Up North

Paul, myself and the dogs took the past two days to visit my dad in Wisconsin and take in the fall colors. We enjoyed partaking in what we consider to be one of the great perks of moving back to the Midwest.

This season's wintergreen crop is really plentiful. Walking in the woods picking wintergreen berries really brought back memories of my childhood.

We also spotted lots of mushrooms, most colorful of which was this one.

The garden gnome doesn't have a lot left in the garden to watch over, but we did enjoy some fresh raspberries and brussel sprouts.

My dad is wasting no time wearing in his newest blue cotton hat. In this shot it is covered with wood shavings he acquired while planing wood.

The cranapple sauce I made with Charleen and Jamie was so tasty, that when I heard that the local cranberry bogs were selling cranberries, I had to get some. After a stop at the bog while we were up there and an apple orchard on the way back to Minneapolis, we have plenty of produce to make another batch of the sauce.

Cranberries are not exactly pick your own, but we did get to see them skimming the bogs.

After the two days up there, we came back home and enjoyed the evening with dogs that were so worn out that they ate dinner, laid down and didn't get up again until the morning. They sure love running around without leashes and without us stopping them from eating the outdoors. Up north, they are free to eat and then vomit as they wish: a city dog's dream!