Goose for Dinner?

While working on the house as we have been over the last 2 months, we've been outside more than we've been inside.  There have been times we've just had to stop and watch nature or something that was new to us.  This place is truly different!  Yesterday, as Mark was working on the basement windows, about ten Canadian geese flew over the house and landed in our yard.  They started out in the field and slowly waddled closer and closer, eating as they moved.  They seemed to be interested in us, not afraid, just curious. Then we got to watch how our cats dealt with them.  They had never seen geese before, especially up close.  These geese were about twice or three times the size of our cats and we knew they could chase and hurt the cats if attacked.

We watched as Cleo came out of the barn door, sat, and watched them for a couple of minutes.  She then, VERY SLOWLY, crept toward them, stalking them.  The alpha male goose that was standing guard, saw her right away and kept his eye on her, but didn't move or sound a warning to the gaggle.  Mark had quietly called me over to watch as soon as Cleo came to the barn door - we stood and watched this scene for almost 10 minutes.  I did have my camera, so I was able to take a few photos and video of this scene.

We got to watch the curiosity and respect between these animals.  Cleo stalk them but Tea, on the other hand, just walked right up to them, bold as brass.  She moved steadily and with interest. The very strange part was that they accepted Tea and allowed her to get closer than we thought they would. At one point, they did not even move away - Tea just sat and watched them for quite a while.  We went back to work and periodically glanced up.  The cats, finally OK with their presence, went out into the field looking for mice or something they could hunt.

You can see Tea sitting in the foreground of the photo - look how close they let her get.

We were happy to see that our cats had enough sense not to chase or attack the geese - I really didn't want to stop and take them to the vets office.  I also did not want goose for dinner!

Technical Difficulties

Our internet connection has become damaged due to some high wind storms over the last month.  As I posted a short while ago, we were the first customers of ShoreWaves, Inc.  They took a chance on our area and installed a temporary tower bringing this area broadband internet for the first time, competing with HughesNet.  They were much less expensive than HughsNet, so we went with them.  They installed a temporary tower, which the storms damaged.  We have had spotty internet for the last month.   I have lots to post, even videos, but I don't have enough of a connection to upload them.

ShoreWaves now tell us that their permanent tower will be erected this Friday and we will be moved to it this weekend, giving us much better connectivity.  So please be patient and I'll start posting again soon.
Thanks for understanding!
Suz

Fall has Arrived!

Sunday, I was up on a ladder painting the last part of our front porch.  It was 84 degrees, sunny, and there was a light breeze. Between the full sun and the breeze, the paint dried quickly.  I was wearing shorts, a tank, and quite a bit of sunscreen.  I was hurriedly painting as I knew a storm was predicted by 6pm and the porch was the last of the outdoor painting for this season.  By 6pm, the temp dropped almost 20 degree, I was just finished painting, and we knew we were done!

The storm did come through with rain overnight (thank God the rain held off so the paint could harden) and Monday the weather was 42 degrees, rainy, and blustery.  They predict that by Wednesday it MIGHT be 65 degrees.  We really can't paint below 65 degrees.  We'd like to have done more, but we knew the weather would not hold out for long. Last week's "warm spell" was our Indian Summer, so we are now looking forward to non-painting outside work.

We now have the windows painted, new storm windows all around, house trim painted (on the front of the house), a new front screen door, and a new back door.  Mark installed the front storm door Monday in the rain and wind.  Since the storm door is metal and therefore cold, he had to keep coming in to warm up, especially his hands.  Our bodies weren't quite ready for the quick temperature drop of 40-50 degrees overnight - you'd think we'd be used to changing weather as we've lived in St. Louis long enough. 

Here are some photos of the house, before and after:

Here is before with a broken light on house porch overhang

This is finished.  The new storm door now shows off the red front door.  We took off the broken porch light and added a decorative touch of a barn star that we can swap for a lighted snowflake for winter.

 Now that we are finished with the painting, we are on to our next project - cleaning up the back of the house.  Boy what a task to clean up that mess!  But we are looking forward to the finished patio!

Assisting Neighbors with Building their Hoop House

Two days ago our neighbor, Judy,  pulled into our drive and asked if we were available to assist them building a hoop house (green house) on their property that day.  She said that the company had some difficulty and their building crew was not complete.  Mark and I agreed - we needed to learn more about hoop houses for ourselves, so we thought we'd learn by helping someone else.

When we arrived on site, the crew was pretty small and most of the folks were volunteers; they only had a crew of five paid folks...and three of those had not ever built a hoop house either.  So, with that said, it was quite an experience for us.  The building team lead, Jeff, I call a jerk (Keva, you would have another word for the guy).  We learned very quickly why he had problems keeping a crew.  You NEVER holler at volunteers - no matter what!  But, for the sake of our neighbor and our knowledge base, we stayed and worked.  Mark was there for almost eight hours, but my knee gave out about four hours in because I had climbed up and down a ladder that day about 30 or more times.

My job was to climb the ladder almost all the way to the top of the hoop (about 1.5 stories up), taking a drill and a metal joining rafter pole with me each time.  Lean over, sometimes WAY over and fight to bend the hoop straight, and bolt the rafter pole between the tops of the hoops, joining them.  I had to put a bolt in, add the pole and nut, then use my drill to tighten the nut (and make sure it was tight).  This creates the skeleton that the plastic cover is stretched over.  If I did not do my job well, the young men who had to complete their jobs would not be able to walk on the hoops to do their jobs. 

Jeff found that Mark had building experience very quickly, so Mark was working all over the project.  Jeff told me later that he would hire Mark as a lead...not like that was going to happen.  Here are some photos of the work we did.

That is me in the back of the picture installing the last of the braces

The frame is complete and the skin is ready to be stretched over the top.  Thank GOD for beautiful weather and low winds.Volunteers would not want to be holding on to THAT kite (if the wind would take the skin as they all were holding on to it with ropes)

The crew is ready waiting for the two layer plastic skin to be dragged up and over the framework

Mark waiting for the skin to be tightened  - watching for wrinkles

This shows the top skin complete and shows you the ladder I was standing on (top step)

Ya know, even though Jeff did not treat me badly, watching him yell at everyone else was tough, because everyone worked very hard that day.  AND I could see they were trying their best!  But, seeing the hoop house finished and knowing that Judy and Bill would now be able to grow their veggies, for themselves and others, longer into the fall and spring made the project very worth while.  We did learn a lot - I now think that when our time comes to build our hoop house, we will have the knowledge to complete the task!

Home Again, Jet Lag and Fall Soup

After a great visit and work day, I left Lauren and Sean's home in Florissant Friday morning about 8:30 and drove until about 4:30.  I finally pulled into a Days Inn in Wausau, Wisconsin.  I walked to a restaurant next door, had dinner, and got back to my room at 6:00 pm.  I didn't realize just how tired I was but when I changed into my jammies, I laid down to watch a little TV, and fell asleep straight away.  I woke up at 11:30 and by midnight was not back to sleep.  By 12:30 a.m., I was WIDE awake so I decided to drive the last three hours home to Houghton.  As I drove across the U.P., I saw only 12 vehicles.  Because of that, I made very good time.  I felt badly that I had to wake Mark up to get in the house.  I had a key to the back door but not to the inside kitchen door from the mud room. 

After sleeping another three hours and having breakfast, we decided to drive to Marquette, MI (1.5 hours south east).  We needed to pick up 9 storm windows and our new front screen door.  SO, after being in a car for 10 full hours, I spent another three hours in one - but thank God Mark drove.  

Today I still feel like I have jet lag even though it's been more than 24 hours and I drove and didn't fly.  While Mark has been working on installing storm windows all day, I spent the day working on my sewing room/office.  The weather here was in the high 40s today, but full sunshine made it very pleasant.  We took our usual 2 mile walk tonight after dinner so maybe I'll sleep well and feel like myself tomorrow.

Keva's posting did make me smile - I also made a fall soup tonight for dinner.  I made up the recipe as I went along as I often do. Each time I make this soup, I try or add something new. Mark and I both liked it - if you're interested, the recipe is below (but I didn't take photos - sorry):

Susan's Fall Creamy Squash & Sweet Potato Soup

1 large sweet potato
1 med butternut squash
1 med acorn squash
1 large carrot
1 small onion
1 large stalk of celery
1 4-cup container of broth (I used vegetable)
1/2 cup of half & half
no-salt herb blend (to taste - see below) - or season how you like
salt and pepper (optional - to taste)

I cut off the ends of the squashes and then split them down the middle, scooped out the seeds, and roasted them with the sweet potato (in skin) and peeled carrot at 350 degrees until fork tender (about 40-50 min).  I let them get a little crusty around the edges to add more flavor.  As they cooled enough to work with, I cut up the celery and onion and cooked them in a little olive oil for about 8 minutes.  I added the broth and let it cook while I scooped out the other veggies.  I then added the sweet potato, squash, and carrot pulp to the soup pot and let it simmer for another 15 - 20 minutes to merge all the flavors.  The last thing I added was the half & half and the spices.  Once you add the h&h, make sure to keep it at a simmer and not boil it.  I used an immersion blender to blend the soup but you can use a full blender as Keva did.  The last time I made this soup I even threw in an apple too.  Yum!!!  This makes enough to serve 5-6, unless you have very hearty eaters.

My no-salt herb blend includes - oregano, onion power, marjoram, basil, savory, garlic powder, thyme rosemary, sage, and pepper.

The Best Use of Bad Weather

Today we had a storm go through - 35 mph winds, 43 degrees, and blowing rain - ALL day.  We really wanted to sit and watch TV all day, read, or sleep; but, we still have lots to do before winter sets in.   So, we took the opportunity to work inside and clean the pole barn painting booth, now that we moved most of the boxes and furniture out.  The pole barn was just that - an open, one story metal and pole barn, until about seven years ago.  The past owner had a boyfriend that cemented part of the floor and put up three walls and doors, turning 1/3 of it into a painting booth.  He obviously painted cars in it.

We are turning it into a workshop for Mark and a gym for us both to use.  I must admit, cleaning it was a nasty job, I had to vacuum the windows, walls, and floors (spiders and webs galore).  I KNOW that nothing had been cleaned in there for at least the last 10-15 years.

Well, we are not finished my any means, but here are a few photos of what we did accomplish.

We still need to sell my big desk so Mark can set up the workout equipment and the universal weight machine

He now has two workbenches

Mark now has shelves and can open all his boxes of tools and get organized

We stopped at lunch and drove to the lake - this is what was going on there.

The waves are HUGE compared to normal

This is the breakers - it protects the canal.  It normally seems very tall and today was almost underwater

A better photo of the wave size

The lighthouse was being engulfed in fog

I asked Mark to stand so I could get proportion for the waves

As Mark and I drove back to the farm (one mile away) and walked back into the barn to work, I told him that I feel alive here.  He agreed with me.  When I say that, I mean that this place is not EASY, the way it is in St. Louis.  The locals here have to live with weather harshness most of the time and because of that, they seem like they don't take life for granted, they live it, both summer and winter.  They are outside all seasons and don't cocoon because of a storm.  I think they are watching us (the strangers from the south) to see how we deal with the weather here.  We are hoping that we can live with it - even if it is for a year, a few years, or a decade, we are having our adventure!

The peace in picking blackberries

Cold Comfort Farm has blackberry and raspberry patches.  They grow next to each other on the north side of the pole bard driveway.  We found them two years ago and last year they provided us with a bumper crop of berries, which I made into delicious pies and jam.  This year, the summer has been so cool that they just started to ripen as we arrived in early August.  Before, the berries were huge - sun ripened and juicy.  This year, they are barely the size of the tip of your pinky finger.

The patches grow along the drive and down into a 12 foot grassy ditch.  The slant is so steep that the past owner, Bob Lahti, lined the ditch with local rubble rocks.  The berry bushes have sent out shoots that love the rock and grow down, like fingers or ropes, all lined with berries.  You can stand at the driveway and look down into the slant and see wonderful sweet berries.  Mark drives the mule (farm work vehicle) down along the driveway in the ditch and then places a two story ladder up the pile of rubble rock, climbs up the ladder, and picks the berries.

I prefer to just climb the rocks like a mountain goat, using both my hands and feet. I am careful and lock my feet in between the rocks, use the vines as ropes to steady myself, and pick the berries.  Either way,  we got enough for blackberry and raspberry cobbler, pies and I've frozen the rest to use in scones, pancakes, and fruit shakes.  I have saved enough to bake into something special when the kids and kidlets visit over Thanksgiving.

To freeze berries all you have to do is rinse them, put them into a 13x9 pan, pop them into the freezer until frozen, then transfer them into a ziploc bag

Picking them has been a joyful task, not a chore.  The weather has been in the low 70s, with a light breeze on the days that I've done the picking.  I am away from all the worries of the world and engulfed in a peace of gleaning free, God given, delicious food.  We are blessed and thankful!