Thursday, March 13, 2014

march 17th




*HERE'S WHAT'S NEW AT THE LODGE*

the larson's are excited to try tapping our 
maple trees up north and making maple syrup for the first time.

i asked cole if he was the one that flagged the maples in the fall and
he said he and eric got busy doing other things the weekend
that they intended to do it and when we went back the following weekend the
leaves were off the trees so this will be interesting.
(like as in -what if we tap 20 trees and they aren't even the
sugar maples....haha- )   well i guess if that happens it will
be part of the learning curve, but here is lars working on the 
very first tap. you have to first drill a hole in the trunk down low and 
then screw in the purchased tapper at an angle and either hang a bag off it-
which is what this one has, or else a pail.
i guess we're going to buy pails to use on the rest of the trees.
*it's a science experiment figuring all this out. you can't do it too early
-or too late or you miss the show.
it takes an amazing 40 GALLONS of sap my friends
to make just one gallon of maple syrup!
if you didn't know that, now you know why pure maple syrup
is so spendy.











we can't wait to go back and see what's in the bags~
hopefully it won't be a squirrel.  : )


**********


the next fun news is that we have new neighbors right at the end of our
driveway~ some of them have two feet and some of them have 4. 
a young couple has moved into the little brown house there and when i 
heard they had a baby AND a miniature horse, i couldn't wait to meet them!

i'd like you to meet willis~

willis is almost 2- but he looked like an aging miniature buffalo to me....
i guess he was a rescue horse and he is lucky enough to have recently been
adopted by these kids, for their little girl. (isn't that sweet?)

a good shave and a haircut and i bet this darling little guy is going to be very handsome!
i see his potential. he is sweet and really shy. next time i go visit i'll have to 
fill my pockets with treats for him.




the owner ryan, told me that although willis is very shy, when he brings his baby girl out
to see him, willis comes right over and stands patiently waiting for her to pet him!!!





so, this is alice. beautiful blue eyed alice.

what kind of treats do you think i should put in my pocket for her?  
i could not be more excited to have a little 1 yr. old to visit when i'm at the cabin.



willis and alice. friends.



our neighbors tim and kris raise chickens and horses and black angus cattle.
the cattle are having their babies right now. i grew up on a dairy farm and we also
had black angus, so seeing these newborn  calves was fun.




"whatcha lookin at?"


i took this shot just to show you how big, uncomfortable and wide this poor mama cow was!
as someone who birthed 3 babies and was a week overdue with the first two and 10 days late with the last one, i felt compassion for her. i suggested spicy food or more walking. she just stood there.




and this dude? he had all the fun, is doing none of the work...and had the nerve to
give me this look!

************

back at the lodge we did quite a bit of relaxing...i always make sure
to have a couple new magazines and i even discovered a bottle of margarita mix in the
back of the fridge from last summer. pair that with a big bonfire in the snow and you've got
an instant party!




love these vintage thermos's (what is plural for thermos?)









duke never stops tearing around. it's a dog's dream up there.

but then...seth is pretty much the same. he's either curled up with a book or
running around outside. i love how even tho he's 14 yrs. old, if he's outside alone
and i peek out the window, he'll probably have a big stick in his hands and be
swashbuckling it through the air- no doubt fighting off dragons in his mind.









and it just wouldn't be a good post for me without a couple favorite shots of nature, the deer, birds
and signs of winter that catch my eye.










it really won't be long now and this garden i love will be thawed out and boy do
i have plans for it~



the lean to the boys built for our stash of wood ~ if i were a little bunny, it's where i'd be living.

chickadees are my favorite birds. can't get enough of them.




this got long, but if you're one of my readers you've probably noticed that i haven't
blogged for a while. i have been extra busy and i had some issues
uploading photos.

here's to a great week for you and for me!
i've missed this.

if you're irish- go celebrate!!!


xo, beth











2 comments:

  1. When you titled your blog "Here's what's new at the lodge" then the picture at top of the black angus....I thought for sure you were going to say you bought cows. Oh dear...I've missed your blogs. Jill

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wondered if that would fool people.... : ) Made tapping the trees look pretty tame didn't it?

    ReplyDelete

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