Friday, May 6, 2011

First Spring Update

I’ve officially made the move to Camp, although I’m somewhat limited by the fact that we can’t get the generator in over the road yet.  We’re still looking at a good foot or two on parts of the road, especially the hill.  On Thursday, I only made it to within sight of the St. Francis Road (some of you will know that as the big hill you have to climb to get to the farther ponds); I got stuck several times in what I will henceforth affectionately refer to as “the Gauntlet.”  I got myself out today with the help of some gravel, cooler temperatures that hardened up the mealy snow, and good old Brophy determination.

Thanks to a couple from Fort Kent who had tires on their Bronco that my 10-plys would envy, I made it all the way to the base of the hill today.  This is a huge win in my book because it means that I don’t have to walk a mile or more (round trip) for anything I’ve forgotten in the car; I only have to walk down to the bottom of the hill.  (For instance, tonight’s “emergency walk” was precipitated by the fact that, without cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich is just a couple slices of toast.  As tasty as grilled cheese is after a couple hours of yard work, it’s hard to justify walking a mile for one.)

Camp looks good so far.  We had some damage to a few trees over the winter; two in the back field are half as tall as they used to be, and I need to move some large limbs from Galilee’s roof.  Otherwise, everything seemed to fare quite well this winter.

The ice is going out of the pond pretty quickly; we’re expecting it to be gone by next week, and I already saw a fish rise in the small area that is clear near the shore.  I’ve also seen over a dozen ruffed grouse and a couple of spruce grouse on my walks back and forth to the car, several sets of moose tracks (but no moose yet), and quite a few ducks and loons that have already come back.  All in all, it’s shaping up to be a good year.

I’m sorry there are no pictures with this post.  My camera’s USB cable is (you guessed it) in the car.

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