another snowy day and out of the mouth of babes~

It was another cold one out there today.  Our Grandlove Bailey spent the night with us and went along on the trap line this morning.  She convinced us that she could miss Sunday school today; "because sometimes you just have to go trapping with Grandpa and her teacher would understand that".   :)  I told her I thought the Good Lord would let this one time slide ... she was so cute when she said, "Oh, I know God and he understands moments like this."  lol ... out of the mouth of babes ~

She then proceeded to tell her Grandpa that today he has to teach her something.  Thus the lesson began ... the art of walking in each others foot steps.

First she would follow ...

Then she would lead ...

 

She liked being the leader better than the follower.

Two people walked here ~ but it looks like just one.

Time to do more following ...

and come back leading :)

The woods were just gorgeous today ~

another beaver pond that DH has high hopes for in a few weeks

snowy birch

and cones

snowy spruce

Anyone need a big Christmas tree?

Bailey thought it was so funny when she got in the truck after checking a set with her Grandpa.  You see, Grandpa just put some lure by the trap.  The lure was skunk or fox urine ... something on the line of that ... and take my word for it ... it stunk!  Like skunk!!

Bailey, apparently was standing down wind from it when he was scenting it up. Oh did she stink!  I couldn't believe it how she thought it was so funny.  My eyes were watering when she got in the truck.  Then she made the comment that confirmed this IS GRANDPA SLIM'S GRANDLOVE ~

"Oh Grandma ... it's not that bad.  That's the smell of money."

OH MY GOSH!!!  That is what her Grandpa says ALL THE TIME ... out of the mouth of babes!

My Dad used to say that too when I was a kid and we raised ranch mink ... I always said, if that's the smell of money I don't want to be rich.  

Yep, it's a stinky job; but someone has to do it.

Thank goodness I at least get to look at some beautiful scenery while trekking around with the two stinkers.

We took a drive over to the boat landing to check out the ice on the flowage ... still a little iffy if you ask me.  It was good ice forming then we got this snow on top ... causing some slush spots.

Until next time...

So it goes in my neck of the woods.

~mel

hello sunshine ~

It was pretty cold again yesterday ... hovering in the high 20's in the afternoon ... but the mornings have only been in the single digits. 

Even the turkeys looked a bit forlorn when they came in to eat.

as did the little deer ...

BUT ...

The suns warming rays began to shine ...

and

wings were stretched out ... as if to say,

"Hello Sunshine".

It's a beautiful day!

Spread your wings and soak in the warmth of the sunny rays!

Walk up close to the camera ... and say,

"Hello Sunshine :)"

 I hope you have a sunny day!!

Until next time ...

So it goes in my neck of the woods.

~mel

brrrrrrr......

It's a capital B with some capital R's right behind it BRRRRRRRRR......  When I woke up this morning at 5:00a.m. it was 0.5degrees out.  That's right ... 1/2 of a degree Fahrenheit ... that's cold enough for me.

Yesterday it was nice out ~ right around 27 degrees ... so I let Dear Hubby talk me into going along with him to check his trap line.  It was nice walking around out in the woods with him.  He was so thoughtful ... shaking the snow off the branches for me :) on some of the trails that we had to walk in on. 

We had such a light dusting of snow the night before.  It was pretty light ... not that sticky stuff that weighs a ton ... it's pretty easy navigating through it ... but in a few months time ... that will change.  All the snow we have right now is from just one night.

Here's a pic of our friend Porky with a nice 35 lb. bobcat that he harvested just three days ago ... notice we had no snow then.  Way to go Porky - I know you've been waiting over 7 years to get that harvest tag.

Here's Dear Hubby checking one of his bobcat sets yesterday:

We hiked into this pond with some beaver houses on it.

Dear Hubby is all excited about the ice thickening up enough to start beaver trapping.

I know ... there's a lot of opposition about this life style out there; but until you walk in our shoes and see how hard of work it is to keep these animals populations under control so they don't die from disease and worse yet, spread disease... don't judge us.  My husband has been an instructor for the state of Wisconsin in conjunction with the Department of Natural Resources for 15 years on trapper education.  He has also been honored as top lot trapper with NAFA - North American Fur Auctions.  Our family has been supplementing our income through the fur industry for over 35 years and for generations and generations before us.  It IS our way of life.

Another pond freezing up ... but not enough to safely walk out on ... yet. 

One of the snow covered roads we drove down ... I just love driving in on these roads when there's snow cover like this.  The sound of your vehicle is so muffled from the snow and there are no tracks from other vehicles ... Love it!

Not a good place though to have vehicle trouble.  We were way back in the woods on this road when Dear Hubby's truck sensor kept saying he had low tire pressure.  Hmmm... it never told him that before.  DH got out and checked his tires ... sure enough ... one was low; but it was still good enough to get us home.  We didn't even know his truck did that :) - told him if his tire was low.

We opted to walk this road ... instead of driving it.  It was so pretty and peaceful in the woods.

We saw some turkeys ... (yeah... Dear Hubby is a turkey sometimes :) ... but I meant the pics below)

and more turkeys ...

We also found this place where there were quite a few cherry trees with these big burls growing on them ... hmmm.... we need to contact the landowners and see if we can purchase some of those.  They would work great for a wood working project I saw ~ of some shelves made from burls.

Well ... thanks for coming along on my little woodland adventure.  We didn't harvest any fur yesterday - but did have an enjoyable afternoon together out in the woods.

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel