Hey Bill, "We are Sinking"

Grand Marais tag line is "Nature in Abundance" - so on the way here I was mentioning to Bill that I wanted to see 2 things... a porcupine and a bear. Strangely I've never seen either of these creatures up close (dead on the side of the road doesn't count). So yesterday on the way to the lake there was a porcupine in the road. They don't move too fast so Bill chased him into the woods to get pictures for me.. and I have to admit they are cool critters.
I was sure that seeing the porcupine on the way to fishing was good luck. So off we go to our hot spot withBill telling me he was going to catch a bigger bass than I had yesterday... as we get to our hot spot and Bill catches the first fish, I'm thinking huh I wonder why the boat seems so much closer to the water, it must be the waves are higher today than any other day this week... I didn't think much of it as I was busy trying to find the fish and next thing I know I look down to see water at my feet. So I calmly say Hey Bill.... I think we are sinking... maybe the plug is not in the boat.... (for those non boaters out there - there is this little plug that goes in the back of the boat - it's purpose is to have a way to let any water out of the boat when you are on dry land, however it needs to be in the boat when you are in the water)... anyway needless to say we made it out of the water and it was quite an adventure... not sure the porcupine was lucky after all. Here's a few pics of some other friends we met along the way...

Fishing in the Rain

Yes blog readers, since we are in GM to fish, Bill really doesn't care if it happens to be windy, cold, raining, or any other variety of horrible weather. I might have preferred to stay at the cabin with a book, however that was NOT an option... Don't worry, I made the best of it (what rain?)

Grand Marais v2011

Hey blog readers, it's the end of May - which for many mean's time to plant your garden, time for Cole's birthday, time to plant corn, and for Bill & I... time to go to Grand Marais and catch FISH... on this trip we decided to take the long way and visit Escanaba (because Bill loves the movie) but now we are here, catching our favorite fish... today after a particularly good day of fishing, it started to thunder storm while we are on this huge lake, just about as far from the launch as you can be... we are catching fish left and right and the thunder starts to roll.... after a few last catches and a few last fish (just one more cast Bill) we drove as fast as the boat could take us off the lake just in time to miss getting soaked..

But, here I am, sitting at the cabin writing this blog, and I see the sun is coming back out now and the storm is over... so I think we will go see if the fishies are still in their same spot waiting for us... more fish stories coming soon... Here's to hoping you are having as much fun as we are!

Hell's Kitchen Tryouts

For quite some time now after watching Hell's Kitchen, I've been wanting to make Beef Wellington. Since cooking alone is not half as much fun as cooking with friends (and wine) I called Amy and Christine and convinced them this was a good plan. Mike and Bill were fishing and Jackie was farming so it was a good time to make some Wellington.

Armed with wine, our Chef Ramsey video (which we only watched ab out 6 times) and our Pampered Chef tools, we managed to pull it off... delicious wellington perfectly cooked by the 3 amigo's ... I think we could be on Hell's Kitchen, but only if we were a team.

Finally... A Turkey

As my buddy Paul Harvey would say, and now for the rest of the story... you might remember the story about my "first turkey" in 2009 - well, welcome to 2011 when I FINALLY got my first turkey... if you missed it, here is the beginning of the story.

Earlier in the week during our Turkey season this May, Bill somehow managed to shoot 2 turkeys with one bullet - in all of 30 minutes.... So I decided to give turkey hunting another go.. it had been some time since our first experience and I managed to get out of work early on a sunny Friday afternoon. Out to Badiner's we went and on the way we revisited the rules....

The rules of turkey hunting are simple. Turkey with Red Head... Shoot! Turkey with Blue Head, Shoot! Turkey with a gray head, DON'T SHOOT (those are girl turkey's).

So after some cat scratch sounds by Bill, and seenig some turkey's way too far away to shoot... I was starting to wonder why I even bother with this turkey stuff... so I told Bill, lets go home... to which he said, OK but lets try one more spot... we trek over to the field like Mr. & Mrs. Fudd and ohmygosh I see A RED HEAD... I pull up my gun and say.... Shoot? Shoot? to which Bill says YES, YES shoot already (did you forget the rules already)... so I shoot... who knows why the turkey stuck around for this conferece but he did... after I shot I said - again, again??? Bill says nope we're done. And here he is.. my first turkey (and yes Bill did have his gun)

Easter Egg Hunt

We celebrated Easter at our house this year and the weather was beautiful so we were able to have a Easter Egg Hunt and color eggs outside on the patio. The kids and adults really enjoyed being outside on a nice sunny day. Of course as usual there was plenty of food and fun.

Look Mom - I made Deviled Eggs!

and Bill made Ribs (in the smoker)

What's Spring without some Baby Doves

Switzerland

Hey blogreaders, I know its been awhile since I have added any updates, work has been a little busy, I once again have a new job (although I'm sure I'll still be doing a big part of my current job for awhile). Becuase of this new role, I recently visited Switzerland for a team meeting. For those of you who can't easily find Switzerland on the globe, don't feel bad... my mom and dad couldn't either (hint - its in the middle of Europe and its really small). Unfortunatly because I was in meetings the entire time I was there, I wasn't able to do much sightseeing, but I was able to take a few pics around the hotel I stayed at and a pic of the Stryker building in Selzach.