Café, sans souris

Even more than the birds, the sound of the peepers are a sure sound of spring. We have peepers near from the small stream across the street and around the vernal pools near the camp.

The camp road wasn't bad at all, with just enough snow, mud, and water to make it interesting. My father said he'd to go there last week and the snow was still too deep. The water is high, but not running across the road. We have a platter of snow/ice, 25' in diameter, in the parking area. It'll be a couple more weeks before that's gone.

The lake is pretty much open. The northwest winds push the ice into our cove. The ice was still thick enough to support Marley. We called him back quickly. Twice, I've had to pull dogs out of a holes in the ice. It's not fun and I'm glad not to do it again. The ice was melting in the couple of hours that we were there, so we declared that April 9 was Ice Out Day. We haven't been rigorous about it, but, when we remember, we write these events on a piece of birch bark tacked to the wall.

Since our last visit a few weeks ago, half of a dead birch tree fell onto the steps going to the sauna. In all, we got through the winter with no great trouble.

The representatives of the conservation commission were coming to look at the site where we want to place our new septic system. Sandra and I got to the camp in plenty of time to get a fire going in the stove and to make some coffee, should the commission members want to stay for a visit. As it turned out, although they were interested in seeing the property, they didn't stay for coffee.

Remember the leopard in Hemingway's 'The Snow of Kilimanjaro'? The carcass of this great cat near the summit of Africa's tallest mountain. How did it get there? Where was it going? It's in that spirit that I pondered the fate of the dead mouse, inside our metal coffee pot, the cover snugly in place.

With the expected trepidation, we're declaring an end to winter. Yesterday we helped my father move the lawn-mower attachment for the tractor; he'll remove the snow blower shortly. Sandra picked up some gas stabilizer to add to our snow blower's gas tank. I'll wheel the machine up to the back shed. We'll also put away the snow shovels and other implements of destruction. The NWS says that we might see a few snowflakes, but only a few, tomorrow evening.