Raspberries - day 3

Five and a half...hours we spent on raspberries today.  Picking, washing, sorting (berries on ice cream, berries for jam, berries for pies), containing, making jam, eating.  Again today I had twice as many as Case after the picking part.  I am remembering that girl (Violet?) in Willa Wonka who turned into a blueberry.  I am witnessing my own Northwoods version of that. 

Raspberries - day 2

This morning I needed to be a "Dumpster Diva" for the Lions Club White Elephant Sale that is next Saturday.  So I called some friends to go with Case with buckets in hand.  He came home with over 6 cups and about 3 more cups transported in his stomach I imagine.  Friends went home with lots, too.  All this happened before a nasty thunderstorm with 90 minutes plus of continuous rolling thunder and 4 hours without power.  As we were eating our way through Schwan ice cream cones in the freezer, the power came back on - just in time to go to the World Lumberjack Championship held in Hayward each year.  Yes, there is a professional lumberjack circuit just like pro cowboys in the rodeo and drivers in NASCAR.  One of my new friends has a daughter who is a Lumberjill on the pro circuit.  Her specialty is Underhand Block Chop.  You stand on a 12 inch diameter log and with an axe chop it between your feet until it is in two pieces.  She broke her own world record of 28.19 seconds.  Other events were the 90 foot pole climb and descent, two-person saw, log rolling, springboard - which has to be seen to be believed, team relay, and "hot saw" which is slicing through a log three times with a tricked out chainsaw.  It was a fun Saturday night in the Northwoods!

Raspberries - day 1

One of our neighbors (retired couple) has been especially helpful to these Newbies in the Northwoods.  When they asked us a favor, we said yes immediately.   They were going on vacation for a week so...could we come over and take care of their garden while they were gone?  The garden is huge with a tall fence and then an electric fence farther out.  It is the peak of harvest for many things..mainly raspberries...rows and rows of raspberries.  Day 1 - we figured how to get inside both fences; we brought several large containers; we bought 2 children's sand buckets from the Dollar Store so we could hang them from a loose belt leaving both hands free to pick; we were astounded at the 10 cups that we picked.  There would have been more I feel - because my bucket was twice as full as Case's.  I think he was eating more than he was putting in the bucket.  We came home at 9 am and had vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberries - lots of them. 

A Good Deed

Several weeks ago we were out for a walk when we noticed a television hidden about 20 feet off the road on National Forest land.  Case climbed back there.  Not one but THREE televisions.  We mentioned this to one neighbor.  "Oh, yes." they replied.  "We knew they were there."  When resorts would dismantle years ago, they would fly dump TV's so they wouldn't have to pay to dispose of them.  Well, what the heck!  Why hasn't anyone done anything about it?  I called the township chair for waste disposal and explained the situation.  He said that we could bring in the TV's at no charge since we found them along the road.  One day when I was at work Case took the truck and was loading up the TV's when a different neighbor came by and stopped to help carry.  Yes, he knew they were there, too.  When that neighbor got home, he called the first neighbor to say what Case had done.  That afternoon the first neighbor who originally knew about the TV's brought over a triple chocolate cake for Case to thank him for doing something about getting rid of the eyesores.  I guess the guilt about not doing anything about the televisions got the best of her.  As Case was thoroughly enjoying his first slice, he looked up briefly to say, "I'm going out to look for more TV's."

The Honeymoon is Over...

...between the Northwoods and us.  The reality of life is now looking at us squarely in the face.  We have been at some meetings about the cell tower where people have been less than civil.  On other issues we have felt the rivalry between between two local governments.  And one situation we did know about before we moved in - that the people who live on our lake are not as good as the people who live on the lake connecting to ours.   (Most of the people on the other lake are quite wealthy and don't like to hobnob with the little folk over here.)  We have been laughing off the last one for a long time.  "Just ask the people on the other lake, they'll tell you we are not as good as they are."  "We are not worthy." [Think Wayne and Garth.]  At least we can laugh off that one. 

People are people no matter where you live.  It was foolish for us to think otherwise.  Even though the honeymoon is over, there is still a solid marriage of real life experiences with the Northwoods.  We can live with that.

Paradise Lost

We found out that the local telephone company has struck a deal with the township to build a 320 foot cell tower on the lake connecting to our lake.  More later...

Defintion of Glide

In one word - kayaking.  I went out on the lake early this morning.  Quiet.  No noise as I gently paddle.  What a gift gliding is!  Possibly like skating but I am so poor at any kind of skating that my huffing and puffing and fear of falling ruins any glide sensation.  So it is kayaking for me.