frosted trees

few photos of frost captured on trees .

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

14 inches of snow fell last weekend from a winter storm out of the Northwest, I was in Milwaulkee during the storm so I missed out, but now I am plowing the driveway for the Guests arriving to use the winter cabin this coming weekend for Christmas.

Stocking Lake ice update, oh.... and the deer.

I had a request from John in TX. He said I was slacking in my ice reports on the lake.
Well here I am with an update. The lake looks the same, I am walking on it but no report of any measurable snow yet.

The deer have been arriving daily to eat the corn placed by the cabin for them. I see up to three deer at a time so far, sometimes five.

frozen tundra

Stocking Lake has frozen over as of about a week ago. Now we just need to play the waiting game for it to freeze safe enough to walk on.

oh dear, its "Gimpy!"

"Gimpy" nickname to the injured doe that has been roaming around for years has made it through another round of rifle hunting, whew. The 6 winters we have been here Gimpy has also been here. According to the neighbors, Gimpy has been around a few years before we arrived and has had that injury to the front leg all the time they saw her. Gimpy has lived a long life so far dispite the injury.
I captured her feeding on fallen sunflower seeds out of the bird feeder just 8 ft from the door.
I must sat she looks real healthy.
I also started placing corn out by the winter cabin for guests to enjoy when staying at the cabin....John, Vicki and family from TX will be up to celebrate a white Christmas here and will be able to feed the deer.

ice forming on lake

It is finaly happening! The ice is forming on the lake now that the temps have been staying below freezing. It has also been snowing lightly for a few days. I am looking forward to a snowy winter.

Progress to garage project

With the help of Tom and Nona last Aug, the outdoor grill had been moved to the neighbor and the grounds have been leveled.



The cement has been poured for the new garage. The plan is to frame up the walls and roof sometime in Dec. I cant wait to place the truck into the garage.

Last visit of the Swans

The Swans returned for one last feeding frenzy before taking off. I am unsure where they go, assuming south with the geese.

waking up to snow on ground....brrr

Much to my suprise after posting a snow day on Oct 26th, I woke up to snow sticking to ground the morning of Oct 27....Not much, but I guess it counts, btw the temp. read 22 degrees.

first snow for 2008/09

Yes, we did have a good amount of snow coming down, but with the ground staying warm, the snow was unable to stick around. whew.

It may be hard to see, although some slight accumulation on the truck window.

(click on image to view larger size)

very hungry loon

My Aunt Patty captured photos of this loon on Lake George back in Aug 2008. If you can see from the photos the loon has caught a good size bass....unsure if was able to feed on all at one sitting....I guess I wouldn't mess with a loon...haha

click on images to make them larger. (ignore time stamp on photos, was not set up at time)

The return of a nature walk at Sleeping Fawn Resort

I asked Tom and Nona- Regular visitors of the resort to help me find a route through the 10 acres of untapped woods for the new nature walk. Of course they were honored to help with the venture.
Our chore was to place pink ribbon tape for the brush cutter crew to find its way through.

I have posted a couple pics to give you an idea of whats to come for 2009.

Another Airstream visitor

The Lee family of Moorhead, MN camped for a few nights here sportin this classic 1963 Airstream. One of my favorite campers. They said it also contains solar pannels for the elctricity...how clever is that.
This is our second Airstream since ownership of resort in 2003.

Joe, showing off?!?

haha, hardly- The Olsons of Rochester offer their toys for me to play with when they venture Sleeping Fawn every July. I decided to try out the knee board again, it has been a while since last on them, but I caught on quick.

(click on image to view larger size)

Baby Loons! yes- 2 of them

These pictures were taken July 12-19th. There were two baby loons in 2008, we had 1 baby loon in 2007 as well.

The sad news is we lost one of the baby loons, unsure the cause of loss. But we still wanted to share photos of when they were just days old. Enjoy

(click on image to view larger size- note one baby loon is on the back of adult while the other is swimming)

loon photos taken by the (LOF) group of Rochester. photo enclosed

MVCC BINGO night

It was our last night of Bingo for the year at the Mantrap Valley Conservation Club, we had a record amount of people, in fact we had to turn people away due to the fact we ran out of bingo cards....as you can see, I am the caller for the event....haha Until next year!