Not Much Happening…(2)

…continuing with the theme that I’d established with my last post to the blog site.  Just not too much going on around here, although as you’ll learn, with the first harbingers of spring, we have started getting out a bit more…mostly to dine in local restaurants.

Winter hasn’t quite given up the ghost though… The forecast for this weekend calls for at least one night with the temperature dropping down to about 18F…and there could be a little snow too.  The latter won’t stick as it’s been to warm here and the ground isn’t frozen.  We’ve had 3 record high temperatures in the past week…

On one recent day, Laurie and I went for a walk in the neighborhood.  At the top of one nearby street, I took these photos.  The first shows Tellico Lake on a late winter day and the second shows the latest obstruction blocking sweeping views from this hill.  Whoever built or bought this home will have amazing views from their new home!

Just 2 lots over around the same cul-de-sac, another home is taking shape.  The adjacent lot has also been cleared for construction.  Currently, roughly 323 new homes are under construction in our village.  It isn’t a gated community so anyone can move in…if they can find a home to move into! 

The end is nigh!!  I took these photos of a surveying crew working right across the street from our house.  In one, the man in the red shirt can be seen back in the woods.  It won’t be long before the woods disappears and construction begins.  Sad…but we knew it would happen sooner or later.

Laurie snapped this photo of a couple of crows in the trees in our backyard.  They were trying to figure out how to get at our feeders.  It was comical when a crow tried to land on the feeder.  It was like a bomb hit it…with the feeder violently wobbling and swaying…

Recently Laurie was watching Andrew Zimmern’s show “Delicious Destinations” on the Travel Channel.  He was featuring foods found in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  One of his stops featured the Trenary Home Bakery in the little town of Trenary Michigan.  This bakery has been in business since 1928.  The bakery was founded by Jorma Syrannen, who created its twice-baked Finnish coffee bread, now known as Trenary Toast.

We decided to place an order for some of the Bakery’s reasonably priced products.  The order included both Cinnamon and Cinnamon Raisin Trenary Toast, Raisin Swirl Bread and a large loaf of Old Country Rye. There are 6 different versions of the Trenary Toast. (The version pictured above is the Cinnamon Raisin) Shipping added a fair amount of cost, but it was reasonable.

Trenary Toast is an interesting product.  I like taking a couple of slices, buttering them lavishly and then adding a little more cinnamon sugar.  I put them in the microwave and zap them for 30 seconds.  Laurie prefers to dip hers in coffee.  My next experiment will be to add jam or peanut butter.  The raisin swirl bread is very tasty but I thought that the rye bread was a bit too bland for my taste. 

You can check out the Trenary Home Bakery and the products they offer at Trenary Home Bakery.  If you are in the area, they also operate a café.

As for the town of Trenary Michigan, it is an unincorporated village located on US Hwy 41 at about the center of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Trenary is part of Mathias Township…and the whole township has a population of just a bit over 500 residents.  I did note that Trenary is the home of the annual Trenary Outhouse Classic!  4,000 plus spectators show up in late February to watch various contestants’ race outhouses on skis along a 500 foot long course!  Learn more at Trenary Outhouse Classic.

Laurie recently photographed this large ‘family’ or cluster of Black Vultures that decided to roost in some big trees in our neighborhood.  If they try to roost in the trees by our house, my BB gun comes out. (They eat carrion and their excrement isn’t good for roofs or plants) The BB’s don’t hurt them but they do get the ‘message’.  The vultures actually remember that they aren’t welcome as overnight guests.   

Laurie took these photos.  If the vultures just stop by during the day we don’t mind at all.  They are very interesting birds and they help keep the environment clean by consuming any dead critters they come across.  They are big birds with a wingspan of almost 5 feet across.  Unlike the larger Turkey Vulture, Black Vultures lack a highly developed sense of smell and they can’t find carrion by scent alone.  They actually exploit the superior food-finding and carcass penetrating skills of Turkey Vultures.  Black Vultures following them to carcasses and due to their superior numbers, they drive the larger vultures from the food.

Just click on any of the photographs to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave