Chicken Coop Cometh

Jeff worked on the new chicken coop all day yesterday. We're going to call it "The Yooper Coop". We got the rough-sawn lumber from the nice folks who own Iverson's Snowshoe's and if you haven't ever gone there to check out their operation....I suggest you do. It's snowshoes made the old-fashioned way and it's a fascinating process. Anyway, they have a lumber mill too---and we got some coop wood!

I planted a few Shasta daisy starts this week and couldn't resist taking a pic of one of them. I just love daisies. Kim Gordon asked about the pink daisy I have in an earlier post, wondering where it will grow; Kim, I think it would grow fine in your area. Daisies are pretty hardy! I'd be happy to give you a start of my pink ones---

I'm looking for rhubarb up here---it's a bit hard to come by. At home I had a friend who had a huge patch and I sure miss it now! Things grow so different in this climate; I'm just now getting veggies plants in the ground and still, we had a frost warning last night. Back to the rhubarb....I'm thinking about rhubarb upside down cake and vanilla ice cream!

This little guy is blooming his heart out right now. Gosh I'm so glad that everything is FINALLY turning green. Our growing season is so short, but that's the price we pay for living in an area that's so beautiful!

Today dawned sunny and cool. I'm hoping it warms up a bit so that I can comfortably work outside (meaning shorts and no shoes). Somehow I don't think I'll be that lucky....
Emily came up with a great recipe for chocolate chip cookies last night--they're a little different than a traditional CCC; a lighter color and a little more fluffy than I'm used to making, but very good and just lightly sweet...they're very good with coffee. Emily is baking for the Falling Rock Cafe http://www.fallingrockcafe.com/ in Munising and I highly recommend stopping there to say hello, sample her baked goods and enjoy a cup of coffee.

There are so many birds coming to the feeders right now; flocks of finches, woodpeckers, chickadees and siskins. We rarely get blue jays now that the weather has changed---they've gone back into the forest and I changed the composition of my feed to very little corn as a result. The suet is still really popular and I've switched to a suet that won't spoil in warm weather. Jeff saw a couple wild turkey up the road yesterday but I've yet to coax them to my feeders.

There was fog around the hills this morning and it was simply beautiful, so I had to take this pic. The view is from the high school parking lot (I took Abbey to school this morning).

Today is rainy and chilly so not much going on outside. The morels will surely benefits from the rain and upcoming warm weather. So hopefully the next couple of weeks will be bountiful!

I woke up feel a little under the weather, so this post is a short one. Have a good day everyone!

I just noticed this morning that it's light enough to see at five thirty in the morning here; mostly noteable because it doesn't get full dark until about nine thirty every evening! Funny how things just creep up on you and get accepted as "normal".... That's a whole lotta hours of daylight folks! No wonder we're tired at night---

Most of our Memorial Day guests have headed home and as always---we had some real nice folks stay with us. The Dominics were here and were such nice people. I loved Sue Dominic---such a nice woman! We also had Kim, Carey and their pup Indy (or as I called him: IndyAndy). Again, just the nicest people! I got a pic of Indy (see above) and his people (since I didn't ask if I could post the family's pic, I'll just post Indy...he won't mind!).

The Peach Tree

As promised, Mark and Nancy sent pics of their bird tree I mentioned yesterday. What a neat idea! Hhhhmmmm....what old tree could we use??

I love--simply love---the ball of barbed wire in this photo. How awesome is that?

This is a short post----I have an idea for a homemade hummingbird feeder to supplement the store bought one that Jeff got from his daughter Elizabeth last year. The birds love that feeder and I read that hummingbirds will come to homemade feeders too, so I'll post a pic later!

A Great Memorial Weekend

The daffodils are blooming.

Our friends Nancy and Mark in Iowa called last night to shoot the breeze and it was so good to talk to them! Mark built a birdhouse/birdfeeder tree using an old peach tree and he's going to send pictures---I'll post one when I get it.

We went to a "fur and feather swap" to get chickens today. Yes---Jeff has finally agreed to chickens! Yea! I was so excited that I danced the chicken dance all day! Unfortunately the gentleman I'm getting the birds from didn't make it to the swap---and that was ok---we need to build a coop first. So if anyone has a coop design...feel free to pass along advice! We're going to get the chickens Tuesday or Wednesday when the coop is done!

I have some Moosers (big, yummy oatmeal cookies) in the oven, then it's giant Kemosabe brownies---gooey and chocolately. The cabin smells so good on baking days...good thing there's no calories in scent.

Speaking of baking: Awhile back our neighbor, Rich, brought over a box of wonderful frozen, unbaked pastries. I used several of them over the winter and had one left in the little freezer down in the barn. I unplugged that freezer last week because it was empty...I thought. Somehow--although I swear I checked--that last pastry was left to meet its end. Jeff opened the freezer yesterday and the first thing to blow out the door was the smell of raw yeast dough. The second thing to blow out the door was the actual raw yeast dough---turns out that raw dough will expand and create enough gas to blow its package and seek more elbow room. So, I had quite the mess to clean up. The worst part was that those pastries were DELICIOUS and I can't believe...I....wasted...the...last...one. No, wait...the worst part was that Jeff knew it was my fault and now I'll hear about it every time Jeff's in earshot of someone talking about baking :o(

We took a walk on one of our recent nice days and I just had to post this photo...I am constantly in awe of just how beautiful it is up here! The entire population of the UP is around 300,000. You can drive for hours out in the woods and never see another human! Now while you may think I'm beginning to sound like a hermit, the truth is that I'm ever so much in love with the solitude and peace of our new home. I spend hours on the phone each week extolling the virtues of the UP to potential guests and maybe bragging just a little about how awesome it is to be a Yooper (or pseudo-Yooper since we're transplants).

Time for me to get back to the recipe book--have a great day!

Flora and Fauna

Emily and I saw our first Ruby-Throated Hummingbird this week. Em stopped dead in the middle of a sentence and said "Mom? I think I just saw a hummingbird zip by the window!" and sure enough----there she was at the nectar feeder.

Jeff is home and he brought plants from downstate; I have pink daisies to plant and they have a very sweet story:

Back in Ohio there's a senior center that hosts a plant sale every year. The folks who utilize the center dig up plants from their yard and bring them in to sell and the money earned goes toward programs at the center.

There is a lovely lady there (old enough to be my grandma) who brings in these gorgeous daisy plants every year. Last year she took me by the sleeve, led me to her little display of plants and told me they had been handed down from her mother, to her! How could I resist 2nd generation plants?? I couldn't! I love all green things and I especially love green things with a story.

Anyhoo--I have daisies to plant and some other little things including a clematis from Jeff's sister, Julie. Being in the UP offers a new challenge for me----my green thumb needs a glove! It's easily a month behind Ohio in the growing season----we're JUST getting tulips and daffodils!

A Gorgeous Sunday

and I'm all alone for it. Jeff is downstate visiting his family, Abbey is at a friend's house, Emily is visiting a friend and I'm just hangin' at camp.

Yesterday Abbey spotted a rose-breasted grosbeak! What a beautiful bird...we got to watch him for about twenty seconds before he decided to move on. Of course I had to look up what they like to eat, then run outside to make sure each of our feeding sites was appropriately stocked.

Abbey needs some cookies for school, so I'm going to make some snickerdoodles and while I'm in the kitchen I'm going to put together a loaf of bread for dinner. We're having venison chili and there's nothing better than homemade bread to go along with it.

Almost the weekend-but does it matter?

5.14.09

Funny thing about living in the Upper Peninsula: time is not the same here. Since giving up the rat race and buying our own business, we run on a different kind of clock. Hours pass by undocumented with no one looking at a watch every ten minutes, days flow one to the next and Friday is like Sunday is like Tuesday here. We don't get the "Woo! Friday!" moments any more---and that's ok. I think it just means that every day is equally wonderful.

I awoke at 3am to the sound of pounding rain on our steel roof. Our log cabin is very cozy and secure, but I haven't become accustomed to the sound of rain on metal yet. I enjoy my alone time on the mornings I wake up so early; it's time I spend as I choose, without interruption. I love to curl up in the old leather chair by the window, dogs all scattered at my feet, cup of hot coffee in hand and I may write for awhile or I may browse a cookbook--looking for inspiration. However I spend the time, it seems to recharge me.

The house is stirring now---the shower is running, the news is on and the dogs need to go out...."me time" is over :o) Have a wonderful day and I will catch up with you later! --Sherry