Good Sunday morning. I am up early waiting to put on the coffee so that the gang can have some prior to departing Northern Comfort; all this while it’s still dark. They want to be on the road by five.

We’ve had a fabulous week. Cathy, Jason, Marin, and Dinah experienced all that they had hoped for (except picking berries which were all done – all except for a few wild raspberries that is).

Yesterday Jason and Cathy took a quiet final canoe run around the cove. The large Bald Eagle which landed on a nearby tree was just a bonus.

”At Northern Comfort it feels like time stands still until it’s time to leave, then it flew by” ~ Jason P.

Arrested Development – what is it with that show? Earlier Derek and Kellen couldn’t get enough of it. Now Marin and Dinah found it difficult to head for bed without their A.D. fix. It wasn’t like we did nothing in the evenings – it takes work to put together a 750 piece puzzle in a single setting (I watched and so can attest to it).

Nary did an evening go by without a few rounds of Spades. Dinah made necklaces for all her friends from fancy rocks gathered at the old abandoned gold mine. She and mom Cathy also made a complete fairyland marketplace scene from Fimo-clay. Marin finished reading Fahrenheit 451 (something required for school). Both were scouring for frogs and even found a fresh water shrimp.

See? Busy as Beavers from morning to night and still an episode of Arrested Development just had to be watched. Luckily we have three seasons on DVD.

Loon Pontoon – Yesterday Marcia began to gather all the bits and pieces gathered throughout the week (earlier I was actually spotted on the side of the highway with my machete and boots cutting Cattail stalks).

Most everyone got involved. So, over an hour or so, the Sweetwater was completely transformed into the “Loon Pontoon”. The boat became a floating shoreline scene complete with cattails, greens, a bear, ducks, loons, a banner, wings, balloons and an audio system playing various Loon calls.

By four o’clock we had loaded ourselves and neighbors aboard and set sail for a leisurely run to the other end of the lake for the annual Fish Fry. The whole scene was so well done that when we began docking on the south end a Loon popped up near the boat, thus lending credibility to the whole picture.

For those wondering, yes Marcia did blow the competition out of the water (figuratively). First place for the fourth time!

Animal Life – Our waterfront frog population is delighted that our visitors are leaving. How many times can anyone (including frogs) be picked up, run around with, and then tossed back into the water? And, I should report that Kali-the-dog in a most friendly manner, managed to finish off two of the little beasties.

This was the first year where Dinah and Marin were old enough to take an interest in the logging industry which was so prominent in these parts. Logging was the major industry the last century when every spring nearly 80,000 logs would float down the the nearby Mississagi River to the mill for processing. We watched a logging movie with footage taken from the first half of the 1900s and visited the Logging museum in Blind River. The movie was great. The droll narration so prevalent in these early documentaries added the humor.

Finis – I ended up having to wake everyone up from deep sleep in the Bunkie (they love ‘their’ Bunkie) – it was 4:30 and the coffee was waiting. Due to the early hour it took a minute or two before I began to receive proper thanks for my deed. They wanted to leave at 5:00 and ended up pulling out at 5:15; not bad huh?

Cheers.
Dirk