Critters

When we've been in the boundary waters before we are always prepared for the big critters-Bears. It's prudent to be clean--To put your food in a bag and hang it from a very tall tree. We have had contact with them before and it's never a good thing. One year, Ron woke up at the sound of his pans on the bag trap and charged a bear trying to steal empty plastic food bags. That was a treat. But usually the worst the woods yields are the mosquitoes and flies. This year our critter encounters were a bit more tame...squirrels, birds, frogs, 1 northern (that we ate) leeches (ugh. I mean really ugh. I hate those things) a GIANT spider in the outhouse...(a wolf spider I found out later) and a gazillion (seriously) mosquitoes. We were actually in the boundary waters two years ago and we were able to be outside well after dark and didn't even have problems with them on the portage trails. But this year...YIKES! We had to move indoors before the sun even went down. We had to be indoors or be doped up all day to stay away from them. I was bit to shreds. I was one mass of itching flesh. But have you ever tried 'Gold Bond'? Wonderful stuff to take away the itching. Ha! Then there were the brown bats. They were awesome. We discovered the first one on the first night when it flew into the cabin. Ron actually managed to catch it and release it without killing it. The next night we noticed one coming from behind the sign over the door. When looked-5 bats were snoozing there! Wow! Well, they eat those pesky mosquitoes, so we left them to their own devices and didn't have any problems with them. Anyway : my wildlife pictures :