Lyssa, the boys, and I drove up in the truck and enjoyed a late Aunt Judy’s breakfast around 11:00. Josh’s first trip to Aunt Judy’s, as well as the first time the four of us have gone out to eat together, period. The boys did a great job, even prompting a compliment on their behavior from an older couple at the next table. Jake and I each had our respective “usual” breakfasts, Lyssa ordered an omelette, and Josh shared off of all of our plates. Bellies full, we headed to Puckaway.

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Work gloves are a must for helping out at Puckaway.

Temperatures hovered right above freezing all day, but the boys kept busy and warm in their coats, hats, and gloves. Jake got out all of his trucks and construction toys and tried getting Josh interested in a leaf-pickup operation. Josh would have none of it; he just wanted to explore. More than once, Lyssa had to retrieve him from the outer bounds of the yard. I can’t wait until he gets a little older and can come up for overnight trips with me and Jake.

The main purpose of this daytrip was to make a seasonal storage swap. We brought up the push lawnmower from Oshkosh to keep in the pole barn for the winter and traded it for Lyssa’s snow tires, the sleds, and our Christmas lawn decorations. After loading up the truck, I made my way over to the keep to check on things. Farmer Joe must follow the old camping rule, “always leave things cleaner than you found them” because the place was immaculate. No smell to the place at all except for the faint “new construction” aroma around the door frame. I made sure all the totes were secured and as critter-proof as possible and locked up. Probably won’t be back in there until spring.

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Josh, at this point, was begging for a four-wheeler ride, so we gladly indulged him. It worked well the last time we were all up here, so I made a seatbelt for him out of a tie-down strap and secured him to Lyssa on the green ATV. Jake hopped into his throne on the back of the blue ATV and we were all off to the marsh trails. Lyssa and Josh played it safe on the shorter loop, but Jake and I decided to venture out. He got a kick out of breaking through all the thin ice that had formed along the trail. After a good half-hour of rumbling through the woods, we parked the ATVs and I hooked them back up to the trickle chargers. Those things have worked out great for us up here: they keep the batteries from freezing up on all the vehicles in the pole barn and consume very little power. Josh had no interest whatsoever in getting off of the four wheeler. He’s hooked. We left around 2:30. I’ll be back once the snow start falling to pick up the blue ATV and plow.