The Little Things...

It was an extremely hectic weekend; spent at our cabin.  The DH & DS spent all day Saturday bringing in firewood off the mountain; my DD and I assisted with loading some of it once it was cut to length.  We are still in clean up mode from the logger who was in last year & didn't do as he promised; surprise, surprise.  We are in the process of opening back up the actual logging roads and trails that were on the property before the bad logger came in & left tree tops everywhere.  Nature is amazing as to how quickly the scared earth recovers.

I love going to the mountain because my children are experiencing a much slower & different way of life, even if it's only for a few days at a time.  They get to unplug from all of their electronic devices and TV shows.  They love to be outdoors on the various trails and see things like the super moon without all of the light pollution from the city.   I got a chance to get some photos of the super moon this past Saturday; my husband drove us up to the overlook at the top of the mountain.  Our resident bear left evidence that it was nearby so not much exploring took place this past weekend.  While making noise cutting the logs, it was OK, they'll tend to stay away.  However when viewing the moon at the overlook, got a whiff of the pungent smell of the bear.  Didn't care to meet him face to face so we cut our viewing short even though we were most likely fine as we were.

Sunday morning I was able to get some great pictures of the cutest little bird, too.  Through a more lengthy search than usual for me I came to learn that the bird is a hooded warbler.  They come to our area only during late spring and over the summer to breed.

 

This little guy flew into our picture window Sunday morning while we were having a late breakfast.  The entire family slept in from all of the heavy lifting the day before from hauling in firewood.

 

I went out the door to the deck to check on him...obviously he was still stunned from plowing into the window.  Just sat there and allowed me and both children to get within inches of him.

 

This was the closest I go to him, I didn't want to give the poor little guy a heart attack on top of his pounding headache :-)

 This kids pulled out our bird identification books to find out which type of bird he was...even after looking in the book we weren't totally sure which he was, so when I got home I sent a photo to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's FB page.  They were great!  I love their site.


My DH & DS did tell my daughter and I about the red fox they came across while cutting wood.  Apparently he came in to check out the noise.  Deer will also do this.  They come to see what all the noise is about.  I LOVE it; they are as curious about us as we are about them...


My DD and I did make a trip to the local Amish grocery store on Saturday morning.  This is always a fun trip because you'll never know what you'll find.  They buy over runs, over stocks, fire sales, etc.  You get the idea.  What I do know is that this little store saves me a fortune in groceries!  The kids love the refrigerated/freezer section of the store.  It quite literally is a converted tractor trailer.  Be sure you have your winter coat to enter even in the summer!  It's COLD. 

I did feel a bit guilty as I was in the cabin working on Virtual NSD along with CM and CMGD on facebook when I was able to get online through my cell phone.  Not the best of connections to do what I wanted, however it was better than no connection :-)  When my husband & I purchased our little hide away; we made a deal to keep it with no phone, no cable TV, no Internet; so that it remained a place of relaxation for us and our family.  Too many of these past trips one of us has had to 'connect' to the real world for our jobs.

Enjoy the photos I was able to get from this past weekend in between work and participating in Creative Memories Virtual NSD.