I went to Rhode Island for Easter, as always. Jenica went with me, which made the trip far more interesting than usual. We talked and talked. About libraries a lot. I always enjoy visiting with Jen.
We had a relaxing and very nice visit. Got there Friday, home on Monday. In between we ate candy, lobsters, lamb, bagels, lox, more candy. It was great. Jenica and I suspended our point counting for the duration. So did Mark. His points have to do with cholesterol, not weight watching.
M & I walked the dogs in the morning, sneaking up on an Easter sunrise service on Sunday morning. Oops. Fortunately we noticed the congregation BEFORE the dogs did. Tess would have begged to be part of the group. Or the object of their worship. Or something. Chances would have bumped into someone & said "Excuse me, I didn't see you."
We went pansy shopping, as always. Lots of choices, pretty little blossoms. There were lots of things in bloom everywhere--tons of forsythia, some rhodedendron, some redbud, daffodils, and something that turned out NOT to be witch hazel.
We looked at the Rockwell Kent books my mother has, most of which were my fathers. Some are inscribed from RK to my father, "To young Spaulding Rogers from old Rockwell Kent," and another inscription describing my father's brilliance. RK liked Spaulding, and S. found R to be a huge comfort in the intellectual wasteland that was his home.
When I got home the muddy driveway wasn't too bad and the snow was almost gone. There were patches in the woods, but now (Thursday) I think all snow is gone. We've had warm weather (70) and lots of rain, which sent the snow a'packin'. Even more wonderful is that the ICE WENT OUT at Silver Lake yesterday. My first glimpse of open water by the boat house made me think of summer in an instant. Hard to believe wiinter has ended/is ending. Spring is here--early spring, but spring nevertheless. I slept with my bedroom window open last night, listening to the rain. The cat loves it because she can come & go through the screen. Does she have any idea what a lucky cat she is? Doubtful, though she does like it when I come back from a trip.
I've walked down to camp a couple of times, enjoying the fact that I'm the first one there and that it's still there, looking fine. The road down there is in terrible shape, lots of washed-out ruts from heavy run-off, plus 2 trees down across the road. Wish I had a chain saw to clean up with.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Easter beach walk
Mark & I walked the dogs in the park, but we needed to check on beach activity/erosion. Lots of rain & high tides generate a dramatic effect.
Liza came with us, which was nice. Jenica & Mark walked to the point where the houses are to check out erosion there. They came across a wounded/sick seal that was lying on the beach. The dogs thought that was pretty exciting. So did I, but I stayed back with Liza while they went for their walk. I got to listen to a cardinal, then I finally saw him, all red and bright.
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Easter toys. This is also where Christmas toys go. I think maybe our collection of Easter toys is bigger than the Christmas collection. Both are impressive, but wow, look at all of these--
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The Hubba Bubba Cluckers gather. They poop out jelly beans or bubble gum. Neither of which could go in my mouth this year. Ah yes, the braces.
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Tess hates to have her picture taken. This is about the best I could do this trip. Jenica tried for a long time to get a good picture of Tess the Photogenic Dog. Not much luck.
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Jenica & Mark dying eggs. Actually, only M is dying eggs, J is taking pictures. She got a really nifty new camera. Very nice. Camera envy sets in.
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It didn't much matter what colors we tried to make the eggs, pretty much they all came out pink.
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These are the violas that Mark & Liza picked out. Mine are shades of purple. I haven't planted them yet so they remain unphotographed. As always, I had a hard time picking out which flowers would follow me home this year.
Easter flowers
The centerpiece for Easter dinner. Tulips are my mother's favorite flowers. She especially likes white ones. This centerpiece was a bit big, especially tall, which lilmited who you could converse with. Which we thought was funny.
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Meanwhile, back in Hawkeye, this is all we have for blooms right now. Hardy little crocuses. The first patch bloomed through snow, these guys are a lot luckier. This is next to my house.
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The Saranac River is really, really high right now--as are all rivers in the North Country, pretty much. Here's a view I see on my way to work, near Redford. I like the way the trees on the island are emerging from the fog. There's a point on Silver Lake that's called Steamboat Point. It has trees that look like this--supposedly the point was named after the way the trees look like steamboat smoke stacks. If you want to believe Hawkeye lore. I think it's funny that both my family and the rest of the lake call the point the same thing. Some other things have different names, depending on whose lore you want to believe, or what tradition you want to follow.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Alder Brook 4/20/2011
Here's the latest view of Alder Brook, taken yesterday on my way to Tupper Lake. It rained all day, sometimes pouring hard & sometimes just sprinkling. Better than the snow we had this morning ...
Alder Brook 4/20/2011
Looking in the other direction. Nice misty mountains. The water is really, reallyl high.
Ice not quite going out 4/20/2011
Here's what Silver Lake looks like these days. Ice gets dark before it melts, so this is a good-looking situation. I'm betting ice will be out by May 1, but not much before then. There's a little bit of open water along the shore, so the dogs took their first swims of thte season the other day. They got all soft & fluffy, which reminded me that they're probably pretty dirty. But getting cleaner, all I have to do is walk to camp & they'll dip.
Monday, April 04, 2011
April, no fooling
It's April, at last. The next month to come is May, and that's when you make a real commitment to spring. In April we have snow, rain (maybe) and mud season. I have a muddy driveway right now, I don't drive in it. I have a colorful history of mud seasons past. I've been stuck in the mud too many times. Once I got stuck up to the running boards, then it got below zero and my car froze in the mud. That took an AAA wrecker to pull--hard--to get it released. Another time I got stuck right next to the house, up to the axles. There was a new AAA garage that year, and they were like characters from a sitcom. They used a come-along around a tree, first asking if they could use a screwdriver because it was broken. Oh yeah, lots of confidence in them. After that I quit belonging to AAA--
My driveway already has ruts from someone anon. who drove to my house, turned around, spun his tires and drove off. I was so proud of my efforts to avoid ruts until then. I still haven't driven to the house, showing remarkable restraint. Anyway, this is the only time you can fill in ruts, when the mud is nice and gooey. Another thing I've learned the hard way. Many summers my driveway has been uncomfortable to drive in due to deep mud-season ruts.
I had a quiet weekend, but was productive and had social life. I cleaned some things, sorted some clothes (some pants are now TOO BIG), made yogurt, etc. Watched plenty of TV, including some of the basketball games. Go UConn. Though I think it would be good if Butler won. There's a heartwarming story about one of the key players. awwww.
I went out for fried perch Saturday night with Fred. Delicious food, though I'm self-conscious about eating anything in front of people. Braces suck. Big time. We had a good visit and the food was great. Brought some home for the dogs, who are fond of perch, raw or cooked.
Sunday I went to friends' for spaghetti dinner at noon. Our usual Sunday gathering place and crowd. Again, good food. This meant I lost no weight last week, but at least I gained nothing, either.
The weather was great both days, warm sun. Good breeze to help melt the snow. We have at least a foot of snow left--it's taking forever to melt because it hasn't been that warm. Cold nights, single digits a lot in the past couple of weeks. Warmer now, but still not always above freezing. I've cut back on my fire making, only having fires in the evening. Another sign of spring: I went into the cellar hole and turned off the heater I use all winter to prevent pump and pipe freezings. That's a big deal. I don't like going down there when there's no one around--it's a hole under the bathroom, accessed by a trap door. Sort of like the cellar holes the pioneers had to hide in when the Indians came. If the door slams shut I'm sunk. The hole is about 7' high, has a crushed stone floor and is a miserable place for a pump. Many, many people have spent many, many hours working on the plumbing down there. Many gallons of water have filled the hole when power goes out and the sump pump doesn't run. During our famous ice storm in '98 the cellar hole filled with water, then the water froze when temp dipped below zero. It was awful. My pump is NOT a submersible pump, but that one bravely kept working afterward. When I discovered the ice, I slammed the door shut and pretended I knew nothing about it. I've been having strange dreams lately; parts of some of them are disturbing, others are puzzling. One night I had a bad dream about my best friend, she was in terrible shape. I called her the next morning and we established the truth: she's just fine, cheerful and happy. whew.
In a month the summer people will start returning. The first wave should arrive around May 5. Memorial Day will bring more, June even more, then we'll be in full swing. Hard to believe it's all going to happen soon. Wait ... let's get rid of the snow first.
A good friend (do I have any bad friends?) is turning 80 in May and her daughters are putting together an album of memories collected from friends. I knew Ann when I first arrived here 26 years ago. She worked at the library system. Her daughter Brook worked here too, and Brook and Dan lived near us. We were renting a former school house, a really nice little place. Brook and Dan became our closest friends and we spent pretty much every free hour with them. Dan even worked at the sawmill for a while, though that was far from satisfactory for all involved.
Anyway, Ann is a wonderful person so I wanted to do something notable. Nothing came to mind, though, no anecdotes about our work together. I finally found some pictures from a trip Jamie & I took to Ann's house in the wilds. We delivered sawdust from the mill and picked up a zillion white rabbits they wanted to get rid of. Not a happy ending for the rabbits--they were bound for Snyder's Bunny Farm, where rabbit meat is cheap. Ann and her husband had intended to be self-sufficient when they settled in, but found it unpleasant and difficult to kill any of the livestock. They had a bunch of bunnies, and one day Ron set them all free. It's true what they say about rabbits, and soon there were dozens of dozens. Ron felt bad so continued to feed them. He'd rattle the feed pan and they'd come hopping in from the woods. Very dear, but Ann finally said they couldn't afford to feed that many pet rabbits.
Life is still good, lots of happiness and peace for me. I'm hoping to plant flower seeds soon (indoors--who knows when there will be bare ground). My crocuses will show up eventually, when the snow melts. The ice will go out, though guesses are it will be late this year.
Dogs are fine. They'll be 12 and 8 this year. Tess has her new "Tess the Bog Dog" tag and is all set to hike with nice strangers through the bog. I'm looking forward to walking the bog, too, it's been a long time since I've been in there. Must wait for snow to melt.
My driveway already has ruts from someone anon. who drove to my house, turned around, spun his tires and drove off. I was so proud of my efforts to avoid ruts until then. I still haven't driven to the house, showing remarkable restraint. Anyway, this is the only time you can fill in ruts, when the mud is nice and gooey. Another thing I've learned the hard way. Many summers my driveway has been uncomfortable to drive in due to deep mud-season ruts.
I had a quiet weekend, but was productive and had social life. I cleaned some things, sorted some clothes (some pants are now TOO BIG), made yogurt, etc. Watched plenty of TV, including some of the basketball games. Go UConn. Though I think it would be good if Butler won. There's a heartwarming story about one of the key players. awwww.
I went out for fried perch Saturday night with Fred. Delicious food, though I'm self-conscious about eating anything in front of people. Braces suck. Big time. We had a good visit and the food was great. Brought some home for the dogs, who are fond of perch, raw or cooked.
Sunday I went to friends' for spaghetti dinner at noon. Our usual Sunday gathering place and crowd. Again, good food. This meant I lost no weight last week, but at least I gained nothing, either.
The weather was great both days, warm sun. Good breeze to help melt the snow. We have at least a foot of snow left--it's taking forever to melt because it hasn't been that warm. Cold nights, single digits a lot in the past couple of weeks. Warmer now, but still not always above freezing. I've cut back on my fire making, only having fires in the evening. Another sign of spring: I went into the cellar hole and turned off the heater I use all winter to prevent pump and pipe freezings. That's a big deal. I don't like going down there when there's no one around--it's a hole under the bathroom, accessed by a trap door. Sort of like the cellar holes the pioneers had to hide in when the Indians came. If the door slams shut I'm sunk. The hole is about 7' high, has a crushed stone floor and is a miserable place for a pump. Many, many people have spent many, many hours working on the plumbing down there. Many gallons of water have filled the hole when power goes out and the sump pump doesn't run. During our famous ice storm in '98 the cellar hole filled with water, then the water froze when temp dipped below zero. It was awful. My pump is NOT a submersible pump, but that one bravely kept working afterward. When I discovered the ice, I slammed the door shut and pretended I knew nothing about it. I've been having strange dreams lately; parts of some of them are disturbing, others are puzzling. One night I had a bad dream about my best friend, she was in terrible shape. I called her the next morning and we established the truth: she's just fine, cheerful and happy. whew.
In a month the summer people will start returning. The first wave should arrive around May 5. Memorial Day will bring more, June even more, then we'll be in full swing. Hard to believe it's all going to happen soon. Wait ... let's get rid of the snow first.
A good friend (do I have any bad friends?) is turning 80 in May and her daughters are putting together an album of memories collected from friends. I knew Ann when I first arrived here 26 years ago. She worked at the library system. Her daughter Brook worked here too, and Brook and Dan lived near us. We were renting a former school house, a really nice little place. Brook and Dan became our closest friends and we spent pretty much every free hour with them. Dan even worked at the sawmill for a while, though that was far from satisfactory for all involved.
Anyway, Ann is a wonderful person so I wanted to do something notable. Nothing came to mind, though, no anecdotes about our work together. I finally found some pictures from a trip Jamie & I took to Ann's house in the wilds. We delivered sawdust from the mill and picked up a zillion white rabbits they wanted to get rid of. Not a happy ending for the rabbits--they were bound for Snyder's Bunny Farm, where rabbit meat is cheap. Ann and her husband had intended to be self-sufficient when they settled in, but found it unpleasant and difficult to kill any of the livestock. They had a bunch of bunnies, and one day Ron set them all free. It's true what they say about rabbits, and soon there were dozens of dozens. Ron felt bad so continued to feed them. He'd rattle the feed pan and they'd come hopping in from the woods. Very dear, but Ann finally said they couldn't afford to feed that many pet rabbits.
Life is still good, lots of happiness and peace for me. I'm hoping to plant flower seeds soon (indoors--who knows when there will be bare ground). My crocuses will show up eventually, when the snow melts. The ice will go out, though guesses are it will be late this year.
Dogs are fine. They'll be 12 and 8 this year. Tess has her new "Tess the Bog Dog" tag and is all set to hike with nice strangers through the bog. I'm looking forward to walking the bog, too, it's been a long time since I've been in there. Must wait for snow to melt.
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