When will it be summer?

It feels like summer is never going to come! It's been in the low 40s most mornings and once it was 36. Every summer I have come to the lake, the first weeks have been cold but somehow I seem to push that memory away and remember only the beautiful sunny summer days. I guess that's how people in MN survive - selective memory about the weather! Anyway, I know summer will come eventually and even with the cold, it's been a good couple of weeks.

Good friends Pete & Jeanine came up the week after Memorial Day and we got several projects done and had lots of fun too. Pete & I cut down two dead trees that were along the driveway and we all worked at cutting up the brush from the 7 trees we had to have taken down last fall. As a result, we have nice piles of firewood right down by the fire ring! Pete also hung the grate that Doug made for his log house and had hanging in his new house. I brought it up last summer but never figured out where to hang it. I think we found the perfect spot - on the porch of Doug's Clubhouse so you can see it when you drive up.

Sarah, Heath and Jane (Sarah's mom/Heath's other grandma) arrived for the week-end and overlapped a day with Pete & Jeanine. Plus Ann & Kitty were at the Cabin so we had a great group!







We gave the new golf cart a good workout and I'm not sure who liked it more - Jeanine or Heath! Heath loves the wind in his face and seemed fascinated by the birds at the feeder and of course, he was in seventh heaven with both of his grandmas here plus several other adults. Unfortunately, though, I think he got a bit over-stimulated on the last night and he just couldn't wind down. Check out this shot of him - Hopefully he will come to love the place as much as his Grandpa did and I do, at least till he gets to be a teenager, when I expect he'll go through the same stage we all have when we don't want to leave our friends to go to the lake.

We spotted some great wildlife since the last entry - Pete, Jeanine & I saw the regular busy beaver show when we were out paddling one evening and even heard the babies in the lodge. At the end of the lake we also saw a fox peering out at us from the shore. And one morning we saw a turkey strolling under the trees in front of the cabin and out onto the point. When he realized there was nowhere to go but in the water, he scurried back and headed through the brush on the shore to the clearing. My friend the woodchuck comes through nearly every day and tonight I saw a fox out in front of the cabin.

I was gone last week - in Phoenix to do some training - but got back last Friday and brought my mom up for the week. She likes the golf cart too but hasn't passed her driver's test on it yet. And it's been chilly and rainy for several days so I've had to put the Little Green Machine in the shop to stay warm and dry. But I expect she'll get lots of use this week-end. We are having a Whitney Family Gathering here at The Point - I'm not sure what the final count will be but six of my nine siblings will be here plus Mom, Aunt Barb and Uncle John (Dad's only sister & brother), Sarah & Heath, and quite a few second & third generation Whitneys too. I think there will be more of us than Crystal Lake has summer residents! I'll be sure to report on this week-end's festivities!