Kale Chips

I tried a new recipe this past week - kale chips.  I can't get over how the tough, fibrous kale leaves become crunchy just like potato chips.  And although they don't taste 100% like potato chips, they're crunchy, salty, and a pretty close imitation.  To prepare the kale you rinse the leaves in cold water and dry them thoroughly in a clean towel.  Break the leaves into potato chip sized pieces.  I tore the kale pieces off the main vein of the leaf and composted the vein.  You could drizzle olive oil over the kale pieces or spread some olive oil on a clean plate and swish each piece of kale in a little oil.  Arrange the kale in a single layer on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake the kale at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.  Remove the kale from the oven before the leaves turn totally brown.  I liked my kale chips on the crispy side so I baked them almost the full 15 minutes.  Take out of the oven and enjoy.  When finished chewing the kale chips go take a look in the bathroom mirror at your green teeth.

Project Feederwatch Update

Pileated Woodpecker-2, Red bellied woodpecker-2 (see photo), Hairy woodpecker - 2, Downy Woodpecker-3, Black capped chickadee-5, White breasted Nuthatch-2, Goldfinch-2, Dark eyes Junco-3, Common Redpolls-18, Crow-2, Blue Jay-1

Wishes

Yesterday we sat at the fountain and watched people and soaked up the beautiful scenery.  A woman with two young girls was there.  The girls was about 5 and 8 years old. She gave the girls a coin and suggested they make a wish before throwing the coin into the fountain.  The older girl seemed to understand but the younger girl needed more explanation.  "Make a wish," the woman suggested, "wish for a treat after supper or a bed time story."  A treat or a bedtime story?  What kind of household doesn't give every kid a treat and a bedtime story every night?  She shouldn't have to wish for that.  After dinner treats and bedtime stories should be standard operating procedures.  The five year old girl did not look very impressed with these suggestions.  Then the woman added, "Or you could wish for a kitty."  The eyes on the little girl went wide.  Excitement illuminated her little face.  She mouthed the words - I am going to wish for a kitty and she threw her coin into the water.  And she didn't fall in.  Balancing on her knees as she was I was pretty sure this girl was going to go into the fountain.  I've been throwing coins into the fountains at Como Conservatory for over 50 years now.  So have a lot of other people.  I wonder how the wishes break down?  If the fountains could tell us the wishes, what would be the categories?  Fame?  Fortune?  Happiness?  Prosperity?  Health?  Love?  Kitties?  Ponies?  New cars?  Jobs?  Success?  How many wishes have been less than positive?  Like revenge or retribution?  There is no way of knowing the wishes made inside the Conservatory.  Maybe the real truth would be less exciting than our imaginations.

One Of My Favorite Places On This Earth

One of my favorite places on this earth has horsetail plants with fringe

and scouring rushes.

Como Conservatory is one of my favorite places on this earth.



Throw a penny in and make a wish.



See tropical hibiscus.

Admire orchids up close and personal.

How have I never noticed the spikes on the tree bark before?  It's awesome.

Koi beg for food.

Lovely bromeliads.

This bromeliad was growing out of a tree trunk and right at eye level.

My body loves the heat and humidity of the conservatory.  My soul is also restored.

Thought Wrong

I was talking with a coworker as I left work on the Friday before Christmas.  She has two little boys, ages 3 and 6.  My kids are older.  She asked me if Christmas is easier now that my children are older.  "Oh, yes" I said. "No more getting up in the middle of the night to play Santa Claus makes it easier" I said.  I thought wrong.  Who was up from midnight until 1 a.m. on Christmas Eve preparing a gift for Christmas morning?  It was me.  Offspring #2 and I taped together a very large piece of art we had commissioned for Offspring #1.  Back in November he was late getting us the list of gifts he wanted for Christmas so we teased him by saying we were going to have his portrait done on a noble steed.  Ever the smart aleck he texted back, "Make it on a unicorn with a rainbow."  So that is what we did.  A friend of mine drew him on a unicorn with a rainbow.  My artist friend did his work in black ink.  Offspring #2 did the coloring.  She had the portrait converted to a large poster and printed the 36 or so 8 1/2 by 11 pages in color.  Together we lined up all the pages and taped them together and displayed them on the window.  Was he surprised when he came upstairs and saw his image on a pink unicorn?  Yes, I think he was.  I don't know what we're going to do with this 5 foot tall portrait but it was a fun project.

Third Arm Down

That is my arm clad in a red sweater - the third one on the table from the bottom right corner

My book club was in the northern suburb edition of the Star Tribune yesterday.  Here is the article:

Long after staffers had left for the day on Dec. 11, the teachers' lounge at Northdale Middle School in Coon Rapids was filled with lively discussion.
The Northdale Book Club's monthly meeting centered on the title, "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home," by Rhoda Janzen.
The nearly 20 people attending touched on everything from the author's writing style, which one person called "flippant," to the book's religious themes. Opinions about the book ran the gamut.
All the while, the group munched on holiday treats, giving the meeting a homey, informal feel.
Ham Lake resident Larry Steifer, a retired computer programmer and a relative newcomer to the group, said, "I was very interested in her story," especially concerning the Mennonites, a group he said he doesn't know much about.
Although the book leaves a lot of questions unanswered, "There was a lot of insight from some of the other club members," he said.
It's the intellectual and social aspects of the club, which started in 1982, that keeps many of its 32 members coming back.
Susan Suchy, a Ramsey resident who works with adults with developmental disabilities, said that, a handful of years in, she still looks forward to the meetings.
She attributes that to its founder, Audrey Grelling, who has a fun yet organized leadership style, she said.
With Grelling at the helm, the meetings are "engaging, lively and thought-provoking," she said.
The few occasions in Suchy's time that Grelling missed a meeting, "her absence was very noticeable," she said.
An open, outgoing group
Grelling, who lives in Coon Rapids, started the group when her daughter, Karin Johnson, attended the school in the early 1980s.
The club, which is offered through the Anoka-Hennepin School District's community education program, is open to anyone with a $15 annual facility fee, is largely composed of women -- some members like to joke that there's always just one "token male."
The club does a "casual review of books," which the group selects through a vote.
"You end up reading lots of stuff you never would've looked at," Grelling said, adding that she normally reads mysteries.
Getting outside of one's comfort zone is good, she said, even though it sometimes leads to mixed results. For example, when the club read "The Dancing Wu Li Masters," which was supposed to be a layman's guide to physics, "Nobody was able to get through it."
It's enlightening, she said, quoting a book club member: "It's almost as if you have the opportunity to live a lot of different lives, to see things from the point of view of the characters."
So many ideas bubble up during meetings that wouldn't otherwise. "The group is greater than the individual," she said.
Grelling, who has been a member of one book club or another for nearly 50 years, appreciates that the Northdale group is "open, outgoing, willing to accept most anything, ready for discussions, and fun to be with."
Bonding through books
For Grelling, book clubs are also a source of friendship.
Grelling still keeps in touch with original members of a club she helped start in Illinois in the 1960s called the Glenview Book Club. Several years ago the group, which has more of a scholarly bent, held a reunion that drew as many as 50 people from around the country.
She said she was unsure of what the recipe is for that kind of longevity, but noted: "The people are interested in doing it, in talking and expressing their own opinions."
Like Grelling, Blaine resident Melanie Gust, a 30-year veteran of the Northdale group, has belonged to a number of book clubs.
"Reading is my only vice," she said, adding that it can be embarrassing. "Instead of doing what I should be doing, like laundry or the dishes, I am with book."
Part of the fun of the club, which provides structure and deadlines for her book addiction, are the unique perspectives that everyone brings to the discussion.
She likened the club to a class in which everyone has the same assignment, but "you bring to it your filters, your life."
Often, the conversation veers off into personal topics. "You start talking about your life," she said. And that helps to strengthen the bond with one another and leads to greater understanding of books.

Lucky

I was talking with some guys at work about the Christmas bird count today at lunch when I realized how lucky I was to see that shrike.  I've been looking to see a shrike for about 3 years now.  I was with other people.  I might have driven right by that shrike unless someone in the back seat had her eyes open and said asked me to stop and back up. The shrike was extremely cooperative.  It did not fly off when we arrived.  Instead it sat still and let us admire it for several minutes until it turned allowing  us to admire it's other side.  And then it sat for several more minutes.  It wasn't until we started to drive away that the shrike flew off.  The shrike sat on a tree right next to the open road.  We didn't need binoculars to identify it.  The sun was shining right on the beautiful bird.  I was with someone who had identified shrikes before.  Sometimes when you see a new bird you get a passing glimpse at most. This situation wasn't like that at all. We looked at the shrike until our eyes were full and we were totally satisfied.  I was very lucky that day.

Kneading

There is something about kneading that is very enjoyable.  I hit the dough with the heel of my left hand, then right, and left again before turning it a quarter turn and repeat. "Slap, slap, slap, turn.  Slap, slap, slap, turn." I have to shed a layer of clothes because kneading is a workout for the dough and for me.  By the time 8 or 10 minutes has passed the dough melds into a single entity and becomes stretch and elastic.  Kneading the dough is a comforting because it is also old fashioned work.  Today I made homemade basil pasta for a Christmas spaghetti dinner and cinnamon rolls for a Christmas breakfast.  Obviously I'm not worrying about counting carbs tomorrow. 

Project Feederwatch Update

Downy woodpecker-2, Hairy woodpecker (the name of which makes Offspring #1 snicker every time)-2, Pileated woodpecker-2, Red bellied woodpecker-1, Dark eyed junco-4, Black capped chickadee-4, Goldfinch-6, White breasted nuthatch-2, Crow-4, Northern Cardinal-2, Common Redpoll-6  This is the first time I've seen a common redpoll in my yard ever.  When I exchanged Christmas cards with my neighbor yesterday she said she had a common redpoll.  Usually when she sees an unusual bird I see it a few days later.  The redpolls are pretty birds.  They look like their lungs are showing outside their body.

The Corrections

I read Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections recently.  Several times I was tempted to quit this book.  A couple times I wish I hadn't finished it.   The reason I wanted to put this book down?  Sometimes Franzen goes too far.  In this novel, Franzen is the "Family Guy" of American novelists.  Intentionally crude and outrageously disrespectful - oh, wait now, do I sound like a stuffy old lady?  Well, I don't care.  His story was compelling if you could get past the unnecessary coarseness.  The story is about the Lambert family, Alfred and Enid and their three children, Gary, Chip and Denise. Their dysfunction is comical and sometimes painful to read.  Alfred suffers from the indignity of Parkinson's Disease in his retirement years.  Don't ever give this book to someone with Parkinson's Disease, it would be cruel.  This book won a lot of awards when it came out in 2001. At times I liked and disliked all five of the main characters.  The pace was good and the ending very dramatic and satisfying.  If only he wasn't so crude I would have totally liked this book.

Christmas Bird Count

Northern shrike

I had a wonderful morning at the Christmas Bird Count near the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge.  A sibling and I met another woman who helped us survey the southeast slice of the 15 mile pie.  We were glad to have her because she was a great birder and had lots of enthusiasm.  Her father is a falconer and a bird bander.  She has hunted with raptors herself.  She once had a red tailed hawk and a kestrel.  She is an apprentice bird bander of raptors.  So she knows her birds.  She lives in Shoreview and spotted the Clark's nutcracker that had all the Minnesota birders excited earlier this year.  Usually the Clark's nutcrackers stick to the Rocky Mountain area; not Minnesota.  We really enjoyed her company and her knowledge of birds. We saw a total of 296 birds and a total of 20 species.  In a newer housing development without very many mature trees we saw a most amazing flock of common redpolls.  They flew in unison from a tree to the tall grasses.  The flock would cyclone downwards to the right of us, right at us, and to the left of us.  We watched them for about 5 minutes.  It's hard to count that many birds moving so fast but there might have been 200 or more.  We guessed 175.  At the open water at the dam near Elk Lake we saw a pair of bald eagles, a pair of red shouldered hawks, a pair of mallards and one male wood duck.  I said I would really be happy if we could spot a shrike.  In a yard we saw 14 turkeys.  Four of the wild turkeys were on the front steps of the house staring at the door.  Were they begging for scraps?  Of course we saw black capped chickadees, white breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, red bellied woodpeckers and 4 pileated woodpeckers.  We saw 6 blue jays and 29 crows, juncos and one goldfinch.  We saw a couple red tailed hawks, a rock dove and a swamp sparrow. Our very last bird, a life bird for my sister and myself, was a very compliant and proud northern shrike.  The shrike posed for us at the top of a 15 foot tree very near the side of the road.  What an awesome morning!

Very Productive On The Shortest Day Of The Year

Today is the winter solstice and the temperature was cold this morning.  Usually I find the chickens outside when I check on them before work.  But not today.  Today they were cuddled inside the coop.  But under all those feathers and legs I found 4 brown eggs and none of them were frozen.  I really didn't expect eggs. I haven't been using the light because the weather has been so warm. Once I found the chickens standing outside in the dark I assumed it was too warm in the coop.  So I unplugged the light.  Yet I am still getting eggs; as many as four in a single day.

Be Careful What You Sign Up For

Last night I had an appointment at the Science Museum of Minnesota.  A researcher there, in conjunction with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, was looking for people interested in citizen science.  I am a person interested in citizen science and since they offered a $20 credit on Amazon, I went.  I was told the museum would be closed but someone would meet me at the door.  A man did meet me at the door and he sent me up the musical stairs (love those musical stairs!) to see a woman at a desk.  I saw the woman at the desk.  She didn't see my name on her list but she gave me some papers to fill out while she figured it out.  I filled out the papers putting in my name and address.  Later in the form I was asked to indicate that the Science Museum would not be held liable if I was injured in my volunteering duties.  I seemed to be filling out an application to be a volunteer. I thought maybe this was standard before interviews so I signed that.  The next page was an authorization to do a criminal background check on me. I thought, seriously?  For an interview they need a criminal background check?  I signed that too and brought it back to the lady at the desk.  She was unable to find me on her computer.  I said I was here for an interview because of my interest in citizen science.  I was in the wrong area.  She sent me back down the musical steps where I met another woman who was waiting for me.  I had my interview.  The interview was to evaluate the questions on the interview.  She asked me to think aloud as I answered questions such as, "I enjoy learning about nature,"  or "I am interested in science."  She wasn't interested in my answers at all.  As she walked me out she explained that the other group I got caught up with were people interested in volunteering at the next Science Museum exhibit of Body World.  "Dead bodies on display?" I asked.  I told her there is no way I would volunteer for that.  I won't even go and see that exhibit.  The creepy factor is way too high.  I am interested in science and I am interested in nature but viewing dead bodies on display is not my cup of tea.  She said the people in this exhibit, unlike other exhibits, were asked for their permission to be in this show.  She said the body world exhibit at the Mall of America had some bodies of Asian prisoners who did not consent to their bodies being used.  She said lawyers made sure that the Science Museum exhibit was strictly legitimate regarding consent.  Consent or no consent, I am not volunteering for Body World.

Fake

  This video has been all over the internet today.  The bird is not a golden eagle.  Some people think the bird is not a North American bird at all.  All children are safe from raptor predation.  As if we don't have enough to worry about already.

Going to Bed

Going to bed.  It's one of my favorite things to do in life.  Snuggling down under the covers and preparing to be at rest for 8 hours is a very pleasurable experience.  When I was young I would move about and find the most comfortable position.  Now that I am old I move about and find the least painful position. 

Icy Memories

This morning the first step out of the car in the parking lot at work was a doozie.  Ice covered the pavement.  As if my body had connected with a live wire I jerked in four directions at once trying to keep my balance.  I must be pretty good at adjusting my balance while jerking around because I remained vertical. Strong core muscles are critical in inclement weather.  I was reminded of the good old days of driving a rear wheel drive car.  With a rear wheel drive car on an icy road you could have a good old time "spinning cookies,"  "making doughnuts," or taking turns too fast causing your car's rear end to spin farther out that the front of the car forcing you to steer right and left to regain control. By steering back and forth the direction of the car would eventually return to the control of the steering wheel again.  Golly, that was fun.  Being a responsible young driver, I only did this in safe conditions such as frozen lakes or the cul-de-sac at the end of my road. I remember one winter day I took some of my younger siblings to the Omnitheater at the Science Museum.  Watching the rounded screen made one or two of them a little queasy.  To top off the entire sensory experience, I spun a few cookies on the way home causing them to scream and moan in protest.  Good times.  Good times. I'd like to spin a few cookies again someday.

Project Feederwatch Update

American Robins-21, Goldfinch - 12, House finch-2, Black capped chickadee-5, White breasted nuthatch-3, Dark eyed junco-3,Downy Woodpecker-3, Hairy Woodpecker-2, Northern flicker-2, Red bellied woodpecker-2, Pileated woodpecker-2, Blue jay-1, Cardinal-2

The birds were plentiful this weekend. I found them to be distracting me from my chores and a good game of scrabble.  The robins were especially distracting because there were so many of them flying back and forth.  For the first time I saw three downy woodpeckers.  Usually I have only two.  With three downy woodpeckers vying for the same hunk of suet there was conflict between the two males.  I've been so lucky attracting woodpeckers this season.  I can't think of any other species of woodpeckers that possibly could come to my yard.  I think the northern flicker is an especially handsome bird.

Go Slow!

I was at the gym the other day pulling on the lateral pull down machine.  I had the weight set at 120 pounds mindlessly pulled the bars down and let them rise again.  A trainer came up to me and said he couldn't stand watching me do this wrong anymore.  He said I was using momentum and wasn't getting the full benefit of exercise.  He moved the weight from 120 pounds to 70 pounds and told me to go slower.  He said I should pull down for two seconds and release for 2 or 3 seconds.  He said I should start by blowing out a breath and pull down for as long as it takes to say one one thousand, two one thousand and then slowly go up  one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand.  I gave it a try.  "This is so freaking slow," I told him, "But thanks for the advice."  I repeated my lateral pull downs at only 70 pounds, going slow, and by the end of my third set of 12, my arms were shaking.  Was this guy a butinski?  Yes, but I do believe he was helpful. I am grateful he said something. Are 3 slow sets of 70 pounds more beneficial than 3 fast sets of 120 pounds?  The jury is out on that one.  My goal isn't to become a weightlifter or to develop buff arms.  My goal is to burn more calories throughout the day by becoming toned and stronger.  Maybe a combination of slow lower weights and fast higher weights is the way to go.

Sense of Humor

On Friday I was at a local gastroenterology clinic.  On the desk was a sign explaining the wi-fi setup.  The sign in name for internet access was the name of the clinic.  And the password?  Colon, of course.

Angle of Repose

I just finished reading a book by Wallace Stegner called Angle of Repose.  In this novel the main character is writing a book making this a book about a book.  His book is about his grandmother's life, Susan Ward.  Susan grew up in New York.  She is well educated, talented in art and writing, and a little bit snobbish.  She marries an engineer named Oliver Ward who goes west to survey mines and build ditches.  She ends up living in California, Colorado, Mexico, and Idaho.  She describes the life in the western towns with her drawings and her letters.  Much of her work is published by her New York contacts and she uses this money to help support her husband and their three children.  Wallace Stegner used the actual letters of an actual person (Mary Hallock Foote) in this book.  Angle of Repose won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1972.  I had no idea I was reading such an important book when I picked it up at the library.  I really enjoyed it.  I think in 2013 I will focus on other Pulitzer Prize winning fiction.  By the way, the angle of repose is described as being laid flat out in the coffin but also the angle at which gravel stops rollling down a hill.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

My book club read Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen.  This book was a good choice for December because it was short, easy to read, and funny.  Rhoda Janzen grew up in a Mennonite household. Her father was a pastor.   Like other PK's (preacher's kid) I've known, she is irreverent and a little outrageous.  She weaves back and forth through time during the book where she complains quite a bit.  Her husband left her for another guy named Bob that he met on the Internet at gay.com.  Every single time she mentions Bob she includes the gay.com.  After that she has a serious car accident.  Abandoned and injured she decided to return to her Mennonite roots and spend some time with her parents.  She mocks them but between the lines I can read that she derives some comfort from their steadiness and dependability.  I have never met a Mennonite and wrongly assumed they were similar to the Amish culture.  So the book is slightly educational and quite funny if you can get past her complaining.

Project Feederwatch Update

Downy Woodpecker-2, Hairy woodpecker-2, Northern Flicker-1, Red bellied woodpecker-2, Crow-2, White breasted nuthatch-2, Black Capped Chickadee-5, Goldfinch-3.  I found one bird at the tip top of the crabapple tree dangling on the end of a branch precariously trying to grab one of the last crabapples on the tree.  Thinking this might be a cedar waxwing, I grabbed for my binoculars only to find my resident chipmunk dangling up there.  This is the same chipmunk that hangs around my house and sometimes hangs out with the chickens inside the coop.  Adventurous little chipmunk I guess.  With all the snow it was difficult to see any birds or chipmunks at all.  About 11:30 I was putting groceries away and noticed two hairy woodpeckers perched on the pole that holds the suet feeder.  The suet holder was empty and the hairy woodpeckers just clung there looking at the empty holder, unable to believe their eyes.  It was really pulling at my heart strings to see them do that.  And then a little downy woodpecker flew up and clung to my screen door and looked at me through the sliding glass door.  Was it my imagination or did I see his little mouth say, "Feed me?"  With three hungry woodpeckers, one of which was looking at me through the glass with hungry eyes, I couldn't stand it anymore.  I filled the suet feeder immediately.

Sound of Nature

First Egg

I found a brown egg - the first one from this flock of chickens.

Whose egg was it?

Pearl's?

Ivy's?

Glenda's?

Marina's?

Or Nora's?

Spruce

Which branch should I choose?

A little bare in the middle but still cute enough.

This branch sprouted on the east side of the tree but definitely wanted to be a western branch.

I don't think it's gonna fit inside the house.

I decided to go really green this Christmas season and use part of the black spruce tree next to my house.  This spruce is old and diseased and isn't growing normally.  Several branches have grown out and straight up. I walked around and around the tree several times trying to pick the best branch to be my Christmas tree.  This tree has more than one branch growing straight up.  The upright branches are tall and tight together so it was hard to see.  The one I chose was higher than I thought it was.  I had to climb the spruce tree to reach the bottom where I could saw it off.  Muttering to myself that it might have been a better idea to drive to the local boy scout tree stand, I climbed the spruce tree.  I found a branch thick enough to support me.  I knelt on the branch with one leg and brought my other leg up to stand on it.  This is no easy task for an arthritic old lady such as myself and I looked around to see that no one was watching. I haven't climbed a tree for I don't know how many years.  I maneuvered myself closer to the trunk and removed the smaller branches that were in my way.  I made the cut fairly easily and thought I was done but the branch just hung there.  I tugged and it would not come down any more than six inches.  I climbed down the tree to pull the branch down but found even the bottom was way above my head.  I climbed back up the tree and wiggled that tree to the north, south, east and west.  Every time I looked up to see if I made progress snow fell into my eyes. I had sticky sap on my forehead and on my coat.  This spruce was not letting go easily.  The branch wasn't budging.  I climbed down again to get some rope out of the garage.  Again I climbed up the spruce tree to tie the rope around the trunk.  After ten minutes of tugging the branch came down. I spent the next ten minutes tugging it out from under the tree and into the yard so I could cut it down to size.  The tree had a 3 feet bare spot.  Should I cut it above the bare spot and have a table top tree or cut it longer and have a Charlie Brownish tree?  I decided to go for the Charlie Brownish effect.  I estimated the height of my vaulted ceiling and cut the trunk.  I put it in the tree stand and wrestled it up the deck steps and put it by the patio door.  I noticed the tree was 3 feet higher than the peak of the house.  Astonished at how inaccurately I guessed I took it out of the tree stand and cut another three feet off the bottom.  Once inside the house the tree bends to the side against the ceiling for about 5 inches.  My Christmas tree is big and bare in the middle but, by golly, it's unique, fresh, and priced right!

What are those architectural features called?

Painting the farm house last fall led us to pay attention to the architectural features.  We really liked the window frames and those beams (see red arrows?) that supported the roof.  We called them gables but they're really not gables. Gables are the triangle spaces created by a roof.  Those black beams are in the gable but are not the gable.  So what are those black beams called?  I've spent hours looking up architecture vocabulary and I cannot find a word for it. I did learn this is a Queen Ann style of home.  Do any of my readers know the answer?  When driving through Duluth last weekend we saw a house on London Road with the same support beams.  It was on the "non-lake" side of London Road between Glensheen Mansion and where the scenic route splits off from Highway 61.  The sight of those beams made me curious all over again.

Taking The Long Way Home

We decided to take the long way home from Lutsen.  Traveling up the Caribou Trail we cut across on a logging road in the Superior Forest and came back down the Sawbill Trail.  We went past a wall of boulders covered in snow.

The road was plowed at both ends but not in the middle.

The closer we were to the middle the worse the conditions became.

We saw an owl sitting in the road.  The owl flew up before we got a good look at it.  My guess is a great gray owl.  Here is what the owl was snacking on before we came up on it.

Some parts of this road were scary and some were beautiful. We made it through without having to call for help so I'm glad we went on it.  Traveling this road was a great way to start the month of December.

Doh!

While in Lutsen, offspring #2 asks me, "Should I change into different jeans?  These have a spot from Grandma's." 

In a perplexed, quiet, concerned and almost care taking voice I respond (seriously worried about her laundry skills), "You don't have any grandma's anymore and haven't for over a year."

She says with a spark, "Grandma's in Duluth!  Where we had lunch yesterday?"

Doh!