I Found My Thrill…

Northwoods Journal

Saturday, July 6, 2013

…on Blueberry Hill!

Our first harvest of wild Michigan blueberries.

We almost pulled out the sofa bed for sleeping last night, because the dachshunds are used to being in the bed, and it was pretty hot, but we managed in our own bed.  It wasn’t too bad, even though Schnitzel insisted on sleeping plastered against my back.

We enjoyed a nice, slow morning.  Mark made us Spam and eggs on his griddle on the Coleman stove.  Spam is strictly an up-north food.  We never eat it at home!  I took my second cup of coffee out on the porch but didn’t really get to enjoy any peace and quiet because the five dogs wanted out there, too.

I went through the ordeal of taking a “shower” and then we decided to attempt taking all the dogs for a walk.  We were just going to go a little ways down to the power lines that run up a hill next to our across-the-road neighbor.  But the whole thing turned into a disaster before we even reached the end of our driveway.  I had the two doxies and Mark had our three beagles.  As soon as we hit the road they got on a scent and were acting like maniacs.  We only got about half-way to the power lines when Mark said he was taking our three back home because they wouldn’t behave.  I went on ahead with the Roxie and Shnitz, even though Roxie hates walkies! LOL  I decided to just go up to the top of the first hill.  Something good came out of the whole ordeal because at the start of the hill I found a nice patch of blueberries!  So, after I brought the doxies back to the trailer, we took our pail and went and picked them.

After we cleaned out that small patch we got our bigger bucket and drove to the area where we have picked bunches of blueberries in the past.  It was very hot in the full sun so I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.  When we would kneel on the motocross trail, the sand was so hot we could feel it through our jeans.  We picked for an hour and got a pretty decent haul.  They are very sweet and delicious!  Blueberry picking is one of my favorite times of year up here!  Ha Ha, I think every time of year is my favorite up here! 🙂

Yummy Michigan wild blueberries.

The kids returned from Drummond Island around 1:30.  They had a great time and Pete is anxious to go back again with us.  Unfortunately they were not able to hook up with another group of Jeepers, so there were several trails that they couldn’t risk on their own.  They said it was beautiful and they saw lots of deer.  They camped at a nice campground that had showers and toilets, so they didn’t have to rough it as much as they thought they would!

Pete’s dirty Jeep after a trip to Drummond Island.

We had a meeting scheduled with the real estate agent at 2 o’clock.  I think he was disappointed because we told him we aren’t ready to list our place at this time.  We are starting to learn that even without hot running water, this place is a castle compared to most places that are for sale in our price range!  We told him we want him to continue to look at listings for us and if something comes on the market that we fall in love with, then we’ll list our place.  I think our place will sell quickly due to the fact that we back onto state land and we are surrounded by the ATV trails.  This has been our second home for 12 years and I’m finding that letting it go is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

It was so hot that Mark, Katy and I decided to take Daisy and Ruby to the Thunder Bay headwaters for a swim.  There were lots of other people there and two other dogs.  Daisy and Ruby were really not all that thrilled about the swim, they were more ticked off because they thought they were going for a hike!  Of course, thinking that we were swimming I did not take my camera!  Stupid!  I missed several great photo ops, including Ruby trying to get out of the river by walking on this half-submerged log along the shore, walking on it like a balance beam.  It was so funny!  Then we walked them a little way down the road and there is a pond next to the river and we see this bird flying in and landing on a log – a green heron!  And me with no camera! Grrrrrr!

Mark grilled us some delicious BBQ pork chops and we had a wonderful dinner, despite the heat.  It would have been nicer to sit out on the deck but our little patio table only has 2 chairs.  Since it had cooled off just a little bit, Mark, Katy and I took Daisy, Ruby and Schnitzel for a short hike.  We left Roxie – who hates walkies! – and Milo, who is too old and fat to hike much anymore, with Pete.  Mark drove up Stevens Spring to the big ATV trail crossing.  We parked and walked up the hill to the motocross trail, walking where it was very shaded.  We saw a single deer.

Katy was anxious to go pick blueberries so we dropped the dogs at the trailer and took her to our picking spot.  A doe and fawn crossed the road on our way.  We picked blueberries until after 9 o’clock.  The woods were wonderfully quiet, except for the trills of the hermit thrushes that echoed back and forth across the forest.

Unfortunately, a mountain of dishes awaited our return.  Mark and Pete played this new strategy/board game Pete bought until well after 11.  I think I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.  More blueberry picking tomorrow!

Oh, we had a tiny bit more bird activity today: hummingbird, blue jays, hairy woodpeckers and a couple of white-breasted nuthatches.