All about those cats

The cats enjoyed a sunny morning on Tuesday.

Barley really is a heat seeking kitty and she enjoyed a good bath and then roll around on the sun filled carpet

Hops thought she should join in and stretch out too. But mostly she just watched Barley roll around.

I'm always tickled by how attached they are as siblings...of course once the fight is on, the fight is really on too, so, not that different from human sibs.

When I started this blog I made a promise to myself that I would not write about the cats so often that my friends would think I moved up here and became 'the cat lady'. In the process, I think that Barley and Hops don't get much air time, so here is their 15 minutes of fame.

Pumpkin Patch Blues

I feel bad for the Pumpkin Patch people. With this cold weather / snow, they have had to cover the pumpkins every night. It's quite a job since the entire yard at the farm is covered with pallets of pumpkins. Would be quite a mess if they all turned to mush tho!

By the time I go out to get the mail @ 10am, all the tarps are back off the pumpkins. What a deal.

Switch Stuff

I am spending the day doing all the switch stuff, switch the sheets to flannel, switch to the winter purse, reprogram the thermostat for winter. Nothing very exciting, but I might as well stay home since it is snowing.

We are having a pretty snow, but it seems early. The trees are still so colorful,

I am hoping this doesn't last long and maybe we'll get a little more nice weather.

This cold weather seems to make the kitties be quite lazy.

Hops and Barley on Sunday afternoon

Oh, that's right, they are always lazy!

Barley striking a pose

The Good, The Ugly, nothing bad really

It has been fun to see the birds back at the feeders. It was a special treat to have 3 juvenile cardinals hanging around. One had the orange beak, but the other two did not, so perhaps they were a bit younger.

Juvenile cardinal

The view out my living room window.

This morning I took a walk about the yard with the camera. I think the leaves are at their peak on 17th Avenue, Rice Lake, WI. See what you think.

Backyard deck

Backyard

Yep, that is a snowblower parked by the house. Gus came over with a trailer today so it is headed to the shop to get tuned up.

Looking North from my front yard.

From 17th looking at new deck

This beauty is in the backyard

Looking at the new deck, front yard

How about those Twins and Rockies! I love October baseball.

Oh yeah, 'the ugly'...it froze hard on the morning of September 30th, that ended the gardening (except for the cleanup).

I thought I would tag on a picture of the Sand Castle taken last Friday. It's a beauty.

The Rest of the Story...or what a difference a day makes.

Tuesday morning in Blue Fin Bay...when the sun came up I was happy to find that the wind and rain had subsided. The location of the inn is right on the water and I just loved the view out the window of our suite. You can barely see our window up through this tree branch.

The Inn has 3 levels, some of which have a deck & fireplace, but all have an awesome view.

This shoreline was rocky, almost looked volcanic. The Lichen was very orange and pretty is it's own way.

The staff was scrambling on Tuesday morning to get generators hooked up and about the time I walked out into the parking lot, the water was restored. This made it much more civilized. That not being able to flush the toilet with 3 of us sharing it...not good. The Blue Fin Bay Inn folks were working hard and were friendly and concerned about us. In the end, they gave us a voucher for a free night. Too bad Janet and Terry live so far away, but I will be delighted to use that voucher in their name.

The sun was shining way out into the lake and caused a shiny streak on the horizon.

Next time I want to walk on the boardwalk and explore more of the Tofte, MN area. The resort has a fire on the beach most nights and the guests are given supplies for s'mores.

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Once we learned that the power would likely not be restored until afternoon, we decided to go find breakfast and head back South. We ended up back at the Satellite for a delicious breakfast. The owner/cook is famous for her fish cakes, and I agree that they are quite yummy.

~

After breakfast, we headed to Gooseberry Falls State Park. This is a popular spot with a very nice visitor's center, gift shop and nice walking paths.

The leaves were beautiful and the sky was bright blue.

I had fun taking lots and lots of pictures of the scenery.

We saw the middle and lower falls on our walk.



Last, but not least, we stopped at Wisconsin Point in Superior. I was here in the spring when the ice was going out of the lake. I love this view.

When we left Wisconsin Point, we followed the lake around to Cornucopia and then finally headed south through Hayward back to Rice Lake in time to have Mexican food at Cafe Mexicana on main street.

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Even with the storm and lack of power, it was a very excellent trip Up North.

Heading Up North

Cranberry Bog

Monday morning, Terry & Janet and I headed North in the red sled. First stop was a cranberry bog just North of Rice Lake. I am hoping to get back to the bog during the harvest, which I think must be going to be soon. It's interesting how they grow. I didn't realize that Wisconsin produces the most cranberries of any of the 50 states. http://www.wiscran.org/index.php

Cranberries on the vine

From the bog, we headed to The Sand Castle. Terry and Janet liked it there and later on that same day....we had wished we had just stayed overnight there. As we headed North from the Sand Castle, we happened on a couple of eagles just off the road, one of them gave us a nice fly by, this is when I wish I had the mongo zoom lens.

Douglas County Eagle

Next up, Lake Superior, Superior, Duluth and then north. We ate lunch in Duluth in the Canal Park area. Tried to eat at Grandma's, but the line was very long, so opted for another cafe close by. The wind was starting to pick up and also a little rain was starting to fall. I was glad that I had grabbed gloves for all of us and also we all brought warm coats. It looked like we would need them.

Loading dock at Two Harbors

From Duluth, we hopped on Hwy 61 and headed North along Lake Superior. Our destination was Blue Fin Bay Inn, located in Tofte, MN. The weather was continuing to be windy and cool, but the rain stopped.

In Two Harbors, we walked out to the end of the breakwater. It was windy, I thought we might be crazy to be out there, Terry looked like he was really enjoying it, ha!


Two Harbors Breakwater to Lighthouse

I am not sure why Janet thought she should climb up this ladder!? Just above her head is a sign that reads:

DANGER: Intense sound signal may sound without warning. Keep 50 feet away when horn sounds.


Terry and Janet Walmer

Breakwater at Two Harbors

From Two Harbors, we headed towards Split Rock Lighthouse. The weather continued to be windy but as least it wasn't raining hard. I took these pictures as we came out of one of the many tunnels along Hwy 61 along the North Shore Drive.

At first I thought 8 bucks was plenty to pay to see a lighthouse. But this place is awesome and I can't wait to go back. It is fabulous how the Minnesota Historical Society has restored the lighthouse, keeper's house and other out buildings.

Split Rock Light House

The original lens.

Terry spotted these two crazy people coming across the lake / bay. They were stand up surfboard paddling. I can't imagine...the water had to be very cold and it was windy and raining off and on. I won't be trying this sport, not in this lifetime anyway.

stand up surfboard paddlers

I think they were resting...got on their knees. But...how did they get up on their feet again without ending up in the water?

Poplar trees add a different dimension to the fall colors.

Views from Split Rock Lighthouse.

Janet & Terry

Okay, this is where the story gets nutz! We left Split Rock, headed for Tofte. The weather started getting worse, with wind gusts that wanted to practically blow the red sled right off the road. We saw trees down on the highway and it was raining pretty hard too. I was looking forward to getting checked into our snazzy hotel, the Blue Fin Bay Inn. We pulled up in front of the office, and Terry went in to check us all in. When he came out he gave us the news that there was no power in the whole town of Tofte.

http://www.bluefinbay.com/index.php

Well, to make a long story short, we had no power, water, or heat all night long. We had not eaten before getting to Blue Fin Bay, so after dropping our bags in the room, we headed back South to see if we could find a restaurant that had power. After stopping at a campground office, who had no food other than the supplies for S'mores, we went in search of Satellite's Country Inn because the woman in the office thought that Satellite was open.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=9436+Hwy+61+W+55613&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=9436+W+Hwy-61,+Cook,+Minnesota+55613&ll=47.525084,-90.908432&spn=0.21607,0.615921&z=11

The weather continued to be insanely windy, I pulled up in the parking lot of the little Satellite Inn. It looked dark, but as I was turning around, I saw the glow of a computer monitor and could see a woman was in front of the screen. I went to the door and managed to talk her into opening for us and we enjoyed delicious hamburgers and salads. I think her name is Marie, she was very benevolent to open her doors to us...I don't think I would have taken no for an answer.

After dinner, we made our way back to the Blue Fin Bay Inn to settle in for a chilly night. Amazingly, our suite stayed pretty warm, 63 degrees. And thankfully, the glass in the windows held. The gust of wind were pretty amazing and I worried until I finally fell asleep. The wind finally let up about midnight and then it poured rain well into the night.