OK, I know its' been a while

Since the last time I posted a lot has taken place as you might guess. I am not going to try to put it all in this post. I am going to start with a quick update of "today" and then go back into September. I will do some catch up with each post for a while.

Today: 11-18-2011 It is currently -16 degrees outside @8:00am, we have about 15" of snow on the ground. The high temperature forecast for the next 7 days is 11 degrees and the low temp forecast is -13. The forecast low for last night was minus -1 and we are minus -16, you can only guess how cold it is going to get. We have virtually no snow in the forecast. The sky has been clear and gorgeous for days and looks to continue.
The river ice stopped on 11-9, I went to the post office on the snowmachine on 11-15. The river is not in good enough condition to go to town comfortably yet and we need more snow to cushion the ice.
Myra and I have been care taking North Woods Lodge since 10-26. This is the same Lodge we took care of for a month last year. The owners son should be back tomorrow and we will be able to go home. I have been going to our cabin almost everyday to do work on one project or another and take care of the cats and keep the power on etc.
Today, life in general is pretty normal and smooth.

Back to September:
Oops, first I guess I should clarify that; Myra made it home! She had her knee surgery the first of September and recovered very well and fast. She got to the cabin on 10-5. Thank you to everyone that sent their thoughts and prayers.

OK, now September. I went Moose hunting for the first time, with a friend of mine that has a cabin down river. The hunt was successful but Nope, it's not my moose. Craig Saunders is my friend that got this one. In this first picture is me and Chad. Chad is a son in law of a brother in law of Craigs' just incase you are keeping track of who is who.
This is Craig with his moose.
Craig taught me how to field dress this large animal. It is similar to but different than White Tail. These things are huge. This is about the smallest Moose that is legal to shot during the "open season" hunt. Its' antlers were only 1/2" above the small limit. Trying to maneuver this big animal to get to where you need to cut is not easy and just the gut sack weights over 100 pounds. I cut the antlers off along with the crown of the head using a chainsaw. Taking the whole head and neck is a 200 lb option if you want to have it mounted but this one obviously was not trophy size.

I moose hunted for a few days with Craig then a couple of days around home but did not have any luck. Craig is a very good "Moose Whisperer" and can call them straight to him. He shot this one about 20' away, he had called it so close. I guess I need some more practice. I will be hunting again in a month or so up in Denali National Park for the "Residence Subsistence Hunt". Any male moose is legal for this hunt it does not half to have 50" antlers like the open season limit. It takes a special permit to do the residence hunt and for the National Park permit you must be a "Remote Resident" to get the permit. The city folk won't get to join us. I am looking foreword to this next hunt. We will be going on snowmachine and will camp in the park for a night or two, until one of gets a moose (I hope).

I finished the wood shed (at least for this year). It has the tarp roof on it that was on the barn that collapsed from the snow last January. It won't be hard to put a permanent metal roof on it when needed in the future but I had the barn roof material so why not use it until it is no good. I did not take a good picture of the shed right after I finished it so this one was taken a couple of weeks ago when in first started snowing.
I did not get the shed full of wood until the day this picture was taken. This day (the picture was taken) was my last day of cutting wood and we got 6" of snow before it stopped. I "Cut" that one close huh.

I harvested the garden in September. We have not planted a garden since our second year of marriage (over 30 yrs ago)and I did not remember a thing. I had never grown potatoes before and I think those buggers grow pretty cool. We got over 60 lbs of potatoes from about 5 cut up old potatoes that has started growing in a storage bin. How cool is that. Then we got Little carrots, Little green onions, cabbage, cauliflower,lettuce, broccoli and a few tomatoes. It was fun eating fresh salads and I had a couple of boiled diners. I enjoyed that a lot. I did not can anything and the root cellar was not done so I am afraid that some of the stuff went to waste but I ate as much of it as I could.

I took the boat out of the water after the moose hunting trip to Craigs' cabin. I think it was Sept. 26th that I got it out of the water. The timing was about perfect for the low water last chance. That was the last time I had been anywhere outside of our little neighborhood until I went on the river this week. I have not been to town since September 9th. We are doing pretty good on supplies all except for dog food. I had #200 lbs of dog food and thought 50lbs a month but I under estimated them eating to put on winter weight. We have ordered some dog food to come out on a transport plane that is bringing items and a person for a lodge. It was supposed to be here Wednesday but the windy weather wouldn't let them fly. Hopefully we get some tomorrow. We are down to about 10 lbs.

October was Really busy, I had a wood shed to fill and holes to dig and a cellar to build and snowmachine's to get ready and a yard to clean up and more.
I have had several "Stupid Chickens" hanging around the cabin this summer. They have been driving the dogs crazy like it is a game. I have several pictures of one that is the exact same location as the one I blew up last year. I chose Not to shoot this one right next to the cabin. This one day in particular a bird hung around all day. The video is after I had taken several pictures, walked it around the cabin and talked to it for better than 10 minutes. It just did not want to leave.
I think this picture is awesome. I hope you are able to click on it and it blows up big enough to see, The Grouse is in the center right of the picture flying and there is a perfect silhouette of it in a shadow on the back wall of this hole. The hole is for the Root Cellar. I will show that in the next blog post. (Take note of the size of the hole. That is a 10' step ladder leaning against the back wall of the hole.)

Thank You for checking back with us on the blog. I have gotten many request to keep it up and "Get Back at It". Sorry it took so long.
It is a privilege to be able to share with you today.
God Bless and Take Care,
Talk to You soon,
Roger