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

Too Good to Be True

No, we didn't go right from Winter to Spring without having to endure "Mud Season". But that too would be too good to be true.

Last week when I was in town running errands and Garrick was also there volunteering at the nursing home and shoveling snow at a friend's, we passed a guy who was selling shrimp ... for $1.25 per pound. They were whole shrimp, with the heads still on but I thought ... that's how we used to buy them at the Dolac Fish Market in Zagreb. I used to make a great Scampi Dish by simmering the whole shrimp in wine and garlic. We would eat them with our hands; first we would break apart the tail and eat the tail meat; then, we would suck the juice out of the head and body portion of the shrimp. It was very sweet and delicious, one of our favorite meals while in Croatia.

Garrick got out of the truck, asked for about two pounds, paid the guy $2.50 and we were on our way. Those of you who know me well, know that I am a bit anal about my To Do List which also contains my meal plan for the week. So, as Shrimp Scampi was not already on the menu, when we got home I tossed the shrimp into the freezer for the following week.

Imagine my disappointment when this morning on the way to the vet (a four hour excursion that included a mere 20 minutes at the actual vet's office ... 55 miles of driving ... each way), when I saw that same shrimp guy, selling those shrimp for $1 per pound in a different town!

Well, this afternoon, I took the bag of shrimp out of the freezer to thaw. And at about six, I started to get ready to prepare dinner: shrimp scampi, linguine, and spinat (Croatian for spinach ... pronounced shpinat). The water for the linguine was in one pot, the spinat was in another, the bottle of wine was uncorked, and I dumped the shrimp into the colander to rinse it off. I rinsed the shrimp with the sprayer but it seemed a little brown. Upon closer examination, I realized that the shrimp were full of sand and dirt. And, upon even further examination, I realized that the amount of meat in the tail of one of the shrimp was about equivalent to the size of an olive pit. When I called Garrick over to help me assess the situation, he immediately said, " Those are bait shrimp, mom!" I only wish he'd realized that last week before I doled out that $2.50!

So, we had cheese and mushroom omelets (more like scrambled eggs) with our spinat tonight. Wish I could say we would be having grilled fish tomorrow night, caught with our freshly thawed bait, but I don't have an auger to make that hole in the ice, and I have no intention of going to get one either.

Have a good weekend -
Karyn

Stranger in the Dark

I knew it was going to be a bad day when I started out by getting the snowmobile stuck in the turnaround on the way back from the bus stop ... sound familiar??? Perhaps I should find a better way to turn the sled around so that I can stop having all these bad days!

This time it only took me about twenty minutes to dig out. Then, I took our new dog Adie for a walk. She is a shelter dog who came from Missouri. She was supposed to be a Christmas present for the kids but she had a few health issues at the last minute and arrived a week after Valentine's Day instead. We picked her up last weekend in Allentown, Pennsylvania and drove her home in a snow storm that dumped another two feet of snow on us. We then put her on the snowmobile and shuttled her into camp just like we do with everyone else. She didn't much like the sled the first time but is adjusting as she realizes that this is the only means for her to get to go in the car with us! As you can see from the picture, she loves the snow and is constatnly burrowing in it trying to find ... squirrels!

Anyway, back to that bad day ... long story short, the truck had to go into the shop "for about two hours" because something was not right when they installed the fuel pump for me back in October. Well, a mere 4 hours and 45 minutes later, we were headed home. As you can imagine, this threw off my whole schedule for the day. We arrived at the parking lot at 3:30, having eaten no lunch and having left the dog home alone for the first time by herself (for 7 hours). I was in a hurry and hopped on the sled in order to get Caroline home, have lunch, and return back to Greenville to pick up Garrick from the nursing home where he now volunteers one afternoon a week. In the tunrnaround at the parking lot ... I sunk the sled, AGAIN! As I was in a hurry, I had not put on my snowpants and we had no shovel. So, Caroline and I began digging with our hands. After fifteen minutes of digging and having the sled only sink deeper each time I tried to move it, I realized that the two of us were probably not going to get the thing out. I sent Caroline home to check on the dog while I went back out to the truck, peeled off my now frozen jeans (in the parking lot - I was standing there in my underwear and really didn't care), put on my snowpants, got the ice scraper from the truck, and resumed my digging, each time sinking the sled a little bit deeper. It actually got so low that I was beginning to see twigs poking through the snow! After an hour, I gave up. I headed back into town to get Garrick. Wouldn't you know it, he had the sled out in less than 10 minutes!

And the excuse for the delay in this week's blog is ... I got sick from all that digging. (The wet jeans probably didn't help!) I had a slight cold to begin with but by the next day, I was hacking and aching. I did my best to rest but had appointments I had to keep and groceries to get. On Friday, I did finally manage to stay in the house all day and even managed to stay in bed for part of the day. I spent the entire day in my PJ's and bathrobe.

Imagine my surprise then, when at about 6:30 that night, there was a knock on the front door! We heard no snowmobile. Garrick opened the door and I went down, in my bathrobe and slippers, to greet a guy in a black and red Yamaha snowmobile suit (because you know how everyone matches their clothes to their snowmobiles up here). Thank goodness we had the dog or I would have been even more scared than I already was. Where did this guy come from and why was he at our house?

Well, apparently, I am not the only one good at sinking sleds. He said he needed help getting his sled out. I asked him how big it was and he answered that it wasn't very big ... it turns out it was a 1000 ... almost twice as big as ours. Garrick rode him out on our sled and helped him get it out, not before the guy dropped the sled on his own foot though.

Hoping that our unexpected visitors in the future will be only the four-legged kind ... they aren't quite so frightening!

Karyn

The Tree

I knew it was going to be a bad day when I started out by getting the snowmobile stuck in the turnaround on the way back from the bus stop. Because it had warmed up so much ... we actually hit 48 F ... the snow was extremely soft and the sled slid off the trail and into the snow. It took me over half an hour to finally get it out and onto the trail again. And I knew that I couldn't just leave it and wait for Garrick to come home to help me as the temperature was predicted to drop ... the snowmobile would freeze in place if I didn't get it moved!

The morning progressed ... next the dryer vent came off so upon opening the doors to the closet that houses the washer/dryer, I discovered that my walls were dripping with water and covered with lint. From there I proceeded to have my dishwasher flood the newly mopped kitchen floor. Then I discovered that water was dripping all over the window sills because the ice dams that had formed on the roof, were now melting due to the increase in temperature. (George later informed me that this was the reason he shoveled off the roof each time it snowed!)

Then, I dragged all the trash out of the basement and into the tow sled and headed out for the dump. Only to find, that for some reason unknown to anyone in all of Rockwood (believe me I asked everyone), the dump was closed. So, I had to take all the garbage out of the truck, put it back into the tow sled, drag it back into camp, and redeposit it all back into the basement.

I don't know if you've ever read the children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day", but if you have, you'd agree that I should have moved to Australia too! Instead, I had friends visit from the concrete jungles of New York City and they were more than excited to be able to partake in living the adventures of The North Woods ... for a weekend anyway.

We snowshoed, ice skated, and built campfires on the lake (and tried to make smores with frozen marshmallows and frozen Hershey Bars while running after graham crackers that were blowing away in the wind). But our biggest adventure (other than just towing them and their gear in and out from the parking lot) was a 90 mile trip up around the north side of the lake.

Garrick and Caroline were on our two-up as they are too young to drive rental machines. Cord, Jon, and I each drove our own sleds. The intial line-up was Garrick, Jon, Cord, and then me. They said that they put me in the back because I was wearing mittens thus the only hand signal I could give was the 'fist' - meaning that there were zero sleds behind me - but I realized after about the first 20 minutes that the real reason I was last was because they intended to top out their machines the whole way and I was more than happy driving just 30 or 40 mph! So they would drive 50 or 60 or maybe even 85 mph and hold up their 3, 2, or 1 fingered gloves as they passed other riders. And, somewhere miles behind, the other riders would finally come across that last lone sled with the driver holding her clenched fist in the air.

Garrick and Caroline switched off and Caroline did an awesome job ... the first time she drove. The second time she drove (or shall I say the last time that she drove), we switched up the order and Jon was first, Cord was second, the kids were third, and I was ... you guessed it ... bringing up the rear! We weren't 5 minutes out and Jon and Cord were no where to be found. Caroline was trying to keep up, as Cord had to go pee and didn't dare go in the woods, but in her hurry didn't stop to take the time to move her hair out of her face and ... she totally misjudged the trail. Next thing I saw was the two of them, on the sled, careening out of control off the trail. They literally flew through the air into a patch of clear cut, missing a tree, a big tree, by inches. When they finally landed, they were thrown from the sled and the sled was resting on top of a 4 foot long log on its side. And ... Jon and Cord were no where to be found. As a matter of fact, they never did return to try to find us!

Within mintues, a twosome went by and they immediately stopped to help us. The sled was so buried and so far off the trail though that I never thought we would be able to get it out nor drive it again. The two men worked on getting the machine off the log and upright again while the kids and I packed down a path to pull the sled back up the hill onto the trail. Then, another group stopped to help and fortunately, they had a tow rope. It took about a half hour, but they did manage to get us on the road again. Miraculously, we ended up with only a ripped seat and a torn mesh vent cover. Thankfully, the rest of our trip was uneventful!

So, if anyone else feels like experiencing an adventure in the woods, we have plenty of snow and more on the way tomorrow. Just give us a call and we'll try to squeeze you in ... better hurry though as the phone has been ringing off the hook for the past month or so.

Karyn

Where there's smoke there's fire ...

... or maybe there's just smoke!

We returned on Sunday night to a cold house as we turn the temperature down to 50 F when we leave for the weekend. This of course necessitates that we drain the water from the pipes and the hot water heater (every time we go away) because if the electricity were to go out while we were gone, no one ... except the squirrels ... would be here to call in the power outage and the pipes could potentially freeze ... and burst. So, while the kids unload the sled, my first two tasks are to get the water back on and to get the fire going.

The water was no problem as I have finally learned that I must close the valves on the well pump AND the hot water heater before flipping the breaker switch to turn the power on. Hearing the sound of gushing water in the basement once was enough to forever imprint in my mind the proper sequence. And, in spite of the hassle of having to drain everything, I am thankful that we do have running water in the house and are not headed out to the well every day!

The fire was another story! I cleaned out the ashes (Caroline was kind enough to go dump the ash bucket in the woods for me) and got to work starting the fire. It was a bit smoky and the fire didn't seem to be burning well but this has happened in the past when we are starting with a cold chimney, which causes a bad draft. We headed off to bed shortly thereafter. Monday morning, the fire didn't seem to be getting much better. The house seemed kind of smoky and we weren't going through wood as quickly as we usually do but hey, the smoke alarms weren't sounding so things couldn't be too bad. We limped through the day figuring Tuesday would be a better day ... maybe it was just the wood.

By the time we got to the third log on Tuesday, the smoke alarm began to sound. Time to open the windows ... again. I couldn't figure out how we kept getting smoke in the house when I had been keeping the wood stove door closed. I went outside and there was plenty of smoke billowing from the stove pipe. Then, as Caroline and I sat down to read ... in the living room as our eyes were burning when we sat up in the loft ... Caroline said, "Mom, why is the smoke coming out of the stove pipe into the house?"

I immediately got the smothering log out of the fireplace and tossed it outside in the snowbank and then called Kevin, the chimney installer ... who was ... out for the day. We got the smoke out of the house, turned up the furnace, as it was now 56 F ... in the house, and I headed to town to run errands for the afternoon.

My first stop was to pick up my special order groceries from a friend who coincidentally sells the largest Farm Fresh eggs you've ever seen! (Yes, I can now get Ghirardelli hot cocoa and Indian curry paste and Buffalo Wing mix ... but not fresh Cilantro out of season ... in little ole Greenville, Maine.) It just so happens that Kevin called me back while I was at Gretchen's house so I explained to her that I was having a problem with the woodstove. She immediately told me that it needed to be cleaned and said that I should call the fire department as they would come clean it for me 'for a small donation'. She said that she would call me later with the phone number.

In the meantime, when we got home, Garrick dug out the extension ladder from under the deck, shoveled off the roof, and climbed up to take a look. While it wasn't possible to make a definite diagnosis because it was getting dark and the top of the stove pipe was just out of reach for someone only 5' 10" tall, we are surmising that the cap on the stove pipe needs to be cleaned.

Later, Gretchen called me with the number of someone her husband knows at the Rockwood Fire Department (population 4) and she in turn put me in contact with the Fire Chief. While the fire department no longer does chimney cleaning , due to liability issues, Rick is trying to find someone who can help me out ... good thing as the nearest Chimney Sweep listed in the Yellow Pages is a mere 70 miles down the road! And, if all else fails, Gretchen has very generously offered her husband's assistance. As he is 6' 8"tall, he will have no trouble reaching the top of the stovepipe!

As we have guests coming for the weekend, I am hoping all this is resolved shortly ... I'd hate for them to have to spend the holiday weekend in a house that is only 64 F ... during the day ... as we are still trying to conserve that precious oil!

Karyn

The Ritz!

I apologize for being remiss in my blogging efforts these past two weeks. It seems the longer I procrastinate, the harder it gets to gather all my thoughts together in a coherent form and thus I procrastinate still longer. As a result, I have two promises to keep (1) that I will attempt to recreate the fun of the last two weeks without boring you entirely, and (2) that I will post more frequently, using less space, in my future posts. (i.e. This one could be quite lengthy!)

While the weekdays here in the woods have been quite quiet, on the weekends, the West Shore Road Association, our so called 'development', can get to be quite a busy place. While we are not usually around to experience this eruption of activity, we do usually manage to catch the start of it on Friday afternoons as we are headed out to 'the real world'. The parking lot fills up with vehicles toting snowmobile trailers and the snowmobiles, in turn, are toting sleds full of supplies for the weekend, that is unless you are a true Beverly Hillbillie. Imagine my surprise as I was waiting for Garrick to get off the school bus one Friday afternoon when a two-up (a snowmobile for two riders) was heading into the woods towing not a sled but a forest green Old Town Canoe, filled to the brim with food, camping stove, ice fishing supplies, etc. Now I don't know if they actually thought that they would need a boat to ice fish (I once thought that one used horses to play water polo), or they were just very practical people and had found a dual use for their canoe. I think I was a bit jealous also in that being a spendthrift, I had actually wasted over a hundred dollars on a sled when I too could have been toting my groceries in a kayak or two. It was another 'wish I had a camera for that' moment!

And, another 'wish I had a camera with a gigantic lens for that' moment occured not long afterwards thanks once again to my friends the squirrels. Feeling sorry for my little squirrels and their blue jay friends who were having to eat from the ground ... and probably more so for myself who was going out three times a day, in the cold, to put little piles of food out for those who couldn't eat off of the extremely well-engineered bird feeder with the trap door ... I broke down and bought yet another feeder, this one a cedar box specifically made for BOTH birds and squirrels. (Boy, have I softened up!) This 'box' has a plexiglass front and the lid is on a hinge so that the very smart squirrels can open the lid and eat from the top of the feeder. Apparently, those squirrels all migrated south for the winter. My squirrels eat from the slot at the bottom of the plexiglass just like the birds ... unless ... the feeder is almost empty and the only food left is in the remote back corners of the box. While I was doing the dishes one morning, I thought I was imagining things when I saw a squirrel on the ledge of the feeder and then I didn't see the squirrel on the ledge any longer. He didn't jump down, he didn't climb the tree, he simply disappeared. After watching a bit longer, and seeing him reappear ... from inside the bird/squirrel feeder, I was amazed. He had squeezed underneath the plexiglass in order to get inside the box to get the last bits of food ... it was like watching a squirrel TV! I can honestly say that I am very glad not to have resorted to the BB gun as the squirrels have provided much more entertainment than any of the other animals thus far!

And, happy am I to have to only go out twice a week to restock the sunflower seeds because last Monday, we once again were at OF.L on that oh-so-reliable digital thermometer! Anna and George inferred that it would be this way until the end of February which sent me in a tailspin as I was getting worried about my dwindling heating resources. Half of my wood was gone by the third week of January and my oil supply was down a quarter of a tank. (We use the oil at night to supplement when the fire dies down.) George let me know that it would be possible to get a permit for $10 from the timber company in order to cut down trees on their land, which is in close proximity to our camp, and even offered to come help me. My intention in buying that chain saw, however, was only for clearing trees that were blocking the roadway; I never intended to actually use it to saw down trees and cut them up for firewood! So, while I appreciated his heartfelt offer, I politely declined and instead went home to count my pieces of firewood. In early March, the little wood that I have left will be reserved for power outages and I will be heating entirely with oil until the road opens to heavy loads, in mid to late May, for the oil truck delivery.

So, that night, I also turned down the heat. As Garrick's room is tucked in a corner behind the stairwell and the heat from the fireplace doesn't tend to get in there, it is commonly referred to as 'the icebox'. Apparently, he woke up shivering in 'the icebox' at about 1:30 and had to retreat to the couch that night. Determined to conserve what oil I had left, I decided that we had better adjust the sleeping arrangements. So, the following night, Garrick moved to the loft and the thermostat stayed at a chilly 56 F. Fortunately, this cold streak wasn't as bad as the last one, and we were back to 'normal' temperatures the following day.

A week later, the temperatures climbed once again and for the first time in two months, we were above freezing ... at 32.8 F ... for an hour! Not exactly Indian Summer but it sure felt good after being so cold for so long! And, this was the perfect opportunity for getting the sled down to Greenville to get it fixed before another Arctic front moved in. I called Peter at Big Lake Equipment and he said that Garrick could bring it down on Wednesday ... today. Not having riden the trails down to Greenville yet, we knew this would be yet another adventure. Garrick spoke with the older kids on the bus to get information on which trails would be groomed and I also asked around to find out where to catch the trail from our house. One would think that driving down the lake would be the best route but unfortunately, the lake is not groomed and it doesn't freeze completely in some places ... at least one person dies every year snowmobiling out there.

So, the trail it was. We didn't realize that the trail doesn't follow the road. So, while it is about 18 miles from here to town when driving, it is actually about 40 miles on the snowmobile trail. The plan was for Garrick to ride down and drop off the machine before school and pick it up after school and drive it home again. That was the plan ...

Garrick left before dawn as we figured it would take him about 75 minutes and school starts at 8:05. He had my cell phone and was supposed to call me after about 20 minutes when he got to the first bridge. He called in about 25 minutes, about 1/4 of a mile from the parking lot because ... he was stuck in a snowbank. There was really nothing I could do as I would have to walk all the way out to him. So, I called George who was on his way out for school drop-off. Before George got to Garrick though, a logger showed up and the two of them got the sled out. Apparently, Garrick was on the old snowmobile trail ... the new one was a mile up the road ... my fault as this was the information I had been given. He was on his way, for the second time, at about 7:30 ... there was no way he would be in time for school. At about 7:55 I tried to call him so that I could let the school know what time he would be arriving but he was not in range of a cell tower. The school didn't seem to care that he would be late but for me the next 55 minutes were nerve racking. I couldn't contact him and just had to hope he was all right and on the right road toward town. Hopefully the signs were good ... forty miles is a long way alone. Finally at 8:45 he called to let me know he had made it. I was very relieved and he was very proud. Not only had the trip been a lot of fun for him (excluding the dig out and the three moose that frightened him as he came quickly around a corner into their paths), it was a real sense of accomplishment for him to be able to figure this all out on his own. And, I think the ride home was easier for both of us! Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to forgoing the 30 yanks on the pull cord and finally being able to turn the key to start the sled!

One last observation before I run the risk of boring you all to tears ... I met a woman Emily last week at a homeschooling meeting. She put everything into perspective when she asked if I lived off the grid. I explained that while we didn't have winter (or spring) road access, we did have electricity and oil heat. She, on the other hand, has road access but lives off the grid. They live about 20 miles north of here, on the lake, and have no land line phone, no electricity, and get this ... no running water in the house. The camp was originally their summer camp but they have recently moved up from southern Maine and are making this their primary residence. They heat with wood only, have a generator for power and have a well ... outside. So, while I am complaining about having to go out to feed the squirrels three times a day, they are going out many more times than that just to get their water. And, I'm guessing that they are heating it up on the woodstove in order to bathe. Makes this place look like the Ritz!!!

Karyn

Putting an Expired Credit Card to Good Use!

As we were heading into the big city of Boston for the weekend, I figured it might be time to trade in those mukluks, ski jacket, and ratty jeans for something a bit 'unwoodslike'. I didn't go so far as to pack my spiked heels (which I don't own incidentally) but I did decide to don my wool jacket and somewhat more stylish black boots ... big mistake! The problem was not the actual choice of clothes but rather that I am a total creature of habit. I had prepared dinner for the ride and had everything ready to go. Caroline and I headed out ... she to pack the sled with cooler, duffle bags, and bookbags ... I to manage the snowmobile. This entails not only taking off the cover and managing to get the thing started (which usually takes a mere 20 or 30 pulls ... for me) but also lifting the thing in order to 'unstick' it from the snow and ice. You can imagine how my back has been feeling lately. Mission accomplished, Caroline attached the sled to the hitch, I wedged my purse between my legs, and we were off ... for the first time.

We arrived at the parking lot unscathed. I hopped off the snowmobile, reached for the truck keys, and ... realized that I was not wearing my ski jacket ... the one that not only contained the truck and house keys, but also the cell phone! Not a problem as we are smart enough to have a spare key hooked on a nail under the porch at home. Caroline unhooked the sled from the hitch, I tossed her my purse, and headed back for the house where the ski jacket was hanging on another nail ... this one in the basement. I arrived, jumped off the machine, reached for the key and came up ... empty! You see this is also the key that Garrick uses to get into the house if we are not home after school. Unfortunately, he is not a creature of habit and not only did he not replace the key, he has no idea where he put it. Mind you, it is still -18 F and I am starting to get just a little bit worried.

I jumped back on the snowmobile with one last hope ... that I had absentmindedly put both keys and phone into my purse that morning. As I drove out for the second time, I was beginning to panic. I tried to determine what options I had. Luckily, George and Anne were at home as their trucks were still in the parking lot; so I figured we could always go there if we needed to get warm. Then I figured, I could break a window to get into the house but this would obviously curtail our trip to Boston as I couldn't leave a house with a broken window and below zero temperatures for an entire weekend. When I arrived at the parking lot, I scrambled frantically in my purse and once again came up empty!

Caroline and I rode back in again. She checked the basement windows while I checked those on the first floor. All were locked. While Garrick had not left the key out, he had managed to forget to put the hatchet away ... at least I would have something to break the window with if need be. We were starting to get cold and I figured we had about five minutes before we would have to leave for George and Anne's place. Then I remembered how once when I was about Caroline's age, my father had used a credit card to open a door. I rummaged in my wallet and found the expired LL Bean card that I had yet to cut up and dispose of. I tried the back door first but it wouldn't work as Paul had tightened the striker plate over Thanksgiving to reduce the gap between the door and the frame. My last hope was the lakeside door ... it worked. We were in! And the only reason it worked was because we had opened and closed it so many times while bringing in the wet wood to the basement to dry. Paul had remarked at Christmas time that he needed to fix the gap on that door ... thank goodness he didn't!

I made a quick phone call to the school to make sure Garrick didn't get on the bus and we were on our way ... for the third and final time.

I wish I could say that the rest of the weekend went smoothly...

Boston was cold (no shorts for me) and snowy. Something to be expected in January I guess! On Sunday we left at 12:30 for home as it was snowing quite heavily. We arrived home at 9:30 pm after one of the worst drives of my life. We drove the entire 280 miles at a speed somewhere between 35 and 45 mph. As Paul told someone yesterday when they asked when we would be getting together again, "Karyn said, 'You know where I live if you want to find us.'" And, Caroline has been sick as a dog since we arrived back. So we aren't headed for Boston anytime soon.

While we arrived home to more seasonal temperatures, we have been promised that another Arctic Cold front is approaching this weekend and we can expect temperatures to be in the -20 F to -15 F range. Fire tending is looking awfully promising this weekend!

Karyn

OF.L

Can you say cold?

At around 8:15 Wednesday night the phone rang. It was the neighbor ... the one that lives five miles down the road. Caroline picked it up and I heard her say, "Math Team practice?" Garrick then piped in, "Oh, yeah we have Math Team practice in the morning." Colby, whose mother was smart enough not to want to get up at 5:45 am to drive to Greenville, needed a ride. Math Team practice starts at 7:15 so that means we have to be out of the house by 6:15 to get the snowmobile going ... now using the pull start as the aluminum shaft on the electric start busted last week, not because of my fabulous jump but because someone continued to turn the key after the machine was already started, and the only way to get it fixed is to ride it the 20 miles to Greenville on the ITS trail or borrow a trailer, from the mechanic in Greenville, and buy a new ball for our hitch as our current one is 1 7/8" and the mechanic's trailer goes on a 2" ball, so we have resorted to using the pull start for now ... ride out to the truck and get that going for ten minutes to warm it up and then drive the almost 20 miles south to school, with a slight detour to The Wilson's Camps where Colby, aged 12, was having his morning coffee while waiting for his ride. The temperature when we left the house was -17.3 F, before windchill. Most places across the country were cancelling school ... we were still having Math Team practice at 7:15 am!

That afternoon, we had yet another opportunity to venture out as Thursday is Open Gym day in Rockwood. By 2:30, the temperature had risen to a balmy -3.8 F. As we hopped off the snowmobile and into the truck, Caroline remarked, "Wow, it feels really warm now, almost like it's 20!" Guess it is all relative.

When we climbed into bed last night, the temperature was already lower than it had been that morning ... -17.8F. When I crawled out of bed at 3 am to feed the fire and glanced at the thermometer it read ... OF.L! Now I don't know how exactly you'd pronounce that but I think it would come pretty close to AWFUL!!! Apparently, digital thermometers cut out at around 20 below. When I crawled out of bed at 6:15 to start the day, the thermometer still read OW.L. Unfortunately, I was again not awoken by the phone ringing with the recorded message from my computer friend Mrs. Brown announcing that school was closed ... or at least delayed. So Garrick and I got ready. Fortunately, the snowmobile started up and when I turned the truck on to get it warmed up out at the bus stop, it did start ... although it really didn't want to. George and Millie showed up just before the bus arrived. (I think they must have some sort of arrangement with the bus driver as they always seem to get to the bus stop 'just in time'.) When I asked George how cold it was he said that his thermometer read -35 F!!! When I mentioned that my thermometer had shut down, he said, "Oh, so you must have a digital thermometer." Guess I'm not in the know! He also mentioned that the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales converge again at -40 so for those of you across the ocean who don't use that crazy Fahrenheit scale, you can still appreciate exactly how cold it is.

Well we're off to Boston for the weekend to meet Paul (and warm up ... I'm even thinking of throwing in a pair of shorts). The thermometer has finally recovered ... it now reads -18 F!

Hope you're spending your weekend somewhere warm too -

Karyn

Footnote

Boy do I owe Garrick an apology ...

Went out to meet the bus this afternoon. I was a little late, and had forgotten the shovel, but the trail was packed down fairly well so I upped the speed a bit from this morning. Garrick was waiting for me just inside the gate (which incidentally has not yet been closed and locked in spite of the snow) and suggested that I turn around inside the gate as the snow plow had pushed a mound of snow up against the end of the trail. Normally, we have been riding right out to the parking lot. (Normally, I later learned, someone had been shoveling away the snow plow pile.) I took a quick look and thought I could take it. So, with Garrick on the back, we flew over the bank and landed safely on the other side, in the parking area. Boy was I feeling good ... too good. On the way back in, I gunned it and ... after flying through the air ... landed us both in the snow ... the very deep snow. Garrick thought we could drive it out so I gunned it again and just got us more stuck! He yelled, "You're not supposed to gun it. You have to ease it out! And you weren't supposed to gun it over the snow bank either." Fortunately, he knows more about the thing than I do and he was able to get us back on the track again ... and, he was gracious enough to let me drive the rest of the way home.

Bet you wish I had the camera for that one!

Karyn

Not Even a One Hour Delay???

Hope everyone had a good holiday break. Ours was somewhat uneventful, (sounded like a good excuse for being a bit behind with my blogs) but good. We managed to make one trip out of the big woods ... all the way to Connecticut ... for New Year's Eve. Between the weather and the frequent shopping excursions, it took us 11 and a half hours to get there but it was worth the agony. It was a gathering of the old college crowd from Lehigh so I am sure you can imagine the antics of the night. The Jello shots and beer pong (played on the makeshift kitchen island 'court') lead to a 2 am Polar Bear Plunge into the ocean followed by a group gathering in the steam shower ... limiting myself to only one Jello shot, I had the wherewithal to decline those entertaining endeavors. Unfortunately, I was not the only spectator, so next year's gathering will most likely be sans kids!

The rest of the vacation was somewhat relaxing; we had very little precipitation so there was no shoveling or packing down the trail ... just the usual ... moving wood. Even the squirrels have been cooperating; twice a day I bring them their own special stash of sunflower seeds and they no longer attempt to traverse the wire to the bird feeder. They now have so much food that yesterday I actually caught sight of one of them taking seeds from the supply piles and burying them in various locations in the yard ... in case I go away???

As annoying as they are, they seem to be quite smart. Upon returning from the bus stop yesterday and tending to my usual morning chores, I looked out the window to find not one, but six squirrels scurrying around the feeding area. Why? There was a storm moving in and they knew it instinctively. Hmmm ... maybe there is a way to eliminate all that wasted time listening to those inaccurate meteorologists from now on.

Weren't those squirrels dead on (no hidden meaning intended)! The snow started by about 8 am and continued for almost 24 hours. By the time I had to go out to get Garrick from the bus, we had at least six inches of the fluffy stuff and I was starting to get anxious about the 'packing down of the trail', being that I had never actually had to do this before. But, 'I did great!' Wish Garrick could have said the same on the ride home! I'm not sure how it was that he got to drive, but, when we were a tenth of a mile from the camp, he slid off the trail and we sunk. You'd be surprised how far a 550 pound machine can sink in about 30 inches of snow (about 29 inches for those of you who are having a hard time doing the math). It only took about a half hour for us to dig out, tramp down, and get that thing out of there ... who needs a walking group for exercise! Once home, I sent Garrick out to do the rest of the packing down, shovel in hand so to speak. As the neighbors haven't yet returned from their jaunt to Germany, Garrick went out to run down their section of the road and then came home to work on our turn around and the yard. The snow dissipated for a while after that and of course picked up again just as we were getting ready to retire for the evening. So, at 9:45 pm, Garrick set out one more time to work the section from our house to the main road.

You can imagine my disbelief when I awoke this morning at 6:04 am to the incessant beeping of Garrick's alarm clock, not the 6 am phone call from my friend, the school principal recording, canceling school. I jumped out of bed, looked out the window to see snow flakes falling by the light of the moon, picked up the phone to make sure it wasn't dead, and ran downstairs to listen to the radio. Not even a one hour delay!!! We had gotten ten inches of snow, it was still snowing, and there wasn't even a one hour delay!!!

As we had to pack down the trail on the way to the bus, I knew we had to get moving. I grabbed the ash bucket and tramped out in the dark, down the partially shoveled path, to dump yesterday's ashes. Then, I put the coals into the empty ash bucket and started up the fire. I threw some breakfast at Garrick and started baking the oatmeal custard that Caroline and I would be having when I got back, in an hour. Hurriedly, I put on my snow pants, my extra socks, my mukluks (yes, I did get my very own mukluks for Christmas), my balaclava, my jacket, my snowmobile helmet, my glove liners, and my gloves (mind you I have to dress like this EVERY time I go somewhere) and headed out to the snowmobile, truck keys and cell phone in my securely-zipped pocket. I let Garrick drive ... after I warned him that if he didn't drive slowly and sunk the sled and missed the bus, I would be very angry ... and we managed to make it out in fifteen minutes, almost three times as long as when the trail is well 'groomed'. We then went through the usual routine ... warming up the truck, clearing the snow off, and shoveling out before Skip arrived.

I headed for home with a slight detour down the North Road, a mile each way, to once again pack down the trail for the neighbors as they are expected to arrive back today. Having not riden a sled down that way as of yet, I was a bit hesitant to go, not knowing what obstacles I may encounter and more importantly, not knowing the turn-around situation. To turn around a snowmobile, you need a lot more room than one would expect, and if you don't stay on the section that has been previously packed down ... you sink. Well, I made it and managed to survive the turn around. Their turn around is actually a bit easier than ours ... we go around the house and since the house is on a bit of a mound, there is a slope that needs to be navigated very carefully or ... the sled tips and the riders end up sunk. My mother can attest to that as Paul had the courtesy of tossing her off the sled upon her arrival here over the holidays. And, on her second snowmobile ride, the one she took on her way out, he tossed her again. I guess Garrick comes by his operating skills honestly!

Well, the snow has finally stopped and the squirrels have yet to appear at the feeding station this morning. I guess that means we're not in for any more snow today ... or perhaps they are still sleeping off yesterday's banquet (or maybe that one squirrel is still trying to figure out where he put all those sunflower seeds). I suppose that means it's time for me to get out there and start moving some more of that snow. Heavy lifting but beautiful!

Karyn