Norseman Festival

This weekend was the annual Norseman Festival in Red Lake. Kendall has fond childhood memories of this event. So we went and enjoyed the weekend. In the first photo we are enjoying, along with good ol' nachos and cheese, some Canadian fare: poutine, perogies, and Canadian Pepsi which the Hochstedlers say is way better than US Pepsi. Poutine is french fries with shredded cheese and brown gravy. (I think Duane is especially fond of poutine since he had the chance to try it up here.) The other photos are some that cracked us up last night. See if you can pick out the scary one where Eli obviously just jumped and his face needs to catch up with the rest of him. The little boy in the last photo belongs to Kendall's old friends and my new friends, Derek and Elise.

A Bit of Kendall's History

Friday night we went to the Norseman Festival for Family Night. At one amusing point in the evening I sat beside Kendall as two women argued over him. We were sitting and chatting with one when another one walked up and whacked him.
Woman 1: Don't hit my friend!
Woman 2: He's my friend too!
Woman 1: I knew him since he was a little boy!
Woman 2: So did I!
Woman 1: He was friends with my son!
Woman 2: He was my neighbor!
Then Woman 1 laughed about how they were fighting over him while I sat right there. Fun to be in a place where Kendall has history. He's even been cussed out a time or two by Woman 1 when would call for his friend and she'd answer the phone drunk. Sounds like an interesting history, huh?

My Helpers

The boys are good at helping me get ready for groups coming in. Eli's normal job is emptying all the trash cans and putting in new liners. If he's really lucky he gets to clean chairs with Windex. (???) Then they help to fluff the pillows with all their jumping.





These photos are taken in the guestrooms upstairs.

Eli Helps

Today after lunch I told Eli that he could watch a movie when I finished washing dishes. He laid on the couch for awhile asking too often how long until I was done. Finally, he had a brainstorm. He said, "I know what can make it go faster! I'll help you!" Now, I try to make a habit of having him help me with dishes, but, quite honestly, it goes so much faster when I do it alone. I was tired and just wanted to get the dishes washed. But how could I turn down such a gracious offer? Even if it did have some sweetly selfish motives? So Eli pulled up a chair and started rinsing. We stood there at the sink working together and then Eli, so innocent and childlike, said, "I knew you were wanting me to come help you." Not exactly how I would have explained the situation, but I definitely wanted him there with me after such sweetness!

Always Remember Repellent

The other night we went exploring in the bush. It had rained in the afternoon, so everything was wet and the bugs were thick. Our plan was to find a nice place to make a fire and make s'mores. It was a good plan. But we forgot insect repellent.
We took both vehicles down the highway to a side road that Kendall's family often went down for their outings and hunting and blueberry-picking. Then we all piled (yes, piled) into the Blue Weasel. We drove down the gravel road for awhile then turned off onto something that I'm not sure would even be called a road. More like a path. A very overgrown path. There were branches growing over the path, but Kendall's faithful truck lived up to the name which I bestowed upon it and weaseled it's way through. After awhile we stopped at a stream. It was beautiful. (Other than the bugs, against which we had little defence- Canadian spelling there.) You can see a rainbow in the photos, the boys checking out the water, and the blackflies flocking to Eli's sweatshirt.
Well, that was worth the drive, wouldn't you think? Wouldn't you think that maybe we should head back home now? I mean, we don't even have mosquito repellent. But Kendall is a curious guy. He wanted to see what else lay ahead in the dense jungle. So we all piled back in and the Blue Weasel continued on through the bush. And by bush, I mean the Indiana meaning, not the Canadian meaning. You know, as in, it was so thick it was like driving through a bush. A prickly bush. Anyway, we got far enough and Kendall agreed to turn around. Only, like I mentioned earlier, it had just rained that afternoon. A lot. And we were on a very narrow, overgrown path through a bush. So Kendall turned the truck around. Well, partway. Because then we were stuck. By then we were a several-hour walk from the main road and remember, we didn't have insect repellent. And the bugs were bad. But I actually kept my mouth shut as Kendall figured out what to do. Thankfully, my dad had broke a paddle (or oar- after 3 1/2 weeks I should know the difference, if there is one) when he was here and it was still on the back of Kendall's truck. So my trusty and resourceful woodsman used the broken...thing...and got us out of there after a bit of work. And then, in another anticlimactic moment, we drove back home. (Is my life full of anticlimactic moments? Or maybe I just see all of the more exciting things that could have happened.)
We did have one more beautiful moment on the way home that was not captured so well on film. The scond-to-last photo is one that Kendall took of some wild roses in the rain and the sun.
When we got back to our house we finally broke out the marshmallows and made s'mores at our fire place. (That's our house in the background.)

Sandflies/Blackflies: Bites Taken Out of Our Skin

This is a photo of little pookie's eye the other morning. It was a sandfly/blackfly bite. As a friend up here told us, "Mosquitoes stick their needle in you. Blackflies take a bite out of your skin." Yummy. They do make us bleed. It's not uncommon to be absent-mindedly scratching an itchy area and suddenly notice we have blood on our fingers. They really go for the back of the neck and behind the ears.
Oops... That's probably not helping me to convince people to visit us. Trust me, the good outweighs the bad. Vale la pena!

Strawberry-Picking

We went on a walk the other night and stopped to pick strawberries. As you can see, they are small, but fun to find hiding along the road.