Found Treasures

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We spent some time yesterday on the four-wheelers. We have never seen weather like this before in Northern Minnesota at the end of November. It has been un-seasonably warm.... 40 degrees F during the day....so we might as well take advantage of it.

At the back of our property there are piles of junk from when this land was an old junkyard. So while we were on a break from wheeling I asked Bob to pull over to one of the piles. I found this old washtub that I love and will use for planting flowers in next spring.

I also found this old oil can that has no dents or holes in it. I was quite excited as I love old stuff like this.

I am not sure what I will be using this for but I am sure I will figure something out.

The last few days have been spent wrapping Christmas presents and decorating the house. I have also been busy finishing up the last minute crochet projects that I have on the go. A friend of ours ordered a hat/scarf/mitten set for his two grandchildren so I really need to get these done! One set is finished and now I just have to get my motivation going to finish the other.

I hope you each have a wonderful evening with your loved ones!

Snow Day!

Pin It A snow day! Yep, the kind of dreary day where the clouds hang really low in the sky and you can almost see those flakes dancing around inside them waiting to drop on unsuspecting people....us!



The flakes were huge and what a mess that type of heavy snow makes. We had to dig out the insulated coveralls (a must around here), winter boots, hats, gloves...everything.

Look at the size of that snowflake...right in the middle! They were soooo big.

The roads became slick and dangerous as it had rained for hours before the temperature dropped and the snow began to fall.

Then Bob and Luke just had to take out the four-wheelers to slip and slide around like the crazy guys that they are!

I could just envision broken bones, flipped wheelers and lots of mud.

They did arrive back safely though....while dragging in mud, grass, snow, wet clothes... just in time to eat a hot dinner.

Off to clean up the mess they made when they walked in the door....now to find enough registers to put the boots, hats and gloves on. It is going to be a loooonnnng winter.

P.S. Give your loved ones a hug! =)

Working and Wheeling

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We were blessed once again with beautiful weather today. I am very thankful as I know what will be coming soon weather-wise. Bob has been extremely busy in the shop lately with repairs and the cars are lined up in the driveway waiting to be serviced. So when it is busy like this, Luke and I spend the day in the shop with him to give him a hand with anything he might need.

I always have a bag of knitting with me. I get so much knitting done on days like this!





Tigger likes to help too.

Here is a better picture of Tigger's perch. He just hangs around all day, oblivious to the noise surrounding him.

Sammy is the same way.....oblivious.

Here is Bob diagnosing a car out in the driveway....they are lined up ready to be serviced!

You can tell autumn is here when the cars are lined up in the driveway. Everyone panics once the cooler weather hits...they want their cars ready before the snow flies.

So after a hearty dinner of sloppy joes on homemade buns, salad and homemade apple pie for dessert...we decided it was time to go wheeling again.

So I brought the camera along one more time! :)

When we go four-wheeling off the property, we go riding down the 'grate'. The 'grate' is an old railroad track that the city removed and now it is used only for people who ride four-wheelers. The picture is a little blurry as I was sitting on the back...going about 40 miles an hour!

This track runs for over 20 miles with lots of little stops along the way. Many trails go off the main one ...with lots of little surprises along the way.

I thought this flower was just so cute! As you can tell it was getting dark already.

Stopping for a break.

One spot we found was right along the St. Louis River. I loved the sign.....

It was getting dark and someone, on a previous visit, had left more than enough firewood for a small fire.....who could resist?!

The temperature was dropping quickly after the sun set and I was still in shorts and a t-shirt so I made sure I warmed up well by the fire before we headed for home.

One last picture before total darkness.

As we were driving toward home a very large owl almost landed on Bob's shoulder. It scared us to death and I didn't have the camera ready.... dang it! and then we were driving along, two deer also ran across the road right in front of us....a few minutes earlier and we would have been road kill!

Arriving home safely, we munched on hot chocolate and cookies. A perfect end to a perfect day. We love making memories that will last a lifetime.

Visit to the Neighbor

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The other day when we went four-wheeling, we decided to take a break and stop to visit our neighbor Kathy.

Kathy lives about 1/2 mile from us down the road. She lost her husband to cancer about 2 years ago and now lives on her own with her 38 cats...yes, 38 cats on 20 acres of farmland. In the summer, you can find her outside puttering in the flowerbeds, playing with the cats or mowing the grass. She doesn't get many visitors so we try to stop in there regularly and give her a hand with anything she might need help with.

To my surprise, she has fruit trees just loaded with fruit! I had never seen anything like her trees. So I had to take pictures to show everyone her bountiful harvest this year. She told us to come and pick as many as we want since she doesn't want to see them go to waste. What an offer! I can imagine jams, jellies, pies, tarts, desserts of a wide variety due to her generosity. I will definitely be making sure she gets some samples to try when they are made.




Apples. Minnesota Honeycrisp. Yummy!

As you can see, the tree is beginning to die in a few places (I think) or maybe it just needs to be pruned. The apples are not wormy at all and she doesn't even spray them.

Crabapples!!! Luke's favorite. He must have eaten 20 of them while we were visiting with her. :)

Look at those crabapples! The branches are drooping in the weight of all the crabapples. The deer move in at night and eat the ones that have fallen on the ground.

They have just the right amount of tartness.

Branches laden with fruit.

Now this is my absolute favorite! A pear tree!!! Nope, didn't see any partridges up there.

I didn't know that a person could grow pears in Minnesota! Kathy said that they aren't quite ripe yet.

She also said that they taste just like a Bartlett pear. Mmmmm. Good.

Aren't they cute! This tree is amazing as it stands about 200 feet high and the pears reach all the way to the very top! Just amazing.

So very soon, I will have a ton of work to do with baking, canning, freezing and dehydrating and Kathy will be receiving a big basket full of all the treats.

She is a wonderful neighbor and so sweet. I hope she finds some comfort in knowing that we will always be there to give her a hand when she needs it.

Four-wheeling

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Yesterday was one of those perfect autumn days. Bob worked in the shop all day on a customer's vehicle, Luke gave him a hand and I sat and crocheted while watching them work. Around 5pm Bob locked up the shop and said... "Let's go wheeling!" Yippee!






First, we took a ride around the property and the guys just had to try out the swap pit! Luke managed to get himself stuck in the cattails and tall grass.







After some struggling and standing ankle deep in swamp muck, he was able to pry himself loose and we took off once again.



There are beautiful state trails around our area so after visiting with a friend close by (I will post pictures later of her beautiful fruit trees) we headed for the trails. In order to get to the trails, there is one little hill that needs to be conquered first! I walked down that hill!!!

It's not much fun riding on the back of a wheeler with Bob when you are climbing down a hill over rocks that big and trying to dodge ruts! Luke also walked down part of the hill as he had never been on this trail before so he was a little nervous.

We did some sightseeing and enjoyed the wildlife.

Crossed bridges and took lots of pictures.

As the sun was setting, we headed for home. Didn't feel like attempting to go up that big hill again so we took a different route past a gravel pit and through a field of wildflowers. I tried to take a picture of the wildflowers but it turned out blurry as Bob had the wheeler going at top speed!

I am glad we headed out. There won't be too many more nice days such as that one and it was a fun, family time. When we finally reached home, each one of us fell into bed exhausted from riding for a few hours.