35° RAIN, 34° OVERCAST

Sleep did not come easy last night.  Pete awoke at 3am to check on Privateer and found her ably withstanding the elements.  There was a wind advisory until 9am and the outdoors looked unfriendly and forbidding.  Once the wind had settled and the skies cleared to blue, we snowshoed up to the hydro intake.  The snow level in the forest had noticeably grown taller and new tree branches blocked our pathway.

Our hot tub water had gone rather cold and we suspected a break in John’s hot water line. In our attempt to find the breakage point, we started at the hot spring source in the midst of the damp, mossy forest and worked our way down along the line.  Fortunately, the break was located close to the source and it proved an easy fix for Pete.

Another project was in store for the day.  One of the roof shedding events had taken down a pole-mounted solar panel, affixed to the fascia of one of the cabin roofs.  The panel had been placed poorly, and it was no surprise to find it gone.  Pole and panel were hanging upside down over the side of the deck, dangling by a mere cable.  We fashioned a rope and pulley system to hoist the awkward piece of equipment up on the deck where it would fare better.  It was a semi-dangerous task managing the heaviness of the contraption coupled with its unwieldy nature—a swinging twenty-foot long metal tube with a sharp-edged panel attached to its end.  Our careful retrieval efforts were successful.

It felt like a spring day and the snow began to melt on the docks.  Our narcissus bulbs, a gift from Pete’s mom transported all the way from Minneapolis, are just about ready to bloom inside the cabin.  They seem the heartiest of all plants and require only sand or soil to grow, little water and a recommended dash of hard liquor!  Dave & Anke arrived for dinner in the pouring rain.  It was spring by day and fall by night, our harvest feast consisting of wild-rice pilaf, morel mushrooms, sweet potatoes, a salad with beets and apples and carrot cake.  We enjoyed Dave’s home brewed wine and were glad for the company.