Isle Royale Moose Wolf Project Volunteer - Annie!

Remember that lecture we attended in October in Ann Arbor, Michigan? An old friend of mine from high school, Jeff Holden, explained his role in the long-running predator-prey study on Isle Royale, in Lake Superior, and his role as a team leader in taking groups to the island. The study explores the relationship betwen the two populations to shed light on how ecological systems work. The function of the volunteer teams is to collect evidence on the ground from which information is drawn to support the study - the number of wolves and moose killed, how they died, evidence of disease or genetic abnormalities in the carcasses, and so on.

And now Annie has signed on. She will be a member of Jeff's team and will spend the first nine days of June trekking across the island's rugged wilderness, documenting kill sites and packing bones and antlers back for further study. Sounds like every 18-year-old girl's dream vacation! This should make for any number of fun blog posts this summer - stay tuned.

Merry Christmas!!!!

We are all home and enjoying being together on Christmas. Here's Annie enthusiastically modeling the super-comfy lounging pajamas her mom got her. And here's our rejuvenated Victrola, a (McAlpine) family heirloom that had seen better days and now is seeing them again. Lee Ann sneaked it off to a little furniture repair place and they refinished it and replaced some of the disintegrating oak veneer. It looks amazing. It cost her a small fortune in wrapping paper, but what a good gift!

Unidentified Frying Object

Looking up from my computer desk the other day, I spotted something in the lineup of shoes under my dresser that didn't register at first. It turned out to be our cat Stitches, looking for all the world like some weird animal slipper. The room's heat grate is under the dresser, and Stitches was happy to lay there in the hot air blast with my New Balances poaching herself.

(Formerly) Perfectly Good Kitchen

I had been content to loaf through most of December, but now have gotten restless and started on the next Tower House project. This involves tearing out the kitchen that a previous owner installed in what originally was the house's dining room. The photo shows the last of the creepy tile countertop as I broke it up for removal. Boy does that generate a lot of debris.

This morning I brought a couple of the base cabinets home to East Main where I am planning to build them into a kitchen island here - updates to follow.

Mayhem

Annie has inherited the baking gene from her mother. Here she is in full Christmas cookie mode, making about 15 different kinds of cookies all at once in our tiny kitchen. Last week it was Lee Ann baking fruitcakes - not the dry store-bought kind, but her delicious secret-recipe variety with big juicy cherries. Both these girls are bound to end up with fat husbands.

Meet Nick

Once again the horsey stork has visited a little equine bundle of joy upon us, and his name is Nick.

Lee Ann had been without a horse of her own for most of this year, and not too happy about it. Starting a month or so ago she began shopping seriously and, on November 30, found an irresistible deal. Nick is a three year old thoroughbred who was bred to race but never saw the track. He was relatively cheap, seems sound (that is, he is not obviously lame) and has an easygoing personality that Lee Ann appreciates after long association with various obstinate or downright hostile members of the horse world. He is now boarded at Win Row stables here in Lebanon, where Lee Ann is trying to get some weight on him and has begun training him. Wish her luck!

Christmas Prep

Thanks for sending us Christmas cards! Here is what they look like, festooning the mantel in our dining room. Very cheery. We have sent out a lot of our cards this week but still are working to finish up the season's mailings.
I have been shopping a few times this week in downtown Lebanon, a five minute walk from our house. This is a great town to walk in, and even better this time of year. Tonight I took a walk just before dusk and then saw the Glendower mansion (that's a beautiful big brick Greek Revival owned by the Warren County Historical Society) all lit up. Volunteers had decorated the rooms with old-timey Christmas decorations and the place was open for tours, so I spent an hour there soaking up the 1850s ambience. By the time I left it was plenty dark out, but not too cold, and I enjoyed looking at the big old houses in Lebanon's Floraville neighborhood all lit up for Christmas on my way home.