Crooked Lake

We went there looking for the swans. They were there, but hidden. November has its own kind of melancholy beauty.

warm November days

The pond has had a skim of ice on it a couple of mornings, maybe even today, although I did not take a close look on the way back from bringing Starflower to meet the bus. It was 24 degrees, so it could have happened. But by afternoon, with the temperature approaching 60, the ice was most certainly gone. Sally enjoyed it.

I stayed home with Mr. Attitude today, since he had a fever and sore throat. It was one of those throats that makes you wince when you hear him cough or try to talk. He seemed better after I gave him a Ricola cough drop. (Can you hear the alpenhorn in the distance?) I made him homemade chicken soup for lunch, with fresh sage, garlic and thyme. I am becoming a firm believer in the healing powers of herbs and chicken soup. I'm sure no small part of it is the care and love that goes into making the soup. He is napping now. I'll probably keep him home tomorrow as well, since I have the day off anyway.

update- it looks as if Starflower and possibly Calvin may be joining us at home tomorrow. More chicken soup is on order!

homegrown spaghetti squash

Doesn't have the ring to it like "homegrown tomatoes", does it? But this is probably the week where I'll enjoy the last of the homegrown tomatoes and move on to more durable storage things, like squash.

I did not end up with a lot of winter squash from my garden this year. However, a coworker started leaving bags of produce at my desk, by my car, everywhere, and among them was an abundance of winter squash. Mostly butternut and acorn, which are delectable and good keepers. I have probably over fifty pounds of edible squash flesh in my pantry and I am grateful.

I did manage, however, to produce a few spaghetti squash. This was my first year growing them, and considering the other varieties I planted didn't justify their space in the garden, I am impressed at the productivity of the spaghetti variety.

I must take issue with the name thing. While, when cooked, they do produce strands of flesh that may resemble a pasta product, the flavor is much more sublime than noodles, which are really just an excuse to pour on the sauce. I would never overwhelm the delicate flavor of spaghetti squash with a heavy pasta sauce. A little butter and salt and pepper, maybe garlic will do just fine, thank you.

They are really easy to cook too. The hardest part is cutting one in half, which I may have to resort to a kitchen size chain saw for. Once it is cut, by whatever means, scoop out the seeds, then spread a little butter or olive oil over the halves, put some water in the bottom of the pan, and bake at 375 for about an hour. Then take a fork and tease out the strands of cooked squash. Season as desired. That's it. We had them with boneless pork chops and rotini tonight (just because Mr. Attitude will eat more of anything when it is served with pasta!)

November woods

This morning, after the end of a brief rain storm that had interrupted Calvin's deer hunting, he asked me if I would like to see his hunting spot. I had absolutely nothing more important going on, so off we went.

I really don't get out in our woods often enough these days. This is a spot just south of the cabin, in a grove of white and red pine. There were signs of deer everywhere in the carpet of pine needles. Calvin was thinking of using the fallen pine as a blind.

Since I had last been to this area, which was roughly one or two months ago, this long deceased pine trunk had broken and fallen to the ground. I'm guessing it made quite a loud noise, if anyone was around to hear it. This tree had been dead for nearly as long as we have owned this land (15 years). Now the fungi and invertebrates and single celled creatures will do their work of turning the wood back into topsoil.

The air was still among the pines, fairly warm for November, and as we stood there silently a feeling of peace came over me. I wanted to just sit there, find a dry spot and sit with the trees for some time, try and reclaim some of what is lost when we stay away from the trees for too long. I want to go hunting now, if for nothing else than to just be outside.

While Calvin and I were enjoying the moment, I noticed this little spruce with a very obvious antler rub! Some of the branches were even sheared off. Calvin can't wait to get out there later this afternoon.

rites of passage

Calvin finally went deer hunting today. He saw a doe, but knew she was too far away for him to get a good shot. He is sleeping over at the Man Cave tonight, going out first thing in the morning. I think he's hooked.

I think this is a very significant thing in the life of a young man. Far from being some kind of "get more kids exposed to hunting" thing, this is personal. He will always remember his first hunting experience.

I never had exposure to a hunting tradition in my family. My grandpa went deer hunting occasionally, but it was not a tradition that was passed along. I don't recall any hunting on my dad's side. I have only carried a gun occasionally, and I don't think I have ever successfully shot anything, though I have walked grouse trails and sat in a deer blind. I would like to shoot maybe one deer, for the meat, but perhaps that is something for another day.

As for another rite of passage, I took Starflower to Wal Mart (yuck) today to get some supplies for a school project. While we were there, she reminded me that maybe we needed to start looking at bras, since some of the girls in her class wear them and all that. Yeah. So when did they stop making "training bras" and start making push up bras for ten year olds? I did let her buy one, though I really don't think she needs it yet.

So why was I not in the deer stand with Starflower today? Tradition I guess. I can't expect her to learn what I never learned myself.

a few more walleye, and deer season

I'll admit, I did not sit down at the computer knowing what I was going to post, and I really don't feel like writing anything. I came home early with the vague feeling that something wasn't quite right with me. I even went into the living room and turned on Emeril, just because I could and I certainly wasn't going to go running. I took my temperature and it registered at 98.6, which for me is a full degree above normal. I don't even feel like drinking beer. Why does this have to happen on the weekend?

Maybe it's the mom guilt. Calvin was complaining of a scratchy throat when he woke up, which I reassured him would be fine once he drank something. Wood stoves tend to promote dry atmospheres. I insisted he go to school, partly because I was second guessing my decision to leave Mr. Attitude home yesterday, and partly because Calvin had spent a couple questionable sick days home already. I told him he could always go to the nurse's office if he wasn't feeling right.

Of course the school nurse called me at work a little after 9 AM. I had a work thing I could not get out of, but I called The Hermit and he could pick Calvin up. They ended up going to Duluth, getting Calvin's first ever deer license and eating a 1/3 pound burger for lunch. Sore throat indeed. But did I mention our immune systems seem to be functioning pretty well.

Meanwhile, I ended up driving over a hundred miles following a fish stocking truck around to several lakes. The state contracts out some of its walleye stocking to vendors now, but authorized personnel (me) have to be around when the fish go into the lake. I don't know what to think about fish stocking anymore, but I kind of like my paycheck. Which came today, hooray.

No music tonight. I'm thinking if I can just drag myself up to bed that will be enough. It is nice that we don't need a fire in the wood stove tonight since the temperature almost made 60 in the afternoon. It is nice that the weekend forecast shows more of the same. Of course, I never enjoy the first weekend of deer season around here. During my travels today I passed several bars, and the parking lots were extremely crowded for the time of day. The freeway was busy with citdiots and their trailers with four wheelers, and I'm even thinking running this weekend might be a bad idea. Ah, deer season.

musical moments

I realized a long time ago that I am way over my head with musical instruments. Flute, mandolin, guitar, octave mandolin, banjo, and keyboard although I gave that to the kids. If I have an hour of consciousness between dinner and bedtime I am lucky to get some practice in. That is, if Starflower or Mr. Attitude are not practicing piano; then I try not to disturb them with my own plunkings. I really need to reclaim part of the MAN CAVE as my musical practice area.

Today I had an unexpected day home as Mr. Attitude had a sore throat, and I had promised him last night I would stay home with him if he was sick today. He wasn't that sick, and I have decided we must have superior immune systems around here, since the kids are never very sick! But still, I believe a day at home is better than a day at school if there is any doubt.

I took advantage of the morning by playing my flute. For some reason I felt like playing a tune I had heard, but never seen written in music. I found out quickly I could play the tune well. Then I listened to the recording I had first heard that tune on, and learned a couple more tunes. By the end of my practice session I had mastered a set of three tunes: Rosie Finn, Sean Bui, and The Kid On The Mountain. My thanks to The Bothy Band for the inspiration.

We also put up a new bird feeder hanger. Hopefully the feeders are up high enough now that cats can't get to them.