The difference a week makes...

Good morning Cruiser Lake cottagers!  I am pleased to inform you that spring has officially arrived in Haliburton County.  The ice is completely gone from our lake - the last of it disappeared on May 2.

The lake then - April 27, 2014

The lake now - May 5, 2014

First Flowers

The peepers are singing and some brave and hardy plants are beginning to poke their heads through the leaf cover in response to the warming presence of the sun.  Horray!

I walked the road on April 27.  The work that was done last summer held up beautifully!  There is no sign of damage from run off. 













There was still a foot of snow in the shaded stretch beside the beaver pond, but I am optimistic that it has melted during this past week.  I am hoping to walk through there again today to confirm.

The road is drying up, but still very rough in 3 or 4 spots before our driveway.  The spot at the mill parking lot is by far the worst.  They have not yet done anything about it as it is still VERY wet and muddy.  The frost was deeper in the ground this year than it has been in some time.  Temperatures of -30C for extended periods will do that.  As a result a few of our smaller culverts heaved and require significant repair.  Michael is going to attempt to dig them out by hand and reset them.  We are hoping to get to the worst of them on Sunday if the weather is reasonable.

On a more pleasant note, last Sunday I met a local orinthologist and photographer Dan Busby who has an exhibit at the Rails End Gallery (running until sometime in June).  He is on the look out for Hooded Merganzer.  We believe that we have at least one pair on the lake.  We invited him to come by to confirm and photograph them.  Please let us know if you have any issue with him accessing your shoreline on foot.  You can check out his work here:  http://danbusby.ca

Enjoy the sunshine!