Griffin is joining me at SPA (St. Paul Academy) for seventh grade. We will be driving to school together each day in our electric car. Although I don’t teach him, I will see him around school regularly. We are both quite excited.
I received an envelope yesterday at my new address with a tasteful botanical design. Upon opening it I found a similarly attractive brochure for a “conservation memorial forest” where I can book a spot to spread my ashes beneath a tree to be visited in perpetuity by my loved ones.
It’s the first time I’ve received an advertisement for what to do when I kick the bucket.
We spent the final week of July at Camp Du Nord family camp. This was our third trip, and we all agreed that it was our favorite one. The weather was fantastic, despite the wildfire smoke, and the kids were at good ages to maximize their fun. Oliver had no separation anxieties when he joined his age-group for morning activities, often scampering off to get there early before Sarah and I were ready.
Some highlights of the trip included:
The only bummer about the trip was the smoke in the air from the Canadian wildfires. It was pretty intense, often making the sun and moon appear orange or red.
We also had some insane red squirrels who would drop pine cones on our cabin every morning at around 6:00. They sounded like gunshots as they ricocheted off the steel roof!
I know that I should be posting more about our trip to Du Nord, but I wanted to provide an update about some of the wildlife that we’ve seen and/or heard at our new home.
I recently posted about the wild turkeys that Piper an I encountered on a nearby trail. It turns out that the turkeys are pretty ubiquitous. It’s a rare day where we don’t see or hear some of them in the yard or on the trails. We frequently see a family of nine strutting through the yard. Here’s a list of other wildlife that we’ve encountered recently:
We’ve also spotted lots of scat in the woods, much of which we don’t recognize yet. We’re learning quickly, though, and intend to continue developing our understanding of the local fauna.
On our final night at Camp Du Nord, Griffin and I played a tremendous game of Yahtzee, with five yahtzees between the two of us!
Piper and I went on a lovely walk along the trails across the street from our house. Highlights included wildflowers and some wild turkeys.
In the following video clip, you can see two poults fly up into a tree just as we come around the bend. Then a third one struggles to get aloft and follows the first two.
It was a lovely Sunday with a mix of productive and leisure activities. Griffin had a good friend over. I spent time exploring Menards and figuring out how to setup our wired and wireless network. Sarah and the kids went on a walk. We met some friendly neighbors. Lots of small things were checked off our to do lists (e.g., new cord for garage light, locate water valve for fridge, replace flickering lights, program garage door remotes, etc.).
Or at least our family band.
Griffin and Sarah returned this evening from their separate adventures up north. Sarah was preparing for trail crews at three different forest service sites (as part of her job with Mobilize Green). Griffin was backpacking on Isle Royale where he had a ton of fun and apparently fed every bloodsucker on the island (by the look of his legs).
We’ll add more details in the coming days. I’m just glad we managed to locate pillows and sheets for everybody.
Today was mixed. I felt like I spent much of it looking for items that I couldn’t find (hidden in boxes I have yet to locate). Vegetable peelers, lotion, kitchen knives, sugar, etc. All minor things, but it is frustrating to reach for something simple and then realize that you have no idea where it is.
On the other hand, Maggie was a magnificent helper today. She tackled mowing the lawn, pumping up the pool, and using the central vacuum.
We discovered a large colony of bumblebees living in the mulch at the back of our house. I’ve spotted other ground hives before (e.g., yellow jackets) but never bumblebees. The picture doesn’t include any of the drama, but there are numerous entrances hidden in the bark. They depart to visit the flower garden and return visibly laden with golden pollen on their rear legs.
