Winter Arrives

Good morning everyone. Well it has been a while since my last entry. No excuses. Just taking a break here in my random musings. This blog thing takes time and energy both of which have been scarce since the end of the season. I appreciate your patience. I do not always understand how much a season takes out of us. The end of the season let down hits differently every year. We give as much as we can and love every minute of it but it does leave us with an end of the season hangover. Remember the tapes thing I mentioned last blog. I was inspired by Ed who posted a new tape on YouTube. What I appreciated about Ed's video of still shots was the way he made a new tape of sailing Mary Day. It got me thinking that I could re-visualize some old tapes by inserting new images. Thanks Ed!

We spent the last few days getting ready for the big snow event. A last minute check of the schooner, all well, bilges dry, chafe gear in place. Get firewood loaded in to the house and barn. The second round of leaf raking will have to wait 'til next spring. The bees are wrapped in tar paper to give them a little solar gain. I did not get a chance to wrap the fruit tree trunks to protect them from girdling by mice and will have to go down to field this morning before the snow gets too deep. We hiked out in to the woods to get our Christmas tree late yesterday afternoon. The small boats have finally been covered. And 7 cords of firewood are sitting in the wood "pit" waiting for splitting. Elisa has been knocking that out for the last week.
The barn needed a new wood stove installation which was completed last week. Bruce and I have just started building a firewood/storage shed for Mary. With the looks of the forecast I don't think we will be back there until Thursday. The website has been updated. Let us know if you see anything we have missed. The newsletter and Christmas cards are at the printers and should be sent before the end of the year. Just in time for the new brochure which we have been working on as well.


So as you can see we have been a little busy. All this and hunting season too. I have spent a fair amount of time in the woods these past few weeks, early morning and late afternoons in particular. The Appleton Volunteer Fire Department had our first chimney fire of the season at 5 AM this morning. Thankfully things have been quiet with the ambulance but the slick roads today might change that. Drive carefully out there, please! For those of you admiring the 4' wreath on the schooner, our friend Tracy tied that one. It makes all other wreaths look anemic in comparison. Thanks Coach!

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.