Huck

Huck Fin and the story of the runaway dock.

Hiking on the North Shore

Erin and I took a great little get-a-way trip to the North Shore (Lake Superior) over our Easter break.  We took off right after school and headed to our favorite hotel perched on a ledge overlooking Lake Superior.  The hotel is aptly named “The Cliff Dweller”.  We stayed there last winter when we took a trip up to Canada which you may remember from a previous blog post.  On this trip we stopped in Duluth to eat at the Olive Garden.  Erin had some delicious seafood pasta with clams, scallops, shrimp, and her favorite mushrooms.  I personally feel the mushrooms ruined the dish.  Anyway we made it to the hotel in time for bed.  We awoke to a beautiful sunny day with the great blue body of water just outside our balcony.  We debated weather we should go back up to Canada to check out the falls in the spring time, or spend the day hiking on the various trials along Lake Superior.  We chose the latter of the two and had a great day.  We ended up doing about 4 hikes with a stop for lunch in Grand Marais.  Here are a few photos from our excursion.

Busy

A lot has been going on lately.  I’ve just begun a Master in Educational Technology from the University of Alaska Southeast.  The program is all online except for one summer class held in Juneau.  I’m currently taking 3 classes totaling 9 credits.  This all on top of teaching and continuing my efforts with BWCACAST.

On the BWCACAST front, I’m still kicking out episodes from the summer trips.  I’m currently releasing episodes from the trip we took in July with my parents.  I have one ready to release this coming Tuesday, so be sure to drop by the site and check it out.  I’ve also got a couple of really fun episodes in the works.  First I did an interview with a man named Joe Priatle from Ely.  He’s 91 years old and has been making snowshoes for 70 of them.  He was kind enough to allow me to film him re-rawhiding a pair of snowshoes my Uncle Zac gave me.  It was a lot of fun watching him start out with the rawhide straps in what seemed to be a haphazard criss-cross and evolve into an amazing web.  I’ve also had the good fortune to team up with www.blackriversleds.com.  They make a very nice toboggan sled for winter camping.  They sell the sleds completed or you can buy a kit from them.  I’ve partnered up with them to do an episode on putting one of their kits together.  I’ve got all the parts and hope to shoot putting it together this coming weekend.  With the sled finished up we are planning a winter camping trip in the middle of February.  I don’t think we’ll go very far back into the BWCA, because we’ll be leaving after school on Friday and have to be back by Monday.  It should be a good time though.

School has been going well.  Our student broadcasts seem to fluctuate from week to week with more and less professional shows.  For whatever reason some of my students feel that everything needs to be funny and joking around takes precedence over just about anything else in their lives.  I continue to work with them to provide a quality news program once a week.  My web design students are great to work with.  We keep plugging away at a variety of php mysql open source cms’s, blogs, galleries, and soon wiki’s.  On a side not I’m really hoping for a snow day tomorrow.  Its been snowing since last evening and doesn’t plan to stop until tomorrow at 4:00 PM.  The National Weather Service says we shouldn’t drive unless we really need to and yet our school district hasn’t made the decision to close school for tomorrow.

Erin and I spent yesterday making venison snack sticks.  We kind of got a late start on things.  But we took 10 lbs of venison, 8 lbs of lean burger, and 2 lbs of pork.  Ground them all up together.  Split into two 10 lbs batches we added in the seasonings for a pepper batch, and a hot batch.  It then took us about an hour to stuff the first batch into collagen casings.  Once stuffed we hung the snack sticks in a smoker and smoked them for 3 hours.  During that time we stuffed the second batch.  When the first batch was done smoking we put them in the oven at 200 degrees to finish them off.  The second batch went into the smoker.  This all went down around 9:00 PM.  It took over 3 hours for the first batch to reach the recommended 160 degree internal temperature.  Sot it was 12:15 AM before I was able to take them out of the oven and put the second batch in for their cooking time.  I ended up having to get up at 2 Am, 3 AM, 4 AM, and finally 4:30 AM before the second batch was done and I could turn off the stove and get some good sleep.  Needless to say I took a nap today.

Fast Fall

It seems as the fall has just flown by.  I can’t believe its already Christmas break this coming week.  Erin and really enjoyed our time a week ago when we went up to Canada.  It was great to get away just the two of us and spend some time together.  Thunder Bay was nice, and our time on the shore of Lake Superior was nice and relaxing.

This past week seemed to go pretty quick.  I think when your down in the trenches it can seem like its moving awfully slow, but when you look back you seem to forget those times.  Anyway it was a good week.  I went to a wrestling meet on Tuesday night and watched a few of my students who are on the Virginia high school wrestling team.  It was fun to see them compete.  They did a very nice job winning both of their dual meets.  I went to the meet after our weekly curling match.  Tony our high school art teacher, Chuck our superintendent, Tom one of our P.E. teachers and myself all curl in the early league.  We’ve competed three times so far and are sitting at 2 for 3.  I played pretty well our last game getting most of my rocks in the general area they were supposed to be, so that was good.

On Friday I was signed up to take tickets at the hockey game.  Since I was tied up with this Erin spent the evening making lefsa.  It turned out really well and I think she ended up getting about 70 pieces.  The hockey game was fun to watch.  Virginia beat International Falls after a bit of a shaky start.

Saturday night Erin and I went to her schools Christmas party at the wooden table.  It was fun spending time with the people she works with on a daily basis.  After dinner we headed to Hibbing to pick up Katie who was just finishing up about 28 hours of travel getting down here from St. Michael for her Christmas break.

Today we did a little bit of ice skating.  I don’t know how the rink will be tomorrow.  We got a little bit of snow this evening.  It seems the moment you get the ice cleared enough for skating mother nature decides to spoil the fun by dropping more of that white stuff.  There us rumored to be a pretty big storm that is supposed to hit us on Christmas eve.  If that’s the case we need to make sure we take advantage of the skating while its available.

Erin has two days of work this week and I have three, so our Christmas break is just around the corner.  I am really looking forward to relaxing and getting outside some over break.

I hope you all have a nice holiday season

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.