The wildlife here at the Nook is incredible. We have so many mammals and birds and such I cannot imagine ever seeing them all in my lifetime. Since Abby died I have started feeding them. I feed the deer, the squirrels, the blue-jays, the Eagles, the chickadees, the woodpeckers, and anybody else that saunters by. There is such a show in front of my house now, that visitors have commented on how it’s like being in a “living zoo”, like watching fish in an aquarium, etc. I have tried to relay the phenomenon to city folks and they “think that’s cool”, well, they obviously don’t get it. Then I talk to my country folk friends and tell them about the button buck who capitalizes the corn and the momma doe who pushes even him away to let her yearling eat as they rise up on their hind legs and box each other---a few feet out from my window and they say, yeah, “we see the wildlife here too.” Well, ummm, I really don’t think you are seeing it quite the way I am…I gotta try to describe this scenario, because it isn’t like anything you or I have ever witnessed I don’t think…let me try.
OK, you are sitting in a big, beautiful leather easy chair. Ten feet in front of you are big picture windows. It is very warm inside, although it is cold outside, the sun is out, and Lake Michigan spans out in front of you. The Big Lake is frozen at least to Beaver Island and as far as you can tell, all the way to Chicago. You are at the very tip of Lake Michigan. You can walk to the frozen Lake in about 100 feet. Soon, Fast Freddy the squirrel comes out and pecks at the corn, all the while looking for the deer who come each day and eat the most of it. He eats a bit, then “squirrels” it away into his den every 5 minutes. I don’t think he likes the deer, although from the little snow fort he has made in the rocks by the corn, he can come in and out with reckless abandon and grab some! I think Freddy has several homes now. I was so impressed that he burrowed a snow fort in amongst the rocks by the corn piles---this is a good 20 yards from his main home by the old stump. Suffice it to say, the rock home is the “winter cottage”.
Now, as the movie unfolds, here come the blue-jays, they flutter in and out of the cedar trees two at a time, picking up corn and flying back up when the have had enough. Then the chickadees come swarming in and out hitting the bird feeders and picking up a piece of corn now and then. Around 1630 hours, within 2 or 3 minutes, no lie, Momma Doe comes with her yearling and supervisors his eating. She makes sure the yearling gets first dibs, and has a few mouthfuls before button buck shows up and starts pushing the other deer away from the pellet/corn pile. The rearing up on the hind legs and boxing with hooves only lasts for a few seconds, as they realize that there are at least two piles of feed, enough for everyone, and they position in and out of the piles, to the beach and back, filling their mouths to their ruminent interiors. Then, old lonely lady doe with her big long scar down her side shows up and just slowly saunters to the feed pile and eats and everybody moves out of the way. She doesn’t even look up to see her competition, she just eats to her fill and walks away. Even button buck moves aside. The scar on her side looks like an arrow sliced down it sometime ago, but never penetrated---and she carries on. Soon there are a total of Eight deer feeding in and out of the piles.
It used to be that they would all be out there feeding and I would open the door and they would take off running madly. However, I made sure to turn and walk up and away toward the big garage and not say much. After a few weeks they became accustomed to me going in and out. Now, when I go outside, they just stand their chewing, looking at me. I talk to them a little, and as long as I stay about 20 yards away, they just perk their ears up and watch me. Slowly, I am gaining their trust. According to the old timers around here, by spring they will be eating apples out of my hand. That is my goal, to have the “wildlife” become a part of this complex and family. I know, I should probably fatten them up and “harvest” one of them now and then like the good hunters and farmers do. However, I cannot betray the trust now, this is their sanctuary, their little respite from the coyotes and wolves and terror of the cold winter. Although they are wild animals and provide us with a view of “wildlife”, I am amazed at how tame they are becoming in my presence. I am amazed at how like “Pavlog’s Dogs” they equate the return of the Green Suburban and the 50 year old man’s voice with food, and security, and sanctuary. Isn’t it great to secure such trust? Isn’t it great to sit and watch nature unfold like a big aquarium out your front picture window? I simply have to get video of this for you—it is a rather amazing daily event that you just have to see!!!!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The Seney Stretch
When you leave Naubinway and travel West you have two basic options. You can go West on US-2 or drive North up 117 to M28. US-2 will take you along Lake Michigan to Escanaba and beyond to Wisconsin. M28 will take you along Lake Superior to Marquette and points up North and then again to Wisconsin and Minnesota. My favorite path is to go up 117 to M28 and go thru the “Seney Stretch”. This is a very strait road that travels thru National Forest for about 90 miles. Along that stretch you see so many rivers I lost count. Some of them are very small, not big enough for a Kayak, others are big enough for a jet boat. In any case, there are more Trout in there that any man could ever throw a fly at in a lifetime. However, it’s strait, and it’s sleepy. Except for the occasional deer, eagle or snowmobile crossing, it puts you to sleep. It’s the best sleep aid I have ever taken. Fortunately, this weekend I had my wife with me, who was full of iced tea and well prepared to drive. I took her on a surprise Valentine’s Weekend Trip. She didn’t know where she was going. As I handed the key over to her, I told her about all the folks who have lost their life on the “Seney Stretch”. Or worse, those who had their bodies battered after falling asleep and running into a tree and then did months of physical therapy. They are never the same, with pins and rods in broken bones and ever carrying on with a limp. Well, she took it to heart and I arrived in Marquette completely whole. Well, whole is relative, I am certainly not as “whole” as I was when I was 24. Nevertheless, I was alive. I learned later that I missed the best part of the drive, where M-28 goes along the Lake Superior Lake Shore, past the beautiful log homes and parks and beaches. I slept.
Anyway, we had a great Valentine’s Day in Marquette. First, we checked into our Hotel and then I took her to Elizabeth’s Chop House. Now, this restaurant could easily be in Manhatten, and hold a candle to it. The ambience with the old brick walls, big windows looking out at Lake Superior, and the “seafood parfait” appetizer and then lamb and prime-rib was totally excellent. After that we enjoyed the Marquette Symphony Orchestra performing a Brahms Symphony and then a Beethoven Piano Concerto….Well, they were pretty nervous with the Brahms during the first two movements. The violas were pretty darn good, but the second violins were somewhere between high school and up. The third movement was heavenly, finally together. Then, when we got to Beethoven and the pianist, they were pretty warmed up and it was rather amazing. Three standing ovation encores brought the pianist back for a Brahms Hungarian Theme piano solo---it was very magical, being in the North Woods and hearing such beautiful music. I reflected on the passing of one of the founding members of the Symphony Board that the concert was dedicated to. That’s rather amazing, what a legacy, that some dedicated musicians could bring a string program up among the loggers and fishermen and burley outdoorsmen. In fact, it was really quite a “stretch”. A long stretch over the long miles of roads thru the “Seney Stretch” and millions of acres of forest.
The next day I took my “main squeeze” shopping and she told me how much she loved me and appreciated my Valentine’s Weekend Surprise. She told me so many times that it reiterated all the reasons I married her. She loves me, appreciates me, needs me, courts me, loves to be with me. She even enjoyed driving the Seney Stretch---especially when we went by the cell phone towers---as you have about 7 miles on each end of them to talk to daughters and mothers and friends. You city folks take that for granted. Many times we are watching for towers up here as we drive, and holding up the cell phone and waiting for those bars to come up. Then we try to get the call in before it drops out again. Then again, we also enjoy the time we don’t have the bars---nobody can find us!!!
When we arrived back at the Naubinway Nook, I realized what a “stretch” it is do all I have undertaken to make this complex livable. You can’t imagine all the unfinished walls and electrical wires and plywood and 2x4’s and speaker wire and cedar docks and winterized boats and lawnmowers sprawled out over 4 lots. It is bigger than me and beyond me. I finished a couple closet additions and felt pretty good about it, only to go back to the big great room that binds itself and an unfinished kitchen and Lake Michigan Front Yard together. There is a gorgeous pine paneling ceiling in there, and insulation, but no drywall and no tile floor. Then there is Jeff’s room---rather amazing too with the loft and beautiful pine stairway I built up to it---the cedar-lined closet---the big cathedral ceiling with the ceiling fan. However, it’s really an incredible stretch to think I could have these rooms even done by spring. Then, come April, the chosen men and women will be back to go even further out the back, adding another bedroom guest apartment/attached garage. In short, it’s much bigger than me and a “stretch” to think I could ever do this alone. Invest in the Nest? Oh Yeah, right.
I have come to the conclusion that my time on my weekends would be much better spent “moonlighting”, working in remote clinics on Islands or Urgent Cares, etc. and taking the money and handing it over to my contractor. In four long weekends I can make enough money to build the back bedroom and attach it to the garage. In eight long weekends I could make enough to build the guest apartment. In twelve weekends I could make enough to finish all I have unfinished. So, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s time to stick to “doctoring”, and leave this very hard, physical work, to those who need it and depend upon it. My contribution to the human race will be better spent with a hemostat and a stitch or a prescription pad in my hand. Of course, I can still run speaker wire and fine tune the recording studio out here in the “big garage”---but I’ve finally seen the “stretch” is too big for me, and it’s time to reel it in. Another epiphany, as I feel the pain of bilateral epicondylitis in my arms (tennis elbow)---sore feet, and ever exposing myself to sawblades that can take fingers off, etc. In short, it’s time to stick to what I do best and then have a little time left over to catch a few trout…time to narrow the stretch and call in the “marines”. God Bless, and may your “stretches” become narrow inches and something you can stick into your pocket with one hand and then do some fishing along the beautiful Seney Stretch.
Anyway, we had a great Valentine’s Day in Marquette. First, we checked into our Hotel and then I took her to Elizabeth’s Chop House. Now, this restaurant could easily be in Manhatten, and hold a candle to it. The ambience with the old brick walls, big windows looking out at Lake Superior, and the “seafood parfait” appetizer and then lamb and prime-rib was totally excellent. After that we enjoyed the Marquette Symphony Orchestra performing a Brahms Symphony and then a Beethoven Piano Concerto….Well, they were pretty nervous with the Brahms during the first two movements. The violas were pretty darn good, but the second violins were somewhere between high school and up. The third movement was heavenly, finally together. Then, when we got to Beethoven and the pianist, they were pretty warmed up and it was rather amazing. Three standing ovation encores brought the pianist back for a Brahms Hungarian Theme piano solo---it was very magical, being in the North Woods and hearing such beautiful music. I reflected on the passing of one of the founding members of the Symphony Board that the concert was dedicated to. That’s rather amazing, what a legacy, that some dedicated musicians could bring a string program up among the loggers and fishermen and burley outdoorsmen. In fact, it was really quite a “stretch”. A long stretch over the long miles of roads thru the “Seney Stretch” and millions of acres of forest.
The next day I took my “main squeeze” shopping and she told me how much she loved me and appreciated my Valentine’s Weekend Surprise. She told me so many times that it reiterated all the reasons I married her. She loves me, appreciates me, needs me, courts me, loves to be with me. She even enjoyed driving the Seney Stretch---especially when we went by the cell phone towers---as you have about 7 miles on each end of them to talk to daughters and mothers and friends. You city folks take that for granted. Many times we are watching for towers up here as we drive, and holding up the cell phone and waiting for those bars to come up. Then we try to get the call in before it drops out again. Then again, we also enjoy the time we don’t have the bars---nobody can find us!!!
When we arrived back at the Naubinway Nook, I realized what a “stretch” it is do all I have undertaken to make this complex livable. You can’t imagine all the unfinished walls and electrical wires and plywood and 2x4’s and speaker wire and cedar docks and winterized boats and lawnmowers sprawled out over 4 lots. It is bigger than me and beyond me. I finished a couple closet additions and felt pretty good about it, only to go back to the big great room that binds itself and an unfinished kitchen and Lake Michigan Front Yard together. There is a gorgeous pine paneling ceiling in there, and insulation, but no drywall and no tile floor. Then there is Jeff’s room---rather amazing too with the loft and beautiful pine stairway I built up to it---the cedar-lined closet---the big cathedral ceiling with the ceiling fan. However, it’s really an incredible stretch to think I could have these rooms even done by spring. Then, come April, the chosen men and women will be back to go even further out the back, adding another bedroom guest apartment/attached garage. In short, it’s much bigger than me and a “stretch” to think I could ever do this alone. Invest in the Nest? Oh Yeah, right.
I have come to the conclusion that my time on my weekends would be much better spent “moonlighting”, working in remote clinics on Islands or Urgent Cares, etc. and taking the money and handing it over to my contractor. In four long weekends I can make enough money to build the back bedroom and attach it to the garage. In eight long weekends I could make enough to build the guest apartment. In twelve weekends I could make enough to finish all I have unfinished. So, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s time to stick to “doctoring”, and leave this very hard, physical work, to those who need it and depend upon it. My contribution to the human race will be better spent with a hemostat and a stitch or a prescription pad in my hand. Of course, I can still run speaker wire and fine tune the recording studio out here in the “big garage”---but I’ve finally seen the “stretch” is too big for me, and it’s time to reel it in. Another epiphany, as I feel the pain of bilateral epicondylitis in my arms (tennis elbow)---sore feet, and ever exposing myself to sawblades that can take fingers off, etc. In short, it’s time to stick to what I do best and then have a little time left over to catch a few trout…time to narrow the stretch and call in the “marines”. God Bless, and may your “stretches” become narrow inches and something you can stick into your pocket with one hand and then do some fishing along the beautiful Seney Stretch.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day is one of the most special days of the year for our family. First and foremost, it is because it is Sarah’s Birthday. We are so proud that Momma popped her out on Groundhog Day and we saw her shadow in the sun and enjoyed an early spring. Also, it meant we were heading “up north” from Ohio to enjoy a week of skiing at Boyne Highlands during the annual family/conference ski-week. We always celebrated Sarah’s Birthday at some venue around the Highlands, or in Petoskey with just ourselves, with friends, or friends and family. It was always a special week because of her birthday and the fact that we were in Michigan enjoying the great outdoors. By the end of the week all our cheeks were rosy red from windburn or eczema and the hot tub and our muscles pleasantly sore. For me, the end of the week was particularly painful because I knew I wouldn’t be back to ski that year at the Highlands, and had to go back to Ohio. Now, don’t get me wrong, Ohio Folks are great and so is the State and its Universities, but it doesn’t have Boyne Highlands and my Lake Michigan as my front yard. We are a skiing family (or snow-boarding) and love the snow. Back in Ohio, snow was fleeting, ephemeral and unpredictable. Here, you can really stake a lot of widgets on the fact that you can ski every day starting in mid December and January and February at least.
Well, let’s fast forward to Groundhog Day 2009. Now, we are living in the great outdoors of Michigan and have been getting our fill of cross-country skiing and snow-boarding and started into down hill again. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when our Sarah asked that for her 16th Birthday we take her to Boyne Highlands to ski. So, we loaded up the truck and headed to Pellston and west on Pleasant View Road and up to the Highlands. It takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes from the house when the roads are dry---pretty good for Northern Michigan standards, and we were there. It was quickly apparent that my Sarah and Jeff were far better skiers than us now. They were doing 3 runs to our 1 and diamonds and double diamonds and leaving us in the dust, uhh, sorry, snow. So, Mom and I headed off to the green circle runs and had a delightful time watching the ski school groups of young children and their instructors go up the lifts and down the hills. It reminded me of when we had our little cherubs up there, learning the ropes and the slopes. But now, they were better at it than I. I was very pleased by that, proud of that and smiled abreast at that. Going up a long lift I reflected that we have given them a great gift, the knowledge and skills and love of downhill skiing and winter sports. They can commissurate with anybody I think. They have had experiences beyond most teenagers-- living in Norway for a month at age 12, auditioning for movies in New York City, skiing, golfing, playing piano and percussion and guitar and on and on and on….More let’s say, than either Mom or Dad had, despite the best attempts of our parents. What gifts they have been blessed with….
But, you know what, no matter how much they reflect their gifts, or out-ski me or surpass me in everything they do, they will never experience as much joy as I. Because, they will probably not have a daughter born on Groundhog Day, who has the most beautiful eyes in the whole wide world----who on her birthday, asked that we do something together as a family that will always be so very special to us. It was her idea, she wanted us to go back to that special place and remember, celebrate, not just her birthday, but FAMILY, us, the outdoors, being together---that special “National Holiday” for us, Groundhog Day. We tried giving her gifts and celebrating her birthday and out doing Sarah---but alas, she out-did us all by reminding us what is most important---being together in a special place, enjoying our physical strengths as they meet the outdoors, family, family, family, our Sarah will always be a missionary for Family---always be the one that comes out and sees the shadow and turns to the sun.
Well, let’s fast forward to Groundhog Day 2009. Now, we are living in the great outdoors of Michigan and have been getting our fill of cross-country skiing and snow-boarding and started into down hill again. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when our Sarah asked that for her 16th Birthday we take her to Boyne Highlands to ski. So, we loaded up the truck and headed to Pellston and west on Pleasant View Road and up to the Highlands. It takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes from the house when the roads are dry---pretty good for Northern Michigan standards, and we were there. It was quickly apparent that my Sarah and Jeff were far better skiers than us now. They were doing 3 runs to our 1 and diamonds and double diamonds and leaving us in the dust, uhh, sorry, snow. So, Mom and I headed off to the green circle runs and had a delightful time watching the ski school groups of young children and their instructors go up the lifts and down the hills. It reminded me of when we had our little cherubs up there, learning the ropes and the slopes. But now, they were better at it than I. I was very pleased by that, proud of that and smiled abreast at that. Going up a long lift I reflected that we have given them a great gift, the knowledge and skills and love of downhill skiing and winter sports. They can commissurate with anybody I think. They have had experiences beyond most teenagers-- living in Norway for a month at age 12, auditioning for movies in New York City, skiing, golfing, playing piano and percussion and guitar and on and on and on….More let’s say, than either Mom or Dad had, despite the best attempts of our parents. What gifts they have been blessed with….
But, you know what, no matter how much they reflect their gifts, or out-ski me or surpass me in everything they do, they will never experience as much joy as I. Because, they will probably not have a daughter born on Groundhog Day, who has the most beautiful eyes in the whole wide world----who on her birthday, asked that we do something together as a family that will always be so very special to us. It was her idea, she wanted us to go back to that special place and remember, celebrate, not just her birthday, but FAMILY, us, the outdoors, being together---that special “National Holiday” for us, Groundhog Day. We tried giving her gifts and celebrating her birthday and out doing Sarah---but alas, she out-did us all by reminding us what is most important---being together in a special place, enjoying our physical strengths as they meet the outdoors, family, family, family, our Sarah will always be a missionary for Family---always be the one that comes out and sees the shadow and turns to the sun.
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