Sewing Club

Recently I have developed a strong belief that in order to be a female living in the Northwest Angle, or maybe even all of Northern Minnesota, you must be proficient in one or more of the following talents: knitting, sewing, quilting, canning, baking, cooking, naming specific types of birds, and cold weather survival skills. If you don't pass for any of these requirements, a bachelor's degree in science or bioecology can be substituted. I might add, a metabolism like a race horse is helpful as well. Some of the best cooks I've ever met live up here, and not a single one is busting out of her jeans. Since I do not possess a single one of those skills, I'm not sure how I got the OK to move here. Perhaps it's because I'm willing to clean a toilet or because my husband is highly skilled in many of the male requirements for living here. Maybe his talents are so abundant, they can overlap where I am lacking. I have skills, they are just native to Washington! Give me a front desk in any clinical setting and I'll run the hell out of it!
All that said, somehow I got in the door at Sewing Club last Friday. These women didn't know I would be attending, so it was a surprise attack. This is a room full of very talented women. (No men at this sewing club, maybe they meet on Wednesdays.) They talked about making things I have never even heard of. Did you know there are different origins of knitting? I had intended on knitting while I was there, but soon realized it would be an embarassment to me and my mother-in-law if I attempted to fumble around with the yarn and pretend to know what I was doing. I was very humbled by thier knowledge of thier craft and the mindset it takes to tackle some of the projects they were working on.

Andie was looking tired so I made her a little bed in her carseat, but she just smiled and watched everyone work.

Pat looking through a quilting book for a pattern to make for Andie's crib.

I enjoyed the company of these lovely ladies and watching a couple of deer grazing outside. I have mentioned before that everyone in the Angle is friendly, and this group didn't disappoint.

Sewing may not be my thing though. I'd better look into an online science course.

Mother Nature Hates Minnesotans

I have come face to face with the real Minnesota weather. The weather I had only heard about. It's downright ugly. We went to town on Thursday for an appointment and when we left the Angle it was sunny and blue skies. Once in town, the snow started up and then the wind. OH THE WIND.
This picture is on the highway between Warroad and Roseau. You can see the blue sky peeking through as it had stopped snowing. But the wind was whipping the snow on the ground around so badly it was creating a white-out effect on the road. There were times we could not see anything. I am never nervous in bad weather with Rick and I am always relaxed when he is driving. But this had my stomach doing flips. Pulling over wasn't even an option due to the risk of being hit by another car coming that can't see you or the road. Then at the height of this blinding white-out, some imbecile in a truck with an enclosed snowmobile trailer was passing all of us. We could barely see the car in front of us and he was speeding around us all with this huge load of a trailer. (If this man is a reader of the blog, do tell me what on earth was so important you were endangering lives, you inconsiderate jackass. For shame!) By the time we got to Roseau, my car door was actually frozen shut. As we were driving home there was a car getting pulled out of the ditch and we were stopped in the road waiting for them, not knowing what cars or trucks would come speeding out of the haze and possibly hit one of us. My husband chose this time to enlighten me about all the ways you can die in the Minnesota winter conditions. It was also around this time I started to reconsider my need to shop at a grocery store. Perhaps living off the land and churning my own butter wouldn't be so bad after all.

My very own stalactites!This is after we had to stop once and kick the ice off the car. It had frozen up so thick between the tire and the fender we could hear it rubbing as we were driving.

Meanwhile in the backseat it was laid back and relaxed. Granola bar and upside-down glasses make for a nice drive.

More Winter Wonderland

Once again, I was reminded this weekend of how far out I live. The kids and I took a trip to town to stay overnight. Driving to Warroad on Friday held lovely blizzard conditions and I thought about turning around more than once. I have heard that Canada doesn't plow snow in a timely manner. Coming home on Saturday after the storm had cleared, I learned this rumor is true. It was basically an hour of driving on a highway that only existed in my memory. In some places there was a one-lane "road" that had been packed down by cars/trucks before me. I felt like I was driving in a field. The big bonus was that any oncoming traffic was usually logging trucks, which make for outstanding roadmates--white knuckle driving in the snow drift as far over to the side as I could get. There was a time in my life that I didn't even plan to have kids and thought I'd live in a big busy city. Now here I am in the middle of nowhere driving them through waves of snow and getting passed by some Dodge sedan. Remind me again, how did this come about?
After cleaning one cabin yesterday, Jenny and I headed out for a snowshoe. It was a sunny day, 20 degrees. Perfect conditions. We took a trail that started through the woods and then went out on the lake. I'm still not crazy about being on the frozen lake, but I'm getting better. There is too much snow to see the ice now, so that helps. I might add that our snowmobile trails are better kempt than Canada's roads. That's right Canada, I said it!

Along the way we saw some beautiful real estate opportunities. Somebody is probably embracing fond memories of this stellar domicile.

There is a naughty little bobcat on the loose that almost got in the back of the garbage truck with Rick and Tyson one day. Then he went down to Susan and Dwayne's house and got in thier garbage. To be fair, Sue is an excellent cook--can't say I blame him. We think these were his tracks on the trail. His are on the left of Tucker's big paw prints. The tracks wandered clear out to the lake. This bobcat is a busy fellow with a lot of free time for tomfoolery.

This portion of the trail is on the lake. I think this is Andrew, I can't remember. The dogs were hot on Bobcat Bob's trail. Tyson says the bobcat's name is Sugar, but I can't get on board with that.

This is Jenny stabbing at some ice buildup on my snowshoe with a pair of scissors.

Looking back on the lake at where we've walked, dog's trail taking off to the left, my snowshoe tracks in the middle and snowmobile tracks on the right.

Later in the afternoon, it was time to get Tyson outside. He gets amped up around 4:00pm and is a force to be reckoned with if he doesn't burn off some energy. I said we were going for a walk, while he thought we should be driving the mule. (Like a golf cart.) He is just like his father in this way. Why go by foot when you can drive something with a motor?

Watching him pull this sled around, I realized I would get more bang for my buck if I loaded it down with something heavy. That should tire him out a little sooner. I didn't do it, but I'm not opposed to it in the future!

And here would be the Angle Inlet twist--the modified jog stroller that now has skiis. And Andie Joy stuffed right in the middle of it all.

We only made one lap around the campground before the sun started going down and it got cold. This little red nose being the proof. I think it's funny that I'm outside all day in 20 degrees, but I only thought it was cold when the sun went down. Also, one of our friends went to North Dakota last week and I knew the location of the town she was going to. It's happening, I'm being sucked in by Minnesota. I'm....one of them?