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218-365-3196 218-235-2701 420 N 15th Ave • Ely, MN windows. One winter a pine marten took up residence under the cabin. There were no mice that year. Before the demise of bats, several would swoop out from the dormer roof at dusk on summer evenings. There were far fewer mosquitoes then. The bird feeders on the deck attract a flock of red pine squirrels and chipmunks along with the year-round resident jays, woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches. Sitting at the table inside, I watch them all as I take my tea in the morning and write in the cabin journal to detail weather, wildlife, and the trivia of day-to-day life that I think I will want to remember but might forget as the years
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go by. Sometimes a pine marten or fisher will visit to make a snack of the sunflower seeds. After deer season we put out the remains of butchered rib cages. The birds and mustelids feast on them for months. The ravens won’t come to the deck, though. They are much warier of human detritus than the town ravens that peck apart any garbage bag left unguarded. But they are less cautious with the dogs, sharing bones with the old sled dog but flapping up to the woodshed roof if a person or the big protective dog comes out of the house. When the mice drive us too crazy and we resort to trapping them in the interest of keeping the kitchen
The Ely Winter Times
