Whether snow, sleet, hail, or rain...

Sally will go to the pond. And though this looks like a picture I would have taken on my iPhone, it was actually taken on my current working digital camera. What this photo does not show, and what I could not find a quick, easy fix for, is that at the time there was a very dramatic sky. Those little bolts you may see above the pond are blobs of sleet falling. Oh Kodak Easyshare Z740, you could have done so much better! You overexposed!

Anyway, the sky was dramatic as I was driving home, and I could tell there was some sort of precipitation falling nearby, although the sun was shining all the time. And since Vinny and Nina are done with sports for now, I was able to get home before the sun set. Two weeks from now when Standard Time kicks in, I will be lucky to see my home in daylight. The pond will freeze over, and Sally will just have to dream for a few months.

So the question now is...which do I want more? New digital camera, or iPad?

the day Sally dreams of all winter

The day the pond is free of ice, and Mom beckons, when she comes home from work, with the magic word: POND! It's enough to send Sally into a frenzy.

I also had to supervise some lawn tractor driving. Starflower and Calvin are getting pretty good at it. I have promised Mr. Attitude that I will give him lessons. When I'm ready.

Sally's not so big adventure

My name is Deb, and I am a bad dog mom.

It all started last night, when I let Sally outside to do her business. I don't remember what time it was. Somehow I got distracted, human kids have a way of doing that to me, and before I knew it I was upstairs in bed reading the first pages of The Hobbit and trying to decide if I wanted to take the plunge into fantasy world and read the whole thing. The jury is still out. Testimony is still welcome.

The next thing I knew it was 1:30 AM. I usually wake up briefly around that time. Only something was wrong. I could move my legs freely. There was not a dog curled up at the foot of the bed. Uh-oh. At 1:30, Sally is never anywhere else but curled up at the foot of the bed. I got up and walked around the house, checking every place she might be. No Sally. I went outside and called her name. No Sally.

I had a thought that she may have sought refuge at the Cabin/Man Cave. The Hermit and Calvin have been sleeping there lately, just because they can. I went out there, opening the door carefully because I did not want to wake anyone. Sally is a light sleeper, and I thought for sure she would wake up if I so much as touched the door. And I thought the last place she would be was in bed with The Hermit; I thought she avoided him. I looked everywhere else. No Sally.

I was starting to worry, but for some reason I never jumped to grim conclusions. Sally would turn up somewhere, even if she had to sleep out in the 45 degree drizzly night, which was warm for this time of year.

I finally drifted off into sleep again, and woke around 6 AM. Shortly thereafter, there was a voice on our just-arrived intercom: "What's Sally doing out here?"

RELIEF!

It turns out Sally went over to the cabin after I totally forgot she was outside. She went into the cabin when The Hermit woke up in the middle of the night, and slept with him in the twin bed. I did not even think of looking there.

But all is okay, I am thankful Sally is here, and she seems to harbor no ill feelings towards me for my act of outright neglect. I promise I will do better as a dog mom!

pond evening

This September has been incredible, weatherwise. Tonight was just another golden evening.

This girl was happy to finally have some pond time. Week nights are just too hectic.

I have more words somewhere. But I also have a cold and the urge to just crawl under flannel sheets after the sun goes down. The words will be there soon, I promise.

pond dog

"Please take me to the pond? Oh will you please? I love the pond! Oh please?"

That is how I have been greeted the last few afternoons. Sally is relentless. So I even caved in today, when it was about 40 degrees and windy. That's how dogs are.

the long awaited day

With a string of sunny days with temperatures in the 50's, the ice is finally losing its grip on lakes. I've been watching the ice on the pond darken and pull away from shore further each day. Yesterday there was finally enough open water for a very excited Labrador to do what she enjoys best.

Sally was wondering why Mr. Attitude and I were standing on shore. Cold? What cold?

She was shivering just a bit as she did the shakeoff.

I came across something unusual a few feet from the water:

These remains were once a fairly good sized black crappie. From time to time a few odd bluegills have ended up in the pond, never to be seen again. I vaguely recall helping a few very small crappies find their way to this body of water at least two years ago, but I never saw any sign of them. Until now. I'm guessing this one succumbed to low oxygen levels, and floated up on shore when the ice receded. Some lucky critter made a meal of it.

It's another beautiful day here. I hope you enjoy your day!

today's at-home birding

I am once again playing with the idea of opening my cabin as a birds 'n bloggers bed 'n breakfast once we're moved into the new house. Because what city dwelling birder wouldn't relish waking up to the sounds of sandhill cranes, snipe, woodcock, ruffed grouse, spring peepers, ravens, purple finches, etc. AND, to walk out before breakfast, hearing a woodpecker tapping in the woods, and having it turn out to be a female black backed woodpecker! I should have had my camera, I was within twenty feet of her.

I was feeling a bit under the weather this morning with a cold bug, which was no doubt exacerbated by my going out on a lake Friday and Saturday in less than tolerable weather conditions to sample The Muskellunge. My butt hurts from being bounced over waves and hitting the steel platform bow of the boat, my arms hurt from bracing myself so my butt would not hit the bow of the boat so hard. I am now seriously considering a career change, possibly to a bed and breakfast keeper or market farmer, because I honestly cannot see myself doing this same job ten years from now. Not to mention, I just cannot tolerate working with men who make jokes about incidentally killing a horned grebe in a net, or nearly killing a common loon in a net. All to "assess the population" of a species that is only in that particular lake through stocking, and probably should not be there to begin with. Next time I pull a 50 inch muskie out of a net, I just may drop it on its head. Intentionally. And then step on its head. But no, answering violence with violence never solves anything.

Of course, these are my personal opinions and do not reflect the official opinion of the agency I work for. :)

So after a long overdue recycling run with The Hermit, long overdue because we were waiting for our driveway to dry out a little, we took a noontime nap, and then I tried to straighten out the bedroom a little. It was a huge effort to do anything. It was warm (if you call 55 warm, I'll take it) and sunny, and CALM (the wind has picked up as I type this, of course), so I decided to take Sally out for a little frolic in the pond.

When we arrived on the path over the outlet culvert, a large brown bird suddenly flew up from the vegetation in front of the culvert. My first bittern of the year! It settled just across the pond, and tried hard to camouflage itself. I knew better.

Ha ha, you can't see me! I'll just keep my bill in the air, and I'll look like a cattail...

Finally, when it thought the coast was clear and we weren't much of a threat, it flew.

As usual, Sally enjoyed her pond frolic.

I went outside after all

Even though it was cloudy and gray outside in the morning, the temperature was a lot milder than yesterday and I could almost hear my garden calling to me. So I headed out there and by the time I was done I had weeded and prepared three beds and planted one. I would have done even more, but the soil in most of the beds was a bit too moist from yesterday's rain, and still pretty cold.
I planted some kale and spinach I had started indoors, as well as seeds of lettuce, Swiss chard, and an Asian stir fry mix. I seem to have lost my arugula seeds, otherwise that would have been planted as well. The rake and livestock panel are placed there deliberately to keep cats and other critters out of my newly planted bed. Once things sprout, I will have to devise a plan to keep cottontails and snowshoe hares out.

After my Sunday morning church in the garden, I walked around a little since I could finally do that without dodging snow piles. We still have a little bit of snow on the north sides of buildings, but most of the land is finally snow free. I came across this casualty of last weekend's winds, the top of a fairly big white pine (approximately 24" diameter trunk). The tree is still alive, and I would not be surprised if one of the top limbs started growing up instead of out and became the new crown of the tree.
When I saw the size of the limbs, I started thinking to myself...these would make some nice looking stairway and balcony railings! Then I looked at the fallen section of trunk and thought...I love half log stairs. Maybe for the new house we could...
While I was musing on natural on site building materials, someone opened the door and Sally came bursting out of the house. I thought she might like a visit to the pond, so we went out that way. Does she look happy or what in this photo? It's been way too long since she went for a swim. The pond still has a bit of ice that won't go away today, but maybe tomorrow.

Bad dog, no biscuit!

I was doing yoga this morning (now wait, when does she find the time to do yoga?) actually Calvin had a special school trip he had to be to school at 6:45 for, so The Hermit drove him and I found myself with an extra half hour I would otherwise fill with the activities of waking up. Coffee was already made, the younger offspring did not need to wake up until 7, so I seized the moment.

While I was doing some balance poses, I heard some moving and shaking from the porch, where Maggie the Chesapeake's crate is located. Normal, I thought, but it persisted. Uh-oh, something is not right.

When I looked out onto the porch, I found Starflower's new $70 Lands End jacket, which I had been so proud to order for her, next to the kennel, and the sleeve DRAGGED INSIDE. I pulled the sleeve out, and knew right away it was irreparable. Damn. I know dogs gotta chew, but HOLY SHIT! It's a $70 jacket for God's sake!

I had no choice but to order a replacement this morning (along with a pair of boots for SF that had gone on sale and a shirt for myself, on sale). I am very grateful that we have the means to replace it. I didn't know if The Hermit would get a paycheck for late December, since he has been on leave, but it happened, somehow.

So tell me, are Chesapeakes good for ANYTHING?

And, A Hermit update. He decided to go to a meeting in Grand Rapids, 120 miles away, overnight. Good for him, I think he's ready.

Land of the Wind Chill Factor

(any John Prine fans out there who can name that tune?)

Is your local meteorologist the most highly paid member of your local news staff?

Does the weather merit more time and detail than the sports?

Do you know what a wind chill factor is, and does it affect your day to day activities?

At you latest church potluck, was there lutefisk and lefse? If not, was there at least one "hot dish" on the menu?

If you answered "yes" to all of the above, you are a Minnesotan.


Overnight temperatures here are expected to approach twenty below, and we are on the map for a "wind chill advisory" from the National Weather Service. But, as Bob Dylan put it, "it don't take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." I know it's cold out there. If you live here long enough, you know that when the day, and the evening, is clear, and there is snow cover on the ground, you'd better be ready for COLD.

I don't know if I am. I hope I brought in enough wood.

I am seriously hoping for a "January Thaw". In December, already.

I am also hoping that Sally, my yellow Labrador who is seriously in heat, will just get over it SOON. It's almost tragic, watching her prance around Togo while he turns to me and says, "what's up with that?" The bad part is, I have to go out there and literally drag her away from the newly uninterested party. Pathetic.

Speaking of Togo, added to my daily complicated routine is taking three pills of Doxycycline, burying them in a ball of hamburger, and giving them to Togo with the rest of his food. Twice a day. Only about 25 more days of that.

a girl and her dog

Starflower has a new boyfriend. But I'm not worried at all. In fact, I'm happy, because I haven't been able to give Togo all the attention he deserves lately.

Yesterday when we took Togo for a walk, Starflower took him back home...all by herself. He's 3 years old now, and settling down into a nice family dog, but yesterday was the first time we realized that a) Starflower is old and big enough, and b) Togo is just gentle and sweet enough, and c) he really doesn't just R-U-N-N-O-F-T (O Brother Where Art Thou influence showing). So suddenly when she realized she could put him on and off his leash by herself, and that he greatly appreciated her attention, she has been taking him for something like four walks daily, all by herself. As you can clearly see by his face, Togo thinks this is a great thing. I hope it's not just a phase.

By the way, that's my old high school cheerleading sweatshirt she's wearing. Can you imagine me as a cheerleader? Exactly. I didn't last long.

Lost dog update: SHE'S BACK!!!! :)

The Hermit just called me here at work to let me know Maggie (the Chesapeake) came back! Starflower was playing outside and Maggie came running out of the woods, acting very happy to be home with everyone.

I guess she's in good condition. Very good condition. As in, she wasn't acting hungry or thirsty after being gone for four days. Which more or less confirms our suspicions about the neighbor. Sigh.

Lost dogs and mixed blessings

For you John Prine fans, I'm sure you recognize the title of his album that came out...was it 10 years ago already?

We've been preoccupied with some missing dog issues. Hopi and Maggie, Brittany and Chesapeake respectfully, ran off Sunday morning and disappeared. They like to run on our property, but this is very unusual for them. So, Monday morning, Hopi returned. Maggie is still missing. This alone tells me that they were being held somewhere nearby, and Hopi managed to escape. It is just so out of character for them to just disappear. I'm suspecting a certain neighbor, and keeping a close eye on the situation. If my suspicion is true, it really sucks that we have neighbors like that.

Anyway, I just found out why Hopi was in a running mood. Let's just say that she and Togo...ummm....were just caught in a loving position. Oh crap, it's so hard to tell with Brittanys. when they're in season. A visit to the vet is in order. Sigh.

So...in other news, after freezing temps last week, we are caught in a heat wave. 90 degree highs here today, with lows in the 60's and fog, which means the dewpoint is at an uncomfortable level. I was out on a lake today, doing an aquatic plant survey, something which I guess is my calling this summer, and it was HOT. That, and our motor kept beeping, signaling that either we were clogged up and overheating, or that the signal was out of whack. Sigh. It was, however, the lake that I practically grew up on, at least on weekends spent at Grandma and Grandpa's, so I liked being there again. I had to pop a Claritin after we got off the lake; I'm allergic to a certain type of blue green algae, which was on its way to becoming abundant there.

I checked the garden tonight, and we have one tomato that is turning orange! It is a Stupice, my (so far) favorite early variety. We also have a Diva cucumber at five inches, almost harvestable. I harvested garlic on Saturday, and intended to post about it; maybe later. We used one of the new garlic cloves on grilled Lake Superior lake trout yesterday, and it was great!

Oh, and according to Site Meter I'm due to have my 50,000th visitor some time in a day or two. This calls for some kind of celebration.

And, while I'm here, I have harvested lupine seeds. Those of you who requested them, I'll try to get them out in the mail soon!

A June evening

First, the daily lupine, from a different angle. It looks like it's growing wild in a patch of grass, but really, it's a garden, ringed with field stones dug up nearby. I just haven't gotten around to weeding yet this year. So much else to do!


The chickens were enjoying the evening sun. We're down to just a few of them, some mink or raccoon has been picking them off one by one, but we're getting chicks in July. After I clean out and do some work in the chicken coop, of course.


Oh, the evening light on the pond. The sky looks washed out, when actually it was a brilliant blue.


I had to walk down to the pond with the kids for some frog catching and wading. The little green frogs were amazingly cooperative; this is Mr. Attitude's 5 year old hand, just to get an idea of relative size.


Starflower proved to be the frog magnet, however.



We were soon joined by a large, semi-aquatic mammal, so we tried to release the frogs in safe areas in the weeds. Sally needs a good swim once in a while.

I love our pond, I love having a place to relax, where the kids can be kids and catch frogs, where dogs can be dogs, and where the sky and pines meet in one glorious reflection.

Living in the moment

There's piles of work to be done around here. So much work you wonder how it ever will get done.

It will, or it won't. Today I surveyed all the garden beds I weeded and prepared yesterday, then planted carrots in one bed. I could have planted much more stuff, but the forecast calls for "scattered frost" which means for sure we'll get it in the geographical anomaly we have here. One day won't matter the least to a seed, but it might chill the soil enough to retard germination. What's up with frost at the end of May anyway?

I woke up today in kind of a funk, wondering if the life I wanted would ever happen. I decided, no matter what, I would get a few weeds pulled and see what happened. Things worked themselves out, thanks to a little road trip and a late afternoon spent watching the dogs playing "Who's got the bone!" I got my outlook back. Sometimes you have to just kick back and forget about what needs to be done. For a while.

A good spring day at home

This is my home as you would see it from the road, or at least from the pond beach. It's looking good since the addition of the house roofline.

It was one of those glorious spring Sunday mornings, the kind where you realize there is so much you could do but only a finite number of hours to do something. I decided to get the most grim, unpleasant job done first. I went out to our "pet cemetery" and dug a hole. The daffodils were starting to come up on the other graves there. Then I got Puffball's body out of the freezer and buried him. In the process of digging, I came up with a number of rocks, which I arranged in a circle around the filled hole. I brought my flute out and played one verse of "Amazing Grace".

Next I decided the priority of the day was getting potatoes planted. I could have also planted sugar snap peas and Swiss chard, but that will get done some time this week. I could not even get all the potatoes planted, because I discovered frost in one bed that still had a heavy layer of mulch. Potatoes planted there would likely rot. I'll let it thaw and dry another day or two.

While I was preparing potato beds, I heard the voice of a sandhill crane. I looked up, thinking it was flying low, but then I saw it so high in the sky it was barely a speck, circling on the thermals. For a bird with a six foot wingspan, it had to be a couple thousand feet up. Was it just enjoying itself, circling up there, calling out every once in a while for the fun of it?

Later I heard a high pitched Kee-ir! Kee-ir! and knew, from a similar day last year, it was a pair of harriers. I saw them circling together. I wonder if it was the same pair from last year.

In other bird news, the yellow bellied sapsuckers have arrived, as well as ruby crowned kinglets and even the first yellow rumped warblers! Soon the woods will be busy.


We did the first official swim today, sort of. Starflower and Mr. Attitude wanted to play on the beach and maybe go in the water, so I took a break from garden detail and watched them. They decided maybe the water was still a little cold. The skies turned overcast while we were out there; it is raining as I write this, and the temperature has fallen ten degrees.

Hopi and Sally were out exploring while I was gardening, and they happened to find a good mud hole in the wetland beyond the garden. Sally thought she looked good in darkface. I took her out to the pond before I allowed her back in the house. By the way, Maggie was with The Hermit as he was doing some errands in Duluth. I told him he had to take at least one dog, and he thought he could get some good attention with a puppy. ;)

Just another spring day here at Sand Creek. Life is good.

we interrupt this regularly scheduled Friday night vodka-tinted rant to give you...

Maggie. I gotta admit, she's cute.

I had no idea I would be surrogate parent to yet another puppy today. The Hermit had warned me he needed a Chesapeake, told me he had one picked out, but...he drove all the way to Fargo ND today (he was halfway there, granted...had to work a wildlife "banquet" last night...) to get her. Didn't warn me that tonight we'd have one more shredder of everything shreddable in the house!

Chesapeakes are supposed to grow larger than Labs. Yikes.

But she is cute, and I like her puppy temperament a lot better than that Brittany we have.

And isn't that a nice-looking boy holding her?

catdog

These two were getting pretty friendly this afternoon. Poor Blue Flame has a cold, so his eyes are a bit puffed up right now.

They knew what to do. Today was cold and rainy, and I made it as far as the cook shed. I washed dishes, a two hour task around here, and tried my best to straighten up the house. I estimate I reunited over 50 DVD's and Game Cube games with their cases.

I know, we need the rain, but the yard is looking pretty dismal right now.

more spring birds, pond activity, frogs, and mud

This time of year I just keep adding birds to the list. Today it was fox sparrow and Eastern phoebe. The Hermit saw purple finches at the feeder here, which would be another new addition if I had been around to see them.

I got an email mid afternoon from The Hermit, saying he and the kids and the dogs were headed out to the pond. Afternoon temps here hit 68, which felt really, really warm. There was still a considerable sheet of ice on the pond, but I guess Sally made the best of the open water. Hopi was a bit more reluctant; she cannot understand the affinity her mentor dog has with water. What can I say, Labs are superior that way; heck they are the superior breed. Starflower was in her bikini when I arrived home. She said that she had been in the water a little, but it was still cold.

I took Togo for a walk after I came home, and one unique thing I heard was a barred owl calling in broad daylight. I also heard the first of the Western chorus frogs, sounding a little slow and groggy but nevertheless heeding the call of Spring.

And mud. It is everywhere, a fact of life, but this warm weather has it disappearing fast. The ground has thawed enough so water percolates downward. I hope to be able to drive my car back to the house in a couple days.

I missed it!

How could I let my second blogoversary just slip by unnoticed? (It was Sunday the 21st). Guess this makes me an old timer now.

I also had my 35,000th visitor yesterday. Didn't check who it was, but judging by the Site Meter it was probably someone Googling "calvin and hobbes decapitated snowmen" or "snowball launcher" or something like that. Seems to be a lot of that going around lately.

I also missed a dog-o-versary. According to my calculations, Sally's first birthday was the 22nd. I could look up the paperwork to find out the actual date, if I knew where it was in my precise filing system. So a belated happy birthday, Sally. You can stop being a puppy now. You can stop chewing everything and start spending more of your time lazily curled up in front of the woodstove. You can tell that younger orange-spotty Hopi thing that you're an adult now and you're way too mature and sophisticated to engage in her puppy games. Okay Sally? Good girl.

Our Internet service was down Monday night, and amazingly I made it through the evening without visiting blogs. Tuesday morning, bright and early, Mr. Attitude wanted to get on the computer to "check my 'Bay". He's probably the youngest eBay fan I know of, but he's only bid on--and won--something once. Luckily it wasn't too expensive. ;) Anyway, I told Mr. Attitude the Internet still wasn't working, and he went into a fit of withdrawal. I went out to the cook shed to get my lunch ready, and when I came back he was sitting at the computer, happily watching Cartoon Network...online. "I fixed it, Mom!" he said. I congratulated him, although I had a nagging suspicion, later confirmed, that the problem was at our local server 20 miles away, and when they showed up for work in the morning they rebooted or said some magic chant and all was well. But I'll just let Mr. Attitude think he did it. :)