Weekend of the Bugs

Another wonderful, albeit short, trip.  R was gratefully let out of work early on the Friday after Independence Day so we were able to get on the road by 3:30pm and arrived to camp in good time at 8:30pm - just in time to see a young buck with a small rack jog in front of our car down the trail when we were less than half a mile away from camp!  

Willow has actually seemed to learn to time the trip so she doesn't have to use the litter box on the road.  When we stop for us and for Tyson, I offer her the litter box (a large tupperware container with a lid).  She used to use it at most every stop, but now she seems to wait until we get there if she can.  The day before we leave we usually start asking Tyson and Willow if they "want to go to camp in Maine for a couple days" and that we'll "take a ride in the truck to camp".  Repetition is key with training animals, and they seem to be learning what those phrases mean.  When we're almost there, we start saying, "almost to camp!" and they both get up and start looking out the windows with interest.  The same goes for when we're almost home.  It seems like they can smell the unique differences in each location and are growing familiar with them - that they're just not in some strange area.  Animals are so amazing.

Last time we left camp a couple of weeks ago I remembered to set up the trail cam.  Hooray!  We were fortunate enough to catch some wonderful images of two fawn frolicking in the clearing outside our camper!

Practicing for the reindeer games!

Mama doe must have been in the woods out of the camera's sight.  You can see in a couple of pictures where the fawn are looking into the woods, and sometimes you can see a slight shift in colors behind some of the leaves, maybe indicating Mama was there with her watchful eyes.  There are tons more images in the Black Birch Acres Photo Album, but here are a couple of animations Google Photos put together for me of the sequenced images.  Before we saw the pictures of the two fawn we thought there was only one fawn, but then noticed how the spots were different.  Then both came in to view!  Apparently, does give birth to between one and three fawns, and the babies keep their spots until they are about 4 months of age.

The mosquitoes and horseflies were not intolerable, but they seem to get consistently worse with every visit.  Probably I have at least a dozen or more mosquito bites covering my body.  I will gladly accept all of the bug bites so long as none of the itchies turn in to Poison Ivy.  PLEASE NO.

I try my best to steer clear of the plant with [sometimes] mitten-shaped leaves.  Unfortunately, all it takes is Tyson or Willow traipsing through some Poison Ivy, unknowingly getting slathered with the unseen urushiol (you-ROO-shee-all) oil from the plant, and then transferring it to our skin when we pet them or they rub against our bare leg.  Then if we were to wipe the sweat off our brow with the hand that just pet them.  It can turn into such a mess!  Heck, the oil can even adhere to firewood or gardening tools, so we need to be cognizant on where we place these items on the ground.  With the presence of Poison Ivy (I've gotten it once so far from camp but it wasn't bad at all fortunately), I'm very hesitant to mow the lawn.  It's getting tall, though.  I suppose one would wear long sleeves, a dust mask, pants, boots; then remove all of said items immediately afterwards.  Don't touch any of the clothing articles because the oil can stay on objects for weeks.  Wash them and you with water and soap afterwards immediately.  Say a little prayer..  Probably we'll take the mower next time.

Additionally, thankfully, what I thought may have been Poison Ivy may not be, and the rhyme "leaves of three, leave it be" is not always entirely accurate because many plants have groupings of three leaves.  What I thought was Poison Ivy may actually be blackberries(!), according to some people in a Native Plants Facebook group.  Apparently, identifying Poison Ivy is a learned skill because the plant has many forms.

The hairy/prickly stem is apparently an indicator that it is blackberries and not Poison Ivy. 
See the three-leaved wild strawberry in the left picture?

While "leaves of three, leave it be" may not be totally accurate, it does hold a bit of truth.  Some other rhymes I found for identifying poison ivy are:

• If butterflies land there, don't put your hand there.  Butterflies land on Poison Ivy because they aren't affected by it, and it sometimes keeps predators away from them.
• Hairy vine, no friend of mine.  Poison Ivy on trees has a furry raggy appearance.  If you see it, you may not want to touch or climb that tree.
• Red leaflets in the spring, it's a dangerous thing.  New Ivy leaflets can have a reddish appearance in the spring, but will eventually turn green, and become harder to identify as summer approaches.
• Side leaflets like mittens will itch like the dickens.  Watch for the little notches.  These can be a dead give away that you're messing with the wrong plant!

Keeping a keen...ahem...paranoid...eye out for poisonous plants, we took a little walk through the woods to see more of what beautiful nature has to offer.  It's awesomely amazing how you can see the clear division of wetlands versus forest as you get nearer to the river.

Forest/Wetland line

Do you see what I see?  A face in the formation?  Slightly creepy.

The canoe left behind by the former owner still...er...holds water.  I guess that means it should still float!  We will bring a bucket with us to empty it next time.  Can't wait to take the canoe out on the river!  The river flows in to the lake nearby, flowing east.  R and Tyson actually walked out through the tall grass to try and see the actual river.  R walked up to about his waist.  Tyson was literally swimming, the current almost taking him down river before he was able to recover and come back to shore.  R said it pretty much just dropped off at one point and was a good depth.  We look forward to fishing the small river eventually and wonder what types of fish are present.

After our explorations, we headed back to do some work solidifying the cabin shell that was put up by the former owner.  It's coming along slowly but surely.  Our plan is to make it safe and button it up the rest of the way so we can move from the tiny camper into the larger space of the cabin temporarily.  Once the coming winter passes, we'll begin plans to properly build our own cabin.  While we were in the cabin shell discussing plans for a bathroom with an indoor composting toilet, R noticed something on the wall.  Is that an eye shining in the camera flash?!?!  THE EYES OF A BIG FREAKING SPIDER.  NO THANK YOU AT ALL.

I still have trouble viewing this and avert my eyes quickly when I do.  <insert nervous laughter>  I just can't with spiders.  Can't.Even.  R and I agreed not to kill it.  I don't like killing any living things unnecessarily, and we haven't claimed this cabin as our own yet really, so technically the bugs and animals still "own" it until we put our mark on it and seal the building up.  This spider gets a second chance; just DON'T come back and you'll be ok.  I think we would need a goddamn sledge hammer to kill it anyways because surely a flip flop would NOT do the trick.  

I basically fled the scene and retreated to the camper.  I would have NO PART in capturing this...spider.  It's funny.  As I type this, I keep starting to refer to the spider as a monster, but alas, my rational side says no, it is not a monster.  However, I tell you what, my life nearly flashed before my eyes as I was standing there before this arachnid on the wall and pictured this...huge beast...going on the offensive and leaping off the wall at my face!  AAAAHHHH!  <throws arms up in front of face> Ok.  Getting ahold of myself.  Sorry.  Let's pull the rational thinking rope back in.  I'm sure this big spider just...just eats..the...bad..spiders.  I can't even bring myself to research spider pictures to identify it.  UGH.  R came in to the camper to get a cup and a paper plate to trap it.  BRAVE MAN.  I took a video and pictures before he deposited it far up the driveway.  Please stay away.  I don't want to have to hurt you Big Guy.

A Day of Work Dedicated To Willow

It was another late arrival.  R worked Friday so we ended up leaving around 6:00 p.m. and did not arrive at camp until midnight.  This worked out well though because we didn't hit a lot of traffic, and since I had the day off from work, I was able to stay awake well enough to drive late into the night while R dozed beside me.  I also got to test my driving-with-a-trailer skills again because we brought more lumber with us, as we did last visit.  It frays my nerves driving with a trailer because you have to watch the lines and make sure the trailer doesn't drift into the adjoining lane, but it was fine.  I was ok.  We got there safely.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before that R has been collecting lumber from the various construction sites he's worked at for a while now, so our backyard at home is nearly a lumber yard all on it's own, so bit by bit we're bringing loads of lumber up to camp.  It's all wood that the construction companies would have thrown away because they used it for temporary purposes and were done with it at the end of a job; there's not much wrong with it other than some nails that can just be removed.  We have everything from sheets of particle board and 2x4s, to 2x6s and 2x12s, all of various lengths with some reaching up to 16 feet long.  Probably there is thousands of dollars worth of wood that he's collected piecemeal over the last year.  One man's trash is another's treasure, for sure!

We awoke around 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning, eager to get going on the day's projects.  Our visit was only Friday night to Sunday, so we had just one full day to get done what we wanted to.  O how we long for the day that we can spend a week at camp!  I started breakfast while R took the first measurements of the day to further reinforce the cabin shell.

Willow the Grey Monkey "helping" R get ready for the morning

I was kindly and gratefully gifted a set of cast iron pans that I'm still learning to cook in.  Someone in a Homestead group on Facebook suggested I cook bacon in the cast iron pans at first to help cure them.  No complaints here!  Bacon, eggs, and toast with some coffee to get us going.  My internal alarms made me aware that the bacon smell may attract unwanted wildlife visitors, so my ears were open to the sounds of the forest.

In those sounds we heard some lovely bullfrogs, making their *womp*womp* calls.  I found myself a few times throughout the day pausing because I heard what sounded maybe like a person, but then turned out to be the frogs.  I chuckled to myself because days before I had finished listening to the audiobook Pet Sematary by Stephen King, read by Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Six Feet Under) which actually takes place about 50 miles from camp.  In the book, two characters are walking through a terrifying swamp when one character says to the other, "You might hear voices, but those are just the loons down south toward Prospect.  The sound carries.  It's funny."  I'm pretty sure these were just frogs.  In addition to the frogs, we also have a new friend who made its presence known - a chipmunk!  When I was little, we had a chipmunk who lived in the stone wall behind our house.  My late mum used to call it Charlie, so this one, too, shall be called Charlie.

Charlie the Chipmunk

Something else we took note of were the three-leafed plants growing *every*where.  Three leaves leave them be, right?  Not always right.  Wild Strawberries also have three leaves.  If you look very closely you can see the difference in the veins and color.  The Wild Strawberries have veins on the leaves that touch together at the center line, whereas Poison Ivy's veins are staggered.  I have a hard time telling the difference in quick passing without taking a minute to really look.  R and I both have had terrible bouts of poison ivy in the past, and we're terrified of getting it again.  Three leaves are *all*over* the yard, though, I think, and all it takes is Tyson or Willow to walk in it and then come in contact with us to spread the oil.  Eek!

Poison Ivy vs. Wild Strawberries

Wild Strawberries

While R was working on the cabin, it was my goal this weekend to build Willow a catio at camp.  It will allow her to enjoy the outdoors a bit and keep her entertained, but will also keep her safe when I can't watch her.  I built two catios at home and all three cats use them frequently year round.  I figured I'd start out small to make it a quick job, but I'd design it so I could easily add on to it in the future.  Small - yes; quick - no.  😁  I need to get myself a tool belt so I'm not walking around looking for the tool I just put down, and we need to get a second battery operated screw gun because it's impossible to get anything done quickly with two people needing to use the only screw gun we have.

Catio construction underway - 5 feet long x 18 inches deep

While Willow was taking a cat nap for most of the catio's construction, towards the end she started getting curious and I would see her looking out the window.  She was thrilled with it!

I can't get over her cute little face, and just look at those adorable little feet..

Willow enjoying her new catio for the first time

She rewarded me with lots of snuggles and Happy Paws that night. ❤  It was a very good weekend.

Memorial Day Weekend

This visit was quite enjoyable because it was our longest stay so far.  The four of us arrived late Friday night, and headed back south Monday afternoon.

We started to cut and install some 2x4s to help support the rickety cabin shell, so I got to use some power tools.  A little intimidating, but R gives good instructions.

Rob measured and marked; I cut.

Willow enjoyed time relaxing in the camper looking for mice and bugs that were heard crawling around in the walls.  A friend suggested sprinkling whole cloves throughout the camper next time to help repel pests, and then just sweeping them up upon return.  Duly noted!

Willow taking a break from her "duties"

Speaking of bugs...they were plentiful.  We'd heard of Bug Season but had yet to experience it.  It was borderline intolerable but not so terrible that we couldn't get anything done.  In moving wood that has not been touched in ages, we came across a few creepies and crawlies.  I don't mind salamanders, but spiders give me the willies...  I did a quick internet search and I'm pretty sure there aren't any poisonous spiders in Maine. 🤞

We'll most certainly need to bring a lawnmower next time because the grassy area will probably be much longer by then.  Ticks are a big concern.  Tyson is protected by a topical flea/tick/mosquito medicine, and Willow has a Seresto collar, but that doesn't protect R and I.  I keep a lint roller at camp to use after we've trudged through the woods to try and remove ticks that way (a "hack" I read somewhere).

We took our Yamaha Banshee ATV this time.  The view from about half a mile away from camp of Borestone Mountain was amazing.

In cleaning the camp area of debris and seeing what we can repurpose, we found a nice pile of aluminum roofing we'll use for something.  Score!

We also discovered a gnarly old skeleton near the cabin; probably it's a porcupine.  Look at that front tooth!  That's what caused all the chew marks inside the cabin shell.  Notice the other teeth are flat and blocky.  I have to say - as much as I love nature in all its forms - I don't really look forward to the day that we encounter a porcupine.

As I've mentioned in the past, Willow is not much of a cuddle-cat at home, but when we're camping she's all about letting loose and enjoying the company of her humans.  I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to find her on my pillow next to my head (which is why the picture is off a bit, because it was dark and I lightened the photo a little).  I can't get over how freaking cute she is.  Can't. Get. Over. Her.  Obsessed.

Willow

Returning After the First Winter

April 27, 2018

THREE MONTHS.  Three months we waited to return to where our souls feel complete, not knowing exactly how much of the snow that had quickly driven us out of there was remaining on the ground; not knowing the condition of the 2 mile trail leading to camp.  It was the longest three months EVER!!  😂  I'd talked to some residents in the area and they said that sometimes the snow lasts until June!  We were hesitant to make the long drive and run the risk of conditions being poor.  Maine, I've heard, has five seasons - Winter, Spring/Thaw, Mud, Summer, Fall.  Maybe even six seasons if you count the dreaded "bug season".  Many roads and trails are closed during Mud Season to preserve their integrity.  Traveling in mud can cause large ruts that dry as such which typically lead to terrible road conditions.

All things considered, it got to the point that we were willing to drive there and back same-day if need be.  We'd tackled a longer ride (900 miles) in one day to pick up Tyson from Western New York many years ago, so we knew it was feasible.  The land was beckoning sweetly to our souls, and we had to answer it's call.  We were powerless to resist at this point.

We left early and arrived to the trail leading in to camp around 10:30 a.m.  There was still a little snow on the trail, and thankfully the mud wasn't terrible.

The beginning of the 2 mile trail leading in to camp

As we crawled the truck down the trail, our minds were racing with thoughts of the camp's condition.  We left in such a hurry last time that we couldn't button anything up for the winter like I'd wanted to.  We quite literally abandoned ship.  We are always concerned for robbers but figured that, being 2 miles from the town's dirt road, no one would make the long arduous trek in the snow to our camp.  Probably we'd have to worry more about that in the warmer months where the hike would be easier, and accessible by off-road vehicle.  We have to figure out a secure way to store valuable items (chainsaw, tools, etc) so we don't have to pack them every time.

While our minds were racing, our eyes were roving, seeking out any millimeter of movement from the forest.  We've yet to experience any wildlife other than seeing a few deer and the coyote footprints, and hearing the coyotes calls, in addition to seeing some grouse along our driveway.  We assume there would be bear and moose around,  but the neighbors have said they haven't seen much bear activity, even though that doesn't mean anything when you consider the wide expanse of the wilderness in Central Maine.  We'll keep our eyes and ears open, thank you!

Wait a minute...  What's that on the trail ahead?  Something of the likes that we've never seen before...

wat?

 Holy smokes!  It's moose scat!  Look at the size of the pile!

Moose poop pictured with my size 7 1/2 foot

If you look at the picture below, you can see it contains hay-like materials.  One way that you can identify the type of animal is by dissecting the poop.  ...yes, dissecting poop.  What you see in the scat is what the animal consumes but wasn't able to digest, and each animal consumes pretty specific food sources.  Don't touch it with bare hands, obviously, and try to stay downwind, but poke at it with a stick to see inside.  If you are equipped with latex gloves, or if you have a way to wash your hands immediately, you can pick it up and squeeze it - if it's soft and slightly warm, you know the animal was recently nearby.  If you're interested, here is a link that describes the different types of scat you may find in Maine - (https://www.northwoodsguides.com/animal_scat_notes.php)  I've actually read that in a survival situation you can use moose scat as a very effective fire starter!  We looked around but didn't find any prints.  Onward ho!

Close up of moose poop

Finally we make it to camp and thankfully everything looks just as we hurriedly left it all those weeks ago.  Now that the snow is gone, we can see how much scrap wood the former owner left behind that's been ruined from the snow.  We're going to have a lot of burning to do.  There is an old rickety ladder and so many 2x4s with nails protruding upwards like dangerous booby-trap daggers waiting to stab their first victim.  We work on moving them so Tyson doesn't injure himself.  Willow is supervising from the discarded ladder - notice how it's held together by a rope below her front paws?  In the background of the picture below, there is [what used to be] a pile of aluminum roofing 😍 and some junk particle boards still covered with the remnants of snow.

After surveying the small cleared area and how it was sopping wet, we notice that the aluminum roofing and particle board are actually lying IN the ditch that seems to have been created for water diversion.  Because all of those items are now in the ditch, the water/melt has backed up and is flooding the grassy area.  See the little pond formed in the picture below?  It shouldn't be standing water - for many reasons.

Willow does not approve

Taking a break, Willow went in to the camper to have a cat nap while R, Tyson, and I took a little walk through our woods.

Willow having a bit of a bath before her cat nap

Black and White Birch

The driveway heading in to camp

The next morning, I snapped this shot of Willow sleeping in between me and R 😻.  She slept in my sleeping bag most of the night, as she usually does when we're camping.  Usually at home she is a very independent girl and only comes to me at night for 10 minutes of snuggles a few times a week, so I soak up this kitty love.

Me and Willow

On this day, our main goal was to find a property marker and try to get a better feel of where our boundary lines are.  The land had been surveyed once in the 80's.  It turns out, it's typical for each new land owner to go around the property and re-tag the trees.  We were able to re-mark a good portion of the east property line from the water to the trail.  Our land crosses over the trail, but we were running out of daylight and marking tape so opted to continue on this venture another day.  I love these land exploring days because we get to see the beautiful sights typically hidden within the undisturbed forest.

See the old pink ribbons and red paint swatches on the center trees?

Can you spot the fluorescent yellow ribbons tied around the trees?  I see about 4.

So much going on in this picture

Fallen giant

Near the stream; one of the largest trees we've found

The property marker closest to the stream

The three of us hoofed it back to camp.  Willow was holding down the fort.  I hung some wind chimes that N had gotten for me the previous Christmas.

Willow inside the camper

Windchimes from "N" ♥

 R & I were working our way around the shell of a cabin, picking up discarded wood, when R found a 2x4 leaning up against the cabin and noticed something peculiar about it.  We took a closer look and realized that the 2x4 had porcupine quills embedded into it!  Once again - a sight neither of us has ever seen before!  The quills are actually squishy and filled with air.  One tip - the tip that embeds itself into whatever it connects with - has a fish-hooked end.  The other side has a very sharp point.  You could feel the barb as you gently pulled a quill out of the wood, but yet they stuck well enough to the wood that they did not move a fraction when we relocated the wood to take a better picture.  Not sure what happened here - contrary to some beliefs, porcupines do not "throw" their quills.  They must come in to contact with something to release the defense mechanism.  I pray to all the gods that Tyson never encounters a porcupine...  We've read that you can cut off the tip of the quill to release the air pressure, which could potentially make it easier to remove, but other resources say not necessarily.  However, if left untreated, the body can eventually ABSORB the quills, which can then damage internal organs!  I received a referral recently for a good vet, and I should dig that name and number out to keep hand - just in case.

2x4 embedded with porcupine quills

2x4 embedded with porcupine quills

2x4 embedded with porcupine quills

After we recovered from the awe of nature, Willow came out of the camper to relax and explore some more with us as we farted around.  We hung an american flag at the end of our driveway.

It was SUCH a WONDERFUL weekend.  Our souls feel incredibly rejuvenated since returning to our land, and feel the pull to never leave once we get there.  After night fell, we realized we didn't hear the coyotes as we had in the winter months.  I suppose that's because they're no longer hunting in a pack, and are able to return to their solitary lives since the arrival of spring and all of it's bounty.

Driveway to the right, trail in the center; our land is bisected by the trail, and begins at the eastern edge of our driveway