We are excited to add an old time favorite to the Half Moon Trail menu this summer! We will now have on tap root beer, and root beer floats, served up in a deliciously frosty mug. We just got the tap up and running recently, so we will have plenty of time to do lots of taste testing to make sure it’s perfect when you all arrive 😉 Cheers!
you all arrive 😉
We are taking advantage of the inclement weather outside and working on some cool chalkboard signs for the lodge. We are making the frames from some old barn wood that we harvested last year from a local barn that was being torn down. Mary Kate seems to like a little shop time, too, while Mom snaps a progress photo 😉
For those that are curious, the lake ice finally went out completely yesterday with a strong north wind to break everything all up!
We have another early spring on our hands! I know many of the lakes a little farther South have already been open for a while, but we are typically a couple weeks behind the twin cities. I took a few quick pictures of the ice last evening. It’s started getting dark, cracks are widening, and it’s really opened up around the edges the past few days. As I was taking the pictures, I saw and heard several different kinds of ducks, swans, and geese as they are back in the area now with some open water for them to use – a sure sign of spring!
Today we are playing lumberjack! There is never a dull moment here on the resort, and it seems we are constantly switching our “hats”, which keeps life exciting. Today we harvested a few older trees that were near the end of their life and cut them up into specific lengths. We are taking them only a couple miles down the road to a friend of ours who will saw them into lumber to be used in one of our building projects in the future.
We’re in the midst of a little remodel here today at Half Moon Trail. The Department of Health is requiring a new three bin sink be installed, so we are taking the opportunity to get a new floor, cabinets, and ice cream signage behind the desk.
An interesting side note on our vintage ice cream dipping cabinet – the seals were starting to go bad, so I spent many hours trying to locate a new seal, only to find that it is no longer available. The ice cream cabinet was made by a division of the Anheuser-Busch company back in the sixties, which is no longer around, hence the reason I could no longer find parts! We are still in the process of getting some custom parts made in an attempt to keep this piece of history in our lodge.
Bald Eagles aren’t an unusual bird around here, and we see them quite frequently. However, the other day there were two Eagles and a few Black Billed Magpies on the deer carcass at the same time, about 25 yards from our front window. We typically save the deer scraps and carcass from the fall hunting season to attract wildlife. There are several different types of birds and animals that will feed off the carcass all winter, including, weasels, eagles, crows, ravens, blue jays, chickadees, and magpies.
First signs of summer! Okay, so maybe it’s a little early to be thinking that way, but we are getting excited for the upcoming season as we just got the first shirt order in today. Enjoy your sneak preview!
Popi (what Mabel calls my dad) came to take Mabel for a walk yesterday in the fresh, fluffy snow. It sounds like all she wanted to do was eat it. It’s beautiful up here, and we thought you might enjoy seeing a couple pictures of the resort in the fresh laden snow!
My brother Nate is home from college for winter break. This was our New Year’s day party, splitting wood for the kettle corn and s’more fires! We typically try to cut and split enough wood to stay two or three summers ahead, so it gives the wood ample time to dry. Almost all of the firewood we use comes from the resort property.
It’s amazing how much ice is made in one night with zero degree temps! With warm weather the last couple of weeks, the lake opened back up soon after our post on the 3rd, and has stayed open until last night. The steam rising off the newly formed ice, along with all the little tufts of frost made it for yet another beautiful morning by the lake!
Last week I dropped off our batch of 1200 newsletters to this little post office in Lake George. Dave and Mary tried to send their mass mailings through this post office to keep it up and running, and we plan to keep that tradition alive.
About an hour after I got home, I got a call from Flo, the gal that works at the post office. She had gone through every letter, checking for a stamp and a zip code. She told me of about a dozen zip code errors and asked if I’d like to know the correct zips so I could update them in my system. She also had stamped the unstamped envelopes, set aside the couple envelopes with no addresses, and gave me her cell phone number in case I remembered anyone I wanted to send those address-less newsletters to.
Bless her heart, and that tiny little post office up in Lake George. One of the many perks of a small town!
Your Christmas newsletter will be arriving in short order! They were hot off the press yesterday and we were busy stamping, stuffing, and sticking until late last night in order to get them out today. Thankfully, Dad and Mom pitched in to speed things up in our not-so-automated system. Hope you enjoy!
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