It is almost fall!

Today I actually have TWO pictures for the blog. It is truly amazing for me.

One is of Jason Merrill who is in charge of our maintenance. He is taking a month’s vacation to go to Alaska with his brother. Bonnie took this picture of him before he left today. The two figures he is holding are Bonnie and Sheryl who will be going in spirit with him. We know it is going to be a great trip for the two guys. We just hope the lodge doesn’t fall apart without him. Luckily Lance is here to keep everything in running order.

The second picture is a loon nest. Really it is an artificial nest that one of our members donated to the Chik-Wauk museum. This fall the nest (made of recycled plastic pop bottles) with be anchored out in the Chik-Wauk bay. The live plants in it will continue to grow and it will be ready next spring to host a pair of nesting loons. We had an artificial nest out this spring and successfully had two chicks born. The advantage to this nest is that it will be able to be in the water year around. So in the spring we will all look for the pair of loons who will use it for their young.

It is easy to tell that September is almost here. The brush along the roadside is turning color. There is a fall feel to the air. Also the poplar firewood smells like fall to me. Much of our staff is going back to school. We have more coming but the ones who are leaving were so good.

I am ready for that first fall night when we put a fire in our fireplace. Bruce and I have a fire in the living room almost every night in the winter. At one point we considered putting in a gas fireplace. Luckily we came to our senses before doing it. Bruce likes to split the firewood by hand with his mall. We save any cedar trees and birch bark for kindling. In fact we even save the little branches from the trees for kindling. My job is to keep the wood box full. It is not a big job. For father’s day Bruce always gets a huge load of hardwood from Shawn and Bob. Combining that with our birch, poplar and cedar keeps us going all winter long.

September and October look to be exceptionally busy. Our weekends are virtually full. It is going to be sometime in November before things start to slow down. I can remember when any business we got after Labor Day was considered a bonus. Now we expect to be busy with fall color guests during all this time. It is almost like we just started to have fall color twenty years ago. Suddenly people seemed to realize that fall was a great time to be in the woods.

So catch your breath and get a second wind. Fall is about to hit us.