Spring. It is right before our eyes. As long and snowy and cold as winter has been, spring always comes again. In the time that the ale house has been closed, we have tackled many of the projects that we wanted to accomplish before opening again on May 2nd. I have posted pictures of our new kitchen floor and the new bar face. We have a few more new introductions, additions and tricks up our sleeve as well, so stay tuned on Facebook for those...
But there are a few things I want to share about spring that have their roots in another time, at another Aqualand. Many times people asked us what was it like in the winter season? Well, as my dad often says, "animals eat all year long". So there were the daily chores. One thing many people did know was that we had a winter quarters where all the birds and critters not born for the winters or Northern Wisconsin, we called it "the workshop". The workshop was the hub of the operations behind the scenes. In the winter months, all the repairs that could be made got made there. New cages and dens and boxes got built. All the signs, which were taken down in the fall, were freshly painted and repaired as well. It was also there that the guys drank coffee, swapped stories and sat in old chairs that should have been tossed long ago. It was the ultimate Man Cave before people talked longingly about man caves. Instead of working with the ladies at the gift shop, I opted to be one of the guys....at least as much as they would let me. I remember one time thinking I would surprise my dad and help out. I cleaned the man cave, organizing it so well he had no idea where anything was. I think the only thing he was grateful for was my cleaning of the single stall toilet off to one side...though he said he didn't think it was so bad. (you can imagine).There was a smell to the work shop, sawdust, turpentine and fresh paint, tinged with the earthy aroma of a slew of critters in the pen area beyond the open work room. The workshop also housed an incubator. Every spring, we would hatch our own chickens, ducks, geese, quail etc. I can remember rolling the eggs, candling them to see if progress was being made, and finally being there for the big day, when little ones would fight their way from the shells.
Spring started early at Aqualand, the baby bears usually came first sometime in March. Babies were removed from their parents at a fairly young age, bottled raised and tamed. As the warmer weather came, the back pens of the work shop were cleaned and re-purposed for babies of all shapes and sizes. The really little ones came to our house, and the kitchen was a sea of boxes, sometimes as many as a dozen filled with babies- foxes, wolves, cougars, raccoons, skunks, ferrets, coyotes, otters, squirrels, and on a rare occasion birds. Anything that needed closer attention, more frequent feedings, warmth and attention. There were heating blankets and warm towels. The ultimate nursery.
The warm quarters at the workshop housed the fawns, baby goats, lambs and such. These were my babies. I would sit with them and talk to them, feed them formula from pop bottles adapted with large black rubber nipples. These babies would move down to the nursery in the barn yard where all season visitors could buy a bottle to feed the babies- 15 cents a bottle- I remember the call, and I remember endless hours spent sitting in the milk house, selling bottles, scrubbing bottles and killing flies, which for some reason loved to hang out in my little spot beneath the goat bridge.
Spring at Aqualand was filled with promise, filled with getting ready, putting our best foot forward. As the gift shop ladies inventoried, priced and arranged all the new souvenirs, we out on the grounds raked and painted and pruned.
Each year we purchased piglets and a calf and these were added to the repertoire of babies to nurture.
I was in demand with all of them, recognized as important by my buckets. The memory of this will always warm spring's sunshine for me...
Spring at the Aqualand Ale House is filled with promise as well. We are preparing to put our best foot forward. Excited by the thrilling start of our initial season, we hope to raise the bar, raise the standard and bring you new reasons to stop as set a while with us in 2014.
