August 2006 

Aug 24th, 2006

   Wow!  Here it almost the end of August, and the summer just started.  I have been working on a number of projects and spending some time with our guests.  Jed made some new friends again this year, which is very normal for him.  Friends of his from last season returned this summer for more adventures of young boys. (Girls as well, but at 11 years old that is not something he likes to talk about)
   Jed and I have been picking blueberries and I must say that this year has to be the very best crop that I have ever seen.  I thought it might just be my advanced years and bad memory that lead me to think this, but I had another person confirm it.  I just mentioned that I had been picking and they said that they thought it was the most productive year that they could remember.  This person is older than myself so perhaps we were both just having memory lapse!  I do not think so as there were literally clumps of berries on the bushes this year.  I have made up 5 quarts of jam from them and will be making another batch tomorrow.

  Maureen made some biscuits and added a cup of berries to them the other day.  They were quite palatable if I must say so myself.  (I think that I managed to consume the majority of that batch)  Not to be outdone, I managed to throw together a batch just in time for a group of our guests to enjoy them on their last nights stay here at Frost Pond.  (Maureen and I have an ongoing competition to see who can produce the best biscuit)
   I had taken these folks out to pick berries with me one afternoon so that they could see just one of the pastimes that we enjoy up here in the woods.  I figured that they might just as well have a taste of one of our specialties that Maureen and I produce.   They were quite pleased with the outcome and Thomas ate the first one before they could even get back to their campsite.  (Thomas is 10, and it was his turn to cook that night, so his dinner was a pretty good hit with the family)
   The fishing had slowed down in the heat of August, but now that the cool nights have returned I am sure that it will be starting to pick back up once again.  I will be out there trying my luck at it as time permits, but I usually wait until September rolls around.   Some of the best fishing of the year is in September, but as I have said in the past, the best time to fish is when you have a fishpole in your hands. (Maybe I said that a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work, but you get the point, GO FISHING)
   The past couple of nights have been cool and the clear skies at night have made some wonderful star viewing possible.  The nights seem darker and the stars seem more intense once the heat is gone.  I am sure that when it is warmer and the humidity is higher, the moisture in the air causes the star light to refract a bit and they do not seem as bright.  On those -20 degree nights in the winter the sky can be so black and the stars so bright that it makes one wish to sleep outside just to observe them.  (Of course common sense and a warm bed overrule those moments of insanity)
  Jed came running up to the house the other day all excited because he had seen a mink scampering around the dock.  He was very pleased that he had seen it while out there by himself.  A couple of days later some folks stopped in to ask questions and they asked me what kind of animal was scurrying around the dock.  I have yet to see it, but if it is hanging around I may get a chance to watch it at some point.
   Folks are getting in their last trips of the summer now and finding it a very pleasant time of year to be here.  The loons are still being very cooperative this year with their calling back and forth to each other.  They still talk to the loons over on Ripogenus Lake about every night.  (They are carrying on now, which served to jog my thoughts as to how vocal they have been this summer)
  I am sure that I could ramble on for quite awhile about everything that has been going on up here since I last made an entry in the journal, but I will get myself ready for bed and try to keep you up to date on a more regular basis in the future.  The days just seem to slip past, quicker that I like to think about.
GT


Aug 7th, 2006

   The summer days are getting noticeably shorter already.  The garden is producing more Cucumbers than I can eat.  This is not a bad thing, but I wish that I could save them fresh until the middle of the winter!  The rest of the garden is doing well and I just wait for things to ripen before diving in.  Jed likes the green beans so it is a constant battle to let them get big enough for a real meal rather than just eating them raw out of the garden.
   We had a couple from Tennessee stop in looking for a campsite that they had stayed in 30 years ago!  They thought that it was here and when I took them down to camp site 1, sure enough, that was the site.  They even told me a "bear" story about how one of their children hid on the path to the outhouse and scared the women when they went across the road for their last "walk" of the evening.  One of the ladies took off running and the other just stood there in shock.  I guess that all, or most, parties concerned had a good laugh about it.  It must have been good to remember it 30 years later!  (Now that is not something that I would ever consider doing)
   We had our 29th annual family reunion here this past weekend.  We had a good time and I even made another pot of "bean-hole" beans.  They came out very tasty and we went through a good portion of them.  I never did get out to catch more white perch for the reunion, but we had plenty to eat just the same.  I made blueberry bannock, and once I got it all figured out again, it came out well.  I am still eating leftovers that folks left behind!  (Not a bad thing at all)  I made enough beans to carry me through for a few days and they have become a staple, much like the old days in the logging camps.  Beans were a major portion of the loggers daily diet for a good reason.  You can cook them ahead and eat them 3 times a day without tiring of them.  Up here in these parts, beans are a meal and not just a side dish.  (This information is for one of the relatives that feels that beans are meant to be a side dish)  We cook them fer meals up he-ah in the boonies, and do it on purpose!
   Jed and I saw a nice buck last evening while coming back to camp. (We had gone out fishing) I would try to make the blowing sound that deer make when they cannot tell what it is that is close by and the deer just stood there looking at us for the longest time.  I told Jed to get out of the truck and see how close he could get.  The deer winded him and it blew and ran off into the woods.  Jed was pretty impressed with seeing one that close.  It was a nice little 4 or 6 pointer, I could not tell for sure as it was behind some trees and leaves.
   Our campers are enjoying the peace and quite that we have here at the pond.  Sitting around their campfire toasting marshmallows, enjoying the stars.  It is a good way to relax, that is for sure.
GT