Posts Tagged ‘Round Lake’
Different Worlds
One fact I have failed to report about the lake place is that the water level of Round Lake is the lowest anyone we’ve talked with can remember. The long dry months up there have taken a visible toll. Oddly, in addition to the unbelievably low water level, we’ve suddenly got beaver activity in our lagoon. There isn’t even enough water to flow all the way through to the culvert on the far end, but a beaver has started to build a dam near the entrance to the lake.
Underneath the walk bridge, there is a pile of branches that have been assembled. Nearby, the obvious tooth marks are all the way around the trunk of a good-sized birch tree. It would be a shame if it has already been doomed as a result. Our caretaker has been notified, and the proper agents are being contacted about pest management.
If it involves live capture and relocation, I hope it goes to a completely different lake. I’ve heard there are places that are seeking beaver dams to improve certain wetlands. That would be a perfect match.
Meanwhile, we have returned to Wintervale, where the horses seem content as ever, and Asher looks thrilled to be back on his usual territory.
Just as I suspected, I have my work cut out for me in controlling the growth of grass blades in all the areas that get regularly mowed. Unfortunately, I won’t get much done today, as I will be heading to the suburb of Hopkins, MN, this afternoon for a reunion of past employees of the company I was at for eighteen years at the beginning of my technical career.
I was unavailable for a gathering they held earlier in the summer, so it’s important to me to be able to make it this time. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen these folks, and I have fond memories of most everything about the place and the people who I had the good fortune of working with for so many years.
That period of my life feels like it is worlds away from where I am now. I’m looking forward to catching up with folks who meant an awful lot to me during our shared work lives at a very interesting company that manufactured high-technology surface analysis instruments used by industries (particularly semiconductor-related), universities, and government research institutions.
That’s a long way from caring for rescued horses and managing 20 rural acres in western Wisconsin.
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It’s Wildwood
From memory, a stab at the lyrics to a song I wrote back in the early 1980s after a particularly remarkable Independence Day weekend that lingered long after I had returned to the day job. This was shortly after the property had been divided into lots, which individual families then took ownership of. Before that change, they all shared every cabin, rotating every couple of weeks to give everyone a taste of each precious spot on the lake, along with the different quirks of each very old log cabin.
Seems just like a week or two
and 4th of July has come and gone
and I was up at my favorite place
Friends were there to have a time
but not the one we used to know
cabins have moved, and new ones are growin’
a place to sleep’s not as easily found
Sit on the porch of what was cabin three
almost see the beach you never used to see
and Tommy and Jane, and Justin, it’s true
are heard laughin’ and singin’ and workin’ too
It’s Wildwood, Wildwood!
It’s been so long, but the change is good
Wildwoo-ooo-ood
Friends had gathered to have a good time
work god done, we had a good time
we weren’t all there, it’s sad to say
but we’re fixin’ the place for another day
The old road don’t go the way it used to go
nor some people’s car the way the new one goes
but we all got together and pushed it out
who says there weren’t games this holiday
As evening came, we gathered ‘round
for the kind of picnic you’re supposed to have
and though people not present were sadly missed
there were fireworks displayed to rival all time
It’s Wildwood, Wildwood!
It’s been so long, but the change is good
Wildwoo-ooo-ood
As much as it seems as though it’s really changed
and mud has replaced the sprouts of poison ivy
the swing still swings between two big trees
from which you can still hear the Friswolds up at cabin 3
Hayward’s still a few minutes away
Round Lake crisp and clear as any day
and all the people who have made it what it really is
are all the people who will make it what it really is
It’s Wildwood, Wildwood!
It’s been so long, but the change is good
Wildwoo-ooo-ood
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