Turkey Anyone?

We sure have seen lots of turkeys in our almost seven years living out here in the country. As you can see in the picture, the big birds are not afraid to come out of the woods and look for food. This picture was taken out of a back window into the back yard one afternoon. I could not even get all of the birds into the viewfinder. We estimate 100-125 turkeys in the yard all at one time. It was amazing!

Deer In The Headlights

The trail camera has been busy catching about a dozen shots a day. Still no coyotes, but lots of deer. Feel free to click on the pictures for a larger image.



Maybe if I tie some cats out there the coyotes might be interested. :)

No Way!

On our recent trip "Up North", we ran into a cool place in Coleraine, Minnesota.
It is called Mt Itasca

They have several ski jumps there that are used for Olympic training. I can't imagine racing down the slippery slope on skis then launching into the air and being expected to land with some amount of control!

Two weeks ago they hade ski jumpers competing...without snow!
With the assistance of $130,000 in funding from the MASC, the Ole Mangseth Ski Jump was outfitted with plastic mats to allow for ski jump training and competition during the non-snow months. Since this addition was completed in 1999, usership and economic impact at the facility have increased significantly. Athletes from throughout the U.S. have trained in Coleraine for extended periods of time – at formal training camps lasting as long as ten days. Both the U.S. National Ski Jump Team and the Nordic Combined Development Team trained at the facility in the past two years.

This fellow has pretty good form...considering!


Once again...I repeat...NO WAY!


If I ever get the urge to do something like that, I will slowly walk to my recliner, sit down and wait for the urge to pass.

Is Sue Nesting?

Sue was busy in the kitchen for a few hours on Sunday.

With apples in season, she dusted off the Jack LaLanne Juicer and started the process.



The finished product....pure apple-pear juice with no preservatives....all natural!


The juicer machine is amazing...this is all that was left over from the process.


Nothing around here goes to waste. We dumped the fruit remains out by the trail camera so the animals could also have a treat.


Besides the delicious juice, Sue made her famous chocolate-zucchini bread with cinnamon topping!


I think I know what I will be having for a treat later!

Fall Colors At Coyote Ridge

Today was a beautiful sunny day, the kind of weather that makes Fall such a nice time here in Minnesota. I spend about two hours on the tractor this morning chopping the leaves that had fallen the past week. By the end of the day today I am sure the ground will be covered again with leaves.

In the meantime, I have a few Fall pictures for you. As always, you can click on the pics for a larger view.

Our country lane leading back to Coyoter Ridge:


We are back in the woods completly out of sight of any gawkers that may be traveling the back country roads.














Highs in the low 60's and sunny....gotta love the Minnesota Fall!

Some of This And That

The first week in September we went to Des Moines to celebrate my Mom's 87th birthday. She is trying to catch up to my dad who is 89. We are thankful that they are in good health and are always on the go. Here is a picture of Mon, Dad, Sue, my brother Paul and yours truly.

Good picture of Sue....you bet!

And how about this gal....my perfect dog Lucy.

And Lucy with Sue's perfect pooch, Betty.

Was I right when I said...Some of this and some of that? Tune in again soon for another edition of "Now What Are They Doing?"

This One Likes The Camera!

You never know what is sneaking around outside when we are not looking, case and point would be this deer that is not camera shy!

Click on pic for an even better shot>

With deer opener right abound the corner, they had better find their hiding places.....and fast.

Hawkins Mine-Nashwauk,Minnesota

I am glad to see that some of these big old open pit mines can turn into something useful after the mining operations are done. This one time open pit is now a recreation area.
Feel free to click pics for a larger image.



The Iron Range is an interesting area. It is full of small mining towns and they are all quaint and well kept. Here is Nashwauk,MN...where the Hawkins Mine is located.


Tune in again soon for another edition of "Now What Are They Doing?"

Fall Pictures From God's Country

Northern Minnesota is a beautiful place, espically in the Fall> This past week we spent a few days up there enjoying the beauty of it all. Of course I have some pictures for you. Feel free to click on the pictures for a larger image.





The very next day after these pictures were taken we had some snow up there. Glad we could get some pre-snow shots for you.
More pictures soon...so stay tuned.

Snow....Looks Nice...For Now

Sunday night we had a light snow that stuck to the trees> Here are a few pics.



This is the kind of snow I like. It stuck to the ground and trees but melted right away off the roads and other hard surfaces.

Pictures From "Up North"

As promised, we have a few pictures to post from our trip to Northern Minnesota.
Our son's friend Sarah asked that we take some pictures of Andy's old stomping ground so here we go....This is a picture of the "haunted House" we lived in for two months.Believe me, it has really been fixed up since we lived there. Our home sold so fast that we had to find a rental to live in until it was time to move to Florida.
Some really strange things happened there like doors locking themselves, hot water faucets turning themselves on and the TV stand on wheels moving all by itself.

Both Ben and Andy were born in Grand Rapids at the local hospital. It is a good thing we visited when we did because they are tearing down the old place.

The hospital has been replaced with a beautiful new facility.



Both boys were baptized there. The old church is still looking pretty good.

The old church is no longer used by the congregation because a huge new facility was built several years ago in the Southwest part of town.

Ben attended school in Grand Rapids for a short time before we moved to Florida. He attended kindergarten for about a month before they bumped him up into first grade. The school is still operating and looks well taken care of.


We covered a lot of ground and were fortunate enough to catch many of the Fall colors. Tune in again soon as I will post some of them for you.

Up North.....A Short Vacation

We decided a week ago that it was time to take a short break from our usual rat race and escape to the North woods of Minnesota for a few days. Thursday morning we dropped the girls off at Ben and Anna's home and pointed the vehicle North towards Grand Rapids, a town where we lived for ten years back in the mid 70's to mid 80's.
This is a perfect time to absorb the Fall colors along the 250 mile trek. We were worried that the Fall colors might be played out already, but we soon discovered that there were more leaves down in Southern Minnesota than the far reaches of this beautiful state. I will post some pictures when we return home.
The temps have now dipped into the 20's at night and we even had some snow Friday night and early Saturday morning. It stuck around for a few hours and quickly melted by mid-day Saturday.
We stayed in Grand Rapids for two nights and used it as a home base to venture out into the surrounding areas.
Of course we visited our old neighborhood and other points of interest in the city.
On Friday we visited some of the area towns including Cohasset, Deer River, Marcel, Big Fork, Effie, Bovey, Cohasset,Pingilly, Marbel, Taconite, Calumet, Hill City and a few others. These communities have really come a long was in making sure their little towns presentable. It is obvious that they take pride in where they live.
Friday night we met our daughter in law's sister Angela for coffee. She is a charming gal and we really enjoyed the time we spent with her. She is pretty high up on the food chain in the special education department that serves several area school districts.
Saturday, after cleaning the car off of snow, we headed to Duluth to visit some friends we have not seen for twenty years. I worked with Warren and Connie at several radio stations in Minnesota, Florida and California. They looked great and we had such a fun time with them. We hope to see them again real soon!
I had better sign off for now as we want to explore a bit more before heading South towards home. Stay tuned for some pictures.

The Deer Are Active!

With Fall upon us, the deer have been even more active than usual around Coyote Ridge. The trusty trail camera has been busy both night and day catching the four legged creatures snacking on whatever is available.
Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

You may click on the pictures to enlarge them.






Now if we can just catch some shots of coyotes and cougars!