Have you had enough of the rainy weather? If you live in Ohio or Pennsylvania, I’m sure you have. We have had so many rainy days in this part of the world that we are starting to make Noah jokes. In the National Park Service we refer to NOAA, which is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric …
From June 2019
Jumonville Camp, Conference, and Retreat Center
Next to Jumonville Glen, at the top of Chestnut Ridge, is a beautiful church camp that shares the name Jumonville. Jumonville Camp is a United Methodist Camp, Conference, and Retreat Center owned by the Western Pennsylvania Conference. Tom and I decided to check this place out and see what was happening at this United Methodist …
Brusters Ice Cream in New Stanton, PA
One of the first questions I ask the rangers when we start working at a new park is “Where is the best ice cream?” This may not be in your top ten list of questions, but I like good ice cream. Any occasion is the perfect excuse for ice cream. Not everyone shares this opinion. …
Fort Ligonier in Ligonier, Pennsylvania
Tom and I are starting to explore the area around us on our days off. Last week we went to Fort Ligonier in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. Tom really wanted to check it out as one of the forts of the French and Indian War. Fort Ligonier was built as part of the Forbes campaign in 1758 …
Soldier Talk at Fort Necessity National Battlefield
I’m taking a break from sharing history lessons with you this week to tell you a little bit about what Tom has been doing here at Fort Necessity. Our second day at work, Ranger Brian took Tom up to the historical clothing area and got him outfitted as a soldier in the South Carolina Independent …
Heart of Worship, It’s All About You
Tom and I are continuing to attend worship on Sunday evening at Asbury United Methodist Church in Uniontown. The last couple of weeks have been a little disappointing to me, so I have been thinking about why we worship and getting back to the heart of worship. This last Sunday at Asbury, Dr. Frank Ronco …
Selling the Family Home in Lexington, OH
On our first day of helping Mom and Dad we did good work. We got some closets cleaned out and loads of stuff taken over to the church rummage sale. But clearing out a house in preparation for moving isn’t enough. You have separate jobs to do in preparation for selling the house. I have …
Cleaning Out the Family Home in Lexington, OH
As I mentioned yesterday, Tom and I went back to Ohio over our weekend so we could help Mom and Dad with cleaning out the family home. Mom and Dad have lived in the same house in Lexington Ohio for 55 years. They recently decided to put down a deposit on a condo in a …
Helens Asian Kitchen Restaurant in Columbus, OH
One of the joys of working in western Pennsylvania is being able to go home for one of our “weekends.” Tom and I lost no time in taking advantage of the proximity and went home our third “weekend” in Pennsylvania. We headed first to Columbus for dinner with John and Jackie. Knowing how much we …
Defeat of the Braddock Expedition: History Lesson 5
After the defeat of George Washington and his troops at Fort Necessity, the British government decided they couldn’t leave the fighting in the colonies to amateurs anymore. So they sent General Edward Braddock to the colonies with 2,000 regular British soldiers to capture Fort Duquesne. The two British regiments were augmented with 500 provincial soldiers. …