Which is the real kitty???

So far the mothballs are working

At the risk of jinxing it, so far the apples are doing fantastic this year with the mothball sock sacks keeping the squirrels away.

Some of the apples have little nibbles which I think are from the birds.  Roxi feeds the sparrows and there are probably a flock of hundred..no kidding..that hang around and sometimes land in the apple tree.

These in the pictures are nearly the size of my fist now and there are probably about two dozen all together.

Keep your fingers crossed and hope the squirrels stay away.

Working from home for two weeks

Scheduled changed end of last week.  Had booked business travel to Denver for next week as had been previously discussed.  Then team decided it would be better to travel to client later in the month.

So I've re-booked next week travel to later in August.  I'm glad to be home for a bit.

Boundary Waters photos -- Day 4 (Sunday)

Sunday was mostly about getting back out of the Boundary Waters.

Saturday night was a stormy one way south of us but the lightening was still visible to us.  I woke up seeing the flashes but not hearing any thunder.  I actually thought it might be someone's flashlight.  That freaked me out until I finally heard very very distant thunder.

The two women who had paddled by on Saturday eyeing our campsite showed up again on Sunday.  We are very laid back and do not do anything too early in the morning.

The paddle out went smoothly and the weather was great though a little hot.  We all agreed to find a lake for a swim on the way to Ely.  We stopped at Big Lake Wilderness Lodge and were welcomed to jump in the lake and use the shower if we wanted.

We made it back to Ely, dropped off the canoes, and headed to the custard place for a Dorothy Molter root beer float.  It tasted fantastic and looked just like the Little Indian Sioux River water and foamy water falls!!

Boundary Waters photos -- Day 3 (Saturday)

Saturday we traveled over to Big Shell Lake and Little Shell Lake.

Several "fancy" beaver lodges along the way.

The two lakes are connected by this short rapids.  We left our canoes on the Big Lake side and walked over to the Little Lake side.

Little Shell Lake is very deep.  The water in these two lakes is not the reddish brown that we'd been seeing everywhere else.

Matter of fact Little Shell Lake water was crystal clear.  Jenny filled up a water bottle here and there wasn't a single thing floating.  And the water was so clear.  It also tasted fantastic.

We always bring 'smores ingredients with us.  Since the BWCA has been having plenty of rain, we were able to have a fire in the fire grate.

Here is Brian's perfectly roasted marshmallow.

Boundary Waters photos -- Day 2 (Friday)

Frogs, frogs, frogs.

We saw frogs on our way in and at night the frogs kept up a continuous concert...all night long.

Friday we paddled across the lake to a long gorge with waterfalls and rapids.  We parked the canoes at the portage and hiked along the gorge and then into the woods.

The path didn't seem to be used much but it was easy to hike.

We ended up on top of a large rise and discovered blueberries!  Lots and lots of blueberries.  We gathered up more than enough to make blueberry pancakes for Saturday breakfast.

One of the best things about our trips is the relaxing, reading, and story-telling.

It was fairly windy on Thursday and Friday which kept the bugs away and also the temperature down.

Out campsite was facing West with a large outcropping to watch the fish jump, the loons, and a deer swim across the lake!

Jenny's fantastic water filter pump broke.  We'd been using it for years and it finally gave up.

Brian figured we could still use it but it required some effort but we had a good swim and fun trying to get water.

We ended up just filling our water jug from the middle of the lake.  No one got sick.

Boundary Waters photos -- Day 1 (Thursday)

We paddled into the Boundary Waters up the Little Indian Sioux River.  There was a bit of a portage to the put in area.

There were lots of cars parked at this entry point (#14) which made us a bit worried about seeing a lot of people.  It didn't turn out that way but is popular spot.

We portaged by two different sets of rapids.  The first had a big water fall.  The water is reddish brown from all the iron in the hills.  When the water falls over the rapids and the sun shines through it, it looks like liquid gold and creates huge areas of foam.  It was realy beautiful.

Once again Jenny had planned the perfect campsite. It turned out we weren't the ony ones that wanted the site but we were the ones who got to it first.

Brian performed is famous tree climb to set up the ropes so that our food packs can be lifted into the air and safe from bears.

More of Boston

Tuesday and Wednesday we went down to Cambridge and Harvard Square.

The evening weather has been fantastic.  There are lots of people walking around, talking, eating and drinking.

Tons of restaurants and bars...guitar players and singers...a fun vibe.

Boston buisness trip - Monday

Got to downtown Boston on Monday evening.  Specifically north Boston.

The glass towers in the picture are of the Boston holocaust memorial.  Each glass panel has thousands of serial numbers of the holocaust victims.  A very moving museum.

Across the street from the holocaust memorial is the Union Oyster House and Bar.  There is a plaque about this being one of the oldest pubs in the country.

We had a Sam Adam's Summer ale here.

We then walked across the 'Big Dig' park to the Italian restaurant part of town.  There are dozens of little Italian restaurants, delis and markets.  We had dinner at a very small restaurant.  The food and company were great.

Big Dig park

Home...but briefly

Home from Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness trip.  A fantastic time with Brian, Jenny and Julie.  No time now for pictures or stories.

Brief itenerary -- drove up to Ely on Wednesday.  Spent the night in hotel.

Thursday paddled into Boundary Waters.  Was a little over 2 hours to the campsite we had pre-decided to get.  It was empty so we got it.

Friday was a beautiful but windy day.  We paddled over to a cascade and then hiked for a few hours.

Saturday was even more beautiful and calm.  We paddled over to a couple of other lakes.  Had a glorious swim in crystal clear water.

Today, Sunday, paddled out and drove to a resort to jump in a cool lake.  Drove back to Twin Cities and just got home about 1/2 hour ago.

Off to Boston, Massachusetts for work tomorrow....very very early...ugh.  Bad planning on my part.

Heading to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

What is now turning into an annual event...Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) trip with Jenny, Brian and Julie.  This year we are going out of Ely, Minnesota which is further to the west then we have been before.

We could run into some interesting...read severe...weather on the way up north.  But it is supposed to be very nice and warm after today.

Working from home this week and enjoying the backyard patio and gardens

First off it has been very warm.  As you can see by the shot of my weather station, it was 102 degrees at 7pm.  Well, not really.  The sun is still setting very high on the horizon and was shining directly on the outdoor sensor which is on the north side of the house.

But as you can see it is 87 degrees indoors.  As long as you don't move, it isn't too bad.  I put the AC unit in the bedroom yesterday so I can sleep at night.

This is a double day lilly that originally is from the old house in New Baltimore, Virginia.

I got these years ago when I was back East.  They've survived being moved halfway across the country and from the backyard to the front.

I love the look of the double blossom.

These are single bloom day lillies.  They came from Garland Wright via Jill Rendall's garden.  They are 4 or more feet tall and have several blooms at the same time.

These are my only tiger lillies.  I wish I had more.  They are so beautiful.  They used to be next to the fence and the squirrels would eat the buds.

I finally moved them to the center of the garden and surround them with a rabbit proof fence while they get big enough.

These beautiful flowers came with the house and survived several years of being eaten by squirrels and rabbits.