News from home

 There was a storm through Minnesota on Friday night, many people are without electricity. Luckily our home in the woods is okay. Grandgirls Savannah and Paige both had trees down…in fact a tree blocked Savannahs door. My sister has no electricity and my friend Susie has no electricity either. It will be a number of days before electricity is restored. The weather people are calling it a hurricane.

Neighbor  Leah sent me a photo of the Flax field blooming across from our driveway! I wish I could have seen it, maybe next year!

Such a beautiful sight to see! 

In other news, Miss Minnesota was crowned…and she is the beautiful Emma who lives near us and just so happens to be dating our great nephew Mason! You can check out the Miss Minnesota Facebook page to see a photo.  She is a nursing student and her platform is Water Safety Knowledge which is perfect for all the lakes we have in Minnesota.  Onward to Miss America..wouldn’t that be something!  Just so you know she is as beautiful on the inside as outside. 

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Holy Smoke!

 Usually you have to go out of our trees to see the smoke.  Well not yesterday.

I took photos from inside the house. 

Looking murky out there. 

Needless to say the wildfire smoke covered up the sun.

We stayed indoors all day...again.   I read a bit and then had a four hour nap.  

Minnesota Weather: High 82 F or 28 C  Low  47 F or 9 C eh.

We had pork chops, rice and peaches for supper. 

Too many days inside is discouraging...at least when it is 40 below we can stick our heads out in the fresh air.  Canada please put out your fires!!

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Up

 I would not do this but it was fun to see and hear this fella the other night.  

Here is a pretty good side view of his flying contraption.

We were at the neighbors...so I managed the old windmill in the photo.

Monday was a quiet day, I killed some ants and did some laundry.  I put ribs in the crock pot, Far Guy made us a baked potato and green beans. 

We are getting some smoke from the wildfires up North. 

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Busy Day

 We had a busy day Thursday; Infusion for Far Guy while I picked up groceries and ran errands. 

Toward evening we headed in to the funeral home for the visitation for our neighbor lady who died suddenly last Saturday.  The line of people waiting to pay their respects spilled out the doors and into the parking lot.  We signed the guest book gave our condolences to her husband and left.  Way too many people for us to stick around and visit. 

Every person over 30 that had a lawn chair was in town getting their spot on Main Street to listen to some band and frequent the beer garden, anyone who was not there was at the fairgrounds for the fair, or standing in line at the funeral home. 

Minnesota State bird..the Loon...I took this photo a number of years ago...I always liked it because the water looks so cool and refreshing.  We are headed back into the 80 F degrees again...I don't see 90 F in the forecast but you never know. 

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Town

We have enough groceries in this house so my grocery trip this week was really short and I still forgot the milk.  I must have been concentrating on getting gas in the vehicle and a wash and then over to one of the parks to get a few photos.

The Christmas tree is on Main Street...Black Friday shoppers were out so there was no place to park.  It doesn't help that the tree and the fence that surrounds it takes up at least four parking spots.  I am not sure what trinkets people were buying...the only store I frequent on Main Street is the five and dime store where nothing is a nickel or a dime.

Far Guys infusion took a bit longer this week.  A pump problem.  

The light posts at the park are all decorated and the geese flew South.  I had a nice walk through the park looking at all the sculptures.  No one else was around....no tourists!   It was  26 F or -3 C eh.

The river is frozen.  It was a very nice November while it lasted.

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October

 We see a few migratory birds in October...a few more Hawks than normal.  On Saturday we saw a bevy  of swans...they can be call a bevy, bank or herd.  In flight they are called a flight or a wedge. 

Sometime I just grab my camera and do not have the right lens...oh well the swans show up nicely anyway. 

Yesterday I washed the dining room window...I could not stand looking out it anymore.   Far Guy did some woodcarving.  I did some laundry and had a nap.  

Today I am seeing the eye Doctor yet again and getting the RSV vaccination.  Fun times. 

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Out to lupper

 Yesterday Far Guy took me out to lupper ( lunch and supper all in one).  We had a nice afternoon. 

By afternoon the wildfire smoke rolled in.  

Kathy's Maple tree is just beautiful!  Although technically it may be Ruby's tree...but Kathy lives there now and Ruby died a number of years ago. 

Thank you for all the birthday wishes I appreciate them!

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Evening Trail Ride

 We went for a short trail ride. 

It was a nice end to our busy day.  We worked on Christmas woodcarvings and we now have 80 ready to paint.  I mulched leaves in the neighborhood and along our road and the trails through the wild gardens. It was a very dusty job. 

We got to watch the sunset.

This time of year the sun goes down really fast. 

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Oh deer, deer, deer, deer

 A doe and three fawns visited our yard aka snack bar yesterday. 

I noticed movement out the living room window. 

The doe was turning a real dark color.

The fawns were in three different stages...some spots, fading spots and almost no spots.   I wonder if the doe had triplets?  One fawn seemed larger than the others...perhaps it was an adoption.  They love the acorns.

Checking out the bird bath.  

They wandered in the yard about twenty minutes and then disappeared off into the woods. 

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Beans

 The beans must be really good...this doe stayed right there in the field and watched us as we drove by. 

She was loving those beans. 

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Clouds

 The clouds were interesting this past weekend. 

Small Grain field to the left and a corn field to the right.  It was just about sunset. 

We enjoyed a Ranger Blue ride looking at the fields and the clouds.  Some quiet time together.

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Floating Water Garden

 The swans ate all but one tomato plant, the squash look a little sick, the beans are growing a bit and the strawberries are doing okay.

It was a good experiment...and it is still floating!

We finally got some rain on Wednesday our gauge shows 1 1/2 inches.  It cooled off a bit after the rain.

It was a little smoky several days this week.

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Foxy

 We have a fox here in the woods.  We saw it in the ditch a few days ago. 

The ditches are turning green which here in Minnesota means that the deer are out grazing at the edges of the road at night and in the morning. 

We are seeing some green in the trees. 

See a hint of green through the trees? 

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Out and about

We went for a Ranger Blue ride.  Looks like a beaver has moved in down at the Dead Beaver Area...unless he has been trapped.  The river is up a bit. 

The snow is melting slowly.   It was a great evening for a ride.  We could smell smoke as soon as we left our house...we confirmed that it was stumps burning a mile west of us.

They had all winter to burn the darn things...I suppose they will smolder for days. 

We are happy to put this week of appointments behind us and look forward to staying out of Clinics for a few days. 

Far Guy is still struggling with shortness of breath and some congestion...I have one eye on him. He had lung function tests this week and is at 20% lung function.  He has been worse and he has been better.  One day at a time. 

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The Bobber Tree

 The leaning tree has a new mane.  The Bobber Tree.

It almost looks like a decoration.

We had a quiet Sunday.  We worked together on Christmas Ornaments.  My other baby brother and she who sees robins first came by in the afternoon for a visit.  It was another chilly day with a high temperature of  38 F or 4 C eh!  Of course next March that will be a heatwave!

Nephew Josh had an emergency appendectomy last Friday morning. 

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Old and First Snow

 It was my Mothers 93rd birthday yesterday.  She was having a hard time with my Dad.  We were supposed to go out to lunch but since they had a bad night and morning we stopped by to see how they were doing.   Dad was asleep, sometimes I think he has his days and nights mixed up just like a baby.  He woke up and had lunch, later in the afternoon he was moved into the nursing home next to the assisted living apartments.  Mom can walk over there to visit him.

And so it goes.  

Far Guy and I got the high dose flu vaccinations yesterday.  So cross that off our list.  The gals at the Infusion Center where Far Guy goes for his weekly infusion take good care of us. 

Grocery pickup was mostly uneventful.  The peanut butter shortage must be over!   Town was busy.

And it snowed.  In some spots the ground was white.  So we have officially had our first snow.   Early in the morning we knew something was up as our yard was full of Robins and Juncos.  I think the Robins were just stopping by on their way south.

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Leaves of three

 Let them be.   Poison Ivy is green all summer and blends in with many other plants.  The more shade a plant has the taller it will grow...seeking the sun in the shady woods.   I saw some plants last summer that were over three feet tall. ...scary for sure.  

Fall is a great time to identify poison ivy on your property because it sticks out like a sore thumb. 

First it turns yellow...there are still some green/greenish yellow plants in this photo. 

Then the real red flag.

Everything the pretty red is Poison Ivy in this photo!   You can mark the area with a flag and spray it in the Spring.   I use Round Up for Poison Ivy. 

If you have endured the insane itching of poison ivy...then you will understand my personal war against it.   Those of you lucky enough to escape it...good for you!  ( My husband has never had it... very lucky guy!)

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September begins

 Sometimes I wonder about the things I see in nature. 

The Field Bindweed is choking the Goldenrod.   Field Bindweed is part of the Morning Glory family and has a nice bloom...it has arrow shaped leaves and tendrils that curl around what ever is in the way...in this case Goldenrod.  Its real name is Convolvulus arvensis.  Non native plant. 

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July in Minnesota

 Far Guy says that half the summer is over when we get past the 4th of July.   I suppose that is true for people and kids that go back to school in mid August. 

Our weather has been wonderful the past few days, in the 70's during the day and cools off into the 50's at night.  

I can carve wood, I tried one of the Christmas ornaments yesterday.  My thumb was/is sore but I can do it.  Not sure how much I can help with the carving this year.  So I went off on my lawn tractor to kill poison ivy...great entertainment!  I was so thankful not to see the skunk family that she who sees robins first saw in her driveway.   The poison ivy is very tall this year...some of it is three feet tall. 

Town is a mess...tourists all over the place. One grocery store was out of mustard, peanut butter and soy sauce.  People are just nuts with their aggressive driving...a motorcycle passed us on a curve and I was going the speed limit. 

So far the lake people are quiet with fireworks.  Usually we hear fireworks every night the week before the 4th and the week after the 4th.  Maybe the skeeters are making life miserable for them too! 

I made potato salad yesterday one of my favorite summer foods.   Far Guy has not lost his cooking mojo...he made spaghetti:) 

Bunting over at my baby brother and his bride's home.  They celebrated 44 years of marriage this week.

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Bass Lake

 We took the trails over to Bass Lake one evening.

We saw a partridge getting gravel from the road ( no photo), a turtle looking to lay some eggs in the road and a few deer when we got closer to home. 

Can you find the turtle?  She was about a half a mile from a lake. 

I believe we saw six deer that evening.

Yesterday Far Guy wood carved and I sprayed Poison Ivy and Thistle.  Freezer food was supper...Far Guy had Seafood Gumbo with Wild Rice and I had Chili.  Nice to have individual servings frozen to warm up when we have a night off of cooking!  The Butcher Shop in town has really good pork chops we had those one night with sweet potatoes and green beans.  I seem to have lost my cooking mojo....I hope Far Guy doesn't lose his:)

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