Posts Tagged ‘friends’
Asher Observes
It was day two of entertaining our dog, Asher yesterday while trying to complete my mowing goals before departing for the lake today. By the time it started to sprinkle on us with some light rain, I just had the back hill left to cut. Weather radar indicated significant rain was not an immediate threat, so I mowed despite the dampness.
That meant Asher needed to entertain himself in the house. He seemed satisfied with that after hanging out with me earlier in the day while I trimmed along the north loop trail. Asher nestled in the tall grass so that it looked like he was hiding.
He was very patient while I toiled away so I let him choose the route for a long walk after I finished trimming. When we reached a vantage point where Asher could see all the horses grazing in the hay field, he sat down to watch them. While he was happy being stationary, I waited with him and finished my daily word games on my phone.
During our last walk of the day, after he had waited inside while I finished mowing, Asher again sat down and observed the horses.
This is such a satisfying behavior for us. Maybe someday we can allow him to sit and observe the world without being leashed. Last week, Cyndie was working on training Asher to be off-leash and respect our property boundaries and twice she ended up needing to retrieve him from the neighbor’s yard. I’ve kept him tethered full-time this week during my days of solo supervision.
At least he’s grown out of the urge to constantly chew through any leash constraining his freedom.
I’m looking forward to some freedom from dog duty for a few days. Our friends, Pam and John will be here to care for our animals again over the weekend.
Asher will be observing their cat –from a safe distance. Their little princess, Pumba, stays behind a closed door since Asher is not reliably friendly with visiting pets, especially not ones of the feline variety.
Off to the lake, I go once more!
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Great Rides
I had one job to do this weekend: go for bike rides with Paul. The rest of the hours were agenda-free and I made the best of my time by relaxing to the maximum degree. While the twelve other guys were golfing, I had the place to myself, which rarely happens at the lake. The solitude was magnificent. I had a range of Olympic event options for sports spectating keeping me company indoors and gorgeous weather to lure me outside where I explored the surroundings alone.
Friday morning started with a mysterious sound coming from the woods in the pre-dawn hours that my waking self took a long time to diagnose. I deduced it was coming from somewhere very close so I forced my eyes open and spied through the trees to catch a glimpse of movement on the roof of the property next door. There was a crew of guys ripping off the old shingles. The rest of the day was filled with the repeating rat-tat-tat of new shingles getting nailed.
I walked the mini-labyrinth Cyndie and I created in the woods and soaked up sunshine on the deck. A short nap might have happened to the rhythmic sounds of a roofing crew hard at work.
When Paul returned in the mid-afternoon, it was time to ride. On Friday, we started on gravel which was a challenge on my Trek Domane with slick tires. Paul has a new gravel bike that handled it well. I felt like I was trying to hold my bike on the edge of a ski boat wake and more than once had to muscle the front wheel back in place to avoid calamity. When we popped out onto pavement at the end of the fire lane road, the smooth ride felt like a new world. We sailed along for more miles than we’d planned because the roads and surroundings were so nice.
On Saturday, the radar indicated we had limited time before a storm would be arriving so we skipped the gravel and chose a different route that still connected with the latter half of Friday’s ride to enjoy that great rolling ribbon of pavement a second time. Made it back before raindrops started to fall.
This weekend was the first time I’ve been on my bike since riding the Tour of Minnesota in June. I surprised myself with how strong I felt on our Friday jaunt. My muscles in the latter half of yesterday’s excursion let me know they hadn’t been used at that intensity on consecutive days since June.
The legs get a rest today. I’ll be driving home this morning to trade places with Cyndie as she comes up for a few days with a friend.
This year’s guys’ golf weekend has been a treat, made all the more special for me by two great bike rides in the woods with Paul. I’m lucky the group has included me in their long-running annual tradition.
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Guys Weekend
Well, look at that. I’m back up at the lake place. It’s a tough life, but I’m doing my part to enjoy the good things that keep coming my way. How about a sunset boat cruise with old pals?
That’s a David K. and Kevin W. sighting with me on Round Lake near Hayward, WI.
Greetings from Hayward!
David and Paul snap a photo with the postcard mural on our way to West’s Dairy for ice cream. Our timing was right because we had just purchased our treats when waves of teen girls numbering around 40 paraded into the Dairy from some girl’s camp in the area. It was “All Hands on Deck” in the ice cream scooping world.
Cyndie’s brothers, Steve and Ben invite golfing buddies for several days of marathon golf rounds every year over the first weekend in August. I’m not a golfer, but I will accompany Paul on some biking excursions when he’s not golfing.
Cyndie is on solo duty at home while I am hanging out with the guys. She already reported that Asher got away from her to chase after a rabbit last night and ended up at the neighbor’s place where he likes to go after their cockapoo or barn cat. On Sunday, we trade places and I head home to care for animals while she comes up to the lake with a friend.
In the meantime, I will be soaking up lake life to the fullest and sharing some laughs with good friends.
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Surprise Addition
At the end of the day yesterday, I made a last-minute decision to mow the labyrinth. I had skipped it the week before so I didn’t want to miss it before heading out of town this weekend. The grass was thick and a bit intimidating. I put my head down and got to work pushing the mower, oblivious to the new feature someone had secretly added.
When I reached the Red Barberry shrub, I discovered a beautiful sculpture of a small momma deer with a fawn. I double-checked with Cyndie when I got back to the house and learned she hadn’t recently added any sculptures. I didn’t tell her what I’d found so she could experience a surprise similar to mine upon seeing it for the first time.
We both quickly suspected our friends, Pam and John who were staying at our house while we were out of town over the two previous weekends.
Pam said she didn’t know anything about it and would need to check with John when he got home. Sure enough, John had snuck it into that spot after a trip to an Ellsworth garage sale two weekends ago. None of us had noticed it until yesterday.
The little deer is a timely addition after a recent incident Cyndie survived on a walk with Asher. They had entered the tall growth in our North Loop field and Asher broke loose from her grip in pursuit of a young deer. Cyndie suddenly needed to leap out of the way of the sprinting deer that was racing right toward her.
There’s no telling when a deer might reverse direction when it’s employing evasive maneuvers during a chase, much to Cyndie’s surprise!
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Brilliant Fun
Such great fun can’t last forever, so we are driving home to Wintervale today. We will be taking a lot of good energy with us from four days of lake fun with Barb and Mike. We boated through three channels and four lakes to visit the Joyce Estate on Trout Lake in the Chippewa National Forest. On the way home, we paused to swim for a bit in each lake.
We coped with some hot and muggy weather, including strong wind on most days and a little rain yesterday. We took advantage of the precipitation to complete some planning and make reservations for our coming visit to Iceland in September.
During a pause in the rain, we parked on the north shore of Wilkus’ lake and played along the shoreline.
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We have been eating fun treats (man, I love black raspberry chocolate chip ice cream) and scrumptious meals from the creative minds of Barb and Cyndie. Mike provided his mastery on their great propane cast iron griddle to make smash burgers for dinner.
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There was broccoli steaming beneath that cover.
Evenings allowed us to catch up on the day’s Olympic competitions and marvel over the high level of athletic ability and accomplishments. Cyndie and I slept soundly and enjoyed another break from daily animal duties.
The brilliant fun with friends is done for a while but we will replace it with brilliant fun with Asher and the horses and some normal fun mowing grass this week. I’m scheduled to head back to Hayward on Thursday for a weekend cycling during Cyndie’s brothers’ annual gathering of guys who golf.
I suspect that will be brilliant fun, too.
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Photo Moments
Another fine day in the woods of northern Minnesota. Strong winds, warm temperatures, smoky haze-filled sky, swimming, eating like royalty, and ending the day with the spectacle of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
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Made It
Thursday’s goals have been achieved. I finished trimming the edges of our north loop trail.
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We made it to Mike and Barb’s lake place in time for dinner.
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[mic drop]
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Hedge Wall
When we get home from the lake on a Monday and depart the following Thursday for our friends’ lake cabin, it doesn’t leave me much time in my role as Head Groundskeeper. Making things even more complicated, another rain shower cut into the limited hours available for mowing. The trail I’ve been wanting to trim has escaped attention for longer than I hoped so far this summer.
Yesterday, while waiting for the morning dew to dry so I could mow, I grabbed the hedge trimmer and tackled as much as I could before lunch.
It doesn’t stand out much in that photo, but I was working the right side of the path to achieve a clean hedge wall out of the wild growth along our property border with the neighboring farm field. It’ll look great once I finish the full length.
This is the second summer that I have been working to shape that tangle of scrub trees into a clean natural barrier. I thought it would be a little easier the second time around, but things have grown fast and thick with all the precipitation we’ve received this summer.
I hope to make enough progress this morning to finish the north loop trail all the way to the road before time runs out and we leave for Mike and Barb’s lake place which is a 4-hour drive away.
Squeezing in a few long days of landscape work is worth the extra effort to get the payoff of another weekend of lake fun, especially with friends we will be traveling with come fall. The four of us are planning a visit to Iceland in September.
For a guy who isn’t all that fond of travel, I sure have been spending a lot of time away from home lately. When we get home from the lake this weekend, I’ll only have a few days before heading up for a weekend of biking in Hayward.
Maybe I can spend a few extra days at home during August. One of my great pleasures in life is having nowhere I need to go. I am an exception to the norm of people retiring with hopes of traveling the world.
I much prefer being in my own home more often than not.
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Pickleball Tourney
Tradition is morphing in the Wildwood Lodge Club community for 4th of July games as we no longer split into teams of red and blue “Bats” against “Mice” in a series of classic picnic games. No more three-legged race. Balloon toss didn’t happen. Not even the watermelon eating contest was held.
However, in a nod to the good old days, the shoe kick was executed before we all headed down to the tennis court for the main event.
After that, pickleball ruled the day.
They claim a randomizer was used to create teammates and as can happen, one of the random pairs turned out to be husband and wife. My partner, Tom Whitlock, and I got knocked out in the semi-final round which was nothing to be ashamed of. It was single elimination so early losers didn’t get a chance to try again.
Most of us hung around to enjoy the competition as things grew increasingly interesting in the challenge to achieve the pickle trophy. That husband and wife pair made it all the way to the final match but they lost to a team that included last year’s champion. It may be the start of a dynasty.
Tom and I somehow landed premier seating for the final.
Late post today because I was distracted by Stage 9 of the Tour de France and all the sections of gravel adding excitement to the multiple attacks by the yellow jersey.
Many of the Wildwood crew are planning to head home today but we have a few diehards hoping to go tubing between rain showers before packing it in. Cyndie and I will stay one more night before returning to Wintervale tomorrow.
I’m looking forward to seeing our animals again.
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Wildlife Sightings
The day started pretty normal yesterday up at the lake, despite the fact it was a national holiday. Our community game day is scheduled for tomorrow since the 4th landed on a Thursday and not everyone was able to arrive during the work week.
First things first. Time to pump up the inflatables.
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While I was standing on the dock, I spotted a fish watching our every move.
Later, while we were sitting on the deck we heard the call of an eagle. It was perched in a tree at the side of the house.
We’ve heard multiple reports of bear sightings on the property. As Cyndie and her niece, Althea were about to leave on a trip to town, the young bear crossed the driveway a short distance ahead of them.
The visibility of wildlife helps to make it feel more like we are on vacation at the lake place. It’s like the frosting on our cake of hanging out with family and friends, laughing over stories, playing games, and sharing scrumptious meals.
I’ve almost forgotten what it is like to be home and tending to the property and animals each day.
Almost.
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Relative Something 