Michigan Vacation 2017

Vacations are funny things.  We look forward to them, plan as many details as we can and then they are over so quickly.  You remember what happened, but in some ways they just seem like a dream after a couple days at home.  Thank goodness for photos.  Two weeks ago we traveled to Michigan.  We went for our nieces wedding. We rented a house for the week before with our oldest daughter and her family.  It was a lovely house in the woods near Glen Arbor Michigan.  There was plenty of room for everyone.  We visited all the little neighboring towns on Lake Michigan and took in many of the local sights.  The kids climbed the dunes (http://www.thecabincountess.com/search?q=sleeping+bear), tubed on a river, rode bikes along the many trails, shopped, we visited a lighthouse and best of all attended the wedding.

The beginning of the dunes.

Making S'mores.

The town of Leland (Fishtown).

The Grand Traverse lighthouse guiding sailors since 1852.

One of the majestic views.

The wedding was the most amazing wedding.  It took place at a ski resort.   My niece and the family worked very hard to make sure everyone was taken care of.  They had activities for the kids as well as adults.  They had games, a photo booth, s'mores and a fabulous meal with a brunch the next morning.  Most of the guests stayed at the resort.  The house we rented was close by so it worked out for us.  I even got to ride on a chair lift for the first time.  It was so much fun.  The ceremony overlooked Lake Michigan.  Everything was perfect.

Waiting for the wedding to begin

Even the bride and her dad took the chairlift up to the ceremony

My youngest daughter also attended with her boys.  They had some scheduling difficulties so she couldn't come for the whole week.  They took the car ferry across Lake Michigan and returned a couple days later the same way.  It may not save a lot of time, but it does save driving the long distance from Wisconsin.  For four hours you can just sit and relax.

Even though it was a quick trip, my grandsons had so much fun.  After brunch we all went to the beach.  Lake Michigan is so big it felt like we were on the ocean.  They swam and played in the sand.  We had a wonderful day.

When the wedding was over and everyone had gone home, we spent some time with my sister and brother in law.  They have second home in Traverse City and know all the best places to go.  We love it there and had a great time.  One day we visited beautiful Charlevoix,  Michigan.  It's another tourist town, but it was gorgeous.

Charlevoix Michigan had some unusual architecture.  They had what was called Mushroom houses.  They actually do look like mushrooms.  This one had a thatched roof.

While returning to our car we cut through the library parking lot.  Even that was very nice.  They had a gorgeous butterfly garden.  It would be exciting to have a similar garden.

The day before we came home we went out on Traverse Bay on a Tall Sailing ship.  There was very little wind but enough to push the boat along smoothly.  It was so relaxing.  They served ice cream, and we just sat and enjoyed the beautiful views.

Finally after enjoying good food, beautiful sunsets and unforgettable views, it was time to go home.

The only rainy day we had was the day we drove home.  It just misted and never rained very hard so it wasn't bad. 

A rainy day made the lake very rough and dreary.

Now we are back to our old routine.  We are happy to be home but also looking forward to our next adventure. 

Band of Sisters

Sometimes living so close to nature is very exciting.  We don't have easy access to malls and the excitement the city brings, but we are able to take advantage of things I never knew about when I lived near a large metropolitan area.  Last week we learned that they were putting identification bands on some Osprey babies.  We decided to see what it was all about.  Unfortunately the banding was cancelled.  The process relies on Alliant energy and due to storms, the truck was busy with downed power lines.  It was rescheduled for today.  Our time was not wasted last week.  While at the park we did see the pair of Osprey nervously flying around the nest.  One had a fish in it's talons and was waiting for us to leave so it could feed its babies.  In fact, when one of the babies was being weighed, a fish bone fell out.  It was picked clean.

The city of Green Lake Wisconsin on Green Lake the deepest natural inland lake in Wisconsin.  Which name came first?

This morning we headed back to the City of Green Lake on the north side of Green Lake in Green Lake county.  There are several platforms installed in the vicinity of the lake for Osprey's to nest.  Ospreys travel north to nest and then migrate in the fall.  They winter far south even wintering out of the country in Central America.   Several years ago a pair of them built a nest on one of lights on the baseball diamond in the city.  After a few years, a new pole and platform was installed behind the diamond.   From that point, the birds have used the platform for their nests.

This is the original nesting spot on the ball diamond lights.

 A local group built a platform to fit on an old power and the power company lifted it all in place.

As we approached the baseball field, we could see the Alliant energy truck had arrived and was already in place.

A Biology professor from Ripon College was also there as was a well known wildlife artist who lives in the area.  The professor has banded hundreds of bluebirds and spent several years banding local Ospreys.  They band them in order to identify them if one is found dead or seen in an area and to track locations.  She teaches ornithology.  Tom Schultz is the artist who has illustrated several field guides to birds.  He started a Green Lake county bird and wildlife group and is on the committee of the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas project. They know what they are doing, so it was fun to watch.

Several crew members from Alliant got into the lift bucket and raised themselves up to the level of the birds.

At this point they discovered there were three baby osprey.  No one knew how many birds were in the nest because there is no camera installed to view the nest.  They estimate the birds are six weeks old.

The crew member picked up each bird and carefully placed it in a plastic bin.  The wings of the birds are very fragile at this stage, and they have to be careful not to injure the bird.  Then they lowered the bucket and brought the baby birds over to be weighed and banded.

Since the birds can't fly yet they can be placed in a basket to be weighed.  All three were in the larger range so it was determined they were all females.  They weighed between 3.5 to almost 4 pounds.  Apparently male birds are lighter than that.

 

After they were weighed, they were banded.  The bands have to be put on with a pliers.  In the past they banded with a ring that didn't overlap, but the raptors have such strong beaks they could pry off the bands.  Now they have a band that can't be taken off.

Even baby birds have strong and sharp talons.

The band is on her left leg.  The bands have a number and contact information in case the bird is found.

Quickly returning the birds to their nest.

Up, up, up

It was an awesome experience to witness.  I hope next year we can bring our grandchildren to see the process.  It is something I won't forget.

Spiralize Your Fruits and Vegetables

A new trend the last few years is spiralizing.  Pinterest is full of recipes using spiralized vegetables.  All that means is that the vegetables are cut into long ribbons or strips.  People use them in place of pasta or to make salads.  Both my daughters have done this for quite a while, so I thought it was time for me.  The first one I bought was a hand held device where you twist the vegetables through a blade.  This worked but it was hard work, and it didn't give me the results I liked.  Recently I ordered a spiralizer from Ebay.  It was made to fit my Kitchen Aid mixer.

It looks like a complicated tool kit, but it's pretty easy to use.

The first thing to do is attach the attachment to the front of the mixer.  Then choose the blade.  There are four to choose from.  Each blade has a different function depending on what you are making.  Some of these photos are from my daughters house.  She showed me how to make them before I actually purchased my own.

The recipe I'm making uses sweet potato and zucchini.

Just push the vegetable onto the attachment.  You can choose to peel the vegetable or not.  Zucchini cooks just fine without peeling.  Squash would need to be peeled.  The ends need to be flat and the piece can't be more than 3 or 4 inches long.  Turn on the mixer and the blade cuts the ribbons of veggies.

After you get to the end of the vegetable, all that is left is a small core.  They are small and about the size of a pencil.  It is a little wasteful, but I just eat the little piece that's left.

There is also a peeler and corer blade that comes with the kit.  It works the same way except it peels, cores and slices at the same time.  It works great for apples and pears.  The slices are nice and thin for apple recipes.

Tonight I made a recommended recipe which my daughter and son in law like.  Our grandson Ewan isn't as crazy about it, but he is polite and eats a small portion.  It has peanut butter in it, and I'm not sure if he likes peanut butter.  My dad used to like peanuts, but not peanut butter.  Maybe he inherited that trait.  The recipe is for Pad Thai made with zoodles (name for spiralized vegetables), and it came from this blog.   http://chelsealeblancrdn.com/sweet-potato-zoodle-pad-thai/

Pinterest has several Pad Thai recipes but this looked very easy.  I added chicken to the recipe, and it made it a little dry.   As you can see from the recipe, there isn't much liquid.  I think I would add a little more water to make it more saucy especially if chicken or other ingredients are added.

Sweet Potato Zoodle Pad Thai

Author: Chelsea LeBlanc

 

Ingredients

• 2 heaping Tbsp peanut butter
• ¼ tsp rice wine vinegar
• ½ tsp soy sauce
• ½ tsp honey
• 1 tsp sriracha sauce
• ⅛ tsp salt
• ⅛ tsp pepper
• 1 tsp water
• 1 heaping Tbsp olive oil
• 1 sweet potato
• 1 zucchini
• chopped basil leaves
• 1 Tbsp chopped peanuts

Instructions

1. In a medium sized bowl, combine peanut butter, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, honey, sriracha sauce, salt, pepper and water.
2. Spiralize 1 sweet potato and zucchini.
3. On medium high heat, heat olive oil in a large saute pan and add your spiralized veggies. (You may need to cook the sweet potato in two saute pans)
4. Cook for 7 to 9 minutes or until noodles are cooked and golden brown.
5. Toss in the sauce and serve with basil and peanuts.

I know that the last thing all of us need (especially me) is another gadget, but this one is worth it to me.  Using spiralized vegetables is much lower in carbs and calories plus it makes an interesting texture for a change of pace.

The Discovery of More Storm Damage

Every other week during the summer we watch our daughter's two boys. They are old enough to stay alone, but it's a good chance to separate them from their sister and a chance to spend time with them. Today while Sam and Papa left on a mission, Jack (9 years old in 3 days) and I went for a walk to the river. We wanted to see how high it was after all the rain. There is an access point down the road from us. As we approached the path, we saw a downed tree ahead.

It had fallen across the path, but we were able to get over it.  Jack thought it might a little hard for me because I was a senior citizen.  I managed without too much difficulty. 

Once we got across, we saw another tree down.  This one I walked around instead of going over.

Usually from this point you can see the river but not this time.  As we looked ahead, all we could see was tree upon tree.  There was no way we could go any further.  

 

This must have happened during the storm two weeks ago.  I wrote this blog about that scary day.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2017/06/a-severe-june-thunderstorm.html

I knew it was bad, but not this bad.  It could easily have taken out our woods or even our house.  Jack was disappointed that we couldn't reach the river.  I told him we would go to another place next time and maybe do some fishing.  As we were walking home, we met the homeowner across the road from the path.  He was getting his mail.  He lost many many trees on his property.  He told me he was in his workshop when the storm hit and that suddenly all the air was sucked out of his workshop and actually lifted him off the ground.  He thought he was going to die.  He thinks it was a tornado although it was never declared as such.  I hope that doesn't happen again.

When we got home,  Jack and I took the metal detector.  He wanted to search for treasure in the woods.  That didn't work out either.  By the time we finished, Sam and Papa had returned.  We finally got rid of our old heavy 32 inch television.  It still worked perfectly, but it was time to join the modern world.  We found a place to take the television for a small fee.  

Today was a day to be thankful.