A Deer Morning

Yawn.

Munch. Crunch. Slurp.

Crunch. Slurp. Munch. 

Helen: "Hi, Maude."

Maude: "Hi, Helen."

Helen: "Have you seen Chuck around?"

Maude: "I haven't seen hide nor hair nor antler of him or any of his friends."

Helen: "Humph. That's weird."

Munch. Crunch. Slurp.

Slurp. Munch. Crunch.

Maude with mouth full: "These woods sure have been quiet."

Munch. Slurp. Crunch. Slurp. Munch. Crunch.

"Hey, Chuck, is that you and your friends?"

"Chuck?"

"Must be my nerves this time of the year.

I gotta get over this paranoia thing.

I feel I'm being watched whenever I eat.

What's up with that?"

Crunch. Munch. Slurp 

"I need a nap."

Burp.

Stare Down With an Eagle

On a recent drive through the woods, on a quiet gravel road, something caught my eye.

Do you see it?

I scrambled to quietly change the lens on my camera without moving too much.

He spotted me.

I think he was curious though.

Maybe he's thinking about taking off?

But then he sits back down.

I think that's sitting.

He's perching.

I really don't know my female eagles from male eagles.

He looks like a he to me.

Clearer shot...

Boredom over this stare down with this human takes over...and he's off.

It's Raining Leaves!

This past week we were downstate visiting our son. The colors around his house are gorgeous!

I don't want Fall to end.

Can you tell?

I promise this will be the last post this year on the Fall colors, but please put up with me this one last time.

Nature's carpet is spread out everywhere in multiple colors.

My pooches and I had to take a stroll through the woods.

God's color palette amazes me.

This deer scrape in the leaves indicates there is a buck in the area.

Back home here in the good 'ole UP of Michigan, our colors are mostly yellow. 

The vibrant reds have fallen to the ground.

And you can see them lazily float down the Pine River while Bear takes a drink.

We've been doing preparations for deer camp at the Grizzly Den log cabin. We don't rent it out during deer season as we like to enjoy it ourselves this time of year.

(I see a bubble at the bottom of this photo. Is it Glinda, the good witch in the Wizard of Oz? Only my favorite movie...ever.)

Steve planted deer plots this year and this one by my blind is coming in swell!

Did I seriously just use the word swell?

After all the yellow leaves have fallen (like today!), the tamaracks will turn yellow and we will still have color for a while. But you can see above they aren't in any hurry.

It has been drizzling on and off all day today, but it is also raining yellow leaves. They flutter this way and that, not quite sure of their intended destination.

Well, looking on the bright side, at least it isn't snowing in October!

Yet.

Oh, the house smells so yummy right now. I've been cooking my BBQ Pulled Venison for the last four hours. I hear Steve picking in it while I wait for it to cool off so I can shred it. You can find that recipe on my food blog Cabin Cleaver.

I'm going to make BBQ Pulled Venison Nachos this weekend. I'll post that recipe next week. I was inspired at a restaurant in Kentucky that served Pulled Pork Nachos and we gobbled them up. I'm going to recreate the recipe using venison.

Yum!

Touring the Tahquamenon River

We're past the peak of the Fall colors up here in the UP, but there is still much beauty to be found. The weather has been finicky - the weatherman calls it Lake Effect (LE) rain showers.

Well, he ain't kiddin'.

It can be so pretty outside, the sun shines, the birds sing, the dogs bask...then, a downpour!

We all run for cover.

And this is when I just filled the clothesline with laundry.

At least it isn't Lake Effect snowshowers.

Yet.

Last week Steve and I took a ride up the Tahquamenon River in our boat, when the weather was absolutely beautiful up here. We launched the boat just south of Paradise, Michigan.

We put in at the mouth of the Tahquamenon River. It was a calm warm day and Lake Superior was lying flat.

But we didn't go east onto Lake Superior. We went northwest up the Tahquamenon River to see the Fall colors. Here we are going underneath US 123.

There isn't much color in this picture, but I love how the water mirrors the pines, trees, sky, and clouds.

There is quite a bit of debris in the river so both Steve and I were on alert.

You have to look close, but I managed a quick shot of these two ducks flying off.

I pointed my camera over the side of the boat at the water for this shot.

More debris...

Sometimes the skies threatened rain.

We rounded a bend and found these people crossing the river in rowboats.

We realized we had made it to our destination - the Lower Tahquamenon Falls. We weren't able to get any closer as there were stumps and rocks and sticks in the way.

It took us approximately 17 miles to get here by boat from the mouth of the Tahquamenon River.

Here's a few posts I did on the Upper Falls:

Majestic

Behind the Falls...

Tahquamenon Falls in the Winter

Here's a LINK that will take you to a website that will show pictures of both the Upper and Lower Falls.

Eventually the clouds started to break up.

The sunshine illuminated the colors.

We anchored here and fished awhile.

We caught nothing but a few fish did tease us.

Back to the mouth and Lake Superior.

The road home...