Merry...Merry Everyone!!

Looks like a white Christmas for sure up here in the North Country...just the way it's supposed to be!!
Thank you so much for checking in on my little site this year. Special warm wishes go to my regular posters...Lynne, Julie and my wacky cousin, Leigh who gives us all a good laugh. And for you "lurkers" out there that stop by but are too shy to post...give it a try, it's easy!!
Hope you have a festive and fun-filled holiday and all the best to you and your families in 2008!

PS As you can see there is always room up here for a visit, just come on by and cuddle up on the couch...hot chocolate always ready!!

Lovely to wake up to!

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Thanksgiving!?!

Hope you all have a great holiday!!!

Opening Day

It's the first day for Firearm Deer Season which is anticipated here more than Christmas. Unfortunately the weather isn't optimal. It's 32 and snowing but not sticking and the wind is pretty strong so it's just wet and cold. Not the kind of weather the deer like to move around in.
Despite the earlier fears of a bad winter the temps have been very mild. Don't know if we will pay for this later but we'll take advantage of the lower heating costs.
Speaking of that...we're at $3.31 for gasoline. How about you?

Fabulous Fall Foilage

All this beauty and alliteration too...what more could you want!?!

Disconcerting

The weather has been remarkably warm and looks like that will continue this week but there are worrying signs that this winter may be a bad one.
First off the animals are eating EVERYTHING! Last year the deer hit my plants pretty hard, especially the hostas which are called "deer candy" around here. This year it's the squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, bear and the deer that are eating everyone's gardens. They have even defeated most of my cages which I put around everything. Even my thorny rosebushes have been sampled.
Second, the hummingbirds have departed earlier than usual. Last year they were still feeding well into October. This year they disappeared about 2 weeks ago. We also had our first siting of snowbirds yesterday.
The elk are also kicking up a ruckus, bugling all night. We know all this happens every year but even the old timers are getting concerned.
The Farmer's Almanac says our area will be cold and snowy which is one of those obvious predictions. We want to know...How cold?...How snowy? I guess only time will tell.

Long awaited and much anticipated!!

Got some cupboard doors! The whole concept came from a magazine a couple of years ago and I think that Ron executed the design very well. There will be more upper cabinets to the right eventually but this will give you a idea of how they all will look. Of course no more across the room inventorying...I think I can live without that!
Actually need more lumber to continue and even though we live in the trees, wood seems hard to come by...go figure! We'll hit our favorite hardwoods store the next time we are in Toledo.

Hope you're not disappointed

This is my new pride and joy....a long arm quilting machine and frame! I'm sure most of you have no idea what this is but for a quilter it is the height of luxury.
After piecing together a quilt top if you want to machine quilt it (and believe me I am not that interested in hand quilting) your choice is to roll the quilt and run it through your sewing machine. The roll has to fit between the throat of the machine and the needle which allows for pretty much only straight lines. If you are really good you can do a stipple pattern which is a freehand sewing technique that requires you to turn the quilt in all directions to get the stitching in all the areas you want to quilt. As you can imagine this can be pretty tricky with a big quilt top and it makes it difficult to keep the batting and backing material from puckering.
So the logical step was to investigate how to make the process easier. The answer seemed to be a longer arm machine that would allow for more material to fit between the needle and throat and then it made sense to put it all on a frame that would hold the fabric taut and instead of moving the quilt you would move the machine.
After looking at a lot of the options out there (and boy are they expensive!) I came across a guy in Nevada that buys old sewing machines and cuts them apart and extends the throat. Mine is 15 inches which will allow for about 12 inches of pattern area. It's a pretty crude machine that will only straight stitch but I got it at a fraction of the cost of a similar new machine. I also dragged Ron around to some quilt shops and made him look at a lot of frames online to convince him that he could build me one a lot cheaper. As usual he accepted the challenge and the picture shows the results. We still have a few kinks to work out and mostly that involves practice on my part but I am very pleased with the whole thing. The sewing machine moves on guides the length of the frame and also on rails that allow it to go front and back so you can stitch in all directions. All you have to do is start the machine up, grab the handles and go to town. Sounds easy, right? Well sort of. If you want to just do a random pattern (remember stippling?) it's not too bad but if you would like to make a definite shape, like a circle or square, then that takes some talent. Think of trying to make a circle or a straight diagonal line on a etch-a-sketch, not very easy to do, right? So while I get good Ron also made me a board that I can attach templates to so I can use the handy stylus that he installed to just trace around the pattern and, voila, a perfect shape.
Well, that is probably more than you wanted to know about quilting machines but believe me I am the envy of the quilt club. Unfortunately other "house" projects have taken a back seat while all this was going on but, hey, you have to have your priorities!!

Just to prove...

...that I don't have a totally black thumb here are a couple of pictures from my garden. The roses are the pavement variety which are apparently supposed to stay low to the ground. Not mine!! They seem to want to soar to the heavens. Pretty, but they are going to need a trellis.
The day lily is the first bloom this year. This one is called Cheerios...kind of fits don't you think?
The real project here has nothing to do with any of this and not even house related. All I will say for now is it something I never would have thought I wanted or needed, but I'm getting kind of excited for it to be finished. So, watch this space!!!!

Beauty in the wild...

...or at least on the garage floor. Of course I figure this is some sort of "bad" moth that will eat all the blossoms on my newly planted tomato plants. Hey, I even think tomato worms are kind of cool looking!

Technical glitch

For some reason my map won't "stay" on the page. To get it to work you have to upload it from a website. I followed the instructions and uploaded it to this blog page, copied the link, then linked in on the layout, and finally I deleted the post with the map. Seemed to do the trick until recently. Now I am going to try permanently posting the map so don't be confused...I have that covered!

Not by my hand

Found this in the woods, I guess it's some kind of wild orchid. Trust me, with my black thumb I didn't get too near it!

A little lesson

When you see these white flowers (they are called Trillium) you know to look for the morel mushrooms. The one on the right is a false morel. I cut it open so you could see the difference in it's structure vs. the one on the left. They say the easy way to tell the difference is the umbrella shape the poisonous ones have. We aren't very good at spotting any of them and Ron says we are fortunate we don't have to find them to survive!

Spring?

Global warming? Where do we sign up?

At last!!!

Here's what I have been waiting for. A continuous countertop. I never realized how hard it is to cook when you don't have any place to set something down. Still no doors but when you think about it, that's a real time saver!
That white stuff out the window in the dining room is snow. We just about had it all melted when Spring decided to take a break and we got 4 inches. Supposedly more to come this weekend and then maybe warming up a bit after Easter. Just when you thought it was safe to put away the sweatshirts!

I know..

...it's been too long since I last posted. No new pictures because, frankly, dirty melting snow is just not very pretty. The temperatures are definitely getting Spring-like but around here you learn not to trust it. Mother Nature of the North can be pretty cruel.
I did find an interesting website if you would like to get an idea of what it is like around here:

http://www.wolverinemi.com/default.asp

New photos of the kitchen cabinets will be up soon. Ron is really making progress and I think they are great!

Finally

These elk have been coming around the last week or so but are very skittish so pictures have been difficult. Today they apparently decided we are harmless so they stuck around for quite a while. We're not sure how old these cows are and we have had a big bull show up in the middle of the night. That picture will be much more elusive.

February Thaw

This is always impressive when it comes off in one big chunk. Not so fun to shovel.

Thanks for asking!!

Here is what I have been doing while Ron toils in his workshop. This is quilt number three and there have also been a couple of little wall hangings. It's pretty addictive!

Something you don't see everyday

This is a Pileated Woodpecker which are very shy. If you look on the other side of the tree there is a Hairy Woodpecker so you can get a size comparison. 8 inches vs. 15 inches. Very cool.

Proof

In case you were worried that nothing was getting done while we were out enjoying all the snow and cold here's the progress so far on the kitchen cabinets. I know there are no doors (some of you may remember that took a while in Berkey too) and you have to ignore all my plastic wear and please don't make too many comments on my choice of food staple items. Other than that, aren't they gorgeous?!? I love the color and the style. Ron is doing a fantastic job. And all of getting done while he is trying out for the Olympic show shoveling team. He works out every day!

Scene out the slider

These deer stop by everyday. The winter has been so mild so far that they are hanging around back here. When we get more snow they go to the creek where they can maneuver more easily. Apparently someone in Canada left their freezer door open so we are getting really cold this weekend. Highs in the low digits. Brrr!!

You gotta admit...

...This is pretty!!

No particular reason

I just thought this was funny.

In case you were worried

Mother Nature, the snow version, found us today and gave us about 10 inches. Probably not the end of it and it does make all those snow bunnies happy. It really is pretty; especially through the glass with a hot cup of something in your hands!

It's baaack!!!

Well at least the cold part of winter if not the white part. Temps are plummeting today and will probably set us up for highs in the low teens next week. Good cuddling weather!
Speaking of cuddling...the neighborhood quilt club is back in session from our holiday break. We are all making a variation of the log cabin pattern. We get together every couple of weeks to check on our progress and iron out any difficulties. Mostly we just sit around and gab; they are a nice bunch of women.
Some wildlife sightings recently. We had a large bull elk walk right through the back yard the other evening turning on the motion lights. He had quite a rack and sure is bigger than the deer that wander through daily. Of course Luna's favorite is still the squirrels in all their varieties although on walks she is always looking for grouse. She goes to point so nicely it seems a shame we don't try to take her hunting for real.
Well I guess that's all for now; we'll try to stay warm and you can help by thinking warm thoughts!!

Hello 2007!!!

2006 was a great and busy year for us. We got into our new house and even though it's not all done it's very comfortable. We made some new friends and welcomed some old ones that came for visits. All of you are encouraged to come back and for those of you thinking about it but not sure "Life in the North Woods" is for you...come on and give it a try...we might just win you over!!
Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year!!