Mud and Cleaning Season

I think we are officially in mud season. Water from melting snow is streaming down my driveway and anyplace else that leads to the lake. Usually the roads dry up in a couple of days. Under the snow we have yet to get mud but that is next. The paths in my garden quickly become soggy messes for a couple of days. Meanwhile the spring projects are coming along. The floors in the lodge now have two coats of varnish. A third coat will be added today in the high traffic areas. Then it is a matter of letting everything dry and cure. I understand that by Tuesday, it will be time to move furniture back in. Remember that pile of furniture in the conference center? Chris Prasil, normally a server, is washing it all down. Much of this was washed before our weddings but we still have to go over it all. Cleaning is going on just as steadily in all the cabins. Again this is our one time to really tear into all the nooks and crannies. The housekeepers will be busy from now through May with these projects. We can’t forget the kitchen in spring cleaning. The other day Adam and Hudson were cleaning the hoods and ovens. Today Jacob has the grill torn apart. Meanwhile John is washing every bowl, shelf, silverware, pot and pan in the entire place. Right now it all looks a mess but things will start to take shape soon. Some of you may have noticed that the lynx on the beam in the lodge had a torn foot. Kaci got out her needle and thread and fixed the problem. Along the way she gave him a good cleaning. We won’t talk about how much dust was in his hide. The new dock is almost done. Each day I hear, only one more day. It is hard to believe how much is going into it but Jason is a perfectionist. For example, we have over 100 pounds of nails. The dock looks huge sitting on the ice. The touchiest time will be when it is floating but there is still a large mass of ice on the lake. We need to get the dock back in a bay before it is swept into the moving ice flow. Keep your fingers crossed. Dave goes to Duluth tomorrow to pick up new motors. By the time he gets the old ones loaded here for trade-ins and the new ones loaded in Duluth, he will be sick of motors. Of course, there are people to help with the loading in each spot. Once the ice is gone, the dock staff will be busy breaking in the motors by running them some. Spring projects will continue for a bit yet. There is, however, one project that has been reduced to a minimum. Years ago the lodge and every single cabin had water drained in the fall and put back during the spring. Usually it took several days in the spring. One year someone other than Bruce drained. The next spring it took over two weeks to get water running in all the cabins. Bruce had some special words for that spring. All in all, it is a project he does not miss.