Thanksgiving and Black Friday Weekend

Joe is still hunting.... It's almost 6pm and dark out, and I haven't heard from him. That means a buck bigger than 4 points hasn't walked in. Deer season continues. 

My Thanksgiving day hunting was a success. I got to watch a couple of does in addition to squirrels and birds and took a nap. A doe wouldn't leave when we wanted to leave for lunch, even though we made noise. 

Thanks to Joe's family we got to have a warm turkey meal after a whole day being outdoors. The only things I made the day before were date bars and cranberry bars to share with Joe's family and my workplace. And yes, I survived another Black Friday weekend at work!

Still Hunting...

This is the week 2 of deer season. Joe's been commuting to his deer blind most days, dawn till dusk, except for a couple of work days mid-week. Yesterday we both came home from work at 5 and felt like going out... a rare treat for someone normally working retail hours till 7pm. 

This big buck still shows regularly, though only at night, which is why Joe keeps going out to his deer blind even in wintery weather. Tomorrow, Thanksgiving day, I'll be going along, mostly hoping to catch some snooze. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

The weekend before the deer season opening day was snowy... which is perfectly normal. Still, when you wake up to a snow-covered Saturday morning, having fresh croissants and coffee at a cozy French bakery is the way to start a day! 

Snow also makes it feel more like deer season, though Joe and many other hunters wouldn't want too much of it. Hopefully it won't snow much more over night.  

Joe is all ready for tomorrow morning. He's really hoping to take a shot at one of the two bucks he missed last season. Good luck! 

What's New in November?!

November is almost halfway through... counting down the last few days till deer season. Totally unrelated, but our beloved red microwave of 10+ years started acting up last month. It still worked, but a few days at a time, when you opened the door, it turned on with its dish turning backwards. We decided it was now possessed and time to be replaced. I still miss our old one... but this new one is red and cute. I can live with it.

And last night we drove 50 miles to have ramen at a place we'd never been. A rather fancy establishment that just added Asian/Japanese street/bar food inspired items. Maybe not quite like flying to Japan... but it was definitely a fun adventure that we'll repeat.

Trick or Treat!!

Happy Halloween! This weekend Joe continued to get ready for deer season... now 2 weeks out. The corn he puts out has been mostly feeding a couple of young bucks with skinny points, a few does, and raccoons so far. Hopefully a bigger buck will show up soon.

Sunday was very gusty, so we went to check out the lakeshore for big waves. 

Too windy to skip rocks... but October-November gales bring out a bunch of surfers. The temperature was still around 45 degrees. There must have been 15 people in wet suits today!

We had a pleasant walk through the woods away from the off-shore wind before treating ourselves with a pint of beer. We came home in time to hand out candies to the neighborhood trick-or-treaters. They were happy that it didn't snow! All in all, this October turned to be milder than usual for us.

Kayo's Birthday Weekend

Sadly my birthday weekend is coming to an end,  but I got to enjoy many things we love around town. Even better we got to share with a few friends. And for mid October the weather was mild, which means no snow and we could still sit outdoors to have beer. We squeezed in a little exploration along the lake shore as well. It still amazes us to find new spots that we had never been to not far from our usual spots.

There was also an off road rally event this weekend. We didn't put as much effort in taking part as spectators, but it was still fun to see and hear all these cars drive away.

Pretty sure Joe and his brother Mark had more fun than me though. I better be careful not to speed driving my Subaru to work tomorrow! 

 

Fall Colors and Grape Jelly

Our October has been warmer but wet. The fall colors are disappearing fast now. Also switching our gear from fishing to hunting... although the warm weather can keep the bears out and around.

We certainly got enough grapes this year. We canned twice as much jelly as shown here, plus extra juice... in case we run out of our jelly... or more like just because I was done jelly making for now.