4/07/09 BOYZ WILL BE BOYZ

Tuesday, 7:00 AM. 20 degrees, wind W, light to moderate, the sky is blue, but the barometer still predicts precipitation. It will be a beautiful day in the woods.
Two ferries, one coming in each direction, are making their way quickly this morning, now that the channel is quite wide. A few fishing tugs have been tentatively venturing out of their berths, doing their part to break up the ice, as is the one pictured. Commercial fishing is a tough business, cold, wet and often dangerous, but it evidently has its compensations, such as enjoyed by a crew member riding, balanced on the top of the cabin, as the amazingly powerful tug runs up on the ice, its sheer weight crashing through it. It’s even fun to watch. It appears the Coast Guard patrol boat might be ready to pull him out of the drink if he is pitched in.

4/06/09 A PRETTY GOOD MORNING AT THE SUGAR BUSH

Monday, 7:30 AM. 26 degrees, wind W, moderate with stronger gusts. The sky is mostly clear and the barometer predicts precipitation.
I am off to the sugar bush to help out this morning. I am guessing the sap won’t be running, but there is always plenty to do.
Noon: The sap wasn’t running but there was plenty in the buckets from yesterday afternoon, and after knocking an inch or two of ice from the top of buckets I collected 25 gallons total, a pretty good sap collection that took a couple of hours. By then the sap was starting to drip, and I will collect again tomorrow morning, giving Andy and Judy the opportunity to concentrate on cooking. It was a cold but beautiful morning in the woods, and there is still considerable icy snow underfoot. On the way home on Hwy K, I saw five deer, which looked in good shape, and a very large coyote (might have thought it a smaller wolf except for the way it carried its tail and the way it acted). Tree board meeting this afternoon, we will start pruning small ornamental trees. The ferry path is starting to widen out, actually creating some open water.

4/05/09 PANCAKES, CROCUS AND DEER-SPRING IS HERE (SORT OF)

Sunday, 8:00 AM, 32 degrees, wind light with stronger gusts, the sky is partly sunny and the barometer predicts precipitation.,
It is Palm Sunday, so it is off to church where we haven’t been for four weeks.
Yesterday’s Bayfield Regional Conservancy annual pancake breakfast fund raiser (blueberry pancakes, maple syrup, ham) was a great success, as evidenced by running out of flower and having to get more. Most of the food is donated and there are many willing hands to cook and serve. I am guessing about 200 were served, including 30 students and teachers on a bus trip from Carthage College near St. Paul. Bayfield Mayor Larry MacDonald brought them, as they were touring Bayfield as an example of an American small town for their rural geography class. There were many students who by appearances were not very familiar with rural and small town America, and there were some obviously foreign students among them who were probably totally surprised by what they have been seeing (or not seeing) on their trip. They ate a lot of pancakes so I am sure they left full of food if not geographical knowledge.
Crocus' are blooming around town in sunny spots, so spring is really sort of here. Yesterday, driving about the back roads along the Sioux River we saw quite a few deer so it looks as though the herd has over wintered O.K.

4/04/09 ITS BEEN A LONG WINTER FOR THE BOYS

Saturday, 8:00 AM. 34 degrees, wind W, light. The sky is overcast, the barometer predicting partly cloudy weather.
I worked at the sugar bush for a couple of hours yesterday, the sap was flowing well and Andy and Paul were having a hard time keeping up with the cooking. It will be a productive season. I will help as much as I can next week. Joan and I went back out for dinner, Paul cooked a beef tenderloin and we had a gourmet meal, and sat around talking by candlelight for hours afterwards (no electricity at the camp).
The big news in the Town of Russell is that the Gill-Net-Tug Bar and Airstrip on Hwy K is importing exotic dancers, the first show being tonight. Many of the guys are going early to get front row seats and are cashing in all their winter’s change for single dollar bills for the obligatory tips for the girls (I won’t say any more about that), and most of them are old enough to know better than to engage in all this foolishness. But, as Judy says, “it’s been a long winter.”
The long winter being almost over, the ferry broke ice yesterday, taking about three hours to reach La Pointe. It starts more-or-less regular service today, as evidenced by the photo. Yesterday there were snowmobiles chasing after the ferry; let’s hope the long winter doesn’t turn into a very short spring for some one. The commercial fishing boats are being readied, probably to go out as soon as the ice breaks up some more. The Bayfield Regional Conservancy pancake breakfast is this morning and I am off to flip blueberry pancakes.

4/03/09 THE SAP RUN, NEW BOOTS AND DETROIT

Friday, 8:00 AM. 34 degrees, wind WNW, calm. The sky is overcast and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
Lucky and I are going out to the Larsen sugar bush this morning to collect sap and help in general. I talked with Andy and Judy yesterday, the sap has been running heavily and they have been boiling trying to keep up with the run. Maple sap runs when the temperature goes below freezing at night and warms up in the morning. Sunshine helps the flow and wind for some reason can shut it down. It is all a rather mysterious process. Mutual friends Paul and Joanne Matthiae have been helping all week so I don’t feel too remiss.
I have new rubber boots to wear in the snow and slush today, courtesy of a raffle I won (first win of anything in a very long time, so maybe I am in for a run of good luck) at the Digger’s Hotline meeting the other evening. I took the $25 gift card to Walmart yesterday, and found good rubber boots, just like the one’s I used to wear in the sewer trenches fifty years ago, and by God they are American made, and were $7.00 less expensive than the Chinese boots next to them on the rack, and cost less than I would have paid a half century ago. Now if we could just get Detroit to compete like that our economic troubles would soon be over! I don’t think the U.S. government had anything to do with my new boots, either.

4/02/09 WILL IT BE A LATE SPRING?

Friday, 8:30 AM. 36 degrees, wind W, calm to moderate. The sky is overcast with high gray clouds, but the barometer predicts sunny skies. The photo is of red maple (Acer rubrum) flower buds, swelling as winter wanes. I guess they will bloom in about three weeks. I will cut a few to force in the house and see how they progress. The native pussy willow that I brought indoors three weeks ago is blooming but has not yet leafed out. I think that the very cold winter put plants into deep dormancy and it may be a late spring (although day length ultimately determines most seasonal change).

4/01/09 DAFFODILS, FORSYTHIA AND TREE PLANTING

Wednesday, 8:30 AM. 33 degrees, wind WSW, calm. There is a very light snow falling. The roads were a bit slick walking, but it is a relatively warm morning and the ice and slush are melting. Daffodils are peeking through the snow on the south facing banks, and in another three weeks Bayfield will be glorious with tens of thousands of daffodils.
I cut forsythia branches this morning to force for Easter Sunday, and they should bloom by then if I watch them closely and adjust the heat in the office. In past years I forced many trees, shrubs, bulbs and perennials for flower shows, it is more art than science, and a lot of fun. We tried to get to the Larsen’s sugar bush yesterday but turned back because the roads were treacherous. We may try today, but I have an evening meeting in Ashland, a Digger’s Hotline seminar on utility safety, I call the hotline whenever I plant trees, it is much better to be safe than sorry.