Every 5 min

Last spring I set up a laptop looking out our window at the lake while the ice was going out.  In a week span I got a little video of the ice melting.  Its fun to see this slow change happen in just a minute or so.  I just set up another one this morning to film the ice forming this fall.  Its set to take a picture once every 5 min at 10 frames per second.   I don’t know if this is the best set up, but I’m kinda shooting from the hip.  The smart person would do the math to figure out what they want there outcome to look like.  I figure I can tweak it a bit in Final Cut after its done shooting.  We’ll see how it comes out.  I’ll basically get about on second of video every hour its running.  I turn if off in the evening because its usually too dark to see anything anyway.  Tonight would have been pretty with the full moon arching across the lake.  I’ll be posting the finished product so you all and take a peak and maybe leave a little feedback on what you think of it.

Hokey Pokey Camping

Our feeble attempt at camping this weekend began Thursday night after work.  We pulled together most of the gear we would need for a BWCA camping trip in the fall.  We were pretty tired, so we didn’t get finished with the packing, just got a decent start to the venture.  Friday morning I helped Erin get the canoe on her car and threw what we had ready into her car as she left for work.  I still had to pull together the rest of the gear hoping against hope that I wouldn’t forget anything.  I finally got on the road about a half an hour later than usual, but I made it to school with a few minutes to spare.  So to follow the hokey pokey theme Thursday night we put our right foot in and took our right foot out.  Friday morning we put our right foot in and shook it all about.

After work that day Erin and I met up at the Y-store and drove to Soudan where we dropped my car off at Erin’s grandparents house.  We transferred the rest of the gear from my car to hers and headed to Ely.  Mind you at this time of the year dusk is showing up earlier and earlier each day.  We pulled into Ely and had to pick up some last minute things that we had forgot to pack for the trip and grab something for dinner.  At this time we assessed how much time it’d take us to actually get to the Moose Lake entry point and decided we would be just putting into the water when the darkness would be settling in over the lake.  We made the decision to hold off actually starting the trip till the next morning.  We ended up staying the night in Ely where we watched the twins throw their game two against the Yankees away in the bottom of the 9th inning.  The next morning we awoke to a blanket of snow on the ground and a pretty brisk wind whipping across the tree tops.  We decided to push on and headed down the Fernberg Road to the Moose Lake entry point.  As we approached the lake I was beginning to second guess our trip.  There were some fairly decent waves rolling across the lake.  Now if this had been a summer day it wouldn’t have been as big a deal, but since the temps were below freezing it added a whole new level of concern.

We pushed on and loaded up our canoe and headed out in the waves.  The wind was blowing in the same direction we were paddling, so we were making some pretty good time without much effort.  Our concern was that if we had to paddle back against this same wind the next day it would make the 8 or so miles pretty tough.  We paddled about a mile and decided it be smarter and safer to call the trip off.  There’s no reason to force on when things could turn quickly for the worse.  Truly we probably would have been fine, but it would have been a chilly wet trip.  So back to the hokey theme, we started our trip Friday night, then stopped it not too much longer, only to start it the next morning and stop it again an hour or so after beginning.  Lots of back and forth.

Instead of camping we went to a tea shop in Ely, and then to a movie in Virginia.

Ja, das ist sehr gut

We have had a guest at our house for the last few days.  A group of German students accompanied by two of their teachers arrived in Virginia Minnesota last Saturday evening.  We have had Inkari (who is one of the teachers) staying with us.  It is fun to learn about life in Germany.  I am impressed with how well she can speak English.  I took two years of German in high school and don’t remember much.  She has been visiting classrooms both in Virginia schools and in Nett Lake school this week. Tomorrow they are visiting the underground mine.  I am jealous.  I have always wanted to take one of the tours there.  We hope she’s having a good time with us.  Its always scary being the representation for your country. 

A week on the water

I sit here on my couch looking out the window over a calm lake vermilion.  You can see the reflections of the trees on the opposite shore in the near still slightly ripply water.  The only waves are created by the occasional boat passing by.  We truly live in an amazing area.

I just got back from our second trip into the Boundary Water Canoe Area.  This was our long trip of the summer.  I think I’ve talked about it in previous posts, but we started on the eastern edge of the BWCAW in a lake called Little John Lake.  From there we headed west traveling through 31 lakes and 6 rivers covering approximately 94 miles.  This brought us to about the half way point on the Voyagers Highway.  This “Highway” is the same route the fur traders used to transport their winter catches from as far north as Athabaska country all the way to Grand Marais where there was a substantial trading post. When deciding the location of the international border between the United States and Canada they agreed that this commonly used route would be the dividing line, and that all of the lakes and portages (the hiking trails connecting the lakes) could be used by people of both nations without the need to pass through customs.  So on our entire trip the shoreline on our right was Canada and the the shoreline on the left USA.

As we paddled and hauled our gear over this historic route, it was amazing to think about the individuals who passed over the same ground we did years ago.  Also to think about the equipment they used and the weights they had to haul really made us appreciate the struggles they would have endured.  There is one portage we encountered along the way that was 660 rods long and aptly named “Long Portage”.  Portages usually range in the 30 – 170 rod range, and there are 320 rods in a mile.  So needless to say a 660 rod portage is quite the undertaking.  This is where you take all your gear out of your canoe and carry it across including your canoe to the next lake.  A two mile hike doesn’t seem that difficult if you are on a backpacking trip, but the packs we use are designed for canoeing.  They are wide to fit in the canoe nicely and one feature that hiking packs have that these packs do not is the very important waist belt to help carry the load on your hips.  These are strictly shoulder packs and at 60 – 70 lbs they are a bit to lug around.

We got to see some cool wildlife.   I was filming a loon swim across the lake when Matt nudged me and pointed out a beaver dragging a green leafy branch down the bank towards the water.  I quickly began to film him doing his work.  As he began swimming with his branch I was zoomed in relatively close on him when the loon popped up right in the frame.  It was pretty cool.

The first few days were kinda chilly and a little rainy, but then turned to sunny blue skies.  It was nice to dry out and feel the hot sun on our faces as we paddled across these lakes.  One of the difficult things we dealt with on the trip was a constant head wind the entire 7 days.  The wind apparently tends to blows out of the North West and since we were heading West for our trip it made for some difficult paddling at times.  Luckily when we were crossing the bigger lakes it wasn’t too strong and we were able to avoid the large waves that often accompany gusty days.

I’d like to at some point do the entire Voyagers Highway through the BWCAW, but that will have to wait for another year.

Oh Matt (Erin’s cousin) was with on this trip.  He is a math teacher down in the cities.  He helped figure out that we each paddled approximately 20,911 paddle strokes.

For now it’s nice to be back hanging out with Erin.  It feels like I’ve been on a dead run since school got out on May 29th.  I had the 4 day BWCA trip on May 30th, two days after returning from that trip Erin and I flew to Australia for three weeks, four days after returning from that trip I took this 7 day BWCA trip.  So now I’m looking forward to some down time.  Maybe sleeping in and not doing much.

Here are a few pictures from our Voyager Highway Trip.

Spring Cleaning and a Bike Ride

This weekend with the absense of the cold white stuff all over the yard we decided it’d be a good idea to spend a day cleaning up the yard.  We still had some left over building materials from our re-roofing project last fall, so that along with some other things that needed to head to the local dump we loaded up two pickup loads.  We still have a little left to deal with, but its a step in the right direction.

We had beautiful weather both Saturday and Sunday.  It was a bit windy on Saturday, but the sun was shining so it was a nice day to be out working outside.  Aside from cleaning the yard, Jim and I worked on the motorcycle.  The back tire was pretty old and had some cracks in it.  We decided it’d be a good idea to get it replaced before it pop on one of use out on a ride.  It was a bit of a wrestling match to get the old tire off, and the new tire on, but after a little elbow greese we had it back together in no time.  We also installed a new winsheild that had a little better coverage then its predicessor.  So with the new upgrades to the bike all in place I got a couple of rides in over the weekend.  Sunday morning Erin and I took it into town for a trip to McDonalds.  I am looking forward to some warmer weather in hopes of driving it to work.  Right now its  pretty chilly out in the morning.  I need to find my rain pants before I brave the frosty mornings.

Rain

Its been a while since my last post.  The days of snow covered ground have dicipated into the soggy soil below.  As the ice melts away from the shore we’ve scurted along the the mirror smooth water in our aluminum canoe.  The ice moves around in the wind and can cut you off if you are out for too long.  The aluminum canoe allows us to be mini ice breaking boats if we do get a little trapped.

With all this rain coming down and some milder temperatures I am getting more and more anxious to be finished with school.  I have 24 more days with kids and 25 more days of work.  Not like I’m counting.  I really can’t wait for our trip to Austrailia.  It will be nice for Erin and I to get out and about again.  We had a balst over in Ireland, and I think three weeks in a little camper will be a perfect way to start our summer break.  We will be in Southern Australia, so it won’t be a tropical vacation being their winter and all, but watching the penguins run up on shore and checking out the occasional winery will be very relaxing.

We went down to Baxter yesterday for Axton’s second birthday party.  He sure is getting big.  It was nice to catch up with the Svirs.  They have another little one on the way, so they will be busy for sure when the new one comes along.  Wonder what Axton will think of having a younger sibling.

On a sad note, my little dell mini bit the dust today.  I had it set up taking a time lapse for the last 5 days.  It was taking a picture every 5 minutes and when it did it would make a little beeping noise.  I woke up this morning and didn’t notice the beep at all through out the day, so I went over to check on it.  The screen was black and usually it would have the screen saver going, so I tried to move the mouse and no go.  I did some further checking and after a little chat with Dell support Im sending it back in sometime this week.  So for my first Dell purchase this doesn’t boad so well.  Im thinking its just the power board in the laptop that went bad preventing it from powering up the battery or running the computer.  So it shouldn’t be too difficult to fix.  It’ll be interesting to see if the time lapse was saved at all.  We’ll see I guess.  The support guy said that the turnaround time would be about 7 – 10 days, so we should have it back in time for our trip to Australia.  I’ll update you when I find out more.

Well time to get to my school work done.  Have a great week.

Vermilion Falls

Stacy and Dylan drove out to the house this morning to join April, Jesse, Jim, Erin, and I out to Vermilion Falls.  We hopped in the car and took off towards Crane Lake.  Its a bit of a drive, and since we took the back gravel roads which are pretty sloppy with all the snow melting it was even a bit longer.  We got to the road heading towards the falls only to find it hadn’t been plowed yet.  We put the vehicles in 4-wheel drive and continued down the 4 mile road.  When we got to the “drive way” into the parking area it was even more covered in snow and was heading up a hil, so we parked the cars and began our hike there.

We were hoping to catch the ice breaking up and being forced through the narrow gorge, but when we got to the river we found it already open.  It still is a fun place to visit.  There is a ton of water rushing through there.  We took some pictures and had lunch on a picnic table.

All throughout our day in at the falls we were having mini snowball fights.  The snow was the perfect consistency for making snowballs.  Dylan was a fierce competitor and was always ready for a battle.  After we finished eating Jim had the idea of making a snowman.  It didn’t take too long and we had a very respectable snowman to greet any visitors in the next couple of days.  I don’t know how long he’ll last, but as long as the skies continue to be covered with clouds and the temps stay in the 30′s it could be some time before he withers away.

We then headed back to the cars and drove to Orr where we filled our car with gas and our tummies with A&W root-beer floats.  They sure are tasty, but make it quite difficult to drive and work the spoons filled with the bubbly ice cream to your mouth.  We headed back to the house where we relaxed and had some dinner.

It sure was a nice way to spend a Saturday.

Rain + March = ICE

I’m not sure what time the rain began falling last night, but by 6:30 AM there was a glistening new layer of ice on the ground.  Our driveway was nearly impossible to get out of and the following downhill seemed more like a luge run than a gravel road.  Needless to say I only managed to avoid going into the ditch at the bottom because of my heroic Bond-like driving skills.  I promptly parked the car and hopped in with Erin since she has the sweet escape which seems to handle the slippery roads a bit better than the bald rear tires on my KIA.  The next 3 miles took us about 20 minutes to navigate doing our best not to end up in the ditch.  When we finally made it to the highway the roads were fine.  The rest of the day was less hectic as Mondays should be.  The rain is supposed to continue for the first half of the week and then turn to snow sometime Wednesday.  Looking forward to the weekend.

P.S.  Who’s orchestrating the collection for “Bill’s Mini Laptop Fund?”

A weekend in Duluth

Erin and I had been pretty busy the last few weeks.  Erin traveling all over the place, and I was shooting video for bwcacast.   We decided to take the weekend to get away and hang out together.

We headed to Duluth and stayed down by the lake in the Holiday Inn.  Its not right on the water, but its very close to canal park.  We relaxed in the hotel, went out to eat, and caught a couple showings at the Imax theater.  The first one was on the Alps follwing a man who was preparing to climb the north face of the iger.  His father had died attempting to climb the same rout.  It was some really amazing video and with such a large screen it made you feel like you were right there.  One thing that had me wondering is who was packing the Imax camera up the side of that mountain.  The second one was about the great lakes and how the sturgeon fish is on the brink of extinction.  That there is a scientist that is working to save the species.  It seems like they are close to having things under control.  Another fun show to watch.

We didn’t stop our big screen viewing there, we ended the evening by going to SlumDog Millionair.  It was a pretty good movie.  It sure makes you apreciate your childhood.

The weekend went fast as it always does, but I came back feeling a bit refreshed and relaxed.  Just what the doctor ordered.

Snowshoeing and Editing

Erin and I took off to shoot our first winter episode for BWCACAST.com.  I was planning on heading out to Hegman Lake on Wednesday (New Years Eve Day) because the weather forecast showed a sunny day.  Well Tuesday morning Erin got up before me and checked the weather.  She came back and woke me up suggesting we go then instead of Wednesday and that the weather was supposed to clear up for the day.

With this sudden change of plans I hopped out of bed and started rummaging around the house collecting all the gear we would need for the little adventure.  I was planning on pulling all the gear together that evening, so we were a bit unprepared.  I dug around in the closet and pulled out my cook stove, fuel, nested cook kit, and backpack.  Along with the basics we added some extra layers, face protectors (for the wind) and some extra mittens.  Erin not only got some hot water in a thermos, but also made some tasty egg sandwiches to get some nice warm food in our bellies before we headed out in the cold.

We threw our gear in the car and headed down the road.  We got about half way down Raps road (the road we live on) and I realized I had forgotten a headlamp and tp.  The headlamp in case we were out into the evening hours, and the tp is pretty self explanatory.  So we turned around to retrieve the much needed supplies.

Once on the road we made it to Ely around noon where we stopped at Will Stegers shop so I could buy a pair of mukluks.  With my new purchase freshly sprayed water sealant we headed down the Echo trail.  We pulled into the Hegman lake entry point a little after 1:00 PM.  We hopped out of the car and donned our snowshoes.  I got the video camera out and on the tripod and we started down the trail.

It was great that Erin got me motivated to go that day because as soon as we were on the trail, the skies cleared up and it was nothing but sunshine and blue skies for the rest of our trip.  Erin is great to shoot shows with, she is patient during all the retakes, and the time consuming shots that require us to set up the camera, walk by it, then go back and retrieve it.  She also gives pointers on different shots to get and what might enhance my on the spot dialogs I have with the camera.

It took us a little over two hours to snowshoe the 2.4 miles out to the pictographs and back.  We were able make it back to the car before the sun went down.  It really was a perfect day to be out in the woods.  On the car ride back we called up Erin’s mom and had her fire up the sauna.  So we swung by her place and relaxed in the sauna and visited for a couple hours.

With this newly shot footage and some time to actually get some editing done, I spent the last couple days hammering away at new episodes for BWCACAST.  I had already edited up a couple of shows last week, and released one of them the day we were out shooting our winter episode at Hegman.  All in all I now have 5 shows that are newly edited.  So if your a fan of the show here is what you have to look forward to in the coming months.

Exploring Kifes Lower Arm – Released Tuesday December Dec. 30th

Leaving Knife Lake – Jan 13

Lakes 1-2-3-4 – Jan 27

Hiking the Angleworm Trail – Feb 10

Snowshoeing into Hegman – Feb 24

Along with editing today I did catch part of the Winter Classic.  It was really cool to watch Detroit and Chicago play on the outdoor rink.  I am not surprised the venue was sold out in less than an hour and that tickets were being scalped for over a $1,000.

About halfway through the second period, Jesse and I went out snowshoeing to slim chance the same place Erin and I had gone to on Sunday.  Jesse and I went further up the trail back to a little slough.  Well I was following Jesse across a bit of ice and happened to break through.  The snowshoes I was using weren’t as big so they didn’t displace my weight as much and through the ice I went.  Luckily I only went in up to my calves.  My mukluks did a phenomenal job of keeping my feet dry. I hopped out as soon as I could and used a bunch of dry snow to wick away the water on my mukluks and snow pants.  After that was taken care of Jesse and I continued to explore round the area where we flushed a grouse and a couple of deer.  After hiking around we hopped back on our trail and headed home.