Time to Ride

First here's that promised photo of my Spud Hauler. This old CCM Kiddie Trailer salvaged from a neighbours scrap heap provided the frame wheels and hitch. Amazingly the tires still hold air. That and a liberal application of lubricant to the axles was all that was required. Scoots along behind Rover II nice as can be.

Jack's Spud Hauler: The crop is in> How many trip the haul in the harvest?

The Warm took a few days off, so I had to unpack the longjohns for another stretch. But the last two days have been beautiful so after planting the garden I headed up Hwy 600.

One of my most vivid childhood memories was picking wild flowers in the spring . Literally arms full of Trilliums, Jack in the Pulpit, Marsh Marigolds, Mayflowers, Violets, and Adder's Tongues. Today as I rode along those memories came flooding back when I spotted  a whole whack of Adder's Tongue in the brush along the road. I could barely contain myself as I piled off Rover II, unlimbered the camera and "picked'' you all a bunch.... digitally that is. I no longer slaughter wildflowers. After 60 or 70 years you do learn a few things.

In this area of Northwestern Ontario we do not have Trilliums that grew like clouds under the maple trees of my child hood, but there is still lots to marvel at. The wild plums, saskatoons, high bush cranberry, and crab apples provide splashes of brilliant colours. And the fragrance for the abandoned orchard I coasted by was heavenly. No need to hurry today. Just coast along and enjoy the ride. The rest of the gardening chores can wait til tomorrow

A sprinkling of Mayflowers

Marsh Marigolds: we cooked the stems and leaves as spinach greens 

A bunch of Violets

Adder's Tongue

More Adder's Tongue. If you are very fortunate a rare red sport is sometimes found

Next month I'll be looking for Lady Slippers. Both the smaller yellow one and the larger Showy Pink. They are two of our native Orchids. The Rover is the perfect conveyance for cruising along the ditches in search of the these beauties. I'll have my camera battery fully charged

The Warm finally...maybe

Spring is finally upon us here in the northwoods. The tulips are blooming, the weeds in the garden are coming up with avengance. Had a great ride yesterday up Hwy 600 north of Rainy River to McGinnis Creek Road. This provides me with a 34 km loop on a roughish secondary road with lots of dips, a couple of  hills for zooming and a chance to see a bit of wildlife. That loop wit a couple of circuits around town gets my 40-50 km a day quota in.

Bald eagles were in abundance a month ago soaring just above me checking me out... few buzzards as well. They have pretty much dispersed further north as the ice is now out of the lakes. I think they pretty much cleaned up any winter killed wildlife and pet owners can breathe a sigh of relief that Fluffy will not as likely become lunch now. We have quite a few eagle nests along the river and they provide some spectacular fishing demos when we are out on the pontoon boat.

The deer that were yarded up over the winter are dispersing around the countryside seeking safe spots to drop their fawns starting in the next couple of weeks. Saw a parade of half a dozen parade across road at the hilltop about 8 km north of town last evening. Neighbour saw a sow blackbear with 4 cubs near Morson.

The wild plums, hazel nuts and apples are bursting into bloom. Maybe they'll escape a killing frost. With the garden at my neighbour north of the tracks ready to plant soon, I found an old bike kid carrier that I stripped down and placed a plastic bin on to haul supplies and tools across town. It works great. My explanation to my wife, The Pearl oft he Orient that I was going to mount a rocking chair on it for her personal chariot was not met with enthusiasm. But it works great. I'll save a photo for a later post.

The new bike shoes are working out great and the ease of pedaling is noticeably improved. Gave Rover II a good cleanup and service the other day and works smoother. Was getting some brake noise as I travel on some pretty gritty roads, but a good wash out of the brake calipers with the garden hose seems to completely solve the issue. A lot of the grit is from winter sand and salt leftover on the paved shoulder as we haven't had a lot of rain this spring and the town crew don't want to run the sweeper until we have some moisture to abate the dust. Maybe this week.

The extremely dry winter and spring are causing some really volatile forest fire dangers across our Boreal Forest as you may have seen on TV with the whole city of 80,000 evacuated from the disaster in Fort MacMurray, Alberta. 2400 homes burned While that fire is 1500 miles from us, all the forest between here and there is tinder dry and we have quite a large one burning just over  100 miles north of us. So far the smoke here has not been a problem, but you can smell it and the air is hazy.

Summer should be here in a few days.... if we don't have another snow storm first.