Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Up to Sans Souci today - Wednesday, December 5, 2012. I love the trip up especially when I get to Lakeport. It's a two lane road on M-25 from Lakeport all the way up to the tip of Michigan's Thumb and down the Saginaw Bay side.

Had my 'usual'  breakfast at Mary's Diner in Port Sanilac, the last 'big' city before my property. Breakfast brightened my mood in spite of the gray overcast drippy day.

I have asked friends to come up with me, but so far it's just me. That's OK. That's the one person I can always count on. I wonder if I'll get positive responses when there's no work to do. I had some productive meetings and hope things might start to move vis a vis the house.

I moved Fred and Annette's great house-warming (pole-barn-warming) real genuine horseshoe from over the door outside into the kitchen where it's warmer and safer. I LOVE it!!!

 There was a light snow on the ground after Port Sanilac and the temperature was cold, low 30s, up at my property but I worked outside in my shirt-sleeves and cleared some trash: - broken booze bottles, salad dressing bottles, pop (soda) bottles, a dish drainer, a broken plate, some pieces of plastic, half of an old iron fireplace grate, etc. from the northern deciduous forest. The bottles were real glass so they must have been there for a long time. I brought them home to recycle but maybe I'll clean them out and use them as flower vases up there.

The new septic tank had not been covered completely by the workers so I spent some time digging near-frozen clumps of dirt and raking the area first.

Then I also cut down some dead popular trees, large grape vines, and shrubs like sumac and viburnum before my old-faithful and reliable tree saw broke. That great saw must have been more than thirty years old and was missing several teeth.  

I piled the brush in front of an access onto my property that is neither a road nor a driveway. My neighbors said that someone had used it in the past and driven over my septic field. Yoicks!

In the northern deciduous forest near the bluff I also planted some small spring bulbs, might have been English hyacinths, not the big Dutch varieties; I hope the critters don't dig them up and eat them. I scattered some Rosa rugosa seeds, some hardy hibiscus seeds, and some seeds from Grandpa Ott's morning glories. I hope some escape becoming food for birds and small mammals and actually germinate and grow.

Lake Huron was a gorgeous cold-green color and with white caps all the way out to the shipping lanes where I saw several freighters. These are both views from my bluff.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

I did not teach my Fun with Agility class today with Jerry, Terri and Kim. I never missed a day of work in over 34 years of teaching Biology and French and Royal Oak's high school. I have also never missed a day of teaching classes at my all-volunteer, un-paid instructor, dog training club - - until today. I enjoyed my day off. Now I know why people do that. I may have to take next Wednesday off too!