More Fall Fishing

Spring returns to the Upper Peninsula after a brutal five day winter.

Another glorious day on the lake.

Fishing was better too. Nothing of size, but we are making up for it in quantity.

Selfie from the live well.
Posted by Michael Wallach on Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Fall Fish

Finally. A fish dinner. 

After a week at the lake this is our cumulative catch...

3 smallish pike and 2 bluegill (caught by Dad, Mike and Robyn)

... and these are the resulting filets:

A far cry from the bounty we pulled from the lake in the spring. I guess we are reverting to the mean. If we are going to make a meal out of this, we are gong to need a large side of rice.

Brown rice pilaf with onion, garlic, parsley

We went with our current favorite "Go To" fresh fish recipe "Tasty Northern Pike"

Saute onion, garlic, tarragon & parsley w white wine

Time the fish to finish with the rice

Add fish filets

Almost done - add lemon juice and more wine

Not much fish, but a fine meal

Final Fall Farewells

Well, not really "final."  Just this crew and just this trip. But I do love my alliterative blog titles. It was a short trip, sorry to see them go, but Robyn and Jeff are heading home.

Harlan captures the action on ShagCam...

... as we make time for for the mandatory portrait.

After they depart...

... nothing much to do but settle in...

...and watch the painful end to the Chicago Bears season.

Fall Fire

I've noticed a relative dearth in bonfires among Shag Lake visitors this year. Poor planning and frequent rainouts appear to be the cause. We didn't want to miss out during Jeff and Robyn's short visit, so I compiled an appropriate assembly of wood.

MAGPOWATHEYGOTTLISDAHAW

My nephews have engineered some impressive, carefully constructed, and meticulously maintained bonfires in recent years. I have a different technique. I call it - "Make A Giant Pile Of Wood And Throw Everything You've Got On Top Then Light It Sit Down And Have A Whiskey."  For the benefit of those in the family who missed a bonfire this year, here is 13 minutes of watching a fire burn:

 
You're welcome.

Technology Fails (and limited successes)

I hate it when this happens. My waterproof, shock-resistant, protective cushioned cover Samsung Galaxy 5 -  didn't.

This was my first major mishap with the Samsung. Although, truth be told, a cracked smartphone screen is not a particularly unusual event for me. I am not saying it was my fault, but I was on the dock in flipflops to take pictures of the early frost...

 ... when something bad happened. Let's just say a small crack formed in the lower right corner of the screen, which precipitated a purple black cancer slowly spreading across the screen and eventually led to the Blank Screen Of Death.  So after a few hours with T-Mobile and the crappy Assurant phone insurance I overpay on a monthly basis, a replacement phone was enroute. Which would ultimately lead to more hours of switching apps, contacts, and backup photos.  Did I mention I hate it when this happens? The good news is that I remembered what is was like to be off the phone for a few days.

 In other Tech Fail news, the ShagCam installation was showing it's age with periodic hallucinogenic color shifts across the deck and lake. Jeff brought an upgraded camera to replace the primary lake shot, and we decided to see if we could initiate a second ShedCam to monitor the winter snows on the the roof.

After much frustration, gnashing of teeth, and numerous calls to the vendor, we finally got it working.

UPDATE: After determining that WiFi would not be a reliable ShedCam connection, an additional Yooper work-around was devised - nuff said.

Soup and Visitors

Robyn and Jeff will be arriving this evening. It'll  be cold and nothing beats a warm bowl of soup for the weary traveler. Inspired by an inherited recipe cousin Bunny shared with the family a few years ago, Dad and I thought we'd give Bubbe's Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup a try.

 Full disclosure, I had a few issues with the original recipe (ketchup?), so decided to meld it with some other Old Country Ukrainian Cabbage Soup recipes found on the interwebs.

We are supposed boil the flanken until the meat falls from the bone. I think we are there. The recipe calls for cabbage to be "thinly sliced", potatoes to be "diced", onions to be "sliced", and carrots to be "grated". At times like these it is good have an old army guy around with vast experience at K.P. duty.

Strip the meat from the bone, saute the veggies, mix the broth, meat, cabbage, and veggies. Simmer for a few hours, season to taste.

Nothing more to do but wait for dinner companions, who finally arrive.  Good thing, as we've got a lot of soup.

Final Verdict: "It's as good as my mother's soup." - Papa Sid