How Many Bikes?

How many bikes does one person need? The answer depends on who you ask. Todd has three and he recently put up some hooks so we could get them off the floor. He loves doing this sort of thing and as Todd's father says about the garage, "everything is in it's place and every place has it's thing."

Bike #1 - the mountain bike for uneven terrain.

Bike #2 - the road bike for long distances and speed (watch out Lance and the Tour de France).

Bike #3 - the commuter bike that gets Todd to Starbucks, school, and home.

Desperate times!

Desperate times call for desperate measures when it comes to certain things in life, like Kim's rice supply. Back in April I ran out of rice - OH MY! And I wasn't going to be able to get to the Asian grocery store in Minneapolis for a while so I broke down and paid way too much for this 5 lb. bag of rice at the grocery store. I'll have to make it last until I get to Minneapolis to buy the 50 lb. bag at a good price. Those of you who grew up in Hawaii understand my predicament.

Critters

I love Wisconsin because of all the creatures (plants and animals) around me. Looks like we have a new critter who's decided our home is a good one. This is the window at the front of the house, on first glance, nothing special.

But what's this stuff under the fake shutter?

The bat pooped; he or she is kinda cute!

Spring Planting

Memorial Day weekend was great -beautiful weather. Mom and Dad visited on Sunday and Monday. We had fun shopping at Klinger Fram Market in Chippewa Falls - I always get into trouble there with all the wonderful plants.

Mom and I planting the begonias.

Dad, Mom and Todd.

Signs of Spring

I love my yard and one of my favorite things are the lilac bushes. They began blooming before we left on the BWCAW trip and I thought I'd miss the peak. Luckily when we returned I got to enjoy them for a few days - wish I could send the smell via this post - it's wonderful! You have to enjoy these while you can because they don't last long.



Although the lilacs are no longer in bloom, I love to look out at the bushes at night to see one or two fire flies flying around them. It looks like little specks of light blinking at you.

BWCAW - Day 5

A leisurely morning, no rush because we had plenty of time to get to the portage at 1 p.m. for our tow back. We did the first 100 rod portage into Frog Lake and checked out the one campsite on there - kind of small and not so nice. We would have fished but if we caught anything we'd have to haul it over the second 100 rod portage into Birch Lake. We canoed west and a little north, stopping on a very small island on the Canadian side to have lunch. Here's our tow - he was right on time.


Misty and I enjoying the boat ride.


Todd in the front of the boat.


Misty decided to join him.

After 5 days of running around like a maniac, someone was ready to go home. Here she is, waiting in the car while we took showers and organized the gear.

Napping on the 5 hour drive home; using her "monster" as a pillow.

BWCAW - Day 4

Thursday was the BIG day of portaging - 6 portages (30, 180, 20, 80, 180, and 100 rods) - a total of 590 rods! That's less than two miles, but when you're carrying a 40 lb. pack across rocks, fallen trees, mud, and inclines - it feels a lot longer. After a hearty breakfast of french toast and bacon (which took way too long to cook), here we are, ready to head out on the first portage.


Along the way you see some intersting stuff, like this thing. I think it's some kind of fungi; sort of looks like a red brain.

This is on the 180 rod portage, beautiful view at the top, but tough to get there.

Time for a swim - the portage made this little girl hot and thirsty.

We camped on Trident Lake, a smaller lake with only two campsites - no one was at the other one so we had the whole lake to ourselves - yeah! I didn't think there'd be anyone there because of the long portages. Lucky fish day - Todd caught two large mouth bass from the shore of our campsite. We also caught two Northern Pike, one small, the other very large but it managed to get "unhooked" and swam to freedom. This lake is not heavily used so the fishin' was good and it's only one of the few lakes with large mouth bass.


What do you do when you catch two fish? You throw the smaller one back, make a toasty camp fire, and...........

contemplate how good your dinner will be!


This is our new tent from REI - it's THE BEST! Super easy to put up and take down, sturdy and lots of ventilation; well worth the money.

By Thurday, someone had run herself so ragged, she couldn't wait to crawl in there for the night.

BWCAW - Day 3

Our campsite on Knife Lake. A wonderfully sunny and warm day. Here I am, organizing our stuff and getting ready to pack it in the sack.


Don't forget the all important tackle box, net, and oars.


Loaded the canoe and ready to set off. Notice anything about the water? Not calm - it was a very windy day - we had to battle a head wind.


Since it was windy, I suggested we turn south instead of continuing east. We headed into Bonnie lake where we decided to troll the line for a bit - and we caught another Northern.

It was just before noon so we stopped at the campsite near the portage to have lunch. Can't get fresher fish than that; caught, filleted, and fried in 20 mins.

Time for an after lunch cup of coffee.

Where's Misty? Doing one of her favorite things........romping around and sniffing. Can you find her (or part of her)?

Todd portaged the canoe AND pack - that had to be a total of 100 lbs. WOW!

Made it to camp - everyone needed a rest.

Caught another Northern Pike that evening at 9 p.m. - we saved this one for Thursday lunch! Misty giving it a good sniff! Then it started to rain - time to head in the tent - what a great way to end a good day.

BWCAW - Day 2

Tuesday was cloudy, very cool (in the 40s), and rainy. We did two long portages, the first 180 rods, the second 200 rods. We were lucky because just as we finished the second portage it began raining really hard. We put on our rain gear, flipped over the canoe on a fallen tree and sat under it for an hour. The rain finally let up and we continued on. Here I am with some vanilla pudding for dessert. No fish today - boo!

BWCAW - Day 1 cont'd

We made it to camp early on Monday, 2 p.m. in the afternoon.

I decided to fish for a bit, not expecting to catch anything at that time of day because early morning and evening are best. I was casting less than 5 mins. and landed this beautiful northern pike - guess what we're having for dinner?

Todd napping in the sun.


Misty found the hole in the tree that the chipmunk calls home. "I can smell you little chipmunk!"

"..............and now I will eat through this tree to get you!"

Fillet of Northern for supper - breaded and fried - of course!