Parting Shots

Got a late start, but made the trip to Chicago in 5 hours 54 minutes door-to-door elapsed time. One stop for gas and a pass through a drive through for coffee.

As we left it...

Some Closing Notes for Fall / Winter Visitors:

Wood and kindling loaded and ready. Some wood is a little green.

The ash tray has holes in it. DO NOT CARRY HOT ASH IN THIS TRAY. Dump the ash in the metal bucket and carry them out in the bucket. 

Two sections of dock removed and stacked on other sections.

I am including this picture for the winter visitors. When the dock is covered with snow, remember what lies underneath. You probably don't want to walk on this.

Emergency supplies in the wine cellar

Emergency free drink chits for the Hideaway.

Until next time.

EDITORS NOTE: I am back filling a bunch of posts, as I got behind wile working on another project.

Of birds and bird feeders....

 

During the spring trip we brought a window sill bird feeder to camp and installed it in the den window.  There it sat, filled with bird seed, all spring, all summer, and into the first fall color in the trees as autumn approached. Not one friggin' bird was seen in the bird feeder during that entire time. Until today - on our last day at camp, as we were cleaning and preparing to close for the season, just minutes from removing the feeder as a failed experiment to never be repeated, then the birds found it. And once they found it, it was continually occupied for the few hours until it had to be pulled.  Jays, sparrows, and finches made an appearance.

Better late than never I guess. We'll try to make it easier to find when we install it again in the spring.

In other bird news, the Great Blue Heron was regular early morning visitor.

We also saw the bald eagle swooping across the bay, and a pair of ruffled grouse hanging out in the brush on the north side, but did not get a good shot photo.

Of electric motors and shear pins...

 

A reference post on the misbehaving electric motor for the Tin Can:

Although there is a screw head on the spindle, the screw does not turn.

We removed the prop by turning the nut with vice grips.

Under the prop - twisted fish line and...

... a broken shear pin.

The shear pin is designed to break before the prop or engine when fouled or hitting bottom.

Bob is located between the Hideaway and Tall Timbers. A good guy and a good resource for any engine problems.

He fabricated more pins for us, which seem to work fine.

Extra shear pins are located here.

That is all.

Surf and Turf - Yooper Style

 

Dad caught enough blugs for two, we still had a venison steak from the Barnetts, fresh corn and tomatoes from the Kettus, and some Michigan farmed Idaho potatoes. Perfect. We fired up the barbie and enjoyed Surf and Turf Yooper Style for our farewell feast.

It was really good.

Red Sky Morning

The old adage proved to be accurate. Temperature dropped and rain is in the forecast for next three days. Nice dramatic sunrise though.

Olive-Palooza - Fall 2012 Edition

Mike, Chris, Emily, Matt, and  Olive visited us on Sunday, bringing gourmet snacks. garden veggies,  and farmers market goodies. MK tells me this is   "Jaochim Fearro" "Martín Fierro" - a  quince paste (membrillo) with manchego cheese, often served on a cracker, topped with fresh fruit, nice with a crisp, dry white wine. Named for a mythic gaucho character in Argentina."

Against All Odds - The U.P. is turning into a foodie destination. No. Really.

After some pizza, Olive favored us with her modern interpretive dance stylings:

Of fish and fishing...

Dad's best blug

 While enjoying some pretty spectacular weather, we tried to get plenty of fishing in.  The fishing was not great, lots of undersized pike, but we got enough bluegills for a fish fry. This post will serve as compilation of fish and fishing pics over the week.

Dad's worst blug

On the dock. The other dock.

In the tin can. When it was working.

Close but no cigar. Even the undersized shovelnose are fun to catch.

Froggy Friday

Ready for his close-up.

This post for no other reason than I inexplicably find alliteration amusing. This frog apparently thought we couldn't see him and let us get close enough for the macro setting. Either that, or he just liked getting his portrait taken.

Any guesses as to the particular specific ID for this critter?

Fish Taco Tuesday

This fish taco on Tuesday started out like this on Monday.

A barely legal Nothern Pike (aka shovelnose) caught on a Mepps #3 as we were trolling back to the dock Monday evening.

Filleting a Northern is a bit tricky because of the "Y-bone" structure. I was not happy with previous efforts so tried this technique to produce five fillets:

It worked out pretty well.

Everything I know I learned on the intertubes.

I then combined the fish preparation technique from this recipe...

FISHERMAN'S LOBSTER     

1/2 c. white wine
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. lemon juice
1/3 lb. butter
1 stalk celery, chopped
Paprika
Salt to taste
2 lbs. Northern Pike or trout fillets

Place 1 1/2 quarts of water, the onions, salt, lemon juice, celery and wine in a 2 quart pan and bring to a boil.

Then add the fish and reboil for 5 minutes. Drain and place the fish on a cookie sheet, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with paprika. Boil fillets for 2 minutes and serve with melted butter.

... with a modified version of the sauce from this recipe:

Grilled Fish Tacos with Chipotle-Lime Dressing
   
Ingredients:
Marinade
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons lime zest
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon seafood seasoning, such as
Old Bay™
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, or to taste
1 pound tilapia fillets, cut into chunks

Dressing
1 (8 ounce) container light sour cream
1/2 cup adobo sauce from chipotle
peppers
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons lime zest
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon seafood seasoning, such
as Old Bay™
salt and pepper to taste

Toppings
1 (10 ounce) package tortillas
3 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 small head cabbage, cored and
shredded
2 limes, cut in wedges

Directions:
1.     To make the marinade, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, lime zest, honey, garlic, cumin, chili powder, seafood seasoning, black pepper, and hot sauce in a bowl until blended. Place the tilapia in a shallow dish, and pour the marinade over the fish. Cover, and refrigerate 6 to 8 hours.

2.     To make the dressing, combine the sour cream and adobo sauce in a bowl. Stir in the lime juice, lime zest, cumin, chili powder, seafood seasoning. Add salt, and pepper in desired amounts. Cover, and refrigerate until needed.

3.     Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat and lightly oil grate. Set grate 4 inches from the heat.

4.     Remove fish from marinade, drain off any excess and discard marinade. Grill fish pieces until easily flaked with a fork, turning once, about 9 minutes.

5.     Assemble tacos by placing fish pieces in the center of tortillas with desired amounts of tomatoes, cilantro, and cabbage; drizzle with dressing. To serve, roll up tortillas around fillings, and garnish with lime wedges.

Dad rated the result a C+.

He thinks I overreached.  He was right. It was ok, but it was no Nick's Crispy Taco.

Acoustic Jam Monday

 Every Monday night the roadside dive "Jack's Hideaway" near Gwinn, Michigan is transformed into something magical. Local amateur (and a few pro) musicians bring their instrument of choice and play the night away.

This was recorded on an HTC smartphone, so the quality is questionable and background noise distracting, but hopefully some of the character comes through.

I counted six guitars, a bass guitar, three fiddles, a ukelele, two harmonicas, and one Old Style. Maybe two.

 

The whole thing is way cooler than it has any right to be.