Flying squirrels and northern lights

"Clipper" is becoming a regular at our birdfeeder - and she's getting fatter! The book says that flying squirrels breed in late winter and have their babies about 40 days later in "early spring". We didn't see any groundhogs on Groundhog Day, but do you suppose our "growing" flying squirrel is foretelling an early spring?

We got another e-mail from Dr. Deehr this week and he was right - we had a bright green auroral haze in the north that night. It looked just like there was a big city with green streetlights up on the other side of South Lake! I didn't see any streamers or dancing lights but at least it shows that the sun is continuing active and maybe we'll have bright dancing northern lights this summer?

Trout and Northern Lights

Mike's been doing a lot of ice fishing lately - and the fish are cooperating! Here's a nice mess of brook trout he caught the other day (and made me hold for him). The weather's been great for ice fishing - he's planning to go out again tomorrow.

I got an e-mail this week from Dr. Charles Deehr at the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute telling me that "no, he hasn't forgotten me." I hadn't heard from him in a couple years. Dr. Deehr offers a wonderful e-mail alert service that gives subscribers notice when solar flares are active - so that we can predict when the Northern Lights are likely to appear. He says that the first solar flares of the new solar cycle are beginning to produce auroral activity - and that while he's not predicting any Northern Lights right now, "it's good to know the sun is awake again." So... maybe we'll have Northern Lights dancing above our heads this summer - and since I haven't been "forgotten or dropped from the list" I'll be able to tell our guests when Dr. Deehr thinks they'll appear!

The Institute has a wonderful website, by the way, at www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast .

Think BWCA canoeing!

Beautiful, isn't it? Our world is picture perfect these days - great photo opportunities wherever I look. This photo was taken where Rockwood Road meets the Gunflint Trail... leading down to the lake and the cabins, lodge and outfitting center. There isn't a lot of traffic except for Mike's snowmobile and he hasn't had it out since our foot or so of new snow last weekend. It's been a little too cold for comfortable ice fishing this week, though we hear the trout are biting on a couple nearby lakes.

Our main activity this week has been helping our friends and guests plan their 2010 vacations. The BWCA permit lottery is over, which means that you can now check http://www.recreation.gov/ for the date and entry point you want - and confirm your permit then and there - or give us a call and we'll help you pick the entry point that works for your group and get the permit for you! We've also been busy putting together some "cabin and canoe" and "cabin and hike" packages for guests who'd rather come home every night to a stove, refrigerator and cozy bed. Mike and I are pretty much settled here for the winter and we love having someone (else) to talk to about spring plans!

Winter Fun

Congratulations to Jerry and Joel Enochson! Their great photo of their adventure last winter in the BWCA made the cover of the Boundary Waters Journal this month! Jerry and Joel are up in the BWCA this weekend snowshoeing too.

A number of their photos are on the bulletin board at the lodge; they seem to have a knack for getting animals - moose, wolves, etc. - to pose for them! The Enochsons (Debbie, Dan, Andrea and Kaylee too!) are frequent guests at Rockwood and we really enjoy their stays with us. The guys usually get an overnight BWCA trip in during their time here. We are fortunate that we have a lot of wonderful friends among our guests - and that so many of them are willing to share their photos with us!

Happy 2010!

The Sparrow-Finch-Polls are back! I was beginning to think that I'd wasted money on a whole big bag of thistle seed... we've gone through about 10 pounds of sunflower seeds and another 10 of corn for the jays, Canadian jays, grossbeaks and our huge family of hungry chickadees - but not a finch or a sparrow or a red poll have we seen - until this morning. A whole flock of hungry goldfinch arrived bright and early today and ... well, I'm glad the finch feeder was ready for them because they were more than ready for it!

We did have one unusual visitor over the weekend - I've seen them before, but not around here. When I turned on the porch light to let Major out for his bedtime walk I saw the reflection of eyes in the feeder - so I ran for the camera. It's a little hard to get a photo late at night in the dark - but here's a hungry little flying squirrel enjoying a free supper.

Here's hoping you have a wonderful New Year's Eve and that 2010 will be a great year for you and yours!