Ding Dong, The Snakes are Gone

Or should I say dead? Yeah. For those of you not up to date on our snaky soap opera at camp feel free to read up on the two older posts on the subject. For everyone else:

Clay and our excavator, Jeff headed out to camp yesterday and proceeded to dig up the existing well and install the new culvert. My father-in-law stood by with camera and (yes) a weapon of his choosing. What followed was scoop upon scoop of dirt, stone, and you guessed it, snakes. Clay said at times the bucket was full of writhing bodies. (Ugh.) There were easily twenty plus snakes inside the well not counting the ones that have already been killed in the weeks leading up to us ultimately destroying their home. The largest were measuring around five feet with the average being about three, and they were literally everywhere, in the dirt, in the stone, falling out of the bucket, and swimming in the water at the bottom where it had not been drained.

When all was said and done a beautiful, clean concrete culvert, complete with a ladder on the inside was buried vertically in the ground, and already filled back up with water and, most importantly no snakes. A sealed cap will rest on top. Sadly, the stones from the old well were too badly damaged in the digging and could not be salvaged amongst all the debris and dirt and snakes. I was hoping to use them for something since they date back to Clay's great-great grandfather (at least). The pictures told the tale, and as I perused them last night on our digital camera, my first thought was that we can never show them to Clay's mom, as she will have nightmares for the rest of her life.

But my second thought is here is yet another story to add to the list of memories we are already accruing for our camp. And believe it or not I will add some of these pictures to the scrap book of building shots because they are part of it too. Besides years from now when we are all sitting around the gas stove in camp after a little too much alcohol, someone will start referencing snakes and no one is going to have to ask why. In fact, if I know this crew there is a long line of rubber snakes, snake stuffed animals, and snake jokes coming our way. Indiana Jones has got nothing on us.

All Things Winged and Red

Yes, the NFL started its season yesterday, but I would rather talk about the Red Wings because they headed off to their training camp in Traverse City this past Friday, and before you know it my boys in red will be back on the ice. Now some fellow fans are all up in arms because of the exits of a few players, namely Hossa, Samuelsson, and Hudler. Yes, they hurt a little. (One could argue Hossa one way or the other in light of his playoff run since he did not score very much, although he certainly was active during the regular season.... we will see how you do with the Blackhawks, my boy). I, however, think we can make up for these few losses fairly well with the younger guys we have coming up, and the early indications from camp are already promising.


Case in point: A third line of Leino, Filpulla, and Williams, who rumor has it beat the Zetterberg line in scrimmage over the weekend. Williams biggest problem was getting the two Finnish guys to speak English a little bit more so he could have a clue as to what they were thinking! Everyone is back to good health including my favorite man, Nick Lidstrom, who the team jokingly has called a cyborg over the years due to his amazing good health. At age 39 he does have a few sore spots now including some tendinitis in his right elbow which he has been rehabbing over the summer. As for how long he will keep playing? He will not commit beyond this year, but plans to see how he feels during the course of this season, while definitely not ruling out a few more additional years with the Wings. Here is praying.


When I say everyone is back to good health, I mean everyone who was playing at the end of last season. Andreas Lilja, who was punched in the head way back on Feb.28th by Weber (loser) in Nashville, is still suffering post concussion-like symptoms and is not allowed any contact practices. He does not skate with the team and, in fact, had not begun skating again until this past spring. Currently, he is on the injured reserve list and at 6'3" and as our best shot blocker he is a defenseman that is sorely missed. However, at this point one wants him to be healthy just for the sake of being healthy. Apparently, there is still some reason for optimism though as it is not unusual for these types of injuries to take six plus months to subside completely. Personally, I would be very "gun-shy" of ever being struck in the head again, but Lilja very much wishes to play hockey once more.


No, the only move during the off-season that I find myself with misgivings about is general manager Ken Holland's acquisition of Todd Bertuzzi. Sure, the guy has a history of being a big time scorer and he is a a large guy who can be physical and perhaps replace some of the fire power we potentially lost with Hossa or Sammy ...... BUT. There is some big time baggage attached to this guy and do we want it even somewhat associated with the Red Wings? He is tainted for better or worse and whatever side you come down on, it is out there. And not to mention with all of his previous injuries can he really still play?? The last team he has been on that has won a playoff series in the last five years was the Wings themselves back in 2007. That's right he was on our roster when we went to the conference finals before losing to Anaheim, although he barely played with us due to injuries.

For those of you non-hockey people who have no clue what I am talking about when I speak of Bertuzzi's past, here is your quick catch up: Back in 2004 Bertuzzi played for Vancouver when he most notoriously sucker-punched Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche in the head, effectively ending that man's career as a hockey player. There is currently a law suit (I think in the Ontario court system) for 38 million which Steve Moore is seeking for lost income and damages. Needless to say it was the cheap shot heard around the hockey world and had everyone up in arms screaming about the violence of hockey. Now some say Todd Bertuzzi was merely the brute force, following orders, the so-called "hockey code" and, therefore, his 17 month suspension, community service, probation, while warranted, only punished the hit man and perhaps allowed the other guilty parties (coach? captain?) off with a free pass. Other people believe Bertuzzi is nothing more then a hot head whose temper got the best of him and in a moment of rage just "snapped." Now, I do not know what I believe or if I give credence to this whole "hockey code" idea or not but either way I would say this: I want a guy on my team who has the character and mental fortitude to do the morally "right thing" and win the "right way" despite what anyone may or may not be ordering him to do and someone who is not going to possibly "snap" at any given moment. At age 34 one would hope Mr. Todd Bertuzzi has grown up. I just don't know. I am a big believer in second chances and I am typically a lover of everything Mr. Holland does, but I am somewhat leery of this one, I must admit. I have always admired the Wings for being a classy organization and never having a player that could be labeled as dirty .... it would be a shame for the Winged Wheel to loose its luster on this.

Slight Miscalculation

It would appear our snake problem is bigger than we thought. The nest is, in fact, the well itself. No, a few snakes did not just flee there when we began building ... they all have been living there all along, and apparently they have no plans on leaving any time soon. Despite the many gallons of bleach that have been poured into their environment, despite the cement block that recently went in around the top of the well and a couple feet down (you would have thought that would seal any fissure and ways into the well but, no.... somehow they still have ways in).

We discovered our larger snake issue after I reported to Clay last week that I saw a snake at the top of the well after I spent a day out painting. Naively we both assumed it was the last of two that he had seen prior to the pouring of the cement slab and that most likely it was even dead after the bleach and snake repellent in and around the well. After all, what snake would voluntarily wish to be near such an unpleasant place? Well, Clay took a drive out to camp the next evening with a load of gravel and some friends and when they arrived they lifted the lid of the well to discover a whole, shall we say, "gang" of snakes to greet them, all of whom were quite lively and not in the least sick or dying. They also proceeded to watch them slither up the walls of the well with ease along with somehow finding ways into and out of the well without using the lid through unseen holes. (Is your skin crawling yet? Mine is.)

So, now we have no choice but to rip out the well. Can you say unforeseen expense? We have already called back our excavator and priced sinking a concrete culvert, which you then can put a sealed cap on. It will work and it is about the only way any of us will feel comfortable and know we have eradicated the snake problem. My husband, at this point, I think, is planning to be there with a shot gun when the machinery comes in so he can pick off snakes one by one! Otherwise, we will all be having nightmare visions straight out of a B-movie where there is the shower scene and somehow little baby snakes start coming out of the shower head or something. Ridiculous and completely irrational but such is the human mind. Never a dull moment when building a camp and obviously never a cheap one either ... at this point Isabelle is the only one getting anything for Christmas!

End of Summer Insanity

Where to begin? The end of summer is fast upon us, although if you have been in the upper peninsula this year you could argue that summer never truly arrived as it has been so cool, and of course, with the end of summer comes all different levels of insanity. So, I will just plunge right in.


We have the typical child variety of insanity with preparing for another year of preschool. For instance, Isabelle has apparently grown a ridiculous amount (again). The kid is all legs and it certainly does not come from me, so virtually all of her pants are too short, necessitating "school clothes shopping." When did my little girl need size five pants? And of course, we had all the necessary appointments, including her yearly health exam, and then her dental cleaning and now this week she is having her hearing and vision tested. We will culminate all of this with a haircut from her Grandma Helen and she will officially be "spit and polished" for the classroom. I feel kind of like I am having a car detailed!

Then there is our on-going camp project insanity, which anyone who has built anything knows sort of develops a life of its own. (Or it takes over the one you already have). The camp is really coming into being now and is looking wonderful. The electrical is almost complete and next will come the plumbing. I just finished painting the front door as well as all of the trim on the six exterior windows to match the roof which is a dark evergreen (the windows could only be ordered in white, of course). This little task would seem like no big deal except it involved coordinating with my dear mother-in-law to watch Isabelle whenever I wished to paint, as trying to do rather meticulous and careful work with a brush while simultaneously watching a human tornado is somewhat challenging. I also did all work on a ladder with the exception of the two front windows on the porch and had no access to water for easy brush cleaning since we have no plumbing yet. So, I was filling empty milk jugs and lugging them with me from here, doing a little cleaning on site and then bringing stuff home for the big scrub down. Tedious yes, but yesterday as I observed my completed paint job (hands on my hips, paint-smeared cut-off shorts and all) I felt a deep sense of satisfaction. And more this time then ever because unlike painting a room in my house, this is not a building or property that we will EVER sell. It will be OURS until the day we die and there is something so solid and comforting about that.

Even with the snakes. Yes, I said snakes. And that brings me to the next piece of my insanity. We have snakes in the well. Among our other camp projects is resurrecting the old, original well on the property, which is from the time when Clay's grandfather had a house on the land. It would seem that in all of our building and moving of earth and the old trailer and demolishing of some of the old, original foundation that was Clay's grandfather's house we disturbed a nest of snakes, who for lack of a better place, fled to the well. Apparently, they are Fox snakes, otherwise, known as Pine snakes, and we theorise they actually became trapped in the well when we moved more dirt with the excavator and essentially buried all of their escape routes because when we drained the well ...... lets just say we found quite a "pile" at the bottom. I will also inform you that Clay has lifted the lid on the well on a couple of occasions to find one or two curled up in the lip at the top. The best one though was when he and one of our good friends were digging around the well last week as they decided they were going to lay a cement pad all around it and going a few feet down into the ground. In the course of digging they unearthed a huge snake who had been trapped. It measured five feet. Add four inches and the snake is as tall as me. (Ewww.)

This might be the time to mention that my husband has a rather strong phobia towards snakes. He comes by it honestly. His mother is over the moon afraid. Clay is capable of being around them and can kill them when necessary, but is in no way, shape, or form, comfortable. Since encountering our "problem" at camp he has been dreaming about snakes at night, talking about it non-stop to anyone and everyone, and I swear he periodically gives full-body shudders. Suffice it to say I have found his hell and it is straight out of an Indiana Jones movie..... him in a well full of snakes. (My hell, you ask? Lets just say it would probably involve something like a very small crowded elevator, piping in Rod Stewart music or even worse Rod Stewart himself, singing, but I digress)

Despite the snake issue, the well is still sound and we are confident after a very thorough cleaning it will serve our needs just beautifully. We had never planned on using it for drinking water regardless, and in light of what has recently been taking up residence within I think it will be a very long time before we could think of it.

In the middle of all of this my computer crashed on me this past weekend, and I had a momentary freak out (yes, more insanity). After all, this computer is not very old. And how does a computer go from working perfectly one day to just totally NOT the next? I mean, shouldn't it give you at least some hints that it isn't feeling well.... a few glitches as a head's up? Instead it was like a drive-by-shooting, completely random and out of no where. I had visions of a major problem, being without a computer or e-mail for an extended period of time (Gasp! You might laugh, but for someone who at times has limited adult contact this is huge) Thankfully, my local computer guy is wonderful and had it up and running quickly and for not a ton of money, which was also huge.

Anyway, the end of summer is drawing to a close and I suppose this current level of insanity will pass .... most likely to make way for another level. But then again its kind of fun. There is a new country song out by Darryl Worley, I believe, called, "Sounds Like Life to Me." In the song his friend is complaining about all this "stuff" going on in his life, bills due, car breaking down, baby whining, wife pregnant again, like it is all some tragedy. Worley sings the chorus and reminds his friend life is about enjoying the ride and the unpredictability, not to get bogged down in the details. I like the song.