Hello to the few of you who are still out there!
I still keep this place for my journal & collection of photos & recipes. Plus I have family who reads here.

How do I top that last post of the black bear! lol..I don't. 
Things have been pretty quiet around here.
We have broken some records with our temperatures of having the coolest on record for the month.
We did have finally have a beautiful day on Sunday. Unfortunately we didn't utilize it & go fishing. I have no idea why. Guess hubby just wasn't in the mood. You really gotta grab the days that you can as they are very far & few between around here. Oh well...... he bummed me out on Sunday, but made me happy on Saturday by ordering me a new computer. A laptop at that!  The one that we have has been giving me fits & I know it is going to quit any time now. It has just been grinding away. We went online  to Dell & built our own.. I should have it in the next couple of weeks!

Just a couple of pictures to share. These are from Sunday. We finally had some turkeys back in the yard.

Now I have several recipes to share.

  Rosemary-Grilled Chicken with Black-Pepper Shallot Butter

                Rosemary Chicken:
4    large   boneless chicken breasts, with skin 
1   tablespoon  oil
2   tablespoons   fresh rosemary -- minced
  salt & fresh ground pepper
     
                        Black Pepper Shallot Butter:
1 shallot
6  tablespoons   butter -- softened
1/2  tablespoon  cracked black peppercorns
 1    lemon

Rub chicken breasts with the oil and rosemary, sprinkle with salt & pepper.

For the butter, mince the shallot.  Cream the butter, and then beat in the shallot and the cracked black peppercorns. Season to taste with fresh lemon juice. Shape the seasoned butter into a 1- inch lot, wrap in plastic and refrigerate.

Recipe can be made to this point several hours ahead.  Wrap & refrigerate chicken.

Heat the grill or broiler.  Grill or broil chicken, turning once, until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. 
Top each hot chicken breast with a slice of black-pepper shallot butter.


Of course, it is the butter & the fresh rosemary that makes this delicious!

These next few all came out of a Taste of Home 5 ingredients magazine that I bought.
Talk about easy & quick...these really are!

Wild Rice-Stuffed Steaks

Filled with a scrumptious, packaged rice mixture and seasoned with teriyaki sauce. Just four ingredients are required for the delightful entree, so it comes together in a snap.

SERVINGS: 6
TIME: Prep/Total Time: 30 min.

Ingredients:
1 package (6.2 ounces) fast-cooking long grain and wild rice mix
1/4 cup chopped green onions
6 boneless beef top loin steaks (12 ounces each)
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce, divided
Directions:
Cook rice according to package directions for microwave; cool. Stir in onions. Cut a pocket in each steak by slicing to within 1/2 in. of bottom. Stuff each with 1/4 cup rice mixture; secure with toothpicks. Brush steaks with 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce.
    Place on a broiler pan. Broil 4-6 in. from the heat for 4-6 minutes. Turn steaks; brush with 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce. Broil 6-8 minutes longer or until meat reaches desired doneness (for medium-rare, a meat thermometer should read 145°; medium, 160°; well-done, 170°), basting frequently with remaining sauce. Discard toothpicks. Yield: 6 servings.

We all loved this.
 

Pretzel-Crusted Chicken

SERVINGS: 4
TIME: Prep: 10 min. Bake: 40 min.

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)
1/4 cup honey mustard
8 thin slices deli ham
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup crushed pretzels
Directions:
Cut a horizontal slit in one side of each chicken breast half to within 1/2 in. of the opposite side. Spread honey mustard inside each pocket; stuff with two ham slices.
    Place in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Brush with butter; sprinkle with pretzels. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted in chicken reads 170°. Yield: 4 servings.

This was good for a different fix for chicken. The honey mustard really made it. You could also add a slice of swiss cheese with the ham if you wanted or even use crushed Chex mix instead of the pretzels.

Pepperoni Roll-Ups

TIP: Try serving with pizza sauce for dipping

SERVINGS: 4

CATEGORY: Appetizer

TIME: Prep/Total Time: 20 min.

Ingredients:
1 tube (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls
16 slices pepperoni, cut into quarters
2 pieces string cheese (1 ounce each), cut into quarters
3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning, divided
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
Directions:
Unroll crescent dough; separate into eight triangles. Place eight pepperoni pieces on each. Place a piece of cheese on the long side of each triangle; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning. Roll up each, starting with a long side; pinch seams to seal. Sprinkle with garlic salt and remaining Italian seasoning.
    Place 2 in. apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Yield: 8 appetizers.

These were VERY good! lol.. Daughter actually had them as a meal one night after work. They are great for kids or adults. I also used the garlic flavored crescent rolls for even more garlicy flavor. Our family can't get too much garlic! We use pizza sauce to dip them in as well.

I love to hear you input if you make any of my recipes. Also don't forget that I have links to many recipes on my front page in the left  module.

That is all that I have for you today. I will leave you with this bit of advice though....

 If you are on FB, then you have already seen these. I posted there first as I didn't want to take away from my anniversary tribute to my parents. Which by the way, thank you all for you sweet comments there.

I have finally gotten pictures of one of the bears. Not papa bear though...although mama is a pretty good size too.  She is not nearly as intimidating as papa was.

We have only been putting one bird feeder outside during the day & then each evening we bring it in. Well, Tuesday night we were busy & before we knew it, it was already dark outside. It was around 9:00 when hubby said that he had better go get the feeder in. I didn't want him going out there in the dark so I told him to just forget it this one night. Well, within 10 minutes I walked into the kitchen & could see a dark figure on the ground under the feeder...sure enough it was a bear!

I grabbed my camera & was a bit shaken & in a hurry to try to get some pictures this time that I left it on my dummy setting, so the pictures aren't that great...but good enough....

This one cracks me up...like a kid with their hand caught in the cookie jar!

She just bent that pole over & is sitting on the ground eating the bird feed.

Here is what the game camera captured...

As you can see from the times, I must have seen her as soon as she got here. I actually opened up the sliding door & was taking my pictures from the deck. The flash didn't bother her one bit. It wasn't until daughter came running outside with her camera that she finally turned to wander off.

Last night, daughter & I are sitting in the living room watching a movie. It is 8:15 when I see the same bear walking into our back yard.  She crosses over the mound & then goes up to one of the apple trees & is sniffing & looking around & then goes through the woods & down the same path by our dining room window. I am thinking that maybe it is the apple trees & she is checking to see if the apples are ripe yet to eat? 

Here are the pics from last night...

here is where she is sniffing around the apple tree.

She was pretty close to us here!  I thought she was going to walk right up to the house.

Here is what the game camera got...

We are not even putting the bird feeder out now during the day.
 Hubby said that we can't call the DNR until the feeders have been up for 30 days, then if they are still coming around we can have them come out &  set a trap.
Absolutely no walking around the yard anymore. I am frightened to even go out during the day right now.
But like hubby tells me, it is part of living in the country here in the northwoods.

Did I blink & miss the weekend?  Geeze, it sure did fly by. I also can't believe that my last post over here was last Monday....where have I been? Right here, that's where...just staying busy, I guess. Time sure is flyin' by.

I went into Walmart last Thursday & they already had all of their back to school stuff out. It doesn't even feel like we have had a summer here yet.

We finally broke down & bought a game camera. We actually just bought one of the cheap ones, $99...but it works pretty good. Now, if we can just capture the bear on it!
Here is what we have captured so far...well just a few of the better ones. We have had a lot of deer pictures, but I won't post them all!

not 1, but 2 raccoons!

I am pretty impressed with the pictures that it takes. Now, to just get that bear on film!

Hubby has been so busy at work. He even ended up having to work on Saturday, which ruined our plans for fishing. It ended up being pretty windy that day any way, so it probably wouldn't have been a good day out on the canoe anyway.
We did end up going out yesterday, late morning. About  45 minutes after getting the canoe in the water it started raining on us. Phooey! So much for any fishing this weekend.

I am really enjoying this book that I am reading.  I was a little upset when I got it home & realized that it was a shared writing by Patterson, but it has turned out to be very good. A definite page turner.

I am really having fun with my new camera. Especially that 20x zoom!  Now I just need to go somewhere to take some pictures besides my yard! lol...however there are so many things even here to capture on film. Let me share with you what I have seen around my house this past week....

here are the clouds from the "scattered showers" that rained us out yesterday!

 I had brought seeds from my Hollyhocks that I had in my yard  back in OK with me. I planted some out in the yard here & also some in a planter.
The ones in the yard have come up, but have gotten mowed a time or maybe 2. Plus probably walked on by the animals, so they aren't doing as well as the ones in my planter.

my fur family....

Princess Pepper

Prissy Possey

Big Red

Using my macro on some Blackeyed Susans that I picked & had in the house...

Using the zoom to see this buck who was all the way at the back of the property...

and more deer pictures...

Hubby & I were sitting at the dining room table playing cards when I took these shots....
not bad for taking through glass & that far away!

The bird on the bottom right was a fledgling...her mamma to the left of her.  Her wings were just a shaking & mamma was still feeding her (which I was trying to capture, but never did)  It was funny because later on when mamma was gone the baby was on top of the pole & was trying to eat it. She couldn't figure out where the feeder or the food was. It was fun watching them.

She's a cutie! That's mamma up there getting her some seed & I think that goldfinch was sound asleep as his eyes are shut in both pics!

catbird...I love to listen to them!

Stuffing himself!

uh oh...Chip got up there & him & the bird are having a staredown!

Looks like Chip won!

These 2 I got last night while I was sitting on the porch

I have a new recipe to share with you. I got it out of a new cookbook that I got called "I'm hooked, I'm game"...2 cookbooks in 1 with recipes for the angler & for the hunter!
We used our bass that we caught on our last fishing trip for this recipe...It was delicious!

Baked Bass with Avocado Sauce

makes 4 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 14 minutes

Ingredients:

1 (1-lb) whole bass fillet

1 large avocado
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 clove garlic
Dash of hot sauce

2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/3 Cup fine dry bread crumbs

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450.
Cut the bass fillet into 4 serving size pieces.

Peel and coarsely chop the avocado.
In a blender or food processor, combine the avocado pieces, milk, lime juice, garlic and hot sauce; process until smooth and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, soy sauce, lemon peel and Dijon mustard; mix well. Place the bread crumbs in a shallow pie pan.

Lightly grease a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.  Using a pastry brush, brush the mustard mixture evenly over both sides of each bass piece.  Dip the pieces into the bread crumbs, turning to coat both sides.  Place the coated fish pieces on the baking sheet.  Bake for 7 minutes. Carefully turn each piece over & bake for an additional 7 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

To serve, place each baked fish piece on a serving dish. Drizzle the avocado sauce over each serving. 

One final thing I want to share with you. Some of these you may have seen, others maybe not, either way, they still make me chuckle.

Okie dokie...that will do it for me today!
I hope you all have a great day & a wonderful new week.

Zany hugs to you all.

I moved here to Wisconsin last June & I have since encountered 2 black bears!

Yes, I have finally actually seen the one that has been visiting our property.

Hubby grilled out last night, then after dinner & cleaning up the kitchen, we went & sat out on the deck. We were enjoying watching the birds & just visiting & I kiddingly said I bet that we get a visit from the raccoon or the bear tonight since you grilled & it smells so good.   I swear to God, not 10 minutes later, we heard 2 crunches in the woods. I said, something is out there, I am going to go & get my camera. Hubby said, that doesn't sound like a deer. It sounds more like a bear. This is all normal conversation for us. About that time, a hummingbird flew up to the feeder right in front of us, so not wanting to scare it off to get up & go inside & get my camera, I just stayed there & we watched the hummer. I then turned my head to look up the path by the birdfeeders & I kid you not, there was the bear coming around the corner. I whispered to hubby, "there is the bear"...well of course his normal reaction was yeah, right...thinking that I was kidding considering what we just were talking about. I said something like "oh my God" or maybe even the F word...hubby looked & saw him...the bear hadn't seen us yet. He walked from around the apple tree & was going toward the bird feeders that you always see in my posts...he is now about 30 feet from us. I was really starting to freak out because I have seen how fast a bear can run, although I wasn't thinking that he would be running the opposite way of where I was & not towards me, but he was getting way too close for comfort. He was a BIG bear! Hubby thinks around 500 pounds. His snout alone was huge! I kept whispering to hubby that I wanted to go in, hubby kept telling me no, be still & be quiet.  Finally when he was getting that close to us, hubby said go in now. Me trying not to scare him off thinking that I could get inside & get to my camera, get out of my rocker as slowly as I could, but I still made enough noise for him to hear me. I was staring at him as his eyes locked into mine...that is when I ran inside the house for sure screaming the F word & hollering at daughter telling her the bear was here. I ran for my camera but by the time I got it  & got to the window (heck no, I wasn't going back outside!) he had run up the hill.
Talk about adrenaline flowing! I was all wound up. I was also SO mad at myself for not having my camera outside with me. I was also realizing that normally we would have been out taking our walk around the yard. oh my!
This bear is starting to get too comfortable in coming so close to the house & also coming out in daylight. This happened at 7:30!   Hubby said that he didn't  run off when he realized we were there, but he walked away. That isn't a great sign either!
The first bear that I saw last June ran very fast when we encountered him.
You better believe that I am not going to be going outside too far from the house in the evenings anymore. I am also going to be very cautious even during the daytime for now.
Whew! Welcome to the northwoods. Oh my!

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend.  Ours was pretty laid back & very relaxing.
Hubby & I went fishing on Saturday, then we made pizzas for dinner & watched Mall Cop.
Yesterday was spent piddling around the house & sitting outside. We played a few games, had a few drinks, & ate too much!

Let me share my last few days  of pictures with you....
These first few were some that I took around the yard ...


This bird was just singing away up in the tree!

 
a few blueberries!

This just popped up in the bed in the circle of the driveway! I love these kinds of surprises!

Daughter went on Thursday to get her hair cut... well, not really cut in length.
She had some layers put in & got bangs.

I think it really accentuates her eys. Looks cute!

Hubby gave me an anniversary present, which also needs to be an early birthday present.
This is what I got...

Yay!!!!  20x zoom versus the 5x my old one had!

These were taken before hubby & I went out for our anniversary...

We went to dinner t to Fischers on the Green.   We had never been there before, but hubby has been wanting to try it out, so we decided since it was a fancy & expensive place, that we would do it for our anniversary.  It was a nice place & the food was good, but it was overly priced. We are glad that we tried it, but we won't be planning on going back anytime real soon.

my sweetie pie...

cheers to 13 years!

Friday I made a couple of patriotic treats...

 
lemon bars

brownies. I couldn't find any of the red/white/blue star sprinkles to use...

Hubby took these of the full moon Friday night with my new camera...

We had a couple of visitors in the yard on Saturday. Mama with her fawn....
(these too were taken with my new camera!)

OK...I have been working on this post most of the day now it seems, between interruptions & hubby has already come & gone for lunch. I have errands to run & things to get done around the house!

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Later gaters...

13 years ago today....

     I said I do....

Today I say .... 
 
"if you insist"


haha....

And strangely enough...he loves me too!

May they live happily ever after!

You have been a daughter...

A Sister

a singer/performer

a best friend to many

a wife of almost 50 years!

a mother to 3 children, 1 who left us much too early.

a nana to 3 grandaughters




a teacher & nurturer


a great cook.

You have sacrificed much for your family.
You always did everything out of love & straight from your heart. 
Your family has always came first to you.

You're still one hot mamma with a great sense of humor!

I truly believe that it is your "young at heart" attitude & way of life that keeps you so young!

You are loved

 
I am blessed to have you as my mother.

I love you.

Enjoy your day!

I hope you all are having a good weekend. 

It rained here most of yesterday & today it is very windy & cooler.

Hubby worked out in his garage yesterday while I worked on my cross-stitch project & did things around the house.  Then we relaxed on the porch & read and hubby cooked ribs out on the grill for dinner. mmmm....good!

Today is yard work & probably just more relaxing & stuff around the house.

We did wake up yesterday morning to a bit of destruction out in the yard. The bear has been back. It bent over 3 shepherd hooks & emptied all of the birdfeeders. At least this time he didn't destroy the feeders.  We thought with it being this late in June that we were safe, but evidently not! So back to bringing in all of the feeders every night.

I can't believe that June is almost over! Time is just going by much too quickly. I have 2 milestone events in my family in July. My mom turns 75 on the 1st & my parents will celebrate their 50th golden anniversary on the 15th! Wow...just amazing!
July 2, hubby & I will celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary.

Now for the rest of my pictures from our walk last Sunday. After we walked around the yard, we strolled up the road that our house is off of. It is full of so many different wildflower collections...

These next ones I had posted on FB in an album  that I  named "flower child" ....

I love having  so much variety around me. I am constantly filling up vases or jars full of beautiful flowers!

OK...hubby is out mowing so I best get out with the weedeater & help out.

I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.
I will be making my rounds to visit with you all later today or tomorrow.

Let me leave you with this bit of good advice....

 Happy hump day!

Daughter & I had a girls day out yesterday. We started the day eating an early lunch at Friday's, then we shopped at the mall, saw Year One, shopped some more, ate dinner at Olive Garden then came home & watched Mamma Mia.  
It was a very enjoyable day.

Today I have been paying for taking the day off. I had about 5 loads of laundry, cleaned on the house some, transplanted all of my herb plants & my hollyhocks that I planted from the seeds that I brought from my plants in Ok., I also put out "bare spot" grass seed & mole killer granules.

I finally caught a glimpse of that raccoon that has been stealing my suet & drinking my hummer food. I was going onto the deck last night around 9:30 to bring in the suet when I saw something on the ground under one of the bird feeders out back. Sure enough it was that little bandit! He's one big sucker too!  I tried to get a picture, but it was dark out & then I ended up scaring him off & he ran into the woods.

Tomorrow we have yet another closing on the house. This will be the 3rd refinance since we bought it last Sept. dropping our payments now by around $500 per month!

On my last post I told you how we took a walk on Father's day & I promised you some pictures.   I bet you were hoping that I forgot!  No way!
 I am breaking it up into 2 parts though. This first part is our walk around our yard & all of the wildflowers & misc. stuff that we saw.

Here are some apples from one of our 5 apple trees.

see that spider on the right bottom corner...it was in a pine tree

a  swallow who is nesting in this bluebird house

daughter getting pictures of the swallow

future blackberries

Crab apples

I love our long driveway....

I will post part 2 in the next couple of days. Quit your moaning! 

Zany hugs to you all.

 I have to say this, even knowing that  all of my southern friends & family will laugh at me, but by darned it is HOT here this afternoon! I have been so spoiled by the low or no humidity & the cool weather that 86 degrees with  62% humidity, making the heat index 93 degrees feels just absolutely miserable!  OK...that is all of the whining that I am going to do. My parents have had over 100 degree days, so I know that it can be much worse.

I hope you all had a great weekend. We sure did.  We spent the entire day on Saturday out on the canoe fishing. Then Sunday, was spent together, just the 3 of us,  letting hubby be the king for the day. We spoiled him & did all that he wanted to do. I have pictures to share (of course!).

First I want to show you this house finch. I had been out of oranges for a few days, which if you remember from my previous post I have been putting orange slices or halves out & the orioles & the finches have gone crazy for them. I finally bought some more & on Friday I put one out. No sooner did I walk back into the house  & into the kitchen  when I heard a finch singing very loudly. I looked up & saw this out of the window.... 

Not a great shot, I know, once again taken out of the window & at a distance because I didn't want to scare him away.  He was on top of the hanging basket which is to the right of where the orange was.  He would sing really loud & then fly over to the orange & eat then back to the plant & so on.... He was just so happy to have his orange treat again!

This next shot is better of him on his orange ...

Daughter played chef again. She found some of that squid ink pasta like we saw at the International Market in the cities. But this was 1/3 of the price.

Yep, Zany Jr. is thrifty just like her mom!
She decided that it would be cool to have a black & a white pasta.
So she made her own Alfredo sauce and voila!

It was SO good! We all overate & Alfredo sauce is already rich enough. The pasta had really good flavor to it. She actually found the pasta at a Super Target, if any of you are interested.

Saturday morning we headed out around 7'ish. We decided that we were going to check out a new lake. That is one of the many wonderful things about living up here, there are so many bodies of water all over the place. We headed north to a place that hubby had already picked out. Well, we ended up not liking the looks of it, so drove to choice #2. It was  a hand carry in & was real buggy & we weren't too crazy about it. So we went on to the 3rd place & ended up there. We loved it & the fishing was great.  It was a good sized lake & we practically had it to ourselves, which once again is not unusual for around here. It was around 8:30 by the time we got the canoe & started fishing.  Hubby caught the first & the biggest fish....

nice bass!

It was a gorgeous day & a beautiful lake.

We saw a lot of these herons out there.

Also saw some deer, cranes & beavers swimming back & forth making homes.
(didn't get any pictures of those though)

It was quite a day. We both had so much fun & will definitely go back to this place again.

We caught a bunch (well,hubby did, most of mine got away! ).
Here are the ones that we ended up bringing home.

By the time we got home & unloaded & cleaned up it was almost 8:00. Hubby ran over to Culvers & got us a butter burger for dinner. We ate & pretty much went to bed soon after that. It is amazing at how tired one can get out in the fresh air all day!

Father's day....

We ate our breakfast out on the deck. It was another gorgeous day. We had bacon, eggs & biscuits.

Daughter's card  that she made...

notice the Batman wrapping paper too...do you see a "theme" going on here?

And the present is.....

yep...a bat house! haha...pretty cute & clever, huh!
Hubby loves all of his birdhouses (well, we both do).
He has been wanting to put a bat house up. We see lots of bats when we sit outside at night. They are good to have around. Now maybe they will have a place to stay in the winter.

And here is Lori with her daddy (and all of his "loot")

Hubby's choice for the day was just to relax & spend time together(sounded good to all of us!) We ended up under the covered porch as there was a nice light rain that came in around  late morning & stayed most of the day. We played some cards(phase 10).  We took walks in between the rain showers (which I have pictures to share of that on my next post). Just had a good time being together & talking & relaxing.
 We had a surf & turf dinner...grilled some ribeyes & lobster tails, I made my homemade Caesar salad & we had some yummy cheese bread. Finished the evening by watching Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood.

We both called our dads & talked with them. It was kind of sad not to be able to see them or spend any time with them, but was good to be able to talk to them. We are both very fortunate to still have our fathers. I know a lot of you don't have your fathers  anymore & would give anything for just a phone conversation. My heart goes out to you as I can only imagine how hard it is for you.

Well, I best get this submitted. oops...the weather bug just went to 87/95...ugh!  I'm going to have hubby buy me one of those plastic kiddy pools. haha....hey, it is better than nothing.  

You all have a great evening.
Zany hugs to you.