Tourist Time

A friend came up to visit from Ann Arbor this week, so we got to be tourists for a bit. It was his first time to the UP and he enjoyed it! Lucky the weather was good. He also interviewed me for an article in a Michigan Alumni publication. We had fun, and hopefully we can stay with them if we visit Ann Arbor some day.

Got a lot of cleaning up done this week and made some progress with the landscaping. The spiral raised bed is ready to go and the girls helped me get the pond liner in yesterday. School had their field day on Friday, and it was fun, but Amélie hurt her wrist. She gets to wear a removable cast for a while. 

Way too hot dry here. Can't seem to get many seeds started even when I water them. Feels like August. Sure hope it rains soon, but the forecast isn't promising. 

The dam by our house is impressive!

It was Miss CJ's double golden birthday.

Got the tire off the camper. Need to figure out how to get air back in.

Goose school.

Been a while since we saw a sunset!

Went out to TNT.

Partway blown over.

Fun with the drone.

Pond time!

Shovel and Rake

The tractor was a big help during this week of landscaping, but the shovel and rake still got quite the workout. I was able to level the lawn, add in a border, make a couple piles disappear, and get some seed down. Transplanted some lilac and peonies. Even dug the pond. Starting to look a lot better in the backyard!

My parents and I, along with my sister, all went out to our land to mark out the clearings so that the logging company knows where to cut. Need to finish marking out the new road. Really running out of time as the leaves are coming in quickly!

We enjoyed the rest of our time with Auntie Claire. Amélie got to go all the way to the airport in Green Bay with her. Abigail has some time with just Mommy and Daddy. Naomi is working hard on getting the mudroom finished up. It is looking so much better! 

Finished the beams over the car, so we can park inside again.

Fun with Auntie Claire. 

Tractor Time

The ground has mostly thawed, so may the landscaping begin. So much to do in the backyard. It would take so much longer without the tractor! Yesterday I was able to finish the greenhouse roof and the hill behind it. Some piles are shrinking. Others will grow. 

Claire had more time to spend with us this week, so that was fun. Finally got the knives sharpened - one of my routines for her visits. She will be back on Tuesday after spending some time with family. Had a goodbye dinner with French Claire and Doug. Naomi is having a rough time with that.

Had a big meeting with my dad and another forester from a logging company. We walked through our land and discussed the possibility of a timber harvest later this summer. Looks like they should be able to make a few clearings, build and improve some roads, and thin a good chunk of the property to improve the forest. Need to get the tire fixed on the camper so we can move it out of the way! 

Big mess to clean up.

New roof membrane is on!

Holland!

Aunt Sara and Uncle Pat invited us to join them at the Tulip Festival in Holland, MI quite some time ago. My parents and sister decided to come too. A few days before the big event, Uncle Pat fell off a ladder and was unable to make the trip. What a bummer! We discussed cancelling, but we had made plans to stay with my good friend Andrew and his family, so we wanted to see them too. My parents ended up joining us and Claire stayed at our house in MQT.

It was fun that my parents could be there, and they had the huge house at the beach all to themselves, so we had a good time down there too. The girls played in the water as we had some wonderful weather. The tulip festival was interesting to see, and odd to be in a real Dutch windmill where everyone spoke English. Still some tulips left to enjoy. Holland is a really nice city. They have heated sidewalks so there's no ice in the winter and the location is right on a lake feeding into Lake Michigan. We also got to see the old licensed Delftware maker in North America and a wooden shoe workshop. Enjoyed a lots of good food and a really nice Mother's Day brunch along with a trip to the Dutch Supermarket and Andrew's amazing coffee shop, Aldea. 

Made stops at Tahquamenon Falls and Hartwick Pines (the last bit of old growth forest downstate) and the Cut River. Fun to show parts of Michigan to the girls. Before we left on the trip, we bought a couch and trailer from French Claire. Won't need to borrow the neighbor's anymore. I was also working on building some structure into the garage that should help support the roof under heavy snow loads. Tricky getting those heavy beams up to the ceiling. Hopefully I can finish that project this week. 

Yummy lunch from Auntie Claire and the girls.

Goodbye, old couch.

Still need to install Naomi's birthday present.

This trailer needs some work.

The big waterfall.

Logging museum and old growth forest.

Holland, MI.

Still some tulips on Windmill Island.

A beautiful day at the beach in Grand Haven.

Dutch Cheese!

Cut River Bridge.

Lots of steps down to the lake.

Sawdust Toilet

I finally finished the sawdust toilet downstairs! I am happy with how it turned out. Usually these things are quickly made and rather rustic, so it's different to have a luxury version. Just in time for Claire! Pictures on the website. We were able to celebrate Naomi's birthday together. Lots of good food and even a bit of snow. Whoops.  

https://www.dutch-domes.com/cookcraft/sawdusttoilet

She is visiting us for about a week, and then we will head downstate to the Tulip Festival. Yesterday my dad came up to help cut down some trees. Nice to have the hard part done! Now it's just cleanup. I would hate to put a new roof on and then have a tree fall on it. Nice to have a bit more light as well. 

The greenhouse is looking great! Got the living part of the living roof removed and the membrane cleaned, so that I can put a second membrane on top. What a pain. The compost turned out really well though. Amazing that it has transformed. Did some minor test plots to see how plants respond to it. 

The snowdrift crushed our tree cages.

Interesting wasp in the greenhouse.

Good looking compost!

Birthday soup from Amélie.

Fired up the grill for the first time this year.

Found a new corner marker on our property! Saves us some money.

Spring is here!

All At Once

We had a busy week. The car needed some last minute repairs before the trip down to the wedding. Weather warmed up to the point where I was riding a bike in a t-shirt, so I used the tractor to move some snow away from the house as we still have a bit of water seeping in. The girls had their first track meet. Naomi got sick. 

I worked on the greenhouse for a bit - it was in the 80's. Also managed to finish up the hall ceiling and the sawdust toilet. Cleanup is scheduled for today. The XC ski trails have still been good this past week. The girls and I were able to finish cleaning out the garage so that we could get the tractor inside. 

We had a great time at the wedding. Just a few hours south and the seasons jumped forward a month. Flowers and the smell of freshly cut grass. The girls had fun hanging out on there own while we were at the wedding. It was a great night. Brunch the next morning was a lot of fun too, and the girls were able to attend that. We did some dress shopping for them first, and even got to visit the Dutch windmill! Naomi was able to meet someone who moved here from the NL about 30 years ago. Enjoyed dinner with my parents on the way home. 

The wedding was in an old body shop in Oskosh.

It was a short ceremony!

The first produce from our greenhouse.

Just barely fits!

Finished ceiling. 

Now some windows and doors.

Wood storage up above.

The first signs of life!

This maple won't get far on the greenhouse roof.

So much snow.

The track meet...

...lasted longer than we expected.

Found a deal on some boards.

A concert!

Dress shopping.

The Dutch windmill. 

Great to be back home!

Lots of good skiing still happening.

My neighbor found some bear tracks.

Fun at the wedding.