No place like home

So, 2017 has been a pretty eventful year with another big change this fall...we bought a house!  Crazy to believe, but we have been transient for soo long and wanted to have our own place to fix up for however long that is.  Our house is located in the Village of Suamico (another one of the adjacent villages to Green Bay, pronounced SUE ah mick oh), about 8 miles north of where we rented in Howard.  We are little a bit further out of downtown Green Bay, with our own post office, trash pick up service, and well water, so it seems really rural even though it is not far at all from the heart of the city.  The house was built in 1984, so that must be a sign.  We have a 0.6 acre wooded lot with a fenced yard and lots of garden space and outdoor living areas on a screened porch and deck.  The house needs some cosmetic and energy updating inside (a lot of "old" original stuff from the 80s), but SOME of that we are actually looking forward to working on. Since we have some overlap with our rental house, we worked on several projects before we moved in mid-December (including raking all of those leaves and cleaning out the gutters!).  Of course we had a major winter storm the day before (Chloe) the movers showed up, so there was a lot of snow blowing and shoveling at both houses to get everything cleared.  We now have an older snowblower that came our way since last winter, so my bet to see how long we can go without one is over. Good thing!

On moving day morning it was a blustery 10 degrees.  Moving in WI in December keeps things interesting anyway.  One of my biggest disappointments is that I won't be able to use the yard and garden until May!  Teddy is in heaven already in his own yard- he loves it...when he can walk through the drifted snow banks.

A lot of people ask if we will stay in Wisconsin.  I don't know the answer to that or for how long, but for the time being, it will be nice have our own home.  We are regulars at Home Depot, ReStore, and Menards now, sometimes multiple time per day.  Lessons learned so far:

1. Do not move in winter in WI.  Ever.
2. Wallpaper borders are the devil.
3. Toilet guts are not made to last 30 years.
4. Check to ensure the hot water heater is turned on before taking your first shower.  Thanks for the cold welcome shower, sellers!
5. If you want something done right, you have to DIY.

I've said it before and will say it again, guests are always welcome if you want to come out/up/over and see Green Bay.  We don't get too many visitors in these parts (WI is not really "on the way" to anywhere), so we offer the full tourism experience once you get yourself here and tell us what you want to see.  Just ask Rosie...I took her to one of the biggest dairy farms in WI (well, I drove her there after she set up the tour) and to see "The Lake," which cannot be missed. :)

More photos coming soon!

Before project leaf rake

1o degrees F the day after 8 inches of snow...looks like a great day to move!

Happy holidays!

Crane Congregations

I heard about the fall crane congregations program at the Aldo Leopold Foundation (ALF) last year and immediately added "see sandhill cranes congregate by the thousands for migration" to my bucket list, as should be on the bucket list of every wildlife enthusiast.  I have appreciated my connection with ALF since participating in the Land Ethic Leader program in 2014, and had hoped to make more trips to the outskirts of Baraboo, WI (only a 2.5 hour drive from Green Bay) to participate in some of the weekend events, so this was a great opportunity for a quick overnight trip.  I registered us back in September to participate in the Crane Congregations program for December 2.  Even though dates were available in November, we were not free until December, which gave me some heartburn given that sitting outside in a blind in Wisconsin at that time of year may not be the most comfortable activity (lots of people do it though!  Ice fishing anyone?).  Nonetheless, I decided it was worth it and the cranes would still be there.

December 2nd came around and who would have thought we would have a "heat wave" (upper 40s!) over the weekend.  As if I wasn't excited enough already, the weather was absolutely gorgeous AND we were for sure going to see cranes since winter didn't show up too early.  We made the drive down to Baraboo and had a quick picnic lunch before arriving at ALF in the early afternoon.  A few extra minutes meant we had time to look around the beautiful Leopold Center exhibits before the program began.  We had an abbreviated, but engaging guided tour of the Leopold Shack during the off season, which was a great addition to the program.  This was my third visit overall and second time inside.  The Shack belongs to the family of Aldo Leopold and serves as a meaningful gathering place for conservationists and enthusiasts of Leopold's conservation writings.  Scott and I visited for the first time back in 2013 when I was in Wisconsin for The Wildlife Society's annual conference, before we ever would have guessed we would live here.  We thought we rolled in to Milwaukee for JUST for a couple of days to eat cheese and drink beer!  Thankfully, most WI events involve some form of beer and cheese one way or another (read on...).

Leopold Shack

After the tour, we returned to the Leopold Center for a delicious WINE and cheese reception (with all local products of course) and conversation with the other participants.  We sat with a couple from Iowa who came up for the weekend (the guy was a tai chi instructor- cool!).  Next was a great presentation by Dr. Stan Temple, ALF Senior Fellow, about the life history of sandhill cranes and migration patterns.  We learned that the nearby stretch of the Wisconsin River is an important traditional staging area for the birds that typically stay in small family groups to gather together in safe areas with plenty of food resources before they begin to move south for migration.  They really like the sandy islands in the Wisconsin River as overnight roosting locations after feeding in nearby farm fields during the day.  Most of the sandhills in Wisconsin travel towards Florida for migration, but often don't have to go that far unless conditions deteriorate at some of their other stopovers (many end up in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee if winter isn't too harsh).  For some of my east coast readers who are not familiar with sandhills, they are absolutely huge (4 feet tall!), and evoke a lot of excitement from me even though they are very common here in WI.  Earlier this year, two of them were standing in my front yard right in the city (Teddy was going nuts!).  They are just so regal, it's hard not to be captivated.  In fact, I have always loved that Leopold described them as "the trumpet in the orchestra of evolution," which I think is such an eloquent way to put it.

About 1 hour before sunset, we carpooled down the road to the viewing location and loaded into a tractor-drawn wagon to ride through an oak savannah restoration area (open grassy areas with a few scattered trees) to the blind location.  Once we arrived, people spread out between the outdoor and indoor viewing areas to get a good look at all the action.  Based on past blind experiences, I was expecting to be sitting still in a cramped area on the ground, but it was so nice to be able to move around to get different vantage points.  The sights and sounds of thousands of cranes coming in for the night, not to mention the beautiful sunset, keep everyone busy for awhile.  At one point, I was watching all the cranes gathering on the island and happened to see a flash or two of white.  White peaked my interest because I knew there was a chance we could see whooping cranes (wild, but captive-reared as part of the reintroduction program).  I was right- two whooping cranes were in the mix!!  It was really exciting to see an endangered species in the wild in which so much time and effort is invested, even though normally whoopers and sandhills would not congregate together.  These whoopers get reintroduced with sandhill families in WI so they learn how to migrate from the sandhills.  Pretty cool.

The birds finally settled in for the night and the show was over.  We loaded back in to the wagon just as it was getting dark and headed back to our vehicles.  After making the return trip into Baraboo for the night, I convinced Scott to go to Driftless Glen Distillery for dinner, which I had noticed last time I was in the area.  We enjoyed some delicious house spirits and soup and salad for dinner before retiring back to the hotel for the night.

A very special experience that I hope to relive again sometime!  I hope those of you in southern climes enjoy the sandhills for the winter.  Looking forward to their return to Green Bay in March!

 The blind

Behind the outdoor viewing blind

 Photo through my binoculars of the sandhills on the island- so many!

View of the Wisconsin River from inside the blind

Cranes flying toward the river. Make sure you have sound!

View and sounds of cranes on the Wisconsin River

Garden timelapse 2017

We had a good garden season this year and the wetter weather (at times it was too wet!) meant that we didn't have to water too often over at the community garden.  We did have heavy insect pressure on some of the plants and lost two acorn squash plants early.  We also learned a little bit from last year and installed a landscaping fabric on half of the garden (around tomatoes, peppers, and squash) and a row of wood chips to help keep the weeds down, and it did cut down on weeding time significantly.  See vegetable list and a time lapse of the garden progress below.  A fun second season in the garden!

Garden menu (in rough order of production):

Tomatoes

Kale

Assorted lettuce

Purple cabbage

Hot peppers

Onions

Spaghetti squash

Red-skinned potatoes

Peas

Bell peppers

Most of the planting and seeding completed on May 28-29 (Memorial Day weekend)

 June 20

 July 2

July 22

August 4

August 27 

September 6

September 23

October 6

October 11

October 29- hard freeze overnight ends the gardening season (late this year!)

Goodnight, garden!

Lots of delicious veggies this year!

Hartman Creek

Camping had been on the "to get to" list and the weekends were just getting away from us.  We lucked out and caught a forecast for an abnormally warm fall weekend (likely to be the last one of the year) and made a late decision to head for the hills (relatively speaking) despite the chance for rain on Sunday.

We headed out on Friday afternoon and motored west this time, about 1.5 hours southwest of Green Bay to the Waupaca/Portage county line at Hartman Creek State Park.  We visited Hartman during our first fall in Wisconsin (three years ago already), in the area known as the Chain O'Lakes (i.e., a bunch of connected lakes that are popular for canoeing and kayaking).  We were able to snag a walk-up campsite at the park despite the nice weekend.  Friday evening was spent with a short hike around Allen Lake and cooking out on the campfire for dinner- campers pizza and apple pies!  It was pleasant sleeping weather, and almost too hot for sleeping bags by morning.

Westward to Waupaca...oooh looky here!

Late October was past-peak color, but still very pretty in spots.

Among the pines in the campground

Saturday was a beautiful day, so we started off with a morning hike on another section of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail to the south of the campground that we had not hiked yet.  It was about a 4+ mile round trip out and back though some open fields, maple groves, and even some decent hills (for WI).  We ended at the park's property line with the adjacent wildlife management area.  It was an enjoyable morning without many people out on the trails at all.  This section of the park has quite a few mountain bike trails running through it so we did see and hear a few people on other trails, but our trail was quiet.  The leaves were past-peak but still very pretty in some areas.  After our hike, we went into King on the Chain O'Lakes to have lunch, but surprisingly most of the restaurants were closed for the season, and one appeared open but was actually closed for a wedding upon further inspection.  We ended up deciding on Chef Chu's Chinese Cuisine that we had passed on the fly, which was excellent (we were glad they were open!).  After lunch, we drove a few miles west to Central Waters Brewing Company, a pretty popular microbrewery in Wisconsin that we had yet to visit.  Their beers are sold in the stores and occasionally come up at a guest tap in Green Bay, so it was neat to visit their facility.  Their tasting room was huge and very modern, but we opted to sit out on the patio to people watch.  It was very busy so we had a lot to watch.  A group staying at our campground was on a bike and beer trip, so they rode their road bikes out to the microbrewery (about 15 miles from the campground they said, based on the back road route).  After beers, we headed back to the campsite and picked up some firewood for the evening campfire.  We squeezed in an evening walk to Hartman Lake (around 1.5 miles) before dark.  Leftovers for light dinner and relaxation by the fire before bed.

Lots of great hiking, including another segment completed on the Ice Age National Scenic Trail! 

Hartman Lake

It was mild all night, but the rain started early in the morning on Sunday.  It really never poured, just a steady light rain throughout the morning.  Once we got motivated to get moving, we ended up packing up our remaining gear fairly quickly since no dry seats were available, and we tailgated to make oatmeal breakfast.  We did another 1 miler around Allen Lake right next to the campground, which was really nice even though it was raining lightly.  Lots of ducks out!  Then we packed up the tent and headed out, with Pigeon River Brewing Company in Marion on our radar for a return stop for lunch.  Pigeon River is not all that far from us, but we stumbled across it on a beer list and had no idea it was there.  Scott says he passes that area for work trips all the time and has driven right by it without realizing. We had delicious chicken wraps, delicious beers (including a citrus shandy that was amazing!), and watched the first half of the Packers game with the locals (always fun).  We will definitely be back!  Our ride home took us completely on back roads with a lot of barn quilts (so we have to take Mom next time she visits!).  A relaxing and much needed weekend in the great outdoors.

Rainy Sunday morning on Allen Lake

Typical Wisconsin Sunday afternoon- at Pigeon River Brewing Company

Jersey does Titletown

Mom and Dad came out to visit us for a long weekend at the end of September.  We had a busy and fun weekend that included a Packers tailgate, antiquing and cheese shopping, day trip to Door County parks and shops including brunch at Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant, a tour of the UW-Green Bay campus, a visit to the Green Bay Botanical Garden, and a trip to Shawano County (pronounced SHAWN oh), the barn quilt capital of Wisconsin, for sightseeing and the Sunday flea market and car show.  And no visit is complete without a trip to Culver's for lunch and ice cream.  We also had to work in a traditional Wisconsin Friday night fish fry dinner, and none other than Jordy Nelson walks in with his family and is seated right behind us.  Awesome!  The dinner got even more fun when a lady at a table across from us bet me $5 that I couldn't finish the meatloaf dinner I ordered, so I looked up and told her, "you're on!"  I did finish my dinner and she insisted on giving me the $5 to make good on the deal.  I paid it forward and bought a tin of boy scout popcorn at our next shopping stop.  Always a lot of fun to show Mom and Dad a good time in Titletown!

Go Pack Go!  High rollers tailgating at Lambeau- we left just before the game started and made it back home in time to watch on TV as everyone got evacuated out of the bowl for a thunderstorm.

Late season at the Green Bay Botanical Garden 

Views of Lake Michigan from Cave Point County Park, Door County 

From Green Bay to Big Bay

I was doing some research about places to see in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (attached to Wisconsin, just to our north) and learned there is a bed and breakfast in a LIGHTHOUSE- naturally, Lake Superior was calling and we just HAD to go!  I had to book a couple months in advance to get a room for the weekend (only 7 available), so we made plans over the summer for mid-September.

We took the day off on Friday and headed 3 hours north, eyes peeled for moose (none spotted).  The weekend was abnormally warm (80 degrees F), although mostly cloudy.  We made it to Ishpeming, MI for lunch and ate takeout and had beers at Cognition Brewing Company, the only microbrewery we had yet to visit in the area since our trip last summer.  Next we headed out on the scenic route to Big Bay, about 30 miles northwest of Marquette (the largest city in the UP with a whopping 20,000 people and a university).  We look the longer way to Big Bay on an improved gravel road, which was very pretty but a little confusing because apparently the Yoopers don't care for road signs of any kind.  A lot of the roads up there are quite remote (no cell service either) and lack signage of any kind, so you have to sort of figure it out.  Plus, the maps aren't always detailed enough and Googlemaps can't help.  After stopping at a waterfall that we couldn't find and ending up at the Eagle Mine by accident (we thought about asking the guy in the booth at the gate for directions), we eventually made it to the Big Bay Lighthouse B&B and checked in for the weekend.

The lighthouse was built in 1896 and was in operation until the 1940s, followed by varied ownership (including a stint from the Army) until it was eventually made into a private residence and then a bed and breakfast in the 1980s.  The long-time owners greeted us upon arrival, gave us a tour and brief history, and lots of suggestions of things to do in the bustling Big Bay (pop 265).  You may know of the book and movie (1959) Anatomy of a Murder, which is based on a true story of a murder in the Lumberjack Tavern in Big Bay.  Many local sites, including the Thunder Bay Tavern down the street, were featured in the film.  For fun, you can eat dinner at the Lumberjack Inn and lay down on the floor in the outline of the body.  We did not do that.

Friday night means fish fry in the Upper Midwest, so we hit up the Hungry Hollow Cafe "downtown" (about 3 miles from the lighthouse) to eat with the locals.  Big Bay was once home to a large sawmill and a Brunswick bowling alley factory, not to mention the nearby mining activity, so there is an interesting history there.  Night lighthouse viewing and listening to Lake Superior through the open window were the evening activities.  The lighthouse was really charming, so nicely decorated, and the amenities were spot on.  Scott enjoyed the sauna in the light tower and the towel warmer in the bathroom!  Legend has it that the lighthouse is haunted by the first keeper who allegedly committed suicide in the woods.  No paranormal activity to report.

On Saturday, we ate breakfast in the dining room with the other guests and had a delicious meal (cottage cheese pancakes, pumpkin muffins, and all the fixings) and conversation with the other guests.  After that, we visited the recommended Thomas Rock Overlook, which was an easy hike and very nice view of the bay of Big Bay and some of the local landmarks.  We spent the rest of the day in Marquette to visit the farmers' market, revisit to Ore Dock Brewing Company, check out the Northern Michigan University Beaumier UP Heritage Center to see a conservation exhibit, and stop by Presque Isle Park to take a frigid dip in Lake Superior.  So refreshing!  We had dinner back in Big Bay at the Thunder Bay Inn (the movie set for Anatomy of a Murder), watched the sunset from the lighthouse tower, and then the flies chased us inside for the evening.  I was disappointed to miss the northern lights while we were there, since it was cloudy both nights and not good viewing.  Of course, before we went and since then aurora viewing has been great!

Sunday morning brought a light thunderstorm (neat to see the lightning over the lake) before another delicious breakfast (eggs florentine, bacon, and banana choc chip muffins!).  Most of the other guests had long drives ahead and took off right after breakfast- we were actually the closest to home of everyone staying for the weekend.  We walked the grounds a bit before heading back to Marquette on our drive home.  We stopped at Sugarloaf Mountain for a short hike to the viewpoint, which was a little foggy, but just as pretty as it was last time.  We headed back into town for a last beer at Blackrocks Brewery, and a stop at the Da Yooper Tourist Trap in Ishpeming, which was SO entertaining with outdoor exhibits of real things that Yoopers invented, funny signs, and a really neat gift shop with tons of unique items.  They have the largest working chainsaw and largest working gun on display, and lots of homebuild vehicles.  After that, the ride home commenced...while keeping eyes peeled for moose (none spotted).

Another fun weekend up at da UP!  Always nice to get back into the "real" time zone (i.e., eastern time) again.  We give 'em an hour when we head up, but we always get it back on the way home- lucky us!

Arriving at the lighthouse bed and breakfast!

Awesome private viewing, and we could go to the tower any time we wanted....

Including at night!

 Assistant Keeper Beamer Room- Jennie Beamer was the only female keeper at Big Bay.

Lake Superior view!

The living area common room 

Dining room where breakfast is served family style.  On the last morning we found out another guest grew up in Erie!

The library

Scenic view of Big Bay at Thomas Rock

Warm enough to take a mind-numbing dip in Lake Superior at Presque Isle Park.  Air temp about 80 degrees F, water temp about 60 degrees.  Refreshing!

"Yoopers" are people from the Upper Peninsula (UP- "you pee") of Michigan = Yooperland!

Copper Culture

We were looking for something to do on a questionable-weather Sunday to get out of the house and enjoy some touristy stuff despite the iffy rain forecast.  Our first choice got nixed due to a 10K race that would have made it way too busy to hike the trails, so we settled on taking a picnic lunch up to visit Copper Culture State Park in Oconto about 30 minutes northwest of Green Bay.  It's a small state and city park that we have passed a few times and wanted to check out.

To summarize the story behind this park, "Copper Culture" refers to the ancient peoples who lived in this area about 4,000+ years ago.  The were known as the Copper complex of people because of their significant use of copper to make tools, ornaments, and jewelry among other things.  In fact, some of the copper found in this area was sourced all the way from Isle Royale National Park through their trade system.  Absolutely amazing that it could travel that far so long ago, including across a decent run of Lake Superior.

Copper Culture State Park protects an ancient burial site for these peoples.  It used to sit at the mouth of the Oconto River at the time (the mouth is further out/east now), so it was ideal for a revered burial site.  Unfortunately, the site was unknowingly quarried in the early 1900s and most of the burial areas were destroyed.  In the 1950s, a boy playing at the then-closed quarry found some kind of artifact that then led archaeologists to find and excavate what was left of the site in 1956.  Based on that small percentage left (~20 burials), they believe hundreds of people were actually buried there, often with copper tools, toys, and other artifacts.  Now the grounds include several walking trails, picnic area, access to the Oconto River, and a museum located in an old farmhouse.

The museum was only a few small rooms, but very well done and informative.  We were given a token piece of copper upon entry, which we figured meant that we should give a small donation to the free museum (we did).  After the museum, we took a couple of short walks on the some of the trails down to the burial site and river, but the mosquitoes were pretty bad so we opted for the open bluebird trail instead which was much better.  It started to rain again just as we got back to the car.  An interesting historical perspective on a (mostly) nice day.

The museum is located inside the Charles Werrebroeck farmstead built by immigrants from Belgium in 1924

One of America's oldest cities?

The burial site reclaimed by woods 

I think this might be purple loosestrife (an invasive species), but it was pretty anyway

 "Caution: honeybees hive in tree" (they received a wide berth)

Beautiful monarchs everywhere!