2012

4/14/12
Lucky stars - Twin size quilt for cabin beds.

4/19/12
There is no better place than my wonderful lake. Ahhhhh. I am so happy that it is cabin time again.  The loons and the woodpeckers are back to Lake Waukenabo. The sky is blue, the lake is calm, I've got some coffee in my favorite cup and the wood stove is cranking out warmth. I must be in heaven.

4/20/12

After a very warm March it is only in the low 50's for our first 2012 visit to the cabin.  The lake is very high and the ice ridge is even higher.  This year the ice even moved the old concrete slab that the firepit used to be on.  I have never seen the ice push up so high!  We are lucky that we moved the dock in so far and put the legs up.  As it is the ice pushed up hard enough to move the dock pieces back a few feet.

The tree in Mark's deck is mostly dead from wood pecker activity.  There are branches and hunks of bark all over the back yard.  Fortunately the tree did not come down on our decks.  Looks like a tree trimming will be necessary this summer.

All is good in our cabin except for the gas heater which would not light.  Same as last year.  We are becoming friends with the repairman. The wood stove eventually warmed up the whole cabin and we are comfortable now.  It takes about 8 hours to get the floor, walls and furniture to completely warm up.  No problems at all with getting the water turned on.  It is so nice not to have to put the pump into the well house each year.  However, we still have really lousy water pressure.  It takes about 20 minutes to fill up the tub enough for a bath.

Mark and Joyce are coming up tonight.  I love to have them here to spend time with.  Last year we had the first dock out on the lake, but we have been beat to the punch by a few folks this year.  It will be a chore to get it in due to the super high ice pushed up bank.  I should get my exercise in today digging the bank down.

Rich Salzbrenner died just a couple weeks ago.  I will surely miss him this summer.  There are so few folks left from my father's generation and now we are losing friends from my lake generation.  It seems like Mike Sweeter should be walking around here with his dog, Amanda's dad should be out fishing on the dock, Ed Collins should be sitting out in front of his cabin painting, and my Mom should be sitting on the porch reading.  They are all so close to me here at Waukenabo.  Perhaps this is heaven!

5/9/12
Off to the cabin for a working weekend to finish the trim on the tin ceiling. Always good to get projects finished. Then time to deal with the huge ice hump between the cabin and the beach and get the boat in the water - YEAH!

5/10/12
Sunny, warm and so quiet that I can hear the bees buzzing and the baby ducklings peeping. Mid-week at Lake Waukenabo and all is peaceful. Today I powerwash the deck.

5/11/12
In two days I have seen a bald eagle just overhead, a kingfisher diving for minnows, two blue herons standing on the dock, and now a pair of trumpeter swans floating just 5 feet off shore, snacking on the aquatic plants. I am also happy not to see the Canada geese who thought the dock was a nice place to rest last year and left their calling cards all over the dock.

5/12/12
I look at my beautful cabin and so appreciate the skill and talent of my grandfather, father, husband, brother and now my sons who buit and now remodeled it. I see my sisters-in-law pounding nails and varnishing windows and paneling. I look at old pictures of my parents friends and family who cut down the oak trees in our back woods to have them sawed into the boards which framed the cabin. I think of my friends and family who spent long hours one hot summer building our addition. And i look out on my lake and see a peaceful morning - and am so thankful that i see this again as i have seen it every year for 64 years.

5/14/12
Great fishing weekend - lots of projects completed, socializing with old friends, and a boatful of sunfish. Then, the best, a yummy dinner with my dear family. Thanks, kids, it was a great Mother's Day celebration. You are the BEST!

5/24/12

Trumpeter swans still visiting our lake. Isn't it late in the year for them to be migrating? They have been here for a month.

5/27/12
Kellen is in his third set of clothes for the day. He is having a GREAT Lake Waukenabo day!

6/21/12

Pontoon floated to shore and was caught by a neighbor and tied to a tree on shore. We had to move the lift way closer to shore to get it to where we could keep the boat on it without floating away. Most of the boats along our shoreline floated off their lifts too.