Author: Sue Ahrendt

Want to know what we were doing before the SuperBowl?
When Andy used to be in the commercial construction business, they used PSF codes for roofs. In Minnesota, they constructed roofs to hold approximately 40 lbs PSF (per square foot).

It started snowing in November—light fluffy, it’s been a wonderful winter. And every day since then it seems we get a little more light…fluffy.lovely.
We have 30+ structures at Tuscarora, and we’d prefer not to test the PSF limits of all this light fluffiness on the trusses. So—we’re shoveling.

Last week my Dad cleared almost all the bunkhouses.

Yesterday we tackled our own house. For the lake side–I could still use one of our handy scoopy things to push the snow to the edges of the roof–and let it fall. While this push- shovel works on some sides of some buildings, we’ve begun to borrow other local methods for the driftier places. The snow block method is just dandy. It’s really a fun trick. But….get a load of the size of these blocks. How much they weigh? We’re only guessing, but I can testify that they’re definitely not fluffy. It’s very satisfying to drop all that weight–for the first 20 minutes or so.

You can also guess what Andy is doing right now while I type.

Our friend Bill Sherck came to visit us last week. I’m stealing his blog about it, because he tells a great story. In fact, he has a lot of great stories, and he also knows Don Shelby a little bit. (And that is a story I wish he could tell you in person.)

Our dads worked together in Toronto years ago, where, rumor has it, we used to play as little kids. I vaguely remember (or my dad just filled in the memory) an event with all the Control Data moms and kids, but I don’t remember Bill because he was a newborn, and I was at least 6. It has been good to get reacquainted in these past 5 years, because now he can talk back. We really like him.

We heard from our favorite Nashville singer/songwriter Jerry Vandiver, earlier this month.
I’d just like to point out that his songs have won many awards. Also notice that he wears his Tuscarora t-shirt to the recording studio.
In Nashville.
With the other big names in music….(see Misty Loggins on the right)

I’ve also included one of his original songs—inspired by Tuscarora.

Jerry writes: “I am honored in that I was able to have Bill Miller – a grammy winning Native American recording artist – play flute and chant in the song.”

For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to load a song onto this website. But I do know how to upload videos, so I added some photos, many of them I credit to Rachel Swenson, the beautiful eagle was taken by Tom Younger….some of the photos were from Tuscarora Lake, some from Tuscarora Outfitters, some were not. I just put them together as a tribute to the BWCAW and Jerry, and I didn’t mean to break any rules. We think he’s awesome!

Cheers to you, Jerry Vandiver!

Seagull Guard Station Reported a -35 deg F early this morning.

It’s January, it’s cold. I can’t really think of that much else to say about this weather.
Shelby has to wax her skis with the coldest kick wax. But sunny and wind-free -5 yesterday in the afternoon made for a very pleasant jaunt. Today we’re going to a little sledding party.

Andy fills the bird feeders more often, and we are more careful about breaking stuff outside, like car latches and door handles . Other than that, we have warm parkas, and it’s Minnesota. The sunny calm days are beautiful. So far so good, but cabin fever has been known to take about 30 seconds to set in, so you’d have to check with me later .

I’ve seen several versions of these–but I still get a kick out of them.

OFFICIAL MINNESOTA TEMPERATURE CONVERSION CHART:
60 degrees F: Southern Californians shiver uncontrollably. People in Minnesota sunbathe.

50 F: New Yorkers try to turn on the heat. People in Minnesota plant gardens.

40 F: Italian & English cars won’t start. People in Minnesota drive with the windows down.

32 F: Distilled water freezes. The water at Lake Bemidji in Minnesota starts getting cooler.

20 F: Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats. People in Minnesota throw on a flannel shirt, buttons open.

15 F: New York City landlords finally turn up the heat. People in
Minnesota have the last cookout before it gets cold.

0 F: All the people in Miami die. Minnesotans close the windows.

10 below zero: Californians escape en masse to Mexico. Girl Scouts in Minnesota sell cookies door to door.(In fact, they’re selling them right now!!)

25 below zero: Las Vegas disintegrates. People in Minnesota rummage
around the attic to find some winter coats.

40 below zero: Washington DC runs out of hot air. People in Minnesota let the dogs sleep indoors.

100 below zero: Santa Claus abandons the North Pole. Some Minnesotans are frustrated when they can’t start their cars.

460 below zero (absolute zero on the Kelvin Scale): All atomic motion stops. People in Minnesota start saying . . . “Cold ’nuff for ya?”

500 below zero: Hell freezes over. In Minnesota, VIKINGS win the Super Bowl!!

Early this morning in the dark, I shuffled around making Shelby’s car breakfast-to-go. First I poured a little orange juice from concentrate, next to a multivitamin. How could she possibly get enough iron and folic acid in her day otherwise? I scooped out a couple of dollops from the over-sized Old Home Vanilla Yogurt tub, I broke some Georgia pecans Andy’s mom sends every Christmas. I grabbed a handful of Craisins left over from summer—in the Sam’s club bag that never expires, and then ……my biggest chore was to pick out the sticks from the frozen blueberries.

This was the high point of my day so far.

I know exactly where that bag of frozen blueberries came from. If you want to know that particular secret spot, you’ll have to come and pick with us next July. Our sessions are never more than an hour-I slip out of the office when I can–it’s a luxury to live in the hotbed of the United States blueberry fields. The fires of five years ago? Exactly what a farmer would have done.

I’ve read about healthy foods, and I could definitely be more organic, there’s so much information about nutritionally better foods taste better and the nasty pesticides on the potato skins: it overwhelms me, makes me feel a little inadequate as a mother. I cook when needed, but it’s a task that takes away my energy. When I get off the phone from arguing with the Quetico parks reservation service, there is no zen in cooking supper, not for me. I admire the people who get the zen from that, I am envious of them, I’ve tried that persona on, and she is not me.

I have read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It’s interesting, informative, Barbara Kingsolver is a fabulous writer, but you can have my book. 3/4 of the way through I started feeling very snarky towards her smugness about food, mostly guilty I suppose. I thought “I don’t need this,” and I solved it–I quit reading.

But today, I got the zen from picking the sticks out of the frozen blueberries. Maybe Shelby got a few more anti-oxidants today. Maybe, I’ve even taken care of my future grandchildren. I’ll go ahead and stretch that image, because it makes me even happier.

And I’ve liked visiting my memories of picking blueberries. They make me feel lucky, they remind me that underneath the mounds of snow lie sleeping blueberry plants, waiting for warmth of July, waiting for Denali and me, and whoever wants to sneak out with us for an hour to pick them.

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