This is a photo of the air filter compartment on my truck; that giant pile of what looks like nesting material is, indeed, nesting material. A chipmunk had a little home going there, didn't he? The soft little nest was made of grass, yarn and bits of fuzz and had a little stash of seeds in it...luckily there were no baby chipmunks in it or I would have had to stop driving for a few weeks. What can I say? I have a soft spot for critters...

I zipped up to Sand Point beach yesterday to soak up some sun and took this pic there...the water of Lake Superior is so clear!

We had the pleasure of meeting George and Marlene this week, and their little companions Elvis and King. That's Elvis in the white fur coat (what else?). Elvis and I spent several evenings cuddling on the porch----

It's about time---

We finally got out on one of the lakes, together,for the first time this year! Usually it's Jeff going since it's hard to leave the camp alone for any length of time. Anyway, the weather was simply fantastic and it felt so good to be out on the lake with hardly another soul around (we did see one other boat on the 980 acre lake).

This was Jeff's first smallmouth and it was a fat little four or five pounder.

This was his second one:He always catches way more than I do!

This was my first pike; just a little fella. I caught several others, but didn't take pics of everything. We were having too much fun!

We got a late start out there, and missed the morning bite, but caught and released about 25 fish. All in all, a great day!

Monday Ruminations on Bugs

It's 11pm and if I had half a brain, I'd be asleep by now. Jeff want to go over to AuTrain Basin to fish tomorrow morning and, knowing Jeff, he'll be chomping at the bit come daybreak. Never mind that we won't leave until all our guests are out for their own little adventures...darn it, he'll want to be ready (he'll want US to be ready) bright and early.



I spent the day greeting guests and enjoying another fantastic UP spring day; warm, sunny and simply perfect. Jeff and I weeded and hoed and cut stray tree branches in between arrivals and we ended the day sitting in the yard comparing mosquito bites. Due to some poor application techniques, we both currently have more bug bites than common sense; Jeff's are mostly on his legs and mine are all (I have, seriously, twenty five) from the ears up! Silly me...I didn't spray my hair or behind my ears. Back in Ohio---in the Black Swamp---we didn't have the voracious, man-eating bloodsuckers that attack in battalions, so we weren't quite as careful as we should have been but come tomorrow....I'm showering in bug spray.



Well folks, I have a Twitter account now. For anyone who isn't familiar, Twitter is a website that allows you to post one or two line statements about what you're doing. Twitter is an awesome marketing tool and I am always looking for new ways to spread the word about our lovely new home, so I "tweet" (post a comment about our camp) once a day or so and enjoy reading other people's tweets too. You can find our Twitter at: http://twitter.com/KemosabeCabins

Jeff's mom and dad visited camp this week and there were kisses flying everywhere. I don't kiss all the guests....just the very special ones.

Whenever I wasn't snake-wrangling I was baking, cooking and walking on air...two of my favorite people in the whole world were here!

In other news: a bag of grits arrived at the door via UPS and there was no name or address, so I created this flyer:

I suspect they came from the Davis family in South Carolina. Stan Davis and I discovered we share a strange fondness for grits. I'm going to make bacon grits first thing tomorrow Stan! Thank you :o)

Dog, Snake and Toad

Our dogs are like children to us; beloved and precious. My dog, the General, has been a source of great comfort to me over the past 11 years. He is a loyal friend and in his twilight years he is more precious to me than ever. So when he came trotting across the yard with a big snake in his mouth, bringing it to me---I had some mixed feelings. I don't like snakes very much and usually give them a wide berth; I'm willing to live and let live though.

I guess I should start off by saying that over the years I have compiled a set of survival references in my head--my own set of "what to do if...." rules. Now one of the little facts I had stored away is that, as a quick reference, most poisonous snakes in the US have a triangular head. I should also point out that I'm not the type to panic in an emergency; I keep my cool because, after all, I have spent years compiling my "what to do if...." rules.

Back to the story. The dog had ahold of a snake and was bringing it to me. The snake had a huge head and was most definitely alive. In my non-panic reaction I knew I had to get the other dogs away from it, find something to wrangle the snake, find a container to hold the snake and check the General for a bite.

The other dogs were dying of curiosity and ran to within a couple feet of Gen and the squirming, whipping thing in his mouth. I grabbed the two biggest dogs and practically threw them in the house but the little terrier, Ester, was another story...she wanted herself some snake too, and she kept dodging in toward the snake as it whipped around. So I zigged as she zagged and scooped her up, sprinting toward the house and yelling to the General "stay boy, stay" over and over. I tossed Ester in the house, turned around, and Gen was right behind me, with the snake. I'm pretty sure that if the snake had touched my leg at that very moment, I would have had a heart attack and died on the spot. I grabbed a broom and a bucket and ran off the porch into the yard calling "come on Gen, here boy" and he sprinted back to me.

The dog dropped the snake on command and I simultaneously knocked it away from him and yelled for him to get back. At this point I saw that the snake had a huge triangular head because it had a half-swallowed toad in his mouth! It was just a big garter snake! When the dog dropped the snake, the snake dropped the toad and from there on it was a matter of getting the snake safely out of the yard and finding myself some nerve medicine.

The story ends with the garter being deposited safely in the woods, the toad was tucked away into my garden under the tomato plants (I swear he looked reborn and thankful to be alive) and the dogs all got peanut butter sandwiches.

Now I know that there aren't any poisonous snakes native to the UP, but in the heat of the moment....that didn't matter. I had to protect the dogs; after all...they'd do the same for me.

Farmer's Market

Yesterday was farm market day in Munising and the weather decided to co-operate for a change!

We have a wood-fired bread oven (open for public use!) and the ladies from the Eric R Beverly Foundation were baking pizza and spreading around the friendliness and fun as liberally as the pizza sauce. If you've never had pizza in a brick over---you need to come to town and try it.

The oven is close to the Lake Superior shore and in addition to making some fantastic baked goods, you have a wonderful view.

The yarn this woman is using was home-grown, home-spun and now being hand-knitted! Talk about cutting out the middleman.

Here's a beautiful bowl/mug made by Open Wings.

When you're in town (May to October), make sure you stop by the market for a bit and check it out!

After the market I came back to welcome our guests and get some baking done. I made some beautiful blueberry cinnamon rolls, popped them in the oven and promptly forgot about them while I was answering email. When my teeny, tiny little brain finally remembered there was something in the oven I raced toward the house, scattering birds from all the feeders, running as fast as my bare feet (still too tender to ignore the gravel) would let me; I threw open the screen door and sent the dogs into a seizure of barking only to discover that my poor rolls were overdone. Not burned, just sadly overcooked and hard as hockey pucks....

Chilly on the Shore

I kissed Jeff on the forehead and set off for town yesterday to pick up a few things at the grocery. It was such a nice day---sunny and warm ("warm" is a relative term here; it was warm to me) and Lake Superior was calling my name from the dairy aisle. When I finished at the store I decided to make a quick drive to my favorite super-secret spot to look for driftwood.

I always swear to myself that it will just be a quick little jaunt and then I step out of my truck and time just ceases to exist. The wind was blowing pretty hard out of the north and my secret spot was getting a bit pounded by waves, so I thought I would just have a little peek at the beach. I ended up calf-deep in the waves with the wind blowing my hair into wild tangles and the wave back-splash spattering my clothes. While picking up little bits and pieces of driftwood and monkeying about the rocks I realized that the thirteen year old me would have loved what the 44 year old me was doing and I wondered if the sixty year old me will still be climbing rocks and looking for treasures tossed up on the shore somewhere.

Back at camp--two hours later--Jeff knows I went shore hunting; my hair's a mess, my socks are drippy, my nose is sunburned and I'm pretty sure he could detect the scent of Lake Superior water mixed with happy (albeit soggy) girl.

This was our fishing spot yesterday...it's a nice little bass lake about five miles from camp. There wasn't another soul there and we enjoyed the quiet time after dinner last night.

Speaking of dinner---Jeff grilled pork steaks and sauteed some mushrooms, onions and broccoli too. It's a treat to have dinner someone else prepared and I always feel really lucky.


My friends at Open Wings Studio in Munising had this beautiful platter on display. I stopped by there yesterday to say hello and soak up some of the good karma emanating from their gallery.

While walking the dog this morning we heard a strange metallic knocking sound and discovered a woodpecker hammering away at a curve sign! He didn't seem to mind the racket he was creating and Jeff and I just shook our heads. We didn't stop to see what all the commotion was about since we had the dogs with us, but we figure it must have been something good!

Thursday Chicken and Flowers

A gorgeous day here at camp and so far, a great week:

The chicken coop is ALMOST done...just needs some fine-tuning and then---CHICKENS!!!!

I bought some tomato plants at the Farmer's Market this week. By the way, we have an awesome market on Tuesday evenings. One lovely lady sold me a lupine plant and gave me these:

Aren't they just adorable? They smell glorious too.

We have family here from Toledo for a few days and they're playing tourist. At the end of the week they're taking Abbey to Ohio to visit for a couple weeks.