Busy Busy Busy

Well Hello Everyone,

We just do not seem to have enough time in our days right now to blog. I did break away last weekend to go fishing with the boys. Only caught a 24 inch cat fish. The weather would not cooperate. The winds were 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40mph. It made it very hard ot anchor. It was still nice to get away.

I have been working a lot of hours 10-14 hours a day. So it does not leave a lot of time for anything else. Denise is at the cabin as I type this. Her Mom and Grandma are back from Florida. So Denise has been helping them settle back in. She will be home on Friday and I am thinking about going up to the cabin after work which could mean we will pass each other on the freeway. My trip will depend on work.

We are also trying to by a rental property. We will keep you all updated on all the happenings as they come about and time allows.

Take care
Bill

It's been a long time!!!

Hello everyone,

Well it has been a long time since I have posted, but as Denise stated in her last post we have been extremely busy with work. Which is a good thing because here in Michigan if you have a job you are truely blessed.

A couple of weeks ago we were up north, Denise posted some pics but I am going to share some others with you as well as some she took this last weekend.

First we start with her Royal Highness Cleopatera, Queen of the Backyard and Cabin grounds. Cleo was enjoying a warm day in the sun by lying in Denise's garden, that is fine until the tomato plants go in.

A view of Houghton Lakes west shore. As you can see the ice has melted away from the shore. Did that stop the ice fisherman from going out?

You guessed it, no it did not. These fools, oh!!! I mean the ice fisherman were out there doing their thing. Now as many of you know I love to ice fish, however when the ice is melting away from the shore it is time to give up the adventures on the ice.

Whats that you ask? How did they get out on the ice if the ice is not connected to the shore? A fine question. The answer is below.

Why you build a bridge out of 2x6. I do give these die hards credit for going out but personally I think it is not safe.

Back at the cabin these seagulls stopped by for awhile but thankfully they left. This is the first time we have seen seagulls on or near the lake.

This a pic of a bunny statue Denise had in the garden at the cabin. It basically has disintegrated under the three feet of snow and ice.

A view of our lake looking north at the cannel that connects the two parts of the lake. The ice is moving out.

This is a view from the front of the cabin. It is so good to see open water, I cannot wait to go fishing in a boat.

I spent this last weekend at my friend Tom's house putting his dock in. It was windy and a little on the cold side. Thank God for waders. We got done with that and we watched Michigan State beat UConn. We all had good time.

Monday I got a call from my friend Mark and another friend of ours Tom (not the same Tom whose dock we put in) was in town from New Jersey. They were going up to a local bar to watch the Michigan State vs. North Carolina final game. Tom and Mark are both graduates of MSU and were disappointed with the lose. But we had a good time anyway.

Well I have rambled on long enough. From Denise and I we hope everyone has very safe and blessed Easter.

Bill

Leaf burning and Avian Salmonellosis

It's leaf burning time again. I'm not avoiding everyone, we are UNBELIEVABLY busy at work. Very strange, but hopefully this is a sign of the economy trying to rise back up again. International cargo is on the move! But, I am soooooooo exhausted after working 12-16 hour days without breaks or lunches. We do eat, we just order in. I cannot maintain this pace much longer, I'm getting tired.

Bill and I did manage to get to the cabin last weekend and I am heading up myself tomorrow morning. We were able to burn some leaves last weekend, but we have tons more to do. And, we had a hot water line break in the ceiling, so we didn't have water until late Saturday afternoon after Bill fixed it. Yep, that's me in the photo below. Got my hair cut and no one, including me, likes it. Oh well, it will grow.



American Tree Sparrow on the move northbound for breeding season! Unfortunately, I just heard today that there is a Salmonellosis outbreak in our area and people have been advised to remove their feeders for a couple of weeks. We seem to get this about every April. Since, I'm familiar with what it looks like, I'll remove my feeders if I see a sick bird and I'll take them down when I leave to come home. Salmonellosis is very easy to spot. The birds puff up and are easily approachable and they don't fly away when the others fly away. Unfortunately, the finches are hit very hard by salmonellosis.

The purple finches are back in town for breeding season! This is one of a gazillion males that were at the feeders last weekend. I like to call them Raspberry finches and House Finches as Red finches.