Here is a follow up to our wild Christmas tree post. Thought you might like to see the tree in the house and decorated. Nothing fancy here, just simple white lights and all the kid’s ornaments. We work hard at finding unique ornaments for each of our kids. We have done this for a long time, so we sometimes have to look hard to find a wild tree that “has enough branches for all of our ornaments”.
We cut another wild Christmas tree off our property this year. Sometimes it takes a lot of looking and a wild tree is always a bit sparse and misshaped. However, there is still some gratification doing it the old fashioned way! Although balsam fir probably makes the best native tree, we were content with a small white spruce this year. The photo below shows Michaela with her head stuck in the tree; she is actually cutting it down.
Our simple rink rake plus many feet hose to reach the skating rink. This “T” shaped contraption is simply PVC pipe and a shutoff valve connected to a garden hose on one end and a pipe with a row of small holes on the business end. The attached towel spreads the water out in a thin even, layer. We have been able to salvage half of the rink, but the other half, as expected, has flooded and slushed out.
The resort is a great place to host holiday get-togethers. We have the extra space in the lodge and Mary is a great cook. And, there are plenty of ways to burn off the extra turkey and stuffing. These photos are from our Thanksgiving hockey game with extended family. Thanks to Bob Hammerstrom (a photo journalist who has shot his fair share of sporting events! and my brother-in-law from New Hampshire) for these photos.
We are digging out today after our first major snow storm, about 12 inches on the level so far. Mary is excited to get a good snow cover on her dormant perennial plants, but the kids are disappointed with what this will do to their skating rink: the heavy snow on the early ice will cause the water to push up through the inevitable cracks. The resulting frozen slush ruins the rink beyond our capacity to repair it with our homemade rink rake (a nifty contraption designed to spread a thin layer of water on the ice).
Mabel (plus Liz and Liz’s parents) spent her first week at Half Moon Trail. Unfortunately, Ryan was too busy at work to sneak away. I think Mabel was fairly unimpressed with the lake, beach, and flowers. Her main interests were eating and sleeping.
It looks like a sunset, but it is actually a sunrise. In late July, three of our kids headed out on the water about 5:30. Nate was wakeboarding, Sarah driving the boat, and Michaela taking pictures. This one was amazing. Notice the symmetry of the spray reflected in the water.
We welcomed our new grand baby, Mabel Grace (Bella), into the world last night about 10:15 (6 lbs 15 oz).
Above: two happy grandmothers.
Congratulations Ryan and Liz!
Ever since we lived in a remote Eskimo village (teaching Eskimos), Mary has made most of our own bread. Summer is busy, but winter brings more free time for things like baking bread. We have noticed a renewed interest in baking your own bread, especially with the younger set. So far this winter, Mary has had two sessions with 5 different gals. During one of those lessons, Mary tried grinding wheat berries (don’t ask me why they call them berries?), to make her own flour. She mixed this with her normal white flour to create a coarse textured bread with great flavor. I have included a photo of one of our favorites: an artisan bread with rosemary and lemon.
Skate skiing utilizes a graceful skating motion to propel the skier forward versus the traditional kick and glide of the classic style. Last winter, due to limited snow fall, we were able to maintain a groomed trail on the lake, perfect for skate skiing. I was fortunate to have the camera along on this beautiful day, when the frosty morning was transformed by the bright sun and blue sky about midway through our ski. In my mind, this morning ranks right up there as one of our best. Enjoy this video if you have a minute and a half.
A fish house on Boot Lake is a rare sight. Our lake just does not see much winter fishing pressure. There have been a few more houses than normal this year, including this bright red one, but we typically only see one or two at a time plus an occasional portable. And we have “dark houses” too. A dark house is, just as the name implies, dark. Blocking out all the light helps a spear fisherman see his decoy (a wooden or live minnow) and also the northern pike that come to investigate. I would guess most of the ice angling on Boot Lake is for pike also. We have usually pulled our house off by now. The heavy snow cover pushes water up through any opening, flooding the lake with water which in turn, saturates the snow around the house and freezes it in. We have had to chip our house out (or use the chain saw) once or twice and it is a job we vow to never do again!
Do you remember the cold snap Minnesota experienced in late January (as in -36)? During that cold week our family took a sauna at least 3 of those evenings, which is our normal pattern during the winter months. Here is a post I wrote after one of those nights.
Our sauna routine is a fairly common occurrence during the winter. Friday night three of the kids and I took a particularly hot one. After we cook, we like to cool down outside and last night was awesome… very cold, a bright full moon, and dead calm; as we settled into our towel draped chairs, the 9 below temperature accentuated the steam pouring off our bodies. Our small talk faded into silence, as we all just sat and appreciated the night. By the time we were fully cooled off our hair was frosty and our suits frozen.
As an addendum to this post, during the following night’s cool down, we clearly heard a pack of wolves howling across the lake. Now, hearing coyotes is common, but these wolves were a rare treat.
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