Not much excitement at the cabin the last few weeks - just slowly working away at getting things in order. The garden structure is all done, including the perimeter fencing - hopefully, I won't have to share too much of the harvest with the critters. Harvested the first of the lettuce, spinach, and radish for dinner tonight.

A few new birds stopping by including a pair of hummingbirds that frequent their feeder. The hen turkeys are mostly nesting and only come up with Toms in tow once or twice a day. Its run in, get a bite and a drink and run back. Probably a couple of weeks yet before they'll have little ones to care for.

About the only thing exciting involves more work. I've gotten the first two footers in for the back deck after deciding on a two level design. Once I get the deck(s) done, I'll be able to fence a run in the back and let Charlie and Max come up for a visit! That's kind of exciting, but its also a ways down the road.

Pretty much settled into the "up north" mindset and routine now - except for the cold nights (like tonight!). More posts to follow as the deck(s) progress along.

Fencing me in

In late April, Grayling had a close call by a 1700 acre wildfire. The day after, I drove through part of the area along I75. The entire area was blackened by the fast moving fire - 24 hours after the fire was contained, hotspots still smouldered. I was struck by the level of ashing and the speed at wish it moved. It got me thinking about what I need to do around my cabin and the surround acres and acres of Jack Pines that are around it.

I realized it would be important to establish a fire zone on all sides of the cabin. That means removing and controlling trees within 50-100 feet of the structure. Over the next few days I started to identify trees that need to come down.

I also continue to build raised beds in my garden. As I thought about critter control, I realized that rather than buying fence posts, I should simple used the trees I'm cutting for the needed fence posts.

so that's what I've been doing. I have all of the posts needed to fence the garden and will now start to work on those needed for fencing an area for the dogs so that they can come up for visits. I figured I'll be ready to start fencing in about a week or so. Oh joy, another project!

Back on-line . . .

It's almost overwhelming to have been off-line for most last five weeks. Regardless, WildBlue has come and gone and my satellite Internet is up and running.

Lots has happened since I was able to post last - all involving my final move to my retirement cabin near Grayling. There are still boxes here and there and I have no idea where anything is, but over time, new order will be created.

I have half of my raised bed gardens in and radish, peas, lettuce, onions, broccoli, and herbs in the ground. Over on my gardening site (see links) I'll post how I built my raised beds and the critter guards for them.

Now that I have Internet back, I'll get to regular posts in a day or two.