2012 Memorial Day Weekend

Mary and I beat the traffic north by heading to the cabin Thursday afternoon. We enjoyed stunning weather the entire weekend. I rescued two turtles that we noticed in the gravel road. I always usher them off the road when we encounter them on a roadway. The first was a softball-sized painted turtle and then we came across the snapping, basketball-sized monster you see here. She did not want to take direction from me. At this time of year females are out laying eggs and many wander onto gravel roads, believing it’s much like a gravel riverbank or lakeshore.

Glenn and Peggy Hojem were up as well. We took two bike rides with them. The first on the St. Germaine to Sayner trail and then on the trail out of Land O’ Lakes to the Forest Lake Country Store and back.

It’s a green wonderland. The hosta garden is in full bloom, the hummingbirds are back, and the black oak by the deck is wrapping us in its canopy.

I got the sailboat out and went sailing 5 times over the weekend. In the sailing picture, I am leaning well over the edge of the boat (this is called hiking) to oppose the heeling force of the wind as it pushes sideways against the sail.

11 – 13 May 2012, Mother’s Day Weekend

Mary, Linds and I went up Friday about mid-day for a nice weekend at the cabin. Dano came up later Friday. Both girls surprised Mary by taking Friday off so they could spend a little more time which was great.

We took a bike ride on the Three Eagle trail Saturday morning; went from the Eagle River side to Three Lakes. On the way into Three Lakes we went by the Petroleum Museum on Highway 45. From the museum we went to the Three Lakes winery, enjoyed sampling wine and bought four bottles which we had to carry back by bicycle the 8 miles to Eagle River.

It was a gorgeous weekend and we took two walks. On Saturday we walked the nature trail. On Sunday morning after breakfast we walked down Black Bear Lane and on the way spotted this woodpecker working a tree. The bird was only 10 feet or so away and it continued pecking the tree as we walked by. Usually they don’t let you get this close.

Sunday morning we dug up a couple of ferns and a princess pine and planted them at the back of our lot in Madison. We all hit the road about mid-day Sunday. Time spent with your adult children is the best gift of all.

Spring Cleaning Weekend, 3/29-4/2 2012

Mary and I got away for one of those Thursday to Monday stays at the cabin. We worked a great deal outside in the cool spring air. We completed a little raking and clean up around the yard, carefully picked leaves out of the hosta garden and put up the deer fence around the garden. We took a couple of nice walks. The picture here is on Black Bear Lane on Friday, with a little snow on the ground.

We rescued 21 trees, of which 16 were red pine, 4 white pine and 1 white spruce. I planted 15 of the trees, mostly around the circle driveway, and brought 6 reds home to plant beyond the end of our lot. I should explain our practice of “tree rescue.” We often set out on a mission to save trees that have begun to grow near a roadside in the national forest. They have no future because they will be clipped off soon by mowing, grading, or snow plowing operations. So, we rescue them and bring them onto our land. Not all of them survive, but many do. The trees we saved this time were along Hunter Road and Board Bridge Road.

We also picked a few rocks while we were out rescuing trees and I added those rocks to the rock wall I am building to support the sidewall of the circle driveway.

There’s a historical perspective here. I used to dig up and transplant trees and pick rocks with my parents. Trees also occupy a good bit of my attention up north. It’s as though I have a personal relationship with them. Most days I take a walk on our nature trail and pass by all these trees to see how the kids are doing.

-       There’s the Colorado blue spruce that my Dad and I planted in the early 1990s. (1st pic below)

-       There’s all the red pines that Linds, Dano and Mary and I planted in 1987-88 and they are marvelous 30’ trees now. (2nd pic below)

-       There’s the 30’ red pine in a ways from Black Bear Lane. I dug this up from the side of the road; it was about 1’ foot tall and deformed into a pretzel-like shape. Not sure why I even bothered. In the last 20-some years it straightened up and grew into a great looking tree.

-       There’s the huge red pine to the right of our driveway at Black Bear Lane. This represents the largest red I dug up that survived. It was about 5-6 feet tall and I had to dig a hole the size of a barrel to ensure I got most of its root system. (3rd pic below)

Most of the trees I dig up are 6” – 24” in height. But sometimes I might find a larger one and will give that tree a chance. Just this trip, I dug up 2 five-foot reds that were tipping at a 45-degree angle at the road’s edge. I thought they deserved a chance because they wouldn’t last the summer where they were.

Beyond the role that trees play in helping sustain the environment, and in creating a feeling of natural beauty and serenity, it’s fair to say that trees have significant emotive power for me.

We took a few walks throughout the weekend. Here's a picture with some fog rolling in.

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.