Saturday, July 30, 2016

Boundary Waters Day 5

Tuesday, July 19
When I got up at 5:15, the lake was covered in mist.
Morning mist

Later that morning, we watched a pair of loons feed two babies. These babies were much larger than the late chick we’d seen last year. We felt better that these two would be big enough to migrate when the time came.
Loon feeding two baby chicks

We had the mixed fruit cobbler for breakfast, warmed up in the microwave.
I packed up lunch in a cooler, and we took off to have an adventure. Every year we drive around the dirt backroads to Hovland, looking for wildlife. This year we saw many rare and exotic species. No, no really. We saw many robins, a pair of blue jays, a chipmunk, a rabbit, a deer, and a roughed grouse.
Deer

Ruffed grouse

“I wonder how many things we are driving by without seeing,” Jane said.
“Lots, I bet,” I replied. “They’re all looking at us and laughing.”
We turned right from Arrowhead Highway on Otter Lake Road as we always do. I picked a handful of wild blueberries at the Otter Lake canoe access.
Wild blueberries

On the other side of Arrowhead Highway, Ester Lake Road goes to the left. “Have we ever been to Esther Lake?” Jane asked.
“Not that I remember. Is today the day? We are trying new things.”
So off we went to Esther Lake. I followed along as best I could on the Forest Service map, but it was confusing because no private roads were shown. Esther Lake Road was deserted except for a pickup truck that came tearing up behind us. Jane pulled over to let him pass us in a cloud of dust. We came to a fork with a sign pointing to the left that said only “Lake Access.” Both roads looked equally maintained, and there were lakes other than Esther along the way. Was this the spur to Chester Lake? The pickup had gone to the right. We followed him, thinking that he would surely be on the main road to recreation. And we ended up in a gravel pit where the man in the pickup worked.
We turned around and took the left fork. We found the Chester Lake canoe access, which had a nice dock suitable for fishing—deep water and no snags.
Chester Lake canoe landing

I saw a small toad at the edge of the parking spot. Add that to the list of wildlife.
Toad

At length, we found Esther Lake. It was a pretty spot and totally isolated. We were the only people there. Not a boat on the water, not a house on the shore. I walked out on the boat dock access the fishing conditions, which were also good.
Esther Lake

I saw a picnic table across a small bay which seemed like the perfect spot for lunch. The picnic table was at one of three campsites at Esther Lake. Someone had left neatly stacked firewood by the fire ring.
Lunch at a campsite overlooking Esther Lake

They just don’t make days better than this one. It was cool, calm, and sunny. There was just enough breeze coming off the lake to keep the bugs down. We ate cheese curds, summer sausage, crackers, and cherries overlooking the water. There were no human sounds other than our own voices. It is often not possible to get to places like this in a car.
We drove up almost to Canada to hike to Pigeon Falls. I remembered correctly that the second platform offered a wider view of the falls without climbing any stairs. As we were attempting a selfie in front of the falls, a woman with a “Hello Kitty” head tattooed on her neck offered to take our picture for us, which was very nice of her.
Jane and me at Pigeon Falls

Jane waited for me in the shade as I climbed the stairs to the first platform. From this vantage point, there was a rainbow in the spray, and I could see the remnants of a sluice built a long time ago to get lumber around the falls.
Waterfall with rainbow--video below

On the way back, Jane noticed a pretty white star-shaped flower nodding on a stem from three leaves that were flat to the ground. We later identified it as one-flowered wintergreen.
One-flowered wintergreen

We also passed a number of fungi growing in the damp, deep shade of the forest. A little girl in the family ahead of us drew our attention to a “gianormous” mushroom down an access road at the side of the paved trail. Gianormous indeed! The cap was perhaps 8” in diameter.
A gianormous mushroom

We got back to the cabin at 5:15. Jane started the charcoal while I made an experiment foil pack of broccoli, garlic, butter, and Parmesan cheese. We had margaritas, chips, and salsa while waiting for the charcoal to be ready. We grilled the Zup’s brats and the broccoli and microwaved the last of the foil pack potatoes from Sunday. The foil pack was a success. Some of the Parmesan browned on the broccoli and garlic. A lot of it burned on the foil, but Jane gamely picked it off and declared it the best part. We ate dinner on the deck, another first for us. It helped that Dave and Nancy have added a small table to the deck furniture this year.
Brats and broccoli

Another lovely day on vacation.


Friday, July 29, 2016

Boundary Waters Day 4

Monday, July 18
We had eggs with green pepper, spring onions, and leftover foil pack potatoes for breakfast.
I bailed the boat while Jane did the dishes. We fished from the boat until lunch with slightly more success. I caught one small bass and a bluegill.
The only bass of the trip
 We had steak quesadilla for lunch. Jane is into quesadilla these days.
Steak quesadilla today
We went to Grand Marais in the afternoon.  Sydney’s was not as crowded now that the weekenders had gone home. We both had kid cones this time. We sat on our bench and watched the Canada geese and seagulls.
It was such a beautiful calm afternoon that I suggested that this should be the day we walk to the end of Artists’ Point, which we had never done before. The road on which Sydney’s is located runs almost all of the way down a strip of land that forms the north side of Grand Marais Harbor, and Artists’ Point is a pretty wooded point at the end. We have looked at Artists’ Point from our bench at Sydney’s forever.
We moved the car a short distance down from Sydney’s to the parking lot of the Coast Guard Station and Grand Marais harbor. The trail to Artists’ Point started behind the Coast Guard station. We skimmed the informational plaque at the trailhead. It briefly explained the volcanic origin of the point and the history of human use. The land that ended in Artist Point had been important to humans for centuries. It created a natural breakwater and sheltered place to fish and land boats. The first Europeans found Anishinaabe or Ojibwa wigwams on the point. Henry Mayhew later built a store and did big business with travelers using the harbor to connect to Canada and, ultimately, Europe.
The trail to the right soon came to steps up to a cement breakwater that extended along way south into Grand Marais Harbor and a short way north to the rocks of Artists’ Point. It was too rough for Jane. 
Breakwater to Artists' Point

Breakwater out to a lighthouse
We tried a different route that looked like it went along loose rocks by the shore, but that too soon led to uneven rocks and mud. Jane told me to take my time and went back to the car.
Trail to Artists' Point through the forest

I went north to Artists’ Point, taking the rock and mud trail through the trees. I saw one cedar waxwing and heard lots of them. It was quiet and calm in the trees, but I could not figure out where a person would put a wigwam. The ground was far too uneven. At the shore, the trees gave way to bare basalt. It was smooth from the waves where it met Lake Superior and jagged on the sheltered side. It was easy to see why artists were attracted to it.
Grand Marais from Artists' Point

I walked along the rocks by the open lake to get back to the cement breakwater. I walked all the way to the lighthouse at the south end. 
Lighthouse at the entry to Grand Marais Harbor
There were also huge rocks to the south which had been incorporated into the breakwater. Before the artificial breakwater was built, these scattered and partially submerged rocks must have been treacherous indeed.
Cement to level out the path along the breakwater

On the drive up the Gunflint, I solved the mystery of the wigwams. They could have been where the Coast Guard Station was or anywhere along the peninsula that is now a road lined with Sydney’s and tourist shops. Duh. Just because the sign was at the beginning of the trail didn’t mean that the wigwams were behind it. Of course, the peninsula today is probably different than it was before European settlement.  Since “marais” means “swamp,” it stands to reason that there’s been some draining and filling over the years.
Back at the cabin, I made a cobbler of scones and peaches, cherries, and blueberries. We had margaritas and ate almost an entire bag of Boom-Chika-Pop popcorn while the cobbler baked.
Cherry, peach, and blueberry cobbler, which looked mostly like blueberries when it was done.

Dinner was WondeRoast chicken, garlic, broccoli and cherry tomato pasta. We both ate too much and could only have a little taste of the cobbler.
Garlic, broccoli, cherry tomato and WondeRoast chicken pasta

While I was getting ready for bed, a baby bunny foraged right outside my window. It had long back legs and ears edged in black. My first snowshoe hare.
Baby snowshoe hare grazing outside my bedroom





Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Boundary Waters Day 3

Sunday, July 17
I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. We put peaches and maple syrup on the top and had bacon on the side. We ate half of the pancakes and put the other half in a baggie in the refrigerator.
Breakfast

On our first full day at the cabin, I noticed an addition next to the deck where I hit my head on the rock last year. I think this is the Bev Dow Memorial Step. 
The new step where I tripped and hit my head on the rock last year.
We got our fishing licenses and two dozen leeches. We asked Dave if it was going to rain. He quoted a woman he’d known growing up: if you see enough blue sky to make a pair of pants for a dog, the rain won’t amount to diddly.
At that point, there was plenty of blue sky to meet that criterion (that is to say, not much but some). 
Water lilies were blooming.
Water lily
We spent the morning catching small perch from the dock. Jane was the first to land one, and here it is.
Whoa--it's a whopper! A little bigger than the leech.
We saw the loon family again
Loon and two chicks
We had WondeRoast chicken quesadilla for lunch. I sautéed green pepper and scallions to put with the chicken and cheese.
WondeRoast chicken quesadilla

We took the boat out to fish in the afternoon. We’d been out an hour when the sky to the west looked dark and menacing. Thunder rumbled. We got off the water.
Storm clouds rolling in

I wanted to take a shower to wash the bug spray off. “Do you think I’ll be electrocuted?” I asked Jane.
“No, I think the storm isn’t that close yet, but you’d better get right to it.”
She was right. I was clean, dry, and dressed before the rain hit. The wind was fierce, and the rain poured down.
3:00 Pouring rain
A short while later, the sky was blue again. 
4:30 Blue sky on the horizon
5:00 Blue sky and calm
We went down to the dock to fish some more. On our way up for happy hour, Jane spotted this four-leaf clover. She left it where it was, thinking it must be bad luck for the clover if people pick them all the time.
The weather was still nice when it was time to start the charcoal for dinner. The clouds were amazing. They changed form so quickly that it was better than television.
5:20 Amazing and quickly changing clouds

Another storm was coming. We just managed to get foil pack new potatoes, garlic, and spring onions, Porterhouse steak, and baby zucchini off the grill before the next wave of wind and rain.
Supper

After dinner, we finished the Yahtzee game we’d started during the first storm. I got out the cards and we played Fish and then a version of Rummy based on what we could remember.
Cold blueberry pancakes are better than you might think.


Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Boundary Waters Vacation, days 1 and 2

Friday, July 15
Despite all of my good intentions of starting to pack my clothes as soon as the cleaning ladies were done on Tuesday, when Friday morning dawned, I had only gotten as far as setting out my hat. I had, at least, done the garden raid and gotten my share of the food in a box or where I could find it in the refrigerator.
After I got the chicken chores done, I started pulling things out of dresser drawers in earnest, crossing items off the list as I loaded up my duffel bag. I was packed and had all the old photos downloaded and off the camera card before Jane got to my house at 10:07.
Since our last trip, Jane had gotten a smaller walker and smaller folding chairs. It wasn’t even hard to find room for my stuff in the car this time. We were on the road 15 minutes later.
We stopped for lunch at the A&W north of Madison. We hadn’t had A&W root beer for years, and it sounded good. We asked for frosty mugs, which is what makes the root beer taste so good but also constrained us to sit a little longer in the restaurant. I had a chili cheese dog with fries. The chili was canned; the cheese was liquid—it completely met my expectations. It was also a mess, but I managed to not end up wearing any of it.
Jane noticed on the receipt that we had gotten a 10% senior discount (total savings: $1.20).
“My first one!” I said. Jane was quick to point out that she was more likely to have been the qualifier.
We made our usual stop at Carr Valley Cheese in Mauston to get curds. They had Benedictine in stock, so I felt compelled to get some to take home. It would be well-traveled by the time we got there, but I knew from experience that the store would be closed by the time we passed by in a week.
The Holstein bench at Carr Valley
We got to Americas [sic] Best Value Inn (ABVI) in Chetek at 4:45. I’d contacted Julie and Pat, our friends in Cornell, WI about meeting us for dinner again. Julie was out of town, but Pat was game. The desk clerk said he’d heard good comments about the newly reopened Pokegama Inn Supper Club. We love supper clubs. Also, Jane was curious about Pokegama because in our camp days, people routinely called Pokonokah asking if we still had the Friday Fish Fry.
Entrance to Pokegama
I called Pat, and we agreed on 6:00. After Jane and I settled in, we drove over to check the place out. They were serving the entire menu, not just the Fish Fry Buffet. We were early, so we went to the bar in the back of the restaurant for a drink while we waited. The décor was classic Northern Wisconsin. The bar, furniture, and paneling were pine. A tar-patched birch bark canoe hung upside down over the bar. The base of the bar and all the tables were covered with slabs of paper birch, bark still (mostly) attached.
Pat showed up right at 6:00. The food was good, but it took almost an hour to get our food. Should have had the buffet. But we had a nice visit with Pat. Plenty of time to talk.  Pat is really retired from teaching now and is at loose ends about what to do next. Move? Not move? Work? Not work?
We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Jane and I returned to ABVI. I was so sleepy that I went to bed. Jane was not sleepy at all and was awake until after midnight.
Saturday, July 17
It was a beautiful morning. Not finding anywhere we wanted to eat in Chetek, we had breakfast at the Norske Nook in Rice Lake.
We saw a bald eagle shortly after we got on the highway. Other sightings included an osprey on a telephone pole and a huge black bird with narrow white stripes running parallel to its body not quite in the middle of its wings. We both saw these stripes distinctly, but there was nothing in the bird book that was even close.
Two Harbors was having its Chalk-A-Lot festival, which was less disruptive to the town that the Pioneer Days we ran into last year. Two blocks were barricaded so that children could draw on the streets with sidewalk chalk. There was no line at Louisa’s Place. I ordered one ham sandwich, which we shared in the car down by the lighthouse. Really, this was how we should have been eating all along.
We stopped at Zup’s in Silver Bay to get their legendary bratwurst and Our Family horseradish mustard. Jane remembered that we had gotten fresh frozen brats before; the only thing we could find was precooked and shrink wrapped.
When we got to Grand Marais, there was a line out to the street at Sydney’s. We’d never seen it so busy. “Do you want to wait?” Jane asked.
“Of course!” I replied in a tone that questioned her sanity at even asking the question. I waited while Jane went around front to claim our bench. I ordered a kid cone and a single cone of Dutch chocolate so we could compare the sizes. The kid cone was really, truly one scoop, while the single was two. Go figure. In any case, the kid cone was perfectly adequate.
Custard at Sydney's!
We didn’t need anything at Gene’s Foods except ice and a WondeRoast rotisserie chicken, our traditional first night meal.
The loons and white-throated sparrows greeted us immediately on our arrival at Hungry Jack Outfitters. We unloaded the car and filled up the refrigerator with all the food from our coolers. I delivered two dozen eggs, fresh garlic, zucchini, and green peppers to Dave. Nancy was out guiding a plein aire art class for the weekend.
We had chips and salsa with margaritas for happy hour on the deck. We don’t make margaritas from scratch anymore. That much hard liquor sets my stomach on fire. We pour Jose Cuervo Golden margarita mix from the bottle over ice. We are so old.
We ate some of the WondeRoast chicken, played Farkel, and went to bed early.


Sunday, July 24, 2016

Chick update

Okay, I’m back. I was off the grid up north last week. Before I tell you about my vacation, I have a few updates on the chicks and the farm.
Hilda found a black swallowtail caterpillar on the parsley. We were not concerned because the parsley is growing luxuriantly this summer, and we can spare some for a beautiful butterfly. We have a different opinion about the ground squirrels eating the tomatoes.
Black swallowtail caterpillar on the parsley

The lilies are blooming prolifically.
Lilies

We put up the chick fence on July 12. Because we’d had so little rain, the ground was like cement. I got a good workout pounding in the posts. In the end, however, we were pleased with how tight we got the fence.
Coop 2 inside the chick fence (it looks a little droopy because the gate is open)
With the fence done, we took the barrier down on the chick’s coop and put a screen over the front until the chicks got used to looking outside.
Turkey poults longing for freedom

When we took the screen away and put up the ramp, the chicks cowered in the far back corner of the coop. We put the food on the ground at the end of the ramp and progressively moved it up to try to get them interested in coming out. This video shows that only the poults had the courage to venture out, and even then, they were exceedingly cautious. If you look carefully, you can observe several chicken fights in the coop. (I muted the sound on the video because it was very windy when I made it, and that static-like noise was all there was.)

The next day, however, more of the chicks ventured out. Here are the Barred Rock (black and white), two of the Americauna (the dark brown one is standing next to a Barred Rock), and the poults.

And now we can’t get them back in. Who wants to be cooped up when it’s so hot?
Next up: Bev and Jane’s Annual Trip to the Boundary waters.


Tuesday, July 12, 2016

First real harvest

The meat chicks are now considerably larger than the layer pullets. They have developed their couch potato habits, dividing their time between lying around and eating. The layers and the turkeys run around more. 
Turkey standing at the right, meat chickens lounging on left

All of the chicks are getting wing feathers and tail feathers. Here is a Barred Rock (black and white) and the prettiest of the Americauna. We might call her Cleopatra the Second because of the black eyeliner. Cleopatra the First is going to Freezer Heaven in the fall.
Barred Rock in front, Cleopatra the Second behind her
Jane saw somewhere that a truck full of Leduc’s blueberries and Georgia peaches was going to be near Elgin last Saturday. The fruit was expensive, but we figured it was cheaper than driving to Paw Paw.
Leduc's--the best!

I went down early so we could do our shopping. One of our stops was at Lowe’s, where there was a sign above rolls of grass that said, “Farm-Raised Sod.”
“And that would be opposed to free range sod?” I asked Jane.
“Do people think they go around cutting it out of people’s lawns?” she replied.
We got to the fruit truck just before they opened at noon. There was already a big line, but it moved quickly. We were relieved that they didn’t run out before we got there. They had a lot of boxes packed in that truck! As we were paying, one of the workers was explaining to another customer that they only source blueberries from Leduc’s now.
“They’re the best,” I said, “We used to pick blueberries there when I was growing up in Michigan.”
“That’s cool!” the guy said.
Leduc’s blueberries tasted exactly as I remembered, and that is better than all other blueberries. I bought two 5-pound boxes and froze most of them for the winter. The peaches were still hard and green. I planned to make a blueberry-peach cobbler for Sunday. Alas, the peaches did not soften overnight in the paper bag. I had to use them anyway and was pleasantly surprised that they still tasted great!
And now a little rant: I only make blueberry muffins in the summer. They are a special treat. Using frozen berries makes the muffins green (due to the pH sensitivity of the blue pigment). Making muffins with out-of-local-season blueberries from halfway around the world is ridiculous for a number of reasons, first and foremost because they don’t taste like much. Fruits have seasons, people. Respect that.
Blueberry muffins should only be made in the summer
For unknown reasons, the female flowers on the zucchini developed ahead of the male flowers. If a female flower is not fertilized, the fruit stops development at about 3”. If I don’t pick it in time, it rots. I can tell which ones are virgins because the tip of the fruit is pointy, whereas the fertilized fruit is rounded. The male flowers are coming along now, and I don’t expect this problem anymore.
Last Saturday, I harvested the virgin zucchini as well as a few new potatoes and spring onions. Sure, we’d had lettuce and kale from the garden, but this was the first meal of the season that was mostly home-grown. I put the potatoes and onions in a foil pack with butter and tossed the zucchini in olive oil and salt. It felt so good to be rubbing olive oil on zucchini again. This is why I garden. Farm to table every night. I defrosted the 2 filets we had leftover from the Fourth, and turned everything over to the Grillmeister. Terry cooked everything perfectly.
Mostly home-grown food--foil pack potatoes with spring onions and grilled baby zucchini
Dinner was delicious, but the rain gods were not pleased by our virgin sacrifice. This morning a very promising storm was headed for us, but it broke apart—AGAIN—before we saw a single drop of rain.
The corn is beginning to tassel.
Corn tassel
My restored wetland is limping along. Blue vervain showed up this year.  We really need to burn it to clear out the reed canary and other invasives.
Blue vervain
We have a new feral cat this summer. Terry calls him Bart. I got this picture of him staking out the ground squirrel burrow. He’s made the rounds twice this morning. I tried to get close to him by walking slowly and talking quietly. He would have none of it. I backed off when it looked like he was going to run off. I didn’t want to interfere with his hunting. The squirrel population seems to be shrinking. Thanks Bart!
Bart, this summer's feral cat
Sunday was Game Night. In the course of conversation, Terry got started on a story from his youth that involved his cousin Harry, a few other friends, and a keg of beer. They went on a camping/fishing trip down by the Missouri River. “And Harry was being an asshole, so we burned his pants.”
“You burned his pants?”
“Yeah! He deserved it! See, he caught 30 walleye, while the rest of us combined only caught 6, and he just wouldn’t let it go. When he went to sleep, we burned his pants. It was hilarious! So he went around the rest of the weekend in his long johns. We called him Long John the rest of his life.”
 I think it is important to remember that alcohol was involved. Also, that these were young men. Women would never leave for a weekend with one pair of pants.
“But he was telling the truth about the fish?” I asked.
“Wull, yeah! But it just was because he had the best fishing hole.”
“My point is,” I clarified, “that is if he was telling the truth, his pants should not have been on fire.”
The game went on. At one point, Terry was treating us to a drawn out stream-of-consciousness regarding his next move including a statement that just didn’t make sense.  
I pointed out the logic error of his premise, but he clung to it tenaciously.
“He’s just being an asshole,” I said.

“We’re gonna burn his pants!” Pat said. And we dissolved in laughter. I had to wipe my eyes. For the rest of the evening, I was overcome by giggles at regular intervals. I suspect this phrase may enter the lexicon of my social circle. It’s one of those phrases that makes it impossible to have a serious argument. At some point, someone is bound to say, “I’m gonna burn your pants!” And that will be the end of it.