Clearing the Way

A few weeks ago we worked on clearing a path from our house down to the water. This was a Saturday afternoon after we had helped friends clear a wooded lot where they're going to build. Kendall came home and was in the mood to clear our little path. Kendall had been doing the grunt work that morning, so he was really in the mood to use the chainsaw. :)
Grandmothers Beware! I'm just warning you that the following photos do not look so safe. I even wondered if I should post them. They scare me a bit too, now that I see them.


Just to prove that I did something too.

Mother's Day

On Mother's Day my activity of choice was snake hunting. I know, I know. Weird. It's just that in the spring certain places up here have a reputation for having lots of garter snakes coming out and warming themselves. I wanted to see it for myself. Well, we didn't see many snakes, but it was a beautiful afternoon to be out.

Here it appears that Eli lost his shoe in the marsh.
The rubber gloves were in preparation the for snakes.


I'm so proud of my sons!
And my husband! He made me chicken cordon bleu for lunch!

A Dream? I Think Not.

Now that I am sitting in the bright sunshine of 8:30 am, what happened in the pre-sunrise light of 5am seems like it may have been a dream. But I can prove to myself it was real- there was the early-morning phone call to Kendall in Deer Lake and there is a torn bag of birdseed at the edge of our yard that Lucy, our dog, is very interested in sniffing.

A little before 5:00 Lucy woke me up with incessant barking. I kept waiting for her to stop. When she persisted, I drug myself out of bed. I opened our bedroom window which faces the backyard where Lucy was tied by her doghouse. She alternated between barking at something to the side of our house and appealing to me. She was also making weird snorting noises, like a horse. I stuck my head out of the window to see if I could see the skunk or whatever it was she was so upset about. I couldn't see anything, so I went out to the kitchen area, which faces the direction she was barking.

As I headed out toward the patio doors, I could make out a large, black shape on the edge of our yard- less than 25 yards from me. No way. It was a large, black bear. And I do mean large. It appeared to be unperturbed by all of Lucy's commotion. It was just sitting there eating something.

Ahhh! What do I do?! It wasn't hurting anything, but I wanted it to know it wasn't welcome here! After a bit, it got up and started ambling back into the bush. I called Kendall on his cell phone and just said, "Big Bear." Should I yell at it? What?! He said it wouldn't hurt to yell at it. So I opened the patio door and yelled, even though it had basically disappeared into the bush by then. I tried to sound angry and menacing and like I was huge with a big gun.

The bear disappeared, but Lucy still spent awhile looking at a different part of the bush barking at it, so I knew it hadn't gone too far. After awhile Lucy finally calmed down. Needless to say, it took me a bit to go back to sleep.

So...
-This is the first bear I've seen where I haven't been sitting in a car somewhere far from my home.
-I'm glad Lucy was barking so much.
-I'm disturbed that the bear didn't seem more disturbed.
-A garbage truck just drove by with a sign on the side that had a picture of a bear and the caption: "Don't feed me." It's past time to put the birdseed and feeder away for the summer. This also confirms our recent decision to not store the dog food outside.
-I'm glad I didn't see babies. It would have been more entertaining, but a mama bear is way scary.
-I will have Lucy untied if the boys are ever playing in the bush. I've got to get comfortable with that idea all over again.
-I was looking forward to being in the bush alone. Now I have to get used to this idea and decide how I will handle it.
-I knew bears were around, it's just weird to see it with my eyes and to see it so close to my house.
-I'm sitting outside right now and the noises around me make me a little bit jumpy.
-It was kind of cool and definitely exciting.
-I haven't told the boys, so keep it under your hats for now.

Just Like Dad

Kendall was sitting like this. Before we knew it, there were 3 of him.

Here is a project from this week. I'm so slow at getting things up on the walls. Since my usual interior decorating consultant currently lives 1004 miles away, I invited another talented friend to come rescue me.

Ta daa!
Cool, huh? Okay that's just the amazing method I used to arrange my photo collage on the wall. I laid all my newly spray-painted frames on the floor in the arrangement I wanted them. Then I traced each frame and cut out a paper that size. Then I marked on each paper where the nail would go for that particular frame. Then I stuck them to the wall. Then I hammered a nail through my mark on the paper. Then I tore the paper off and hung my picture. (I'd love to take credit for that innovative idea, but I found it on the internet and most likely it's old hat for you interior design consultants.)

And then, Ta daa!

Here is my Easter centerpiece.

I really like pussy willow right now. There is very little green out there, but there are pussy willows and they also mean spring. So, if you look closely, you can find 3 places I've stashed pussy willows in this photo.

Waterfalls and Easter Bunnies

It was so warm yesterday that as soon as Eli got home from school, I loaded both boys into the truck and drove down the road to a place where the melting snow made little waterfalls. I let them have the huge chocolate Easter bunnies that I had been avoiding. They ate for awhile, then murdered their bunnies and sent them down the river. I hear Evan apologizing to his bunny, saying, "I don't want to have to do this, but I think I gonna have to," right before he sent him down the waterfall of death.
Happily chomping away on Mr. Easter Bunny.


Horribly planning Mr. Easter Bunny's demise.


P.S. Right now it is 66 and very, very sunny! It's HOT out there!

P.P.S. Unfortunately, I just looked at the 14-day forecast. 61 is the highest thing on there. Tomorrow shows a high of 50 with light rain and Sunday a high of 36 with light snow. Lovely.

Quotes From Sir Evan Rodney

Evan is currently really into singing. He might deny this fact, but what I hear around the house proves otherwise. Here are some songs I've heard him singing recently:

"Don't doubt mine worries and your strength!"

(Dog howling.)

"Right now is the opposite. It. It. It."

"The 5th."

We put clean sheets on his bed and he was quite happy about it. Here is his exclamation: "They smell so good! They smell dirty, but they're really clean!"

And, I'll leave you with the most flattering quote of all. He sat down with his paints and a clean sheet of paper and declared to his mother, "I'm gonna paint a picture of you. In a thunderstorm. Alone."