Can anyone tell me why I spent all that time shoveling snow recently when it all would have melted by today anyway? The front lawn is mostly grass today, the driveway is completely clear of ice and is in its summer gravel mode and I can hear the ice patches on the lake crunching up along the shore in the light breeze. 
Maybe it’s already time to start searching for that patch of field to plant a garden in this summer. I’ve never had a garden unless you count that patch of back yard I dug up in Eastmain years ago. I planted 10lbs of potatoes and got back about 80lb which tasted a lot better than the ones we planted so I guess it was a victory. The soil there wasn’t much for growing but it’s better than what we have here. Our present back yard is muddy gravel and the front yard is dry gravel, neither of which is much fun to work with or grow things in. Hence the search for some nice quiet place to start a little growth on and I’ve even considered buying a nice little lot in Manitowaning that would serve as a garden plot for now and maybe a nice little house or office in the future. The soil looks good and it is just down the hill from the fellow that currently sells all kinds of vegetables now so the area can’t be that bad for planting. We’ll see.
In the meantime if anyone has a “back forty” or some other little area that they’re not using…HEY! Heard something outside that I haven’t noticed around here since last summer... the very distinctive sound of a Pileated Woodpecker. Yup, there he was pounding away on a stump. I wonder if his mate is out there somewhere or could this be one of the young they had just popping back to check out the old neighborhood. We’ll keep you posted.
