Early autumn.

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From a few weeks ago, some trees turning colors but that south lawn area is just plain GREEN....

O.K., just a couple more of those overhead shots of the wood piles. They are just too cool to leave unpublished...

And a view of the house that you don't normally see.

Kind of a nice contrast between the remaining apples and the gradually changing silver maple tree. Another view from the shed roof.

That firewood project also yielded some firewood for the Lodge.

We're not the only ones fond of the flowering crab tree. Here's evidence that the sapsuckers (or whatever did this) like the tree as well.

A hint of autumn in the Ottertail area surroundings.

Late season blooms.

Laughing in the face of the approaching winter, I guess......

I gotta go, Carlo

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Haven't seen this for a while......

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Here is something that hasn't been done at the Ottertail for many years!! A local farming family, Nels Holm and sons Neil and Lars, cut and bale hay on other peoples land, so in June I asked them if they would like to do the hay at home. They said sure, but it won't be for a while....

One Sunday afternoon in mid August, Peg and I arrived home to find the grass all cut on the field! The following afternoon one of Lars' daughters arrived on the tractor above and proceeded to rake the hay into windrows. I watched the tractor bounce around quite a bit as the field is very rough after many years of non-farm type activity.

I headed up to the upstairs 'north-looking' windows and took a couple of photos.

By this time there is not much left of the wood piles in the field.

A little later this rig showed up and the baling began. Now these are not bales like we used to make here. These contraptions wind the hat around and around until it almost fills that thing. Then it wraps plastic wrap around them and spits them out on the ground.

We ended up with eight big old round things out there. Hey, Bob, do you remember cutting these fields with your Allis B and the old horse mower???? Ah, those were the days......

About a week ago, the Holm crew showed up with a couple of trailers and a tractor for loading those big bales. They are all gone now and it just looks like a huge, shaggy lawn out there....

I gotta go, Carlo


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Trying to catch up.....

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This last weekend was Christmas Tree Festival in Ogema. I did not go to town, but I hear through the grapevine that quite a few local names were present for the "Run to the Peak", which is a nine mile run from Ogema to Timm's Hill, the highest point in Wisconsin. Anyone care to fill us in on how they did? I hear Kristi, Ivan and Kyle, Russ Blennert, etc were in the run. Updates, people, you know we are the news source for the Westboro through Phillips area.

We had a visit with Hailee in early August. It's always fun to have her around.

Seems like Peggy has a bunch of masks.... go figure. Anyway, Hailee tested them all.

I realized that there has been no wood update this summer!!! I was hoping to use a wood splitter on the bulk of this hard maple, but no one had one that would take our longer wood (25-28"), so right after the 4th of July weekend I started in with my splitting maul.... great fun! Peggy made a deal with me that she would stack the wood if I did the splitting. She is now fully versed in all aspects of tractor driving, wood stacking, etc.

A view of the splitting project. This wood pile started as 12 pulpwood cords so we ended up with a ton of splitting to do.

I had just finished up all the splitting and Peggy was nearly caught up with me.

Starting in on the last load... finally!

Here is a view of Peggy's nicely piled firewood stacks. Seriously, I think I helped stack maybe half of one of those long rows, the rest was done by 'da woman.....

And here is a little view from the top of the lodge...... I like this view. Thanks for all you do around here, Peggy...

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