-- Whew! After I posted on Wednesday, I hardly left the cabin until Saturday, when I came back home. I was busy proof-reading and doing non-internet-y stuff. I had made a trip to the Hinckley thrift store (probably my favorite thrift store ever) on Wednesday, and I found a couple of paint-by-number boards without the paint. I had actually brought up several tubes of acrylic paint and some brushes (for a different project that I never got 'round to), so I made up my own number-key and worked on them in the evenings. Also in the photo above are the sun prints I made with various flowers and things that were growing around the cabin.

-- The Sandstone supermarket had cans of baby corn on clearance, so I snatched one of those up and added it to the stir fry I made today. After my big cook-and-freeze-a-thon, I realized I didn't have anything in the stir fry category, which was a shame. I picked up a box of Quorn 'chicken' cutlets last week and mixed them with a bunch of veggies and a teriyaki sauce. The noodles are what I use when I make ramen for myself; I bought divided (lunch-box style) containers by accident, but they wound up being handy for keeping the noodles and stir fry (needlessly) separate.

-- And for dinner, I made zucchini fritters with some yellow zucchini from the garden. I think I more or less followed the recipe as written (except I didn't need all that oil for frying, since I used a non-stick pan), but I also added some shredded sharp cheddar. Very good! Actually, they were amazing when paired with a bite of Oxheart tomato, also from the garden. And the corn came from the cabin. Yay, late summer.

I'm at the cabin for a few days, and there's a ton of vegetables to eat in the garden. I picked a medium-large zucchini last night and sliced it really thinly, seasoned the slices, and baked them into chips (265F for about an hour total, but you have to start taking out the thinner slices earlier than that). I used a seasoned salt mix, and as long as you don't burn the chips, they go from bland zucchini to amazing amazingness.

Henny loves it up here. The last time we came to the cabin (was it all the way back in April?), she was still fairly nervous about going into the woods, but that's changed now. She gets braver all the time, but it seems to me like she's had a real boost in confidence over the past couple of weeks. We've been going out for a short walk in the woods every few hours, and she always seems really happy as she trots around. The first time we went out yesterday, when she got to the open, mowed part of the property, she ran around further and faster than she's ever run before. Goofy dog. It's my job to watch the sky for hawks, though, because I'm sure she'd be a tasty treat for them.

I've also been teaching her to lie down on command, and she seems to be figuring it out. You can't physically make Henny do anything, or she panics, and the ways I've taught dogs to lie down in the past don't work with her, as she just scoots away. So, just as with teaching her to sit, I repeat the command until she does whatever it is on her own, at which point I give her a treat. It worked for sitting, and she seems to have already got the hang of lying down, although it's not perfect yet. I hadn't bothered teaching it before, because she rarely lies down when she's paying attention to me at home, but there's a nice rug at the cabin, so she hunkers down on that every chance she gets. What a silly dog.

-- I went up to my aunt and uncle's cabin this weekend, and Henny came with. I always enjoy going up there for summer holidays, when various members of my extended family are all there, but it was also fun to just hang around with my aunt and uncle. They showed me some of their favorite spots, and we took a nice boat ride to the bar that lets you dock and walk up. Henny joined us, and she was very well behaved while we sat there (not that she's bad very often, and certainly never in a 'making a nuisance of herself' way). It's surprising, but she really likes being on the boat. See?

-- The nighttime lows have been in the 60s recently, and it's hard to explain how happy that makes me. Oh, wait, no it's not: It makes me really, really happy. In general, I prefer the summer over the winter, but I do miss sleeping under blankets. It looks like the current weather trend is supposed to stretch out through the end of next week (well, that's as far as the 10-day forecast reaches), which means we might have highs in the upper 70s for Ragnar -- quite a difference from the mid-90s we suffered through last year!

-- I picked some grapes today. Six cups' worth, or about a pound and a half. That was only a small portion of the grapes growing on my biggest vine (there are two others, whose grapes aren't ripe yet). I'm trying to make raisins with this batch, although I'll believe it's possible only when I see it. I put the grapes on two trays of my dehydrator, let it run for six hours, and then started taking the seeds out (the instructions recommend this half-drying and then seeding, so avoid dripping juice). I only seeded one tray, however, because it takes FOREVER, and I wasn't going to spend another hour on the second tray if it turns out this whole raisin thing won't work. (I put the seedy ones in the fridge for now.) I hope it does, though. That'd be neat.

Storms! There were a few different systems stretching from just south of the Twin Cities to up near my folks' cabin, which is where I've been this week. So I had to worry about my garden in Minneapolis being destroyed by egg-sized hail (it wasn't) AND my garage-less car in Sandstone getting pelted (it wasn't). It was a lot of worry for one night, exacerbated by the overly-excited weather people on TV. Since I don't have a television, I guess I haven't realized how sensationalist they are. Obviously, it's important to drive home the danger and importance of strong storms, but I felt like they were, perhaps, taking a bit too much pleasure in it. Just my opinion.

The lightning was pretty unbelievable, and since it took a long time for the wind and rain to reach Sandstone, I stood by the patio door, trying to snap a good shot. I got the above photo, which is illuminated only by lightning, and also this one. Henny knew the storm was coming about twenty minutes before I started hearing thunder, and she was alert but fairly calm for the three hours it took to move through.

Other than stormy times, the week at the cabin has been fun. I've gone on two good runs (six and eight miles); the hard-packed dirt roads are perfect for running in my Vibrams. I had my favorite Sandstone meal (one blueberry pancake, one egg, and coffee for $5, including tip, at Amy's Cafe) and hit up the Hinckley thrift store for some good deals. Also, I read a book cover to cover in a day. And got a bunch of work done. And took Henny for a walk through the paths in the woods; she came back with three wood ticks on her, which makes me wonder how people with normal-sized dogs ever manage to pick off all the ticks they must collect. Tonight, I'm going to put together a puzzle. That's life in Sandstone for you.

-- It's been pretty cold this week. And not, like, 'Gosh, it's a bit chilly,' but as in the radio said Minnesota had the coldest air temperatures in all of North America this morning. Finally, we beat our Canadian foes! Since I'm at the cabin, I've twice let my car warm up for a few minutes (really only three, because I can't stand the thought of it idling out there for no reason). Maybe it's because it's been so gorgeously sunny, or maybe I'm just immune to winter weather now, but it hasn't felt that bad. I'm glad I don't have to run in it, though.

-- I'm pushing the boundaries of my preferred personal hygiene. The cabin has well water, and it's really rusty at the moment. We always bring up drinking water (tap water from home), but I can hardly bear to wash my hands with the cabin water right now, because it leaves them smelling so iron-y. Showering in it is out o the question. I'm going home tomorrow, so that's only three mornings' worth of unwashed hair, but still. Henny hasn't seemed to notice or care, and nobody at the supermarket has said anything. Thank goodness for deodorant.

-- Despite the cold air outside, the cabin has been toasty warm. It was actually a little too much yesterday, with the sun coming in the glass doors. Henny started panting, but she refused to budge. When I finally closed the blinds, she found the one strip of sunlight coming through and planted herself in it. Whatever, little dog. Don't come crying to me when your melted brains spill out your ears.

I 'injured' myself on Saturday, so I'm taking the week off from running. I put that in quotes because I'm 99% sure it's just an overly-tight IT band (the stretchy bit that runs from your hip to your knee, on the outside of the thigh), so a little rest and a lot of stretching should have me good as new. But since I'm not running, anyway, I figured I might as well use the opportunity to come up to the cabin (where running on the ice-covered dirt roads would be treacherous).

Henny came with me, but I left the cats at home, thinking that would lighten the load a bit. I don't understand it, but coming up to the cabin for any length of time means having to haul half my house with me -- and this trip was no different. I'm working on some crafty projects, so that was an extra box, and I usually bring most of my own food with me, since it seems silly to buy duplicates while stuff goes bad in the fridge at home.

The cabin has two big sliding glass doors, so you can achieve a nice, roasty greenhouse environment when it's sunny out, which it definitely is right now. This is doubly exciting for a little Mexican dog like Henny, because A) the sliding doors go all the way to the floor (obviously), meaning she can look out them and B) there is so much sun for her to boil her brains in. I was reading for work in the early afternoon, and Henny flopped about on the rug. She would doze for ten minutes and then lift her head up, decide the spot three inches away was probably even warmer, and reposition herself. My house is pretty bright, but it can't compare to the crazy sunshine that's available up here.

Except for the rain that's currently pouring down, I've had perfect weather for adventure-having since I've been up in Sandstone. Yesterday, I loaded up my pockets and headed to Banning State Park, which is very near by. I wasn't expecting much, and it's significantly smaller than St. Croix State Park, where Chris and I camped last month. But the terrain was actually much more interesting -- I had a blast!

The land by the Kettle River is clear down to the sandstone bedrock in a lot of places, so there was a ton of climbing to be had instead of just moseying along a cleared forest path. I wore my Vibrams, which are the perfect hiking shoes. You definitely have to watch where you step and be a bit tough about walking over sometimes-rough terrain with only a thin layer of rubber between you and the ground, but it's worth it. I've always been very nervous about going up and down steep paths in regular tennis shoes, but I was much more confident when I was able to feel the shape of the rocks and dirt under my feet.

When I was talking to Chris' parents about camping (which I did for the first time this year), I said that it felt like discovering a part of myself that I had never known about but had always been there. It just makes so much sense to me. I had that feeling yesterday as I was hiking around. If it wouldn't have been a guaranteed broken neck, I would have been running from place to place; it just felt amazing to be physically active, climbing up and over things, with so much nature around me.

Let's hope I feel that way about running around outside later this week -- the Great River Ragnar Relay starts on Friday!

I'd say there's something of a tomato situation at the moment. I drove up to Sandstone today, so I brought all the ripe tomatoes up with me to boil down into a plain sauce (then I can freeze it in muffin pans to make pucks I can thaw individually and season as I want them). I might roast the pear tomatoes or make oven-'sun'-dried tomatoes.

The cats survived the trip up here with very little fuss. I've learned to put them in separate carriers and then face the doors towards each other in the back seat of the car, so they can see one another (reassuring) but won't freak out and start fighting. Usually there's a lot of yowling on the way, but I just sang along to my iPod the entire trip, and they were quiet. Or I had the music up too loud to hear them! (Just kidding -- I didn't.)

Speaking of the iPod, I set it to shuffle through all the songs, and I realized that A) I have a lot of music on there that I don't really want to hear most of the time (and that's of the hand-picked artists/albums I put on there in the first place) and B) there are a LOT of lyrics stored in my head. Like, I couldn't recite most of these songs word for word out of the blue, but start the song playing, and it all comes back. Surely that brain space could be used for remembering foreign languages, no?

I left the cabin today, so I had one last breakfast with the bears (salt and pepper shakers). When I was planning for my not-quite-a-week away at the cabin, I had a few things I wanted to get done while I was there, and I can say that I failed to do pretty much all of them. I didn't even do any drawing. I thought about it, but... nope.

I did play guitar almost every day. My dad has his acoustic up there, and for some reason having a guitar ten feet away is more tempting at the cabin than it is here at home. (There are actually two guitars sitting about six feet away from me right now.) I also wrote -- not much, but a bit. I haven't worked on any writing since my laptop died last summer, and I lost all the first-halves of novels that I've started (I always seem to get bored after the first half). I wasn't avoiding it out of grief or anything, but it was a nuisance to have lost the start of the one story I felt like working on.

I managed to do all the binding on my quilt, so that's finished now. I had done the machine sewing before I left, and I decided at the last minute to bring the quilt with me, which was a good decision. Watching TV in the evenings was perfect for boring sewing by hand. So that's three things I managed to do at the cabin that I hadn't planned on.

And I met up with a friend I hadn't seen in six years, so that's pretty great. And I went to one of the corner cafes in Sandstone and got a 'one cake, one egg' (blueberry and poached, respectively) with coffee for under $4. Oh, AND I found magnetic catches for my kitchen cupboards for 99 cents each at Ace Hardware. I installed them when I got back today (just on the doors whose hinges are broken), so now I don't have any wandering cupboard doors. And I saw a really good moon. And it was pretty (but cold).

So, yeah, I didn't get to any of the stuff I'd planned on doing, but it was still a pretty good stay at the cabin.

Oh boy. I've really been living it up so far this week. Dinner last night: leftover Kraft mac'n'cheese with a veggie dog! Of course, I had a heap of homegrown broccoli on the side, as well as some of the pickle chips I made (which are flipping amazing, by the way -- I will share the recipe when I get back home!), so that helped maintain some of my crunchy granola street cred.

Thanks to a text from my dad, I now know that there IS public radio reception here -- it comes from Duluth instead of the cities, so it's a different number. It also made a big difference to use an actual radio instead of trying to tune in with my phone (connected to iPod speakers through a cord that wasn't really long enough to serve as an antenna). Breakfast might be the most important meal of the day, but it doesn't mean a thing if you haven't got coffee + public radio to help you wake up. In my view.

Yesterday afternoon, Beany and I took a proper walk through the forest -- she was on her lead, of course. I was really surprised how well she did! She stuck to the path that my mom has cut through the woods, stopping every now and then to sniff things (and to jump up on every rock and fallen tree trunk we passed). Any time she seemed determined to wander off the path, I gave her the tiniest tug on the lead and said 'c'mon', and we continued on our way. Better than most dogs I know!

We'd got pretty far when the wind started picking up, and I could see dark clouds rolling in. Beany definitely sensed something too, and she let me pick her up and carry her halfway back to the cabin. I put her down again and we finished walking the rest of the way -- and not even five minutes after we were inside again, it started chucking down rain. I was VERY glad not to be stuck in the middle of the woods with a cat in the rain.

Ahoy! I didn't think I would be posting at all while I'm away, but it turns out that not having a constant connection to the internet leaves a person with loads of time to do other things -- like writing stuff to put on one's internet website. My plan at the moment is to get coffee in the afternoon and use the free wifi to post this.

Being away from home has already given me such a feeling of control over my own time -- strange, since, in theory, I always am in control of how I spend my time. But there's no garden to tend to up here, no errands I 'have' to run, and, again, no internet to steal away my attention. I think the solitude might be a bit crazy-making if I didn't have the cats up here with me, and I'm sorely missing being able to listen to public radio -- but it's okay for the time being.

On the topic of crazy, I went to the thrift store in Hinckley yesterday and bought some plates and dishes, even though my parents already have plenty in the cupboards. But A) I didn't have the perfect bowl for yogurt or ice cream and B) I like my dishes to be white, for photography purposes. I'm a little bit too excited about the oblong, ex-diner plate I found, and the milk glass bowl and Fire King cup are pretty good, too. There are stranger ways to weird, I guess.

I stopped at the grocery store on my way back to the cabin yesterday, for a couple of essentials, and I noticed that they have the cutest donuts ever. They're smaller than ones I usually see, and about as big around as they are tall. Part of a perfect 'retreat' breakfast, along with yogurt and fruit (including frozen raspberries that my mom picked this past weekend).

Yep, so that's all good. Now. . . just three-hundred more submissions to read. . .