Turds

I am up here in Michigan's north land and we still have quite a bit of snow in the woods. Not as much as a couple weeks ago but a foot or so in places. The good thing is the fact that there is a good crust on it and the walking is not bad.

As I said before, I came up here because I needed to clear my head a bit and also find out what is involved in putting up a workshop, garage or whatever you call it. I went to the lumber yard and told the guy there what I was thinking about and he broke out some plans and gave me a price on material. A rough idea anyway. I am thinking about a 24X28 with one of those barn like roofs so I can have storage up there. Tomorrow I have to go up to Grayling to see what is involved in getting the permits and such.

The county has been clearing the right of way in our area and I decided I could use the wood they left for campfires so I spent a little time today gathering it and bring it home. It is junk wood, pine and poplar but it will burn fine for family campfires. I got two truck loads of it today. Some of the dang stuff is six or eight ft long. I will have to cut it up later but I got it home.

I have looked for a few Caches too but it is rough going. They are out in the woods and as I said the woods are still full of snow. I have a 4WD so I figured what the heck and went anyway.

Now for reason for the name of this post. One of the things that makes me really love this new hobby of mine is that it gets me into areas that I would never ever find on my own. There was a cache a couple miles from Mike Quinns place up here that was in an old Ghost Town. I had never heard of it but maybe Mike has. You can drive pretty close to it on good roads and walk back in.

After a little hunting I found the cache in an old basement. I started looking around and found a number of old basement holes. Now I have a potential place to swing a detector this summer. I would never have known it was there without the geocaching.

I decided to try to find a cache in another old ghost town called Pere Cheney, which is not too far from here. The only way I have ever been there is down a little two track through a pine forest. It is not much wider than my truck and when I got there I saw the only thing that had been down it this winter was a few snowmobiles. Problem was, after I finished with the wood I had a toddy. A strong toddy in fact. :D I then decided to find the Pere Cheney cache. Dumbarse me. I got to the two track and heck it did not look bad to me. Well to me and the toddy it did not look bad.

I dropped that bad boy in 4WD and down the dang two track I went. It did not take me long to see that I might have been wise to think this through a bit more. Heck I am up here alone and if a dummy gets stuck with a 4WD, he is STUCK!

I drove a mile or so and the dang trail got tight! In fact I hit a tree with my right mirror but they just fold back when that happens and you can just push them back. I was a bouncing and banging all over the cab of that truck because you have to keep a moving forward. Don't want to stop in that dang snow!

Then I had to stop. Dang tree had fallen half way across the trail. I got out and pushed my mirror back in place and tried to drag the tree out of the way. It was not too big, maybe a foot through and rotten but it was frozen to the ground. I kicked it and stomped it but it would not budge. Hell with it I thought. I will drive into it and try to bust it free. Dumbass! I got back in the truck and nudged it forward and bumped it and gave it a litte gas. The tires spun a little and I felt it settle a little.

Now a good thing about the cold air and working is the fact that the toddy did not have the influence it did 15 minutes before and I got out and looked the situation over. This was dumb!

I looked back the way I had come and there was not a dang place I could see to turn around but I was not going to go forward. To heck with Pere Cheney! I got backin the truck and started backing up. It is hard to do in that dang snow and I found the dang tree that hit my mirror. I hit it again going the other way. I didn't know it until today but they were fold both ways!

I backed a couple hundred yards, heck I figured I was gonna have to back the whole way, when I found a little wide spot that I could back into. I did so and so and headed out to the main road.

I decided to go find another in the area. I just could not get to Pere Cheney until the snow left. I punched in the numbers of the next cache into my GPS and off I went. I went a ways, made a couple turns and looked up and guess what I come to? Pere Cheney! Heck, my buddy always took me through the dang woods the couple times I had been there and I never knew that it was on a dang good road!

I decided to go to the next cache and leave that one for a later time so off I went, chasing the arrow on my GPS. It took me to a two track again. I thought about it and said what the heck and followed it. It parallel a railroad track and was covered with deep snow but what the heck, I never said I was smart.

This two track was wider than the one I tried to take to Pere Cheney and I made good time, even though the snow was deeper. I kept following the arrow and popped out on another good road. Heck I could have driven right to where I was, without going off road, if I had known the area!

I turned left and crossed the tracks and dang if the GPS arrow did not take me up another dang two track. I popped it in 4WD and off I went. Now this was one muddy sucker. Holes full of water but I pushed through them. I had to go around a couple because they looked as if they could be deep. See I was getting smarter!

After about a mile and a half of this crap I saw I was within a quarter mile of my target and I pulled off the trail. I got out and following the GPS arrow, I headed into the woods.

There was quite a bit of snow and I did not figure I would find the cache as they are usually on the ground or close to it. I saw this old log and the GPS said the cache was within a few feet of it. THey are not dead on accurate but I usually follow it down to the feet and then turn it off and start looking.

At the end of the log I saw a big pile of turds. I did not know what they were from but I didn't remember seeing them before. I got down on all fours and looked back in the hole behind this pile of poop. The pile was about a half bushel!

There was a dang Porcupine a looking back at me from about two feet away. I jumped back a bit and he turned his back on me. That was enough and I told him I was not gonna bother him. You bet you butt I ain't gonna mess with him, he was not messing with me!

I grabbed a hand full of Porcupine turds so I could take a picture. I just knew that you folks would love to see them. I know little hillbilly girls learn how to thread them on strings to make necklaces. I can always go back and get some more to send to Linda, or anyone else that wants some.

I gotta get them out of my coat pocket be before Mary sticks her hand in there. They are all nice and dry though. Most of them anyway. :D

That is how my day today went. And it is not over.

Oh yes, I forgot, I also got on the roof and took my woodburner stack apart and cleaned it and cleared an ice dam on the eave of the house.

A couple deer came in today and I thought one had a white stripe down its side. I had never seen one like that but looking closer I could see that it was wounded. Its hide was torn, not down to the meat but just through the hide. I have no idea how this could have happened but it is amazing to me that it seemed not to notice it at all and did not even have a limp.They were extremely shy though and took off as soon as they saw me.

Now I have to find something to do the rest of the day.

Time for a toddy I guess :D

Thanks for sharing my day with me.