Up North for the Fourth

We went "up North" to the cabin which belongs to Paul's relatives for the holiday weekend. When we got there we found this really huge spider! That's a 5 gallon bucket above it, so you can see how big that puppy is. Luckily, this is OUTSIDE the cabin, so we didn't have to evict it. However, the cheeky red squirrel (all of which are known as "Turdy" since the time one jumped onto Peter from the outhouse) needs to GO! I woke up Saturday morning to a loud scolding from this beast. It was IN THE CABIN, sitting on a rafter, YELLING at us! Later that day, it made another pass through the interior. I meant to say, "Look, that stupid squirrel is back inside", but all that came out was, "EEK!EEK!EEK!EEEEEKKKK!!!!" He came back for a Sunday morning wake-up call, too. Paul nailed more wood over the most recent entry hole, at least it will slow him down.




Next on the agenda, mow the lawn.













Lucy by the Orange Hawkweed. Poor thing is so deaf, she didn't even hear the squirrel. She didn't hear the firecrackers, either, and that's a good thing!












Next we went into Moose Lake for fishing and tubing. We caught a mess of crappies, which were tasty! Nate practices his meditation, "Ooom mani padmi, HIT IT!"









The new tube is so stable, it can hold them both.














Here is Nick, tubing. Sand Lake is really busy on the 4th, so Paul was extra careful. I will cheerfully outlaw those stupid waterbikes, though. The riders never look where they are going!

We went up to Duluth for the carnival and fireworks. This ride shot you up and dropped you down. Both boys agreed never to go on it again, it was so scary!









Waiting for the fireworks. We missed Martin Zeller play at the bandshell. He is most famous for the classic, "I wanna drive a zamboni". We did get to hear the Duluth orchestra play a nice medley of show tunes, though.









Nice fireworks display in Duluth. They coordinate with music on the radio, which is cool. I liked the smiley face fireworks during "What a Wonderful World".
















Paul finished siding the woodshed, it turned out pretty well.












This is the word's best mousetrap (credit Grandpa Vern). The mouse (or squirrel, hopefully) walks up the board, jumps onto the peanut butter covered popcan, which spins, dumping it into the antifreeze, where it drowns. Seriously, this works like a charm, we need a minnow scoop to get them all out!







Paul's sister Gracia was in town from Florida for the weekend. We had dinner with her at Grandma Ose's house Sunday night. We had barbequed chicken, with extra chicken for a salad tomorrow. Gracia used to work a "California Pizza Kitchen" where she learned to make this great salad. I like it because it's nice and sloppy. I hate dry food.

You know what jicama (hickama) is, right? Crispy root vegetable, eaten raw?




BBQ Chicken Salad

12 corn tortillas, cut into strips and fried in oil until crisp, divided in half
1/2 head iceberg lettuce
1/2 head Romaine lettuce
(go ahead and get 2 bags of prewashed lettuce if you like, greener = better)
12 basil leaves, thinly sliced (only if you are growing this in your garden, otherwise it's optional)
1 lb jicama, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 cups shredded Monteray Jack cheese
1 cup cooked black beans (canned is fine)
1 cup white corn (canned or frozen, yellow corn is just fine, too)
3 tbls chopped cilantro
2 lbs chopped tomato
3-4 cooked BBQ'd chicken breasts or the equivalent leftover chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup chopped scallions

Toss together all ingredients except chicken, BBQ sauce, scallions and half the tortilla strips, these go on top, with the BBQ sauce squirted on last for extra prettiness! Deep frying the tortilla strips is kind of a pain, especially in summer (it's HOT, that's why we are eating salad, for pete's sake!) so feel free to crunch up some tortilla chips and mix them in. Perfect use for what's left in that big bag from Costco, right?