Report from the northwoods

It's dry in the northwoods! The snow has all melted. We spent the weekend opening our cabin for the season. A little cleaning, chopping wood, etc. It was good to get away. Spring has not sprung yet, Goodman is always about two weeks behind,,,,,,,, the lawns are still brown and the trees have yet to bud.

Despite the snow melting.........our water pipes had not thawed yet. Dave built a nice fire and soon we were just toasty. AND we had water. Dave loves to make a fire.......the cabin is not large,,,,so it gets warm quickly.........too warm sometimes for me, I have to go out and sit on the porch to cool off. Dave likes it warm enough so the butter on the table melts! That didn't happen this weekend, but it happens often enough.

In the morning, on the way to the privy, I saw this tree

Looks like the work of a pileated woodpecker to me.......... I have only seen one of the birds in my life,,,, but we hear them often in the woods near the cabin. They are really big, I wish I had seen this one at work.

After the cleaning I had some free time. I built a little "faerie house' in a hole in a tree near the cabin. The hole was there,,,,,,I just embellished it a little with some pebbles, moss and stuff.

My purpose for doing this? I plan for Emili to "discover" the faerie house on our next trip up north. ...........I don't know if it will work, sometimes she isn't very observant..........or maybe the chipmunks will remodel it to their own tastes.

I also sewed this felt elephant, just for fun,,,,,,,,, he looks like he is climbing a mountain in this photo, but he is really only a few inches tall! This pachyderm is made from a sweater I shrunk.