Sometimes I wonder if our dog yard isn’t a bird sanctuary. Yesterday afternoon while taking a break in the screen tent, Mark commented “holy s#*t there are a lot of birds around here”. I turned around to take a look at the feeders between Tucson, Carstenz and Jango and holy cow, he wasn’t kidding. I ran inside to get my camera to get a picture but if I got too close they all would fly away. I headed back to the screen tent and they all came back so the only way I could get a picture was through the screen (sorry if the photo is fuzzy). For some reason the birds don’t bother the dogs at all, but put a chipmunk into the mix…that’s another story.

More than likely, one of the reasons we get so many birds is that the closest feeder is probably ten miles away (or more). This time of year many people in the Grand Marais area have to take their feeders down or they become bear feeders. All our feeders are hanging in trees in the middle of the dog yard so we don’t have to worry about bears.

Last weekend after we set up the screen tent, good friend Mike Dvorak and I were hanging out having coffee while Mark was running a team of dogs. We had the door open since there weren’t any bugs yet and birds would come flying in and couldn’t find their way out. Mike became the Bird Whisperer cornering, catching and setting them free.

There are so many birds around here that we’re going through at least 25 lbs. of seed a week. It won’t be long though when we won’t see them around here quite so much as the forest is starting to green up and they have better things to eat than my sunflower seeds. We’ll enjoy our bird sanctuary while we can.

Living this far out in the woods, we are lucky that we get to see some pretty cool things on our commutes to and from town. Yesterday morning was no exception. For some reason, just before hopping into the truck, I grabbed my camera out of my duffle bag to have “at the ready”.  I must have ESP so I could get this photo. Usually though when the best photo ops happen, my camera is safely tucked away in the back of the truck.

When I came around the northwest side of Boomsticks Pond I saw the water was like a sheet of glass, but on the far side of the pond it looked like it was “wavy”. When I got closer I realized it was a moose swimming. I shut the truck off, grabbed my camera and ran over to get a picture. By the time I was able to snap the photo, the moose was getting out of the water. Pretty cool nonetheless.

…to change a flat tire. After arriving at our party on Sunday, Mike Prom realized he had a flat tire on his Suburban. Since there were so many men around, they all offered to help him. Thankfully there were so many as it took over an hour to get the spare down from underneath the back of the truck. Apparently the cable would release, but the piece of metal that holds the tire in place wouldn’t budge. About halfway through with three men underneath the truck and appx. five more men watching a woman, (who will remain nameless) suggested maybe they needed to get out the Owner’s Manual. Mr. Black told her to go lay by her dish…

After another half hour or so after getting up from laying by he dish, the woman went back over to check things out and guess what? The spare tire was free! Guess how the guys figured it out? They read the Owner’s Manual.

No more laying by her dish for this chick!

Since starting this blog a couple years ago, our lives are pretty much an open book. When we talk to friends, family and aquaintences they rarely ask how things are going because they already know! I am still amazed at all the people that say they are faithful readers.

Now not only do we make our life an open book on the blog, we are also both members of Facebook, the social networking website. I have to admit it is kinda fun connecting with friends, family and former classmates from around the country (and world) on a nearly daily basis. Although it is also kind of sad in a way, that we are all keeping track of each other on the internet instead of calling each other on the phone and asking how things are going.

I remember before we got our first computer about ten years ago, listening to people talking about e-mail and thinking to myself  “what’s the big deal”. These days rarely a day goes by that we don’t turn on the computer to check e-mail at least once, if not twice or three times. Now with Facebook, we are also both checking our pages to see if we have a new friend request and what all our Facebook friends are up to.

I guess it makes life easier, but there is something to be said about picking up the phone and calling a friend to say hello. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have time for that but first I have to log on and tell all my friends what I’m up to today.

After nearly seven months of not having to punch a clock, Mark went back to work yesterday. Thankfully for him, I started staying at home on worknights a couple weeks ago and he had to give me a ride to the truck in the a.m. so when the alarm went off at 4:30, it wasn’t too big of a shock to his system. Although now instead of dropping me off and heading back home to water and run dogs, the dogs were watered before we left and needless to say, the dog running didn’t happen. Mark was “broken in” to the reality of working as I had a work meeting last night that kept me in town overnight and last night’s and this morning’s chores were all his. As I write this, he’s more than likely in the middle of watering the dogs so he can get to the shop no later than 7:00. Sorry honey, I’ll be back home this evening and “do my part”.

The meeting I went to last night, was the public hearing regarding allowing ATVs on the county gravel roads. As part of my job, I thought I should be there to hear the concerns on both sides of the issue. After nearly two hours of arguments for and against the ordinance, the county commissioners voted 4-1 to allow ATVs on gravel county roads. Most of the ordinance follows state statute regarding ATVs, so I would suggest reading up on the regulations (click here for a link to the DNR website). The language of the county ordinance will be on the Cook County Website soon, so log on to www.co.cook.mn.us for the information. A couple of things to note, with the ordinance, to legally ride on the gravel county roads, it will be a requirement to have a rear-view mirror on the left side of your ATV and “a valid driver’s licence and…valid liability insurance required by the Minnesota No-Fault Automobile Insurance Act, M.S. § 65B.41 to 65B.71″. If you want to continue to take your ATV to your neighbors for a visit, be sure to ride safe, be courteous and be legal. This issue created a lot of controversy and the people who were against it will be looking for problems to bring back to the commissioners to make them regret their decision. No matter what side of the issue you are on, also remember to respect your neighbor and their property.

Yesterday was another cool, overcast day here in the north. It looked like rain all day, but didn’t start until mid-to-late afternoon. While I haven’t heard how much it rained, it didn’t seem like too much, but it was enough to green everything up. Coming down the hill this morning it was amazing the difference between what it looked like yesterday. Once again, even though the temperatures aren’t feeling like it’s late Spring, at least is starting to look like it!