Orr's Check Property

  Back in July Tom and I visited with Dr.'s Steve and Ami Orr when they stayed in the Traverse City area (Long Lake) to get a start on plans for their eventual home after they retire. It's on the Leelanau Peninsula northwest of Traverse City. The nearest town is Northport.

 I wrote about our vacation there and you can read about it here.

 Now, almost exactly five months later one structure is built on the property and plans are progressing for the rest of the construction. The trouble is, many things are not available with the current COVID-caused supply chain issues. For instance, power hasn't been installed because the power company cannot get meters.

 So while things are at a  standstill - it's winter, too - Steve and Ami made a whirlwind trip to northern Michigan to check with the builder and architect.

"Ami and I are flying in a small plane with a local dermatologist," Steve said. "We will rent a vehicle to drive to our property." They rented a condo from the architect's wife. 

 They flew out of Findlay, Ohio Friday (12/09) afternoon in this Beech A36 Bonanza. Since I had the aircraft registration, also know as a "tail number", I was able to follow their flight in real time with an program called FlightRadar24 on my phone.

 Here they are having left Findlay and flying north. The trip was estimated to take about 90 minutes.

 And here they are arriving in the Traverse City area. The pictures below are nighttime views of the city as they prepared to land.

 Over the weekend they visited their building site. So far just a guest house/barn has been constructed.

 A Starlink dish is already in place for Internet at the site. Steve said he'll add cameras and a weather station so the property can be monitored remotely. Of course when they're there this will provide their link to the world. The site is very remote.

 On Sunday's flight home, the pilots flew them over their property.

 They own a bluff directly on Lake Michigan. Check out my linked blog for summer views.

 Back to FlightRadar 24 for a view as they flew home.

 Steve took this picture of the cockpit.

 Flying sure beats the long drive, especially on winter roads.

 So the building project has begun even if delays could total several months. Tom and I hope the visit again next summer.

Frosted Anise Cookies

  Every year at Christmas I think back to the German Springerle cookies Mom used to buy at Woody's grocery in West Carrollton, Ohio (now out of business). They were square, like little pillows, and crunchy on the outside  and soft in the middle. Each was impressed with a design.

 They were strongly anise-flavored. And they were delicious.

 I was wondering if I could make something with a similar flavor but without all the work. Readers Digest Canada has a recipe posted that seemed easy enough and so I tried it. The recipe is here.

 This is certainly not the traditional German cookie. Not even close. It is essentially an anise-flavored sugar cookie. But it is also delicious in its own way.

I wanted a stronger anise taste so I added two teaspoons of anise flavoring (it is alcohol based). Even that in retrospect is not enough. So I made my own glaze (just confectioner's sugar, vanilla flavoring, an entire teaspoon of anise flavoring and enough milk to make the glaze creamy and spreadable.

 But I found the cookies are great without glazing and I'm leaving most of them plain.

 I simply melted the butter in a bowl in the microwave, added everything  except the flour and mixed it thoroughly, first with a tablespoon and then a  whisk. I did not use a beater (absolutely unnecessary). I folded in the flour last (because I wanted the liquid perfectly mixed first).

 I used a small ice  cream scoop to place the battery on a non-stick cookie  sheet. I did not fill it completely. I found  the recipe made 33 cookies. I needed a longer baking  time: 13 minutes vs. the called for "8-10 minutes" as these cookies are probably larger than the recipe calls for.

 The cookies never browned on the top but the bottoms began to lightly brown. Even so, they are perfectly baked. The four teaspoons of baking powder gives them a hefty loft. Talk about little pillows!

 They are certainly delicious and remind me of the cookies Mom bought from Woody's so many years ago. But only the taste is similar. Yet if time is of the essence, especially at the holidays, these are a satisfying substitute for the real thing.

 

Planets Line Up

  It's not technically a conjunction but it's still an impressive alignment of three of the major plants: Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. And they're being joined by the Moon.

 Here's the view Stellarium predicted for 1800:

 And here's what I saw at that hour:

I went out about half an hour later and took another look after it had grown a bit darker. This was the view then:

 And finally I had my Pixel phone use the Night Sight (Astrophotography) mode to get this shot:

 Jupiter is first in line (left) above the Moon.  Next is Saturn. And finally Venus is at the lower right.

 I then went back in the house and affixed my cameras (Canon PowerShot SX20 IS) to the tripod I was using and took a few shots of the moon:

 And here's a close-up:

 The Moon  is in the "waxing crescent" phase. About 30% of the disk is lit. It's just two days shy of the First Quarter.

The Bicycle Museum of America

  Last Saturday (12/04/21), my brother Bob,Larry Sabin and Mike Wuebben took a 69 mile day trip north to New  Bremen, Ohio to tour The Bicycle Museum of America. All three of the guys are avid cyclists though Mike is also a collector.

 These pictures were all credit Mikes wife, Gina Bachiller Wuebben.

Larry (l) and Bob

Larry (l) and Bob

Bob

Bob

Larry

 Bob said this is the "second largest [bicycle museum] in the country, I think. Three floors of antique bikes and other current [models]".

 The crew also stopped at the Moeller Brew Barn in Maria Stein. "Good food. Good staff,. Good day," Bob said.

Credit: Google  Maps