I spent one morning this week exploring along the shore of Lake Superior; visiting my favorite place for driftwood and soaking in the sunrise.

I'm trying to take advantage of my quiet time while I can. Once winter arrives, and our snowmobilers start pouring in, I'll be too busy to spend much time wandering around. Doing nothing is a luxury in mid-winter here; spending all day on the tractor moving snow is the more likely scenario. So I take my pleasure where I can now.

The trees and brush look dusty with a thick coating of frost, don't they?

Back at camp I baked a batch of brown-sugar crust banana muffins and sat down with a cup of coffee to warm up because I know winter and a whole lot of work is on it's way.

Mocha and I took a walk yesterday to check out the bog area. We found a lot of deer tracks and Mocha had a high old time racing through the grass. She's getting a little gray around the edges but still has the energy of a puppy when it comes to exploring.

The leaves of this Burning Bush are one of the last points of color in the camp now. Last week's wind and rain sent the last of the yellow birch leaves swirling to the ground and this past weekend was all about the leaf cleanup. We were all out there raking and tarping and wheel-barrowing leaves---funny, I never noticed how many leaf-y trees were mixed in with all the pines up here!

Our camp is graced by the Dealing brothers this week--they use Kemosabe as a reunion point each year and they bring a great energy with them; calm, peaceful and happy to be together for their own little reunion. I think it's soo cool that they take time out of their busy lives to get together each year to reconnect and enjoy each other's company.

Autumn Thoughts

Autumn has gone by in a rush; the leaves have gone from blazing yellow and red on the branch to a whirlwind of crinkling brown at my feet. I've slacked a little on the raking and it's time to play catch up and get it done! We're forecast for two inches of snow tomorrow--a mere hint of what's to come.

The blue jays have come back to the feeders in a loud, raucous bunch--their calls alert me whenever the feeders are empty. There was a chipmunk on the porch whose cheeks were chock-full of birdseed yesterday; since they semi-hibernate I'd guess he was headed back to his den to unload his little face and head back for more.

The dogs are fuzzing back up for winter and General is in the lead--he's really fluffing out. If dogs are like caterpillars, we may be in for a long winter based on Gen's coat.

Shotgun season is in a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to having all the guys here; planning a chili contest and getting recipes picked out to bake. We'll also have some great smoked ribs, and pulled pork .

All in all--it's a good start to the cold season and everything that goes along with it.