American Heirlooms - November 2020

American Heirlooms - November 2020

302-653-2411

NOVEMBER 2020

OUR WINTERS SPENT GROWING AS A FAMILY

The weather is getting colder and crisp. There’s a chill in the autumn air, reminding us all that a frigid winter is just around the corner, and with it, shorter days and bone-chilling temperatures. As my family spends more evenings basking in the glow of our home’s wood stove, I remember the memories we’ve made down in this basement in winters past. For our family, the basement becomes a sanctuary from the cold. We will sometimes eat our winter suppers downstairs, near the wood stove, sharing the details of our days and learning about what our children are doing in school. It’s a dedicated time every night for our family to share a meal together and focus on the banes and blessings of our day. We also spend many evenings playing games together! There’s Ping-Pong, Qwirkle, and Dutch Blitz, which is a fast-paced card game requiring quick thinking and coordination. Bethany and I enjoy watching our children have fun as they play. Seeing the mixture of the parent's personalities is one of the joys of parenting. Throughout the week, we have family worship time, and the wood stove is also where much of our nightly family worship takes place. We sing, pray, and read the Bible. You can hear the little learning curve that happens as the children get older, and it’s an insight into faith through a child’s eyes. There’s a very early adoption of

scripture that you can see develop in a child. After all, Jesus did say that we must “become like children” and adopt a childlike trust in him and our Creator. When we do leave the house on frigid winter nights, we are sometimes exploring the heavens. One of the downfalls of our region is the intense light pollution that fills the night sky. We can observe some stars from home, but to really capture their magnificent beauty, we have to venture to less densely populated regions. Each winter, as we grow in our faith together, enjoy family games, and view some of the greatest shows in the heavens, I’m thankful for the many memories we make by the glow of our wood stove in one of earth's harshest seasons.

Stay warm and trust God,

–Ethan Zimmerman

302-653-2411 • 1

Published by The Newsletter Pro • www.TheNewsletterPro.com

In this month’s newsletter, we’re honored to feature an article by Kevin Shank of Nature Friend magazine. Shank is an expert in photographing the night sky, and we wanted to share his thoughts from a recent article he wrote for the publication. Learn more about Nature Friend at NatureFriendMagazine.com.

The following is from the October 2020 photography lesson in the Nature Friend magazine at NatureFriendMagazine.com.

Last month, I published a photo of Cheryl’s that included both lightning and comet NEOWISE. It was full of digital noise! I had tried repeatedly to get that photo to stack to remove the noise, but no luck. So I published it without stacking due to its unique content. Photographer Steven Smith pointed me to stacking software called Sequator. He gave me instructions, and after several tries, I had very pleasing results. THE BASIC STEPS In your browser, highlight the series of photos you want to stack and drag them into Sequator. A list will pop up: Star images, Noise images, or Vignetting images. For the original photos (light frames) choose Star images. The photo file names will populate in a list at the top of the left margin. Below that is Base image. The program will choose one by default, but you can change it. I chose a specific one that showed a touch of the lightning bolt.

and take a series of dark frames. These need to be the same shutter speed as the light frames, the same ISO, and the same ambient temperature as the light frames were taken. The result took out the noise in the sky among the stars, but the colors in the thunderhead were really messed up. So, for the foreground, I copied the foreground in the original frame and pasted it on a layer over the top of the stacked sky photo. The two layers were blended together in Photoshop, then I adjusted colors, light levels, saturation, etc.

Drag the series of dark frames you took (noise images) into the software. From the list that pops up, choose Noise images.

You can skip the vignetting images.

Click Output, and give your file a name.

I minimized the noise in the clouds by using an app in Photoshop called Imagenomic.

At the bottom left margin, click Composition: Align stars. You can choose to align stars (pinpoint) or trails (star streaks). I chose to freeze the ground, as I wanted to have a single photo provide the lightning and trees. Click Sky region: Full area. Since I wanted to preserve the foreground, I chose Irregular Mask to paint the sky. A brush is there by default when you move your mouse on the photo. I painted the sky but not the foreground. The painting does not have to be perfect on the margins of sky and ground.

You still have time to get some nighttime photos of the Milky Way. Take a lot of them, along with dark frames, and learn to stack them to reduce the noise. It will open a door into some very rewarding photography. For exposure, use a wide-open aperture. Use a high ISO. For a full- frame digital camera, to determine how long the exposure can be without stars trailing during the exposure, divide the focal length of the lens into 500. The quotient is approximately the maximum length of time the shutter can be open. If your camera sensor has a crop factor, you need to first multiply the length of the lens by the crop factor, and then divide 500 by the product. For example, let’s say your camera’s crop factor is 1.6, and your lens is 17 mm. Multiplying 17 by 1.6 equals 27.2. Divide 500 by 27.2. The quotient of 13 suggests 13 seconds is a maximum shutter speed. A test shot can soon show you if the stars are streaking or not. If they are, speed up your shutter until the stars are pinpoints of light.

Click Start at the bottom, and the program will begin its work.

To achieve the result on the motto, Cheryl took a series of 13-second photographs, at ISO 12,800 and f/4. To remove the digital noise, I stacked 52 light frames and 40 dark frames. I experimented with lesser quantities of light and dark frames, but those were less successful in removing the digital noise. So, when you can, shoot a lot of original light frames. As for dark frames they are just what it sounds like they are. Put the lens cap onto the lens

2 • THE SWISS CRAFTSMAN

Published by The Newsletter Pro • www.TheNewsletterPro.com

It’s cold season, and try as you might to avoid it, you’re down with the bug. Wrapped up in bed, feeling like death itself, you might find yourself working up the strength to retrieve a can of chicken soup from the pantry. You know it’s the first thing Grandma would want to bring you in your time of need, but is eating chicken soup when you're sick just a habit from childhood? The National Institutes of Health states that people have been using hot soup as a remedy for the common cold for centuries. But while tea or vegetable broth may just make your sore throat feel better, studies have found that chicken soup has a little added kick. A warm bowl of chicken soup isn’t going to cure the cold or shorten the length of your illness, but it can help you feel better while you’re sick. Dr. Stephen Rennard of

the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha conducted a series of tests to determine why chicken soup seems to help those suffering from colds. He found that soup slows the movement of white blood cells, which might be what alleviates cold symptoms. You see, the sore throat and stuffy nose you suffer from during a cold isn’t actually caused by the cold virus. As your body deploys white blood cells to deal with the virus, it increases mucus production. Slowing down the movement of white blood cells alleviates your respiratory symptoms and the production of mucus. Additional research from Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami proves chicken soup is more than just a placebo. Using various brands of store-bought and homemade soups, researchers found that chicken soup

improves the function of cilia — tiny hair-like projections in the nose that block contagions.

Whatever the secret behind chicken soup’s superpower, it’s also true that this dish can keep you hydrated and provides plenty of additional vitamins to help your body fight off illness. If cold season knocks you down this year, don’t hesitate to reach for that can of tasty chicken soup. Science is on your side.

Yummy on fresh bread, toast, and scrapple ... And while its cooking, it fills the house with a spicy, fall aroma! (Makes about 5 pints)

INGREDIENTS • 5 quarts apples, cored, peeled, and quartered • 4 cups sugar

• 4 tsp. cinnamon • 1/4 tsp. ground cloves • 1/4 tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS 1. Combine all ingredients in a crockpot and cook on low for 20 hours with the lid on. Stir a few times. 2. After 20 hours, use a hand mixer or immersion blender and beat till smooth. 3. Turn crockpot to high and cook for another hour with the lid off. 4. Put in jars and seal.

Photo Credit: Heather Brooke Zimmerman

302-653-2411 • 3

Published by The Newsletter Pro • www.TheNewsletterPro.com

Brought to you by KCS Builders of American Heirlooms and Penns Creek Furniture 291 Blackiston Rd. • Clayton, DE 19938 Phone: (302) 653-2411 • Email: [email protected] The Swiss Craftsman

PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411

Inside this Issue

Family Memories Around the Glow of a Woodstove Page 1

Stacking Software Makes Starry Night Photos Pop Page 2

The Science Behind Chicken Soup

Apple Butter Page 3

Scientists May Have Cracked the Bermuda Triangle Page 4

SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE CRACKED THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE

The Bermuda Triangle is a place of mystery. More interesting than the place itself — which is essentially a large section of ocean that connects Bermuda, Miami, and Puerto Rico — are the events said to have taken place on the waters there. Alongside these strange stories of wrecks, compass malfunctions, and disappearances are tales of extraterrestrial portals, time travel, and even the Lost City of Atlantis. Since 1950, when the Associated Press published an article on disappearances in the area, the Bermuda Triangle has drawn interest from scientists trying to debunk these theories. But recently, a Norwegian research team studying the Arctic may have found an answer to these questions. While studying craters on the Barents Sea floor, the team speculated that the holes were possibly caused by methane leaking from gas deposits. Such a leak could potentially cause a bubble to rise to the surface and erupt, and if a vessel on the surface happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, this could potentially capsize it.

Could science have finally cracked one of the biggest mysteries the world has ever seen? Not so fast. The U.S. Geological Survey claims that, although they have found and mapped out gas hydrate in the sea floor sediments of the region — and that a release of those gases could sink a ship — there have been no large releases of gas hydrates in the area known as the Bermuda Triangle for many years. Maybe more research is needed after all.

4 • THE SWISS CRAFTSMAN

Published by The Newsletter Pro • www.TheNewsletterPro.com