Jenyfer Matthews

The only thing better than a swim in a cold lake on a hot summer day…

is a beer margarita on a hot summer day!

My son is off on his overnight camping trip with his grandpa and step-grandma – and I’m on fox feeding duty this evening and tomorrow morning. The question remains whether I’m brave enough to try hand feeding them and whether or not they’d come up to me if I did.

Stay tuned and have a great weekend!

Who needs a trip to the zoo when you have creatures like these visiting the yard on a daily basis?

My stepmother has made pets of several foxes in the area. At least a few of them come around for breakfast and dinner a couple of times a day.

My stepmother has also got a couple of “pet” deer. One of them will even let her pet them when she is in the mood for an ear rub.

I myself haven’t seen many bears in the yard personally, which is why it was that much more thrilling when this guy showed up on Monday evening.

He didn’t look so very threatening, grazing on clover in the yard – but I still took these pictures from the safety of the house!

When he started to look too comfortable and got too close to the house, my father shooed him away. They can be incredibly destructive to things like bird feeders. The deer were keeping a close eye on the bear as well.

Is it any wonder the children prefer to play in the clearing, closer to the house??

I’ve heard about the fabulous blueberry picking opportunities in the area nearly every summer I’ve visited my parents, but have never gone picking myself until this weekend. There is an area up the Gunflint Trail that has been cleared at different times by forest fires where the blueberries grow plentifully. I could tell you more specifically where we went, but then I’d have to kill you.

It was a hot day and very still – and it takes longer than you’d think to fill up a gallon sized ice cream bucket even if the berries are fat and juicy!

If I crouched too long, I’d get stuck in that position.

But standing wasn’t so much better!

Even after we’d been out there a couple of hours and I’d filled my bucket 2/3 of the way, I still couldn’t stop. We had decided to go back to the car and maybe find another spot but I kept having to stop and pick just a little more because the berries were so pretty!

As you can see, all that hard work paid off in the end. Is there anything better than fresh blueberry pie?