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