In times like these, Mr. Rogers

With Spring coming a some beautiful days taking us outside, we paused to watch PS cover the career of Mr. Rogers.  In these days where so many just seem pulled by the forces of disgust and evil,he stands near alone in his purity.  What a dude.  Be sure and put him on your snail mail after the 24th of the month.  USPS has a great stamp coming out of Mr. Rogers and the King.  It has its First Day on March 23, meaning your post office should have it on the 24th.

Beautiful Days in the Neighborhood

A beautiful day with light winds and temperatures in the forties.  The Sun is shining bright and the water is dripping, or falling in frozen chunks, from the roof.  A herd of 14 deer roamed by early, including some indicating the winter has been nice to them given their chubbiness.  The forecast is for some more of these days, bringing thoughts of green grass in the open areas by the weekend. 

Winter Comes Hard

Winter has settled upon the lake.  We have had some limited snow, but the ground is covered for the duration.  This week has a 6-11 inch storm promised, but one never seems to know if that will happen.  Temperatures have been the big issue, dropping to –34 with a number of –25 to –30 nights.  That has raised issues for the pump, septic system, and roof septic vent.  All are fine given the running of a lot of hot water to keep the whole thing going.

The squirrels seem to have holed upon for the duration.  Only Chip has been seen in the last two weeks and that was on a lone good day.  The deer are about but seem to be hiding too.  Even daisy has been seen wearing her sweater to keep warm doing her duty.  The thicker knit green tone one has been the favorite.  Walks have been limited given the wind chill warnings and advisories.

While it looks like good snowmobiling time, they have not been seen much.  The trials are just not ready yet.

Snow

Snow, and the beginnings of ice on the lake, have made themselves known. It looks like the thin snow cover is going to last the season.  Chances of a melt off are slim.  Ice has been seen around the short of Mud Lake.  It is thin, and it changes by the day, but it is likely to stay.

The geese and two swans have been hanging out on the lake.  No big fly off yet by the geese.  The swans are only current visitors here as they must be on the river over winter to  be in open water.

There are no signs of the beaver.  Beave cut a tree down or two, but action in harvesting the load has been nil.The smelly stuff obtained to deter him from the trees close to the dock zone has remained unused.

Tamarack Towers

Now after its third year on the property, the in the open tamarack tree is growing like wild.  It is a genuine Department of Natural Resources seedling, and this year it just shot up.  Most of them are still down in the 1-2 foot range.  Daisy approves.

Beaver Attack!

Having not seen the beaver in Mud Lake since he swam by me a couple years ago, we note he is still here.  A tree on the neighbors suddenly hit the deck over night.  The base bears the telltale gnawing marks of the beaver.  And I used his Ipana toothpaste as a kid and now he steals the trees.

Itasca Leaves

We made the annual leaf viewing trip to Itasca State Park.  The park did not disappoint.  While some of those special trees that just delight with color seemed missing this year, the general view of of bright, yellow in its many shades.