4th OF JULY!!

BLUM'S VISIT ... on Saturday ... not wanting to give up their trailer-park spot by Rhinelander. drove up for the day. We took a carry-out from the local diner & had a picnic lunch by the boardwalk, on the river in Crystal Falls.


 

On the way back home ... I showed them some log buildings in Crystal Falls ... it's a really old city.

 The picture with the dam is built upon the original "Crystal Falls". It provides auxiliarary power to the city of "Crystal Falls".

 

THE FOURTH OF JULY ... An old fashioned 4th of July ... Alpha/Crystal Falls. Alpha is about 6 miles from Crystal Falls. This is where I brought Mom several years ago.

They started with a flag raising ... including the Crystal Falls High School band. The parade was lengthy ... police & fire department vehicles, classic car club, decorated kids bikes, etc. The Crystal Falls Lions Club, VFW's, etc.

There were kid's games, live music ... food & beer for sale at the pavillion. The fireworks were at dusk ... but, I had gone home & didn't want to go back.

                                                         HOUSE IN ALPHA ...


CRAIG ... JOHNNIE'S NEPHEW ... is renting this cute little house ... just across the alley from the bar (he finally gave up driving without a license).

MEMORIAL DAY

      Memorial Day, I went to Republic.  There are 3 Haglund graves there, plus 2 little Olson girls I've "adopted".  They died in 1902, several days apart.   I put flowers on all.  When I get ahead, I want to buy a grave there for me.

Uncle Axel Laxo, who died last fall.

Grama's home near down town

I had a crush on Jimmy Olander who lived here.

This was an opperating hotel; I stayed here with my first husband;
It was on the "main highway" then.

This house ... in the "New Location" ... is now a museum

      I also went to Durfee's... who now own the Haglund home (I lived there in the 40's).  The house was moved to the "new location", when they reopened the mine.  They did such a nice job of keeping the home pretty much the same, while making it really beautiful.

L o i S

REMINISING

Not nice outside ... we got a pretty snowfall overnite; I always say, "If it's going to be cold, it might as well be pretty!"



I've just been going thru my pix on the computer. Later, I think I'll MAYBE go out & check my maple trees. Most of them are done running sap.










HERE'S SOME FAVORITE PHOTOS UP IN MY WOODS ...






THE KISSING TREES:

THE "GESTURE" :

SEVERAL YEARS AGO ... MAGGIE & MY (LATE) MOM GOING THRU SOME OF MY PHOTO ALBUMS HERE, ON MY SOFA. MOM's DOG, "BABY DOG".

My back has been a torture the past several weeks ... I just have to call the Pain Clinic to see if I can get an earlier appointment date for an injection. It seems as though they are trying to economize with me only having Medicare & Medicade????


Today,






* I will write some real letters ...


* do some more sorting of "stuff" ...


* see who I can contact on my free week-end cellphone minutes


* figure out how I'm doing on my monthly budget


* go to Crystal Falls to get some more corn for the deer & turkeys

MAPLE SYRUP TIME

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP





To see my maple tap in action, click here (another YouTube video of mine).

ANOTHER YouTube video ... From State U. NY ... on tapping maple trees & making syrup ... click here:



DRILLING A HOLE IN THE MAPLE TREE IS HARD WORK! I USED TO USE; a "brace & bit" ... hard work! Now, my son bought me a cordless drill ... makes it a lot easier to poke the holes in the trees.

GETTING UP TO THE NEXT TREE MEANS I'LL HAVE TO CLIMB OVER SOME ROCKS, TOO.

  I use bright colors on my tools & my tool bucket so I don't lose any.

   OVER THAT WAY, TOO! I CAN ALWAYS PICK UP A NEW WALKING STICK, THO ...
SEE MY LATEST LEANING AGAINST THIS TREE?




 
 I save the heavy-duty milk jugs all year (cleaned & santized) for my
jugs.  The little top keeps out rain, & dirt, &
BUGS.  When bringing the jugs back to the house, I cap them
tightly so no sap gets spilled.



READ THIS FUNNY
ENTRY ON MAKING MAPLE SYRUP:



How to make your own Maple Syrup
  BEST LINK:
How to make your own Maple Syrup (Has some humor,
MUST READ!)

Leader Evaporator Company,> Maple
Syrup Equipment and Supplies, St Albans VT

Maple Syrup here in
poverty patch

North American Maple Syrup
Producers Manual, Bulletin 856-96

How to Make
Maple Syrup 1

How to make Maple
Syrup 2

How to make maple syrup
3

How we make Maple
Syrup

Make Maple Syrup ...
Supplies

Vivísimo
- Clustered search on How to make maple syrup

"What Tree Is It"  (So you
can figure out which tree to tap)

To Quote: To get started all you need
is a way to collect and a pan...
You can go as small or as big as you
want...A 16 quart pan on your kitchen stove will work...To collect all you need
is a 7/16 (or 1/2) drill bit, some taps and a few old milk jugs...Boil the sap on the
stove and keep adding sap till it gets to syrup...Watch out for the wall-paper
though cuz all that steam in the house will curl it right off the walls...
Many people make their own
evaporators...There are plans all over the net and even on eBay...You can buy a
barrel stove kit and turn a 55 gallon drum into an evaporator in a day...You can
makeyour own pans if you have access to 304 stainless sheets and a tig
welder...

     BLOG-TYPE COMMENTS ...



I should just take the time to be a "voice crying out in the wilderness" ... to our elected politicians ... ENOUGH ALREADY!  My message to them would be:

• FOR ONE THING: WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON ANYWAYS? I think the terrorist's side?
• Those people belong to a
  different culture; they only understand force & threats ...
  anything less, & they are emboldened.
• For sure is stupid to put all our plans on the media so the enemy knows what we are doing.
• For sure is stupid to give the enemy a date when we will withdraw; they will wait.
• GET REAL!
• When
  we had George Bush, I would thank God that we had a President, &
  some lawmakers who understand that, like being a good parent, leading a country is not a popularity contest,
  and, you cannot do it while sitting on a fence.  I don't think I
  am the only person who has thus far been disappointed in our current
  President!
• FOR ANOTHER THING:
  we are paying the politicians on all levels to work on government
  business of improving living conditions for all the citizens!  OF COURSE, THEY ARE TOO BUSY PUTTING UP MORE SMOKE SCREENS SO THAT THEM LOOK BUSY ... with all your hearings on everything else but bills & laws.
• WE SHOULD FILE A REPORT & LET LAWYERS (that YOU pay) work on attacking public officials, & do
  something real about Social Security, sex-preditors, improving schools,
  making a REAL budget, illegal aliens, national security, disaster
  preparedness ... etc., etc.

You can visit my area
EVERY DAY! ... The local radio station has a Monday thru Saturday
call-in program.  Besides items to buy & sell ... even
real-estate, collectibles, etc ... people call in from all over to give
opinions, public notices, etc.  It's a real slice of Yooper life.
 Telephone Time! Like
"Yooper-Bay"  Each morning 9- noon CST
  Click here: WebStream | Listen live to The Bull - WIKB  — 99.1 FMIron
River, MI

3DEATHS IN FAMILY & CALAMITIES

Life goes on here ... it's slowly sinking in that Mom is gone ... I always said that "Mom will go straight to heaven because she's an angel on earth".I have thousands/millions of photos of my Mom ... I'll put together a photo collage ... LATER.

MY FAVORITE PHOTO OF MOM

My siblings have opted to have Mom cremated ... I thought that more recently ... she had changed her mind?? I had wanted her to be buried here in the U.P. ... in Republic, MI .... her birthplace & our family roots.


Oh well, they have planned to have her Memorial Service next AUGUST ... in New Mexico. I hope Jean has a better memory than mine ... (it would be a miracle if I found the photos I took of the mile-marker near Dave's Peak where we scattered Dad's (David Mocine) ashes. as he had requested.



 

ME WITH DAD, MOM, GRAMA, Arlington Heights, IL

  

WEDDING IN REPUBLIC, MI



5 GENERATION PHOTO




MOM ON MY DECK, KITTY IN LAP





AT MY HOME, TALKING TO HER PET GOOSE