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A Cardinal beats all with it's beauty and a Robin beats the fisherman to the worm and a nut hatch beats the chickadee to the seed and a bluejay is a bully who squawks just to be heard....

A small red squirrel chases all the blimpie big ones away and two reds will go at it in a whirlwind of red anger feathers flying...

The finches come in waves with number superiority and are gone just as fast. They leave behind thoughts of cranberry and yellow and red....

The small red headed woodpercker beats the seed down with a repititious head bopping euphoria....

The whitetail deer go by one by one and in no hurry to get anywhere. They beat the swamps for some tasty cedar when food is of short supply...

The Eagle beats them all down from up high and if you've seen them swoop down from nowhere you probably have seen the Concorde landing...

The house fly beats no one but mars my view of the yard or the lake and I beat them down with a swatter...

The black bear doesn't want to beat anyone, he just wants to eat. I won't make the same mistake this spring of burning my paper plates in the campfire. I called him Blacky last spring when we were best buds and I imagine soon enough he will stop by to say hey Willie Mays...

The beaver beats the base of trees for sturdy limbs to dam the culvert. He beats all to the time clock and overtime too...

The skull of a fawn found when the snow melts lost her battle early and now it sits on the window sill beating guests who try to name it.....

The crow beat the odds and doesn't mind telling you about it but the Eagle has the last word no matter how many crows try......

Mother Nature beats all. The city, the suburb and all that glitters. It's a simple life, it's abundant colors and sweet aroma and it's bounty is all for free....
...

Can't beat that.....

Happy Saturday and glad to be back. Thanks for the prayers, I'm feeling a little better and the computer is all well as I will be soon....

smiles and happy trails to you...Easy

Burner and I were wishing we had some ice skates, a couple of sticks and a puck yesterday as he skunked me twice playing crib and he asked, "Whats that smell?" No one likes a smart a..leck and even worse a funny one. The last time I beat him heads up I declared it a national Island Lake holiday. I can do that, I am the Mayor. The ice on the lake is crystal clear and we imagined flying across the lake taking slap shots on breakaways. We wanted Moose to play goalie but he had hocked his skates in Iron Mountain to take out a Wisconsin lady he met at Hap Hazards gas station. He falls in love every six months but always finds a way to lose love as quick as he found it. Turns out this lady wanted to go ice skating.....

On my walks I see little signs of spring. I love spring, my April birthday, Easter and the rebirth of the grass and the flowers. The pine trees are turning a brighter green, the melting snow finds a way to flow and the animals are mating up, coming out of hibernation and all searching for food and fresh air...

As quiet as it is during the week it usually gets busy around here on Saturday. After my computer shuts down for the day, usually around noon, I'm going outside to find everything I lost come first snowfall last October. I imagine Billy will come by on his way home after working all week in Wisconsin and no he doesn't ice skate but he did ski jump when he was young. I'll be hooking up with him again a week from Monday to catch a ride as far as Milwaukee to catch a bus to Chicago and Janet. I call it my Illinois love connection....

I might be the only guy who walks to his mailbox in heavy boots and is carying tennis shoes in my backpack. When I hit pavement I switch to the light shoes and walk the 2.2 miles to the highway where I take a break on the swing set in the small park next to the Erickson's saw mill. They are doing a brisk business as I hear the saws whining and see the huge logs waiting to be made into paper...

I often meet Ernest H. who is walking from the other Island Lake which has trout in it instead of pike. Two Island Lakes within 5 miles portends logistic problems for trunk slammers who come north looking for the trout fed Island Lake and end up in my driveway which is as private as our lake. I call him Ernest H. because he is a dead (live) ringer for the writer I yearn to be. I don't think Hem skated but did like ice in his alcohol down Cuba way ole...

Lets pray for Elizabeth Edwards whose breast cancer is back. She's the wife of John Edwards who is running for President and it is her decision he continues on. I had to call my chemo friend Barb in Detroit just to hear how she is doing and I won't be at ease until she says she's still in remission. Her gallant fight with breast cancer inspired me in my journey. Cancer seems so long ago for me as I rack up the healthy days. I am truly blessed...

Happy Saturday!!! get to the spring clean up. Gramma Antilla used to tell me to keep your stoop clean. First impressions go a long way. Keep smiling and find the good side of life and hold it close.....Easy

Pouring rain most of the night and I'm getting up at 6 now because my computer only works until about noon and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Now that the snow is melting I may be able to get a service rep in here and fix the problem. It's a real good thing to have my best thoughts in the morning because I wander around the Penthouse Cabin in the afternoon like a puppy who has lost it's master...

I'm real excited to be heading back down to Chicago on the 2nd of April to spend a couple more weeks with Janet while I wait for the ground to thaw out so I can drill for water and get this home improvement on its way. I'm not Tim the tool man or his trusted flannel wearing second fiddle but I sure am good at delegating and pounding nails badly. I have alot of friends in Republic that will be here to help not with their hand out but with a hammer. It's like this in small towns and why I love it here. A new addition, 2 bedrooms and a bath, a cold storage and storm shelter basement, septic field and running water....

Add the next printing of Trout Falls Chronicles saturated across Upper Michigan mid April to see if it sells and if it does I'll be busier then ten squirrels in my bird feeders. One little red I call 'scratch' got impaled on a rusty nail yesterday when I spooked him and I used my trusty broom to nudge him free and he took off like headed to the emergency room. I noticed a small bit of blood on the nail but I think he'll be ok. The deer come in before dark like on call when I call Janet to say goodnight. They stare at me so forlorn and I gave them a half a loaf of bread I had laying around. The corn is coming I tell them and it will be here soon....

Burner has helped me diagram the Sauna I want built and will start on that as soon asI realize where to put it. I'm trying to plan for the next generation who will live here many years from now so they won't say, "What was he thinking?" What I am thinking is to build a place that will stand the test of time long after I'm through smiling on Island Lake....

Almost day light now and time to put out some bird seed, some stale ritz crackers (out of mild chedder dip) and some popcorn I didn't finish last night. Almost time to call Gracie and say good morning as I say good morning to you. Is it the Today show for you? Is it your page online? Your emnails or Boomer? Or are you scrambling around getting ready for work or sending off your significant other with a smile? Enjoy the morning...

A raincoat day here but don't fret it a bit. I remember sitting with my grandfather in the kitchen of his home and it was snowing a blizzard outside and he would say, "Yea, won't be any skeeters today" and he would give me one of his huge smiles I'll never forget...

Have a good day my friends....

Most mornings I see up to twenty deer that come out of the woods by the Bailey camp and run on the frozen lake in groups of four or five and it's like a gathering place unlike I've ever seen before. Behind them and up a large hill is the Fence River road and I can see cars that stop, get out and snap pic's or just watch. We didn't get much snow until I left in Feb. and the deer stayed here instead of yarding up further south. I'm enjoying it and they have figured out I am home and as I was talking to Gracie this morning they were almost begging me for food. I may have to go to town and rid myself of this guilt I feel. I'm only as good as my next kernel of corn....

I saw this in the New York Times this morning and I thought of 'Active' and had to laugh. The story is called, 'Snowflakes the size of frisbees' by William Broad. I quote,
"So too with giant snowflakes, Dr. Libbrecht said. “As big as a basketball?” he asked. “Who knows? It’s not out of the question.....

Easy and Pete were out on a camping trip and sleeping under the stars when they heard a screech owl. Easy woke up with a start and said, "What the heck was that?" Pete said, "Jillary Clinton." and they went Barack to sleep.....

Ally wasn't in the best of moods this morning but went out in the boat with Matt. This was only the second time they had met and he was trying hard to impress her. He decided to row the boat with one hand and started going in slow circles. He'd angle the oar to be sure he splashed her. "You realize your rowing in circles?" she said with a hint of a smile, "Yaw, and I'm doing it until you give me a smile." And she smiled with dimples too and they went on with the day....

Fresh starts are nice. Putting everything else behind us and the mind on today and not yesterday or tommorrow.Our memory is yesterday and our fears or hopes are tommorrow. By remembering one and no fear of the other sets up a great chance for today. Seize the day today like you never have before. Reach out for more like you have never done before. Be all you can be like you never had before. And don't forget to say thanks. Enjoy this splended chance we have...Today!!!...Smiles...Easy

Hardly anyone knocks on my door and when it happens I know they will make a statement and ask a question. "I'm stuck in your yard and can I use your phone???'

As much as I love it here I don't see why I can't live here in the summer and live in the city in the winter. The older I get the harder the winters are. What used to be a piece of cake is now sometimes a snowball in the face...

I get real offended when a politician doubts my patriotism because I may not have the same view as him on a particular issue. I believe I am a Veteran and I live in a democracy...

Global warming, pollution and land development is taking away our forests and slowly destroying our water supply. The big issue up here in the North country is wether to allow strip mining near a famous trout fishing river. I say nay even though we do need the jobs but we must think in the long term. I have nightmares thinking of the kids of the future going to a movie theatre to see what the woods once looked like. We must keep the Great Lakes great...

Politicians are finding out that a simple little ole email can bring out any wrong doing.....

Have you seen the forever stamp the Post Office is offering along with another rate hike for a first class stamp? Buy one of these and you can use it even when we get the next rate hike. I want a forever stamp we can send back and forth to our best friend forever and ever. I'll take that deal Howie. I think I'll email a friend and tell him....

47 million dollars was spent in the last quarter by politicians running for president. Multiply that by say 7 quarters and the total could , say, fix New Orleans after Katrina. Naw, that would be too practical...

More then 5 million live with Alzheimers and I wonder how many are boomers. I wonder about myself after thinking it was Sunday and not Saturday and not remembering I left here in Feb. and not March. This is why I found an ace editor.....

I get a nice feeling when I fill my feeders with fresh seed every morning knowing that they know they will be fed on a cold bitter 3 degrees this morning....

Getting stuck in the snow in my yard is a common as snow falling from the sky....

In my Waldens world I'm not sure if it's 2 pm or 4 pm but only if I decide to forget time. When I do, I am truly free....

Annie and her Angel get the first prize for noticing that Chronicles is spelled wrong on the binding of the cover. ..

Squirrels in the city look malnourished compared to the red, grey, black, black/brown, black/grey and grey /brown blimpies I feed here...

I think it would take 8 or more of them to make a decent stew. Not that I would but it does wake readers up. I bet Papa and blue eyed girl would like it....

I like our Dixie chick more then the ones that sing...

Well, the light turns green and time to go. Have a good one, eh? Things to do and nothing to do. Just theway I like it....smiles...Easy

6 inches of big white fluffy snow fell last night and I guess I'll hold off on spring for a bit. Yesterday, I went to sit in the woods like I did all last summer and fall and I almost took my snowshoes but they weren't needed. The foot of snow left is frozen and crusted and until the weather warms up it is easy walking. I made a mental note of the deer trails and they are a winter map of how they travel and why. Tracks in the snow tell a story of it's own.....

I found my lawn chair where I had left it last year and under my arm was a pillow I'd brought to sit on. I dropped my backpack atop the snow and looked around and realized I'd left my sunglasses at the Penthouse Cabin. That is so unlike me. Right. The sun was bright andhigh in the sky and it took me quite a while to open them easily and made a note to never forget my glasses again. Right, right....

I decided to start a fire even though it wasn't so cold. I just like the smell of burning leaves and I gathered some from under a tall pine tree. From a brown, dead pine I gathered the bough's which is the best tinder and before long I had a small ripper fire going and I just love that smell. It reminds me of up here when I was a small lad roaming the woods and meadows. Or, burning leaves at the curb in Detroit during my teens. They don't allow that anymore but they can't take away the aroma to my memories...

It's quiet except for the popping of the wood and the ground is covered in pristine white mounds that flow like in Siberia. My mind whirls with thoughts of last year when I found this place and I was so desperate about hust staying alive and it was my hiding place away from the Penthouse Cabin. Like I had to go even deeper into the woods to get away from a pretty nifty Cabin hiding place. I guess this shows that even here, I look for a place to get away and think and meditate......

Janet was on my mind of course and I began forming a plan to get back to Chicago soon. My birthday is in April and I wonder if I shold wait til then. I think about my computer that quits working as soon as I leave it alone for an hour or so. Maybe I only paid half my bill. Naw, and not so funny either. I will not complain....

I gather my stuff a couple hours later and put away my memo pad with future blog thoughts and the fire had about gone out and I cover it with snow I push with my boots. It smoulders and smokes and I am covered in a cologne called burnt leaves, a popular outdoor Yooper ambiance. My boots crunch over the crusted snow and the pillow is under my arm and backpack, well, on my back. I walk slowly to pace myself. One thing I noticed while in Detroit was that people walk really fast. Always in a big hurry to get somewhere else. I'm in no hurry because when I go to sleep I will wake up again, in the U.P... Can't stop thinking about Chicago, the town and not the band. About Janet, not Jackson but Ma'ly....

I stop to talk to a squirrel who seems quite irritated with me for just passing by. I talk slow and tell him it's allright and to have a great Sunday. He turns his tiny ears just like Pippin does and the squirrel climbs higher up the tree. I don't think Pippin can climb trees as I amble on to home and the end of another wonderful day. It doesn't get any better then this. Well, maybe it can, how far can it be to Chicago??....

Happy Monday to all. Even to the squirrels trying to get by. If I lead with a smile and faith, the rest will take care of itself.....

It's a sunny 8 this morning and a dusting of snow hides the sheet of ice on the road to the mailbox. Mark and Aunt Bree got in last night and it was good to see them again. He came over to try to figure out why my computer only works when it wants but he left scratching his head under his wool cap. After I wrote my blog yesterday it went out again and this morning it is on again. Oh well. This afternoon I head to Republic for a cribbage tournament with Burner for a partner. First prize is about $200 so we plan on splitting that prize before the day is over. It should be a funday Sunday...

Back on Mar 5, Billy gave me a ride to Milwaukee where I planned to catch a bus to Chicago and saved by grace, Janet. After hearing it was only another hour to the windy city he kept on going, got off at the wrong exit and we ended up on Harlem, the street and not the city and finally found her house where she was standing on the porch waving to us in the dark. Billy said a quick adios and headed north to Sheyboygan, Wi. and not Cheboygan, Mi. It was a nice neighborhood and Janet's house was most impressive.....

Like some of you, I have met friends I have made on the internet and for me it is a nervous time as I try to be on my best behavior and not make a fool of myself. I can correct mistakes on my blogs but face to face the mistakes stand out like a albino black bear. I had what I thought a heads up with Janet because we have gotten close with her editing my many mistakes in Trout Falls Chronicles and our strong belief in God and we were on our way to being great friends in Christ. In addition, I found Janet while on my way to find someone else I didn't even know yet. In other words, I had no immediate prospects on the Lake Michigan horizon....

My first reaction was that her profile picture didn't do her proper justice and she was very pretty with a most excellent smile that wouldn't go away. Then I met Pippin her dog and Irie, her talking parakeet. She had a hearty meal for us and we sat at the kitchen table getting to know each other. Sometime that evening before I went to sleep on her couch I realized I had strong feelings for her and it came as a total surprise. I fell asleep praying for guidance on this very nice turn of events totally unexpected......

In the morning she bought me breakfast on a cold snowy Chicago day. My bus left at 9 and if you know me you would know I have never missed a bus but fretted beyond normal ever missing one. I was having too good of a time to leave. She dropped me off at the bus station and watched me go inside while she watched the bus to Detroit go by on her left and I had missed my bus. Her heater wasn't working in her car because Fast Eddie hadn't hit it with a hammer yet, an inside joke, and I sat in the station waiting for the next bus watching CNN talk about an Astronaut who wore diapers, what??.....

I did the rest of the month in Detroit and couldn't wait to get back to Chicago and I asked Janet if I could stay for a week or so and get to know her better. She agreed and the rest is history and this blog nears an end and we begin our life together as more then friends. I guess we are girlfriend and boyfriend now and the only doubt is it sounds like teenagers wordage. We think we can have the rest of our life together and never be alone again. She doesn't want to leave Chicago and I dread leaving Upper Michigan but when in love anything can be worked out if we want it enough. I believe we do. I have been praying to meet a woman like her and now that I have found her I'm not letting go. Awwwwwwww......

This has been a difficult blog to write and harder to explain. Good things happen on Boomer and wanted all of my firends to know how happy I am. Life just keeps getting better every day and I want it to never end and it doesn't have to either. A second chance is just that....

Have a great Sunday of rest that God has given us. The sun is shining, the breeze is fresh and love is in the air, can you hear it tonight? Lots of smiles and prayers and this one's for you my sweet Gracie........

The only certainty of coming home is the simple life I live as compared to the city life of Chicago and Detroit. The uncertainty of my computer working when I sign on has left me befuddled and unable to get into the zone I need to be when I write. It was never more evident then at my young friend Sean's house near Detroit where his computer sat and I sat trying to write something you would want to read. I didn't write a word. I sat at Janet's kitchen table, smiling and enjoying my Dunkin Donuts coffee, served to me with a napkin, a spoon and a poud of sugar in a hefty bag and watched her check her emails and I could no sooner sit there and write a blog then I could design a spaceship headed to Mars. And now I am home and even though have found time when I have been in that zone they come as seldom as my pleasure of writing is fleeting.....

In my defense, my mind has been wandering to other places not here and of fond memories made while I was gone. Every time I think there will be no more changes in my life they hit me in the face like an attitude check. As I sit here this cold morning I watch a nut hatch peck at seeds in the feeder and know that life will never be the same for me again. I say this with a smile beyond beief. Please don't think something terrible has happened to me since I have been gone, quite contrare my friend. I am happier then I have ever been and I was speaking from the top of the tallest meadow full of wild flowers in the Upper Michigan when I said that before I left many blogs back. I guess we can go from happy to happier without going from dumb to dumber, eh?......

I left mar 5 for a VA checkup, to live like the rest of you do with running hot water and bathrooms. I left to meet (saved by grace)Janet and hire her officially to edit this book and be the editor of my second book and the ones after that. I left to see my family and I left to look up some old friends and maybe see if I still had a little of the wild side in me. I laugh when I write this because living on the wild side means staying up past 9 pm at nite. And what did I find instead?....

Oh darn, Burner is picking me up at the mailbox in a half an hour. Should I save this and send it all together later when my computer might not be working? Hmmmmm. I think I'll put it out becuase I always liked Spin and Marty where they left the reader or watcher on the edge of a cliff with the car balancing and swaying back and forth. I know it's cruel but writing enables me to do it and what does a writer want of the reader? He wants you to come back and read more. To look to it first before pouring the coffee or turning on the TV. I had such a writer who did that to me and I enjoy doing it to you in a literal sort of perverted way. So, what happened to me to make me smile when the wind chill is -10 and my computer is more tempermental then a robin on a morning dew filled lawn?

Stay tuned is all I can say for now. Happy Friday, St. Urho's day to us Finns and to you a Happy St. Patrick's day too. I have the Irish in me by way of my fiery Gramma Caty, an Irish wisp of energy packed into five feet nothing of red hair and a wonderful smile. I think I have some of her red hair. That same smile is for you too this wonderful morning God has given us........

I'm back. Again. My computer went out after I posted my last blog and this moirning it started working again. Just like that, thank you very much. I think it was froze solid. I have alot of catching up to do and I shall do it from inside today as the wind chill is -15 and it's dang cold out there with the critters wherever they are keeping warm......

It was a bit discouraging being offline for four days after being offline for four weeks but the memories of Chicago and my trip were more then enough to keep me smiling. I have also started writing my second book (yet untitled). Trout Falls Chronicles goes to the second printing the 1st of April and on sale again about the 15th. Positive comments lead me to think I'm a writer so I will keep it going. I also am a publisher now in case your looking for one. Got that idea you can't sell? I'm Easy.....

Not having boomer, I went through memo pads to back of envelope or dainty napkin plans. I wrote down so many blog idea's I could start now and not finish for weeks. No fear, I'll give you the snapshot version the next few days. Like Don Quixote on his trusted ass, I am up again to slay dragons and win the damsel in distress accompanied by an antedote or two and always with a smile and a prayer for you ....

Until then, I'm going to read a few blogs and say hi to as many as I can and get the feel of the Penthouse Cabin chair here 3 miles from nowhere and in the middle of it all...

Thursdays are as special as we want them to be...smiles...Easy

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