the owls came in tandem

Not just one owl, but two gifted us with harmonious hoots last night. Bryan almost hit a turkey yesterday and he spotted (and I missed) a pine marten on one of Spirit in Nature hikes. By the by, my favorite of the quotes in there is "I believe in God, I just spell it N-A-T-U-R-E" by Frank Lloyd Wright.

This morning it was in the mid 50s and the pups had to snuggle in bed in order to warm up after a long and delightfully chilly night. I am looking forward to fall.

Our report came from the health department in the UP regarding our desire to have  a permit for a composting toilet. This is anxiety provoking because of the many, many ridiculous rules that police what you can do on your own property. That's a rant for another day, but that anxiety, combined with the fact that in 2 weeks we expect to move to our land, which we cannot close on because the neighboring land owner has not physically signed an easement that all involved gave us the impression he would have no problem signing. Also, I can't start my paper because my professor wants me to focus more on Ed's body in Deliverance and less on  his psychology. I'm not entirely sure what she's looking for and her office hours are during my other class. This is anxiety land.

In other news, we found out back when the police were here that the campground host last year died here. He was old and died of a heart attack, but it was interesting that the ranger did not mention this and gave me the impression that they hadn't had a host in a long time. About a week ago, a woman pulled up in front of our campsite, so I went outside to say hello and see what she needed. She wanted to just hover there and said she didn't need any assistance, so I just gave her some space and she looked at the yurt. She asked a question about it and then explained that her dad was the host last year. Of course, not expecting this, I didn't know what to say (typical me), but in my alternative relived version, I told her to stay awhile and that we'd leave for a hike so she could just be there. In reality, she drove away. Tom the Minnesotan guy asked about last year's host and why he hadn't stayed long, and we had to tell him what had happened and last night a couple came by who come to Moosalamoo ever year and asked about him. Evidently he was a really great guy. It's sad having to be the bearer of bad news. I hope we're doing him justice!