Xmas morning brought many presents to the house. Evan and his blasters and Em with "mo pesents" kept all of us entertained.

Nana and Evan had a good time opening presents before we sat down to a fantastic breakfast and looking into our stockings.

Xmas Time

The anticipation was very high when all of the kids had their nose's glued to the window waiting for Santa.
Emeline tried the pickled salmon for the first time and it was rather difficult to get her to move away from the dish.
Evan was in heaven in his one and only time all year that the soda choice is unlimited. Here he had located the Mountian Dew. I remember him having 2 but maybe it was 3 or 4. I know that Uncle Mike gave him one for the road.

Catch Up Time

Well, it has been a while since I have blogged. No excuses except that I was to lazy and my camera died.
So the next will be about Xmas and hopefully on a more regular basis.

Jeff's number 6, Jeff's number 6

A day marked down in history at Sneakers in Spring Valley.

Mr. H took the challenge to eat a 2 Pound hamburger with all the fixins in less than 30 minutes.








Here you can compare mine and Evan's hamburger's that we were going to eat. E could not finish his as the regular burger is huge.














Here you can see the cooked product. It included fries and Cole slaw and 2 1919 root beer.














Here is E giving his dad moral support in his effort














The last fry. This was the finishing touch on the challenge that Mr. H met.

The final time was 20 minutes and 55 seconds that put him in first place. the record is 9 minutes and 8 seconds. Unbelievable!!!!!!!

Hunting Season is upon us.

Sensing that the hunting season is now in full swing, "Bucky" decided it was time to go into the camouflage mode.

Actually, I came home from being in Indiana on Friday and this red oak sapling had fallen over and right on top of the 3d target. It sure looked like it was trying to hide.

Hit Again This Morning

We woke up this morning to another blanket of snow. As of right now we have about 3 inches on the ground.














As you can see, the leaves have not turned color as of yet much less fallen off the trees.
It is one of those odd years I guess.

It's Way To Early

It is to early for this but on 10-10 we woke up to a white blanket on the yard.
The leaves are just starting to turn colors and we have to grind leaves for the gardens yet. But it is hard to do when the leaves are still on the trees.




Even "Bucky" was not spared from the cold and snow. It was 27 degrees this morning.
Now they are telling us that on Tuesday we are suppose to really get the snow.

North Shore Water Falls

Gooseberry Falls


Illegen Falls















Cove Point Lodge Falls




















Cascade River










Kadunce River

Dinner is Served

I know that all of you have heard of road kill. Well here on the farm in Wisconsin we have House Kill.

Nana and I were just finishing dinner on Monday night and the deer had finally left the pond when we heard a big bang that hit the house. Nana said it was really big bird. I looked and I thought it was a hawk because it was so late that it hit the window.

I went outside and found out it was a grouse. I scooped it up, showed Nana and it was off to the garage to butcher it.

On Monday Nana baked it up and it was fantastic. This is my kind of grouse hunting.

Portland Farmer's Market

This is the first trip to the Farmer's Market for the PDX family this year and the first trip for me in several years.
We ate lots of non-healthy food, smelled the flowers and sampled many different kinds of cheese.








It was such a nice cool fall day we hated to have it end but Emmeline was due to get her first haircut on Sat. morning.

So Evan and I were dropped off at home in time to watch Da Badgers play Mich. State in Madison.

Apples and More Apples

This has been the best year yet for apples that grow wild in the woods on the farm. I recently took a 4 wheeler ride thru the woods and picked these as they were the sweetest of all the trees.

I then had to do something with them so the most obvious thing was an apple pie, but I don't know how to make an apple pie. So I make apple crisp - below. It was and is wonderful.

Nana and I are going to make some up and freeze before baking and try to bake them during Thanksgiving week.

1st Grade

Above, we got to walk Evan to school on his first day.

Below it is a where in the world is Evan?

Swimmer's

The swimming lessons were quite the job each day. As you can see, Evan had to get his goggles on and of course Emme wanted goggles also.

Old and New

The revamping of the kitchen has begun with the removal of the old refrigerator and moved out to Jonesie's Digs. It holds so much more beer than the wine cooler that I have been using. Anyone need a wine cooler?
This the new one that looks good and is very roomy inside. Good Luck with that Nana.

The Plot is Becoming Clearer

This pic shows one of the culprit's in the "Case Of The Missing Neck Parts". If you look close you will see a light spot in there. If you were to enlarge the pic you would see that the spot is - bird feathers.
I think it may be a new woodpecker that has found an easy mark for beating up.

Wild Flowers for Mom

The above wild flower and berry pics were taken, and published on this blog in memory of my Mom who passed away on August 3rd, 2009.

Tough Living in Wisconsin

It is a tough area where we live in Wisconsin. Here I put out my bow hunting target last week so that practice could begin.
As you can see some animal thought this was going to be a free meal or was thinking of making a home inside target. All of the missing material cannot be accounted for so I hope if it was a coyote it has a tummy ache this morning.

Home Sweet Home

My pals!!!!! Last weekend Kallie K. Said to me "jonesie, you better check to see if the 4 wheeler is full of nuts". Well, I did and this is what I found. Some varmint making a home in the air intake - again!
I removed the air cleaner and found the nest on top of the stored goodies.
I removed the nest and found the loot of hickory nuts.

Summer Walk

I have always put pics on here of where I walk. So here are a couple of photos of where I walk, or what it looks like in the summer.
It has been a fabulous summer for walking this year. Not to hot nor has it been to humid. Always good for 2-3 miles in the morning.

Sat. Dinner

Dinner on Saturday night started out by getting organized. This pic shows just how organized we are - not. The night before it was so confusing when people were ready to leave. It ended up Rick and Tom backing all the way out of the driveway, which is no easy task on the farm.
So the next day I gathered up every ones car keys and backed each car into a space and that seemed to work okay as far as people getting out.
Dinner was at Shady Grove near Ellsworth. Nana and I go there for Unforgiven Beer on tap and calamari. This night most people had the beer and many different kinds of food and all said it was good food.

Dinner At The Inn

Dinner started out with Mary Jane making the appetizer of taco dip, vegetables and chips.
All of the gang seemed to have had a good time at the dinner table with lots of food, wine and laughter.
The dinner was pork roast, coleslaw, wild rice salad, and fried corn. We ended with Little French Fudge Cakes with vanilla ice cream and coffee.