Had to share

Not a very active blogger lately, but it’s only a part time gig. Maybe if someone paid me a crazy sum of money, I’d do it on a more regular basis:)

This last weekend I had the opportunity to go up Nort by myself. So I took it.
It just happened to be New Years and even though I would have been content to be home with my sweetie, I was glad to be in the middle of nowhere.

The first night was clear, but come Saturday morning the sky opened up and dropped about 5 inches of snow.

Made for some interesting hunting, but it was beautiful!

Bagged one Grouse and had a fleeting chance at a Snowshoe, but he must have heard about me and got out of Dodge before I got Benny out of his case.

Perfect trip until I hit the roads to come home.

Lost Dakota tonight. A burst tumor in her abdobmen.

It was too sudden and I wish I had one more day with her.

She was a great dog. Rescued her as a pup and she tormented Shadow the first years of her life.
Called her “Ankle Biter”.

We were certainly relieved when Shadow’s “Worlds Greatest Dog” rubbed off on her and she became a dear friend.
She only complained when she had to pee really bad, and she never loved you any less for telling her she stunk bad.
She was a pillow licker and a Kleenex eater, and could clear the room with the best of them,
but I can’t tell you how many smiles she brought to our faces and hearts.

Her tail would take you out at the knees if you were in the wrong spot when calling her a “Good Girl”.

We were blessed with two great dogs which is more than my next-door neighbor can say.
God, I wish that thing would shut up!

Anyway I figured what better way to greive than to look at pictures that make you smile and cry at the same time:)

Here is a trip we took in 2009 before the Ponderosa had a single structure on it and the same weekend they were logging at Shoepac.

It’s my favorite time of year!

As you can see, the weather was perfect.

We saw two birds the whole weekend and lets just say we let one go and didn’t even have a way to kill the other because no one brought a gun on our ATV ride.

Oh well, I guess there’s always room for more Venison in the freezer.
oh wait, I’m writing this after deer season and I didn’t get any venison.
I guess the mighty hunter has turned into the hungry hunter.
We had a blast though.

This female Mallard used our swimming pool as a 5 day respite. Apparently injured, she never left the back yard.

We thought she was nesting, but then realized she couldn’t fly.

I went and bought a 40lbs bag of corn to feed her on the forth day figuring she’d starve. She flew away the next day.

Didn’t even eat the corn.

Sonia watched our security camera footage and found she had crashed into the top of our privacy fence flipping head over webbed-feet into the neighbors back yard.

She was no were to be found when we peered over the fence. I hope she got away from Molly. Pure evil, that dog.

Middle Eau Claire Lake WI.

Gods Country.

Few other words describe the weekend as well as “SPECTACULAR!”

What an awesome group of people.

Thank you for the wonderful hospitality and comradery.

Ethan and I went up Nort for eight days and here are some of the pictures from our trip.

I’ll take video the next time we take the Kayak’s down the Sturgeon River because it was awesome!

The canopy over the tent is basically to keep everything dry, and the rain we had tested it well.

We caught about 20 gallons of rainwater in the rain-catch next to the tent and filtered it to wash up with.

The Chicken was excellent on a griddle, but made a mess of the stove.

The sand mound Ethan is standing next to is a huge Fire Ant mound. One bit him within seconds of getting that close and several more were ready to.

oh, and the Fern Fronds were delicious and we ate them like we were out of other food.

Hope you enjoy.

See if you can pick out the only flower that is not on the Ponderosa.

Ethan and I were on an ATV ride when I stopped quick to take a picture of some wild flowers I hadn’t seen yet (purple above).

Ethan pointed out that the Ruffed Grouse we were watching earlier had hopped up into a tree and couldn’t care less we were almost directly under him with a running ATV.

Hopefully he’s this stupid in the fall. Maybe he was taunting me. We’ll see who laughs last Bird.

I never thought I would get this old or have a kid this big, but the proof is in the pictures.

I couldn’t be more proud of you Tyler!

For those of you waiting on a graduation party invite, Tyler opted to “Take the Money and Run”.

We’ll be sending out an announcement shortly. Hopefully. At least that’s the plan.

Added a couple new things to my home away from home.

First I bought a queen size mattress and box spring so I don’t have to deal with leaky air mattress’s any more.

Second I rigged up a new way to funnel heat to the floor using an old computer shell, some aluminum ducting and a 12 volt computer fan.

It really makes a big difference to have heat directed at the floor instead of just having the fan on the ceiling pushing the hot air down.

I also added the new end table.

This year they had a Harry Potter Themed outing at Rum River Scout Camp. Other than cruddy weather, the day was fun, but exhausting.

Ethan and I visited the Raptor Center in Saint Paul with the other Scouts and saw some pretty cool birds.

I think the Great Horned Owl was our favorite even though I’ve alway’s loved Eagles.
All the birds are rescued animals that can no longer survive in the wild.

Ethan received his Bobcat badge today.

Nice work Ethan!

Well, our first official scouting outing.

Cold!

Not that we couldn’t handle it, but lets face it. Warm is better.

I’m pretty sure the boys would say the sledding was the best part of the day. 

Ethan came up to me when I was uploading the videos to my computer.

“Hey Dad, did you get the one with no hands?”

“Yep”

 He got some major velocity on the last run of the day.   

Only one kid cried the whole time we were at the hill and I witnessed the boot to the face that caused it. Yeah, had to hurt!

So, if you remember back to some of my very first posts in this blog, my youngest has been known to get in trouble a time or two.

He’s generally a pretty good kid, but he has this curious/naughty streak that lands him in the Principal’s office, last Friday was one such day.

Turned out to be a bit luck for me. So here’s the story of our weekend…

We left my work at 5:30, together, because someone got suspended from school for having a pocket knife.  I didn’t get too mad because it was innocent enough and sometimes the Zero Tolerance is a little extreme, but rules are rules, so really my only option was to pick him up on my lunch break and he’d have to hang out in the conference room at work. He had a few Die-cast Mustangs to play with and a lot of room to zoom so I think the time went fast for both of us.

Had to take a quick time-out for a picture in my office. It’s the first time he’s ever been to my work when he could stay and actually see what I did everyday. His verdict must have been “pretty boring” since he spent most of the day downstairs.

After three and a half hours of driving Nort, I stopped on the side of Hwy 73 looking at our entrance and started thinking we’d be heading back for the Chisholm Inn & Suites as it looked a little blocked

But before I did anything rash, I wanted to see what lay beyond the 3 ft tall burm on the roadside.

I climbed atop and over the crust from the highway plows and quickly sank to my crotch in snow. I took a few big steps forward and it was getting shallower, but not much. By the time I stood in virgin snow, it was only up to my knees and that was with about six unstable inches of snow and hardpack still under my boots before the gravel started.

I high stepped it to the cabin and started the ATV (not with the battery, dead). I got the plow about ten feet out of the door and I was no longer pushing, I was spinning.

If I wanted to bore you, I could chronical the next FOUR  hours of punishing my ATV and “gittin ‘er done’, but  I had to shovel the last thirty-five feet and I’d just as soon not rehash that. I finally got to bed around 3AM

The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun.

Hiking was all but impossible without burning 20,000 calories and risking a heart attack, so we decided to hang out and watch movies and shoot his new BB gun. Forgot the BB’s at home but lucked out when I found a shotgun shell with BB size shot. I cut it open and viola’.

The gun jammed the first shot. He didn’t even get a chance to shoot one BB. I think it needs oil. The constricting cold didn’t help for sure.

The weather was cold; -14 the first night, but we had the good fortune of no wind. None at all. It was great for being outside without being miserable.

Saturday was spent doing a lot of clean-up around the tent and doing a lot of warming up inside the tent. The night was for movies.

I estimated I removed about three-hundred pounds of snow from my canopy. There is one picture that shows how thick it was the entire surface area. Very little had sheeted off, though the base was much thicker and heavier due to the glaciation. (new word, made it up)

I was surprised the tarps hadn’t ripped worse than they had. The will need to be replaced.

I know some of you won’t beleive me, but I didn’t light a fire the entire weekend.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Nice Job Tyler!

One word:

BOOOOOOOOOM!

This is the same Cub Scout Pack and Boy Scout Troop I belonged to as a boy.

In fact they still meet in the same gymnasium I went to when I became a Boy Scout in the early 80’s.

Brings back a lot of memory’s to attend his meetings and I’m already being recruited to help of course.

He started about 3 weeks ago and loves it.

 My biggest wish is that Ethan gets the same thing out of it I did and enjoys it.

Still Ironic…

Well, this may be the first “official” photo of our family including the animals. I know, I know, it took seven years.

Poor Dakota! She didn’t know quite how to get into place in 10 seconds. I tried to help.

Sorry about the butt shot, but there are even more photos I didn’t include that proved my theory that getting a good photo with Dakota would take time and patience;)

Introducing the first photo of all the occupants of my house at once…and my favorite peeps in the whole world!

(and I don’t mind shouting it from the mountain tops from time-to-time.)

Love you guys!

I went up Friday night ahead of the family because I wanted to check on camp the following morning and plow out the additional 10 inches of snow since the last plow out.

I plowed till midnight under a mix of moon and snow flurries. The wolves went through at 6am. I woke Saturday and decided to shoot this video as kind of a virtual tour for those who never want to, or never have a chance to make the journey and see it in its winter splendor.

The snow had accumulated on the tarps, but the poles did the trick and prevented a collapse.

Much more snow and I’d need a Snowmobile. hmmm.

This was from Ethan and my trip up Nort on November 26-28th.

Goes along with the prior photos.

Ethan drove while I rolled film.

I guess they got another 6 inches since I’ve been there and the report is the camp is still in good shape, so I’m looking forward to going up this weekend for our “Chisholm Christmas” and heading up there to plow out again and check on my batteries.

Maybe go out Sunday morning with the boys and check things out. Maybe bring our shotguns, ah hem. Grouse season is still open.

Oh, and we need to go cut a Christmas Tree too.

Gramps says the road into Shoepac is still open due to logging, so we may have to cut down one of these that I had looked at from my stand.

Just the top 7 feet.

Christmas Tree

Well, I didn’t get a deer, but I saw several. 8 deer total on opening morning. Unfortunately our area has a limited harvest in place and only a few people drew Doe tags this year. My Dad filled mine on opening Morning, Drew got his very first deer (a nice doe, way to go Drew), Jeremy got a 9 pointer, and Chris got a small Doe. Four deer in all and not a picture of a single one of them. The packages in the freezer are the only proof I have.

Here are some photos from all three weekends.

The tarps are all pulled down to the side of the tent in preparation for the inevitable snowfall. The utility tent covered in a brown tarp has all my “may need” equipment and my Barrel Stove is in place.

I spent the first day trying out the stove and insulating the tent. Yes, I draped R19 fiberglass insulation over the tent and then covered it with the rain-fly. Lets just say we slept without the heater every night with lows in the 20’s. The pilot light was the only source of heat besides us and the dog and I have to say, it was very cozy. I flip the heater on in the morning and run it for a couple minutes, but then it gets too warm, even with fan’s. I have to open windows to let in some cool air. I may have to take some of the insulation back off! We’ll see how it is in 33 below first

Other than a slight Creasote problem, the stove and attached apparatus worked a little better than anticipated. I had done some testing at home of course. The copper tubing around the top and down the rear of the stove is for heating water… instantly!

I pour the 40 degree water in with a coffee pot and as soon as I walk around to the back and turn the Red-handled ball valve, viola’, hot water, no waiting.

It holds 1 1/2 quarts. Enough to do dishes or, as I found out,  feed a small army with oatmeal.

If I leave the water in the tube and stoke the fire, I can reach 180-200 degrees no problem. Never tried to get it to boil while full, but I don’t really need to. If I pour in a cup or two (just enough to fill the tube in back) I can get that to boil easily. The stacks in back are to prevent air pressure when the water in the back boils. Otherwise the bubbles would have to travel the long tube to the front of the stove where I fill it.  The cooler stacks also condenses most of the steam back to water to prevent a complete boil off. 

It sure is nice for hand washing in the middle of winter when 33 degree water is miserable.

We hit a low of 21 degrees overnight on Friday. 

Jeremy came by with Drew to help on the “Warren Doesken Highway” (the bridge I’ve been working on for 2 years) and with the help of the whole crew we were able to finish it!

About 125 feet of arm torture chainsaw, drill and sledgehammer work. Tyler and Vincent pounded the final nails and now we only have one more low spot to conquer and we’ll have a freeway from South to North without having to use the highway. The trail is already done, it just has a few more deep, wet and unforgiving holes where ATV’s have needed winches or other ATV’s to save them. We’ll get that done this winter and into next Spring but instead of building a bridge I think we’ll just relocate the trail.

I can’t believe I don’t have a picture of the bridge…yet.

Hunting Report:

I saw three birds and we ate two of them on the grill and one is in the freezer;)

Since Tyler forgot his hunting license and Vincent had a broken arm, they didn’t do much hunting. A bummer for them I’m sure, but I feel they made up for it by setting up a remote camp and sleeping in the cold. Geee, I wonder where they get that from?

So I’m sitting at my camp on my five-day solo to the Ponderosa and I hear a Wolf howl to my North.
There was a complete absence of wind so the evening was still and it sounded pretty close. I heard a few other wolves yip and make noise, but only the one howled. I assumed it was the Alpha Female or Male calling out to make sure all the other Wolf Packs in the area knew they were there and to keep their distance.

I heard a second pack respond just a short while later to my South which would be the first time I’ve heard two at one time. It was further away than the one to the North, but I wasn’t quick with my camera so I just caught the tale end of it.

Being situated between the two, I was tempted to howl and try to lure one of the packs closer, so I did… and it worked.

I started recording and I got this audio a few seconds later…

I have to admit, the pack to the North was starting to get close enough for me to go and check that my gun had a full magazine.

I expected to see eyes but they seemed to stay just out of sight.

After checking me out, I’m sure they decided there were much more important things out there than me sitting around a campfire, so they moved on.

I was just about to go to bed and I turned on my headlamp, I glanced up at camp and was pretty startled to see two eyes staring at me. My heart skipped a beat and then I realized it was a cat. A big cat.

Realizing that video would be way cooler than a story, I got up from my chair and started walking slowly toward my tent (which was exactly where the cat was).

Anyone who has had someone shine a headlamp in their eyes realized that there isn’t much else you can see, so I took advantage of that and aimed my headlamp right at it’s eyes. I worked my way to within 6-7 feet of it, partially blocked by a stack of logs. I reached around the corner to get my camera and it must have seen my arm and jumped behind my tent. I stood up thinking I completely blew my chance and he walked out from behind my tent for me to get this cool video. I thought it may have been a Lynx at first, but upon doing some comparison, I realized it was a Bobcat (which have tails, Lynx’s have a stub).

The only reason I thought it was a Bobcat vs a Feral cat was its size. If it were a Feral Cat, it was a big ‘un.

Got a great deal on Craigslist for 3 x 10watt Solar Panels. I bought some aluminum channel and angle and made a bracket to hold them together and this is how it turned out. the loops on the one end will hook onto a rope between two trees and will make the panels somewhat adjustable. Should be able to charge my Battery Bank almost entirely on this setup.