Archive for the ‘Chronicle’ Category
Random Distractions
Despite the smothering grief we are feeling over the murder by federal ICE agents, and the incendiary rhetoric being spewed from the White House ever since, Cyndie and I trudged through yesterday with faith that those intent on hurting others will never fully extinguish LOVE.
Living in a rural area while choosing to abstain from guzzling at the firehose of news broadcasts tends to leave us feeling disconnected from the rest of the world about how like-minded folks are responding to the extrajudicial killing of Renee Nicole Good.
I struggled to focus on most tasks I attempted, but managed to distract myself for a while with some meditative jigsaw puzzling.
It was above freezing most of the day, and it was fun to see the horses romping in the snow that remained in the hay field. We had removed their blankets for the day to give them a break from the artificial covering. It’s wonderful to see them rolling around on the ground to scratch their itches and feel the direct contact with the ground again.
By their dinnertime, we learned rain was expected, so Cyndie put a rain sheet on Mia. The other three needed to figure out the simple act of staying under the overhang to stay dry. We know Swings does it, but we worry that Mix doesn’t tend to demonstrate those same smarts.
Before we went to bed last night, it was raining like a spring shower again. That’s almost as depressing as having ICE agents destroying citizens’ lives every day.
Cyndie took a picture of Asher with his squeaky/krinkly campfire chew toy in his mouth, standing beyond her red waxed Amaryllis bulb and her wooden roses puzzle, which Elysa helped her assemble the previous weekend.
Red, red, and red!
We find ourselves looking for any distraction in a storm. The likelihood that things will continue to get worse before they get better weighs heavily on both of us.
Cyndie left voice messages on phones at the offices of our representatives, expressing her anguish and dissatisfaction with the illegal activities of the masked immigration agents. We have not ruled out finding a protest that we can attend to offer solidarity with others equally despondent over Renee’s murder.
The days end up being a blur of sadness and frustration, mixed with the contrast of love and hope we are striving to conjure up to feed the world.
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
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Sadly Predictable
Unfortunately, we all knew there was a high likelihood that the Federal ICE agents’ escalating actions and repeated violations of citizens’ rights would eventually lead to shots being fired. That doesn’t make it any less horrific that they murdered someone in broad daylight while witnesses recorded video of the act yesterday in Minneapolis, MN.
Just to make things even more disgusting, our government quickly released a fabricated cover version of the incident to justify the killing.
It’s heartbreaking and soul-crushing to live through the unraveling of law and order and the grim, methodical destruction of our democracy. Is there any way to reverse this evil plot?
I don’t think all the king’s horses and all the king’s men will ever be able to put our Humpty democracy back together again.
R.I.P Renee Nicole Good
May LOVE save us all.
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Predatory Behavior
Last Sunday, we were blessed with a visit from our kids for one last day of mirth before the return to regularly scheduled programming of the work world in 2026. The weather was a bit of a risk as we were under a warning for sleet and freezing rain. They braved the drive anyway, with utmost caution, and the weather didn’t turn out to be as bad as it could have been.
As soon as they headed home and Cyndie and I went down to tend to the horses, the murky sky opened up a bit for a sweet show at sunset.
Two days later, we received what I feel is the worst weather for winter: rain. Once again, the snow is a saturated mess. I took Asher for an afternoon explore, and he fixated on a dead tree trunk that he seemed certain contained a rodent snack.
I stood waiting while he worked furiously to gain access. Seeing him so harmlessly entertained is a reward worth allowing to play out uninterrupted, so I busied myself with tamping down the wet snow where I stood.
He showed no sign of giving up and began to attack the little trees in the immediate vicinity that were getting in his way. They served to fulfill his urge to chomp on things better than any of the artificial chew toys in his extensive collection in the house.
He worked on that effort for so long, my project of tamping snow grew to create a raised median at the intersection of the two trails where he was busy at it.
As much as I wished to let him play to his heart’s content, his distraction had lasted so long that it became time to feed the horses, and I was forced to call him off. We trundled away through the snow slurry toward the barn after a minor struggle to redirect his attention away from the prize he never reached.
If there was a mouse in there, I wonder what its experience was like during the onslaught. Did it assume there was an earthquake, or did it sense the telltale signs of a predator at its door?
I think I can relate to what it must have been like inside that hollow section of the tree limb. That is what it feels like every day for citizens of the United States under the criminal control of the current administration. If only there were someone who could call off the brutal regime and send them on their way.
That terrorized critter suffered for less than an hour. Our suffering shows no signs of abating.
To the rest of the world: I’m sorry you have to witness this, or worse yet, be directly impacted by the actions of the disgusting few who are systematically dismantling our country for their personal gain.
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Loving Home
This is how much I love being home: Cyndie looked at our calendar of activities for the month and identified a block with nothing planned, offering me a chance to go up to Hayward for a few days of solo time. After that week, she has a series of consecutive days when she will be away.
All things considered, I thanked her for the opportunity, but I would rather just remain at home for a while, now that all the holiday activities are over. Especially since I will get the benefit of some solo time at home anyway, when Cyndie is in the cities.
Granted, I will have the dog and horse care responsibilities that wouldn’t require my time and attention if I were up at the lake.
But, I’ll be home! Where my heart is! And caring for our animals is a labor of love.
With the snow-covered trees around our house, it looks a little like the gnome home up in the woods on the Wilkus’ property. Walking Asher through our woods yesterday, I found that there are still snow-laden tree branches drooping across the trails in many places. It hasn’t been warm enough or windy enough in the middle of the woods to knock the snow off the branches yet.
I took the initiative and got covered with snow, shaking the branches free myself on a few of the trails.
Gee, but it’s great to be back home. Even if it means spending extra time cleaning up manure in the paddocks that accumulated while we were away up north. Nobody is as tenacious as I am when it comes to tending to the cleanliness of our paddocks.
It’s my way of helping the horses to love living here as much as I do.
Home, sweet home.
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Wonder Dog
Before I get to today’s post, I want to proclaim that I unequivocally object to everything the current U.S. criminal masquerading as a leader is up to, as well as all of the rest of the people in positions of power, who are allowing things to happen. It is soul-crushing and heartbreaking.
Our New Year’s getaway to Mike and Barb’s cabin was not entirely for Asher’s benefit, but he did seem to receive the bulk of everyone’s attention while we’ve been here. On a walk through the woods along a portage from Bluewater Lake to Trout Lake, we paused to let Asher zoom on the snow-covered ice.
He is enthralled with the scent he picks up from the deer tracks in the snow and would gladly follow them endlessly if we allowed. A gnome home in the trunk of a tree didn’t even get a sniff from him, probably because it looks like they must have traveled south for the winter.
No one is shoveling their entrance.
The extreme cold has softened, and it is pleasant to be out enjoying winter at its best. We’ve received fresh fallen snow each day, which is keeping everything white and making it look like we are playing in a snow globe.
As darkness fell, we heard the pop of a fireworks shot down the lake, which Barb and Mike knew indicated their neighbors were going to do a show of multiple shots soon. With a full moon peaking through the light cloud cover, we decided to walk down to the lake to watch.
Since Asher had never shown any reaction to gunshots or thunderclaps, we decided to test his reaction to the fireworks.
Our mistake was in assuming he would be as oblivious to them as he is to the other loud booms. The poor guy flipped out. Our 90-pound puppy went into a full-on panic of yelping and trying to drag me as fast as he could, and as far away as he could get.
We have confirmed our wonder dog’s kryoptonite.
Lesson learned, the hard way. This morning, Asher woke up as happy as ever, and he and I had a wonderful walk at dawn, leaving last night’s terror a memory we hope he won’t need to relive. In a short time, we will pack him up along with our bags and leftover food and head for home.
It’s been a fabulous visit. I expect it will also be fabulous to get him back to our usual routine at home, where he can be the wonder dog who barks at delivery trucks and rabbits in his yard.
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Great Adventures
Our first day of the new year up in the north woods was pure joy for Asher and us. The big pup got a lot of love from Mike, here shown gently accepting a treat:
We have been eating the most delicious and festive of foods prepared by Barb and Cyndie, with Mike adding his artistry in a variety of ways, including these wonderful appetizers:
When we weren’t busy eating, we were outside giving Asher a chance to explore the woods around the cabin. He was a good sport about staying in contact with us when we let him wander a little bit to follow the obvious deer tracks in the snow.
Mike dug through a closet of dog toys accumulated over the years and came up with a chew toy for Asher. Our hound gnawed on it for a little while, but then began pacing the cabin, looking for a place to bury it. I let him take it outside with us, and he immediately hunted for somewhere he could bury it in the snow.
Before we made our way back indoors, I snuck over and retrieved the “bone” and brought it back in with us.
He soon lost interest in it and moved on to other distractions, including barking at things out the window that none of the rest of us could perceive.
When we weren’t outside enjoying walks in the perfect falling snow, Barb and I ripped through a 300-piece jigsaw puzzle, while Cyndie made short work of a cribbage match with Mike. We played a couple of other games, listened to an episode of the Telepathy Tapes podcast, and watched a movie that was wrongly identified as a “comedy.”
You know, ‘at-the-lake’ activities.
My daily routine has been knocked for a loop without our usual twice-a-day horse-feeding detail, demonstrated by my confused and entirely incorrect exclamation that it was “already seven o’clock!” after glancing up at an analog clock with Roman numerals.
It was 5:00. Oops. Flipped that around a bit. That drew a few well-deserved wisecracks and laughter.
It’s a good thing I don’t drink alcohol. I’m able to remain clear-headed during these kinds of foibles, allowing me to chronicle them accurately for posterity.
We have no responsibilities to do anything different today, but I’ve heard a trip to Grand Rapids to eat at a restaurant is possible. I doubt Asher will be too thrilled with that plan, since it will involve him staying here alone, but I suspect we can reward him with a big explore later around our hosts’ other wooded property, just a short drive from their cabin.
Sometimes great adventures involve a little sacrifice.
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Happy 2026!
Happy New Year, 2026!
We made it up to the Wilkus’ cabin, 13 miles north of Grand Rapids, MN, yesterday afternoon with plenty of time to watch the calendar turn at midnight. After stacking 100 bales of hay in a gorgeous snow squall, we packed up Asher and plenty of food and winter gear for the 4-hour drive north.
May auld acquaintance be forgot.
• Farewell 2025 •
Wintery Again
This is more like it. It’s feeling like real winter again around here. I worked all day yesterday clearing snow, and with Cyndie’s help doing some shoveling, we got everything done in one day. That’s quite an accomplishment. It usually takes me two days to get to the roof raking and then cleaning up the mess of snow pulled to the ground below.
I took a picture from a similar spot to one I took on Saturday to provide a comparison of the change two days later:
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Having made that run up and down the driveway in the middle of the storm Sunday night made yesterday’s work much easier. I ended up spending a lot of time trying to plow around the barn and hay shed because I hadn’t touched that on Sunday, so it was the full depth, and the base level was still a little wet and messy.
I needed to clear the loop wide at the approaches because we are getting a hay delivery tomorrow morning. I still worry it might be a challenge to pull a trailer around from the driveway to circle in front of the shed. In the summer, vehicles can just overshoot onto the grass to complete the turn.
The Yamaha Grizzly ATV did a heroic job of performing everything I asked of it. The driveway almost looks professionally done.
If we had been up at the lake instead of here during the storm, we would have come home to quite a challenge. As it was, I was able to proactively slide the mailbox off its base when I was plowing Sunday night, to protect it from the blast of snow that shoots off the township plow blade. When I first made my way down to the road yesterday, it had been plowed, so I was able to reattach the mailbox before the mail delivery arrived. I’m feeling rather chuffed about finally remembering in advance to try this.
I usually find it in the ditch, having been wrenched sideways off the base, and kick myself for letting it happen another time.
Now that it is wintery again, I shouldn’t be surprised there’s a 50% chance of a dusting to a half inch of snow today and tomorrow, just so my plowing efforts won’t stay completely clean for long.
I guess I should be careful what I wish for, eh?
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Snowy Walk
By 4:00 yesterday afternoon, it was a winter wonderland outside. Cyndie and I set out to feed the horses by way of a walk through the woods with Asher.
We found a lot of branches drooping across the trails under the weight of the sticky, wet snow. It didn’t take Asher long to get out of sight as we trudged through the snow. We resorted to taking pictures of each other.
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When we popped out of the trees, Asher’s silhouette appeared in the distance.
He was having a blast in the snow. Earlier in the afternoon, Cyndie decided to open the door and let Asher outside by himself to romp while she stayed warm and dry inside. That has not been our normal practice, so it was pleasing to find he stayed close and came back in when called.
The snow was coming down with intimidating intensity as we made our way to the horses. We decided I should do a mid-storm plowing of the driveway after cleaning up manure.
I learned very quickly that the treatment I applied to the blade was entirely ineffective. The snow was wet against the ground and heavy to push with the plow blade. I had to get off and scrape the blade clean multiple times.
The extra work last night will have been worth it if the plowing is easier this morning. It certainly can’t be any worse.
One thing I have no complaints about, big snow events are wonderfully picturesque to view.
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Arriving Momentarily
This morning, most of the paddock’s surface is a miserable, wet, icy, packed remnant of previous snowfalls. We’ve experienced about a week of similar misty, foggy, above-freezing days. If I did not have the benefit of meteorological forecasts, I would be entirely unsuspecting of what lies in store for us today.
I can’t think of what more we could be doing in preparation. Yesterday, Cyndie made a run for groceries, and while she was out, she picked up a bottle of graphene spray coating that I applied to the snowplow blade. I’m not confident how effective it will prove to be, but I suspect it should be better than nothing.
It wasn’t raining while we were out feeding the horses a half hour ago, even though the radar makes it look like it could be.
I’ve got my jaw clenched in anticipation of the least pleasant start of a significant snow event. Rain, turning to sleet, before gradually changing over to snow that will be driven horizontally by gale-force winds. Yum yum.
It’s a good thing I love winter. Otherwise, think of how much more miserable this would seem. Ignore my whining. I’ll be out playing in it like a happy little kid soon.
Cyndie is making waffles for breakfast. I’m going to start a fire in the fireplace.
We know how to do this.
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Relative Something 