.

Of course Jasmine likes it dry, since she can get right up to the edge and bark at fish.



In the background is the tree that fell during a storm. Beavers had gnawed all around the base, so even though it leafed out last summer, I suppose it was only a matter of time before this happened.

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Critters at Friday Ark.

The Summer of Fog

We sure have had a lot of fog this summer! Thanks to the cooler temps overall this year, Lake Superior has not warmed up as much as it normally would and that means that we've had quite a bit of fog. When we have had warm days, the warm air mass coming from land clashes with the cooler air mass over the lake and creates fog. It seems we've had more foggy days than not this year. In honor of that phenomenon, I'm sharing this photo from earlier this summer. This photo was taken on June 27th of this year and shows a blanket of fog rolling over the top of Hat Point in Grand Portage.

Prosecco and Summer Darkness in Utrecht

It is never too late to post what I did last weekend. Well, Saturday and Sunday I pretty much did what the doctor prescribed—do nothing and relax. But Friday evening I went out with Blondine for some drinks and people watching at Zussen Lobby Restaurant in Janskerkhof, Utrecht.

We had coffee and then prosecco. I had white and she had rose. Then we ordered another round, both rose. Then it rained. Summer ended for a while. Then it was dry again.

It was the perfect evening to people watch in Utrecht. Because it’s the yearly ‘Summer Darkness’ festival, a 3-day/night gothic-cosplay event held at the Dom. The city’s ambience was something like god threw out a huge party and invited all his friends from heaven and hell. We even saw the devil and his army of bats. Naturally, Blondine and I stayed glued to our seats as we relish the outstanding passing scenery before us. We had fun watching!

I was not able to take pictures of the great costumes because I was busy talking but I managed to take 1!

Our plan after the drinks was really to check out this ‘Summer Darkness’ event at the Dom but then bad luck came in the form of rain. It rained, and rained and rained. Continuously. No chance.

And midnight was fast approaching. These princesses need to go home and sleep and be tuck in bed so time to call the trusted and loyal prince charming Dutchman on his white horse (black car actually haha) to rescue the damsels in distress from the pouring rain.

Visit Period: July
Destination: Utrecht, The Netherlands

So Long Old Friend by Chip Py

I bought this TV in 1986 at the Peoples Drug Store on Old Georgetown Road for $129.00. It was a wedding gift to my sister. For the last ten years, it has been my basement TV. Something to turn on while I painted furniture, strung up my fishin' poles or any other basement project. It has no remote, the channels are changed with a knob, and it gets UHF! (that round thing on top is a UHF Antennae) I have chosen not to buy it a conversion box because it just doesn't seem right.

I will miss my basement TV. It will probably sit in my basement for a few more years until I take it to the dump. Or perhaps, like LPs, I could wait for the analog TV comeback! That High Def is probably just a fad. One day my TV will be retro cool, and I'll be cutting edge!!

Pinched Moon

I was leaving work today when I noticed the full moon rising over the Pigeon River. The moon was so big and clear that I had to take a picture of it. This Birch tree is right behind our visitor center at work and I noticed that the moon was lining up with the tree and it looked like two fingers "pinching" the moon. Pretty cool :-)

Pet projects

"You never show Beaker on your blog," my sister complained.



Yes I do.



And Geckie too.

You can read more about Beaker, including a list of the things he says, here.

I had to give him his own web page since he flirted with so many soap customers on the phone. ("That's not me asking for a kiss, it's the bird. Really. He's on the web site.")

The picture is not exactly tack sharp, sorry. I only had lamp light... the flash would've been too close (not to mention too scary for him).

I probably should never have let him develop the habit of wanting to tear up tissues. Now that it's allergy season he's in budgie heaven. You can't blow your nose in peace.

When trying to name the leopard gecko, we started laughing about the method our young niece uses to name her pets: Hermie the hermit crab, Turtie the turtle, Hammy the hamster, and so forth. And somehow "Geckie" just stuck.

Geckos shed their skin every month or so. They usually eat the entire thing, although from time to time we find an eerie ghost foot in the tank.