BRANDY IN THE BLACKJACK

A few guys and I escaped for a long weekend up north. Had quite a time.

Saturday morning we helped Glenn squeeze his big brown couch out of his cabin. We got an okay from a fellow in town to leave the couch on the sidewalk in front of the junk store downtown in Phelps. Pictured on the couch on the sidewalk are Gary Greene, Glenn Hojem, and Mark Hanson.

From there, Gary, Hanson and I took a hike in the Blackjack Springs Wilderness. We hiked in to Whispering Lake and took the trail to the right up to the high point overlooking the lake. While up there we noticed a wooden box affixed to a tree down closer to the lake. You can see this box in the picture of the lake. It’s in the lower left part of the image. We thought at first the box might be a wood duck house or something like that. Gary ventured down first to take a look and discovered it was something totally unexpected.

On the hinged door were written the initials “DRS” and a date when the person was born, and another date when they died last fall, in their mid 80s. In the box were a hand-rolled cigar, a shotgun shell, a small spiral notebook with pen, and a half-pint of blackberry brandy. A message was written on the inside door of the box. It read, “Dad loved spending time in these woods. Have a drink to celebrate all the good times we had. He worked hard to protect the Blackjack for future generations.” We made entries in the little notebook and sniffed the brandy. Well, it smelled good; how do you suppose it might taste? Gary and I each poured some brandy into the bottle cap and enjoyed a tribute to this fellow. From reading other entries in the notebook, I was able to determine that the Dad mentioned was Dan Satran, a noted newspaper publisher, editor and writer in Eagle River for many decades.

Later, in the early afternoon we headed to Land O’ Lakes for a bike ride on the trail system out to the Forest Lake Country Store and back. It was a 10.23-mile round trip, and as you can see in the photo of our bikes with a snow pile, it was an unusual mix of seasons during an unusual spring.

GREAT PHELPS SKI INVITATIONAL, February 17-19, 2012

We had 8 guys take part in this, the 19^th year of the ski invitational. Pictures here are of the guys around the dining room table at our cabin, and the group of us at Afterglow Lake Resort following a ski outing.

My guests were Mark Johnson, Mark Hanson and Gary Greene. Glenn’s group included Bob Anderson, Tom McIvoy, and Paul Montague, who was a new participant and received his “too sexy for my skis” hat.

This was an unusual year for me as I was not able to ski. I injured my somewhat fragile right knee about 3 weeks before the event and felt I could not risk any further damage while recovering. So, while the guys skied at Afterglow on Saturday I went and met the Phelps town chairman at an open house at the town hall.

Something new this year and pretty exciting was the jam session Friday and Saturday nights. Maybe we’ve got a band in the works? Anyway, the band members included Johnson on harmonica, Hanson on banjo, Greene on guitar, and me on keyboard, and all of us singing, which is the risky part. This was great fun and we all agreed we'd like to jam again.

If you have a moment, I invite you to join me in a video trip down our scenic winter driveway.

January 6 - 9, 2012

First trip of the year to the cabin, and in search of snow. No snow to speak of this winter in Madison. I skied four times and Mary five. I've been battling a cold and just couldn't do it yesterday. While skiing, it was the first time out on my new Fischer race skis. They are like rockets on my feet. Enjoy the pics, and take a look at the video I shot of a short, scenic stretch of the trail at Afterglow Lake Resort. The video was taken on the other side of the hill seen in the second photo.

December 8-12, 2011

This trip north marked the first ski outing of the season. We figured we would have snow, but were not sure how much or what conditions the trails would be in. Mary and I cross-country skied three times, twice on the Three-Eagle Trail and once on the trail just north of Land O’ Lakes. Three-Eagle was great and, even with just 5-6” of snow, had been groomed and had a good base.

Got a little work done around the cabin; namely, putting up the final wood trim around the laundry closet, installing handles on the two cabinets within the closet, and installing shelving in the walk-in closet in our bedroom.

November 17-20, 2011

Mary and I went to the cabin late Thursday afternoon. Worked on Friday and Saturday finishing the laundry closet by hanging the bi-fold doors and the two wall cabinets. This marked the last piece of work on an 8-year project to finish the first floor shell that we put up in late 2003.

On Saturday it started to rain about mid-day and to snow in the afternoon. We took a walk late in the afternoon as the light was beginning to fade. It was beautiful with snow clinging to all the trees and pine boughs. And it was quiet. You know how quiet can set in with new snow. It’s like the Northwoods has a librarian around every tree hushing anything that might make noise.

October 20-22, 2011

Mary and I went to the cabin on Thursday afternoon and left for home about mid afternoon Saturday. We finished the sunroom by installing final pieces of wood trim around the window and baseboard, and putting sealer on the grout lines in the tile. I finished a log slab table I made. Actually, I should give some credit to the tree. It made the slab and I just shaped and polished it and installed four legs. It is a slab that Hanson and I cut several years ago from a downed maple tree near the Cambridge golf course.

We hung on a wall the cubby unit that I made five years ago, and placed the bench below it. We always intended these items for this location; just took us a little time to get the room finished I guess.

We finished with lots of exterior work in anticipation of winter. Got the boats into the boathouse, blew pine needles out of the roof valleys, and trimmed a few balsam pines from along the driveway. I also rescued 3 3-foot red pines and planted them along the circle driveway.

It was a quiet and relatively short trip. And, who doesn't love the smell of wood smoke from the fireplace on a cool fall morning?

October 6 - 10, 2011

Mary and I went to the cabin on Thursday the 6th and returned on Monday the 10th. It's nice to avoid the weekend traffic. We worked hard three days on the sunroom, laying the ceramic tile. The room came out great; now all I have to do is prepare and install a few pieces of wood trim around the big window and along the baseboard.

I took what was probably my last sail of the year on Saturday. Great wind and balmy temperatures. I left the sail boat out on the beach. You never know - when we're back in a couple weeks we might hit another warm stretch.