eggs, not rocks

The beaches of Lake Superior are covered in beautiful rocks - the only souvenirs you need

Parts of the beach were fenced off to protect endangered piping plover birds, who nest there

Piping plover are really cute

Big Mac

Driving to the U.P. via the Mackinaw Bridge

I love the bridge - it was a beautiful day and great to be back there

Saying ya to the U.P.

Memorial weekend in Grand Marais, Michigan in the upper peninsula

looking West along the Lake Superior shoreline

I stayed in a tiny cottage - this was a painting of it - it looked just like this

Dry; no, wet run

I filled up the cheese kettle with water to test it's capacity and see if it warms to the correct temperature.  Cheese rooms are wet places and Boss Mouse is no exception. I sloshed water everywhere and spilled a few gallons onto the floor during the experiment, but that was OK - I got to test the sloped floor drain!

prince jammy

Strawberry-rhubarb jam with my own rhubarb - I used Weck canning jars, really old fashioned style German made jars.  They have little flat glass lids that just sit on top of the jar on a gasket - rather than screwing them on, they get held with a small metal clip.  I love how they look.

sky study #66

Sunrise Sunday, May 20, 2012

just like a thistle!

Ultra awesome Shannon at Acorn Tattoo  putting the ink to Raquel this past weekend

Shannon has a beautiful studio with great stuff on the walls

Cave painting at Lascaux des Acorn

I love her succulent windowsill - this is how it looked last Winter

Shannon's super cute tattooed shins

and sleeves

feed me!

Raquel's beautiful new forearm thistles

Hi Gilbert

My neighbors sons are raising a pig for 4-H - he was super cute and friendly, and kept putting his snout in the bowl of water and snorkeling, all while wagging his tail really fast like a dog.  

Saturday morning on Gleaner Hall

Raquel was here this weekend and we took a really long walk in the woods along Gleaner Hall Road around the corner from my farm.  It goes for miles and there's never anyone there but you

bright green new pine growth

a robin's eggshell

woodsy art:  a pileated woodpecker made a massive hole in the trunk of this tree...which we filled with stones

look closely... a 4 foot blue racer snake hanging out on the branch of this tree!  Gentle serpent!

Happy Birthday Kay!

Katie & Susie 1969

It's my sister Kay's 50th birthday today 

I made her a batch of sugar cookies and frosted them with a bunch of 'memories" - a lot of them won't make sense to anyone but us ☺

SHC > SAT

it's true

ground squirrels beware

Cozy's ground squirrel assassination strategy:

- dig huge hole

- insert head and shoulders in hole

- cover self in dirt

Also, remember the deer scull post from Monday?  She ate it.

sky study #65

Sunset May 12, 2012

gonna fly now

Rocky, one of the Barred Rock chicks

Buffy & Rocky (a different Rocky - there are 3 of them)

Rocky and her sisters look even more like dinosaurs than most chickens - I love their stripes

Dell Road deer

Deer scull found on while walking the dogs on Dell Road in Kingsley

Love Thy Mother

Susie & Margaret 1967

Support Kingsley debate

the biscuits

the evidence

I was in the grocery store this week, and the Kingsley High School Debate team were having a bake sale. I bought a little bag of dog biscuits, and headed out to the car, where Max & Cozy were waiting.  I put my groceries in the car and noticed a dog waiting in the car next to mine, so offered him one of the dog biscuits I had just bought.  In the 30 seconds I took to do that, Max helped himself to an entire package of onion rolls from the grocery bag - all that was left was the wrapper, and crumbs all over the car.

the thief

barefootin'

I went running with some colleagues from work today - barefoot.  I had read about and wanted to try barefoot running, and it's not as weird as you think it will be.  Here is a picture of my feet afterwards.

play misty

Fog rolling over the West pasture, May 3, 2012

It’s a mysterious morning in the wood as the fogs settled in 

Fog dances with the wind through the trees twirling

A hazy white blanket diffusing scattering the light

Everything looks so different tricking your sight

But look closely, he left a present from his newly departed mist

On foliage are water jewel droplets where it gently kissed 

- Micron

watered

When they put in the plumbing for the cheese room, I also had them put in a water pump down by the big barn.  This is a luxury, as I have been carrying water by hand down to the animals for the past 2 years.

the mushroom hunt

The woods were full of blossoming trillium

This stump had those weird, flat mushrooms growing out of it

The lone morel!  I found one little mushroom.  It's too cool for them yet, so I will look again in the coming weeks.

rhubarb pie

First rhubarb harvest from the garden

Pie!

peonage

Peonies sprouting up through the soil - I am so happy to see this, as I had to move all of the peonies down to the edge of the hen yard and away from all the construction around the Boss Mouse barn last fall.  I moved them in October, so was worried they wouldn't make it through the winter, but here they are.

sky study #64

Sunset May 3, 2012

"The sky was all purple pink, there were people runnin' everywhere..."

Thomas Moore quote

A farm has it's own spirituality that gives immense meaning and pleasure.  It can't be measured in acres or the quantity of animals and crops.  A farm is a spiritual thing that feeds your soul, as its spirituality pours out of every outbuilding and bale of hay.  Nothing is more tangible and sensuous than a farm, and yet it is also full of spirit. 

- Thomas Moore