Ice? What ice?

Yep, the ice has been gone for about two days now!  The slowest place to clear on 1st Lake is the north end.  Here’s a shot from yesterday:

Clear as a bell!  You know what that means, don’t you?  Time to get ready to put the docks in:

I foresee dock placement on the next windless day!  Murray moves in (3rd year!!!!) this weekend and officially starts on Monday.  This would be a good opening-week job for the guys, I say! This week has been nice:  just us, beautiful weather, time to breathe.  Check out the weather stick (Paul E., this one’s for you):

Freya had settled into a pretty good routine until a couple of days ago.  She was spending all night outside, then she changed her mind.  A trip around Camp revealed a set of big moose prints down near the boat ramp:

I’ll bet my girl saw something very big and scary–and she’s kind of a wimp–ergo the new indoor sleeping pattern.  Gruper put up a new trail cam over by the laundry facility.  Maybe we’ll get to see the critter!  Until then, this seems to be a safer place for sleeping:

Grouse have been everywhere!  We tried to get this male to puff up but he must not have found us attractive enough:

We saw a super-cool duck yesterday.  We consulted our book:  it was either a wigeon or a green-winged teal.  He flew away before I could get a pic.  I hope he comes back so I can show you. Our island friends had a tough January:  Jen’s dad Ted passed away.  Jennifer spent her summers on the island on 2nd Lake when she was younger, and her parents loved it there.  At their recent Canada night dinner in Iowa–complete with blueberries and walleye–the family toasted Ted with a bottle of the coveted Black Cab:

We were able to pay our respects en route to our first sports show of the season in Council Bluffs:

We’ll see you guys again in August!  Hugs all around:) In family news, Mackayla turned 8 in January and Gavin turned 1 in March:

Rebecca and I attended Grandparents Day in Mackayla’s 2nd grade room (we LOVE her teacher, who even let me volunteer in the classroom several times):

I hosted our annual wild game feed one week before Canada departure.  We had corned moose, grouse tortilla soup, buffalo grouse dip, wild boar bites, northern pike ceviche, walleye balls, and blueberry stuff!  Mike and Dawn were able to join us–(Dawn is the butt-crazed pervert of a couple of years ago):

The following day, we were able to see all six “greats” together for the first time!

Jack on the left turned 3 in March; Kay and Gavin; oldest nephew Danny holding Emma, 1.5; Alysha and Mya, who will turn 5 in July and June, respectively.  It was a great day of fun!  I’m sure I’ll be sharing photos along the way.

I am entertaining tonight and need to get to work.  The menu?  stuffed mushroom caps, bison/venison loaf, twice baked mashed taters, spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, funky dessert bars, and the coveted Black Cab;)