Good morning all:

Weekly wisdom from deep within the north woods:

“The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.” ~ A. A. Milne

My morning coffee here in the north woods means a time for catching up on the news. This ‘catching up on the news” means news via XM radio and it also means, no local news, but US national 24 hour news—these days primarily an array of political and hysteric events. We listen to a lot of third-rate and second-rate minds.
A very happy mother’s day to all you moms out there; for me that means a special wish for the most important ladies in my circle—Marcia, Kirstin, Cathy, and Adrianne.

Marcia enjoying her early Mom’s Day gift from the kids

I hope you wake up to as peaceful and gorgeous a view as I have sitting here keying away in front of the family area window at the cabin—the lake is as placid as it can be, some thick early morning clouds overhead, and soft colors of blue, pink, and the greens from the far shore all bouncing off the water.

If that picture isn’t good enough, add to it the sight of Rubythroated hummingbirds darting back and forth at the feeder.

Pace in the North – Life in the north woods has a special rhythm—slow. Being up here means that either you succumb or you go crazy. There would appear to be a special clock where a single standard 24-hour cycle cranks around in a week or so.

Take for example the new dock Marcia gave me as a surprise birthday gift. The contract called for it to be installed at the end of April (assuming the ice was off the lake). It’s sitting here for all to admire the great workmanship—next to the cabin. Mid-week the owner of the outfit which made it stopped by with two of his workers. If you guessed that the reason was for them to pour the concrete pad to place it then you’d be wrong. It was to talk a bit, a little ‘meet ‘n greet’, and to state that he’d be out next week to pour the pad.

In the meantime the pontoon is still parked where it over-wintered since it can’t be launched till the dock is in. Oh well, I have spent a little time doing some minor stuff on its engine, so not all is wasted.

At the other end of the lake is Paul. His satellite provider required him to lock on to a different satellite. Ok, a week’s worth of waiting and yesterday the tech drove the hour-and-a-half to move the dish eight degrees further west. We couldn’t wait to finally have internet.

To facilitate a ‘speedy’ event Paul and Donn drove over 30-miles to pick up some scaffolding and thereby making it easier for the dish adjustment. Fat chance! The tech was hard at work by late morning. Paul, Donn, and I sat on a nearby little wall much like bumps on a log where we were trying hard to absorb important new words to our vocabulary, such as “azimuth.” By four o’clock my backside was numb and I headed home. It was also approximately trip fourteen up the scaffolding by the tech and that began to become boring to watch. By eight o’clock we heard that the tech was still hard at it—by that time he was trying to replace some frayed wiring and had drilled through the telephone line. No internet yet.

Animal Planet – Our bird population is back at full strength including a beautiful American Goldfinch. The Woodpeckers all around us busily drumming on any resonating surface all in an effort to attract the ladies. But, I’ve seen nary a single large animal. Donn and Marlene, on the other hand, drove down the road a ways to take a look at a herd of Elk and spotted a black bear further into the field.

Make it a great week everyone; you guys, at least fix breakfast in the morning. On Monday four of us will head into town to their arts venue, Auld Kirk, and listen to a couple of folk singers out of Edmonton – Doug Hoyer and Jessica Jalbert – they are supposed to be quite good.

Cheers,
Dirk

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