The Oren Beach Hammer

I blogged previously about my friend, Oren Beach, who was my sponsor in Germany and died years ago in a car accident. Well, I have something of Oren's--his hammer. We know it is his, because he had scratched his name on both sides of the rubber encased handle.



We often refer to this tool not just as "the hammer", as in "get the hammer", but as the "Oren Beach hammer" ("get the Oren Beach hammer"). I had that hammer for a while and didn't realize that it was Oren's until one day Dave and I examined it and found his name scratched there. Oren probably came over to my house in Germany to hang a picture or fix something for me, and left his hammer behind. He and Donna returned to the U.S., Dave and I consolidated our household goods, and at some point each of us thought that hammer belonged to the other. Then the hammer made the trip back to the U.S. in our household goods.

I would estimate that it was five or six years later when we realized that the hammer was Oren's. It makes me smile that he put his name on it and still forgot it and the scratching was faint enough that I didn't notice it.

I like having Oren's hammer. It's a good hammer and reminds me of Oren when I use it.

A Walk

David and I went on a walk the other day. There's a new area to walk around, a little lake behind a new subdivision. That subdivision was a home for the first ten years that we lived here. The people who lived there built a nice house and had lots of trees blocking their property off. The other part of the new subdivision was a big field full of cows.

All those things are gone now. The folks all sold out. There is this little lake behind the houses and it is pretty nice. I wonder how long it will last.



David loves the wild sunflowers along the way. When we went around there the other night, we found probably hundreds of ducks, and a heron down there. It was really nice.

Bob Haxel's 50th Birthday

Bob Haxel, one of our jamming pals, celebrated his 50th birthday on August 22. Dave had a wedding gig to play at, so Eric and I teamed up again to head up the mountain. I knew Bob and Cindy lived past Pinecliff; as Eric navigated down a forest road, I couldn't believe how far back they lived in the woods. Eric had been there before--we still had to turn around once. When we arrived, folks told us we had done well with only turning around that one time.


Here's the birthday boy himself, getting ready to play a set with his band. That's Cindy on the bass behind him.



Ritchie, Eric, and Paul are enjoying some of the loads of great food on hand.



There's Holly, back from a ten mile hike.



Jill is socializing and munching.



Cindy was a busy hostess. There were probably 100 people there, and a bunch of dogs!



The cutting of the cake took place signaling the end of the 'formal' entertainment.

Then the jamming commenced. The only damper on things came from the big fire--it sometimes blew smoke right on us and we had to maneuver around to stay out of it. I had a lot of fun jamming with Dave Goldhammer, Steve Remmert, Eric, Caleb Olin, Fred, and various others who came in and out of the circle. It was some good pickin'.

Finally, Eric and I loaded up and headed for home (an hour's drive). We got in at 1:30 AM and were surprised to find Dave up and waiting for us. He had already called Bob and Cindy's house trying to make sure we weren't dead on the side of the road. He didn't have any idea we were such partiers!

Another Triumph in the Garden

Dave told me over and over that I couldn't grow corn. I pointed out that corn was for sale in the gardening centers. He said it didn't matter. I planted some anyway. I notified him that the corn had sprouted and was growing. He said that I would not get any edible corn. After a while I let him know that the corn had tassels. He didn't care. One day I asked if he had seen the ears of corn on the stalks. He indicated that he didn't think they'd have any kernels on them.

Finally, two days ago, we went out and harvested two ears of corn, and cooked them for dinner. They were scrumptious. Dave now says he's impressed. Guess I showed him.

Garden Bounty

Our garden is doing fantastic. Here's some stuff that I picked to go in our dinner last night: eggplant, tomatoes, onions, green pepper. I made a casserole and it turned out great!

Jammin' at Holly and Greg's House

Eric is trying to hide behind his banjo during the jam at Holly and Greg's house. Holly and Greg had the jam because Matt Miller was in town, from Pennsylvania, doing some job interviews. As it turned out, Holly wasn't at the jam. Her BFF chose that time to have her baby; Holly was at the hospital with Angie, watching the little boy pop out.

Nevertheless we had a great time. Holly was planning on making a peach pie; when she didn't arrive, Matt and his brother, Brian, filled in and made the pie--it was really a cobbler. It was super delicious and they were quite cute checking the recipe as they worked on it.



Here's Matt, the guest of honor, playing a banjo of Dave's. Dave's always pleased with an opportunity to show off his instruments. You can see Eric in the background, up to some monkey business.





Cindy felt more like knitting than picking.




In this picture, you can see Matt, Eric, Bob, and Dave (Dave and Matt appear to be engrossed in talk about banjos). Jill was there (you can't see her face), playing some clawhammer; Dave Goldhammer showed up better late than never; Paul, Holly's brother was fiddlin' off to the side in the kitchen, and Holly and Greg's roommate's mother was online, playing banjo with us in Minnesota. Yep, it was rockin.'

Crabapple in Summer

When we moved to our house, thirteen years ago, there were very few trees on the property. One of about three decent trees was this one, a huge, old crabapple. It is one of my favorites and blooms beautifully in the spring, plus has a wonderful silhouette in the wintertime.