Winter!

As the season wraps up for the remaining climbing rangers here at Mount Rainier, we would like to thank everyone who came out to enjoy Mount Rainier this year. Whether you were climbing, skiing, camping or just day hiking into the alpine, we hope your trip was enjoyable, even if it was during one of those seemingly frequent stretches of stormy weather.


Remember the park doesn't close, just some roads and buildings do. So if you want to come out and enjoy this wonderful area over the winter please do! The road to Paradise is maintained year round and open, weather permitting, throughout the winter. The other roads in the park close as the snow comes, but for the hardy few who aren't turned off by the longer approach these more remote areas of Rainier can lead to some incredible climbing and skiing opportunities all winter long.


Stay tuned to this blog throughout the winter for updates (although less frequent) about conditions on Rainier and happenings related to climbing. Check out the route conditions pages for pertinent winter information about the mountain and high camps before you come out to climb.

Have a safe and enjoyable winter!

James Joslin :: In a Matter of Debt

Yesterday afternoon I was going through my "Whitley County" folder and re-discovered a document that I forgot that I had. It was one of those where you got it but you'll do something with it later. So now, later has finally come! This is a page (there were no page numbers) copied from the "Troy Docket" book at the Whitley County Historical Museum. Well, at least it was there back in .. when I made this copy!

It may be or could be the reason that James and Abigail Joslin sold the remainder of their land to Edwin and Joseph Joslin less than a month after this case was filed. I'm still not convinced though. Where, or how, did two young boys, age 14 and 12 respectively, come up with $50 each to purchase the land? Or, perhaps, the $50 was written into the "contract" because that was fair market value? And James "sold" the land to the boys to keep it in the family?

Essentially, in this case, James owned up to the fact that he owed several debts and agreed to pay them. Price Goodrich then put up security and the debts were paid on February 7, 1845. But, I wonder, who actually paid the debts? Did Price? Regardless of how they were paid or who paid them, the debts were satisfied. When all was said and done, James and Abigail no longer owned their land in Troy Township…

=+==+==+==+=

Troy Docket. No page number. Filed July 16, 1844.

Francis L. Machugh Plantiff vs James Joslin Defendant } In an action of debt. Be it remembered that on the sixteenth day of July 1844 Francis L Machugh filed the following as a cause of action against James Joslin on which the following proceedings were had to wit: Four notes discribed as follows No 1 bearing date December 19th 1841 due one day after day amount $6.68 No 2 bearing date November 24th 1843 due one day after date amount $5.00 No 3 bearing date February 25th 1843 due one day after date amount $7.00 No 4 bearing date July the 16th 1844 due on demand (waving all relief on appraisment law) which the plantiff ordered erased and the relief law extended.

On the [blank space] day of of July 1844 a Summons issued directed to George H Stocking constable actionable on the 7th day of August 1844 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon

This day August the 5th 1844, came the defendant of this cause and ordered that Judgement Should be entered against him for the amount of Said notes interest and costs

It is therefore considered that the plantiff recover of Said defendant twenty five dollars and fifty cents debt and damages and all costs with interest thereon at the rat of six percentum per annum from the date of this Judgement

Justices fees summons $ 0 12 ½
Judgement 0 25
Bail 0 25
Const fee Service and interst $ 0 30

I Price Goodrich do hereby acknowledge myself security for the above defendant James Joslin for the payment of the above Judgement with the interest which may have accrued thereon at the expiration of one hundred and twenty days from the rendition of the same and all costs Witness my hand and seal this 5th day of August AD 1844. Price Goodrich {Seal}

Issued on execution January the 6th 1845
February the 7th 1845 execution returned, money made in full
Received of George H Stocking cons $27.78 in full of the foregoing Judgement. James Grant Justice of the Peace

GreeK Easter

Easter-another big event in our family- at least on the Greek side. When I was growing up, I always got an Easter basket on American Easter Day because my mom is not Greek, but usually Greek Easter falls on a later Sunday. The Orthodox calender follows a different schedule, but what it usually means is that the Greek Easter bunny gets to hit the half price candy. This year, however, much to the dismay of cheap Greeks everywhere, both fall on the same day.

My father recalls the fasting which lasted until the Saturday night before Easter Sunday, then everyone went to church- a midnight mass of sorts, and the fast ended with a huge meal in the middle of the night. A lot of people think of lambs turning on spits when they think of Greek celebrations, and I did, too, but I was lately informed that our Yiya always did a leg of lamb, and the lamb thing wasn’t done until my Uncle Mimi moved to Chevy Chase in the late forties. Yes, as Thanksgiving is my parents’ holiday, and Christmas falls to my Uncle Nick, Easter was my Aunt Catherine and Uncle Mimi’s event. Baseball in the side yard, and tables set up outside on the back terrace. I remember doing the Twist for the first time in their basement, and watching the Wizard of Oz on TV. (It must have rained that year) But the biggest kick for kids at our Easter has always been the tradition of the Egg War.

All Greek Easter eggs are dyed a deep red for Christ’s blood. Some use food coloring. My Yiya used to use red crepe paper. (Go figure- but it worked better than anything these days.) All symbolism aside, the seemingly sole purpose that I, the torch bearer, boil up a vat of red dye each year to color a gazillion eggs is to destroy them. The point is you take your egg, hold it in your fist with one end showing, and hit your opponent or be hit. The egg that cracks is the loser, and the victor goes on until all eggs are broken- usually on both ends- and only one champion egg is left. If you cheat like my father and uncle, you might slip in your thumb or, if really prepared, a marble substitute.

These days my cousins, Dean and Ann have taken on the daunting task of having the hoopla at their house which is a frightful distance from Washington. They keep moving farther away, but it does no good. Many of us are well known for not missing a meal. Some of my family can’t find their way out of a paper bag so they tend to travel in tribes with those that can. The number of children attending this party is alarmingly high,almost out numbering the adults. Egg count this year is up to about 45, and the forecast must have my poor cousins contemplating moving out of state...but until that happens we will persevere. I’ve got to go hit the Safeway and get the eggs. Cronya Polla, y'all.

Dill Flower

These are clusters of dill flowers. Each of the tiny yellow dots is a tiny dill flower. There are hundreds on each of the clusters.

You Ride a Bike, Don't You?

I was headed toward the subway platform, lost in thought, when a construction worker shouted this to me as he walked past - rhetorically and with a good-natured smile, almost as if in greeting."You ride a bike, don't you!"



For a moment I wondered how he knew. I do not carry a bicycle helmet around. Neither do I have a U-Lock sticking out of my back pocket. Nor do I wear t-shirts with pictures of bicycles or bicycle slogans on them. And then I remembered: I was "wearing" a wheelset. A full wheelset, with tires attached. I was bringing the wheels to Framingham - an hour long trip on subway and commuter rail - and rigged up a system inspired by carrying my skates around.





Having tied the wheels together with a rope, I then slung them over my left shoulder as if the wheels were a handbag and the rope was a shoulder strap. It was surprisingly comfortable and I could hardly feel the weight, which is why I forgot about the wheels when the stranger addressed me.



Something similar happened yesterday, when I wrangled a floor pump into my handbag and walked to my art studio with 1/3 of the large, orange pump sticking out. When I stopped for a coffee on the way, the person behind me in line startled me by saying "That's quite a pump you got there!" Once I realised what he meant, I considered explaining that my hand-held pump does not fit Shrader valves. But thankfully it was my turn to order coffee just then and the person was spared that narrative.



What is the most unusual thing you've carried off the bike that distinguished you as a cyclist?

She was the chief cook, I was the dish washer.

About 1958, probably influenced somewhat by her brother, William Hale Brubaker, and her uncle, Maurice James Wise, who both owned restaurants, my grandmother became manager of Miller's Ice Cream Store located at Five Points on Goshen Road in Fort Wayne. A few years later she moved to North Webster and opened "The Dairy Bar" which provided jobs for several family members, myself included.

My grandmother in the kitchen of the Dairy Bar.
Caption written by grandma for the picture below.
A small horseshoe shaped bar surrounded by 10 stools was positioned just outside the door to the kitchen, far right. It was the most popular spot in the Dairy Bar. Shown above were customers Helen Ravely and her daughter Jane, then Grandma and my mother, I'm not sure who the girl next to mom is, could be Wanda Wysong, but the one on the right is Beverly Penrod.

Grandma opened the restaurant every morning at 5 a.m. in the summer and 6 o'clock in the winter. While breakfast was being served she made the pies (some of the best!) and preparations were underway for the daily lunch special. Swiss steak, fried chicken, liver and onions, beef heart, ham and beans - just a few of her specialties. Sunday was the really busy day with the after-church crowd starting about 11 a.m. and continuing through until about 2 o'clock.

Closing time during the winter was 9 p.m. while in the summer the restaurant stayed open until 11 o'clock. It usually took another hour to get the place cleaned before we could go home. I did not enjoy working the late shift, or the morning shift for that matter! For the first few years (before I legally became old enough to work) I cleared tables and washed dishes, eventually moving up to waitress and finally grill cook. I peeled a lot of potatoes and did prep work, but grandma and mom were the ones that cooked up the daily specials. It was by no means an easy job.

Notice the prices for breakfast items:

Ham or Bacon & Eggs, toast, coffee 75¢
2 Eggs, toast, coffee 40¢
a glass of fruit juice was 15¢

Contributed to the "they worked hard for the family" edition of Smile for the Camera.

Sunset through the trees

November 8, ..Versailles State Park, Versailles, Indiana