Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Another Critter Report from Lost Lake

After a weekend with many well behaved, non barking dogs, we got new campers.  There aren't as many dogs, but they are a yappy bunch.

One interesting set arrived Sunday evening, just as the rains began. We didn't get a good look at them, but Gary said he thought there were two smaller dogs and one big dog. Their owners had them in a medium sized tent.  Only fanatical dog lovers would share their tent with three wet dogs.

It wasn't until late yesterday that the rains cleared and I took a walk around the circle.  When I came to that campground, a dog rushed out of me with a deep "WOOF!" followed by a growl.  He was enormous, his back coming up to my waist.  I stopped in place and didn't move.  I've been walking for years.  If you run, the dog will chase you. There is no point in holding out a hand in friendship. The best thing is to be absolutely quiet and look the dog in the eye.  The man came running out to get the dog, who according to camp rules should have been tied up.

"What the heck kind of dog is that?" I asked.

"A mastiff."

First mastiff I've seen in my life.  In fact, it wasn't two small dogs and a bigger dog, as Gary said.  It was two big dogs and a much bigger dog.  A massive mastiff.

Today we had our first hummingbirds at Gary's feeders.  That was nice. Even nicer is that the chipmunk is finally making his appearance.  Up until now, I put out peanuts but he waited until dark to spirit them away. Today as he sat eating the peanuts, I explained to him the contract between us.  My job was peanuts, his job was to hang around and be cute.  No cuteness, no peanuts. I think we have a deal.

Every year we look for the black-backed woodpeckers here at Lost Lake.  It's the only place we ever see them in Wisconsin. I heard faint tapping this morning but wasn't able to locate the tapper.  Then we drove to the Lost Lake cabins, directly across from our campsite.  We were trying to find the hosts to arrange for showers there.  They were gone, but flying everywhere were black backed woodpeckers.  Another check mark for my Birds of Wisconsin checklist.

This afternoon, we were back at Chipmunk Rapids to get water from the artesian well.  My phone takes photos but I can't transfer them to this computer.  I can send them to Gary's cell phone and he can transfer them here.  So we experimented and this is the result.


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