Dances With Wolves

"Wolf, wolf!" I cried and it was NO "cry wolf". Big Bad and Mrs. Wolf waltzed past on the south side of the lake as they headed toward the meadow. Moments before I spotted the wolves, Little Red Annie Hood had just asked to go out in the woods for a walk today. Silly girl, does she not know this "is" Grandmother's house? How dangerous are the wolves? Especially when Mr.Big Bad appeared to be limping on a wounded right front leg.... a walk in the woods does not sound good to Granny.

FYI: Minnesota is home to about 2,922 Gray Wolves aka Timber Wolves and 2 of them visited us today. Currently it is our state's most controversial animal. To some folks it is a symbol of the wilderness while to others it kills livestock (livelihood), pets, moose, beavers and deer. Our visiting pair do not know what they missed. They could have walked a little beyond the meadow and had a tasty lunch. There was even a BIG RED X welcoming them to the diner. Plus, the Tuesday Blue Plate Special was a FREE Beaver Burgers. Darn. Maybe that sign needs a fresh coat of paint? Gray wolves are about 40 to 52 inches, with a 13 to 19 inch tail. Weighing Between 60 to 120 pounds compared to coyotes that weigh between 25 and 35 pounds, some folks liken them to a tall German Shepherd. Most Timber Wolves are gray, but some are black, brown, or reddish. Gray wolves run in familial packs of six to 12 animals, which makes it much easier to kill deer or moose. The pack leaders are a male and a female, usually the father and mother of the other pack members. They are likely to be the oldest, largest, strongest and most intelligent wolves in the pack. They are known as the alpha wolves and are usually the only members of the pack to produce pups. Gray wolves mate in January and February then 4 to 6 pups are born about two months later. The pups are nursed in dens for 6 to 8 weeks. Pups begin their hunting career when they reach 6 months of age. They are considered full grown at the age of 1 year. The gray wolf has a sense of smell 100 times stronger than humans. No half marathon for them, they can run up to 40 miles without resting.

Auntie Arnie Day at The SS

All in an Eager's Day's Work or Here Today Gone Tomorrow.



The Eager's Most Unusual Woodland Sculpture.





We peered through the trees at Mr. Eager.







After all the early crops were in we set off on a windy walk around the lake.





Even though it was close to freezing, Auntie Arnie got the early spring crops planted. She pretended that she was in Northern Russia planting potatoes. A.A. kept asking for Vodka to ward off the chill, but never did get any. It was just our pretending to keep the planting going on a bitterly cold day in May. Peas, carrots, parsnips, onions, beets and beans will be enjoyed this summer...I hope.



Lucy and Desi are the first of the Canaries to return.

Happy Mother's Day

What does an old mother do on Mother's Day? Well work of course.



This is the Creeping Phlox on the shore, always the earliest of flowers to appear.

Breaking tradition of our Mother's Day annual tree planting in lieu of minding the store, oh well maybe tomorrow we will be able to plant a few new trees. At least we were able to hike around the lake and visit all of the 90 some trees planted on previous Mother's Days. Many of them still have their name tags from Abby to Zelda. Remember that project KT?

The proof is in the pudding

Alright, so we did not get snowed in. There was a good amount of snow for a great day in May. Here are some of TH's morning photos. It's official: May 2010 is the 3rd snowiest May on record. This snowfall total was 4.5 inches which you would have seen in the woods, not on the deck.

Annie's going to kill me....again.

8 pm

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The only thing missing is my family to share the good cheer. Bapa, you know would want to shoot a deer. Dave just popped open a beer. And me, have not had a drink all year.

Missing all of you, I shed a great big tear. It would be better if you all lived near.

After blowing and snowing all day long we now have over an inch of heavy white snow on the deck, with much more to come. The ground and trees are completely coated, much like a picture perfect Christmas card. It is going to snow all through the night and undoubtedly we will be snowed in by tomorrow morning. Yup, Annie will definitely kill me if I do not show up for work. There have been weather alerts throughout the day warning of possible power failures due to tree limbs snapping and knocking out power lines. Exercising good caution, we dared not leave the SS. The roads were far too slippery for risking a ride back to the big city this afternoon.

She told me so.

Where are the deer that TH shot?

As we await the May snowfall here at the Sugar Shack, Twelve Hammers is having his ups and downs. The 4 temporary stair treads that Mr. Kyle installed several years ago to ensure
Betsy's safety are finally being replaced.

Earlier today Twelve Hammers shot 4 deer. The pictures will follow.

Wherever are our geese? Have they forgotten that it is May already? Some years, as early as April they would arrive and stand post on the frozen lake. Possibly this new generation listened and gained knowledge from their elders. Wait until the 4th of July, some years it is warmer.

As we all know, the Hummingbirds will arrive on the backs of the geese. We therefore have not filled the red glass globe with nectar for our teeniest of summer friends until we spot the geese. It would most likely freeze tonight anyway had we filled it.

The column of this year's fresh thistle remains untouched as no tweety birds have arrived as of yet.

Now picture this, Bald Eagles locking talons as they free fall from the sky almost crashing into the black roof of the Sugar Shack. What I did not want to picture was T.H. on top of the roof cleaning off the blood and feathers had the raptors not ended their rapture just in time. T.H. was not quick enough to capture the Bald Eagle's mating ritual today, but he did try, and will try again I am sure. Oh, but which of his 12 cameras will he grab?

Mallards are swimming about in the southwest corner of the lake, far away from their new neighbors the Eager Beaver family. What a dream it must have been for the Eagers finding an uninhabited new home in perfect move in condition just waiting for them. Last year's occupants were evicted as quite possibly will be the Eagers. Time will tell.

Off for the evening trip around the lake before it is too dark.

Early Arrivals

Larry and Linda or is it Linda and Larry?