Beef O Rama 2010

One of the more elaborate means of beef roast conveyance in the parade.

The Vine


Our 2nd annual visit to this unparalleled event in Minocqua was greeted with excellent weather and even a visit by Danny. Mitch cooked his first annual Pork Roast to celebrate and we all had a great time. The Vine is one of the better local establishments with a very comfortable courtyard. E, K, and I arrived early and asked for a big table outside as we were waiting for the Mitchells and Danny to arrive. We had a couple of glasses of wine by the time our fiends arrived. The hostess exclaimed, "I didn't realize you were waiting for Them" I suspected we might be refused service at that point, but of course we became instantly infamous instead. We also harvested grapes from the vine since the birds beat us to them in Faribault.

Florida

E and I took C, M, and K to Florida for a quick vacation over Halloween 2010. We stayed in Orlando and traveled to the coasts to find some beaches and to swim with the manatees at Crystal River.
Interesting creatures and a very cool place even though we were in a residential area surrounding a small pocket of National Wildlife Refuge. There was a large double spring leading from a very narrow channel that feeds the river and keeps the manatees warm and fed in the winter.
Looking at the National Wildlife Refuge (see familiar sign with the goose on it)

Looking in the opposite direction.

Procrastination

It has been a busy fall as usual, so it has been easy to procrastinate posting. Another reason is that this post has been on my mind for a while. I somehow keep losing the picture that E took and that inspired the thoughts surrounding it, and of course the subject isn't the easiest to write about.
So I named the picture "And then there was one". It is a strange feeling to grow up in a family of five and then over time have everyone except you die. Nobody ever expects things to turn out the way they did, you expect things to go on forever, just the way they are, but here I am.

I am lucky to have the rest of my family, truly blessed in fact, my children (J, C, M and K), E, and a few good friends. So we will continue and be thankful for what we have and for the those we no longer have with us.

Lux Cafe

We went to Chicago for "The Cousin's Christmas party". The Girls went to Tea at the American Girl's Store, unfortunately there were only three spots left at the tea so Ed treated me to lunch at the Lux Cafe (600 N Michigan). It was a cool place, Art Deco and good food.

Fossilized Alien Heads

I like to collect FAHs. This is a pic of one I found in the Straight River last weekend. This one is different than most, it seems this alien met a rather tragic ending based on the contorted grimace.
Some interesting FAHs originate from the Omarolluk region of eastern Hudson Bay. Apparently a large number of aliens met their end sometime before the last ice age or two. Their fossilized heads were transported and deposited by glaciers all over the upper Midwest. Here is another one that may have an origin other than Omarolluk based on the color. This is more like your stereotypical alien head, note the distinctive elongated face and eyes, lack of a mouth.
Here is a link to a summary of the origin of Omars.
http://www.erudit.org/revue/gpq/2000/v54/n3/005654ar.pdf

Tornado

The TFF experienced a small tornado the last week of July 2010. Small I guess is relative depending on whether or not you were affected. Some Island campers were badly injured and many of the campsites had to be closed.
We lost a half dozen trees and had some damage to others. Neighbor Jim didn't fair so well, about 30 trees, mostly spruce required 25+ loads with a 12 ft trailer piled as high as possible were hauled to the dump. The neighbor on the other side lost a few really nice old spruce trees. The five red pines on the south side of the cabin only had a few broken branches, any of these would have wiped out the house.
So instead of four days of fishing with my new GPS enabled bow mount trolling motor (Virtual anchor - awesome!), we had a day and a half of decent fishing and spent the rest of the time cleaning up.

Harvest Sampler

The garden is coming to an end. Some successes, some failures. Here is a pic of the better results. And a look at this years patio sculpture.

Boston

Once again I am a tag along to a big city. These trips usually involve some nice meals. The first night I passed on the "Clam Bake" for grilled swordfish. The fish was good, but why do they call a Lobster Boil a Clam Bake? WTF, I sat there with my little piece of nicely grilled fish, and everyone else is served lobster! (with some clams on the side). I learned not to make that mistake again, and ate two lobsters the next night. The third night was yet another "Clam Bake", this time on Spectacle Island, a former garbage dump in the Boston Bay turned into part of the National Park System. A 20 minute scenic booze cruise brought us to the dinner, a well run affair, completed by an intense sunset and walk on the beach.

New York

New York for another due diligence trip. While E was learning, K and I explored Central Park. It was a good walk from the Waldorf Astoria. The street life was interesting along the way. Not quite as nice as Chicago of course, but not bad for a big city.
I guess they don't have alleys in NY?

Basil

The garden installation in Faribault was a bit of a rush this spring - moving to a new home in Minnetonka, fishing season, travel, etc. In the end the implementation was short of the plan, but the results so far have been good. Here is a pic of E the herbstress holding a very fragrant bunch of basil.



And some recent pictures of the whole thing. One of my favorite things about this setup is the automatic drip watering system from DripWorks. Drip emitters for individual plants and drip lines for rows are controlled by a timer. I can be away for days and not worry. It was fairly easy to setup, reusable and dependable. I just received another system for the deck at our new home with special piping features for individual planters. I just need to find the time to set it up before our next vacation.

Dock Work

My annual dock installation routine started early this year to take advantage of the very low water conditions at the TFF. The bottom of the steps leading to the dock had no support on the non railing side and the hillside under the stairs was beginning to erode. The main improvement was to add the two large rock shown just below the steps and the rearrange the rocks on either side. I also graded the slope leading up to the steps from the lake.


The lake is typically high enough to float the dock section into place. This year there was about 10 feet of sloped shore to deal with. Notice the large greenish rock just past the dock, it was sticking up a few inches and looked to be a in the way so after an hour or so of digging the rock was extracted from the lake bed. It's a nice rock though, I'll find a use for it.


Now for the real challenge. The dock secton is 6'x16' and weighs about a ton. I had just enough pieces of chain, tow straps and a come-along to reach a huge maple about 75' up the hill. Winch, pry, lift, shove was the trick. I used the come-along to put as much tension as I dared on the system, then E and I used pry bars to lift and shove the dock toward the shore. Progress was slow but in the end the dock was in place and secure to the shore with some new chain clevises.

Spring Rubarb and Mint

We thought this was an interesting pic. I like the lines of the wood table and the recurring diamond shape of the rock and the rhubarb spec on the side of the glass. The perennial (and now invasive) mint was already plentiful on this early May evening. The glass is from the San Francisco MOMA. It has a blue semicircular indentation in the bottom that appears to be a floating orb if you look into the top of the glass and it casts a blue tint in the Reyka vodka.

Phoenix

Check out the Phoenix Skyline below the horizon.

View from Canyon Lake Trail.

Canyon Lake

J and B's front yard.

J and B.

Right after the perch fest E and I went to Phoenix for one of her supplier seminars. It was held at the Arizona Biltmore, a FLW inspired complex just NE of town. We had a very nice 1 br condo with a pool side patio. The first evening we took a 6 mile round trip walk to a supermarket that was 2 miles away to get some vodka and food for me. I snatched a lemon from a tree along the way, there were plenty to choose from.
We had some fantastic dinners with live entertainment at night and rented mountain bikes from the resort one day to ride the nearby "Trail 100". South Mountain was another excellent place for a hike, close to town and not too busy for a Friday afternoon. The weather for the trip was on the cool side and as you can see from the last pics, a little rainy the last day.
The last full day we hiked the Superstition Mountains east of town, really a cool place. We finished the trip visiting with my relatives at their gated planned community, it was an interesting look at their active version of retirement life.
We look forward to visiting Phoenix some time soon.

Spring Thaw

As I said earlier, winter ended quickly this year. The snow melt and spring rain made for a dramatic rise in the Straight River. Here is a video from the 220th street bridge, the house is sort of visible on the horizon. Normally the water is only about 2 feet deep here, I guess it was about 8 feet higher.

Hunter's Point Perch Extravaganza

The last weekend in February is host to this annual event on Mille Lacs, an inland sea a couple hours north of Minneapolis. The lake is huge and supports an excellent fishery. The perch were not in the mood that day but the weather was gorgeous and a lot of beer was consumed (except by me the designated driver). I made up for it before the chili feed back at the camper. I sat outside to avoid the TV, a snow pile served as a chiller table for my Vodka while I watched the sun set on a perfect day. E's brother did catch one perch, check out the pics (I don't condone the actions of the guy in the background).

End of Winter

Winter ended early this year, but I still have some pics to remember what it was like. It was a good snow year and most days were not too cold. Check out the view from the river similar to the Straight river post from last fall.
The second pic is a view of the house looking south from the north end of the property.
The last picture is a solitary cloud that looks like a feather, or wing, or maybe a fish?

This is my favorite of Tom's sculptures. It sits in front of the house near the ledge we built for another piece. It is interesting to watch how the patina has changed over the years and how each season gives this piece a new look. This particular picture is from late spring or early summer. The morning light is filtered through the pines and some wild flowers have assumed their random position in the scene.
Here is a pic to put the location in perspective:


And a close up of the rock ledge we installed to display another piece:


A work in progress photo of the installation above:


Another view of the finished installation:

Cat food?

Collioure is famous for anchovies. Served several different ways, these fish are much different than the little minnows in a tin, and a lot more expensive. We headed out fairly early one morning from our backstreet hotel room to find the day's delivery for one restaurant waiting by the rear entry.

This town has many wandering cats, so it was strange to see these prized fish left out on the street. I suppose the proprietor wasn't too far behind, or maybe all of the cats in this part of town have been dealt with? I have had the little beggars surround me at dinner before, I guess by early morning they are well fed and asleep.

Tom's Last Stand

My brother Tom passed away on New Year's eve. He was 47. This is a picture of his last deer stand. We must have placed it in a good spot because he got a really nice 8 pointer first thing on opening morning. If it wasn't for him, I would have eaten a lot less venison these last few years. He will be missed, he was my best friend and a great help with everything in life.