Happy Trees

While Susan and I were driving to the cabin today we took a sidetrip to Gaudineer Knob. The contrast exhibited by these trees made me feel as if I was driving into a Bob Ross painting. Happy Trees – Happy Me!

Lunchtime

It is a lazy, rainy day at the cabin. A barred owl visited around noon. It sat in the shagbark hickory next to Backyard Run and overlooking the bird feeder. We are wondering if it is the reason we have been observing fewer birds and squirrels at the feeder lately. The owl left before we could get a picture. Luckily, it returned to the hemlock overlooking the pool in Backyard Run (the creek behind our cabin has no names associated with it on any of the maps we have seen so I named it Backyard Run). I managed a few pictures from the back door with the camera lens fully extended. After a few minutes and pictures, it flew down into Backyard Run where we could not see it. Following a 10 to 20 second wait the owl came out of the creek with some critter hanging from its talons and it flew off into the forest. The picture of it and its catch did not focus.

Don’t Worry – Just an Orb Weaver

I found this Mottled Orb Weaver (Araneus marmoreus) in the shed eaves at the cabin. Not knowing what kind of spider it was, I bravely approached with camera in hand. I had little worry since my U. S. Government Health Care Plan provides me with top-notch medical care (the same one enjoyed by conservative congressmen and Senators while denying the same to those without – seriously!). I have since found out that it’s venom is of little concern to humans.

I think all would agree it is a colorful, cute creature. It eats bugs too!

 

Restoring One’s Toughness

Apparently, the best place to hide from lightning is behind a chair.

 

And the best way to then restore one’s appearance of toughness is by barking at a trailing motorcyclist from the closed back window of a moving vehicle

Down Goes the Chimney

We decided to put our cabin on a heat pump and get rid of the inefficient baseboards and the fire hazard oil stove. Christopher helped me get the oil tank down and oil stove out last weekend. This weekend Susan and I were alone to take down the chimney. That job turned out to be a sooty mess and physically demanding. But, I think Susan had the tougher job – cleaning up the soot that managed to get on everything, while I was demolishing. In this first picture I am contemplating the start of the job, which occurred on the roof.

 This is where the job wound up at floor level. At this point I had one more chimey block to remove along with a huge pile of soot.

 

A couple of old posted signs worked nicely for scooping the soot.

 

Susan’s cousin David helped me load the oil heater and oil tank into the truck for delivery to the landfill dumping station.

 

The gentleman working the dump station decided he could use the oil tank at his farm to hold diesel fuel for his tractor. Susan was sitting in the truck and took his picture in the rearview mirror while he was directing me where to dump the tank.

 

Tractor Driving Wife

I discovered that Susan could manage the lawn tractor at the cabin. I took this picture while she was mowing and I was nursing a Yuengling while relaxing in a lawn chair. The Good Wife (er, Life)!

Let Me Out of Here

We were outside doing yard work and Etcetera decided that watching from behind the screen door was not good enough. I could hear her meowing from the other side of the house. Poor Kitty!!

Tranquility

The small creek flowing behind our cabin has a really neat waterfall, albeit small. We enjoy it and its soothing sound. I experimented a little with the camera this past weekend and produced the moderately successful picture shown below. I think this might be a popular photo subject for many cabin visits.

Vandy the Wonderdog Meets a Hollow Tree

Vandy and I went for a walk last evening. The walk route is lined with a series of old, knarly trees that tend to be hollow. She found one hollow tree that was quite interesting and she dove in

Next she was barking up the inside of the tree

and then decided to look out the ‘back door’ to see what might be outside of the tree.

Hellebore

To Hell with the snow! The Hellebores are blooming. In witchcraft legend it is believed that Hellebores have ties to summoning demons. Great! After the last eight years of demons in the White House we do not need to be summoning more. Oh well, the flowers are a joy to look at – even in today’s snow.