2011 January » Northwoods Woman

Circle the Wagons!

Jan 282011

It’s finally Friday, and even though that is good news, even better is the fact that we will have visitors this weekend! The invasion (as Nichole calls it) happens tomorrow with our house being filled with the wonderful sounds of grandchildren. Nichole and Corey bring the crew up to spend some time with us, which in turn means that I get the chance to cook for an army again! It is so hard for me to cook for just Rick & I, so I really enjoy getting to feed lots of hungry people.

Another little tidbit of exciting news (for me at least) is that I finally ordered myself a new camera.

This is the Canon PowerShot SX130IS. It is a 12.1 MP digital camera with 12x wide angle optical image stabilized zoom with 3″ LCD screen. Saw it at the store last week and liked how easy it looked and great functions for under $200. Thought it over for a few days and finally decided “what the heck”! So, hopefully the pictures that I post on here will look at little bit more professional. If you want to check it out, I bought it at Amazon:

Sugarbush

Jan 262011

We are almost to February, which means that it is getting closer to spring. And in the northwoods, particularly in our area, it means thinking about Sugarbush. The last few years Rick & I have had a wonderful time honing our skills at this art of making maple syrup from the trees that grow in our yard. Of course, the amount we get is always going to depend of the amount of rainfall received in the fall and just the right temperatures in the early spring to harvest the sap.

Have to make sure that you drill the hole in the tree just right to fit the tap.

Hammer the tap into the tree so it is secure.

Get your buckets all clean…

… and start hanging them on the taps!

It’s always rewarding when you see this!!

This is the first straining of the sap before it hits the kettle. We will strain it a total of 3 times before we finally can the finished product.

Nice and clean.

Get that fire going good!

Let the fun begin!

When we have alot of sap, we have a warming pan that feeds into the lower one so we can have a good flow of sap to boil down. Over the course of the weekend, we will be working this for 10 – 12 hours a day to get finished.

Long hours and hard work pay off to produce some delicious maple syrup!

Here’s hoping that we are granted a wonderful season yet again this year to be given this gift that we can share with family and friends!!

Mental Holiday

Jan 252011

Finally took a mental holiday this past weekend. With school back in session (not just where I work, but my own personal studies as well), things have gotten pretty hectic and in turn I have been a little ornery. I’m not the kind of person that takes things out on others, but unfortunately that is what happened last Thursday, and I decided enough was enough. Of course I apologized to said person for my actions, and got out particular things that were bothering me and how I got “set off”, and all was right with the world.

However, not all was right with how I felt about it, and I promised myself that I needed to get my attitude in check. Since we had Friday off of work, I decided to finish my homework for the next week, which took all day. This left me with the weekend to do something that I don’t have a lot of time while I am taking online classes: I spent it reading.

I just love the mental vacation that comes from being able to escape into a good book! So much so, I read 2!! I’ve really gotten into “indy” authors lately, and they are a very inexpensive way to read books on the Kindle that my wonderful husband got me. Some of these authors have a great writing style (well, at least to me), and I can go through their books in a little over a day.

Moral of the story: When life seems to be too much and the world won’t stop to let you off, grab a book and escape from your reality for a while. I know it helped me!!

The Squirrel Mafia

Jan 092011

Since we live in a nicely wooded area, we get the privilege of sharing our yard with birds, bears, fox, and the ever present squirrels.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind them so much, until they wage war with me when it comes to eating my bird seed. I’ve tried to work with them, really I have. I’ve even gone so far as set up a separate feeder farrrr away from the others just for them. Do you think they appreciate it? NO!

They just decide that this is their home and I have provided the buffet for their eating pleasure.

I know that there are many ways to deter them, and Husband likes to laugh at me when I think that I am smarter than them, but I must say that they get my creative juices flowing when I have to fix yet another suit box that they have decided they want to break into. I know that I will just have to accept the fact that they will not go away. I wonder if naming them will make it a little easier to deal with the situation?

What’s it all about?

Jan 052011

Well, most of the people who will initially be viewing this webpage will be friends and family, but I’m hoping to evolve it into something that appeals to a much larger audience!

Of course we will have photos and stories about our adventures up here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, but I’m also planning on incorporating sections on gardening, baking, and of course, anything that has to do with an organic and sustainable lifestyle. Who knows, I might even start a blog *GASP*!

Let me know what YOU want to see here and become a part of the development of this site! email me and put in the subject line “Website Ideas” so you don’t accidentally end up in the trash heap!

Older Entries Newer Entries