Northern Woolen Mills Tour

John's dad and special lady friend visited us in early September and as one of our outings, we headed to the Northern Woolen Mills in Fosston, MN. It was about 1.5 hours east of Grand Forks and is one of only a handful of operational woolen mills in the US. It was recommended to us from one of our fellow Pilates students, who is also a fantastic knitter.

The building was not impressive from the outside, but the young lady who came to help us offered to give us a tour of the facility - starting with the very beginning, when the wool is dropped off at the facility. They work with all sorts of wool, regular wool from sheep, merino wool, alpaca, llama, bison, and even elk. The bison wool was the softest.

The brown wool in the cardboard box below is actually from bison.  Unfortunately it comes from the slaughterhouse as (apparently) shearing a bison down is problematic. 

Mugo Pine Removal

These Mugo Pines (also loosely known as Mountain Pine, Scrub Mountain Pine, and Creeping Pine) flank the beginning of the path to our front door where it meets the sidewalk.  I have never liked these things.  They're messy, not terribly attractive, have really sharp needles, and require lots of yearly maintenance.  They also grow out instead of up (much like me really) and block the front sidewalk.

Usually once every winter the heavy snow weighs down the branches and they sag and block the front walk and the mail-lady refuses to deliver our mail.  Then I gotta trudge out in the snow and cold with my loppers and trim them so we can get our mail again.  This makes John angry. 

In my opinion they're not a great return on my investment of work hours. In short, they don't bring much to the table and they take a lot away, especially from me.  But they've stayed right where they are for 5 years now.  I've had other pressing matters to attend to in the garden and I hadn't really found something to replace them that I was really excited about.

That all changed when we were on a garden walk a few years ago and I saw the perfect shrub, the Centerglow Ninebark.  It's 5-6 feet tall and wide, has bright flowers in Spring and interesting maroon foliage.  It also has some interest in Winter as the bark starts to look peeled, much like a birch tree.  It may have taken a few years to find, but this was the perfect shrub for this spot.  

Next year I'll add some more landscaping blocks and trim the area around these new shrubs.  This will create some new planters for flowers and allow me to line the front sidewalk with bricks.  The bricks along the sidewalk should help tame the hostas a bit bring their leaves up off the ground, and give us some sidewalk back.  Goodbye terrible Mugo Pines, hello shrub I'm actually happy about.  

Is it a pig or a dog?

Shadowfax has become enamored with her Luna ball. We like how it makes her snort. The Luna ball has proven to be pretty durable so far, but we'll see if it's as tough as her Goughnuts stick or Jolly Ball (which has remained an outdoor only toy).

Deupty Kills Cow After it Twice Charges Him - Local News

We saw this item on the local news last night and laughed pretty heartily.  We felt really bad for the cow though, it possibly fell off a truck, definitely got hit by a car, then got shot...that qualifies as having a crappy day.

From the Grand Forks Herald:

CASSELTON – A Cass County deputy responding to a motorist that had crashed into a cow off Interstate 94 Monday morning had to go to the hospital himself after the injured cow charged him at the scene.

Cass County Sgt. Dean Haaland said the deputy was responding to the crash at about 3 a.m. at mile marker 332 west of Casselton when the cow, injured in the crash, charged him.

The deputy was knocked to the ground and suffered some bruising, Haaland said. When he got up, the cow charged again, and the deputy fired upon the animal to keep from being hit again, killing the cow.

Haaland said the deputy was checked out at an area hospital and is doing OK.

Cass County deputies are now investigating the area to find out who’s responsible for the cow.

So far, none of the farmers recognize the cow, he said.

At this point, they think it’s possible the animal fell off a truck that was transporting it through the area. 

Monarch Butterflies

While out mowing the lawn the other day I spotted a Monarch in the garden and stopped to snap some photos.  I've started to see a few more Monarchs around the homestead, though not the profusion that we usually have in late Summer.

He/she wasn't scared of me one bit and I got within an arms' length, snapping photo after photo.  After resettling on the flower (Summer Sun Heliopsis) below, I got this fantastic picture.

Butterflies, and especially Monarchs are one of my favorite summertime creatures to see in the garden.  We're going to continue to plant more flowers that they utilize for nectaring or laying eggs.  Summer just wouldn't be the same without Monarchs flitting about.  What critters do you most enjoy seeing in the garden?

Poweful Pitiful Pittie Pleading

The well known "pleeeeeease stop working and pay attention to meeeee" face.

I know I have like seven hundred toys, but I wanna play with you!

Hairy Woodpecker Photos & Crazy Toes

I was outside most of the day Sunday removing two large Mugo Pines (aka Scrub Pine or Mountain Pine) from the front yard.  More on that in another post!  While I was out there a hairy woodpecker stopped in to visit.

He was not afraid of me one bit, even though I looked mighty and wielded a shovel/pick axe/pry bar.  The hairy and downy woodpeckers that frequent the homestead are quite bold and not skittish around people.  The large Pileated Woodpeckers?  They're another story.  This one allowed me to get pretty close and snap some nice photos. 

If you look closely in this photo you can see the unusual toes of the woodpecker.  Woodpecker toes and feet have evolved specifically for arboreal life scampering around in and clinging to trees.  Woodpeckers have two toes facing forward and two toes facing backwards, this is known as having zygodactyl feet. 

This hairy woodpecker stuck around for a while and likely decided that my grunting and swearing while digging out the mugo pine stumps was oft-putting, and after a few minutes, flew off.  Sorry my friend, I apologize for the colorful language. 

What kind of feeders to we use to feed our feathered friends? We learned about the Droll Yankees brand of bird feeders from an Audubon Society presentation a few years ago and are hooked on their bird feeders now.  They're much sturdier than others we've had and come with a lifetime warranty.  I've heard numerous unsolicited testimonials from people who've shipped 10 or 15 year old feeders to them and gotten new back ones in the mail, no questions asked. We use the Droll Yankee Nyjer Seed Feeder and the Tube Feeder for sunflower seeds and love them (but probably not as much as the birds). 

The Ladies of the House

All the ladies posed together for a picture. This is a pretty typical scene around the Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes household.  Shakk Ti likes to sit behind your legs against the couch and Shadowfax prefers to be on your feet. 

Where are the dudes?  Well John and Tito are solitary creatures, content to hang out and do their own thing.