UPDATE - Endless winter: Yes, there's still ice on Lake Superior

UPDATE 6/10/14

Winter continues to hang on around Lake Superior. Check out this story about icebergs that have collected around some of the islands in northern Wisconsin.

Original Post on 6/4/14

It has been a long cool spring in our area following the hard winter.  Last weekend we were treated to temperatures in the upper 80s.  It is graduation season and on nearly every street it seems that there is another open house.  Folks are busy with their yards or enjoying the great outdoors.  Our local paper reported that a teenager caught a 35 lb muskie on one of the area rivers.  

Believe it or not, there is still ice on parts of Lake Superior.  Go here to see photos and read more about it. Here is another story with even more photos.  

Sick of Winter?

This is for all you ice-fisherman out there.

Check out this short video of ice conditions in northern Canada. This was filmed in May. Puts our weather into perspective.

Sugar Bush 2008

When my parents down-sized a few years ago one of my brothers and I split up the basic equipment they had for making maple syrup. My last attempt to make maple syrup was about seven or eight years ago and I only enjoyed moderate success. Until this year I did not have much time for anything.

Spring 2008 in Michigan was perfect for tapping trees. We had a run of about two weeks where the daytime temperatures were above 32F and nighttime temperatures dropped below freezing. This result in lots of high quality sap. Here is a photo of some of the trees I tapped out back:

My original goal was to build a wood burning boiler yet I ran into some roadblocks. I began making plans in January but just couldn't get the thing completed by early March. Thus I resorted to propane and a three burner camp stove I picked up at a local sporting goods store. Here is a photo of that operation (and no, it is not a meth lab).

My final tally was about 4 gallons of pure maple syrup. I did not bother to keep a close count on on how many gallons of sap I collected but it was somewhere between 150 and 200 gallons. Here is a photo of some of the final product.

Hoot!

This guy showed up the other day in the woods behind our bird feeder. He wasn't there to prey upon the songbirds but simply to rest in a relatively quiet spot. I first saw him in the morning not sure what I was looking at. He stayed until just before sundown.

My first thought was that I was looking at a hornet's nest left over from last summer. However, when I put the binoculars on it I quickly saw feathers and a beak. Turns out that it was a Barred Owl (Strix Varia). They are pretty common around here and we often hear them at night with their distinctive hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo-hooo-aw! (per the Audubon Society Field Guide).