Kerm here,
We did buy a boat for the cabin. It is a used but well taken care of 14' Lund with a trailer, a 15 hp Evenrude outboard and it also came with a boat lift. We launched it in town yesterday and I took it back to the cabin for fishing expedition outfitting. In the afternoon Chis and I took it out for a try a and after a bit caught a couple of nice northern pike that were just under 24". The slot limit up here is that you can keep 3 per person up to 24" and must throw back up to 36" and then keep only one over 36". My experience is that anything over 36" probably is not the greatest eating so we'll take 23 1/2's all day.
We threw both back. The object of this trip was to test the boat out, have a pleasant afternoon together and not go out for meat. That comes later. Storms are predicted for today so Monday looks like our target day..
Books. We need books. Lot's of books. Not that we would use it much but the TV satellite stuff up here is out of date so it doesn't work and the radio reception is very bad. The only thing that comes in half decent is public radio and I can only handle some much of that in a day. One of the nice things about cruising on the Belle is that nearly all marinas have book exchanges so we keep our shelves stocked with plenty of great reading material. Right now we have 2 National Geograghics from 2008 and a dozen cook books. The next free day we will be going to Cook or Virginia looking for 2nd hand stores to stock up.
We continue to work a little of this and that but it appears that the major work is all but done. The roof and gutters have been cleaned but Chris still wants to go up there with moss killer to finish it up. The deck looks like hell as the finish that dad put on there a few years ago is peeling. Chris's latest plan is to scrape and sand the old finish off and let the deck go grey. Perhaps do just a few boards per day.
Breakfast. I'm hungry.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Up north take 2
Kerm here,
Still up north and currently have no plans on when we will head back south. There are still several projects that should be taken care of and I have not caught any fish yet. Sister Mary came for a couple days along with her husband Cecil. Cecil and I replaced another section of hand rail, beefed up a falling stringer under the deck and he and Chris got rid of a pile of old lumber in an area that we call the swamp. A portion of the wood was burned in a wonderful bonfire last night and we probably have enough wood for a couple more fire nights.
Last night we went over to cousin Janet's cabin and had cocktails before dinner. She and her husband Norman have been up for most of the summer and will probably stay until fall when they will go back to their new retirement home in NC. Cousin Bill Johnson came up on Monday to his cabin and has had great luck fishing out on his boat. For us, we just fish from the shore on the point which has been non productive. We need another boat as dad's boat, that is in storage, is too big to muscle around. 14 feet is all we need, something we can pull up on shore and doesn't require putting in the dock.
I also got the old Alice Chalmers tractor running yesterday. It will be needed as we plan to fill some of the pot holes in the dirt road. How that thing continues to run I will never know. It has sat outside uncovered year after year for decades and still starts. The same storm that took out Chris's fishing boat also blew a tree down on it and damaged the seat and one fender. It just keeps looking worse and worse. For people who know tractors, it is a WD model made some time in the late 40's or early 50s. It has a tricycle front end and a hydraulic bucket with a manual dump. At one time it was red but right now it's a combination of rust colors with spattering s of green moss.
Another project that I have been working on is to clean out the storage shed. Dad has been accumulating junk for years and it was to the point where it was hard to get to anything in there. What does a guy want to do with 35 screwdrivers anyway? Oh, and nails. Coffee cans with nails, bottles of every shape and size with nails, plastic butter containers with nails, cardboard boxes with nails, new nails, rusty nails, used nails, railroad spikes... Let me see, there is a manual cream separator in one corner. I guess if we ever get a herd of cows it might come in handy. 3 ammo boxes from WWII, empty. A spittoon made out of what looks like stainless steel. Dad never touched a tobacco product in his whole life and I've never thought much of chew. And the list goes on.
We seldom go out the back door and today when I did I just put my hand on one of the rails and it fell apart. As it is a safety item it looks like another trip to the lumber yard for some more treated wood. I will say one thing about the projects up here, yacht quality is not required. This ain't the Hamptons.
Still up north and currently have no plans on when we will head back south. There are still several projects that should be taken care of and I have not caught any fish yet. Sister Mary came for a couple days along with her husband Cecil. Cecil and I replaced another section of hand rail, beefed up a falling stringer under the deck and he and Chris got rid of a pile of old lumber in an area that we call the swamp. A portion of the wood was burned in a wonderful bonfire last night and we probably have enough wood for a couple more fire nights.
Last night we went over to cousin Janet's cabin and had cocktails before dinner. She and her husband Norman have been up for most of the summer and will probably stay until fall when they will go back to their new retirement home in NC. Cousin Bill Johnson came up on Monday to his cabin and has had great luck fishing out on his boat. For us, we just fish from the shore on the point which has been non productive. We need another boat as dad's boat, that is in storage, is too big to muscle around. 14 feet is all we need, something we can pull up on shore and doesn't require putting in the dock.
I also got the old Alice Chalmers tractor running yesterday. It will be needed as we plan to fill some of the pot holes in the dirt road. How that thing continues to run I will never know. It has sat outside uncovered year after year for decades and still starts. The same storm that took out Chris's fishing boat also blew a tree down on it and damaged the seat and one fender. It just keeps looking worse and worse. For people who know tractors, it is a WD model made some time in the late 40's or early 50s. It has a tricycle front end and a hydraulic bucket with a manual dump. At one time it was red but right now it's a combination of rust colors with spattering s of green moss.
Another project that I have been working on is to clean out the storage shed. Dad has been accumulating junk for years and it was to the point where it was hard to get to anything in there. What does a guy want to do with 35 screwdrivers anyway? Oh, and nails. Coffee cans with nails, bottles of every shape and size with nails, plastic butter containers with nails, cardboard boxes with nails, new nails, rusty nails, used nails, railroad spikes... Let me see, there is a manual cream separator in one corner. I guess if we ever get a herd of cows it might come in handy. 3 ammo boxes from WWII, empty. A spittoon made out of what looks like stainless steel. Dad never touched a tobacco product in his whole life and I've never thought much of chew. And the list goes on.
We seldom go out the back door and today when I did I just put my hand on one of the rails and it fell apart. As it is a safety item it looks like another trip to the lumber yard for some more treated wood. I will say one thing about the projects up here, yacht quality is not required. This ain't the Hamptons.
Friday, August 1, 2014
A different paradise
Hello all, Kerm here,
We're up at the cabin about 50 miles south of Canada near Voyagers National Park in northern Minnesota. Ah, to wear jeans and sweatshirts again. 70's during the day and 50's at night. What a relief after the hot weather in Florida.
This is indeed God's country up here. This morning there is a slight fog on the lake and as calm as can be. Later I'm going up to the point and cast for a bit in hopes of catching a sunny or maybe a bass if they are biting. If nothing has the hunger to bit my hook so be it, as fish cleaning before breakfast is not my cup of tea.
Today is a tourist day. We will drive over to see Vermillion Falls, visit the park and probably eat lunch at Melgeorges Resort on Elephant Lake. We'll bring the fishing rods perhaps wet a lure at the stops along the way. Unless there is some sort of spectacular catch we'll throw them all back as I don't want those smelly things in my truck. Tough duty, eh?
We're boatless up here right now. Chris's fishing boat was crushed by a falling tree a couple of years ago and with as much time as we spend up here it probably isn't worth it to buy a new one, although I'm keeping an eye on craigs list. You never know.
What visit to the cabin would be complete without doing maintenance. Some people call these places a work farm. The nice thing is that the quality of fit and finish does not have to match what we try to aim for on the Belle. Yesterday we replaced some railings and supports for the deck and Chris thought it was a bit of overkill when I brought out the level. Perhaps, but my sister and her husband are visiting here in a couple days and they are sure to inspect the work. They know cabin quality but hey, level is level.
When we came up here a couple of days ago the first night temperatures fell into the low 40's and the house was below 60 when we woke up. Burrrrr. Nuf of that, start the furnace. I have never liked starting that furnace, Scares the hell out of me. Ok, read the instructions, call brother Greg to confirm the instructions and give it a light. It doesn't light. Call brother again. It doesn't light. Too embarrassed to call brother again. Re-read instructions. It lights and furnace comes on. Yea. Furnace quits and fire alarm goes on. Crap. Call brother. Troubleshoot. The squirrel cage fan at the top of the furnace is jammed with the tail of a dead squirrel. Does anyone see the irony here... squirrel cage fan, dead squirrel, get it?
So, pull out TWO dead cooked squirrels, reassemble and yea it works. Call brother.
We're up at the cabin about 50 miles south of Canada near Voyagers National Park in northern Minnesota. Ah, to wear jeans and sweatshirts again. 70's during the day and 50's at night. What a relief after the hot weather in Florida.
This is indeed God's country up here. This morning there is a slight fog on the lake and as calm as can be. Later I'm going up to the point and cast for a bit in hopes of catching a sunny or maybe a bass if they are biting. If nothing has the hunger to bit my hook so be it, as fish cleaning before breakfast is not my cup of tea.
Today is a tourist day. We will drive over to see Vermillion Falls, visit the park and probably eat lunch at Melgeorges Resort on Elephant Lake. We'll bring the fishing rods perhaps wet a lure at the stops along the way. Unless there is some sort of spectacular catch we'll throw them all back as I don't want those smelly things in my truck. Tough duty, eh?
We're boatless up here right now. Chris's fishing boat was crushed by a falling tree a couple of years ago and with as much time as we spend up here it probably isn't worth it to buy a new one, although I'm keeping an eye on craigs list. You never know.
What visit to the cabin would be complete without doing maintenance. Some people call these places a work farm. The nice thing is that the quality of fit and finish does not have to match what we try to aim for on the Belle. Yesterday we replaced some railings and supports for the deck and Chris thought it was a bit of overkill when I brought out the level. Perhaps, but my sister and her husband are visiting here in a couple days and they are sure to inspect the work. They know cabin quality but hey, level is level.
When we came up here a couple of days ago the first night temperatures fell into the low 40's and the house was below 60 when we woke up. Burrrrr. Nuf of that, start the furnace. I have never liked starting that furnace, Scares the hell out of me. Ok, read the instructions, call brother Greg to confirm the instructions and give it a light. It doesn't light. Call brother again. It doesn't light. Too embarrassed to call brother again. Re-read instructions. It lights and furnace comes on. Yea. Furnace quits and fire alarm goes on. Crap. Call brother. Troubleshoot. The squirrel cage fan at the top of the furnace is jammed with the tail of a dead squirrel. Does anyone see the irony here... squirrel cage fan, dead squirrel, get it?
So, pull out TWO dead cooked squirrels, reassemble and yea it works. Call brother.
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