I love hand-splitting the firewood....no, really I do. It's good exercise and the feeling of accomplishment makes up for the hassle. That being said, the last cord of wood was purchased already split. I'm not a glutton for punishment....we go through a lot of wood.

We've had some rain in the past couple of days--good for the waterfall aficionados and the ATV'ers. This one is just a tiny little 'fall near Wagner's Falls.

I've been re-doing the front of our office; adding places to sit, making a flowerbed and trying to give it a homey feel. The flowerbed is tough-going; the ground outside the office is rock hard, so I'm carting wheelbarrows full of dirt up from the woods. I'll post a pic of the flowerbed when it's finished.

Porcupine Night

My apologies to everyone who uses this blog to stay in touch with the happenings in the north woods---I've been so busy! Our summer is just flying by....I bet you are saying the same thing. It seems that winter is breathing down my back, every day inching closer and I have so much to do before it gets here!

The little fella in this picture is a porcupine. He tried to eat one of the cabins last week. We were sitting out by the evening fire, enjoying the stars and the peaceful night when we heard a very loud scraping noise.
My brother was visiting, and he was the brave one to investigate the noise. Armed with a flashlight and a garden hoe, he walked off into the darkness very slowly and then seconds later, came crashing back yelling "It's bigger than a cat and it's eating the house!" Did I mention my brother is a city-boy born and raised? I knew right away it had to be a porkie, although I'd never seen one before. The people around the campfire erupted out of their seats and ran to see the porkie who was casually sniffing around the screen door and testing it's sturdiness a bit with his claws. We shot a video of him wandering around and eventuall he grew tired of his celebrity and walked off into the forest.


This little guy was my birthday present! Although he wasn't meant to be a bird feeder, I couldn't resist adding some sunflower seeds to his flat little head. Adorable!

A Busy Week

I've been up to my ears in work this week preparing for the holiday weekend and organizing the office paperwork (thanks to Abbey). She's spending summer break being my "right hand man" here at camp.

We've had nothing but rain this week and it offered us the opportunity to catch up on office duties that would otherwise get pushed aside for more seasonal chores; soaking up the lovely UP sunshine, planting flowers, watching the birds feed their nestlings--important stuff!

The weather has been amazing; down as low as 38F two nights ago! We've gotten rain every day since Sunday and I do believe that when it warms up, we're in for another big push of mosquitoes. They're hearty little fellows here and even at forty degrees the other night they were bouncing against our jackets and making a nuisance of themselves. So when the temperatures hit 60-70 this weekend, we'll be drowning ourselves in bug spray again to ward off the new wave of Yooper mosquitoes, eh?

We had some terrific guests in the last two weeks and yes, I know I say that all the time. I sound like a broken record, but darn it...it's true: our camp must get all the good guests. For every bad experience here at camp (there's been a few doozies) we've had a hundred good ones and our guests are world-class people; kind, generous, friendly and outgoing folks. Hi Sue Dominic! Mary Meyers! Nancy and Brian Bowers! Amy and Pam--we love you all!

This photo is from Miner's Castle at Pictured Rocks. It may not be the best composition bu I like the contrast of trees and sky.

For anyone who hasn't seen Pictured Rocks I say "My gosh! Why not? It's some of the most beautiful land in America".

Have a wonderful Thursday everyone...