Post Script

While it is true that I have been going through 'blogger withdrawal', defined as making a mental note of every mishap, animal sighting, or memorable setting in order to blog it at some later point in time, and that I will torture you by including all that my feeble memory has retained over these past several weeks, my true purpose in writing is to explain why it is that there is that rather enormous pile of wood dumped in the driveway. One would think that there would be enough wood there to last another winter, perhaps.

Philadelphia, as enticing as it may sound with its countless culinary establishments, extensive cultural opportunities, endless shopping, and close proximity to an orthodontist (we just found out that ours is 95 miles from here), just doesn't compare to digging out sunk sleds, snowmobiling to the bus stop before sunrise in 35 below zero weather, dragging trash to the dump, and of course moving all that wood. Truth be told, that wood pile is all thanks to Garrick's science teacher Mrs. Small who, on February 9th, on that long bus trip down to Dover Foxcroft (that's the name of a town by the way) for a Math Team Meet, suggested to me that Garrick apply to a special charter school for next year. When I arrived home that night, I pulled up the website for MSSM, the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, only to find out that the last day to register for the SAT, required as part of the admissions package, was February 10th! Long story short, we visited the school, hence the trip to Limestone on March 28th ... the edge of the Earth ... went through the interview and application process, and Garrick was accepted. Now I know that you're thinking I am crazy ... snowmobiling a mile and a half to the bus stop is one thing, snowmobiling a mile and a half to the truck and then driving five hours each way to school every day is just insane ... but, luckily they have a dorm there at the edge of the Earth AND they even have a bus that drives within 70 miles of camp so that when he does come home, once a month, I won't have to go too far to get him!

So, I guess the really crazy part is Caroline and me, here in the woods, without Garrick, and without Paul who is in Philadelphia ... with countless culinary establishments, extensive cultural opportunities, and endless shopping ... the orthodontist doesn't really mean too much to him! Not sure how the wood will get moved or the sled will get 'unstuck' or the chimney will get cleaned or the snow will get shoveled off of the roof or who will provide the comic relief for future emails but I would say that the learning curve that was beginning to level off, has just gotten pretty steep again! Looks like I'd better start another list of things to do and items to stock up on ... the come-along (aka winch) to help get the snowmobile out of the ditch and the generator ... although I'm still not convinced that we couldn't get by with just a camping potty ... will be at the top of the list.

And, Caroline and I are looking for help so anyone interested in Wilderness Boot Camp, please contact me as soon as possible as we only have limited openings due to an already high demand. And, if your skills are somewhat lacking, you may want to consider timing your trip so that it coincides with a visit from my friend Cord, city slicker turned northwoods wanna-be ... she generally reserves during all the three-day holiday weekends. All food and bedding are provided but you must BYOB ... Bring Your Own (Red) Bag! This will come in handy during the summer months as well as during those long, dark winter weekends as we still have the heat on up here.

We will also provide the bear bell, coincidentally, we saw a black bear on the way home from town about two weeks ago; the walking stick (aka coyote attack prevention mechanism); the moose ... but you'd better get here quickly for that as they seem to disappear around the time that we turn off the heat; and the chain saw ... but not the technical savy on how to start the thing or use it ... I am after all only an Industrial Engineer. Which brings me to my last little snippet before I sign off forever ... for real ...

Thursday, May 14th which just so happens to be the anniversary of a significant birth in our household ... the 15th anniversary of the 29th anniversary ... I left to go get Garrick from town. I didn't make it very far for as I rounded the bend of the driveway, I saw stretched out in front of me, a rather large tree. I headed back down the driveway, tramped down to the basement, grabbed the chain saw, and lugged it up the stairs, into the trunk, and drove back out to the tree. It is a rather heavy thing you see. After removing it from its case, donning the ever so beautiful orange safety hat (I'm sure you remember Garrick modeling it for you all last fall), I pulled the started cord. And, I pulled the start cord, and I pulled the start cord. Sounding familiar ... only last time it was the snowmobile I was referring to??? So, going against all my basic principles, I put down the saw and took out the instruction manual. Then, I tried again ... to no avail. I trudged back to the house and tried my next best option ... my husband. When he answered the phone, I quickly rushed through all that had happened and asked him frantically what I was to do. His reply, "I'm in a meeting. Can I call you back?" If I had an arm that were 575 miles long, it would have been through that phone in 2 seconds flat. Needless to say, I didn't get much out of that phone call. I made a few more phone calls, to make sure that Garrick wasn't stranded in town, and then spent another 30 minutes trying to get that darned thing started. When I wasn't pulling, I was re-reading the manual, which came in handy when I did finally get the thing started as I now knew how not to use the chain saw. Eventually, I got the tree cleared away and headed to town but not before everything was closed for the evening.

All joking aside, we are staying for 'a while' longer. This is a great opportunity for Garrick, one that Paul and I (and Caroline ... hesitatingly) are willing to sacrifice for. We've worked very hard over the years to be able to take advantage of an opportunity like this if it came along and feel lucky that it did. So, now instead of saying, "It's only a year ... we can do anything for a year" I guess we'll be saying, "It's only three years ... we can do anything for three years."

Have a great summer!
Karyn

Looks Like We Made It!

Mother's Day came early this year up here ... my best gift arrived on Thursday. Imagine my delight when George called that afternoon to let me know that the road had been opened! I was skeptical at first, thinking that perhaps I would be allowed to drive in, ditch my car load of luggage, sleeping bags, and dirty laundry, and drive out again ... perhaps the gate would only be unlocked for the rest of the afternoon. I said, "You mean unlocked forever?" To which George replied, "Well, until next winter." After 137 days of walking, snowmobiling, and walking again, we would finally be able to bring the truck in ... all the way in ... forever!

I timed my last walk out so that I could pick Garrick up from the bus stop. Adie and I headed out, walking stick in hand and bear bell attached, in a misting rain ... much better than the pouring rain that we'd been having for the past few days (can you say "foreshadowing"). The weather wasn't going to get us down though. I did the Happy Dance (also known in these parts as The Open Road Dance) and "sang" the whole way ... luckily most of the neighbors have not yet arrived for the summer and those who have seem to live down the North Road.

Garrick arrived shortly after we did, hopped in the truck, and we headed down what Adie deemed to be her walking trail, little did she know it was actually a road, toward home. About 2/10 of a mile from the camp, the truck slid off the road. I looked at Garrick and asked, "What happened?" To which he replied, "Either you sunk the truck or you lost a tire!" Well the mud was so deep, it seemed as if I had lost the tire. He got out and directed me to back it up. No go. I tried two wheel low. No go. I tried to put it into four wheel low but had no idea how to go about getting it in there. So, I turned off the truck ... did I mention that I was low on gas - very low ... got out the owner's manual and read how to work the truck that I have owned for 9 1/2 years now. Ground the gears a bit and decided that I wasn't getting it into four wheel low. Garrick then played around with the gears for a bit before I went back for one more try in two wheel low before calling George to see if he had a come along to use to winch me out of the mud. Finally, I got it out of the mud and down to camp. Needless to say, we've been parking 3/10 of a mile from camp these days in order to avoid carving any addition canyons in the road. Hoping to be able to bring the truck all the way in tomorrow as we need to get our four weeks of trash out to the dump. And, there is no way I am carrying it all to the truck ... parked 3/10 of a mile away.

So, we have retired the woodstove (although we are still burning some fuel oil), the bike, and the snowmobile. And now, it is time to also retire the blog. As painful as it has been to write, I am sure that it has been even more painful to read. So, I will put us all out of our misery so that we can enjoy summer in peace.

Thanks for coming along for the ride -
Karyn

Poor Planning

Well, Adie has wasted no time in celebrating Ice Out! Every day we go for our walk, every day Adie manages to find the biggest mud puddles to sink into, and every day Adie washes off in the lake before returning to the house. The water can't be much more than 40 F but that doesn't seem to stop her; she wades right in and has a little swim while lapping up a drink at the same time. Yesterday we hiked over to the neighbor's farm and happened upon three deer grazing in the not yet green grass. Luckily, we didn't happen on any coyotes as we did see several traces of them on the way over. I continue to carry my walking stick wherever I go and even took the liberty of extending it to its full length yesterday after we passed the third pile of coyote scat!

In the afternoon, I headed out to pick up some of the many sticks that seem to have fallen from the sky over the long winter months. In my infinite wisdom (or not), I decided to let Adie off the leash while she was in the yard with me. Well it took her less than a minute to catch the scent of a grouse and she was off. I chased her for ten minutes before Caroline, still in her pajamas, came as reinforcement. After another ten minutes, Caroline was able to cajole her and snap on her leash but not before Adie managed to find a particularly prime water hole, filled with mud I might add, that she layed down in to cool off ... back to the lake again! Her mission was successful though; she managed to flush out a grouse or two before she was caught and contained.

While most of the walking we do is for pleasure, Garrick, on the other hand, has been walking and biking for purpose. Every morning, he heads down the long road to the busstop and every evening after baseball practice, he heads back again. At first, when there was still a fair amount of snow, he walked the entire way. Then, as the snow began to melt, his trip became a combination of riding with a bit of walking over the soft spots. Lately, with the snow almost completely melted, he has been riding. For the past few days he has been having a bit of trouble with the bike chain though ... it has been falling off the gears. (I suppose this should be expected when you get the bike for free ... from the dump no less.) So, yesterday he headed off to school only to have the bike chain come off at a very inopportune moment ... as he was riding down 'the big hill'. At the bottom of 'the big hill' is a small hill ... going up. Garrick has it engineered so that he can pedal extremely quickly, while standing up, when going down 'the big hill' so that he has to do no work in order to get up the hill on the other side. (He has been practicing this for a few summers now.) Just as he reached top speed, the chain came off, jammed the bike and Garrick went flying over the handlebars, into the dirt, followed by the bike which to make matters worse 'ran over him'. Luckily it was cold enough out that he wore his ski gloves that morning as it prevented his already scabbed hands (he was doing wheelies the previous weekend at his aunt's house in Ohio ... on a borrowed bike ... and also flew over the handlebars) from opening up. Somehow, he didn't miss the bus!

This morning, because it was pouring rain when he left ... really it had nothing to do with his previous two biking experiences ... he decided to walk. As you can imagine it takes quite a bit longer to walk than ride (downtime for repairs not included) so he left at 6:40 for the 7:15 bus. As I had planned most everything ... but not everything ... to a tee, all three umbrellas were ... in the truck ... in the parking lot. So, he set out in a downpour, wearing his red LL Bean raincoat that I purchased for him to go to camp almost three summers ago and his snowbaording pants. Wish I had thought to get the camera out for that!

Hope you're staying dry -
Karyn

Ice Out!

Arrived home from Spring Break Sunday night - luckily we were only in Philadelphia and not Mexico! The warm weather brought out some wildlife ... both on South Street in Philadelphia and upon entering the Northwoods. We passed a turkey, a red fox, and a moose on the drive up. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite warm enough to melt all of the snow and dry up the mud, so we parked the truck in the usual spot, left all our things in the truck ... including about a week's worth of dirty laundry ... bet that's going to smell good in a few days, baking in the heat no less ... and walked in in the dark. No moon that night so it was rather dark and a bit difficult to navigate the sink holes in the road. Needless to say we were covered in mud by the time we arrived at the camp. Millie told Garrick yesterday that she thought it would be another three weeks before the gate would be unlocked and life would return to normal. You can bet that we, the non-four-wheeling crowd, are counting the days!

Awoke yesterday morning to the hoot of an owl ... a big fellow who sometimes perches in the trees above the bird (and squirrel) feeders ... and the cries of a loon ... a sure sign that the ice is out. Adie was spooked by the loons; their call is quite haunting and is very unusual. But we love to hear them as it is a sure sign that Spring has FINALLY arrived. When I walked downstairs and saw the blue water of the lake rippling and lapping against the shore, I was astonished that so much had changed in the nine days that we were gone.

Our walk yesterday brought new smells ... a sensory overload for the poor dog ... as well as deer and fawn tracks. We're hoping that as soon as the grass turns green, we'll have some new visitors on our lawn ... I could do with out the black-colored kind though! The temperature is an unusual 78 degrees. Hoping that this will melt the rest of the snow before the cold front arrives this afternoon, bringing with it more seasonal temperatures. May not be warm enough for that kayak ride this weekend!

Karyn

The Last Ride

It's been so long ... would you believe that I forgot my login password??? Or, maybe that I fell off the end of the Earth? Well, we traveled to the end of the Earth ... Limestone, Maine ... the last weekend in March, but that's a story for another blog ...

In the meantime, we've been anticipating the last ride in for a while now. Hopefully that very expensive Lehigh education that I received so many moons ago ... 267 to be exact ... has finally made itself useful. I have industrial engineered this upcoming month to the nth degree and am hoping that we are truly ready. It will be the last test of endurance after a very enlightening winter spent surviving in these woods.

Paul arrived Thursday night for the Easter weekend ... actually it was Friday morning at 3:30 am ... after having driven 576 miles and walked 1 1/2 miles into camp with the dog. That included a short stop at Walmart to purchase a flashlight as he did not appreciate the value of a full moon. We resumed using the snowmobile on Friday but on Saturday night, returning from the final performance of the Pirates of Penzance, brought to us by the Greenville Middle School/High School, the light came on on the snowmobile during the second trip in indicating that the engine was overheated. On Sunday, we tried again on the way to the local VFW Pancake Breakfast (the opportunities for socialization are numerous as you can see). While Caroline and I managed to get out on the first run, the machine overheated again upon returning to the house to get Paul. So, Paul and Garrick had the benefit (?) of walking out, quickly, I might add, as the breakfast closed at 10 and it being Easter Sunday, nothing else in Greenville was open. We haven't yet determnined if it was the frozen snow that caused the problem ... the machine uses the snow to cool the engine ... or perhaps those 'little' patches of mud that we had to cross on the way out. As we are now out of coolant and those 'little' stretches of dirt have gotten bigger, we have retired our trusty sled and have resorted to the original method of transportation when our 'development' was first established, the feet. And that is getting old quickly!

This morning both kids had to be in town at 7 am to catch the van to Bangor for the final Math Meet. So, we left the house at 5:55 am in order to make it to town by 7, including a short stop for Colby, our 7th grade coffee addict. While I considered booking a hotel room in town for the night, I felt that my status as a true mountain mama would be degraded by this blunder. When the electricity went out yesterday afternoon, I reconsidered but knew that I must tough it out. Of course it helped that the repairman was extremely efficient and had the power back on within 45 minutes!

I am now headed out for my second trip to town for the day ... that's 6 miles of walking now ... to run some errands and pick up the kids. Luckily, the sun is shining and the temperature has reached 50.2 F. Hard to believe that it is 85 degrees warmer today than it was only 10 weeks ago!

Karyn

The Countdown Has Begun!

Less than 50 days until the road opens so the countdown has begun! In the meantime, we are like squirrels scurrying around before that first snowfall only our occasion for such hurry is lack of snow. The days have continued to be warm so even though the nights have been somewhat chilly, the snow has been melting. I would estimate that we have about two feet left, an amount that could be eliminated quite quickly if a serious rainstorm were to roll in.

So, I have been making list upon list of things to get in to camp before we can no longer use our sled. Our supply of dog food, dog treats, and dry goods is just about complete. This coming week I will focus on the perishables and bottled water. The perishables require a bit of a balancing act as I need to squeeze as much into my little freezer as I can and check expiration dates for anything that will end up in the fridge. The freezer will be crammed with cans of frozen orange juice concentrate, frozen vegetables ... I did resort to buying some canned peas and green beans and storing them in the basement ... bread, berries, butter, tortellini, pizza cheese, etc. And then, we will keep our fingers crossed that the power stays with us for the next several weeks!

Tomorrow's task is packing up clothes for our weekend escapades to civilization ... hoping that Garrick has all his laundry done before then. We will need to have our bags packed and ready to take out to the truck at the first hint of too much Spring. As we are planning on spending nine days away during Garrick's Spring Break, this could also be quite a balancing act ... not sure if the kids have enough clothes that still fit them to cover both here and there! I think Garrick has grown almost three inches since we arrived at the end of September. Looks like we may have to make some last minute purchases when we head out of town next the weekend.

Hoping for a short mud season -
Karyn

Little House in the Big Woods

Well as you can see from the picture, we still have a bit of snow left. Temperatures have been dropping into the teens at night but are hitting near 40 F during the day, great maple syruping weather. So, the snow is beginning to melt ... slowly. Not sure if you can actually see from the picture that we do have some wood left, it is stacked neatly under the left window, but I know that you can't see how green it is. We have been trying to burn it for the last few days and finally gave up last night. We ended up burning just over three cords worth this winter but this fourth cord is probably going to have to wait until next year. So, while we would like warm weather in order to reduce our oil consumption, we aren't quite ready for the snow to melt yet as it is provides our only path of powered transportation out to the parking lot until mid-May. Quite the quandary!

Adie and I went for a snowshoe this morning, me with the snowshoes on as I am a bit dense (I meant that literally, not figuratively), and her without, she with her bear bell and I with my walking stick, both intended to serve the same purpose: to protect us from 'wild'life. When we first started walking we went without such apparatus. But after seeing what looked to be coyote prints crossing the snowmobile path ... in more than a few places ... and hearing that a coyote had taken down a deer about 3 miles south of us a few weeks back, we are a bit more cautious now. I am, after all, not as large as a deer ... yet ... and I certainly can't run as fast as one, especially in my snowshoes.

We headed for the Masterman Farm, one of the two original properties back here in the woods. (The other, coincidentally, is for sale ... so you too could live the life that I live.) They must still have about 100 acres and a long winding driveway that has to be over half a mile long. The driveway starts out as a path in the woods and then opens up into fields that overlook the lake and the mountains beyond. It is truly breathtaking. I tried to capture it 'on film' ... if that term still applies ... but unfortunately, it was a bit hazy today and my camera ... or perhaps it was the photographer ... just couldn't duplicate the beauty. Anyway, we headed down their driveway toward the lake and walked back home across the frozen water. We have about another five to six weeks before ice-out but I think after this week, our jaunts over the lake will have to be come to an end. While I don't weigh quite as much as a deer, I don't have four legs over which to distribute my load.

Happy St. Partick's Day -
Karyn