We Got Some Wild Wild Life

[All apologies to the Talking Heads...]

Took a trip to the cottage for the Fourth of July weekend (which for us ended on Wednesday night, when we rolled into our driveway at 9pm). Sadly, no pics are available because the digital camera had a dead battery and I forgot the charger. Since it's a Sony Cybershot, and Sony's design is completely ass-backwards, the camera cannot be charged via the USB that connects it to the computer. Our 35mm Canon came along, but as Hubby was appalled at the cost to develop a single roll of film (over $10), he refused to get a CD (a $2 upcharge) and we had 4 rolls...taken on one day.

The cottage is in far northern Wisconsin, a little over an hour from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (which frankly should just be part of Wisconsin, but what do I know). Hubby planned a surprise trip to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness Area, and we spent all day Sunday hiking the various trails. My shins are still recovering.

What made it so special was that it was like a mini-honeymoon for us.

On June 23, we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Our original honeymoon was a two-week drive through Minnesota, the Dakotas, the northeast corner of Wyoming (Devil's Tower), and Montana, and it was awesome. We wanted to do something similar for our 10th, but with two kids under 10, it didn't seem like it would work very well (though they are OK for the 225 mile trip to the cottage, I doubt either of them would endure the 14-hour drives we took to get to the various destinations on the original trip). The other issue is one of money--we don't have any to spare this year, and gas and hotels cost money.

So Hubby came up with idea that we'd go to the nearest mountains, which happened to be in the UP. Added bonus were the Union copper mines (we'd spent 3 days in the Black Hills, where there are abandoned exploratory gold mines all over the place).  We hiked up to Lake of the Clouds, and drove to various sites along the south Boundary Road of the wilderness area. We climbed the tower at Summit Peak, which overlooks Lake Superior. It was a really great day--14 hours of just the two of us. And no bears. A few weeks from now, when the blackberries are ripe, that area is bear-tastic.

Wildlife on our lake this year has become more diverse. In addition to the pair of eagles (and their year-old progeny), the great blue herons (who keep pooping on our raft), the pair of loons (and their loonlets--so cute), the mallard family, belted kingfishers, veeries, and thrushes, we have two new species. A pair of common mergansers and a pair of broad-winged hawks have taken up residence:

A muskrat has also made a burrow nearby. Our dock seems to be its favorite place to dismember crappie and bluegill, to judge by the number of fish heads and bones I had to keep cleaning off the beach and dock. We watched it climb up onto the ladder on the raft daily to eat plants (no pics, sadly). Both Things got a big kick out of watching it swim around.

I am so grateful that we have a place like this to retreat from the world. No internet access, no TV, spotty cell service. It's wonderful. Tony's parents bought the land in the summer of 1977, and built the cottage the following year. It's been added on to (now 2 bedrooms!) and his parents have been updating things over the last few years, and all I can say is that we are a very lucky family to have such a marvelous place.

The view from the deck

Poems are coming out of this trip. My soul feels restored, and I'm going to do my best to try to keep it that way.

Mother's Day

Sunday. Mother's Day. Went to breakfast in town, then took the kids over to the park. Things One and Two ran around, played on the teeter-totter, scooted up and down the slides, and were just generally adorable. Went for a walk along the Mullet River. Took a bunch of pictures with my camera phone:

Handmade cards and flowers...

Now I'm sitting in the sun on our deck in the back yard. Hubby is putting together the travel trailer for our trip to New Orleans in August.  Frogs and thrushes and robins and chickadees and goldfinches are performing a woodland serenade to the accompaniment of (I kid you not) the wind through the willows (and birches and larches and spruces).

The weather has finally improved to the point where we were actually able to get some work done in the garden yesterday. Peppers and roma tomatoes are now in. I potted my peony yesterday too. Today was mostly spent puttering around and soaking up the sunshine.

Dinner (at my request): Papa Murphy's and Kiki's Delivery Service with the Things. Being a mama's a pretty good deal.

Hooray for May!

Very happy today, after a restful weekend spent working around the house. I say "restful" because I didn't spend the weekend grading.

Spent much of yesterday bringing up tub after tub of baby clothes for the yard sale in June. Garden is looking great--we should have quite a crop of strawberries since the Ft. Laramies we planted last year wintered over really well (including the "daughter" plants we planted in the fall) and now that I've gotten the creeping groundcover weed thingies off them, they should do well. Hubby built a small cold frame so that we could get some seeds started and keep the plants (peppers and roma tomatoes) warm until we're past the danger of frost. Since we had snow the second week of May last year, we're going to wait a bit to plant them. Hubby put the potatoes in--Yukon Golds and baby reds.

The Things are getting along, and I'm really happy about that. I'm actually looking forward to spending the summer at home for the first time since Thing One was a baby. She's more willing to cooperate, and she's really been helpful lately.

Thing One reading Cars and Trucks to her brother, who LOVES things that go.

Weekend Edition

No snark in this one.

Hubby is in Vegas with his best friend, so I'm doing the single-parent thing for a few days. Since today's Saturday, I made cinnamon rolls for the Things, and I'm enjoying a nice cup of coffee while I catch up with the news.

The news sucks. OK, that's kind of snarky.

Crazy Qaddafi is bombing and threatening and just generally acting the way everyone expected him to yesterday when he agreed to a ceasefire. Jackwagon.

The nuclear situation in Japan is getting worse, and since the focus is on avoiding the China syndrome, 400,000+ people are living in refugee camps.

The House voted to gut funding for NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which brings you such left-wing programs as "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" and "Sesame Street". I will go on the record right now: I had to stop listening to NPR for a while during the Bush years precisely because they were so fair and balanced toward a godawful President and his cadre of lying liars. I would get really furious and start yelling at the radio in the car, which invariably startled and upset Thing One.

Locally, the good news is that Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order preventing the publications of the (likely illegally) passed legislation that effectively guts unions until at least March 29th, when she's scheduled a hearing. The jackwagon AG, JB Van Hollen (Republican, natch) issued a challenge, instead of pursuing a case AGAINST the illegal moves made by his Republican cronies.

Anyway, I am having to swim really hard against a tide of bad juju in this world right now, and it's made a bit easier by a consciousness that I am supremely lucky: I have healthy, intelligent, beautiful children (and I'm not bragging--other people tell me this); I am happily married to Hubby (and I miss him terribly when he's not here, so that's a good sign too); we have a decent roof and good food to eat; we have great friends and wonderful family. 

The blessings are many in this chaotic world. I just wanted to take a minute to remind myself.

One more: the sandhill cranes are back, and the pair that nests in the marsh 300 yards from my kitchen is honking up a storm right now. I'm looking forward to hearing the first of the spring peepers soon, too...

The world keeps turning.

Perspektiv: I Haz It

The weekend was really good--I was able to get back on an even keel with Thing One. She's really an amazing kid--smart, funny, and full of energy. I'm a lucky mom to have her. 

Right now, I'm watching Thing Two demolish a slice of watermelon from his perch on the chair at the kitchen table--a perch he has learned to climb this past week. Further grey hairs are on their way.

I missed my department summer gathering this weekend--we just had too many projects going on around here. Hubby is building a kiln to dry lumber, and our garden and yard were in sore need of some tending.

So we spent the weekend together, and it was good. When I imagined married life with kids, this weekend was what I pictured: working on separate projects, then coming together to chat and eat and just be. Sunday morning involved me getting to sleep in until 8:00, rising for coffee and time to write on the deck before having blueberry pancakes. 

I had a brainstorm of ideas for a YA novel just before I fell asleep on Saturday night, and have filled 4 pages of my 9x12 sketchbook with ideas, including a rough outline for the plot.

Considering that I haven't ever written anything longer than a 6-page short story (once) and my usual medium is poetry, this represents a major change and challenge.  It is going to require quite a bit of research (which I will confess right now is very appealing to me) and collaboration with hubby, whose knowledge of woodsmithing, metallurgy, and machinery will be invaluable.


Coming as it does during the final stage of my bid for tenure, I am wondering if my brain is trying to sabotage me. I went to the Art Institute of Chicago for an MFA in Creative Writing 13 years ago, and NOW I have good ideas?! ARGH.


In other news, I will be sending out my chapbook again at the end of the week, along with a couple of poems for an upcoming anthology about growing up in Ohio. Hopefully at least one of the Ohio poems will be accepted. 

I grew up one mile from Brandywine Falls.  If you're ever in the Cleveland/Akron area, you definitely should check it out. 


And now, back to my regularly scheduled programming: laundry, dishes, prepping dinner (since we'll be at Thing One's very first swimming lesson tonight!), and playing with Thing One and Thing Two.


Life is very, very good.