Busy as a Bee

While in the Rockland area, I caught up to a little bumblebee who was hopping flower to flower gathering pollen. It stayed maybe only one second at each flower, which made photographing it very difficult. I could never seem to predict the next flower it was going to fly to. It surprised me that it didn’t seem bothered one bit by my presence.

Out of about 15 photos taken, there was only one pic where I could see a good portion of it’s body and head (although most of it is still in the flower).

We have a few bumblebees that hang around our house every summer. I’m pretty sure they have a hideout in our crawl space. I think that they are a lot like this bee – they just want to do their thing. They’ve never bothered us, so we’ll probably let them be.

Rockland Cemetery Deer

Over the weekend, we headed southeast and hung out near Mass City and Rockland. For us, it’s largely unexplored territory.

One of our first visits was to the Rose Cemetery in Rockland. It is so overgrown that the gravestones blended into the surroundings. The ground cover was so thick that we had to be careful with each step. Cemeteries sometimes have depressions in the ground and a sprained ankle would have put a damper on the rest of the day.

Shortly after entering the cemetery, a doe fled up the hill and then stopped. She was maybe only 40 feet away from us. She stood there, watching our every move.

Our first thought was that her fawn was in the area, but we didn’t see anything. I decided to step a little closer and she finally ran away a little bit up a hill. She only went a few more feet and then stopped again. For the rest of the time, she watched us.

I wish I had a zoom lens to get a little closer of a shot. Her tan coat was so pretty against the green of the forest. I’m still wondering why she just stood there.

Where in the Copper Country Wednesday – #7

Jay knew exactly what building was featured in last week’s photo. It is indeed the Citizen’s bank building in downtown Hancock (for more information on this series, please see the beginning of this post).

This week’s picture is from a place that my family loves to go fishing at whenever they visit. The fish may not always be biting, but the location is pretty and there is a bathroom available which is handy for the kiddies. One time while we were there, three guys jumped in the water and scrubbed up. I guess they were taking a bath. Watching them made me shiver! It may not be Lake Superior, but the water can still be pretty cold!

My husband and I also had an interesting encounter here. It was late at night and the fog was low. We saw a light flashing back and forth and you can imagine how excited we were when we realized it was a freighter coming! We watched in amazement as the freighter passed by.

Where in the Copper Country is this picture taken?

In the Middle of No Where – The Hanka Homestead

Over the weekend we decided to go on a hunt for a u-pick strawberry farm. We knew of out Chassell way, but we couldn’t remember exactly where they were. So we went on a road trip. We did find Niemela’s Strawberry farm, but they were closed. Going further down the road lead us to a sign that said to turn right to go to the Hanka Homestead.

We’ve heard of this little museum, but have never been there before. We decided to check it out.

I don’t remember how many turns we took, but with each one we seemed to venture more into the middle of no where. The final road to the Hanka Homestead was a little bumpy and we were starting to think we took a wrong turn. Finally we saw the clearing and a few buildings and signs. We made it!

There are a few buildings in front, and then some more past a wooden gate. There was a truck up near the other buildings, so we continued on. We were greeted by an older couple and the man said, “Let’s go on a tour.” Right away I was pleased – his Finnish accent was strong. Having a tour of a Finnish homestead by someone with a Finnish heritage made the tour even more authentic. He even threw in some Finnish words as he spoke, but quickly gave the English translation.

It sure was pretty out there in the middle of no where.

It’s hard to image living in a remote area, building all of these buildings by yourself, then creating a self-sufficient farm. It is quite a feat, and it is nice that this farm has been preserved for all to see. I also can’t help but think of how neat it would be to try to recreate that life and try to live like that today.

(In the pic, the two buildings in the back are the sauna and the blacksmith building. The one in the front is where they made butter, but I can’t remember what the building was called.)

Where in the Copper Country Wednesday – #6

dcclark came the closest with last week’s picture. It is indeed the Bammert Blacksmith Shop in Phoenix (for more information on this series, please see the beginning of this post).

This week’s picture is definitely taken in the Copper Country – although it has a “big city” feel to it.

Where in the Copper Country is this picture taken?