Spring Chores

It's the week of opener, and we are busy polishing, shining, and pounding, depending on the task at hand. I am stealing some moments from my cleaning to catch up on things at the desk. Addie is out washing windows--she even volunteered for this! Too cool--what a good kid. When it isn't raining, Robert is working on some new parts for the docks. Greg continues to put in the flooring at Cedar Point. The birch looks so good, I can't imagine that it will actually be better with a finish on it. And the oak in the bedrooms is full of character. It's always exciting to see changes like this.

It has been raining, that is for certain. I checked the rain guage yesterday, and we had received one inch. Today, the guage is at one and a quarter, and it is still raining. Wow! That is good news for the forest, of course, but also for the lake. It is coming up to the level that we usually like to see in the springtime. When the ice went out on April 18th, Addie asked how soon we would be putting in the docks. Repair work aside, I said that it would be shortly before opener. Experience has taught me that if we put the docks in too early, and then the lake level rises, we have to pull them closer to shore. The downside of that is that someone (and it has been me before) has to actually get in to the cold, cold waters to attach the chain to the dock frame. Not a pleasant time of the year to be dunking in the lake!

With the rain comes cooler temperatures, but that doesn't seem to be hindering the wave of green that continues to blanket the landscape. I enjoy seeing the growth in pine trees in various places on the Gunflint Trail. Even before the blowdown in 1999, there were tree-planting gatherings on the Trail. Hedstrom's Lumber Mill in Grand Marais kindly gives away seedlings each May, to homeowners and organizations to plant. We have picked up trees from them for several years. I remember when Addie was about four, the Gunflint Trail Association had a service project of tree planting in the vicinity of the Northern Light Lake overlook and lake access, in the highway right-of-way. We brought all three kids along to plant trees with us. That was ten years ago, and those trees look to be anywhere from six to ten feet tall. Since the blowdown, many areas on the Trail have been re-planted, and it is so gratifying to see these young trees each year, growing taller and stronger. We may not see as many magnificently tall pines as in the years past, but fortunately the trees do continue to grow in our forest. This Friday, Greg will again pick up his seedlings, and we will be planting more little trees on our land. Many thanks to Hedstrom's for this gift.