Squawking

Hi Everyone,



Well, I've had my surgery and I'm home mending. Monday the staples and hopefully the tubes will come out and then I head to Steph's for Christmas.



I'm not used to this sitting around and not being able to lift over 10 pounds so I'm not getting much done.



I do have, thanks to my sister most of my presents wrapped. I know that job wasn't too heavy but I hate to wrap presents.



Will we have enough snow to have the sled dog races on January 9th? I hope so as we are having a soup and bread baking contest that day. Also, there will be things for the kids to do that day.



This morning I got all my Christmas cards I send out done and in the mail. I try to keep in touch once a year with the Missouri cousins and if someone sends me a card I try and send one back.



It seems wierd not to be driving the bus. I'm awake each morning when the driver comes to get the bus. Then sometimes I fall back asleep. I've been sleeping to much during the day because I don't want to sleep at night.

I haven't been cooking too much since coming home from the hospital. I did make a batch of fantasy fudge for a couple of gifts. Sure is different than when Jimmie was alive. We would make about 5 kinds of fudge, divinity, hard crack candy, nut goodie bars, chocolate covered cherries, peanut brittle and whatever other recipe I wanted to try besides lots of cookies. Now if I make a batch of fudge I'm considering it a great feat.

Guess with sitting at home I don't have much to say. I hope all of you have a Wonderful Christmas, Happy New Year and a year of good health and prosperity.

Take care,
Julie

January 9th - Sled Dog Races

Hi,

Hope all is well with all of you.

We are getting a little snow each day. Hasn't added up to much yet. I wish we would just get a good snow and then the sun comes out and we can clean up the snow. This way I don't want to shovel so it just builds up on the steps.

January 9th is the Sled dog races that come through Squaw Lake. This year the Squaw Lake Fire Dept Auxiliary is sponsoring a Soup and Bread Cookoff Contest. We are hoping to get a little friendly rivalry going so we have lots of entrants. Posters will be put up around town. Maybe we will get some good friendly compitition going and have lots of fun in the process.

If you're interested in entering you can pick up the entry forms and rules at Country Hair Care.

Finally finished everything that needed to be done for tomorrow's craft show. Got most of it loaded tonite will finish in the morning. Then spend the day in Deer River with my sister Nancy at the show. Afterwards will go and see my brother in law Donald and see how he is doing. I forgot to buy him some fruitcake. Oh well I will look for it another day if I don't get it to him til after Christmas he doesn't care.

Sunday morning have to wrap a few presents and clean up the kitchen. Will be having my sisters and hopefully my brother up for lunch that day. We haven't been all together since Mom's funeral in 05. Sad that we live so close and don't get together once in a while.

Have lots to get done next week before I have my hernia surgery. I'm sure I won't feel like doing too much for a few days after. Then I go to Steph's for Christmas. We all get together on Christmas Day at the Holiday Inn in St. Cloud. More room and something for the kids to do. Works out nice for our family.

Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year if I don't get anything wrote in the meantime.

Take care,
Julie

WOW!! can't believe it's been almost a month since I wrote on this. Been busy. I should be busy tonight but I've just lost my ambition.

Lots going on with deer hunting and craft shows and making wreaths. Went to Steph's for Thanksgiving weekend.

I know I've been busy but as I sit here and try to think of things to write nothing comes to mind so it must of been useless stuff I was doing.

We didn't do as well with deer hunting as in years past but did better than lots of people. The guys were whining one morning when they were deer hunting and never saw anything and they could hear the duck hunters shooting away on Round Lake. They were wishing that they had went duck hunting.

This morning in the popple river I saw about 10 swans again. Some were mature but there were some still in their grey plumage.

Of course the Monday after deer hunting ended I saw 4 deer hadn't seen any in the last week of deer hunting.

There are still alot of grouse around. I heard that it was a pretty good year for them.

My puppy is growing like a weed. He is really a mellow puppy I hope he stays that way. His mother is very jealous of him so she has tore up her pillow and destroyed all his toys. They are spending a couple of weeks down at Steph's. It seems funny not having them in the house at night.

Hard to believe only 25 days til Christmas. I have a few presents to wrap and a few more to buy.

I hope this finds all of you in good health and spirits.

Take care all,
Julie

November events.

November 11, St. Catherine Ladies and Centennial Lutheran Ladies will again have the community supper at the community center from 4:30 to 7. They will be featuring wild rice this time. Come and join and visit with your neighbors. All proceeds go to Fresh water for Life.

November 15, Centennial Lutheran Ladies will be having a Chili Feed/breadsticks, crafts, baked goods, white elephants items, fresh wreaths both balsam and princess pine starting a 11am and going til 1pm.

Hope to see you all at these events.

Hi everyone,

I hope that everyone is doing ok since the last time I posted.

My sympathy goes to Nancy Shaw and family. I was notified yesterday that EK Shaw had passed away on Friday night. I haven't heard any funeral arrangements but when I do I will let you know. Nancy's address is Nancy Shaw, 6 Larchwood Court, Newton IA 50208.

Tomorrow I go to Park Rapids and have the varicose veins done on my right leg. My left leg is doing so good that I decided to have the other one done.

Deer hunting hasn't been too good at our place. Finally last night they got 3 for 7 hunters. Rochelle (granddaughter) who's 11 got her second deer last night. She was really proud. Randy (son - in-law) and Adam (grandson) each got a doe. Someone called me last week and wondered if I was mad at the son-in-law because I always wrote the son-in-law so from now on he's going by Randy. He's a good son-in-law.

I know I've been really busy but tonight when I'm sitting here trying to write something it's like I haven't done anything.

I did make a new recipe tonight. It was porkchops with apples. It turned out pretty good. I'm not much on mixing fruit with my meat.

Pork Chops with Apples

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 13 min. Serves:4

4 - 1/2" thick bone-in pork chops
Salt
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 large Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 cup apricot jam
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1. Sprinkle pork chops with salt. Place flour in a shallow bowl and dredge chops on both sides.

2. Warm 2 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook chops until browned, 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate and loosely cover with foil to keep warm.

3. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil, shallots, and apples to skillet. Cook, stirring, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add jam, vinegar and broth, cook, stirring and scraping up any browned bits on bottom of skillet, until sauce has thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pour over chops and serve.

Ok, so I can't make a recipe just the way it's wrote so here are my changes. I used garlic salt and added a little pepper to the chops. My chops were thicker so they took longer to cook. Then I didn't have any apricot jam so I used plum jelly and I don't have shallots so I used finely diced onion. I used Braeburn apples instead of Granny Smith. It took longer than the 1 or 2 minutes for my sauce to become thick.

All in all I would give it a 7 on a 1 to 10 scale. The chops were really good and moist, it's just that I usually don't eat too much fruit and usually only by itself. It did look nice on the plate. I served them with baked sweet potatoe and brussel sprouts. The only one that complained was me, the others thought they were good.

We started making wreaths this weekend. The orders aren't as large as last year but I'm glad as I've got alot to get done and I have a couple of craft sales coming up. Too bad I have to work because it sure interfers in what I'd like to be doing.

Hard to believe that it is only 47 days til Christmas. I'm going to have hernia surgery on the 10th of December so that will slow me down for a while. Hopefully by the first of the year I will be back to doing everything I want to do.

Hope all is well with all of you.

Julie

Squawk

Hi all,

I know it's been quite a while. Been busy.

Tonight when I came across the Shogren's Bridge there must of been 40 or more swans in the river. It was a beautiful site. Tomorrow I'm hoping to remember my camera so maybe I can take a picture.

I've been seeing quite a few deer out the last couple of days. Makes a person wonder if there is going to be some bad weather coming in, the forecast is for warm weather for the weekend. I hope that happens.

We will be starting making wreaths this weekend. Getting everything ready for that will be a challange this year since we have moved things all over and not too much stuff has gotten put back since the wedding.

I've almost finished the wood. Tomorrow is the day. I have one more load to split and bring in and stack. Then cover with a tarp and I'm ready with that. A few more hoses to pick up and then also cover the cow waterer which I still haven't got done.

Hope this finds all of you in good health and spirits.

Take care,
Julie

Saturday was a nice day. I didn't get to spend too much time out in the sunshine but it was sure nice to see the sun anyway. I spent the day at a craft sale at Morse Town Hall. I had a pretty good day even tho the crowd seemed a lot less than last year. But with Saturday being a sunny day and we hadn't seen one for a week no wonder people didn't come out. I'm sure they were home doing the stuff that I had wished I was home doing. Maybe this week I'll get some of it done.

It's a hard time of the year to burn wood in the stove. Either I don't have it going good enough and I'm chilly or I've got it going so good you'd think it was a sauna in here.

If anybody has anything they'd liked announced on here just drop me a line.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Julie

Tuesday Squawk

Well the game report is better this week. I've seen a nice buck and quite a few does. Not as many deer as I was seeing last year but better than I've seen this year. I saw 9 swans in the river by Vance's bridge on Cty 126. Tonight I talked to Jackie Howard on the river on Cty 145 and she said there were 12 swans there this morning.

I went to Park Rapids today to have some more shots put in my varicose veins on my legs and it was a miserable rainy day to be driving. The rain seemed to be coming down a lot harder down there. Now we were back to the misty stuff tonight up here. I haven't looked out lately so maybe it is raining hard. The left leg is much better but I'm going to have to have the same surgery on the right one. Since I met my deductable I just as well get everything fixed.

I was working on the computer tonight and my internet quit working so I did all the things I know how to do and nothing was working. I noticed that I still had time to call Paul Bunyan Net so I did and the guy checked on a few things and then said I should try a new phone cord as there seemed to be no connection. So I grumbled to myself that it was just working why would I need a new phone cord and I reached down to unhook the phone cord and saw that it was in two pieces. Tippy the new puppy had chewed it in half. New cord and internet works. So I guess I have to watch him a little closer.

I got all my pigs butchered and sent to the locker plant to be cut up. That's always nice to get things like that done in the fall. I still have to pick up hoses and drop cords and get some wood into the garage for wreath making. The list is getting shorter thanks to the help I get around here.

The funeral services for Jerry Funingsland will be Saturday Oct. 24 at 2pm at the Community Center in Squaw Lake. A potluck lunch will follow.

The Squaw Lake Snowmobile Club will meet Saturday at 5p at the community center or as soon as the funeral luncheon is done.

Avenue of Pines Lions Club will be hosting their annual craft show at Morse Town Hall on Saturday, Oct. 24 from 9am to 3pm. They will have about 30 vendors. I will be there with my products and some canned goods.

Does anyone out there have a good recipe for a tame goose? I was given a goose today and I don't really care for them so thought I would try something new. I'm going to cook it and then take it to my brother in law Donald who loves goose. It should be a treat for him.

Hope you all are having a good week. I will try and write more later.

Hugs,
Julie

Centennial Lutheran Ladies Fall Bazaar

Sunday, November 15th join the Centennial Lutheran Ladies for Chili/Breadsticks. They also will have their baked goods (everyone knows how good they bake), crafts, Christmas Wreaths both balsam and Princess Pine, and white elephant items. If you're in Squaw Lake this is a great place to go for lunch. Hours are 11am to 1pm.

Broccoli Cheese Noodle Soup

Since it is getting colder out I'm thinking more of comfort foods and soups, stews etc. Here's one of my favorite soups this recipe was given to me by Judy Shears many years ago. It is a family favorite also. One way to get some veggies down a kid.

Broccoli Cheese Noodle Soup

2 tbsp. butter ¾ cup small diced onion
6 cups water 6 chicken bouillon cubes
8 oz. fine egg noodles 1 tsp. salt
1 – 16 to 20 oz bag chopped broccoli 1/8 tsp garlic powder
6 cups whole milk 1 lb Velveeta (cubed)
Pepper to taste

Heat butter in large soup kettle, add onion and sauté 3 minutes, add water and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil and add noodles and salt. Cook 3 minutes uncovered and stir in broccoli, garlic and milk. Cook until noodles are done. Stir in cheese and pepper until cheese melts.

Sometimes if I have leftover chicken breast I add that to this or I will even grill some chicken breast to add to it.

Hope you enjoy it. Bake a loaf of frozen bread to go with it.

Julie

Sunday squawk

Well another week has passed. The older I get the faster it seems to go and the less I get done for the day.

I was told today that some of you get up and check this when you have your morning coffee. I hope this finds you in good health.

The son-in-law did a little better this weekend duck hunting. They shot enough to bring a smile to his face anyway. I still think it tastes like fishy liver. Not a good combination in my opinion.

Today was a nice sunny day but I had such a headache and was tired that I didn't get a thing done outside like I should of. Last night was the firemen's dance and even tho I don't drink any alcohol since my stomach bypass I still felt like I had a hangover this morning. It must of been from the late night. We had a good crowd and alot were dancing. The music was good. It was also good and loud. Was a relief to walk into the back of the firehall by the trucks and have the door close and cut the loudness. Guess that shows that I'm getting old. haha.

It was a good fund raiser for the department but it couldn't of happened without all the support we get from our local businesses. Thank you all that read this. It was the support of everyone who came that make it a success also.

We have some nice tshirts, aprons and hats for sale yet so if anyone wants one let me know and I'll get them out to you. The tshirts have the maltese on the front with SLFD and on the back it says, "We protect the public from themselves." They are black. The aprons are green and have the word Sponser at the top with a dalmation in a firemen's hat and SLFD under that. These are very nice aprons. The hats are green and have a buck on the side of the hat. We also have some tshirts from last year which are dk. blue and say "Stay back 200 Feet" on the back.

Prices are Tshirst Small to xlarge for $20
2XL to 4XL for $25

Aprons are $20
Hats are $20

These would make a nice present for anyone.

Game report is pretty slow. There is one grouse on the driveway that I see and sometimes almost hit every day on the bus. However, all these hunters around here have yet to get a shot at it. This is one pretty smart grouse.

The boys were actually putting up a permanent deer stand today. They have only been hunting here for 13 years and have never made a stand that was warm to sit in. Now they actually have one done. Wonder how many years it will take to get another up. Someday I'm going to go sit in it for a while.

It was nice to see Evy Oja and Karin Beiers when they came over today. Karin was checking out what we had done to the farm. I got a big thumbs up. She did tell me however that she has been on Dale to clean up stuff around their place. I'm sure I'm not too high on his list at the moment for doing all this stuff. It is a joy to me to drive up the driveway and see everything looking so good.

We started to clean up the garage kitchen today for winter. We've been carrying things out there all late summer and fall and now we have to start carrying things back. We got all the canned items we've made this fall moved to the basement for safe storage. We have 2 pallets of stuff done. It always gives a nice feeling when you see everything done. I'm already starting a list of things I want to try that are new next year.

We did Pickled Beets, Bread & Butter Pickles, Pickled Crabapples, Crabapple jelly and butter, Regular apple butter, zucchini jam, pear jelly and jam, Mild jalapeno jelly, Hot Jalapeno jelly, Habanero jelly, Red pepper Jelly, Hot Hungarian Jelly, Pepper flake jelly, Carrot Cake jam, Pumpkin Pecan Butter, Carmel Apple Butter, Hot mixed pickles, Carmelized onion jam, High Bush Cranberry jelly, Sweet Relish, HOT HOT Pickled Peppers, Jalapeno Pickled Peppers, Plum jam and jelly, and dilly green beans. So this is the list of what will be in the Mini Max Flea Market next summer.

Well, 8 of the puppies have went to a new homes. I kept one that looked like my old dog Tippy, so we now have another Tippy. I'm not too sure about this puppy droppings however. I can't believe that I'm actually letting them in the house. Hopefully, he will become as good a dog as the old dog was.

I can't believe how much wood I've burnt already. It seems I have to have a fire each morning and night otherwise I'm cold. I did get it a little too hot tonight as both dogs were panting. I'm sure it will be one noisy night when I put the little dog in the kennel for the night. If the old dog starts her pacing at 3 in the morning I will be getting a kennel for her also.

Hope you all have a good week and I will try and write something more often. Take care and hope you're all in good health.

Julie

squawk

Hope this finds all of you in good health and spirits. I know my spirits have taken a beating looking at this white stuff so early in the fall. I still have lots of projects I want to get done. Hopefully, it will warm up and give us Indian summer after all.

Today I managed to get the frozen water line unthawed and drained and blew out. That is one of my projects I just didn't have time for and finally got to it. Tomorrow when I go to town I need to pick up a few plastic kits and do a few windows that seem to be too cold to suit me. I still have to insulate the cow waterer and split some more wood and fill in the basement where I've already burnt half a rick of wood. It has been nice and warm in here and then the knees don't ache so bad.

I've been busy at home getting ready for some craft sales so I'm not really sure what is going on around town. I put in here anything people let me know about.

Well, I just remembered something I forgot to do so have a good week everyone.

Julie

October 17th doings.

Is the sun ever going to shine again? It seems like it has been months since I saw it. I know that isn't so but as one gloomy day runs into another it just seems that way.

Well, yesterday I had a procedure done on my varicose veins. They don't feel too bad today but the stuff they have wrapped around my leg until tomorrow is a pain. It is suppose to stay up but of course it slips down and becomes very uncomfortable. I wasn't suppose to unwrap it but I've had to to get the clump out of the back of my knee. Tomorrow I go back and they unwrap the leg and ultrasound to make sure there are no blood clots and then I think they are putting some kind of shots in where I'm beginning to get other varicose veins. I have to have a series of 3 more shots in both my legs. Hopefully this will get rid of the pain. Even with those lovely support hose I've been wearing they have been bothering me.

October 17th, St. Catherine Ladies are having a fund raiser at their church. I think it is their annual Soup and Sandwich Luncheon but I didn't bring home a flyer so I'm not really sure. I do know they have something going on that day. Tomorrow I will check on it and let you know.

Oct. 17th is also the Firemen's Dance, with Union Rebel music, raffles, silent auction, cash bar and lots of fun. Hope to see you at both of these things.

It has seemed weird the last couple of days to hear the bus start and take off down the road and I'm sitting in the hose watching tv.

Today, seemed like the type of day to make a kettle of chili. I was going to have cornbread with it but was out of cornmeal and too lazy to drive to the store and buy some. The chili was good with out the cornbread.

Hope all of you are having a great week.

Julie

Happenings in Squaw Lake

October 17, Squaw Lake Firemen's Dance with music by Union Rebel. Fun starts at 8 pm and goes to midnight. Cash bar, raffles, silent auctions. Hope to see you there.

I haven't heard of anything else going on for the month of October, when I do I'll put it on.

More squawk

The Mini Max Flea Market is officially closed for the season even tho Evy will open up for anyone just about anytime. Today is the day that I'm going to go and pick up all our stuff that can't winter over. Steph and I had a good summer there. Hope everyone else did also.

It is a rainy cold miserable day as far as I'm concerned. I hope the duck hunter's are freezing their butts off as long as they like this kind of weather. I haven't seen many ducks around either.

I have a wood fire going. I have a gas furnace set at 58 and it kicked on so I figured I just as well burn some wood and dry out the house.

Here's a recipe for you, this was my Mom's recipe

Banana Bread

2 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup sugar
Mix above ingredients together 1/2 cup margerine softened
2 large eggs

350 degree oven and a greased loaf pan. (I actually line my greased loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving some over hang to help lift out when done, and grease the parchment paper, no sticking whatever)

Mix bananas, milk, vanilla to blend. Add margerine and sugar. Beat well. Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each. Beat in the flour mixture. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

When it is weather like this I think of comfort foods. It is really funny the two different kinds of food I cook from winter to summer. Once in a while I might make something like this in the summer or potato salad in the winter but not very often.

Well, I had better get back to work. Take care all.

Julie

My how a week or so goes by. I think well I'll write tonight when things are done but things haven't been getting done.

The game report is very bad. I'm not sure what has happened to the deer but the most I've seen on a bus run is 6 and in 50 miles each morning and night you'd think I'd see more than that. I've seen a few grouse. Not alot but I've heard reports that the hunters are doing good. So maybe at 55mph isn't the best way to grouse hunt.

My dog had puppies and they are really growing. Last night I started them on blended up puppy chow. It didn't take long after sticking their noses in the food for them to lick the pan clean. I'm really glad they are starting to eat as the poor ole mom is getting pretty thin. She is eating about 9 cups of high performance dog chow a day and she must be passing every bit of it through to the puppies. They are 4 weeks old today so in the next 3 weeks hopefully they all will be gone. I don't know why but I'm thinking of keeping one. I lost my ole dog Tippy a couple of days after the puppies were born. Anyway, one of the puppies has the same marking on his forehead as Tippy had. Now Tippy was a fixed dog so I don't think he fathered that one but the puppy sure does look like him.

Well, I just got company so will write more later.

Julie

First Week Boutique Open Through October 7

The First Week Boutique consignment shop is open this week from 10:00AM-3:00PM at the Community Center on Hwy 46. The Boutique offers new hand crafted items and gently used clothing. The teens who run the shop say warm jackets and fall formal wear are this month's best buys. They've also expanded their jewelry line with magnetic closing bracelets and necklaces and new offerings in silver from Deirdre and Company.

Stop by and talk to Shelby if you're interested in consigning, or call Eagleview at 659-4254 on Tuesday or Thursday evenings. Proceeds from the shop support the Eagleview Community Technology Center, and robotics programs.

ABE/GED Classes to Start at Eagleview

The Eagleview Community Foundation will host ABE/GED classes on Monday evenings from 4:00-7:00PM starting October 5th. Instructor Tracy Chase will take walk-ins, or call Eagleview at 218.659.4254 for more info.

Thursday, Sept. 24

Hope everyone's week has went well. It has been pretty hot outside this week but the evenings cool off nice. During the night I search for the quilt as it gets pretty cool before morning.

I've finally started seeing a few deer and grouse on the bus run. Nothing very spectacular the most was 6 deer one morning when it was very cool and foggy. It has been foggy quite a few mornings lately.

I got a call from Diane Stay telling me about the International Space Station sightings that started Monday September 21 to Tuesday October 6.

Tonight Thursday Sept. 24 the sighting should take place around 8:29pm for about 3 minutes. It will approach from 18 degrees WSW and depart 15 Degrees S.

On Saturday, Sept. 26, the sighting will take place at 7:43pm and last for about 3 minutes, it will approach 22 degrees above SW and depart 10 degrees above SSE.

She got this information off the NASA sight.

Maybe tonight I will remember to walk outside and look.

Saturday, October 17th is the annual Squaw Lake Firemen's Dance. Music is by Union Rebel and will start at 8pm and go to midnight. There will be drawings for the raffle, silent auctions, small raffles, cash bar, t-shirts, caps and aprons for sale. Lots of fun. Hope to see you all there.

If any of you have something to put on the blog be sure and either email or call me. I haven't been out and about much lately so am not really sure what is going on.

Have a safe and fun weekend.

Julie

Community Supper & Centennial Lutheran Ladies Fundraiser

Hi, hope you had a nice weekend. It was a very productive weekend for us. We did a canning marathon this weekend. We pickled over 200 pounds of beets, we made bread & butter pickles, and plum jam. Also, tomorrow I will make sweet relish and plum jelly.

Wow, wasn't that some hot weather we've had lately? I was wishing all summer that we would have some hot weather and now I wish it wasn't so hot.

September 22 is Community Supper at the Community Center. This is put on by ST. Catherine Ladies and Centennial Lutheran Ladies. Serving starts at 4:30 and goes to 7p. They will be serving Tacos this month. Hope to see you all there.

Finally started seeing a few deer and grouse on the bus run. It's been so hot that the pigs don't even want to eat during the day. They wait until it cools down at night and then I can hear the feeder doors banging away most of the night.

Coming up: November 15, the Centennial Lutheran Ladies are having Chili with breadsticks. They also will be having Baked Goods, Crafts, Wreaths (Princess Pine), White Elephant items, this will start at 11am and go til 1. So mark your calendars.

Sorry everyone I am beat and I'm going to shower and hit the bed. I hope all of you have a great week and I will try and write more later.

Julie

Squawk

It sure seems strange when the kids don't come up on the weekend. Pretty quiet around here. I cleaned up my summer kitchen today as next weekend Steph is bringing up beets to make pickled beets and I'm not sure what else she is bringing to get done. I was going to take some plum juice out of the freezer and make jelly but I got to lazy. Tomorrow I am going to make zucchini jam and carmelized onion jam.

It sure has been foggy in the mornings of late. Friday morning it was hard driving for a while as the fog was so thick.

I finally saw one deer in the Gratten area on Friday. I saw quite a few grouse on my afternoon bus run on Friday. The critters haven't been very plentiful this year. Maybe when things cool down some they will start showing themselves more.

I cut a couple batches of soap this morning. I need to make more soap but haven't figured out just where I'm going to fit that in right now

One of my pasttimes when I have the time is to look at the recipes in the old cookbooks I have. Tonight I found one that I'm going to have to try again. My mom used to make these when I was a kid. I made them for my kids when they were younger. Great to have on hand. Here's the recipe for:

Sliced Refrigerator Cookies
1 cup. shortening 1 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 cup brown sugar 1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup white sugar 3 cups sifted flour
2 eggs, slightly beaten 1 tsp. soda
1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts 1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine shortening and sugars and cream well. Add beaten eggs and vanilla, blend well. Sift flour, cinnamon, salt and soda into the above mixture. Blend well. Add nuts and work in well. Shape into a roll 2 inch in width. Place in refrigerator overnight. Slice thin. Place on oiled baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

My m0m would have a batch of these frozen in the freezer and when unexpected company showed up she would take out a roll and in 15 minutes or so she could slice them and then she had fresh baked cookies for the company.

Have a great weekend.

Hope you are in good health and spirits.

Julie

Community Supper

Isn't it funny how sometimes when you sit down to write something that nothing comes to mind.

I haven't seen a deer up in the Gratten area in 3 days of driving. Not sure if with the hot weather they are back in the woods or if there just aren't as many deer up in that area. I did see one scrawny coyote yesterday in the area but that has been it.

The geese have quit coming into the field also. It is a strange fall. Hopefully we will continue to get some nice weather as I still have quite a bit of things to get done for winter.

Today I heard that the Farmers Almanac is predicting a long cold winter with little snow. That will make it feel even colder. I guess I will have to break down and put up some plastic on some of my older windows in the house.

Just a reminder:

Community Supper, September 22 from 4:30 to 7:00p at the Community Center. Menu is Tacos. Proceeds go to Fresh Water for Life. This is sponsored by St. Catherine Ladies and Centennial Lutheran Ladies. These ladies put on a great meal hope to see you there enjoying the meal and the friendship.

Not too much on my calendar for this month.

Last night the Avenue of Pines Civic Association met and began work on the new brochure booklet for the area. We will be including a larger area in this booklet. So if you know of any businesses in the area from Little Ball Club Lake north to Northome, west to the Itasca County line, and east to Highway 6 please let them know about this new booklet. If they would like information on it they can call Julie at 218-659-4239. There are a lot more people working on this but me but I haven't thought to ask them if they wanted to be a contact person. Our brochure that we put out a year ago has been well received and as we are almost out of them we decided to start working on a bigger book.

Any points of interest in the area that you can think of that should be put into the booklet??

As always when working on a project this size it would be nice to have extra hands to help with it. So if you have the time how about helping out.

Not sure why I'm so tired tonight but it is 9:30 pm and I'm ready to hit the hay.

Hope you are in good health and spirits.

Julie

Meatball recipe

Wow, that was some storm that just zipped through our area. First good lightning and thunder I've heard all summer. It rained pretty good also.

Not much of a critter report today. One deer which almost got to up close and personnal with the front of the bus, 7 geese flying over, 2 ducks on Dora Lake, a bunch of crows and one herd of cows, nice looking cows and the calves were very good sized, they looked very fat and sassy.

Well, there was some excitement here on Saturday night. My dog Belle was close to having a batch of puppies. We had prepared a nice place in the basement for her with a board surround and carpet. I had taken her down there many times. Anyway, the guys were hunting and as she was close to pupping I had put her in the house. I came in to go to bed and she didn't meet me at the door so I started looking for her. She wasn't in the basement or any of the main rooms so I walk into my bedroom to find that she had pulled the clean clothes out of the clothes basket and made a bed and had 3 puppies. This was at 10 at night. By 4 in the morning she had 10 puppies, 9 which were living. So on Sunday, we took her to the basement and carried the puppies down there and the kids came to check about a half hour later and she had moved all the puppies back up to the bedroom. Sooo I guess until they get their eyes open I have company in the bedroom. I did move up the surround and carpet and put them in there. She wasn't very happy about it and moved a couple puppies out but I've just kept putting her and the puppies back in. As soon as these puppies are weaned it is a trip to the vet for her. No more puppies. I was going to put up a sign that said:

Free Puppies
Mother: Registered Black Lab/ Good Hunter
Father: Tramp/Good for nothing

But my granddaughter was worried about the puppies so she called a friend of her Dad's that wanted one puppy and said she was afraid Gram was going to get rid of the puppies and he told his wife and she sent out emails to all she knew and all of the puppies are spoken for. There is quite a different lot of puppies. Most are little black lab looking puppies but there is one that is all brown, and one that has brown on the belly and back legs, and a brown one with a black stripe down his back and black ears kind of looks camo will blend in good for hunting. One of the black ones sleeps with his tongue out just like the Mom did when she was a pup.

First day of school went good except I have a different bus this year and lots of new buttons etc to figure out what they do. This bus is alot quieter than the last one.

As the weather gets cooler I start to think about cooking comfort foods but I'm busy so sometimes cooking is a pain so here is my recipe for meatballs. Make them up ahead and take out of freezer and use for any recipe that calls for meatballs. Much better than the boughten variety in my opinion.

Make-ahead meatballs

4 eggs
2 cups dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (I use about a cup, but I like onions)
1 Tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder (or to your taste)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 pounds lean ground beef

In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add next five ingredients. Add beef, mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls, makes about 12 dozen. Place meatballs on parchment paper in jelly roll pans. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes or until no longer pink, turning often, drain and cool. Place about 30 meatballs each into freezer containers. Meatballs may be frozen for up to 3 months. Yield: 5 batches (about 30 meatballs to batch). These are good in spaghetti sauce, with gravy over them, in barbecue sauce or however you like meatballs.

Hope you enjoy.

Julie

Community Supper

September 22, Community Supper sponsored by the St. Catherine and Centennial Lutheran Ladies. This time the ladies are serving up Taco's. Serving will start at 4:30 - 7:00. All proceeds go to Fresh Water For Life.

I think I had put this on before as September 23 but I was told today that it is on the 22nd.

Hope to see you all there.

Civic Association Meeting

It's time to produce another advertising brochure for the area and the Avenue of Pines Civic Association would like your input, and help. Those great brochures, with area map, that you've seen around town didn't just make themselves you know!

When: Wednesday, Sept. 9, 7:00 PM
Where: Squaw Lake Community Center, Hwy. 46
Who: You
Why: To showcase all our area businesses and expand the brochure into a guide book with some stories about area points of interest.

Crab Apple Butter

Crab Apple Butter

Place a small glass plate in the freezer.


Pick your ripe crab apples and wash. I then cut the apple off the core and put in a pan. I almost cover the apples with water and bring to a boil and simmer until soft. Then I pour off the juice through a cheesecloth covered colander. I then run the cooked apple through a food mill. When I have all the apples done I measure how many cups of applesauce I have. Then I add the same amount of sugar and cinnamon to taste. I then put it back on the heat and cook until it comes to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook til it is becoming thick. Take your frozen plate out of the freezer and add a small amount of the apple butter on it. Move the plate around letting the apple butter run. In about 45 seconds you should see the apple butter becoming hard. If this sets up then the butter is ready to jar. Otherwise cook it some more and test again. When done ladle into clean hot jars and put hot lids and rings on the jars. Process in a boiling water bath 5 minutes for 1/2 pints and 10 minutes for pints. The apple juice you poured off can be made into apple jelly but that's another recipe.

Enjoy!! Really great on homemade bread.

Hope you are all in good health and spirits.

Take care,
Julie

It's been a busy weekend doing mostly fun things. Friday I spent the day driving around through the forest. I haven't taken the time to do that this year. Put on about 60 miles and hadn't seen one grouse when close to home saw 5. Saw a few ducks on some beaver ponds. Then in the evening took the four wheeler and went for a ride. It was a very relaxing day.

Saturday, the kids were up and had some friends with them and we went 4 wheeling again. The son in law took us to a beaver pond he wanted to check out and while we were there we had a picnic. The friends from the cities enjoyed it very much.

Sunday Steph cooked for all of us. It was a surprise for the people who had never had it before. We made Pig Slop. This is such a fun meal to put on. You cover your table with 3 or 4 layers of white paper. Then you start with a large pot and put in some chicken broth. You then add some cutup chicken breast, kielbasa or smoked sausage to the kettle, add some cut up rhutabaga, potato, carrots, onions and cook some more. At the very end at some 1/2 cobs of corn and finally 5 minutes before it is done add some shrimp to the pot. Just when the food is about done have everyone you've invited over to go to the sink and wash their hands very well. They will think you've lost it. Have them go to the table and stand back. You've drained the liquid off the kettle you have cooked everything in and then you dump the pot of food down the middle of the table. you then go around and offer them butter, ketsup, bq sauce and sour cream. The first thing everyone notices is that there is no silverware or plates on the table. Everyone eats with their fingers. If someone wants something that isn't in front of them who ever is closest to what they want grabs a handful and hands it to them. Steph has done this quite a few times and everyone has loved it except her father in law who I still think he thinks we are the most barbaric people he has ever met. Oh well you can't win them all.

Today they left for home early as school starts tomorrow. So after they left I made apple butter and pickled crab apples. I still have apple jelly to make this week but everything is coming along good as far as the canning is going.

I got the carrot cake jam made last week and it tastes just like carrot cake. However, my jam didn't look like the picture they showed of it. They must of taken the picture of the jam made with out the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in the jam because it was a light orange and we all know if you add these to your jams they turn a brown color. Anyway it is great on toast.

We also made pear butter and jelly this weekend. Lots of jams, jelly and butters have been made around here this fall. Pickled beets will be in a couple of weeks.

Well, school starts tomorrow so maybe I can get into the swing of writing a little oftener.

Wednesday

I think we are getting some summer weather now that it's fall. It was a beautiful day out there today.

The basement is over 1/2 full of wood. That is a good feeling. I need to start splitting some now because I've picked out all the small stuff. Splitting isn't so bad as I've got a wood splitter so it really goes pretty fast.

I made some habanero jelly yesterday. It seems a little hotter than the last batch I made but I didn't have the cream cheese to go with it. That will tone it down some.

I've got some apples cooked up today maybe tomorrow after work I'll get that made into butter. I just love the looks of all the stuff that Steph and I've got canned up so far.

I'm working on some more copies of the cookbook I made the kids and grandkids a couple of years ago. The grandkids have lost theirs in a couple of moves and sometimes who ever they were living with kept their copy when they ceased to live together.

I'm not sure if there is anything new going on around town or not. I haven't been out since I came home from work on Monday. When it is nice weather there are too many things to get done.

Hoping it is nice all weekend. Steph and Randy are having friends up and it always goes better when it is nice and the kids can 4wheel etc than being stuck in the house.

Wishing you all good health and a great weekend.

Recipe for you that I haven't made for a while. This is something I used to make quite often but haven't made in a few years. hope you enjoy.

No Bake Cookies

2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margerine
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cup quick cook oatmeal

Bring first 6 ingredients to a hard rolling boil and boil for a minute. Stir in the peanut butter and stir til dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in oatmeal. Drop by spoonfuls on waxed paper or this may be put into a greased pan and cut into bars.

Have a great weekend
Julie

Monday Squawk

Hope you all had a nice weekend. The weather was great. A little cold in the mornings but warmed up really nice.

Steph and I spent the weekend canning. She made dilly beans and I made high bush cranberry jelly, then we both worked on some hot vegetable mix which included cauliflower, peppers both sweet and hot,cucumber, onions and carrots. It looks good hope that when we try it in 6 weeks it tastes good also.

Not much happening around as far as I know. Hope this weekend is busy being that it is Labor Day weekend. It has been pretty quiet around.

Glen at Hoot & Holler is having a big weekend with drink specials, prizes and food on Saturday.

On Labor Day Monday will be the rubber ducky race in Squaw Lake.

I'm thinking winter is coming so am working on getting the wood in the basement. The boys worked last weekend and got quite a bit sawed up for me. Hopefully in the next week or so will have the basement full and then a pile outside next to the house covered up.

Tomorrow I am going to make some jam called Carrot Cake Jam. It is a pear jam flavored so that it tastes like carrot cake. I made some Carmel Apple butter earlier this summer and that was really good.

I'm a little worried about our pickled beets this year. It was a funny growing year so they didn't do very well and they have been high priced at the farmers market. Might be a slim year for pickled beets.

Hopefully, we will get Indian Summer this year since we didn't have many days of summer. I wouldn't mind nice weather until the middle of November.

Have any of you read the book Life With Arnie by Kathy Peterson. It is an entertaining book. It is for sale at the Mini Max Flea Market, Max Mini Store, and also First Week Boutique.

Today I had a visit from my old friend Lynne Hubert and girls from Bozeman, Montana. It was really nice to see them again. It is too bad that we all get involved in our lives and sometimes forget to keep in touch with others.

Well, a week from tomorrow and school starts and then I can start giving you a game report. I've seen a few deer around but not too many. Haven't seen many ducks in the ponds but there have been quite a few on Round Lake.

This weekend starts early goose season. Randy is overjoyed by this prospect. He loves to hunt geese and ducks. The geese have been coming into the field pretty regularly so maybe he will be able to get some. I'm going to try and smoke one this year.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Steph said it is a weekend of fun no working. I'll go along with that but then next week I will have to get back into the swing of things.

The growing season has been so pitiful this year that I had to buy zucchini to make zucchini bread. I remember years ago when you had better lock your car if you didn't want it filled. Anyway I thought I would give you my recipe for zucchini bread.

Zucchini Bread

3 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 cups sugar
3 cups of grated zucchini ( not peeled)
1/2 cup. chopped nuts
1 cup craisins
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
3 tsp. vanilla
1 cup oil
3 eggs


Sift together flour, salt, soda, cinnamon and baking powder. Beat eggs. Add sugar, vanilla, and oil, mix well. Stir in grated zucchini, add dry ingredients and blend. Stir in nuts and craisins, Bake in two greased bread pans (9 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches). Bake at 350 degrees for 60 - 70 minutes.

Hope you enjoy this.

Well, that all for now folks. Have a great week in case I get too busy to write.

Julie

Dump cake recipe

Dump Cake

1 yellow cake mix
1 - 20oz crushed pineapple
1- can cherry pie filling
1 stick butter

Spray a 9x13 cake pan. Dump in pineapple and cherry pie filling mixing together. Sprinkle cake mix over the top. Melt butter and drizzle over top of cake in small streams. Bake in 350 degree oven about 1/2 hour or until it is browned nicely. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!!

Upcoming Events

September 2, 10 am. Women of the Woods (WOW) at the Sand Lake Community Center. Learn how to make a cloth covered photo album.

September 7, 5pm - Duck's Unlimited Rubber Ducky Race in Squaw Lake. Tickets on sale now. I've seen them at the Mini Store not sure where else they are for sale.

September 8, 5pm. Evergreen Friendship Club presents the Cowboy Church Group at Sand Lake Community Center. Free will donation. Everyone Welcome.

September 12 - Itasca Habitat for Humanity Chapter Motorcycle Ride. Register at 9:30am at the Restore Center on Highway 169 East across from the Midway Bowling Alley in Grand Rapids. Leave 11 am for 160 mile ride. $30.00per person includes lunch and T-shirt. Drawings for prizes at end of ride. Proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity.

September 14 - WOW going away luncheon at Anabella's Antique Mall and Coffee Shoppe in Bovey. Plan is to eat at noon.

September 19 - Highway 38 Garage Sales and Good from the Woods at Ruttger's Sugar Lake Lodge.

September 28th - 10am - WOW meeting Sand Lake Community Center, Plant Exhange outside and Lefsa making inside.

November 2 - WOW Wreath making with Kim Giehler at her place. Contact Kim at 659-4654 for further info.

November 23, 10am - WOW meeting at Sand Lake Community Center with glass painting by Diane Stay. Bring a wineglass, vase or whatever glass object. For more info contact Diane at 659-2606.

October 17-8pm- Squaw Lake Firemen's Dance, music by Union Rebels (hope I got the name right) Raffles and silent auction items. Hope to see you there.

February 2010, 19,20,21 - WOW Weekend Winter Retreat where year around WOW's will provide lodging for our snowbirds who want to fly up north for a winter experience. Contact Nancy Gwinn at 659-2755 or after August at 217-359-2294.

That's all I've got now.

Hi Again

Hi Folks,

Sorry the blog has been so quiet. I have seemed to run out of words the last couple of weeks and I haven't heard of much going on around the area. Of course if I left home more than to go to work I might of heard something.

I guess the wedding was the climax and after I seemed to run out of steam. I just couldn't get myself motivated to do much of anything. I hate it when it rains and is gloomy because I fight depression. I probably should just go and get a little white happy pill and take one a day but it goes against my grain that I can't be happy with all the things that are great in my life. So somedays I have these pity parties of one and I don't want to subject anyone to my fits of temper.

Anyway, the last few days have had lots of sunshine in them and I'm doing great. I made soap yesterday for the first time since March. I made 3 big batches and it was wonderful. Then I went out and started putting wood in the basement for winter. Today I worked and tomorrow I will put some more wood in before I go to a meeting and work in the afternoon.

This weekend Steph and I are making jelly, jam and pickled green beans. Last weekend we made Bread & Butter Pickles. It is wonderful working in my new kitchen in the garage. I will try and remember to take some pictures and post here so you can see how nice it is. If I repeat myself I'm sorry but I have that horrible disease of CRS and it seems to be getting worse. The kids just tell me Mom you've already told that one. Anyway, I have the big stove from the Squaw Lake School and a 3 section stainless steel sink, cupboards, a cold bar from subway that we have put a counter top on when we don't need it to keep things cold, a subway oven. We still need a few things like it would be nice to have a kitchen aid mixer out there and we still have to haul a few things out of our houses but hopefully by next year we will have the kitchen stuff out there so we don't have to steal from our houses to do everything we want in the garage kitchen.

The leaves are already starting to turn in places. The geese have started coming back into the field. We have about 50 or so each day. We've seen 2 does one with twins and the other has a single fawn. They still have some spots on them. Otherwise, not to much wildlife around here. Seen a few grouse but not alot of them.

I spent the day on Tuesday at an in-service for bus driving. It was one long day but I got over 2 dozen scrubbies crocheted while sitting there listening. At least this year they had a new movie for training. I've been going to these for over 20 years and have seen the same movie for training most years. Hard to believe that I've been driving bus for 37 years. I'm hauling children of kids I hauled back when I started.

I'll try and write more often but it just depends on if I know anything or not. Some days I'm like Sargent Schultz, "I know nothing".

Hope this finds all of you in good health and spirits.

Take care,
Julie

Some news more squawk

Wow, the week is almost over and I haven't wrote anything. I haven't done anything this week so I don't have much to talk about.

Sunday, September 13 at 2 pm at the Edge Center for the Arts in Bigfork The Pretenders and Friends will be playing. $5 Tickets will be sold at the door. This is a good time for all.

With this cooler weather I've been thinking about canning and baking. I should be thinking about the wood pile but I've been too lazy to think about that. Everything is so wet right now that I hate to put it in the basement. I will have to run the dehumidifer for that.

There seems to be quite a bit of activity in the woods right now with all the bear baiters. Maybe we will get some nice weather around the 1st. Seems like when it is time to hunt bear that the weather changes.

Ice Cream and Pie Social at Kinghurst Town Hall on Sunday, August 23rd. Proceed go toward a new furnace for the hall.

Anyone have any good recipes to try? I'm always looking for new ones. Last week I made my tater tot casserole. It makes a big bunch so I mix it up and then I put it in little casserole dishes and wrap in foil and freeze. I just take it frozen from the freezer and pop in the oven and in about an hour I have a nice hot meal. Comes in handy when I'm busy.

Tater Tot Casserole

1 pound ground beef
1 onion large or small your choice I use large
1 cup diced celery
2 cans cream of mushroom soup or whatever cream soup you like
salt, pepper, garlic to your taste
1cup or so of frozen mixed vegetables or whatever vegetable you like
sliced American cheese
shredded cheese
tater tots

Brown the ground beef with the celery and onion until beef is done and celery and onion are soft.(If freezing let this mixture cool to room tempature before adding the rest of the ingredients.)
Add your seasonings and soups. Mix in the frozen vegetables. Put this in a bottom of casserole dish that has been sprayed with Pam. Add a layer of slice American Cheese. Arrange tater tots over the top. (If freezing cover with foil and put in freezer). If baking right away put in 350 degree oven and bake until tater tots are brown and crispy just before taking out of oven sprinkle shredded cheese over top of tater tots and bake til cheese is melted. I bake the frozen casseroles in a 350 degree oven also.

As you can see I don't do alot of measuring when I'm cooking. If it looks and tastes good that is all I worry about.

Hope all of you are in good health and great spirits.

Julie

Sunday, Aug. 16

Well, I sure put in a lazy day today. Took a nap and watched some tv. I don't do that too often.

Boy we really had some rain showers off and on today. Good then I didn't feel I had to go outside and do something.

I watched the musical Mama Mia last night. I don't usually watch too many movies but was glad I saw that one. I want to go see the movie Julie & Julia about Julia Childs think that will be an interesting one.

September 23rd the St. Catherine and Centennial Lutheran Ladies will again put on the Community Supper with proceeds going to Fresh Water For Life. They will be serving Taco's this time. Serving starts at 5 and goes to 7. Hope to see you all there.

Otherwise, haven't heard too much of what is going on. School starts on the 8th.

Today I was looking up some new jam recipes to try. The other day I tried Carmalized Onion Garlic Jam. I had it on a cracker with some roast beef and it was really good so now I'm going to try and make some. I like to try different things.

Hope this finds all of you in good health. If you have anything you'd like put on the blog drop me a line.

Take care,
Julie

squawk

Thanks to the Centennial Lutheran Church and Kinghurst townhall for the use of their plates. We were able to serve with real plates and silverware. Steph got some linen napkins somewhere so we were set. It made for a nice looking table with the candles and the silverware wrapped in the napkins.

The people who helped us with the serving were outstanding. Thanks seems like such a small word for all the work they did. This couldn't of been pulled off without all the help we received from friends and family.

It was a wonderful time but truthfully I'm glad it's over. I'm exhausted. It was a lot of work to crammed into one summer. Hopefully I can keep up on the buildings so that they don't get so run down.

It was a very fun evening when the dancing started. It was so cute to see all the little kids out there having a great time with their dancing. Everyone seemed to have a great time. I know I didn't go to bed until after 2am. I did however sneek in for a snappy nap around 10pm. Amazing what a 15 minute snooze does for me.

I was dreading the cleanup on Sunday morning but even that went well. We went to the Crow Bar for a breakfast buffet that they put on and when we came home everyone pitched in and alot of stuff was done by 2. Of course there is minor stuff to do yet like bring back to the house everything I took out to the kitchen in the garage. I'm going to have to hit a few yard sales and pick up the stuff that I am taking from my house to it.

The kitchen in the garage turned out beyond my dreams. I still need to get an on demand hot water heater because the one I have is too small to keep up. But with the stove I bought from the Squaw Lake School and the other things I have accumulated it is set up pretty nice. It will be nice to can the beets that we pickle out there this year.

The son-in-law built two screen to fit into the overhead door openings so we can have the doors open but don't get the bugs and flies. We even have a 3 section stainless steel sink out there.

Now it is time to begin thinking about the winter wood pile. I did buy some that was cut and split but I bought alot that is in 100 inch sticks so that will have to be cut up and split and put in a pile. Hopefully, Randy and some of his friends will cut it up for me. Then I can work on the splitting and putting into the basement. It really isn't so bad if I do a little each day, it is when I think I'm Super Woman and over do that I wonder why I burn wood. Steph asked me last year if I thought I saved money by burning wood and the answer is NO but the heat from the wood is so much better than the propane.

Well, it is raining again this afternoon. Was hot here this week in between the rains. I think we might of had a couple days of summer. I suppose with bear season just around the corner it will get hot. Seems like they have a bunch of hot days when the season starts.

I think I am going to do not too much of anything this week coming up and get rested up so that the next week I will feel like working. Hard to believe that in about 3 weeks school starts.

I hope this finds all of you well and you will have a great week. I will try and get back on schedule of writing and letting you know what is going on around Squaw Lake.

Take care,
Julie

Squawk

Christmas in August is over. We had a good turnout of vendors in crafts, flea market and one in farmers market. The attendance seemed to be down to me but I could be wrong. I had a good day people seem to like my smelly jellies so that made for a good day.

Tomorrow I'm not going to do too much. I am going to be a lazy load that just sits around. It has been a while since I did that.

Now back to the wedding. If I repeat myself I'm sorry but I have a hard time viewing what I have posted and getting back to the draft I'm typing. Hopefully one of these days I will learn this program. Anyway we

Christmas in August

Christmas in August is growing. We are now up to 12 crafters, 8 flea Market and 1 Farmer's Market. I got a call tonight that there will be fresh sweet corn for sale there this weekend. Hope to see you there.

More wedding squawk

I thought the tents looked awesome. Steph had white tulle on the outside, red tulle on the inside with a string of Christmas lights in the middle. This was scalloped around the inside of each tent. The same combination was hooked up to the tent poles and flowed down to the corners of the tent. Each tent had a chandelier hanging in it. The tables were covered with white tableclothes then a piece of red organza over that and a runner of black and white paper down the center. On each end of the table was a mirror with votive candles and in the center was a mirror and candlelabra with 2 votive candles. Between the ends of the tables were potted impatients. Each table was set with glass champagne glasses and linen napkins holding the silverware. We had borrowed real plates to finish off with.

Outside down by the Scotch Pines we put white picket fence with and arbor and had plants hanging on the fence. They had set up chairs and had flowers at the ends of each row of chairs.

The only problem I saw is that as usual I didn't get to visit with everyone. I'd see someone and when I was free to go and visit they had already left. So I'm sorry if you were here and I didn't get a chance to talk to you.

My farm looks wonderful with the barn painted and fixed up. The siding on the old garage and the house painted. I find myself standing out in the yard just looking around at all the improvements.

Well it's been another long day. I hope this finds all of you in good health.

Julie

Christmas in August in Squaw Lake

August 15th in Squaw Lake is going to be a busy day.

Max Mini Store will be having sales starting at 8 am and going to 4pm. They will have sidewalk sales and instore specials.

Centennial Lutheran Ladies will be osting their annual Sandwich and Salad luncheon with Bake Sale and crafts. Everything starts at 11 and goes to 1.

Squaw Lake Community Center will have their annual Christmas In August Craft and Flea Market. This will start at 9am and go to 3pm. We have 10 crafters and displayers. Hope to see you there.

I know it's been a while since I posted. You'll have to forgive me but I was too busy to write. By the time I was done for the day all I wanted to see was the bed.

The week of the 27th of July was a grueling week. I was trying to finish the garage and Mother Nature was working against me. It seemed like it rained every day. I was finally down to painting the floor. Art helped me on the evening of the 27th etch the floor with acid. Then it had to dry so Mary and I started painting on the 28th. We painted 3/4 of the floor. We had too many big things in there to move out so we decided to paint 3/4 of it and then do the rest the next night. We put 1 gallon of paint on the floor and then another and then part of a third. Looked pretty good. The next afternoon I went out there to start moving everything we had on wheel so I could paint the rest and when I looked at the floor it was two different shades of grey. You could see where we stopped with one gallon and started the next. So I took the rest of the paint and mixed it together and repainted the floor so it would be all one color. On day 3 we got the heavy things moved over and painted the rest of the floor. Looked good. On day 4 I went to the garage and looked at the floor. 3/4 of the floor had this nice shine to it because it had been painted twice and the rest looked like the dickens. So repaint that part of the floor. So a two day job took 4 days.

Saturday the 1st, the load of flowers comes up from the cities in an enclosed trailor. Open the door and look in and the platform that was built in there to hold a layer of flowers had collapsed. It made a person sick to their stomach but we started unloading to see how much damage had been done. Someone was really looking out for us because when it collapsed it landed on a big planter and that had held up the platform. A little pruning and the flowers looked great.

So a long weekend of hooking everything up in the garage and installing cabinets, siding the rest of the old garage.

Steph stayed up on Sunday and we started finishing the plans. We ran to town on Monday and bought the last (we hope) of things we needed.

Wednesday the tents were delivered and the decorations were started. I helped some with the decorations on Wednesday but started on the food. The ladies helping me were thoroughly sick of celery and onions by the end of the day.

When we get the pictures back I will try and load some on here so that you can see how the tents were decorated.

The menu for the wedding was Roast Pork, Roast Turkey, Mashed Potatos, Gravy, Corn, Wild rice, Baked Beans, Rotini Italian Salad, Tuna Salad, Oriental Cabbage Salad, Coleslaw, Veggies and dip, fresh fruit, buns, Salsa and chips. I had done some of the prep ahaead on a few things. Thank goodness for friends as they turn out from Wednesday on to help with the preparations.

Well, I'm beat so will write more tomorrow.

Hope you are all in good health.
Julie

Hope this finds all of you in good health and spirit.

The weekend a lot got accomplished around here. New doors went into the barn and the painting was finished. The garage got siding on it. The ice machine was installed in the garage kitchen and is working good.

Landscaping was done where the wedding will take place. The lists were gone over many times and changed a couple.

This is the last weekend to get things done. Hopefully by Friday the garage floor will be painted and dry. However, with the humidity it might take longer to get it dry to paint. I did put fans out there along with the dehumidifer from my basement. So I'm hoping that will do the trick.

Next week will be a busy week but hopefully we will have a little down time also. I've made my lists, checked them twice made up a calendar with a schedule. This is all for me because I have that Old Timer's Disease "Can't remember S---" I know if I'm responsible for it I had better have it on a list.

I'm wondering how many trips to town next week. Last Saturday between the 7 of us here I think we made 10 trips to the Mini Store. We were starting to wish Rochelle was old enough to drive. She turned 11 today. Hard to believe that time has went that fast.

I've been so busy with wedding preparations that I haven't heard of anything going on around town.

August 15th is Christmas in August at the Community Center, The Lutheran Ladies are having their annual luncheon, bake sale etc the same day. Max Mini Store will be have special sales and of course the Mini Max Flea Market will be open for business. So there will be lots to do and see in Squaw Lake that day.

Will write more when I can.

Julie

Well, as you can see I haven't been on here much. I took the weekend off and left town and went to a family reunion. Jimmie's sister Audrey and husband celebrated 50 years of being married. It was a wonderful weekend.

Now we are getting down to the crunch. Art has the barn just about done. Adam (grandson) will be up this weekend to put new doors in. Randy (sil) will be here tomorrow with a friend to plumb the garage and finish wiring etc. Steph will be here later tomorrow and will work on the flower beds etc. Also she will be going through the list on decorations and food. It is all coming together and hopefully by the end of this weekend we will be majorily done. It would be nice next weekend if we had just the misc. stuff to figure out and do.

I've been so busy here that I only go uptown usually on Monday morning and Friday morning to work. So, I'm not really sure what is going on.

Tonight the Community meal will be at the Community center from 5 - 7 . They will be serving sloppy joes. This is always a good meal, hope you can come and help support the Free Water for Life that they do this for.

This is the last week for the Showboat performances in Grand Rapids. I've heard this is a great thing to go to. I've never made time in my life to do it.
Mississippi Melodie Showboat comes around the bend of the Mississippi River at 8:30 pm and it is SHOWTIME!!
Thursday July 23 is Family Night - 1/2 price for those that live in Itasca County
Friday July 24
Saturday July 25
Prices: Adults - $10, Seniors - $8, Children $4

A pre show is held 30 to 45 minutes ahead of the show. Handicap parking is available about 50 to 80 feet from the seats. Wear long pants and coat maybe a fleece blanket as the evening are quite cool.

For more info: Diane Stay - 659-2606 (H), or 218-259-0164 (cell) or email: jonalioliuri4@hotmail.com.

Well, it is getting warm enough to go outside and do some work. It is almost 9am time to quit goofing around. Hope all of you are in good health and spirit. Talk to you when I have time.
Julie

Northern Minnesota Artists Wanted

If you are an artist or artisan within 100 miles of Squaw Lake the managers at First Week Boutique located in the Squaw Lake Community Center want to talk to you! We are looking for people interested in consigning arts and craft work, including but not limited to, bead work, birch bark crafts, photography and paintings, original clothing designs, accessories, and more. We also accept gently used and new clothing.

Some basic need-to-know info:

You keep 80% of the sale price on all handmade products. We do a 50/50 split with the consignor on used clothing with automatic markdowns if items do not sell. Ask about a tax deductible donation of your unwanted items.

We are open the first week every month year around and on some special "high traffic" days like the "Christmas in August" craft fair and St. Urho's Day.

No table fees!

Call the First Week Boutique office at Eagleview for more info or to set up an appointment. 218.659.4254, Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:00-8:00 and Fridays 4:00-7:00PM. You can also reach us via e-mail at firstweekboutique@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you,
Shelby, Michael-Anthony and Margaret

Events in July and August

July 18 the First Week Boutique will be open at the Community Center from 10a to 3p.

July 20, baby shower for Isabelle Adams, daughter of Angela and Chad Adams. Again I forgot to check on the time.

July 22, Community Supper at the Community Center, serving from 5 to 7. This is done by St. Catherine Ladies and Centennial Lutheran Ladies and all proceeds go to Fresh Water for Life. This time they will be serving a Sloppy Joe Supper. They always put on a good meal.

August 8, at Hemphill's is the Michelle Woods/Mertes and Adam Puncochar wedding. If we missed you with an invitation and you'd like to come. Come on and join the fun. They will be getting married at 4pm with dinner and dance following. Just give Julie Hemphill 659-4239 or Mary Mertes 659-4274 a call with how many are coming. We want to have enough food for all but our families don't want us to overcook like we usually do so they have to eat leftovers for weeks. Help them out. Thanks.

August 15, Christmas in August from 9am to 3pm. Squaw Lake Community Center. Crafts, flea market. Snack bar.

August 15, Centennial Lutheran Ladies will have their luncheon to help raise money for fuel for the winter. Usually they have a bake sale and other items for sale as well. I think their luncheon starts at 11am.

I will check on a couple other things that is suppose to be going on that day but haven't got the real scoop yet so will talk about them later.

Labor day is the Rubber Ducky Race sponsored by Ducks Unlimited. Don't forget to buy your duck.

Hi everyone,

Wow, what a nice rain today. Already the grass is looking better. I hope we get some more tonight so that the grass will look even better and I won't have to water for a few days.

I went to town today to buy grey paint and red paint. Now I didn't think this should be too hard a task. Well, let me tell you I've never seen so many shades of grey and red paint. First of all I wanted to paint my barn red now I'm talking that red color like a crayon or the color barns used to be 30 years ago. Barn paint now comes in brown red color that is call barn red. It is more of a rusty brown red. Not what I wanted. Of course I always wait til the last moment to get stuff so ordering what I wanted was out of the question. I went to L&M, Home Depot, and Menards they all have barn red but it is the brown barn red so I said to heck with it (notice how my language is cleaner on this) and painted the barn white. Well, Art said you need trim paint for the barn and I said what color and everyone said red so I go back to Home Depot today to buy red exterior paint. Now there are pinky red, orangey red, browny red, but no red the color of a red crayon so I ended up with candy apple red. You should be able to see this barn from a long way away! As for grey paint there were at least 10 different shades of grey. This really tells the story of my age when I can remember you had white, black, grey, red, green, blue etc kind of like the primary colors and didn't have to look for hours to get the color you wanted. You could of sent anybody back then to pick up a gallon of paint for you.

Sooo, since it was kind of a gloomy day and all I wanted to do was crawl in bed with a good book I did bookwork instead. I was going to scrub the floor in the garage and get it ready to do something to it. I've looked at epoxy and decided that wouldn't be as durable as I wanted. Also, I think paint would just come off. I've thought about stain because I figured it would soak into the concrete and be there but the lady at Home Depot today said oh no it will peel up sometimes. Now I'm not sure what to do to the floor in the garage. All I can say it will be clean for the party for the wedding but will it have some color other than concrete color who knows. If anyone out there has tried staining their old concrete to make it look better let me know because I am out of ideas for this floor. Or at least ideas I can afford.

Looks like it is going to windy for the next couple of days. More thunderstorms tonight but clearing off tomorrow. By the weekend suppose to be nice. We sure needed this rain, actually hope we get some more before it is over.

Some of you are probably laughing when I say I'm getting old but I remember when County 4 between Max and Squaw lake was gravel. It was great when they tarred it. I learned to ride bike at my Uncle Nat's place. First thing I did was run off the tar and ended up in the ditch. That wasn't so great but once I learned how to ride it was much better than the dirt road I lived on.

Have a great week and I'll try to write again unless I get too busy.

Julie

Squawk

I hope everyone has had a great week. It was some nice weather over the weekend. A very busy weekend around here. Seemed like everyone had a project and things got done.

The house got painted even the trim work. Then landscape fabric and mulch got put around it. Looks pretty good. All those elves around here this weekend got the job done quickly.

Just a little more painting in the ceiling in the garage and scrub the floor and decide what to do with it and the cabinets can get hung the next time the son in law comes up.

The barn has been primed and one coat of paint put on it.One more to go and then the trim. Tomorrow going to town to buy trim paint for the barn and a few other things.

The old garage has a new face lift with a roll up door and siding. Next time will be finish the siding.

Things are coming together pretty good. It's been alot of work but the end result will make all the effort worthwhile. Tonight my knees are disagreeing with me. To many trips up and down the ladder over the last week. I'd forgotten how bad they used to hurt until today.

Hopefully, we will get some rain tonight. I can't believe it but I've been watering the lawn everyday and it is still crunchy in places. Usually this time of the year I cut it off short and let it turn brown so I don't have to mow. But i would like to have green grass for the wedding so I go and water it each day.

The hay has been cut and baled on the place. I keep looking to see if there is any deer but haven't seen any. Not sure where they all are but there hasn't been many tracks on the road either.

Hope all of you have a great week.

Julie

July happenings

July 11th - Bridal shower for Michelle Woods-Mertes at the Community Center from 3 to 5p.

July 11th - Retirement party for Wendy Muntean from 1 - 4p, but I don't remember if it is at the Sand Lake Hall or Sand Lake Alliance Church. Will let you know.

July 14th - Max Town Board Meeting at the Max Town Hall at 7p.

July 20 - Baby shower for Angela Adams and baby daughter Isabelle. I've forgotten the time for this also.

July 22 - Community Meal by St. Catherine and Centennial Lutheran Ladies from 5 - 7p. I haven't heard what the menu is yet.

Squawk

My how time flys when you're having fun.

It has been a busy week since I last posted. Thank goodness for the Firemen's auxilliary who did so much of the preparation for the pig roast. We had a good crowd and had way to much food. It was a beautiful day so I'm sure alot of people had fun outside.

Besides getting ready for the pig roast we've been busy as bees here on the farm trying to get everything ready for the wedding. Steph and Randy are here every weekend working hard to get stuff done and leaving late on Sunday evening. I'm not sure how they manage that trip back to the cities so late after working as hard as they do on the weekend. Art and Mary Mertes have been here everyday helping to get stuff done. My sister Nancy came up Monday and Tuesday and we painted most of the house. Just the high ends of the house didn't get it and Art came over tonite and finished that. The ceiling in the garage has been painted and ready for the boards that will go over the joints of the sheetrock. All of the trim boards have been painted with poly. This weekend should finish the inside of the garage and then it is get the floor cleaned and install the cabinets.

We sure need rain. Walking across part of the lawn today and it was crunchy. I've been watering that part all week and it still is lacking water. Boy it takes a lot of effort to keep plants alive in this weather. Maybe that is why I've had a black thumb I just didn't water enough.

I know working on the ladder isn't good for my knees. They've really felt good since I've lost weight but they have been hurting like the dickens since I've started going up and down the ladder so much.

I hope all of you are enjoying this lovely weather we've been having. I heard we are suppose to get some heavy rains tonight. We need rain but I don't think we need heavy rains.

Wes Nestberg just pulled in with the haying equipment. I suppose that will ensure that we get rain tonight. I watered the plants and lawn, Art painted, Wes wants to mow tomorrow. Maybe I should of left the window down in my car that usually makes it rain.

Take care and I will try to write more often.

Julie

Hi,

Do any of you close to Squaw Lake have any rhubarb you'd like to part with? My 2 hills aren't producing enough for me this year. Give me a call at 659-4239. Thanks, Julie

Squawk

Today turned out to be pretty nice. When I first went out at 6 this morning I thought it was kinda cold, but it warmed up nice.

I stopped in at the First Week Boutique today and they were having some nice things for sale. They are still looking for things to consign.

Well, tomorrow the Auxillary for the fire department puts on the big push to get everything ready for the Pig Roast on Saturday. They are a great bunch of ladies willing to work to get stuff done for the fire department.

A big Thank You to the WOW women who stepped forward and made pies to help out for this big fund raiser for the fire department.

We hope to see all of you at this fund raiser. It will be a great meal and you will see people to visit with that you haven't seen for a while. It is suppose to be nice on Saturday so it should be a fun time.

I'm not sure what I've done this week but it doesn't seem like I've accomplished too much. I did manage to dig out my house a little. Housework usually gets left behind here when I'm busy on the other stuff. I figure that dirt will be waiting for me and it usually is. I'm such a pack rat that every available surface is piled with something. Usually another craft project.

Happy Birthday to Isabell Knudson (Kathy Peterson's Mom) who turned 85 today. She is one spry women who loves to play cribbage. I've gotten my butt beaten more than once playing cards with her.

It's a long weekend for some. I hope everyone is traveling safe and waiting until they reach their destination to start the partying.

Evy Oja reported a good weekend last week at the flea market. She said alot of stuff went out the door. Then on Tuesday I saw the vendors bringing more stuff in so there is alot of new things again at the flea market. If you have been there you must take the time to go and see all the stuff crammed under that roof. She should have a good one this weekend where it is a 3 day weekend.

I heard that the volleyball games they have at the Crow Bar on Thursday nights are alot of fun. Both for the players and the crowd.

The lady slippers have been out for a while. County 4 had a nice bunch along it when I was driving that way the other day.

I've seen 2 fawns so far one a nice size one and the other looked like it had just been born.

I haven't seen any bears yet.

It seemed like the lawn slowed down just a little with the cold weather this week. On Tuesday I built a wood fire. When the gas furnace kicked on I figured that I could build a fire. It sure took the dampness out of the house.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I've got people to help and lots of things to get done so I probably won't write until Monday.

Take care,
Julie

"First Week Boutique" Seeks Local Artists

The "First Week Boutique" is a consignment shop open the first seven days of each month, and during special area events. The shop is run by youth, for youth, and profits will go to support the Eagleview Community Technology Center and other programs at Eagleview- like the Boys and Girls Club.

We are still accepting consignments from area artists and craftspeople. Stop in at the shop in the Squaw Lake Community Center on Highway 46 (2:00-7:00 weekdays, 10:00-3:00 weekends except this Saturday when we'll be open 1:00-7:00 PM for a Grand Opening during the SLFD Pig Roast). You can also contact us at 218.659.5254 or at firstweekboutique@gmail.com

Youth artists and new artists, we're looking for you!

Marg, Michael-Anthony and Shelby

July Calendar (update)

July 1st - Sales tax increases to 6.875 (not 8.75 as previously published here) .

July 1st through the 7th - First Week Boutique will be open at the Community Center. Grand Opening will be July 4th to coinside with SLFD Pig Roast

July 4th - Squaw Lake Fire Department Pig Roast, serving starts at 4pm and goes to 7pm. Menu is Roast Pork, Baked Beans, Potato Salad, Coleslaw, Italian Salad, Oriental Salad, 7 bean Salad, Frogs Eye Salad, Buns, Coffee, Lemonade and assorted Pies for desserts. $10/adult, $5 children 6 - 12 years, under 6 free. Hope to see you there. This is a fund raiser.

July 11, - Bridal Shower for Michelle Woods/Mertes at the Community Center from 3p - 5p. Everyone welcome. Bride is registered at Target and Walmart.

July 13 - Squaw Lake City Council at 7p at Community Center.


July 14, Nurse will be at the Community Center. Toenails clipped by appointment only.

July 14 - Max Town Board meeting at 7p at Max Town hall.

I know there is more but I can't find my calendar tonight so will have to finish this the next time.

Thanks,
Julie

Mutterings

Frustation is the word I've had since last Wednesday. That is the day that my AVG free virus protection decided to attack my computer. I have been computerless since then. Thought I could hook up my other computer but I don't have an anti virus on that one and couldn't get a free one to download So...... I just waited until I got mine back from the repair shop with the new virus protection installed. I couldn't believe it when they told me that the program I bought could only be used on this computer that it can't be downloaded on my other computer. So I guess if this computer dies you have to buy a new program even if your year isn't up. It is sad how dependent that I am to have a computer.

I'm not sure what all was going on in Squaw Lake this weekend. I do know that the Pow Wow was going on and there seemed to be alot of people around.

Otherwise I was home most of the weekend. Had a great crew here on Saturday and Sunday. The metal is almost done on the inside of the garage and the wiring is almost done in all of the other out buildings. Hopefully, with the new wiring my light bill will go down. I still had the old black wiring put on with the metal staples in some of the out buildings. I hope all of you will start the sunshine dance for next week. I need about 4 days of warm sunny weather so that I can get the house painted.

The grass seed we planted is coming up really nice. The lawn is a nice bright green and had to be mowed once already. I got some more machinery moved just have the old bus to move this weekend and it will look nice over in that area for the wedding.

I've had a long day so will try and write tomorrow night. I hope all of you are in good health and having a great time.

Julie

Squaw Lake Selected to Receive IRRB Business Grant

The Iron Range Resources Board voted last week to approve an $8,000 grant to the City of Squaw Lake for a revolving loan fund. The fund, matched with $4,000 from the city, will provide $12,000 to be passed through to businesses as loans for building expansion or rehabilitation. The interest rate on the loans cannot exceed 3%. People interested in expanding or rehabbing a building for business use within the city limits of Squaw Lake can contact Toni at 218.659.4271 or at roboticsnorth@yahoo.com for more info.

Ramblings

I just paid attention tonight to the number of hits to the blog. We've had 2537 hits since the counter was put on the site. The blog was started on February 23rd and the counter was put on a couple of weeks later. So there have been over 600 looking at the blog in a month. Thank you to all of you. This is fun way for me to get the news out to you about what the Fire Department is doing and to gab a little with you when ever I have the time. Why don't you start gabbing back ?It would make it easier to write sometimes.

We are going to have some great pies at the Pig Roast. So far I have commitments on Razzleberry, Sugar free(SF) Cherry, SF Apple and SF Chocolate, Regular Lemon, Pumpkin, Assorted Cheesecakes, Dutch Apple, Cherry Rhubarb, Coconut Creme, Chocolate, Butterscotch. Hopefully, we will get some blueberry. I'm sure some people would even love banana pie but I don't do bananas so that one is out as far as I am concerned.

Well, it is 10:30pm and I need to hit the hay. Have a great week if I don't get back to writing this week. Thanks Diane Stay for the calendar events that I put on tonight.

Julie

Squawk

Wow, what a list of events for the next 2 months and I'm sure I've missed some or put in the wrong info. I will do corrections as I find out what I've done wrong.

The work is getting done on the farm. Windows were put into the garage. Inside walls were started. Hopefully by the end of next week we will finish all the prep work that needs to be done before the steel is hung. It has been sticker shock for this ole granny. I am still thinking in the 70's when I go to buy some of this stuff. Made for one big depressing day last week when I bought paint, epoxy, wire, boxes, etc etc. BUT when all the work is done it will be great.

Now I need your help. Put in a word to the big man upstairs so I get nice weather for a week so that I can get the house painted. I've got the paint, supplies, and the people who volunteered to help paint now all I need is the nice weather.

Steph planted more flowers this week. So far we've had enough rain that my black thumb isn't showing. She is planning on putting in the soaker hoses next week working around the graduation party for Brittany. Her flower beds look great already.

We are all exhausted by Sunday evening. I can't imagine the 3 1/2 hour drive they have to do after we have worked like we do each weekend. Last night they didn't make it home until 11pm. and they are both up and out the door before 6 in the morning. I didn't have to be to work until 8 and I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed. We just keep telling ourselves that it will look so great that is it worth all this hard work.

I do know that the weekend after Christmas in August that I am doing absolutely nothing. I don't care what anyone wants I'm not doing it. If it takes more energy than sitting in a recliner it won't be done. Sounds like a great plan. Hope I can carry it out.

Boy those mosquitos are hungry little buggers. Thought they were going to carry me off this morning when I went out to check on the pigs. I've never been bothered too much by mosquitos until this year. I don't know what loosing weight has to do with it but they are sure after me this year. Maybe they can get to the blood supply easier as there isn't so much of me to go through.

This morning a little after 4 there was one happy little bird. I don't know what it was but it was the noisiest thing. It just kept singing and singing. If I could of found it it would of been one little dead bird. I love to hear birds just not that early in the morning.

I've seen a few deer on the field but haven't spotted any fawns. Have any of you seen any fawns? The mallards along the road must of hatched out and moved their babies to the lake as I haven't seen any since early last week. Very seldom do I ever see the babies but I usually know when they hatch because the adults are gone.

Randy, Rochelle and Randy's nephew Joe went fishing on Saturday night. Rochelle was the best she caught the most. Only trouble was they never had any they could keep because they were all too big. They said they had fun but I don't think it would be much fun to throw the fish back in. I guess if I ever go fishing I will have to go to a lake that doesn't have a slot. That would just go against me if I had to throw a fish back.

I hope all of you had a great weekend and have started out having a good week. Take care and have fun.

Julie