It's May, It's Mother's Day, Hooray!

Asher Celebrates May

The snow and ice are finally gone; it's time to celebrate.  The sun helped us by making an appearance this weekend and the dogs, cat, chickens and flowers joined in the fun.

Almost Daffodil Days

The crocus plants are in bloom and the daffodils promise to blossom soon.

Asher Patrols the Shoreline

Winter's quiet has been replaced by the noisy spring sounds of frogs, owls and insects. 

Maddie Patrols the Woods

Asher embraces the spring and enjoys spending all waking hours outside, lakeside and upside down.  Maddie Jo takes a cautious approach and sticks to the woods near the house.

Vision in Red Astilbe for Mom's Garden

 I usually try to clean up the two little garden plots in the Friendly Forest that  my father made to honor my mother.  In the past I have been able to add some spring flowers, but the weather threatens to turn cold this coming week.  I bought two red astilbe plants at the Warehouse, but won't plant them until later.

Gardening Help from Asher

 For now Asher and I raked and weeded the gardens and the area around them.  Well, I raked and weeded, Asher dug holes - perhaps for future plantings.

One Garden Cleaned of Debris

Spring Brings Second Garden to Life

The chickens are particularly fond of warm weather.  They wander near and far in search of grubs and worms.

Chickens at Play

The only one missing is Mr. French - he prefers to enjoy the mild weather at evening's twilight.

It's So So Snow Fun!

 


It was Community Appreciation Day at Minocqua Winter Park so Pete and I headed out and decided to give tubing a try.

Pete waiting in the tow rope line.

 

We're on our way up!

A look down.

The view from the top.

Going down the hill was fun and fast, but at the bottom Pete and his tube separated making for an air-born Pete and a hard WIPE OUT!

 Last week we took a trip to Eagle River for Klondike Days and stopped at the Ice Castle too.

We've been having fun in the snow and today we had the chance to take a winter walk down our soon-to-be driveway.  Yesterday it was covered with snow.

Snow covered driveway

The banks were too high to get over.

Joe cleared the new drive today and we checked it out.

Maddie Jo on the go.

Single file

The drive and our walk ended at the bulldozer.

Asher tried to go beyond the plowed drive.

Up the hill

and over

and stuck!

It's best to stay on the path when the snow is almost as high as Pete's eye.

Windigo Snowshoe Stomp

Pete and I had a great time checking out a new trail system just 5 minutes from the house during a special event they held the other week. Their facebook page says it all, "The WinMan Trails are a new network of silent sport trails located in Winchester, WI. Spanning 1300 acres of private land and public Northern Highlands American Legion State Forest recreation land, the WinMan Trails offer opportunities for mountain biking, hiking, classic skiing, skate skiing, and snowshoeing."


They hosted a snowshoe race with a Windigo theme. 

Sounds a little scary.

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and the thermometer was finally reading above zero.  I think it was 18 degrees; practically t-shirt weather.

Here's Pete

According to Ojibwa folklore a Windigo is " . . .a large creature, as tall as a tree, with a lipless mouth and jagged teeth. Its breath was a strange hiss, its footprints full of blood, and it ate any man, woman or child who ventured into its territory. And those were the lucky ones. Sometimes, the Windigo chose to possess a person instead, and then the luckless individual became a Windigo himself, hunting down those he had once loved and feasting upon their flesh." (http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/windigo.html)

Here's 1 of 3 Windigos along the trail.

The snowshoe race was a timed event, but you could also register for the Fur Chaser event that was a little less competitive.  The objective was to collect pieces of fur from all three Windigos along the trail.

Another Windigo

Pete after stealing some fur from the Windigo

Beth stayed on the trail.

Colorful Windigos handed out as prizes in the Fur Chaser Division

Some of the Winners including Pete with his Windigo
(https://www.facebook.com/WinManTrails)

Fur Chaser Division Male
  1) Carl Karaffa 54:46.1
2) Pete Wetzler 1:03:47.9
3) Ryan Russell 1:04:20.3

Really nice custom prizes for the "real" race.

We'll be back to enjoy the trails on our own. The trailhead and parking lot are on the snowmobile trail at the intersection of Highway W and J.

Beth at trailhead

Well behaved dogs are allowed on the trails. I'm not sure if we have any of those!

"I'd like to check out the trails."  Asher

"I can behave, when I have to." Maddie Jo

We Rake Snow Up Here

Asher way down the driveway after February 21 Snowstorm

Snow in the woods was deep.

There was almost 3 feet of snow on top of the house.  It was time to invest in a rake and groom the roof.

Pete was ready for the job! Go Pete GO!

There was so much snow piled around the house it blocked the doggie door. Pete shoveled out a snow-lined path and Asher tested it out.

Asher way down the driveway.

 After securing the doggie door Asher was ready for another walk followed by a nap.