September 8, 2010

Wanting to enjoy this trips last morning I got up at 5:30, opened the blinds to the pitch blackness and brewed a cup of coffee waiting for the sun to rise. According to the Weather Channel, the sun will rise at 6:29 and it's 45 degrees out - brrrr! I'm ready and I'm waiting and I love my "available data filled" cute little phone!

It's weird how "daybreak" and "sunrise" are alike but yet different. Where's Bill Nye when you need him? Oh, yea, he's still sleeping (ha ha).

The cranes began singing up an earful just as the sun was rising - right on time, just like an alarm clock! The back is full of turkeys pecking their way across the yard on their way to the seed piles around the trees in the front. Of course, all my efforts to get more photos of them did not go well because all I could do was spook them! The hummingbirds were flying around and the "whatever" critter ran from the Arbor Patch to his hideaway and buried his head as if to say "you can't see me." Yes I can see you, silly! You left you butt sticking out!!!


We ate some tasty cinnamon rolls, packed up, locked up and hit the road. I am counting the days until my next visit...tick-tock, tick-tock!

September 7, 2010

We missed another promised storm - the high winds never showed their ugly faces and I for one am not complaining! We did wake up to an incredible day though...a sunny sky, cool air and a wonderful breeze ~ now add my coffee and the fire that Carlo started and I am H-A-P-P-Y!

This was another trip with minimal wildlife activity. A couple of very active hummingbirds were in the back and a woodpecker was in the front but the seed feeders have barely been touched. The critters eat the corn cobs in the same pattern in which I do! The treats out by the stump have been picked at but still are not completely gone. The family of turkeys stopped by several times during this trip. I wonder if all the flooding we've had has relocated the homes of all our previous visitors.

Some guys from the power company stopped by and after talking with Carlo agreed to cut a couple of extra trees along with the ones they were scheduled to cut. Their visit was to check out the ground condition and the river; we're glad we were there too (wink, wink)!

We hit Norm's up for a tasty breakfast and then found An Siopa Eire to be open. Got an awesome watch and met the owner. It was like a double lucky treasure hunt! Meeting the owner was not part of the treasure hunt but I am glad she was there on this day!

After we got back we put on our lumberjack gear and hit the fallen tree at the easement. Moving what we could, we cut and carried branches and limbs - repeat - repeat - repeat; for 3.5 hours. The winds started picking up and in an effort to avoid calling out for Auntie Em, we decided to quit for the day.

Overall, it was a productive day...so a high five on the lumber jacking!

We took a ride to Paul and Betty's to give them a water cooler and to visit our tractor. Betty was shopping so we chatted with Paul. The tractor is fixed, so now we have two - we just cut the lawn cutting time in half! Carlo carried in the groceries for Betty and we chatted with her for a bit as well.

When we got back, I cleaned the gourds and filled them with feed to put in the Arbor Patch. This would be the place where our pumpkins were suppose to grow which is near the arbor - hence, Arbor Patch! We did find a huge hole next to, but going under the slab that the swing sits on. A short time later we spotted a huge critter in the Arbor Patch eating our newly laid treats. He heard us and then scurried off into the hole - this critter is similar to one that we thought was a woodchuck, but now we're not really sure - maybe it's a vole or maybe it's a mole or maybe it's a gopher or maybe it's a ground hog. We consulted our homemade "Animal Pictopedia" and it wasn't much help. But it's a critter that bores holes...as in all of the aforementioned animals!

I took some pictures of flowers (okay, weeds), trees, our nature-esque art sculpture, the cabin and even Carlo posed for one - there were lots of "c'mons" but he still smiled!

The winds got out of control and there was all sorts of tree snapping noises going on. It was cool to watch the trees bending and we were very happy to have missed any damage that could have been caused by the high winds. The winds were about 35 miles per hour (a guess) down to almost 0 miles per hour (not a guess) before the sun set.

The rest of the evening went by quick, most likely because we have to work tomorrow night. Carlo watched TV and I had some work things to finish. We were in bed (again) by 9:00! Aren't we just the night owls???

September 6, 2010

After several changes to our plans, we finally were on our way at 8:00 ~ it was nice traveling since it was a holiday but it still took us 3.5 hours. We stopped ~ luckily; cruising in to the oasis on fumes ~ for gas; with barely a gallon to spare (if that)...talk about nerve wrenching! This was so 'not' fun and I was not liking the choice to not stop for gas before embarking on the interstate/tollway...Carlo would have had one hell of a hike!!!


We stopped in town for some groceries and got to O'Wich in time for a quick lunch. Of course the road is in terrible condition due in part to the people hauling their trailers and campers. Then there's the dirt bikes and the 4-wheelers not to mention the power company came through and cut back the brush along the power lines. But the road sucked before all of this too!!! What a couple of truck loads of gravel could do - ahhhh, when we win the lottery!

There were obvious signs that it had rained, yep, again. There was some water accumulation, damp grass and of course, mosquitoes! We walked down to the river and our clean up from last week still looked awesome. The bushes were still hanging on the edge of the bank and if it weren't for the boaters, the shrubs might have been in the river - there's always tomorrow!

We rested for part of the afternoon and then headed out for dinner. Since it was late when we left, both our choices were closed and we ended up at Culver's...it's so hard to order from their "way too big" menu...but we finally made our choices and were served by the Portage High School Football team: Touchdown!

By 9:15 we were tired and expecting a storm with 45-50 mile per hour winds. Time to batten down the hatches!