Lake Superior Beachin'

This past weekend was a spectacular summer weather weekend, so we took a ride to a Lake Superior beach. There was barely a breeze but the temperature was just right. We didn't do any kayaking or swimming or even wading because:

1. I'm a sissy and the water was too cold.

2. Steve cut his thumb on a table saw last week.

So we stayed bottom side down in our camo chairs and watched the dogs, birds, freighters, Canadian turbine windmills, and even got out of our camo chairs once or twice and went for a walk on the beach in search of driftwood per our taxidermy's request. He's in the process of mounting some fish for us.

The dogs must think this is the world's largest water dish.

A few beach flowers.

In search of driftwood.

The mouth of the St. Mary's River. Michigan is to the right. Canada is to the left.

Footprints and pawprints in the sand.

Just passing by..

A freighter in the haze.

Canada in the distance

I love summer!

Bear, Ike and a Red Squirrel

Bear chased a squirrel up this tree along the river.

I've mentioned before how much Bear and Ike enjoy treeing squirrels. And it's fun for us to watch Bear and Ike and the squirrel. This time I sat down in a lawn chair and had my camera ready.

The squirrels can get pretty darn creative with their getaways. Sometimes they'll jump from tree to tree, sometimes they'll hunker down and wait for the dogs to give up, or sometimes, if they are in the tree next to our house, they'll make a jump for the roof of our house and oh, what a racket that makes as the roof on our house is tin.

The first time a squirrel escaped to our roof I jumped in the kitchen and yelled out the window to Steve, "What was that?"

He said, "Oh, just a desperate squirrel using the roof to getaway from the dogs."

Ike hasn't seen the squirrel so he isn't very excited. Yet.

Hard to see a small red squirrel up there.

But he isn't up there. He is slowly making his way down the other side of the tree.

That gets Ike's attention.He gets on all four paws and barks along with Bear. When Ike barks, Bear changes from barking to howling just like a wolf.

And the squirrel goes back up the tree.

They bark and howl and bark and howl. Soon Ike needs to lie down.

He does some short woofs.

Then some bigger woofs.

And they see the squirrel and it's all out woofin' and howlin'.

Oh my, Ike.

A stare down.

The squirrel stays like that for at least 20 minutes. Ike is not happy and Bear needs a drink. 

The dogs get bored and eventually find a shady spot to take a nap.

And the squirrel exits the tree.

Random Pictures of Spring...

While taking our daily walk the other day, the dogs and I found our first open wild Iris. They were really excited.

My rhubarb thrives...

Forget-Me-Not

I won't!

A bubbling brook Bear and Ike always stop at to get a drink.

Does anyone know the name of this beauty?

The wild apple tree down the road is blooming.

An animated bird.

And me! My gardens are in and I live to tell about it!

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Mom!

Oh...Those Pesky Bears!

Those of you who follow this blog know I love feeding and watching the birds.

I love taking pictures of them.

Many...

Many...

Many...

Many...

...photos of birds coming and going from my bird feeding stations.

The last two nights the dogs have woken us up with loud constant barking.The first night I got up and turned the outside light on to see what was going on, but saw nothing unusual. I went back to bed with this feeling that there was a bear in the neighborhood because that can really get the dogs uptight. Last night Steve got up and saw nothing.

Little did we know how close the bear(s) was.

This feeding station wasn't touched. The dog's kennel is directly to the right. The bear wouldn't dare come in this close with the incessant barking.

Right outside our front window this shepherds hook was bent and my brown cabin feeder was nowhere to be found. Just a trail of sunflower seeds that led to the road. The county road commission happened to grade our road before I could follow the bear tracks and hopefully retrieve my feeder.

And right outside our kitchen door this was all that was left of this feeding station. This station lost two feeders. Steve fixed the little red barn feeder. Just how many bear were there or how many times did a bear come back?

I searched the edge of the woods up and down our road, but the bugs are so bad I have no intention of going into the woods at the moment. Steve has since fixed this wooden tray feeder, too, but my stations look so bare! 

Thanks bear.

Thanks bears.

I know just how you feel Mrs. Evening Grosbeek.

Chew them bear a good one!