Derek Sandstrom

13th Anniversary

And now…the rest of the story.   Hmm, that sounds familiar for some reason.

 

We had an amazing anniversary!   Amazing!   Mark and Cathy took our boys, and Sheri and I had a romantic evening at the Grand Geneva resort.   It is an amazing complex with top of the line hotels (that's plural) golf course, indoor water theme park, the works.   We had dinner at a really fine Italian restaurant called Brissago.   It was an incredibly elegant place with wonderful food.   “We import our mozzarella twice a week from a small farm in Italy.”   That kind of thing.   One of the dishes had white truffle oil.   I don't even know what that is!   It was that kind of place.   Fantastic!   And, Mark happens to be a security supervisor at the Grand Geneva, so he had the inside track to people who added special touches.   There was a special cake for us, and dessert.    We were treated like royalty and are so thankful to Mark and Cathy for creating a very special and memorable event for us!   And I am so blessed to have such an awesome wife to celebrate with.   I don't know how she puts up with me.   Funny thing, she swore she would never marry a musician or music teacher.   Whoops.

 

On Thursday we got up and left for the glamorous city of Toledo, Ohio.   Well, maybe glamorous isn't the word, but it was nice to visit.   We took the kids to the zoo, which was a really good one.   It included a butterfly house, which we always enjoy.   We also drove up to a beach on Lake Erie.   It was a magnificent day to be outdoors in God's world.   And I am always captivated by large bodies of water, which Lake Erie certainly is.   Lots of seagulls.   The boys gathered feathers and stuck them in the sand to make what they called Indian forts.   How do they think of cool things like that?

 

On Saturday I played at the Toledo First SDA Church.   Met some really nice folks at a beautiful church.   Another camper glitch, though.   We just happened to notice that the tread on one of the four tires was peeled like an orange.   A black, rubbery orange.   Okay, the comparison isn't the best, but you know what I mean!   So we had to find a tire store.   We did, and they got us right through.   Then we moved on to Defiance, Ohio.

 

Backing up, I should tell you that we went to an eco friendly festival in Lanark, Ontario early in our summer.   It's called The Art of Being Green.   Very cool, by the way.   Lots of alternative energy stuff, natural cleaning and hygiene products, and so on.   The boys and I even took a guided canoe trip on the Clyde River, which runs through town.   So, at a recycled book table I saw a book called The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio .   I thought, Wow, I'm about to go there again!   I think I should read this!   I did.   It's about a woman in the 1950s and 60s who raised her 10 children, despite her alcoholic husband, on her clever entries to the contests that companies ran at the time.   Her winnings of cash and prizes kept the family going through tough times and near disasters.   It was very inspiring! Well, the address of the home where they lived was in the book frequently, so we used the GPS and found it on the way into town.   It was cool for me to see where so much of the book occurred.   There is a family living there now, and they came to the window to see why a truck and camper had paused in front of their house.   But we waved and moved on.

 

Sunday morning, I played at the First Church of God.   Worship there is energetic, with a   wonderful praise band.   I enjoyed worshiping with them very much, and then I also enjoyed sharing my testimony and songs with them, too.   After church we joined Pastor Rick, his wife, Eileen, and their daughter, Rachel.   We ate at a Mexican place called Senor Gringo's.   That's Mister Caucasian, in English.   Kind of weird, don't you think?   Anyway, it was a great meal, and we enjoyed the fellowship.

 

Then we moved on to Akron to crash with our friends, Jay and Joann Cornelius.   It's always so great to see them.   Our boys love to play with their daughters, Emily and Tara.   A couple years ago Carter pronounced that “Ah-mee, Daa Daa.”   Now it's just Emily and Tara.   Bummer.   My friend, Jim, told me I'd be sad when those little kid expressions wore off.   He was right.

 

Then we made it the rest of the way home.   Now we have the joys of catching up with things like laundry, paying bills, and six weeks of mail.   But we are so blessed to have made this wonderful trip.   It's been fun to share it with you through this blog.   Thank you, faithful readers!

 

Soon we'll be back to school and normal life, if there is such a thing, will resume.   So I bid you farewell until next time.   God bless you!

The Ant Infestation

Happy Anniversary to us!   #13, our Cheddar Anniversary, celebrated in Wisconsin!   Perfect!   We have some special plans in mind for tonight, but our hosts, Mark and Cathy, helped with the reservations, so there could be some surprises in store!   I'll keep you posted…

 

So, here's the rest of the story of our trip to Clinton, WI.   After nearly destroying our camper with water, it became infested with ants.   They are relentless, and apparently there are 127,543,734,823 of them.   We are currently dealing with three kinds of ant killers, so hopefully our little smorgasbord will do the trick.   Then we arrived after a long day of travel, and while trying to level our camper in the Mantheis' yard, we dragged our leveling boards all around their yard, causing the grass to be marred.   Very embarrassing, although Mark, our host and helper, did not even bat an eye.   Then we tried it from a different angle, and while trying to climb up onto a series of boards, the boards see-sawed and cracked our sewer valve.   Finally, our battery died.   With a sense of panic and the feeling that our camper was crumbling around us, we finished our travels for now.

 

On Saturday we got up and went to sing at church at the Adventist Church in Delavan, WI.   It is a small, but very friendly church that is essentially bi-lingual.   It was a wonderful morning sharing music and testimony.   Then we returned to the Mantheis' house and enjoyed the pool and hot tub!   Wow!   What a campground!

 

Sunday morning I went with Cathy to church at the First Presbyterian Church in Clinton, WI, and played a couple songs for special music.   Then back to their home for a birthday party.   Funny…it was a small gathering that got “outed” in church.   “I hear we're having some kind of cookout today?” the person up front announced.   Suddenly it was a church-wide event!   Surprise, Cathy!   But as it turned out, the church folks must have had their plans already set, because it remained a small gathering of family and friends.   Whew!

 

Sunday evening was the concert at First Pres.   It was great to be back singing among enthusiastic friends!   I was blessed!

 

Monday and today we are catching up with boring stuff like laundry and Walmart runs, as well as pulling the camper to a camper dealer to have our concerns dealt with by people who know what they're doing.   That's where I am typing from right now.   I can't tell you for sure if we're in WI or IL.   One of the two, right near the line.   Well, they seem to have solved our problems, except the one that is ME being the owner of the camper.   That's a hazard no matter how you look at it!

 

And so, on our anniversary, we wish you blessings!   More later…

Water Disaster

8/1/08

“You never throw up.   You just get weird and sweaty.”

 

That's what Sheri said to me about what will probably happen as I try to type this in the truck.   I deal with some carsickness, which never bothers me when I drive, but often when I ride.   I was really in the mood to write, though, so we'll see what happens.   Hopefully there will be no need for “clean up in aisle 4!”

 

Pancake send-off . We left Crotch Lake on Wednesday morning.   As is our family tradition, Sheri's parents cooked us a pancake breakfast to send us off.   And after that wonderful meal, all the cousins and aunts and uncles gathered around to help us load up and wish us well.   It is a very special thing to be part of a family that makes you feel so loved.   And I have that on both sides of my family.   It was a cold, rainy summer this year, which was tough on Sheri who thrives on hot, dry, sunny summer weather.   You can usually count on a good amount of that at Crotch Lake.   Still, we got to do a lot of relaxing, some good work, especially on the marching band show, and the boys were in their glory.   Mud, frogs, toads, water, bikes, fish, grandparents…what more could two boys want!?

 

So, with sadness we packed up and headed south.   We're on the way to Wisconsin, where I will play an encore concert at First Presbyterian and a first time performance at Delavan SDA Church.   Then home via Defiance and Toledo, Ohio, for two more concerts.   I love traveling and playing.   We all get a little fed up with each other being in a truck together for days, but we also enjoy the spirit of adventure, seeing new places, and meeting new friends.   It will be interesting to see how the kids remember it when they are 20 or so.

 

The first day of this trip we made it to Plainville Farms Restaurant.   This is a tradition in our family when we drive to and from Canada.   Plainville Farms is a turkey farm, and the restaurant is a Thanksgiving buffet every day!   Everything is amazingly delicious.   So we often hope that we're going by Cicero, New York, at mealtime.   What would vegetarians want with a turkey place, you might think.   Well, there is so much other stuff there that's delicious that you could easily eat a full meal and never miss the turkey.   And we will often take a 60 minute vacation from vegetarianism.   If you're anywhere near Syracuse, New York, take my advice and stop in Cicero and eat at Plainville Farms.   It is well worth it.   From there we made it to a campground near Rochester and called it a day.

 

Ohio Turnpike .   The next day we got up and did a typical Sandstrom departure, which means way too late.   But we got a fortuitous nap and made some good time.   We got to Ohio and continued a couple hours southwest down I-90.   Then we stopped at a rest stop on the Ohio Turnpike.   There are several of these rest stops that have RV facilities.   That includes water that you can use to fill your tank (more on that in a moment, or should I say “moron that in a moment”?), good electric, enough to run air conditioning, and a dump station.   You could take your whole vacation at a rest stop, which would be the most artificial way possible to camp, except for in a garage, I guess.   However, at the rest stop is a McDonalds, a Chinese place, Panera Bread, Starbucks, and wi-fi.   Maybe spending a vacation at an Ohio Turnpike rest stop isn't so crazy after all!

 

Water Disaster .   So, about that water for your tank.   Sheri grew up around campers (the vehicle and the people), and she is more knowledgable than I am about how they work.   In our part of the country, you should winterize the water system so the pipes don't freeze and burst.   You pump antifreeze into them, but not into the water heater.   So, you do some monkeying around in there, disconnecting pipes so the antifreeze goes where you want and not where you don't.   Then in the spring, you hook up to water, rinse it all out, and begin your year of camping.   I did the unwinterizing this year, in my efforts to learn more and become a better camper owner.   All was going well.   I had taken over another area of responsibility.   What a strong, brave husband.

 

Yesterday we arrived at the rest stop/campground.   I filled the water tank for the first time this year.   Previously we had hooked water directly to the system with a hose.   So, as I filled, I began to see water dripping out from various places in the bottom of the camper.   Not a good sign.   I thought maybe a connection had wiggled loose or something, but it was coming from too many places.   Just then Morgan called from inside the camper, “the bathroom is full of a giant lake of water!”   I knew something was really wrong.   Wrong and messy, not a good combination!   Sheri came along, then, and the word “sieve” came to mind for her.

 

It turned out that I forgot to reconnect the hose that goes from the tank to the pump.   That allowed a hose to freely drain the water tank into the compartment under Morgan's bed, which oozed it all over the inside of the camper.   Carpet got wet, and water seeped under walls, around corners, through pipe passages.   It was a mess!   All because of a simple oversight.   So, we were thankful for the air conditioning.   We had it going full blast to dry things out.   It was like the freezer section of the supermarket in there, only wetter.   Fans were blowing, and even a heater to dry out the carpet.   Yes, we were heating and air conditioning at the same time!   But over time it mostly dried, and we're back to normal, normal being that we are back to wondering how long it will be until I completely destroy our equipment!

 

Today we're back on the road, a little soggier, and plan to finish the trip to Clinton, Wisconsin, where we look forward to seeing our friends, the Mantheis.   We stayed with them last year at mysterious County Road X in their luxurious driveway, a point that bothered Cathy to no end.   It has become a running joke between our families.   She was appalled to have people staying in her driveway rather than the house, thinking that this was the worst hospitality ever.   We assured her we didn't mind, and now it is good for some laughs.   We'll be enjoying the most beautiful driveway in Clinton again tonight.  

 

Minnesota .   I am really excited!   I have been booked to play at a retreat in Minnesota.   The church is flying me in from Pennsylvania to do it.   I feel like a big shot!   I hope I will offer them a blessing that is worth it to them.   This will be in September.

 

#10 .   “Worthless” made it to #10 on the Fan Faves chart of Indieheaven before it aged out.   Each song gets 30 days to climb.   I thank you all for your faithful voting.   That song has a message that's very close to my heart.   I hope a lot of people were blessed to hear it, and more people heard it because you sent it climbing.   God is good, and he often uses His people to do things.   Thanks for doing your part to help share a message I believe He gave me to share!