Let it snow, let it snow let it snow.....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Our family was blessed with having both kids, our 90 year old mother and a very close friend join us at the lake for the weekend.  The food was terrific! The conversations were amazing! And.....playing cards with Darlene was a sobering experience as usual.  That 90 year old is a competitive card player, I tell you.  You think there's no way she can win a hand with all the cards she has in her hand and then she gets that tone and you know it's over.  She's won again!  I only hope when I'm her age I still have the zest for life she has.  Quite an inspiration.....

We also had another visitor over the weekend.  The ice has just formed in our bay, but there are a few holes in the ice just off our shoreline.  A young beaver, called a kit, was working one of the holes.  Although it was interesting to watch the little kit work, we weren't amused with its choice of work locations.  You see our 2 year old griffon would just love to get a hold of the beaver and have her own play time.  The problem is that the ice would most likely not hold our furry friend, so the beaver was keeping Ries from being able to enjoy the cabin yard like normal.

The little guy would pop up on the ice after being under water for a while with a jaw full of lake weeds to nibble on.  Here's a shot of him just as he came out of the hole in the ice.  We tried throwing snowballs at him, clapping loud, etc.  to get him to move along the bay somewhere else, but he was determined to stay in that spot for the day. 

I decided I may as well learn a little bit about the little creature so the DNR web site helped to educate me some on beavers in northern Minnesota.  They grow up to 5' in length and weigh up to 90 pounds.  The majority, however, grow to an average of 30-40 inches in length and 40-50 pounds in weight at adulthood.  They can live up to twelve years and usually mate after their second year.

Beavers live in colonies and those usually consists of the two adults, their 3-4 kits born in the spring and the one year olds not ready to go off on their own.  The kits will swim under water with the adults only after a few hours of being born. 

Beavers can swim up to twenty minutes under water at a time.  Their nose and ear valves shut when submerged.  They also swim under water with their lips closed behind their teeth in order to carry tree limbs to their den.  All of these things allow the beaver to swim under water without drowning.  Amazing how creates the critters out there.

In the fall and winter they feed on weeds and tree limbs submerged under water, so that's what this little guy was doing all yesterday.  Bon Appetite!

This morning I had to get out and take a walk with Ries to enjoy the new snow that fell yesterday.  The trees were absolutely beautiful on our walk.  She loves this weather almost as much as I do I think.  Here's a shot of her romping about on the road by our cabin.  I could tell one truck had been down the road, but otherwise it was me, Ries and nature out there.   Very peaceful! 

About the time that I took this picture we heard a small bird of some kind in the woods.  It sounded like it may have been a grouse.  It sure got her attention.  I could almost read her mind.  "Where's daddy and his gun when I need it?  Grouse for lunch anyone?"

I guess it's that time again.  Time to pack up the truck with all of our gear to head home for another week of hard work so we can come back and play again.  I always feel a sense of sadness on Sundays when I first wake up because I know I'm going to have to say goodbye to the lake and the cabin for another week.  Then I remind myself that I'm lucky enough to have a wonderful place like this to come to each weekend and vacation if I so choose to.  Just the other day I asked my husband, "what do you think our family's life would be like if we didn't have this lake home?"  He, like I, had thought about this question before.  It's really not an answer I can even fathom.  Our entire world seems to revolve around our time up here.  We all four love boating, fishing, snowmobiling, our friends at the lake, our neighbors, the beach, and our fires on the deck.

As we all head back to the city today, drive safe and be sure to give those that you love a hug and tell them how much they mean to you.  Our lake family of friends lost a wonderful man this week to cancer at the age of 52.  He was a gentle soul that lit up the room with his smile always.  Even though he had the same worries as we all did being a father, a husband and a provider, he always smiled as if he had no worries in the world.  As we all celebrated his life last night together, I was reminded about how short life can really be and how much we all can forget sometimes to enjoy those around us that we cherish and forget about all the little things in life that just don't matter in the grand scheme of things.  So be thankful every day, not just on these holiday weekends, for what you have.  Even if it's not what you dream of having, as long as you have your health and loved ones around you, that's what life is truly about.