Monday, May 04, 2009

Just had a reply from Evelyn about the bear. I had also asked her about the droppings we saw (and took a picture of) in the woods. We thought it might have been a moose, and she confirmed that's what it was. There was so much in so many places, there must be more than one hanging out up there. Here's what Evelyn wrote this afternoon:
The bear was here on our property... he's been hangin' around for some
time now... we think it's the same bear that comes each year for his
"photo shoot" as we have had one come every spring/summer since 2001 and
each year the bear is bigger than the year before...

The droppings that you found are moose droppings... we have seen some
droppings out in our woods, but nothing too fresh lately.... Chances are
the moose may not like sharing territory with the bear... but I can't
say that for sure... I don't see them as enemies of each other... just a
bit respectful of territory maybe... since they both munch on similar
things...But the moose around here tend to venture out into the deeper
marsh area where the bear is very unlikely to roam...

We haven't seen anything of the bobcat this spring... (or winter)... but
the deer and turkey are plentiful, though they tend to move on when the
bear comes out... The geese and ducks and loons are doing their usual
thing... the loons have defended the nest again... so we hope that is a
good sign for another family this year. Ray went out and 'delivered'
their nest building materials a couple of weeks ago, so when they are
ready they will satisfy their nest building instincts...

Folks are beginning to plan their entertainment schedules it seems, this
week I got 3 calls to book Ray for either the Loon show or the wildlife
shows... so I guess the season is coming alive in all aspects... I
guess I'll have to get busy and create a new loon show... I have updated
the software considerably since the Loon Program was made... and his
newer photos need to be in there too... oh, whew... I guess we all tend
to make more work for ourselves, don't we??>>>>>

Gotta run... Ray is driving the boat home tonight and I have to bring
the bumpers down to the dock before he gets here...

Later... Evelyn

I also had a nice note from Pat Parizo:
Hi Jane
George and I have enjoyed reading your blog and seeing the pictures since we have been gone from the lake. I especially enjoyed seeing our cottage today on the blog. We are anxious to get back there but we are doing over the bathroom here in Springfield and if we leave to go back up there we will never get it done. WE also have things going on down here with the grandchildren. Anthony is a senior this year. We are excited as he is planning. at this time, to go to Lyndon State College next year.
Hope to be seeing everyone soon.
Love Pat

I actually thought I saw George walking by our house today - someone had a cell phone and seemed to be talking on it, just down from our mailbox. As far as I know, there's little if any signal along W. Shore Rd., although Bill Rossi told me today down by Geer's it depends on whether you stand north or south of the cars parked across the road in their parking lot. Larry Rossi's crew of workmen are finishing up on the Geer cottage, and know exactly where to stand to receive a signal. I'm going to try to remember to find out if there's been any development over the winter on the installation on the Sousa farm silo. Last we heard, the environmental court hadn't made a decision. We've had a couple of phone service outages recently, and realize how compromised we are when this happens. On the other hand, for years nobody had phones - actually, when I was growing up, my grandparents had a telephone (party line), but lots of folks didn't have one. Neighbors often came to "borrow" the phone, and sometimes there would be an emergency and my dad or one of my uncles would have to head off to the neighbor's with a message. My parents didn't have a phone until I was in high school. If someone wanted to reach us by phone, they'd call my grandparents and my grandmother would go out to the corner of their house and holler "Yoo-hoo!" It wasn't far to our place, and we could usually hear her and my mother or father would run up the hill to take the call. In bad weather, unless it was an emergency, whoever wanted us would have to wait until my dad went up to milk or came out of the woods, and then he'd call them back. The party line was a great source of entertainment, though. We kids would often get caught listening in on someone else's conversation, but it wasn't a huge deal. My grandmother did it all the time. There were usually nine other families on the same line, so there was always something going on. It was better than the newspapers, and some of the things discussed would rival today's television soaps. Phones aren't that much fun these days. Conversations are fairly private, except for the one-sided conversations one hears from nearly everyone, everywhere, all the time as they walk, work, shop or drive.

Cell phone service would be nice, I guess, and being able to connect to almost anyone any time is a good thing, probably, but I don't believe I'll have a cell phone any time soon - even if the tower does go up on the silo. I just don't need to be that accessible.


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