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Guess blogging just isn't my thing. Seems I never have time to sit and write about what is going on.
We did just get back from Alaska which is one of the reasons I haven't had time. It was a great trip but very expensive. Food and lodgings up there are really off the wall in most parts. Did stay with my husbands son for most of the time so that helped. Did some awesome fishing for silver salmon which was the highlight of the trip. The weather didn't cooperate when it came to pictures, not many sunny days but that's alright as I will remember it.
It is good to be home, we like it here on our land. We sit outside at night weather permitting and watch a doe and her twin fawns feed in the field and we have had a large cinnamon bear come wandering through.
Some of the maple trees are actually starting to change colors. Seems a bit early but many years we have our first frost before labor day. I sure hope not as we planted a garden late this year because of the trip to Alaska hoping some stuff would be ready when we got back. Now I need at least another 3 weeks of frost free.

LET'S EAT

I was reading my niece's blog Dine-o-meter and she sure brought back a lot of memories of great eating places in Chicago. When I first moved up to Northern Minnesota that was the thing I missed most was a decent place to eat out. The world has been taken over my fast food and since we live very near a college town there is nothing BUT fast food. A few of the bars around town are known for great hamburgers or ribs but that's it. We have a couple really expensive places to dine but I think a dinner for two without drinks that totals over 100.00 is way out of line.

I guess what I really miss is the ethnic variety from Chicago. Italian, Bohemian, Greek, Mexican and the list goes on and on. Every shopping plaza has a Greek Mom and Pop restaurant where the food for all meals was reasonable with good size portions but if you wanted really authentic Ethnic cuisine there was Greek town on Halstead, or the old Italian neighborhood on Ashland, the Bohemian area in Berwyn or on Ogden Ave in Lyons and Brookfield. The breaded shrimp at a little place off 26th and Pulaski called Troha (not sure of that spelling) that had to die for breaded shrimp and not what they serve in most places, a tiny popcorn kernel of shrimp with a pound of breading these where a whole shrimp with a very light breading. Not even sure if they are there anymore. I could go on and on but I will only make myself hungry. Maybe when we head up to Alaska this summer we can find some good food along the way.

Spring has sprung I think

It seems like maybe spring has finally arrived. Makes you want to get out and start gardening and the hundred other projects that start in spring . We have started cutting wood for next winter already. Have about 1/3 cut, split and stacked already which is why I am so far behind in keeping my blog up, also haven't had any time to work on jewelry or beads. If I could only learn how NOT to sleep I would have so much more time to do the fun stuff. I just need to put a few more hours in every day. There is so much to do and so few hours.
The deer are back with a vengeance, so glad my garden has a 6 foot fence around it. We have anywhere from 4 to 15 every night in our field. Last year we planted corn for them outside the garden fence, they never even let it cob, don't know how real corn farmers survive the deer population. We came home the other night well after dark, it was about an hours trip. If we saw one deer we saw 100 and that is just what we could see at the road ditch. It was a watchful trip home.
Time to pick a project for the day. Hope to get back to this before the Alaska trip.

SPRING IS HERE SO THEY SAY

Spring is here so they say, just not in all parts of the country. Just when we were starting to thaw and the snow was leaving it is going to hit again. There is a light coating on the grassy areas, hopefully it won't accumulate to much. At least we don't have the flooding that they have in the Dakotas. Although it has been raining for 2 or 3 days previously we sit high enough that we won't flood. Now it is back to cold and snow.
Our deer are back, we were worried that the wolves might have gotten them but 6 showed up the other evening looking for some treats in the feeder.
Guess this would be a good time of the year to do that hated spring cleaning job. Some painting and furniture rearranging. Painting is my least favorite. We have a floor plan that is more like one hugh room, living room and kitchen and dining areas all open so once you start painting it just runs from one are to the next and seems like a never ending job, but the results are always worth it.
Maybe start an early spring garage sale if the weather will cooperate. I am in a cleaning mood and this is definitely something you have to be in the mood for.
Or maybe just curl up with a good book.

COULD SPRING BE HERE

After getting 12" of snow just a couple days ago, it is now 40 and we are slithering around in the mud. This is my least favorite time of the year, where the snow has gone it is just muddy. But in many places the snow is still deep but every day the piles go down and maybe in a week or so we will be able to see the grass. Even the little dog has to pick and choose where she walks.
All the deer we were feeding have disappeared. Must be some wolves in the area, that usually scatters them. We have around 300 acres of state land that connects with our land so we get all sorts of wildlife here. Had a good size bear one day inspecting our boat. At the time we still had 4 dogs, We were standing outside watching the bear with three dogs standing behind us barking at the bear and the fourth dog was running at the bear trying to scare it off.
Last year we got two late snow storms, let's hope that doesn't happen this year and winter has left.

HELP! THE BEADS ARE TAKING OVER

Yep, they are taking over my beading area and a good part of the house. So it is time to try to sell some on my Etsy site to other aspiring jewelry lovers. Some would also make nice adornments for hats and shirts. So take a look you might find something you like.
Also I decided to try and jump start spring with a spring sale. I am more than ready for spring. Of course it is snowing tonight but there is always hope. It sure seems like a long winter, maybe because we didn't go south or west this winter but Alaska next summer will make that worth it. Really looking forward to that trip. We can only drive as far as Anchorage then have to fly the other 400miles, we are going to see my stepson who has lived up there for maybe 20 years. I have never been up there but have been told it is beautiful. I guess on a clear day you can see Russia from his deck.

A LABOR OF LOVE

Finally finished the purse or amulet bag I was working on. There are very close to 15,000 seed beads in it. It sure was a lot of searching the floor for those elusive little guys, they sure can bounce and run and since we have a pergo floor not carpeting they roll really good too. I never added the hours up that it tok me but that I am sure was high. I did learn a lot about the different types of seed beads. I would love to be able to take some classes but there just isn't anything this far north and we are way too far from the cities to take advantage of anything down there. I found a really nice place down in Anoka called the Garden of Beads, the staff is so nice and helpful just wish it was closer. I would like to try a picture made of seed beads but don't know what yet.

Time to Take Off

Time to take off for a few days. We had planned to go as far as Tennessee but the weather down that way didn't cooperate. We got stuck in a nasty ice storm heading towards Texas last year and it wasn't fun so we are only heading to Southern Minnesota. Maybe take in a casino or two. Freckles or " Square Dog" as we sometimes call her (she is as wide a she is long but much of it is hair) will hold down the fort for three or four days. She is an outside dog and has a comfortable very large pen and a house big enough for a couple labs. We also seemed to have been adopted by a cat that looks eeriely like my last cat. She is really spooky so we can't get near her but she comes every night to eat. When we come back I should have my beaded purse ready to list on www.sumjewelry.etsy.com so be sure to take a look next weekend.

It's still freezing up here

Boy this cold weather just won't let go up here. The last couple nights have been in the -25 range. Next week it i supposed to warm up, I sure hope so this does get tiring. We are thinking of going away for a few days just can't decide where to go. I would love to go to Tucson both to see a couple relatives and also to go to the Gem Show. We went last year and found it fascinating. I never knew that there where fluorescent rocks that actually glow under black light.

Have been working on a beaded purse. There are over 14 thousand beads in it. It has really been a labor of love, hope to finish soon. Maybe it has been a good thing that it has been cold, If the weather would have been nice I know I wouldn't be getting much beading or sewing done, would have been outside doing things.

We do a lot of snowshoeing weather permitting but the weather sure hasn't been permitting at -20 or so since that is without the windchill. I think windchills have been around -45. Have managed to get in a little ice fishing, there is a least 4 feet of ice on the lakes.

Think I better get back to beading.

TIME FOR DINNER

I was asked for pet pictures. How about my deer? We are feeding about 7, they seem to come in groups. These are the early birds, then there are a doe and last years fawn that survived the hunting season. Then one lone one comes later. We usually take out a bucket of feed around 3 fill the feeders and bang on the bucket and most of the time within a half hour they will start coming around. If they all come at once they fight and chase the smaller groups away. The does are very protective of their fawns and try and make sure they get something to eat. It is hard to get pictures as the feeder is not very far from the house and if they see you they spook and take off. We will feed from just after hunting season until usually around Easter when most of the snow cover is gone. Last year we quit feeding too early as we had two really big snow falls. There were 11 deer out there looking around going " I know we used to eat at this restaurant". So we had to start again for a couple more weeks.

As for other pets there is only one left "Square Dog" more about her later.

Where did the time go? It was the middle of December, I think I blinked and now it is January 6th. Christmas was busy as usual especially with the large family we have. I have also been trying to master some new jewelry techniques with seed beads. So far all I have mastered is how to take the stitches apart. I am really good at that now. With the amount of snow we have been getting (must be about 3 feet already) and the nasty cold, it was -31 the other morning and that was without a wind chill I should be able to accomplish a lot but somehow it never works out that way. I have been getting some of my pieces listed on Etsy so I guess I have gotten somethng done. It doesn't feel that way though.