The critters of spring

We turned on the water at the camp this past weekend, confident that we'll have no more freezing temperatures close to the lake. (The temperature might try to dip below freezing, but the lake is nearing 50° now.)

From our neighbor, we learned that a cow moose and a calf had been walking through the woods, to go along with the young male sighted last week. Osprey, heron, and eagles have checked out our waters. On Sunday morning, Sandra and I toured the lake by canoe and were followed by our friend, the kingfisher. We haven't seen any turtles yet. Some years, the turtles will lay their eggs on the small, sandy point near our boathouse. The water this year is too high, I suspect. Our neighbor reported that, in years past, turtles would come up from the big swamp, cross Barre Road, and lay their eggs in the bark mulch near his house.

But, the big news remains the beavers. They've built quite a hut in the corner of the cove, taking some pretty good-sized trees from various places around the lake. We may look into hiring a trapper. In years past, however, we haven't been completely successful. We only catch the dumb ones.