More Snow!

Here is what the snow looked like last week in Gaylord. This is on the snowmobile path. Now check out the Snowman Cam and see how much snow there is now! The Snowman Cam is really neat - shows you real time views of the snow accumulation in our area and often times you can catch glimpses of deer, bear and wild turkey.

Approximately 4 inches have fallen today and another 2-4 inches is expected tomorrow. I imagine it will be slow driving once we get closer to our destination. We might do some downhill skiing this weekend as well as finish decorating the log cabin. I picked up a couple more Christmas trees.....Marvin the cat is excited at this development.

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday! The above photo is of me on my 3rd birthday with my Papa. Now it's your turn to say "awwwwww." We are sitting on a toy chest that he built me as a birthday present. How do you like my donald duck slippers? I was a fashion maven in the making I tell ya!

JyLync at A Cup of Joe With a View had tagged me earlier to name 6 random things about myself. I figured today was as good as any. (P.S. Be sure to check out her fabulous blog!) There are rules that go with this - but I'll leave it to you to decide if you would like to do this too!
6 Random Things About Shelley

1. I am Irish and Lebanese (a volatile mix - eh?)
2. I had a cat named Harold that lived to 23 years old!
3. I am a speed reader and can finish a 300 page novel in one evening sitting. (By the way, this skill has not gotten me anywhere in life!)
4. I used to wait tables at a Italian restaurant when I was going thru school and some of the famous people I waited on were Paul Newman, Steve Guttenberg, Chuck Daly (former coach of the Pistons) and Bill Laimbeer (former pistons player.) I am happy to say that all were very nice and tipped me well!
5. I am afraid and hate those clown dolls! (Think of that movie Poltergeist!)

By the way, I bought myself a little present from Catherine at Catherine Holman's Folk Art. Be sure to check out her site! What I love about her work, is the stories she weaves for each painting. Here's the one for mine:

Every year on Christmas Eve Mr. Henson drags home a tree through the snow. As he walks through the forest he is reminded of all time spent cutting trees to make their cozy little cabin. Dragging it up on the porch he wraps it with some canvas before taking it through the door. As he anchors it in the tree stand, his wife directs him until it's perfectly straight. The smell of evergreen fills the air along with the scent of Christmas cookies baking in the oven. Mrs. Henson lights the candles on the tree as everyone gathers round to sing "O Holy Night". -Catherine Holman

By the way, Catherine is having a giveaway of one of her adorable cupcake paintings.




Greg and I are headed up to the log cabin on Saturday morning. I heard there's a lot of snow up there!!

Too many shoes at the log cabin!

My biggest regret with our log cabin.....not having a mudroom! The next log cabin will have a 150 square foot mudroom with heated floors and lockers and one of those benches from Pottery Barn. Okay - I'm just fantasizing and going overboard here.

But who knew that between my hubby and stepson - that they needed 5 different kinds of boots? And when guests come in - it looks like a stampede of horses has trampled my welcome mat. (I'm sure any of my past guests reading this post right now is saying "hey, who are you calling a horse?!) Anyways, I hated tripping over these shoes and they way they looked all scattered about. So I bought this shoe cube from Lowes. I put the shoes in the canvas cube drawer and everything is nice and organized now. And oh yes, I put Marvin the cat away too. Can you see him?

Treats for the Birdies!

I spoil my birds rotten up at the log cabin! They give me such joy and I want to return the favor by making sure they have enough treats to make it through the winter. So I decided to give my birds their own edible Christmas tree. The pine cone bird feeder is super easy to make and I think a fun holiday project to do with the kids.


First you start off with a hungry bird! Did you know that the Black-Capped Chickadee is known for being the 1st bird to visit a new feeder? I know this to be true because when I put up a new feeder last week, all the other birds were freaked out and wouldn't go on it. But my Chickadee was there within minutes.











Gather some pine cones. If they are not fully opened, then put them on a foil lined baking sheet and "bake" them for 10-15 minutes at 250 degrees- keep a close eye on them!
You'll need unsweetened peanut butter, pine cones, bird seeds (I like the mixed fruit & nut variety - looks prettier), rubber spatula, plate for the seeds and pipe cleaners.







Tie the pipe cleaner around the top of the pine cone. Use your rubber spatula to spread the peanut butter around your pine cone.













Roll it in the seeds until you can barely see the peanut butter.

Hang it on a pine tree and just watch those birdies go crazy! This Chickadee licked this pine cone clean!

P.S. I also strung some popcorn and cranberries and made a garland around the tree. Forgot to take a photo of this so hopefully next weekend!

Let's go snow shoeing!

You and I are going to leave the confines of the log cabin today and go snow shoeing in this lovely powdered snow that we have! Are you ready? (Psst - not only is snow shoeing considered one of the fastest growing winter sports, but did you know that you can burn more than 600 calories per hour snow shoeing? Let's work off those cookies I made the other day.)


Dress warmly. Let's go drive over to my in-law's cabin which sits on 20 acres. It will be nice to see the tall green pines. Plus my mother-in-law might feed us later. :-)











Okay, we're on the road. Did you know snow shoes are relatively inexpensive? You can usually pick up a decent pair for under $100. I bought mine from REI.










Time to snap on the snow shoes. It's relatively easy to tighten the bindings. I forgot my poles but I shouldn't need them today because I won't be walking over that many hills.


















Let's step into that virgin white snow and make some tracks.
















Isn't that a beautiful sight? Let's not trip over that stump up ahead....























The air is crisp and clean. I can hear a Blue Jay off in the distance.












Let's walk a little further. See how the snow is clinging to the pine trees? Can you hear winter's silence?






















I'm getting a little hungry and I think you need some hot chocolate. Let's head back down this path. I hope you enjoyed our snow shoeing adventure today - I know I did.

Decorating the Log Cabin for Christmas

I am about 60% complete in decorating the log cabin for Christmas. My husband and stepson were conveniently out on the ATV when I started unpacking the boxes. But I didn't mind - I had a vision of what I wanted it to look like - north country and cozy! I was a woman on a mission! Marvin the cat was too. He wanted to sniff and paw everything I pulled out.

It snowed throughout the weekend (I think close to 2 feet of snow!) and it was nice to play Christmas music, see the snow outside the cabin windows and get everything ready for the holidays. I also managed to do a lot of cooking, snow shoeing, and photographing the nature around me. Wait till you see my birdie treats!