With lousy weather in the forecast, I delayed my trip back to the trapline by a day. Instead of leaving Thursday after work, I left Saturday morning and came back on Monday. The weather wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be; in fact, it seldom rained and when it did, it was nothing more than a light sprinkle. The quad trail ruts we had created last spring from the parking spot to Cabin Trail were as plain as day and just as bad as I remembered them. Even Cabin Trail has a couple of holes that have gotten deeper, but I never had to winch to get in or out.
Boulder Road is as rough as ever and once down Boulder Hill the roads were in rough, muddy shape. I took Smiley Rock Road in and nearly regretted it; it was too soft and I really struggled to get to the top of the hill. It's going to have to dry out a bit before it can be used again. I did spot a young cow moose just fresh out of her winter coat in the trees on Boulder Road.
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| A young cow moose still working her way out of a winter coat. |
At the cabin the grass was about a foot high. Everything remained as I'd left it three months earlier. Even the inside of the cabin was clean and without flies. I flipped the calendar from February to June, unloaded my stuff and fired up the weedeater. Within an hour I had the semblance of a yard carved out. I also cut around the moose boneyard and put it back into shape. I went a little larger this year and even cut around the chives and rhubarb that grows there. Dakota likes the rhubarb, I like the chives. Raking was a pain but necessary. Short grass equals fewer mice.
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| The new "bigger" yardsite. You can see Dakota's rhubarb close to the right. |
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| The moose boneyard out from under the grass. |
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| A look at the yardsite from the back of the cabin. |
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| You can see the chives are growing well. |
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| Chives are great to cook with or spread over your meal. |
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| Dakota's rhubarb. |
Once the yard work was done, I walked to the beaver dam where Dakota and I had battled last year with the beaver (over the dam) beside the cabin. I knew the big female beaver would still be there; sure enough, the dam was freshly tended to. I took my hoe and went back to work taking it down. I'm not sure what to do here. I don't want to kill her before she's prime but I'm not sure I want another summer of a losing battle with the beaver over her dam. On my way back to the cabin, I heard a noise to my left and sure enough, there she was chewing on some willow in the grass just a few feet off the yardsite. I quickly grabbed my camera and managed a good shot of her gnawing on the willows.
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| The big female beaver chewing willows not more than 15-feet from the yard. |
The next morning, after a bacon and egg breakfast, I grabbed my hoe and went back to the dam. Sure enough, it was back in working order. Once again, I took it down knowing full well I'd be doing it again Monday morning before I left.
Back at the cabin, I started my spring cleaning chores, removing everything from the shelves and hitting everything hard with the Swiffer Duster, including every log within the cabin. I put up a new shelf above the main window and took roof measurements for when I put on the new shingles, or metal, I'm undecided yet. I also drew out the plans for a new outhouse, deck and a new stand for under the main window. With that done and early evening approaching, I grabbed my camera and a beer and then headed for the beaver dam. I figured I should be able to get some photos of the big female in action. Much to my surprise, what I thought would be only one beaver left in the house, was now suddenly two. She had a yearling kit with her. Obviously Dakota and I had missed one last fall. I thought it strange then that we'd only removed one kit, usually there are two or more. Somehow we'd missed this one. I did get some decent photos.
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| The year-old kit we missed last fall. |
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| The big female on her way to start plugging up the dam. |
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| You could throw rocks at her from the cabin, she's that close. |
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| My favourite photo of the female. |
The next morning, I awoke to the pitter patter of rain on the cabin roof. It wasn't raining hard but enough to make noise on the cabin roof. By the time I had my breakfast finished, the rain had stopped. With one last thing to do before heading home, I grabbed my hoe and headed back to the beaver dam...
Until next time.
