By Wenda Grabau
“Timber!” was the shout that never came that night. Yet down came a 60-foot tall poplar tree that had stood strong and tall for about 60 years. The crash as the tree hit the ground woke the folks in their cozy little cabin up north.
Yes, you may guess that it is our family cabin. My sister and brother-in-law witnessed the damage done. Hence, we were urged to bring a chainsaw along with us when we went, so we did. Off we drove to our hideaway cabin up north.
I enjoy the scenery and being close to family that I see so seldom. My husband likes to complete jobs that he sees as necessary to improve the little cabin my dad built. This particular weekend, we had planned to work with my sister and brother-in-law to finish the soffit on the cabin. But as you can tell from our felled timber, there was a clean-up job to do after the beavers’ visits.
My readers may recall that a few years ago we were visited by a hungry beaver. He scouted out our land and saw some tasty woody plants to munch on. It could be that the old beaver raised a family near our cabin, because now there is a team of four beavers that are busily taking down our trees and those of our neighbors.
As I watched my husband cut up the tree, I noticed the sawdust landing on the ground. Comparing that dust to the large chunks chewed off by the beaver team, I am so glad the saw works as well as it does. The words of a song came to my mind, “Whatever you can do, I can do better!” Those beavers took several days to clip off the tree and landed it in the only spot available to avoid being hung up on any other trees. But here in a matter of minutes the chainsaw buzzed up the whole tree. Now we have a nice collection of firewood.
when beavers look over the smorgasbord in the woodlands near the Chequamegon National Forest, poplars seem to be their first choice. Poplars, birch and pine trees are abundant. We are hoping that the beaver team gets discouraged soon from tasting morsels on our land. To do that, we are wrapping chicken wire barriers around the trees that are most likely to be targeted. I hope it works.
The team of four is cute and interesting if they keep their distance, but lately they have become bolder and are becoming unwelcome. One has to wonder if they will just move to a woodlot next door, or get closer to our cabin and take down a birch that could damage the house. We hope they will just move down shore to the next poplar. Or maybe an energetic trapper will find them.
Impossible Coconut Pecan Pie
3 eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 ½ cups milk
¾ cup coconut
6 Tablespoons margarine or butter
6 Tablespoons flour
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
½ cup chopped pecans
dash of salt
Put all ingredients except nuts in a blender and blend for a few minutes at high speed. Stir in the nuts before pouring into a large pie tin. Bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes. This pie makes its own crust.
Recipe credit: “1979 KUMV-TV Favorite Recipe Cookbook,” Cecilla Klofstad
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