Good morning all:

Weekly Wisdom from the Canadian North Woods:

”Gimme a little slack will ya? Tighten it up just a turn more. A couple-a more twists should do it. Yup, those three little phrases will get anything done here the North Woods.” — a local everyman we’ll name Claire

I had forgotten just how humid and steamy the ‘Nati gets during the summer months. Rolling in last night it hit us like a brick wall. This morning it still hit me like a brick wall. It wasn’t even fun turning the heat under the coffee maker—resultant coffee tastes good though.

It was necessary for us to head home for a bit and that trip was started yesterday morning early. Jeans and a long sleeved shirt was the starting dress du jeur. We stopped for a picnic lunch at a rest area somewhere near Flint. The picnic concept was for the benefit of Vinnie-the-cat who, once again, started his travels wailing his heart out. For the most part he’s turned into a great little traveler. During a future one-on-one conversation I’ll give you the full scoop (zero in on the word ‘scoop’).

The Duck that could – Marcia was dozing away and I was driving when I saw a duck taking flight from a marshy area in the highway’s median. It happened so fast that I didn’t have a chance to utter a word; however, for some reason Marcia opened her eyes just as the little spectacle unfolded.

I had lost sight of the duck and was focused on the road ahead. Then, all of a sudden, the duck was flying directly in front of the truck, in my lane flying straight in front of us; and actually dropping lower. When over the front of our hood and maybe two feet from the windshield the duck’s rear filled my field of vision and I involuntarily dropped my head below my steering wheel (I feared that it would get even uglier). No thud, no gentle seating motion on glass, with a few inches to spare that franticly flying bird somehow managed to clear our cab. Marcia saw it all; Vinnie-the-cat slept through what would have been his greatest adventure.

Lima – Sometime, shortly after five, I noticed oncoming traffic all having their headlights on. I mentioned to Marcia that it looked like we were going to get some rain. Minutes later, still dry, we saw a lightning bolt in the distance. Quickly lightning was crackling all about us. Going through Lima had a crazy sky and tons of rain. We plowed slowly through it all, wipers on high-speed and the 4-way flashers on. Everything was over as quickly as it started. Switching to an AM band the first thing we heard was the National Weather Service emergency interrupt reporting a tornado over Lima and urging people to take cover. By then we were driving with clear skies ahead.

Sleeping Beauty – has her sleep for a hundred years when Prince Charming discovers the overgrown castle and sleeping beauty. That story is so wrong. There is no way that it takes a hundred years for a castle to be overtaken by Mother Nature—one month is more like it. I could not make it up the stairs to our deck due to 6-foot long plant growth forming a spider web all the way up. Before I could empty our dirty laundry from the truck Marcia tackled the staircase growth (had to) with pruning shears.

Aiken Island – Our Lake has an island, an eight acre island to be exact. The owner of one of the four small cabins on the place invited six of us dinner. He wanted to share the two Northern Pike he had caught. Inviting six people without the Mrs. being first made aware to an island cabin which is off the power grid is truly a gutsy move. Were we in for a surprise. The fish proved to be as flaky and tasty as I’ve ever had, and fed us to where we couldn’t eat another bite with yet more available. Using a combination of generator and batteries his place was fully functional, including being completely connected to the internet. What a great evening.

We all had to look out of the kitchen window where last year the Mrs. stood and watched a bear swim across the channel and clamber up the bank—oh yes, she was alone at the time. Marcia also had the opportunity to walk back into the middle of the island to the original little cabin that she remembers from her childhood. Now empty it is a haven for the island’s bat population.

Animal Planet – Earlier in the week new formations of Canadian Geese were still heading north.

I have collected some of the more interesting moths we’ve come across. This is for a show and tell when the grandkids come up later this month. One of the better specimens is a Polyphemus moth with a 5.5 inch wingspan. A cruel joke of nature has this moth with no mouth parts, the ultimate restrictive diet.

Neighbors pointed out a nearby group of fox dens complete with little ones. And mid week folk at the local trading post had to stay inside until a neighborhood bear finished exploring the adjacent sheds and garbage.

Marcia went trolling and caught another smallmouth bass, nice size, but since it’s out of season it spit out the hook and refused to play along.

Make it a great week everyone. Rain, heat, humidity, for the remainder of the week; what are we doing back in the ‘Nati?

Cheers,

Dirk