Early drives and late miles

 

Not terribly early but we hit the road about 7:30 am with a promise of a coffee stop for Grace that didn't happen until closer to 9.  We had about 4 hours of road time to log before reaching Copper Falls State Park.  The headwaters of the Bad River is a beautiful crashing water falls continuing to cut away at post ice age granite.  The temperatures were perfect winter walking and we even logged some steps on the North Country trail.  The day was still young and Amy loves Lake superior so...why not it is only another 40 minutes north so we headed to the great inland sea and played around in Ashland a bit before racking up the miles on hwy 2.  51 north, 8 and 2...not possible to be on these roads and not lead to an adventure.  With just short of 550 miles we were still home on the couch for a Packers win.  That is a quality way to spend a day.

tree and treats

The year keeps clippin' along.  We did head out and cut down the tree right after T-day and found a great little tree named Shawn.  It is a cut your own place in which each tree is named and you can only cut the trees that have been named...not sure if the owner is crazy or just a good business ploy.  The lights were put up and the tree was trimmed.  Herbie is officially on non-moving supervisor duty at this stage in the game. Talks are starting about sending kids back to school and I suspect by next month they will be back at least some of the time.  We did get some cookies made as well and it likely goes without saying but Grace made the dough ad it was some of the best cookies we have every had. There was corn startch in the dough and left really clean edges.  Ella was able to crank out a large number of lobster cookies.  Everyone has got much better and the decoration of the cookies

 

Persistence of memory....

 

Like almost nothing....time has become a strange concept and bends, warps, accelerates and stops completely irrelevant to any activity that is taking place.   The weather has been equally mixed with fits and starts.  With temperatures dropping below a hard freeze for more than a week it then rebounded and hit almost 75...day lilies and some trees started to bud out.  Time will tell if that impacts them next spring.  We did spend some time at Baird's Creek for a nice walk and some time just wandering around the yard doing fall clean up.  Found a nice slab of pine at the compost site and set up a knife throwing spot just off the patio.  Merrick had to cook a dinner for a school class and Grace is still baking about 3 times a week. Sophia caught a mild case of the virus and fortunately has rebounded quickly.  Ella and her friends are out of quarantine and are spending some time star watching around a small can of Sterno.  The dogs do not remember a time that was any different and think that we have always been home...It has been 245 days since the stay at home orders have come about.  Every true effort to follow through on these orders has been legally thwarted along party lines and combining that with shut-down fatigue we have numbers that are astronomical on even a global scale.  We are not immune from they fatigue and even did some downtown shopping last week.  We justified it as a helping the local stores, it was fun, it was a change, we did it for a balance in our sanity.

Inside and Outside..

Few things more classic than apple pie and pearls.  Grace is staying busy in the kitchen with all the fall treats and Amy's birthday cake.  We did hit the orchard for some more baking supplies.  Everyone is home now with all the school buildings shut down. We put the wifi booster in and the kids are finding their spaces to meet teachers online each day. blue blocker glasses have become the new style trend and the girls are wearing them even during those small times they are off screens. There are some academic kinks to work out but all in good time.  The weather had been rainy and 40ish for about a week, but Sunday we were able to get out in the sunshine and walk a nice long loop through Baird's Creek, and the leaves while not quite at peak were still golden across the ground.  Ella went to school for only 3 days so far and the other kids made it for seven.  Plans are what we used to make and now I wonder what will happen when we return to normal, what stays and what goes.
 

Last Blast of Summer

If it was January the news would be all about the polar vortex.  We have a large cold Canadian air mass descending upon us add summer to our new cancel culture.  We did fit in some outdoor time though.  Grace hit the pool with some friends and Sophia finished up her life guarding duties for the season.  The dogs hit the woods with me and ran themselves crazy as they should.  Amy, Merrick and I returned to what Amy calls the "woods of death" for maybe her last time and hiked a few miles under the sunshine and rolling oak-filled woods.  Merrick and I hit another area of the same woods the next day for 10 K mountain bike trail ride.  He smacked his hand solidly on a tree and both of our hearts were pumping hard from the trail.  Ella asked Grandma Nancy to come over and show her some sewing techniques and Grace joined in the fray as they all worked on some masks.  By labor day evening the weather was cooling off quickly and it has been gray and rainy for three days.  But that should be great for spring mushrooms.

 

BTS....

Just like that it is "Back to School" the actual first day was yesterday but that meant roll out of bed and long on to the computer.  Everyone was done by about 9ish.  The kids will go to school twice a week and sadly for them scored the Cohort with a Friday in class...they haven't realized that means they don't go on Monday.  Leave it to the teens to find the gray cloud in each silver lining.  No busing this year either, with two drivers it seemed most wise to avoid the extra petri dish of public transportation to and from the buildings.  Everyone is excited to see the friends that will have the same cohort days as they do, but also apprehensive knowing that the year will lack a simple consistency of knowing what your schedule will be or where your school will be on a weekly basis.  Mask up and enjoy the ride....

 

August is less than a Gas

We have seemingly slowed way down in August.  The days are still filled with the chores of life but we all feel like we are waiting for the finality of school plans and what that will look like in the 'fall' and for how long.  Sophia did have her Senior picture photo shoot.  Merrick and I are working on some canoe paddles and tried to smoke pork sholders and play video games for 24 hours, but didn't last.  We got another car "camy" which is mostly Ella's car at this point and it ate up plenty of time in and out of the shop.  Ella and Grace spent a night under the stars in Grace's attempt to see a shooting star...finally
 

The Peninsula.....finally

Well we made it to Peninsula State park...Finally.  A camping weekend has been on the bucket list for many years. It is a great park and we were able to snag a "CoVid cancellation" and head up for a few days.  The weather was great, a bit cool but the beach was too packed for swimming anyways, so it was perfect.  One night we had a massive thunderstorm with some of the loudest lighting/thunder claps I had ever heard.  We were on the leeward side of the dolomite cliffs so there was minimal wind and that combined with the echos off the lake made for massive displays of sounds.  We spent an entire day biking through all the trails and ended at the ice cream shop.  We did a short and safe trip up the coast to the other small towns for some shopping.  Shopping was masked and limited but it was a nice break from the campsite too and part of the allure of camping in the door....as well as a Wild Tomato pizza for dinner.  We hiked over the ridge one evening to the lighthouse for the sunset and some had plans to see the sunrise....but I don't think that ever happened.
 

Picking up Pace

The summer is finding us looking hard for a balance of normalcy and social distancing.  We hit LaX for a family weekend and it was easy to be outdoors with temperatures so hot that it ruined the polarization in my glasses.  Even the dogs get to stay wet, although it puts a pounding on their coats. We cooled off with our feet in totes of cool water as we chatted on the patio.  It is also the end of strawberry season so we filled up the buckets at a local field and spent the next few days backing, jamming and freezing berries.  We are still tossing the discs for doughnuts but mostly it is just for the smack talk and taunting.  We did hit the local ice cream shop with the masks on, and took our icy treats home.

 

The middle Birthday

 

Sophia turns 17 which doesn't get you much, sandwiched between driving and adulthood.  There were gifts and then we headed up to Eagle River for a week at a Cabin.  The temps were a little cool for the adults to swim but it didn't seem to bother the kids too much and none of the adults really complained about not swimming.  The days were spent splashing in the water, fishing, hammocking and even sneaked in some Kubb.  The evenings were generally campfires and the kids made a ton of bracelets and did some body painting as well.  One of the cooler days was determined to be a race day and we headed into town for some go-kart racing and ice cream