Christmas Eve

After having owned an antique fondue set for 12 years, we finally decided to give it a try on this Christmas Eve. Not even sure if we did it right... but it was tasty and fun. Like a Swiss hot pot! 
I also made Kahlua cheesecake last week, which is aging quite nicely. Our Christmas Eve dinner looked pretty fancy, but in reality there was very little preparation!

Almost Christmas

Hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas. I had my last early morning shift today before Christmas. Unfortunately Joe has to work a normal day tomorrow, but when I got off work earlier than scheduled today, Joe treated me to our favorite nacho and beer. Then, I managed to bake at least a batch of spritz cookies. Now I'm ready, I think.... At least for "The Christmas Story" movie.

Joe had gotten his deer all processed for us to enjoy. Spicy snack sticks and summer sausage are amazing!!! With venison ground meat I made my first ever meat loaf. We are hoping to try a few new venison recipes this winter. 

Merry Christmas to all! 

Christmas Spirit

Yesterday I printed our holiday greeting cards. Now our dining room is filled with ink smell and the table top and bottom with prints.

We decorated our potted pine tree with as many light-weight ornaments as it could hold, looking festive enough next to Joe's leg lamp.

This handsome lion was Joe's antique find when we were in Ironwood. He is dutifully carrying the Christmas spirit in our upstairs bathroom. 

Belated Thanksgiving

In the midweek after Thanksgiving we took a couple days off to see our friend KK from Hawaii. As the pictures show, we didn't travel to a tropical paradise. We met up in the winter wonderland of Ironwood. Such a short visit, but very nice. 

 With feather-like snow non-stop, it felt like Christmas.

A freshly cut Christmas tree was beautifully decorated. 

After saying a good bye to our friend from Hawaii, we were dreaming of the warm tropical sun. Joe cooked Loco Moco and Mac salad... in the middle of a winter storm, which gifted us with over a foot of snow. It's the season!  

It Feels Like a Snow Day

Since Joe shot his buck on the opening day, he is enjoying his hunting vacation in comfort. Yesterday and today I'm also off from work, definitely enjoying the rare 2-days off with Joe. This morning it's been snowing pretty hard, making it feel almost like a snow day, though it is the happy snow-globe kind of snow. We had an oven-baked pancake and café au lait for breakfast. 3 things on our to-do list today are Joe to get a haircut (currently on it), bring Joe's deer to the butcher (will see if it fits back in the truck), and make a batch of gyoza dumplings. 

And we'll need to remove snow later. When Joe left for a haircut, the car already had 3-4 inches of snow. 

Joe the Mighty Hunter!

Joe's deer season officially started this morning at dawn and ended before lunch. At 9:50 he shot this beautiful 8-point, fully knowing he only had one deer tag to fill. 

So I fixed our opening day tonkatsu dinner earlier than planned.  

Then we went out for dessert and drinks... well we ended adding a couple small plates of tasty Cajun bites to celebrate Joe's hunting success. Now he can relax and enjoy some time off from work.

Winter Is Here

It's been a while... but we are still alive! My work is getting busier for the holiday season, and Joe is going out to bait his hunting spots often after work. We managed to take a trip westward in late October. We got to have our fix of best Gyros from Ashland, WI, and a relaxing visit in Ironwood. The Big Lake was roaring with strong northwestern winds mixed with snow. Brrrrrr. 

So came Winter. It is still hard to believe the opening day of deer season is in two days. The woods became a winter wonderland.

And it is the season for hot pot  (nabe) dinners. We've been enjoying nabe about a couple times a week. Also we found some persimmons at a store. Joe really liked persimmons last time we were in Japan, so he was thrilled to have some again. 

Kayo's Birthday

For my birthday I got to have some snow, time to paint, as well as a tasty dinner at our favorite Cajun place. The paintings are not complete, but real close.... 

We also got to enjoy plenty of fresh salmon roe (a.k.a. bait) this fall. I still can't believe Joe eats it, too. 

First Snow

We are in the middle of fall color everywhere... then we woke up to some wet white snow yesterday morning. A bit of surprise, which is all melted already.
Even our commute to and from work is enjoyable this time of year. But it is more fun to be in the woods. 

Joe is starting to get ready for deer season, switching gears from trout season. 

The Cure for Fishing Fever

We both took this Wednesday off to fish Apple Creek together one last time this season AND to try to catch fall salmon.  We actually went fishing on Sunday and Monday evenings and caught a few decent Brook trout, but no salmon. We were ready to stay as long as it took on this trip.
As always Joe let me cast first at the Big Hole. I seemed to have casted every which way, and nothing. Joe threw his first cast where he wanted me to cast in the first place, and a salmon was on! Just like that. 20 inches.

So Joe instructed me exactly which color lure to use and where to cast.... Soon my rod was bending. I caught a 20" salmon, too. After this excitement fish seemed to have quit. Except I pulled another smaller salmon with the same lure, but let it go. Then I pretty much tried every color lure, while Joe tried with his nightcrawlers and spawn bags. Missed a couple, but nothing more to show. 

It was a beautiful crisp fall day on the stream. Trees were turning colors.

A good day fishing! 
I'll be working this weekend, missing the last days of trout season. It's a good thing that my fishing fever is cured. Joe will be out on the stream this weekend for sure though.

Wet, Soggy, and Blind

The end of September = the end of trout season is fast approaching. Yesterday, my day off from work, though rainy with a chance of thunder, we didn't want to waste our opportunity for a quick fishing trip. Our conscious minds telling us "fishing probably won't be good," yet once out on the stream... we started chasing monster fish that weren't there. Since I lost my biggest fish a couple of weeks ago, every time I shut my eyes, I see that particular fish. Fishing fever. 

This was NOT the fish Joe was after, still a nice 13 1/2" Brown. Just before this he missed and saw a much bigger fish mouth, which he believed was a salmon. We fished the entire length of the stream as usual, except faster racing against the losing light. We learned I do not do well with a fishing rod under pressure and in poor visibility. I lost one lure, trying to catch the bigger fish Joe missed, and almost lost second one at the very end. That's when my rod broke as Joe was helping to get my lure back from a snag. Not a good day fishing for Kayo : ( 
P.S. Joe did get my spinner unsnagged : )
P.P.S. We will continue fishing as often as we can the next ten days.

The Greatest Fishing Story Ever Told

Last Monday, Labor Day, I took a day off from work so we could go out to Apple Creek again. The weather was good, and rainbow trout under 10" were playful in the fast waters. The Big Hole continued to be finicky, though Joe managed to catch this 12" rainbow on a crawler. The only keeper of the day, who was simply delicious, cooked on our hibachi grill. Also when we were at the Big Hole an eagle flew down around the bend below tree tops. I'm pretty sure I ducked. The eagle was just as surprised to encounter us.

Then Tuesday and Wednesday we got over 5 inches of rain in places. Friday Joe checked the river and determined it was not fishable. But after a 700-miles-in-less-than-20-hours round trip downstate for a funeral Saturday, the water became less murky brown and mostly fishable. So we took a leisurely fishing trip yesterday. Water was still at least a foot higher than normal. Fish were nowhere to be found.

Still, we continued on fishing above the falls. It's September and in this high water, there is a good chance salmon could be up for spawning.... Just as we were turning around to go back, I casted one last time. What felt like a snag and appeared to be a driftwood piece was actually a huge fish! All I could do was to keep my line tight while I hoped Joe managed to beach the monster... the challenge was we had no net. Well, the biggest German Brown Joe had ever seen in the river, approximately 27", broke my line and slipped away even though Joe tried to grab and stop it with all his power. The whole event was surreal, yet clearly etched in my memory. Somehow I was not as upset as I thought I would be. The fish even took my lure, but I feel it was totally worth it. We both knew Uncle Bob and Dad were watching us, laughing hard. Fishing and smoking was the most fitting way to end the weekend to remember and think of Uncle Bob's passing.

Apple Creek At Last!

I've been training a new person at work this month, and this Sunday was my first weekend day off. Joe was also off call, so we took our second trip out to Apple Creek this season. August is not a good month for catching "big ones", and it could get quite warm by midday. We opted for a quick trip, wanting to see any changes from heavy rains in June. We soon found out that the Big Hole was just as picturesque and very finicky as we remembered. We know the big ones are in there.... 
Sharing a can of craft beer on the river was the highlight.

Still, we managed to catch some fish. Mostly rainbows under 9 inches, which are quite fun catching in the fast waters. I think we ended up catching over a dozen between the two of us. Joe caught a couple of fish over 10", including this brookie. 

A few maple trees are starting to turn colors. I suspect the peak of color season is still a month away, but fall is coming. In fact, this week our sister city delegates from Japan are in town, and we are having chilly weather. The day time high for today was about 55. Brrrrrr. It should warm up later in the week though.

State Fair, Already!

It is time for the State Fair again. Yesterday evening we had a perfect weather, not too hot, not too cold. This time we actually didn't stuff ourselves too badly, rather enjoyed visiting with Joe's aunt and uncle who were on vacation from down state. My favorite is always the colorful lights that come on after dark.

  

Earlier in the day I had my every-other-year ritual of haircut. Here's the pictures of "Before" and,,,

"After." So much lighter now!