Here we go again

When the forecast showed high humidity and temps in the 90’s for the next 4 days, we decided to go back home a week early, knowing it was going to be hot in Madison too.  We stayed until Thursday morning and returned back to the northland and much nicer weather.  BUT, while we were gone another big storm ripped through here, taking down many trees that survived the July 1st storm.  This really sucks.  There were branches down all around the cabin.

 

More trees snapped in half that will be used for firewood.  Some were uprooted and laying on top of other trees.

Miraculously, the gazebo survived, but has some serious structural damage.  The ancient swing set I use for my flags even got knocked over.  My little blind was in a heap again, but after shaking it a few times, it popped right back up, good as new.  And then I noticed this tree.  Okay, that’s got to come down before it falls on the power line.  It’s the one in the center, leaning to the right.The wind even blew Jenny’s head off.  The other deer were quite confused by this headless deer.  But I’m the kind of person that always looks for the positive and again, we were very lucky there was no damage to the cabin, outhouse, shower tent or sheds.  And tomatoes are fine and they loved all the heat and rain.

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There may be a new camera in Cindy’s future.  She forgot hers at home and hubby (being the sweetheart he is) said I could go “uptown” and get a new one.  Now to decide what kind…but it’s got to be better than the one I forgot, with a nice zoom and a point and shoot. 

It’s trying to be Spring

While out and about last week we looked high and low for positive signs of spring.  Still no spring flowers, but lots of birds singing and the trees are starting to bud out. This has to make the porcupines very happy.  Fresh new buds gotta taste way better than just gnawing on tree bark. While sitting in my little blind, I thought I could see something sticking its head out of the wood duck house that’s on the other side of the pond.  After zooming in with binoculars, I could see it was a woodpecker.  Oh well, at least something was checking it out.The mergansers and mallards are still hanging around the pond and I’m hoping they’ll find a nice spot out there and start a family.  We haven’t seen any rabbits around yet this spring, but there have been quite a few squirrels in all shades of gray, charcoal and black.  This one has some sort of skin problem around its ear. On Monday we came back home for a few days and are glad we did.  I heard there was more snow there on Tuesday.  All I can say is it better be gone by the time we get back later this week.  Sheesh, enough is enough!

Sooner or Later…

It had to happen.  Yes, we saw our first snowflakes of the season on Wednesday.  Nothing serious, compared to the wind and rain that pounded the country this week.  It’s been ugly here for days.  Today is the first day since Saturday that it hasn’t rained.  It’s cool and windy, but at least that may help dry things out a bit. 

Yesterday we took a drive down our road and in a 9 mile stretch, there was high water running over the road in 5 different spots.   The wind caused lots of trees to snap and of course some landed on the road.  The first one Jim was able to drag off, but the next one was reason enough to turn around and take a different route.This bridge got wiped out by high water a few years ago.  If it hadn’t blown out then, it probably would’ve happened in this storm.The dam down by the pond is still holding, but there’s lots of water going over the top.    I took this picture of the pond this morning and I thought I’d go back and compare it to one I took in April.  Oh ya, the pond is lots bigger now.

October 2010  April 2010 The deer didn’t wait for the cover of darkness to come in for a snack yesterday.  They’ve had a rough couple of days too.

Lodge Cam Update

In order to check the cam that’s pointed at the beaver lodge, we have to go out in the boat and that’s what we did yesterday.See all the branches out there in the water?  That’s what the beavers will feed on this winter.  I’m sure they’ll keep adding to it, but so far they have a pretty good supply.We pulled up to the cam and were disappointed to see only 3 sets of pictures had been taken.  One was when Jim first set it and one was from when we just arrived.  I carefully removed the card…sure didn’t want to drop it in the water and checked to see what we got on the other set of pictures.  All we could see were ripples in the water.  So I put the card back in and we decided to wait a few days before we check it again.  We’re thinking this may not work out at all.  We know the beavers have been working on the lodge, but every morning and night, there’s lots of steam rising from the pond.  Most likely the lens gets fogged up and it just can’t work.  But, how do you know if you don’t try?

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With most of the leaves down, it’s easy to notice the ones that are left.  Yesterday we walked through an area that was logged this spring.  The poplar trees shot up straight and tall and some of them have leaves as big as a dinner plate.  Just look at the size and colors of these leaves….
                                               …that came from one of these trees. Why are the leaves so big on such young trees?  Another mystery of nature. 

What a Difference

Last Friday (October 1) our new trail cam took this pretty picture.

So I thought I’d go out at approximately the same time and trip the cam to take a picture one week later.   
Amazing huh?  There’s hardly any leaves left on the trees around here.  It was a pretty fall, but in my opinion, way too short.

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We keep moving the cams around and we’re seeing some new visitors around here.  A gray fox and a bobcat have had their pictures taken a couple nights in a row.
And we’re always happy when we see the big buck’s picture.  It’s the time of year when he could make any hunter very happy.
This is the little guy we call Spikey.  He looks  like a Billy goat! This morning we were sitting here looking out the window and noticed how much bigger the beaver lodge is compared to earlier in the summer.   So Jim decided we’ve seen enough deer pictures and it’s time to  move a cam out by the lodge.  He’s out there right now with a cam attached to a metal fence post, aiming it at the lodge.  Now, this should be interesting.

A Bunch of Stuff

We made a quick trip home and I do mean quick.  Arrived home around 4:00 and we both started on our chores.  He mowed and I started laundry.  I finished it in the morning,  did some grocery shopping and by 1:30 yesterday, we were back on the road heading north.  Had a nice trip until we were about 25 miles away and ran into the big storm that moved across the whole state.  We even pulled over for a few minutes because it was raining so hard. 

Anyway, we got here safe and sound.   We were sorry to see “The Old Tree” got snapped by the wind.  This is the tree that refused to die.  I took some pictures of it this spring, just in case it would be the year it stopped putting on leaves.  Well, it leafed out just like all the other years, but yesterday the wind caused it to finally  succumb to old age.  This tree was chewed on by beavers and who knows how many different woodpeckers pecked holes in it for food and used it for raising their little ones.   It’s really amazing how trees can survive so much abuse.

The sapsucker nesting tree was another one that snapped yesterday.  Thank goodness it didn’t land on the outhouse.  It was close, but just missed it.

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Today Jim noticed this mysterious blob floating right next to the damn.  We both remember seeing something like this some years ago, but never found out what it was.  He threw a glove on it to give a reference to the size of it.  Weird stuff, huh?  Got have any idea what it is? 

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And finally…drum roll please….It’s time for me to show off my 15 Minutes of Fame.  (Apologies to those that already saw this on my Facebook wall).  Last year I was involved in making some things for a book called Fa La La La Felt.  Yesterday right before we left, the UPS man stopped by and delivered my copy…with my stuff in it!  I’m still giddy about this.  

One pincushion is shown on the second page. 

Two of them are on the back cover.

Three are on the inside with instructions on the next page.

And 2 Christmas Stockings,

with instructions too.

There are some other really cute things in this book.  If I hadn’t received a complimentary copy, I’m pretty sure I would have bought it myself.