For Thanksgiving we had some deer and two geese from the Brownfield Bog.

I watched the Lunar Eclipse during the winter solstice.   Some friends and family gathered on the Bog.  We sailed our sled on the ice and had a fire.  We saw the first half of the eclipse and around 2:30am the clouds rolledin.  We stayed around the fire until 7:30am and then slept until noon.

I visited Joan’s family in MA and thoroughly enjoyed seeing everybody.

Merry Christmas!

We did a lot of fishing on this trip.  We caught small mouth bass, pickerel and perch.  They were delicious.  We’ve got some fishing stories from this trip.

On the first night, we saw a bunch of guides in their Grand Lake canoes with outboard engines.  They had their clients at a particular spot.  We figured we’d try it, and soon found out why they were fishing there.  I hooked a 16″ or 17″ bass, which was amazing.  I put it back because it was a bit too much meat for us to eat.  My mom lost her reel handle into the lake and as we were trying to figure out what to do with the mess a fish hooked it’s self and we had to pull it in by hand.

The river had quite a bit of easy whitewater and was both challenging and fun.  The most difficult section was Little Falls, which seemed like a stout class two rapid.  We scouted the rapids to make sure we didn’t go over a drop onto a rock.  We paddled to an eddy in the middle, took a break and then continued through the rapids.

We enjoyed lots of eagles and osprey, great sunsets and rises and quality campsites and water.

Sunrise from Squatters Point on Spednik Lake

Sunrise from Squatters Point on Spednik Lake, 2

Early morning sun, Spednik Lake

Spednik Lake has a rocky coast line

Early Morning Fog at Baby's Grave campsite, St. Croix River

Sleeping in a hammock over the St. Croix

Taking a break on a gravel bar

Checking out mysterious red flowers

Cooking Dinner

Fish for Dinner

While riding my motorcycle back from a friend’s place in NH I saw two large male moose and a mama and baby deer.  Then, when I got home, I was greeted by a family of deer.  The two fawns still have the white spots and are so cute!

Yesterday evening I went fishing with my friend Joe.  The sunset was beautiful and the fish were feeding, but we didn’t really get any hits.  In the reeds in the distance was a deer and a beaver was slapping the water every so often.

Suddenly, out of the forest, an animal let out a distress cry.  There was thrashing and quick movement in the forest.  The deer was running along the edge of the lake and occasionally let out distress cries.  Finally there was one last cry and then the deer jumped into the lake in desperation.  After some gurgling and thrashing, the deer was silent and the coyotes stood over and around the deer.  I could hear them shaking the water off of their fur.  They stayed there for hours eating.

After this event Joe and I paddled down the outlet stream and watched the full moon rise over the tops of the trees.  The water was full of submerged grass.  We fished this and had a couple of strong hits.  I had one good run from what I think was a pickerel.  At the last minute, it threw the hook.

Last night, there was an animal dropping things from a tree.  I didn’t see it, but I think it was a porcupine.

This morning, I saw a flock of a dozen or so turkeys in the driveway.

It’s great to be a part of such a beautiful and great planet and web of life.

On a side note, my old internet connection doesn’t work anymore, so I’ll not be able to provide updates as often.

On the home front, I’m in the process of installing a rain catchment system for domestic water.

I’ve found that when I participate directly with the dominant society, I become filled with pain.  This is the one reason that I followed the climbing life for so long.  It was the only way that I could find to be happy.  Yet it was not enough to fulfill all my human needs in the long run.

I left the climbing life because I needed to in order to grow and learn.  That was 5 or 6 years ago.  My journey through society and relationships was grueling and painful.  I succumbed to the usual traps of debt and over working.

I am attempting to process and distill what I learned from that journey.  And let me tell you… I never want to do that again!

I have felt time and time again the desire to drop everything and flee.  I believe that my response is a healthy emotional response to that which is unhealthy in our current cultural paradigms.  So I’m back on the fringes of society where I’m much happier.  Perhaps I can help others who’s psyches have pushed them to the fringe as well.

All my outdoor gear is in the upstairs racks in bins.  I built a platform for the bed and will put legs on the platform eventually.  This will give me more storage under the bed.

This last push on the cabin has sapped my desire to write.  Now I’m ready for another chapter.  What does the universe have in store for me.  Where will I be called to next.  I already have an invitation for tomorrow to help a friend.  I saw this as perfect timing.

A candle is burning in the background as there is no electricity here yet.  The glow is particularly warming.  Eventually I may have a small solar system.

I almost forgot to mention the beautiful wood spider who’s taken residence in the cabin.  He’s very large and has white strips on his legs.  He tends to stay put but can move quickly when he has to.  He’s apx. Two inches in diameter.

Southern View

Northern View

Kitchen

Office

Entry

Living Room

Clothes Closet

Storege Bins

Bed

Later in a dream, I saw that they were pine roots.

Today I finished trimming the window and installed the first level floor and insulated it.

Floor Structure

Two layers of Blue Board sealed with Spray Foam

Joe and I cleaned up the job site which was in sore need of it.  I’ve accumulated about a half a cord of firewood in the scrap leftovers from the logs.  I’m halfway towards having wood for the winter.

Roof and windows are in

Look at the clean yard

My bones are tired.  The muscles in my hands ache.  Each individual bone in my hands ache from the weight of the logs.  My wrists ache.  ETC.  I’m glad that the heavy work is mostly finished.

I’ll try to have pictures tomorrow.