Monday, July 27, 2015

Fun Four-Wheeling


It is very dry up here in the UP, so coming across this jinourmous puddle surprised us.


This is how dry the trails had been pretty much all day.


But we had come a long way, so Steve decided to check it out before we turned around.


Not happening...


So he backs up...


...and we turn around. But later in the day the sun came out and we stopped at one of our favorite ponds. Seriously don't know what the name of this pond is. We'll have to make one up.



Yep, that's me, all bundled up. We carry many layers of clothes with us because you just never know when you are out on the trail how the weather will change, how bad the bugs will be, oh, and the dust...cough.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

First Time Herring Fishing!


We heard they were catching herring out in the Lake Huron waterways and the St. Mary's River, so Steve and I thought we would give it a try. Neither one of us had ever caught a herring.

We ended up with five!

We should have had six but one got away just inches away from being in the boat.

We won't talk about the fact we forgot to take our net.

Ahem.


It's relaxing fishing for herring because all you do is stare at your bobber. And I mean stare. Because they're sneaky fish that will steal your wax worm in a heartbeat. If I look away for a split second, Steve yells, "Your bobber just went down!" If Steve looks away for a split second, I yell, "Your bobber just went down!"

Yes, we missed quite a few I will admit.

But once you set the hook, it's a blast winding them in.


"Les Cheneaux Islands are a group of 36 small islands, some inhabited, along 12 miles of Lake Huron shoreline on the southeastern tip of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States."



I got the above info of where we were from Wikipedia.


Beyond that little island and the sailboat lies Lake Huron - one of the five Great Lakes.


This is Government Island and the whole island is a State Park. Steve and I often stop here and sit a spell while watching all the boats go by. Much history and boathouses abound in this area. For past pictures of some of the boathouses and islands, you can visit this post Finding the Perfect Boathouse for Two Buck Duck.


We made two meals out of our herring catch, and last night we had our first try at it. I've only ever eaten pickled herring (thanks mom!), so this was new to both of us.

And we love, love our grilled veggies: cherry tomatoes, portabella baby mushrooms, green pepper and vadalia onion cut in chunks, and fresh broccoli from my garden. I wash it all, place it in a bowl, then pour garlic infused olive oil and basil infused olive oil over all and mix. Spray a grill pan with cooking spray, place the veggies inside and grill on medium to high. We put the veggies on first. These take almost 20 minutes to a half hour. And occasionally stir the veggies to get them evenly charred if you like charredness.

Simple! And you get to enjoy the warm summer evening outside while also...


...grilling your fish. I sprayed the grill basket with LOTS of cooking spray. Then poured melted butter on one side. The other side of the fillets had skin on. If we grill trout with no skin on either side, I pour butter on both sides, and use a basting brush to get every spot. After the butter comes lemon juice which I squeeze from a fresh lemon over all. Then I liberally sprinkle season salt and smoked paprika. Being summertime, I went to my herb garden and cut out a few sprigs of fresh rosemary. Steve grills the fish on medium heat approximately 12 minutes, flipping every 3 minutes or so. We like ours a little charred.

Have I mentioned that?


We loved our first try at herring. Tomorrow is going to be a great summer day so we are going to try to get a few more for the freezer. We heard they don't stick around long, and neither will they at our house!

Monday, July 20, 2015

Chubby Chippy Cheeks


Chippy, as well as the neighborhood bears, likes my bird feeders too.


He stuffs those cheeks chuck full of sunflower seeds.


He doesn't mind that someone is watching him chow down.


Well, maybe just a little. Or is he thinking about fitting a few more seeds in them already chubby cheeks.


Yep. Oh Chippy.


Just one more seed? Did you lose count? Am I distracting you?


He's off to the little hole under our house.

But he'll be back. You can count on that.



Friday, July 17, 2015

Bug Patrol


Steve and I went down to the log cabin to get it ready for renters. Steve told me to stay in the car because the bugs were so bad after a summer rain. He was going to fog around the place.



Yes, that is a crack in my windshield.



Fogging for bugs makes them buggers disappear.


And apparently Steve, too.

Where'd ya go, Steve?

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Not Again...Part Two


This is part two of my saga with the neighborhood bears. If you missed part one which I posted yesterday, you can read it here

Last weekend Steve knew I was bumming because I had taken all of my remaining bird feeders down and that resulted in my bird population and bird viewing going down. He said to go ahead and put up the old red barn feeder. It is the only one the bear leaves behind when it does come looking for a free meal. The bear always pulls the top off, eats the sunflower seeds, but leaves this feeder behind in the yard. Besides, the bear probably wasn't in the neighborhood anymore anyhow.

The next morning at 7 a.m. the dogs started an awful ruckus from their kennel. 

Above is what was having a stare down with the dogs from our driveway.



The bear stared for a little while, then headed for our road.


We thought it was leaving. But we were wrong. It had that feeder on its mind.


It stared at the dogs.


It paced.



It stuck its tongue out at the dogs. Naw, not really. It yawned.


We thought it was leaving. We were wrong.


It was really craving sunflower seeds for breakfast.


It decided to give it one more try.


We were beginning to get a little worried at this point. The bear kept coming in closer.


But the dogs continued in their frenzy and the bear took to the road and hid behind my fence and flowers.

We thought it would leave, but we were wrong.


It slowly stood up to its full height and did some calculating.








And came back in the yard. This time it meant business.




Steve opened the window and yelled at the bear. It just looked at him. So Steve went for his gun and went outside and yelled at the bear. It just looked at him.

So Steve fired a warning shot into the air.

(So, so, so...so I'm using that word quite a bit in this story...)


That got its attention.


It hasn't been back since.

Whew.

Love seeing them Upper Peninsula black bears once in a while, but not so up close and personal.