Memorial Day

Don't forget to remember the fallen soldiers today. We have two special ones close to me. Lawrence Ritter who crashed  his P47 not far from here. Following the link on his name will give you more info. And Capt. Campbell buried in Leetonia Cemetery.  Visiting these sites on Memorial day gives a hands on feeling to memorial day far above the family barbecue.

On a different note we had a visitor the other night. While watching television I heard Scooter growling at the fireplace. Scooter isn't one to make noise for no reason so I asked Lee if something was over there. Sure enough, there was a three-foot long Rat Snake like the one above crawling on the hearth. Now a rat snake can look and act a lot like a rattler to try and fool you into leaving it alone so I wasn't too quick to grab it. Once I identified it, I grabbed it behind the head and tossed it outside. Scooter and the rest of us were glad to see it on the right side of the house. 

I am not one to kill a snake when at all possible as they do a lot of rodent killing, which helps keep the intermediary host of Lyme's disease, the mouse population, down. Most of my snake killing is accidental during lawn mowing. Snakes do not go through a lawn mower well.

The bear who knocked the fence down has stayed away since we and the dogs are home and I am hoping it stays that way. Lee and I are spending the afternoon with friends having a cookout and playing a game called, "Dudo". My son sent me home with this game and it is simple and fun, specially if you are a good liar. It involves dice and trying to guess and bet how many of each kind everyone has. The guess has to get progressively higher so eventually someone has to lie and the next person calls, "Dudo". If there is not the number of dice kind bet the person who bet losses a dice, if there is the Dudo caller losses. Last one to have any dice wins. You start with 5 dice each. Part of most people's experience at camp is playing a non-electronic games. Hopefully, this will continue to be a part of camp in the future. Have a great Memorial Day. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Back Home

Home again. It is always a good feeling after being gone so long to be back in the woods again. I was gone for 3 weeks and Lee was gone for one week. During the last week when we were both gone a bear took advantage and decided to climb the fence I have between the house and garage for the dogs.
 Lee had placed her hummingbird feeders inside the fenced in area and it proved too much of a temptation. The fence came down easily along with the board that held it to the house. The weight of a bear is no match for this kind of fence. The welds on the wire are broken as well so it looks like I will need a new section of fence to fix the damage. When the dogs are home the bear won't gain access so easily. They bark and I can scare the bears away. This is the first time they have really made a mess of things and I am guessing cause we weren't around to make it harder for them.
Deb at Slate Run Store said, the bears have been causing a few more problems than usual. Seems like a high birth rate might be at the bottom of the bear problem. Feeding the bears contributes to this as well as the mild winter we had. If you value your camp it is best not to feed the bears as they can be very destructive looking for more food or marking your camp as their own. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Where I have been.

So much to catch up on since my Easter Blog. As many of you know Lee's nephew was going through treatments for Luekemia for the last year and a half. Much of our time has been devoted to trying to help as much as we could. Neal unfortunately at 18 years of age succumbed to his disease while I have been in San Diego visiting my son who I haven't seen for a couple years. Lee is on her way to the funeral in Illinois and I will be meeting her there next week. Neal was courageous in his battle and attitude for life and it is never easy to say good bye to one so young.

On the other side of the country I have been enjoying some time off from work with my son, Hal. He introduced me to a series of videos about our National Parks that National Geographic did. It is called, "Ken Burn's National Parks America's best idea." It is a six part series each one being 2 hours long so no small feat to complete. But it is well worth the time spent understanding how the parks started and the battles between commercial and public issues that still exist today with our gas well exploration in our area.

The movies make you think about how you view the use of land, animals and plants that are irreplaceable once they are gone. I have strong feelings about how our State forest is managed, which were definitely reawakened by this program. So while I am out for a while you can fill in your wild hunger with this and not be disappointed. Mountain girl, (temporarily displaced in a desert) logging out.

Easter Bunny barely escapes death!

It is dangerous being an Easter Bunny in Leetonia. The poor Bunny barely escaped death this morning delivering peeps to the Mountain girls.

A rattlesnake attempting to attack the Easter Bunny was thwarted when the Easter Bunny threw a peep into his mouth and as the rattlesnake gummed his way through the peep the Easter Bunny was saved.

Thank goodness cause I would have missed all the great stuff the Easter Bunny brought us this morning.

Looks like a chilly start to the day at 29 degrees this morning but the sun is warming it up fast and it looks to be another nice day on the mountain. Have a great Leetonia Easter Day. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Fire Warnings and Fire

Last Monday a forest fire was reported in the Slider Run area. I drove up the road about three miles from Leetonia, but couldn't see anything. We did notice helicopters dropping water that day. Currently, have no reports of the scope of this fire.

We are under a Red Flag Fire Warning A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW... OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS... LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY... AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL.

This will last through Saturday with gusting winds to 25 mph potential for damage is great. It is best not to have any fires until we get some rain and the new growth gets going. With a lot of people up for the Easter weekend we are holding our breath that everyone will be responsible. We don't want a rerun of the fire we had a few years ago.

Sounds of Spring and Temperatures of Summer

I can't believe what I heard outside this evening....Peepers. The small frog that makes music to sleep by during the warm Spring and Summer months. I can't remember hearing them much before May. I am not sure if anyone else remembers hearing them this soon.

The temperatures have been as high as 80 during the day and staying above freezing at night has taken all the ice and snow off the mountain. The animals are singing sounds of Spring and to the woe of many turkey hunters the Turkeys are mating very early. I expect some even going to nest soon. The Turkey Vultures have returned along with the robins, blue Jays and geese. The porcupines are moving around a lot as well. So keeping an eye on my quill collector dog Leo is now a must.

While working down at Cedar Run near the Creek I saw several people enjoying the summer temperatures canoeing down the creek. I wanted stopped my work to join in the fun. If you want to hear one click here Mountain girl Paula logging out and enjoying the warm weather.

Trucks and road conditions

With the weather getting warmer the amount of water truck traffic seems to be increasing on Pigeon Hill and Button Hollow Rd. You can see from the first picture how many trucks are filling up with water to be hauled as far away as Mansfield.
The second picture shows me following the trucks down Button Hollow Road a slow process. I often see as many as six trucks on the one mile stretch. The traffic makes me fell like I live in an industrial zone, instead of being on a quiet country road.
The third picture is a logging truck heading up Leetonia Rd. This is the same guy I had to back up a mile and a half for when the road was snow covered and narrow. He was headed toward me at that time and loaded with logs. I can tell you it isn't fun backing up a narrow, icy, snow covered road a mile and a half.
The roads are for the most part around 90% melted even on roads not plowed. However, the 10% still ice covered can be tricky when the temperature drops below freezing. So my warning of having chains with you if you are going off the plowed roads still holds.
I still find it hard to believe it is March and I still have firewood on
my front porch. Looks like I will be in good shape for next year as I doubt I will touch too much wood on back porch to get through to summer.
Lee Anne came home yesterday from helping her sister who has a son with leukemia. Unfortunately, the prognosis for him is not good and it was hard for her to leave. It is hard to see a boy who is only 18 deal with his own mortality. On the selfish side, I am glad to have her back it has been a long lonely winter for myself and the dogs. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.