11/26/06

We've had quite the Indian Summer during this Thanksgiving week. It feels as though it's 50° out - I'm out writing again by the lake. I haven't seen too m,uch so far, though there are several crows across the lake and east of the house making quite a ruckus. It feels like a mild April morning rather than late November.

We are up to having trapped 4 mice thus far in the cabin. We've caught them using conventional snap traps and a bit of peanut better. They've all been caught in the oven broiler drawer!

I keep hearing a decently loud sound in the woods across the lake - sounds like something running through the leaves - but can't put a finger on it. Deer perhaps?

Have seen and heard quite a few chickadees (I think that's what they are but will have to confirm). A flock of ducks just flew east.

Yep it's a black-capped chickadee. Also saw a Downy woodpecker the other day.

A couple of ducks just landed at the east end of the lake. I could hear their wings cut the air as they turned - pretty cool!

11/14/06

UM Graded the driveway and put additional gravel in spots.

H. heard the Great Horned Owl from inside the cabin yesterday at 6 AM!

We spotted a hawk flying across the yard this morning; H. almost hit a deer in the driveway this morning.

Several folks with dogs off leash on Sunday, but they were affable about it.


As prelims approach and the weather gets colder, I haven't been doing my morning outdoor writing.

10/29/06 --

Spent 2 hours caulking gaps in roof, covering chimney to block drafts, filling squirrel gaps/holes (near chimney/roof intersection) with foam.

• Also cleared gutters again

• Cleared tree from causeway w/ chainsaw

10/29/06

It's only the end of October. I'm certain that I won't be able to do this continuously through the winter; it will be too cold for me to sit here. I'll have to do walks instead. I got out here at 8:25, though it was actually 7:25am because of daylight savings time today. It's been very tough to get up because of the darkness.

NEW PROPANE HEATER INSTALLED 10/17/06

It's been working fine. The other one worked fine, too, but was so old that no one was willing to fix it if it broke down. When M.R. moved out, he insisted that it be fixed. The problem is the heat goes straight upstairs. To prevent this, we've rigged up a box fan with rope hanging over the heater - when we turn it on, it blows air into the room. This has been quite effective.

At the properties meeting a week or so ago, we talking [sic] about clearcutting a stand of Ponderosa Pine at Saginaw. Theya re getting old, are invasive, and could generate needed income for the property. B.Barnes + C.Olson were both amenable to the idea.

Very little activity this morning. A fish jumped on the lake when I first sat. A mallard landed at the east end of the lake. I've heard and seen several crows.

We've had a great deal of rain in the past several days, and the water level on the lake is high. Today we've got a clear blue, crisp sky. (I skipped last Sunday due to rain). Itmust be in the upper 30s/lower 40s temperature wise - we has snow mixed with rain yesterday.

Nearly all of the trees around the lake have lost their leaves. A few on the other shore haven't yet; from here they appear to be cottonwood or birch. The southern part of Saginaw is full of yellow-leaved sugar males, as well as some Norway maples that haven't completely turned yet. The trails are an inch or two deep with colorful leaves now at times making the footing quite challenging.

10/16/06 Fall Break

It's a warm morning on the lake for October (especially after the snow flurries this past week). The sun is not out this morning - the sky is overcast entirely. Several mallards (or the other species closely resembling them) were on the lake, looking for food and perhaps courting a female.

There is a light across the lake in the NE corner. It looks as though it could be a campfire? A small one? I'd say it was the sun's reflection, but there's no sun this morning.

There's a slight breeze, SW blowing on the lake. This is not the usual wind direction, making me think that a front is on its way in or out.

According to H., the light is actually on the Pall property (he has seen it before).

A flock of migrating birds just headed southwest - a small flock, with a flying pattern of: flap, flap, glide, flap, flap, glide.

Pall is here right now testing the water - he said the place looked much better than last time hew as there, which was nice to hear.

The heater guy cam today to check out and install a new heater. Apparently they are supposed to install it tomorrow. Perhaps H. can be here for that. The old propane heater puts off lots of heat, but it's probably highly inefficient.

A couple of small sparrows are flying around - they have a bright orange stripe down their head. My usual woodpecker is back, pecking away. It's a male downy woodpecker.

10/14/06

H. spent 2 hours covering inner cabin windows w/plastic for winter.

10/10/06

Saw 2 sandhill cranes fly overhead on my way to the outhouse this morning.

10/8/06

It's another perfect fall morning on Third Sister Lake. Such a perfect beauty. The mist is thick on the lake this morning, even as the sun fully hits the trees on the opposite shore. The moon - quite fullish - is still high and visible in the Western Sky. It's fairly quit this morning. Some squirrel chatter in the woods, Canada geese honking in the distance. The boats are still tied up and floating just offshore from Friday's campfire.

A large group of Canada geese that were and are in the distance finally reached the lake then promptly headed south. 

The osprey just dove to the surface but did not break the water, then flew along the lake to the western end. I must have missed him perched in the trees and only noticed him once he took flight. His flight was both graceful and playful - it was as if he was enjoying his reflection in the lake.

The moon is slowly lowering in the western sky, seemingly moving north as it does so. Of course, the reality is that I am the one moving on this still morning.

One of the small squirrels - I must look up what kind they are - just came to the water beside me for a drink. I've never seen an animal quenching hist thirst in the lake before. All without even getting his feet wet.

A small flock of ducks flew west over the lake. I'm certain they landed on the adjacent pond, a favorite of birds of all types! The mood is now perched on the treetops on the west side, moving with greater speed as it closes in on the horizon.

An older squirrel (it would seem) is perched on a downed tree behind me - I looked when I heard him and he froze, motionless, but now he is shaking his tail at me, scolding, "Leave Intruder!" Undoubtedly he smells remnants of my hot chocolate and wishes to clean up my area.

10/1/06

Incredible that it's already October! It is officially fall, and it does feel like fall also. Happily, the mosquitoes are gone and I can write in peace. It's another beautiful morning at Saginaw. The lake is still and the steam arises, swirling clockwise like a giant witches cauldron. A fish just jumped and broke the surface. The squirrel in the trees to my east finally stopped his noisy scolding and gave in to my presence. A flock of small birds - swallows or sparrows? - just flew west over the lake. It's funny that I never see any flying due south over the lake. Six Canada geese follow them in perfect formation.

The sun has started to move down the trees on the North Shore. The large bird perched on a branch on the opposite shore continues his lookout. He alighted there just after I saw down, and I'm very much regretting having left my binoculars indoors. I would guess that it's some sort of hawk - or perhaps an osprey?

I saw two gorgeous wood ducks on the adjacent pond (west of the causeway) on my run yesterday. They were quite close - the male's colors were absolutely vivid and beautiful. I surprised them and they abruptly took off. I believe they prefer the other pond and are often there - I've often scared away skittish ducks without a chance to identify them. I can't imagine that mallards would be so skittish. According to my book, wood ducks were nearly extinct in the early 1900s.

I think the bird across the lake is an osprey...

One of the large tents of the moths is still here in the here in the Tilia tree. I wonder what becomes of them in the winter? I went in for my binoculars - it is indeed an osprey. (A couple of nights ago we heard a Great Horned Owl west of the cabin and an eastern screech owl to the east.) He [the osprey] is facing east, and the sun lights up his white stomach.

A duck just landed at the far west end of the lake. It's difficult to tell what kind of duck he is, but I'd guess a wood duck? He's lost in the mist.

A mute swan just few east of over the lake - he made this strange whirring noise, as if he could hardly carry his own weight through the air. It's possible it was a trumpeter or a Tundra swan, though a Tundra swan in these parts would be unusual!

The tiny flicker (or some version thereof) is back, pecking away at the cherry tree and chirping at me. Fabulous viewing suddenly! Two wood ducks flew + landed on the west side of the lake. A heron - either immature blue or tricolor out of it region - is talking fish to my left. It's doing quite well. He gets in the water to his belly & slowly walks through it - stalking them.

A duck was also eating in the shallow weeds - a small dark duck with a lighter bill. It looked almost entirely black, but then I could detect a lighter and a darker black. Perhaps it is a type of scaup or could have been a female goldeneye.

Looked it up online - turns out it was a Black Scoter, male. Quite unusual for this area at this time.

Sept. 17, 2006

A noisy heron just flew over the pond - perhaps he was annoyed that I was approaching his desired landing spot.

It's overcast, foggy, and misty this morning, although I can see blue sky above me suggesting that it will burn off. Strangely, it's breezy already at this hour, but anything to ward off the mosquitoes is welcome. Another heron flew overhead, although this one appeared white.

Bird calls have died down considerably from the summer. I can hear an occasional twirp or song in the distance, but I cannot identify it. I also heard ducks at the east end of the lake, but I can't make them out through the mist.

Cottonwood leaves - brown or occasionally green, are scattered on the grass all around me. The tent months on the Tilia tree are no longer crawling among the leaves. The boughs with their tent homes are bowed by the weight of the presumably morphing worms inside.

The squirrels are still chattering a bit, but even they are not noisy as they were a month ago. A woodpecker is thumping softly on the large cottonwood.

The cabin has become an extremely noisy place on windy evenings. The hickory nuts of the shagbark (I think not pignut) behind the house dropped onto the roof, sometimes from great heights so that it sounds as though someone is throwing large stones on our roof.

We went for a lovely hike at Pinkney yesterday - this time on the lesser used trails north of Hell. We saw no one else on the trails except one hunter coming in as we were leaving.

A very small flicker has just started pecking away at one of the small trees near me (maybe 3" in diameter). It might be a cherry or chokecherry tree - many of its leaves have been eaten by the tent moth! Another bird - perhaps a sparrow - poked into one of the moth tents, then successfully snagged a love tent caterpillar.

We gathered several types of mushrooms - some large boletes a hen of the woods, and some small puffballs.

We also went by the George Biological Reserve and marvelled at the huge, cyclone deer fences.

Out of nowhere the surface of the lake in front of me is covered with small bugs - surely a feast awaiting the bass. The bugs must know better than that somehow as the fish are not taking notice. Ah, at last glimpsed some fish movement to the west among the branches of the fallen cottonwood ("ideal fish habitat" as HT would say).

9/12/06

There are still plenty of pesky mosquitoes around - currently they are swarming around me - especially my knees since my long pants are taught there. It's a humid morning - quite summerlike after the fall weather we've been having.

Two ducks took off not long after I sat down. I really need to learn my ducks - many of them are not mallards and are quite shy.

Plenty of grasshoppers and crickets are still doing their thing. HT saw another fox on Jackson Plaza, but we've yet to see one in the woods.

The mosquitoes are too much - I've moved to the porch.

Walking through the woods toward Pall (East) the huge, majestic ball sized fungy are perched on the woods floor like large, glowing eggs. According to our mycology books, they are edible, but somehow they appear less than appetizing.

The sun rises quite late these days. This, combined with the low clouds this morning make it seem like one of those quiet, bound to be rainy days.

We had a caretakers meeting yesterday with DLF. She's trying to figure out how to get more attention to the properties and possibly to get some income from them. It seems as though her boss really wants to sell them off, which would be a complete shame. These properties are the genesis of SNRE, and they are known and loved by the communities surrounding them.

9/2/06

Went for a walk today... not many mushrooms out. We found a random banana peel quite off the trail though. We also found on the west side of Lot 2 (Block 5) a small log, 2-sided structure. It had a fire ring in one corner and someone had erected a stick "wall" on one side between 2 trees.

It must have been erected prior to our tenure by the by the looks of it (it certainly was older than 3 mos. - more likely 6 mos. or more). I know that a homeless person was living in a soil pit across the lake (covered w/ sticks) at some point while MR was here - perhaps this was a remnant of it.

We have started the anti-mouse campaign in the house. Set sticky traps - one behind the trash and one under the shelves - and set two traditional ones - one in oven drawer and one on top of fridge. The buggers managed to haul off the the cheese in both of them! So now we put peanut butter on it to see if that works. We've seen one run across the floor twice. They can also be heard upstairs in the ceiling... probably gathering their winter stores.

8/27/06

Recent work:

• 8/23/06 - Mowed lawn
• 8/25/06 - Put up 4 additional signs (at causeway, at junction, across lake)
• 8/26/06 - Cut up 3 downed trees + removed from trail

Yesterday we found an excellent polypore edible mushroom, "chicken of the woods" Lactiporus sulphureus. It was growing on an old stump (probably conifer) on east side of driveway not far after bent when heading out.

On 8/24/06 at between 9:30 + 10:00 am, I ran into crazy dog walker (see 7/31 entry) while running on the north loop, north side. This time I was prepared with my cell phone in hand. Shockingly, he had his dog on a leash. I said "good morning" as I approached, and just after passing said, "Thanks for having your dog on a leash, we appreciate it."

We'll see if he continues to comply, but this was certainly heartening.

The roadside ditch I dug out is working well with recent rain. However, the upper 1/2 of the driveway has no ditch, and the road continues to wash out.

Gutter was put on back of the cabin around 8/16 or so. It seems to work well, although apparently UM charged SNRE an arm + a leg for it!

Lots of evidence of mice in the house (droppings on counter + top of fridge) - scurrying sounds at night. We have set some traps.

The chimney needs major cleaning!

8/9/06

• CHAINSAW JUST BACK FROM SERVICE & SHARPENING
• it was working fine, but previous caretaker indicated that it was about time.
• BOUGHT GAS FOR MOWER (gas is 3.19/gal at present)

We've been mowing every 2 weeks now instead of every week due to gas prices and desire to pollute less, etc.
Went birding the other morning here w/CM and saw a wide variety of species: kingfisher, northern flicker, hairy woodpecker, possibly grebes, peewees, flocks of redwing blackbirds. Many others that I can't recall. The causeway on the west side of the lake overlooking the neighbor's pond seems to be the best place to bird.

We also listed to tapes and realized that our owl is an Eastern Screech Owl. Quite an eerie sound, human/mammal-like, combined with a horse whinny sound. It usually comes from the trees on the west side of the lawn.

Picked more boletes at the end of last week. We also found a large patch of coral fungus that we haven't identified yet. We found some huge boletes that at first sight appeared to be king boletes. However, close up they were fuzzy and light purple colored, with a rather fishy and putrid smell. Amazing + beautiful nonetheless.

7/31/06 Monday

Tired this morning. It's just before 7 AM, and already I can feel the humid air close in around me. We had quite the storm yesterday afternoon - they even had "severe thunderstorm" warnings in the morning. We should have guessed it given the fact that we'd just finished clearing the downed trees the day prior. No more trees are down on this side of the lake - the other side remains to be seen.

The past several days have been extremely humid and in the '90s. Not sure when relief will be coming.

Found lots of mushrooms in Blocks 3 and 4 yestarday. One kind in particular really liked the oaks.

Also yesterday, I had my first unpleasant encounter with a talk walker. HT + I met this man while we were cutting wood during the first couple weeks. He mentioned then that he didn't like runners. When I ran by the first time I told him that dogs needed to be on a leash. He said his was well behaved, and I nicely explained that they still needed to be on a leash. He said he didn't care if he was breaking a rule. The next time I passed him I apologized and said it was my job. "What's your job?" To enforce the leash law, I told him. He said that my job was to "get out of here" - I don't know if he realized that I was the caretaker, and I should have introduced myself as such. He then said he hated all runners and that included me. I told him that he'd been warned and that the next time I would have to call the UM Police. He then started swearing at me.

He seemed to be on his way out, so I jsut called to report him rather than to have them come out.

The H20 in the lake is the highest we've sen it. The sandbar by the boats is entirely submerged. The "seasonal" creek was running yesterday.

7/30/06

• Spent 1 hour digging out the drainage trench along the road on 7/27.
• Yesterday, HT and I spent 2 hours cutting up and removing downed trees from the yard and the trail.

The standing dead three that was down proved tough to cut - we could see burn marks from the chainsaw on the ends.

The humidity + heat has been incredibly high of late. We're in for a few more days of it at least. HT slept downstairs in the cabin last night. We've continued to keep the dehumidifier on 27-7 and all of the windows shut. This does make a huge difference inside. Our clothes actually dry inside, whereas on the screened porch, they've remained wet. There was a nice breeze yesterday, but none today so far. It could be quite the scorcher.

7/25/06

Well there are three things to report since L.'s update.

1. The ants are back and in full invasion mode. Big black carpenter ants. There seem to be concentrations around the NE and SE corners. We have ant trap/baits in all corners. That had done the trick but they must be wearing off a bit. About 1 in 3 ants is dead so it's not completely worn off. We've been vacuuming them up and using citrus cleaner (L. read online that ants don't like that stuff…) I think we're going to try some drops that we saw @ Downtown Home and Garden. Will get back to you on that.
2. The sink seems to be fixed. We had tried to snake, then plunger, then use a CO2 cartridge (made by CLR) None worked. We then put in some "microbial clog eater" stuff. It seems a little sketchy esp. since it was 3x the cost of drano (we don't want to use that stuff since no one seems to know where the water drains). Anyway we left that and didn't use the sink for 24 hrs. It was still clogged yesterday but then we CO2 cartridged and plugered again and all's cleared up!! Much better now.
   
3. When we pulled in the drive yesterday @ 8PM a top to a huge cherry tree had blown off and was still attached about 40' up. We called emergency U of M services since it was blocking the driveway (no research or emergency access). The # is XXX-XXXX. They seemed a little confused but within an hour there was a crew out which sawed the small stuff then attached the tree top to their truck and drug it down. They chopped up the big pieces and threw them to the side. The whole thing took them 30 minutes, pretty impressive! This morning there was another Grounds crew that let themselves through the gate and shipped up all the small pieces (completely unnecessary given that we're in a forest). Just hope they don't charge SNRE for it.

Anyway, all's well at Saginaw; the fish are jumping, the woodchuck (fatt) is chowing away, the barn's clan, and the boletes are out.

7/24/06

Spent 1/2 hr. clearing trails on Saturday - we still need to chainsaw some trees.

It's again a beautiful clear morning on the lake - mist sweeping over the top, especially at the eastern end of the lake. Two large groups of Canada Geese just flew overhead - one group began well out of formation - I'd never seen anything quite like it before.

There's a woodpecker pounding away overhead - I should have brought my binoculars. A frog beside me is croaking and clicking. Martins are swooping along the lake's surface for breakfast.

I find it strange that we never see deer prints around the lake. Perhaps the lingering scent of dogs keeps them away… although the suburbs that they often frequent are full of dogs.

Four ducks just flew overhead - then crossed the lake 3 times more. Perhaps my presence made landing unsuitable. I would guess they are mallards, but tough to tell with the sun's reflection.

There's a tall white bird at the west end of the lake in the shallows. I only just noticed him now that the sun is upon him - before he appeared as a log in the shadows. Now that I have my binoculars I can see that there are two birds. One seems to be a heron and the other a kingfisher.

We collected a great many mushrooms yesterday! Two types of boletes - red/orangish, and then a couple of gilled mushrooms. One of the boletes stained blue, the other didn't. We found them south of the cabin, off the trail that runs across perpendicular to the road/driveway. Walking west along that trail towards the driveway, they are mostly along the wood margins/woods south of that trail.

Sometimes I wonder if the squirrels throw nuts + pine cones at each other - it certainly sounds like it sometimes!

7/22/06

Someone has spray-painted blue lines, arrows, and numbered circles along the paths at Saginaw. Happened between Thurs. pm + Friday 1 pm. Our gess is that someone is giving instructions for a running trail?

7/21/06

The electricity went out Mon. night to Weds night. He had to keep calling DTE to get them to believe that it was still out (we were probably the last people we [sic] served in A2).

Just prior to the storm that took out the electricity, we spent 2 hours cleaning trees from the trails. Of course, we woke up the next morning to find a tree in the clearing in front of the house. Numerous other trees fell across the trail and will need to be cleared again.

Mowed the lawn Weds evening, and swept out the barn. They finally took the rest of the moldy straw bales from the campfire. Yes!

Between yesterday at 5 pm and today at 1, someone spray-painted blue lines on the trails - mostly on the main road. I'm guessing that these refer to H20 lines somehow, but I don't know.

7/17/06

It's a lovely morning on the lake. Came out here about 6:15 am or so. A couple of large flocks of birds have flown over the lake this morning - don't know what kind but I should. Must work on my bird ID skills. I've heard at least 6 different types of bird songs just sitting here. A mink (or a muskrat) took off from my side of the lake to the opposite side - I'd never seen it before. The dragonflies are beautiful - I catch their reflection on the lake before I see them in the air.

• Spent 2 hours clearing trails today - many trees down in recent storms.
• Been mowing the lawn about once a week.
• The dumpster finally came yesterday and we sent them off with the old carpet, sofa, etc.

It's been quite humid lately - the upstairs smells musty due to the increased heat (about 91° the past 3 days). It should rain tonight + bring it down to 85 tomorrow.

We heard some impressive "thumping" from a woodpecker tonight. We think it's likely a hairy, downy, or pileated woodpecker based on the thumping (and a brief bit of pecking).

7/14/06 Fri.

We walked out of the cabin to find two people swimming in the middle of the lake w/their dogs! We headed over to the clearing on the far side (the "dog swim" area) and informed them that there was no swimming. It was a woman thirty-something in a bikini w/her older mother - apparently a UM alum - and they [sic] younger woman didn't care about tumors + and dioxane. She asked if we were the new caretakers + declared we were "better than that ogre, M." Whatever. Annoying people.

7/12/06, 11:30AM

Woman walking her cream colored husky-type dog - not on a leash. She was at least 30 m. ahead of owner. She had long salt/pepper hair wearing mosquito net, green raincoat. Rather surly. I asked her the dogs name 2x - she mumbled it and I didn't get the name. Told her that dog had to be on a leash - she finally did so.

7/10/06

Around 9PM we walked across the lake to inform 3 people w/their dogs that the forest closes at 6PM. "You're going to enforce that?" they asked. Yes… It's not new. I basically blamed it on the Building Manager, but I'm sure D. won't mind.

H. + I posted lost of signs recently; only on standing dead trees and metal signs.

Things we've added to house:

• Curved rod to curtain off shower area
• Wine glass racks above sink
• Towel racks (re-use center)
• Screened in the porch
• New toilet seat in the outhouse (wooden one replacing ancient plastic one) - actually not new but from re-use ctr.

Fatty (the groundhog), the squirrels, and the birds are all going nuts over the mulberry tree. But we have managed to pick 2 pres worth of black raspberries (10 cups) from the bushes around the yard - and we should have plenty more coming still.

6/12/06

We've been here 1 1/2 wks and have had a chance to get to know the woods a bit. Picked up a turtle hunkered in its shell after the carpet installation guy passed over it on the road in his truck. I put him on the far side of the road near the swamp. His shell was plain green, but he had nice yellow + red markings on his face.

The carpet has made all the difference in the homey feel of the cabin. If we can keep the SE corner of the cabin from leaking and making the pad moldy, then we'll be happy. Dehumidifier hasn't been running constantly since humidity is down. Yesterday morning the old heater actually kicked on automatically!

The undercabinet wine racks are installed (courtesy of free scrap from Fingerle), plus we put a towel rack on the side of the shower, washed out the cabinets by the door and SCREENED in the PORCH! Now we will finally be able to enjoy the porch, bugfree (well once we clean + organize it). We also got a "new" toilet seat from the Reuse Center - wood + much nicer (towel racks from there, too).

Also saw a deer the other day. We went for a row around the lake last night. Didn't see any fish, but the lily pads on the edges are about to bloom! The tuliptrees on the north side of the lake are all in beautiful bloom and fragrant.

TD (lives in co-housing and former SNRE employee) said he's seen coyote and fox here and pileated woodpecker.

We've seen numerous blue heron - esp. at dusk - and the fireflies fill the yard.. A family of groundhogs lives in the woodpile near the barn. A robin made her nest in the porch, but her offspring learned to fly (we watched them) in the days just prior to the screening, luckily.

Lots of garlic mustard west of the front door, but lots of mayapple also. We mowed it all down, though the mayapple is coming back, happily. Lots of stinging nettles there and in front of the cabin.

I dug out the former little triangle of rocks just in front of the porch. Planted wildflower seeds - we'll see if they grow. I also hope to get some natives from A2 Native Plant Nursery.

June 4, 2006 - HT & LK

We moved in on June 1, although our work here started on May 31, when HT ripped out all of the carpet upstairs and down. THe upstairs carpet smelled of cat urine and mold - the downstairs carpet pad was soaked through and the floor was also soaking wet. The SE corner of the cabin wall was black with mold. There is a saint smoke (fire) smell when one enters the cabin.

The upstairs carpet was replacwed successfully. Downstairs was not, and will likely be done this week. After running the dehumidifier all night, the floor was dry. The plan is to leave the carpet loose in the wettest corner so we can monitor the floor situation. Ideally, a wood floor (plywood) should be raised up off the concerte and that should be carpeted.

RC did a nice job with the shower. It's still in good working order, albeit stained some do the the hard water.

We washed all of the walls, cabinets, etc. both upstairs and down. I washed much of the downstairs ceiling, esp. near the kitchen - it all had a healthy layer of brown dirt, most likely soot from the fires.

The light domes are new, installed by MR (previous caretaker). He also installed screens on most of the windows. The porch is lacking screens and we plan to replace them. A small family of birds is nesting on the east end of the porch - the first one left the nest today. When they are gon, we will screen it in.

Spent 2.5 hours on the lawn yesterday and today - it was 1.5 feet tall in spots! Also cleared brush around the sign in front of the lake. Will plant some flowers around the cabin.