Always catching up!

I hate when I drop off the blogging train.  I get so behind!  And then there is too much to write about, but I guess I'll just get started.

Spring has definitely come, but before we get too enthusiastic about planting gardens full of flowers and vegetables, we are facing one more threatened dose of snow tomorrow night to Monday.  So far we have only planted onions and also some spinach that hasn't shown up yet.  We moved the onions to where the potatoes were last year.  Definitely didn't need that many potatoes!  But they are so fun to harvest!

On Tuesday we went to Hauser's Nursery and Orchard in Bayfield to check out their selection of plants and trees.  And what a selection!  And what a view of Lake Superior from up on that hill!  Notice the barn quilt there on the side of the barn.  Leann wants to make one of those for our very much smaller "barn."

We left there with three new trees--a Honeycrisp and two Connell Reds, a currant bush, burning bush, two forsythias, several new perennials and some herbs.  Most are all planted except the herbs and maybe I should bring them inside tonight!

Our wildlife viewing is also going into summer mode.  One of the last pictures on our wildlife camera when it was still located in the backyard aimed at the deer feeder was this cute little guy checking out the food situation.  By this time, I don't think there was anything much there that would interest him.

Also in our back yard was this pile of evidence that the bears are out of hibernation.  I have a closeup if there's any question it's from a bear...  We haven't seen any actual bears yet but someone saw a mother and three babies not far down Highway 13.  Gotta watch those bird feeders now!

So,  now I moved the camera to a spot across the field in our front yard.  There are always a lot of deer out there, so I put it there to see what else visits us in the night.  Here's another not-so-little raccoon:

And here's the back end of something dog-like.  It doesn't look straggly enough to be a coyote and it's got a pretty bushy tail so maybe a fox, but foxes are usually a little smaller.  Wolf?  Probably not...

This deer posed nicely...

And then today we have this wild species riding a different kind of "deere!"  Yes, it's mowing time again.  A sure sign of summer!

Really...what more could you want?

Would you buy a t-shirt with this on the front?

We got the idea for this from a shirt I bought when we were in Boston last fall, so I'm probably violating copyright of the idea by creating this one.  It's all our own work though.  We compiled the list of places, groups, events and other Port Wing high points.  I got them all arranged using a graphics program, Leann did the drawings, I squeezed them into the design, and it looks like this. Maybe I should copyright this version!

Now comes the t-shirt decisions for possible sales this summer.  How many to order?  What sizes?  And most importantly, what color(s)?  I was once in charge of t-shirt/sweatshirt sales for a group in my past life and I had boxes of leftovers around long after anyone had any interest anymore!  In fact, we probably still have a couple around here...

And I guess an ever more important question is whether I have missed some key group or event.  Anyone see anything I should add?  I'm sure I can fit it in somewhere!

Organizing the forest

You may not recognize this but this is an apple tree gone wild.

We have about 20-30 acres of apple trees gone wild.  While we have be able to do some taming of the trees in the past couple of years, usually in the fall, this beautiful early spring weather with bare ground has given us a jump on the tree trimming before the wood ticks get too thick.  Fifty to sixty years ago when this was actually a working farm, the area we now call the meadow was a cleared grain- or corn-producing field.  Since then, birds, other creatures and the wind have worked hard to seed all manner of trees, but mostly apple trees.  And with no one watching them through the years, the apple trees grow wild!

So, last week Leann made a bench out of reused boards from the deck on the old house.  We have several benches positioned here and there up in the meadow to sit and stop to enjoy the view along our trails.  We found a nice spot for this latest new bench overlooking a clear spot with potential for wildlife viewing.  But just to the left was a grove of overgrown--messy--apple trees.  My Older Daughter always accuses us retired librarians of trying to "organize the forest" and I guess that's how we roll!

Here's the same tree from another direction.  Overgrown, dead branches, limbs crossing over other limbs, just a mess!

And here it is after an hour or so of work and three loads of branches hauled away.  There's still more to do, but we're sure what remains of the tree is breathing much easier.

Then came the bonus! Just a couple feet to the south of this little grove was a small wetland area.  We had seen some bugs skimming across the water so we knew there was some life there, but then while we were working we started hearing some sounds--sort of like chirps crossed with a croaking sound and soon we saw two little frogs.  They are someplace in the middle of those two clumps of grass poking their heads out of the water.  Where did they come from since this little puddle is not usually there the rest of the year?

What a great spring!

Where's the [Quarry] beach??

All winter on our drives down to The Lake we look across to Quarry Beach and see ridges of ice lining the shore.  That's Quarry Beach below over beyond the breakwater.

Quarry Beach is one of the hidden treasures in this area.  It was the site of an actual brownstone quarry operation back in the early days of Port Wing.  It can look different every time you go there depending on weather and wave action.  Sometimes there are large areas of stones for agate searching; other times all you can see is beautiful sand the whole length of the beach.

Since we don't know how well-maintained the road into Quarry Beach is during the winter, we patiently wait until spring to see what all of that ice has done to the beach.  And today was the day.  Boy, were we surprised!  This picture doesn't show the sudden  5 foot drop down to the level of the rocks...and sandy beach.  Really, usually there is at least 10-20 feet of sandy beach.  And it's gone!  What happened?  Is the water level so high that it reclaimed all those feet of beach?  In light of all the water problems out west, I guess I won't complain about a lake with LOTS of water in it!

So, we'll just have to watch it over time and see what happens with spring and summer weather.  If it stays like this, it will change a whole bunch of summer beach plans!