August 2011 / OMG

I posted at the beginning of the month that I have been busy. I know that one must be careful what they ask for in prayer with God but I did not know talking about being busy could only make you busier. Well, I am not sure if I got busier but my families life certainly did.
The last time I typed an update I was getting ready to fly to Ohio for Mandy's wedding. A world of events have happened since then.
The weeks before and since the wedding went something like this, my days might be off by one but the accounts are all accurate.
On the Tuesday before the wedding Myra's grandmother passed away. She was only a couple of weeks from being 101 years old. Grandma lived a long and wonderful life and was a gift to the world. God bless her and remember all of her family in your prayers. On Wednesday before the wedding Myra's Mom (one day after Grandma) was found on her kitchen floor, unable to get up and disoriented. She was taken to the hospital and admitted for extreme dehydration and other problems. I flew to Ohio for the wedding as planned on Thursday. Needless to say, Myra's life was upside down with grief, concern and joy all at the same time. What a bunch to deal with.
We did all the pre-wedding events and requirements and Myra dealt with her Mom's illness, as she has medical POA for her.
The wedding was awesome. It was outdoors in a park, near a train tracks. We had contingency plans for rain and trains but; the weather was perfect and no trains went by during the ceremony. It was way cool to see my daughter so happy on her day and she is married to a guy I like; how cool is that! I wish them all the happiness and love in the world.
Mandy was married on Saturday, I flew home to Alaska on Sunday. Myra, Mandy and family and other family all went on to Michigan. Grandma was buried on Monday. Myra got on a plane on Tuesday and flew to Florida for her Mom. Myra was supposed to have knee surgery on Wednesday but she postponed it for a couple of weeks. (She is actually in surgery as I type this).
Mom, Myra's mother is not doing very well at all. She was in the hospital for about 10 days and is now in a rehabilitation center. She has a feeding tube, she is down to about 70 pounds and she has a large yet un-determined mass in her lung. Please pray for her comfort and family comfort also, while dealing with Mom's illness.
Myra flew back to Ohio on the 29th and now on the 31st, today, she is having knee surgery. Myra can really use your thoughts and prayers. OMG what a month for her, and here I am in Alaska and she just keeps taking care of things down there while I try to get ready for winter up here.
We are already beginning fall season here. It gets into the 30s at night frequently and leaves are changing on the trees and bushes. Especially on low islands and sunny meadows. The river water level is dropping very fast this week which is signs of things to come. I made my last trip to town yesterday for final fall supplies. I was not going to go to town again after I got back from the wedding but I needed several building supplies to complete some projects for home improvement.
I have completed the wood shed structure but still need to get our wood cut up and split. I dropped all of the trees last year for this years firewood and I sectioned the trees into logs and stacked them all this spring. I thought I would have all firewood prepared by now but I had no idea how busy I would be fishing this summer. I have no complaints but this fall is going to be hugely busy.
I have to cut up, split and stack the firewood. I have materials and a borrowed mini backhoe to put up a new outhouse. I have materials for the cold storage room that we have not gotten built yet and I have all of the plumbing supplies to put in a drain system for all of the gray water drains in the cabin.
Today I am care-taking at Yentna Station Roadhouse for Dan and Jean and this weekend I have fishermen scheduled for a couple of days. This is my last known (scheduled) guide trip of the year. I may still get a few day fishermen fly in for trout fishing but I know nothing fixed right now.
August was slower for guiding than June and July because of the wedding, the flood on the river and I took a week off to fish with friends from the Quad Cities area of Davenport Iowa that flew up and spent a week with me. That was really cool to have friends come up; I leave an open invite to each of you to come visit this great land. Thanks Tom and Gary for coming, and we had a successful week of fishing. The guys took home 68 lbs of fresh salmon fillets. That is the Fillet'd weight of the keepers they caught.
I have some pictures of various things to post but the connection speed here at the Roadhouse is pretty slow, they won't upload so I will add them later, stop back and visit!
Thanks for being here,
It is a pleasure to share,
See Ya
Roger

Holy Cow it has been Busy

Willie on the 4th of July,,, Need I say More!

As you may of guessed by the length of time it has been since I have posted on the blog, I have either been busy or I just got lazy. I would like to tell you that it has been all busy but the truth is I have had time to do a post a few different times. I did not do it because I just could not muster the energy to put into it. That energy was gone from being busy.
It is pouring rain again today and it has rained a lot for the last 8 or 9 days now.
I have fished at least 4 days a week since the beginning of June up until this last week. I was scheduled to fish 5 days this week but we have had serious rains and the river has gone into flood conditions. It has not been good fishing at all this week and there was several trip cancellations this week. I am ok with that. It has given me some time to get caught up around the cabin and to catch my breath.
I have fished with people from several European countries and all over the USA. I have even fished with people from Dayton Ohio (90 miles from North Baltimore). I have learned to fly fish, which I had never done before this year. I now really enjoy fly fishing. I have caught all 5 species of Pacific Salmon and Dolly Varden, Burbot, She Fish and Rainbow Trout this summer.
I have fished with a Fish Wheel for subsistence fishing for our freezer. The fish wheel sank on me when a tree floating down river hooked on the anchor rope and sank it while I was working with it, that was a rush. The fish wheel is basically built like an old paddle wheel only it has chain link baskets that scope the fish out of the water as it rotates. It is built on top of two aluminum boats with the wheel between them. The tree hooked on one of the boats rope and sank one of the two boats and broke one of the fish baskets. It also pushed the rig into the shore and broke the fish cleaning table where I was cleaning fish at the time of the crash. It is a long story about this fish wheel but to sum it all up, I was able to get the boat back up out of the water enough to bail it out and Tom came down with Andy to repair the broken basket. Alls well that ends well right!

I have not accomplished any projects around here because of Fishing and Fixing. As you know I did start on the Wood Shed. I have not gotten it completed yet. I do have the roof rafters started but that is as far as I have got. I did get the main beam up by myself by putting up the to main support columns then strapping a taller log to them and hanging a chain fall from the taller log and hoisting the main beam. Putting up the rafters is not too hard, just time consuming. I have had to cut the trees, peel the bark and do the forming and shaping. I did use a few old rafters from when I tore off the old back porch from the cabin.

I bought a new Much Bigger chain saw so that I can cut boards myself. I have an Alaska Mill that was given to me to use by a neighbor. Now with that mill and my new (Used) 36"long chain saw I can cut some pretty massive logs and boards. I am looking forward to being able to get to work with it more.

I have replaced a CV Joint on one of the ATVs for the first time. That was a learning experience. I had the little generator where out and start blowing oil thru the exhaust. I now have to buy a new generator while I am in town for travel to the wedding.
I have sent the power inverter in for repair and now have ordered a new one because I am having trouble getting the company to honor the warranty on the old one.
I have another sputtering fuel injector on the boat. The fuel injector's are getting frustrating. This is the third failure of one. The fuel up here is hard to keep pure with having it transferred from truck to truck to barrel to pump to can etc. I have a very good fuel filter on the boat but I am thinking about putting on another one in addition.
I have repaired a portable water pump so I can water the garden directly from 50 gallon barrels. I now have several plastic barrels for hauling water. I have been getting 250 gallons at a time for the garden now. Of course I have been getting that one barrel at a time with the ATV.
I have been keeping the garden weeded (and doing a pretty good job of keeping it alive). The Lettuce and Cabbage is heading, the broccoli is broccoling, the cauliflower is blooming, the potatoes have blossomed, the tomatotoes are tomatoeing and the pepper plants look great However they are extremely miniature. The tallest pepper plant is about 5 inches but they look healthy. The onions and carrots look good on the surface and I pulled one carrot to check it. It has a skinny orange thingy on the bottom. I think that is a good sign, don't you?
I have been keeping the cabin clean, the pets alive and most of the house plants look like they will survive my care.
I received a notice from the postmaster that our post office is one of the 3700 post offices expected to be closed in the near future. The local Skwentna Roadhouse is working on becoming a UPS store or something like that so they can continue to receive our mail. It will be more hassle because they are a mile inland with no direct boat access but it is far better than going 63 miles down river. Getting mail may be even more interesting in the near future. If this works out we might even be able to receive ups service, who knows?





Hans and I are having a Very Serious conversation about some recent problems. He keeps trying to explain his side. Look at all these expressions as he is talking to me. The dogs have gotten too used to going fishing with me. Now most mornings when I let them out they take off and make the 2 mile trip to the boat and sit there and wait for me to show up. They did this one day when I was not going fishing and they set there fore over 12 hours before I went to bring them home. I know they were at the boat all day because other people had called me to tell me they were there in the morning and then in the afternoon. One day I did not take them fishing with me, I left them in the cabin all day (it had rained all that day and they make a mess in the boat when it rains). The evening I let them out and they took off. They were not home at bed time and I assumed they were in the boat. I did not check on them. I did not have to fish the next day and the dogs did not come home so I went to the boat that morning. No dogs. I got a call a little while later and found out the dogs had gone to a fishing lodge 7 miles down river, where I fish for frequently. They were waiting for me at the fishing lodge instead of the boat. I now keep Hans tied up unless I am outside. I hope he learns not to run.

I chased a bear off of my boat one morning when I went to the boat to go fishing without the dogs. Look close at this picture and you will still see the wet foot prints from the bear AND the sucker pooped all over the boat. I think I litterally scared the shit out of him. It was a little guy, probably first summer away from Mom. He didn't really hurt anything on the boat he just got into the shore lunch cooler and bit open the shortening bottle and made an oily mess to go along with the poop.
I had a night time door knocker once. As you can see by the foot print on the door, I am glad I did not get up to answer it. It is the only time I have had a bear at the cabin that I know of this year. It knocked over the burning barrel also and spread burned trash around but no other damage. Of course the dogs were sleeping inside that night. The dogs have been doing a good job of keeping them away this year.

I need recipes for cooking Salmon. Please send them on if you have a good one. I have about #100 of fish in the freezer right now and a few more weeks of good fishing after I get home from the wedding.

Speaking of the wedding, one week from today (on August 13th) Mandy and Rick are getting married. I will be in Ohio for just a couple of days for the wedding. I am super excited for them and I wish them all of the luck and love in the world!

Myra was due to come home a week after the wedding but like all plans, they were made by humans and changed by god. Myra had a slip and fall in a grocery store where the floor was wet. As I understand it, she slid under the shopping cart and wedged her knee somehow. She has torn the meniscus and dislocated something around something and the surgeon gets another big house payment. Myra goes in for surgery on 8-18 and then has 4 to 6 weeks of PT before she can come home. Oh Crap, huh..

It has been one heck of a lot of fun but, I miss Myra and the rest of the family.
Thank you for letting me share with you, even if I don't share often enough.
I will try to talk to you soon,
Roger

It's the Little Things!

Remember back in April when I was plaining down a bunch of boards to work on the Cabin? See the large pile of Saw Dust at my feet? We did a little experiment just for Fun.

We kept the Saw Dust piled up to see how long we could make the snow last.

It is now June 30th and there is still snow / ice under the saw dust. This is a real testament to the insulation value of saw dust. We had 2 days over 80 degrees and many days near seventy. We have had rain and wind and rain and rain and rain. We still have snow on the ground in our back yard.

It is the Little things that can keep me entertained.

You know that you have been in the bush a while when: I was setting on the toilet the other night thinking about getting ready for bed when I realized "I still have my revolver and chest holster strapped on" then I thought about the fact that I was setting on a Honey Bucket, not a toilet.

You know that you have been in the bush a while when: I chased a porcupine out of the shop the other day, then I shot it just before it ran under the cabin AND, it did not even cause the dogs to stir!

You know you have been in the bush a while when: I get around other people and I have to consciously think about NOT going pee whenever I feel wherever I feel.

It is the little things that are letting me laugh about myself and this life.

This is a picture of the view out the front of our cabin shortly after we moved in.
This is a view after I had done some clearing work late last summer. You have seen Many pictures of Mountains Sunsets and Scenery thru this clearing as it was left last year.
This is one view of the clearing as I am almost finished with it. I needed some more wood for building the Wood Shed so I decided to take the wood from the front of the property and make this clearing over twice as big.
I still have to clean up 2 birch trees and 1 spruce tree. I will get the spruce today but the birch will wait until next spring for next years wood pile. no sense in doing much with them this year, they need to season for a year anyhow. I will use the spruce for building materials.

This is my "Log Hauler" that I made. This same little "Trailer Frame" converts to a "Barrel Hauler" and a "Flat Bed Trailer". I built one frame and axle with multiple attachments. This Log is 18" x 12'6" and weights probably 500#s.
You can see the beginning of the Wood Shed I am building. No more digging out the Wood Pile just so We can carry wood into the cabin. I will still have to dig steps down into the shed as winter progresses but that's OK.

I have been truly blessed with Good Health and the ability to do the projects around this property. I some times forget that it is a gift from God, just to have the aptitude to be able to do these things.

When my twisted ankle from last year flares up and burns and is very weak when it gets tired, or, I have trouble sleeping due to muscle cramps I do wonder what the heck I am doing here. Then I stop and listen to all of the sounds and feel the wind and appreciate the freedom that I have been able to experience, Or I just go pee right where I am standing and then I know what I am doing here.

To know and appreciate the gift I have received, and continue to receive on a daily bases is still another gift. I see people that I guide or fish around that only get little glimpses of this world and then they dread going back to "Reality". This is my reality, at least for today. A gift and a blessing.

Some day I may return to the other world but I will never be the same person. I miss my family and my good friends but not much else. I have developed a relationship with God here, that I never understood in the concrete world. I have developed an appreciation for The Little Things that I never understood before. The Little Things are not Tap Water and Flush Toilets nor are they Just turning on the Lights or Taking a Shower, Though those little things are nice. Those things are not what makes getting out of bed fun and exciting.

The pursuit of Happiness is a statement I had heard all of my life. What an In-Justice that statement has done to Mankind. To pursue happiness is to chase your shadow, you will never catch it. Stop for a minute and breath. Look around,,, all around yourself,,,, then look down at your shadow. Your shadow is right there, touching you where it originates. You do not have to chase your shadow, it is with you. You do not have to Pursue Happiness, it is with you. God has given it to you if you chose to see it.

I said something to Myra not long ago; I told her I found something here, that I am not sure I can ever leave. I found peace and contentment, I found acceptance and I found happiness. As I type this I am beginning to realize that I would not have to leave that, anymore than I would have to leave my shadow. It can be with me, just as my shadow is, so long as I don't forget to look at it. I have to remember to see The Little Things all around me, no matter where I am.

The "Pursuit of Happiness" can end today for anyone by simply stopping the pursuit and just be happy with today. I woke up, the dirt is still under me not over me, I have conscious thought and the ability to sense gifts of life all around me. The gifts I sense are the things that I choose to sense. If I don't choose to see gifts I will have none. If I choose to see gifts I will have more than I had ever imagined before. (The best Things in Life are Not Things)

Thank You for letting me Share my Gifts with you today.

May you have a Gift filled day! (See your Shadow)

Roger

It's been over a Year

It's been over a year and Jeff still follows the ATV a little too close. It rained the other day so it is a little muddy. I think jeff wanted a mud pack facial.

Shore Lunch for clients. Notice the wine glasses? They had White Wine with their fish that I cooked them. This is how I work today! Ahhhh....

It has been over a year now since we moved into our little cabin in the woods. We have settled into routines on most of the daily and weekly mundane chores. It is no longer a complete thought process to do most things like, "We need power so fill the generator with gas and get it started", or "I would like a drink, is there enough water in the barrel or do I have to go get some?" It is just a normal part of life today, just like if You have to go to the restroom, You get up and walk to the restroom without thinking about having water to flush or capacity to dispose of the waste or a light to see inside the room. We do not have to think about all of those things each time we "use the facility" anymore. It has just become a subconscious thing of daily "Inventory" and just deal with it on a routine bases.

We put in the garden a few weeks ago. All items appear to be doing fairly well except some species of tomatoes. We put in 4 different types of tomatoes and the ones that grow close to the ground are doing ok but the ones that grow tall are not liking the cool evenings and we did not have plastic around here to get them covered. It just did not seem worth a $280 trip to town to buy plastic to cover tomato plants. I don't think we will get (or use) $50 dollars worth of tomatoes if we had a good harvest. I did have a little incident the other night that did not help the garden much. I got home from fishing about 11:00 pm and parked the ATV in front of the workshop like I frequently do. I went in the cabin and did whatever and went to bed. When I got up the next morning I stood at the window stretching and looking out at the mountains when I got this strange feeling that something did not look right. I began looking down into the yard when I realized the ATV was setting in the little valley about 100 feet from where I had parked it. Apparently I did not set the parking brake strong enough and the ATV went for a midnight drive on its own. It decided to take a foray through the garden on its way down the hill. There are a couple recovering potato plants and a dead Sunflower. The Onions, Carrots and Pole Beans all look ok today but time will tell. Ooops.

Un-Like last year, I have fished almost Every Day so far this season. I have only missed about 4 days in over a month. I have fished 13 days with clients (working as a guide) and the rest of the time fishing for pleasure and training. I have to learn all of the "holes" and "techniques" so that I am successful with my clients. Willie has been a Great Mentor and trainer for me. The guy is a Fishing Monster. He is so passionate about fishing that there are nights that he sleeps in his boat so that he is anchored on a good hole before anyone else can get to it. I am not that dedicated to the sport so I must learn several different places to fish so that I can find a good "open" place to fish. I don't fish all day, everyday. I do go early and come home and do chores, or I do chores and go in the evening.

I did go out last evening with Willie and a freind of his. I caught a 23 lb and Ruth caught a 24 lb fish. I got out the coleman stove and shore lunch supplies and I filleted my fish right there on the boat and we had a fish fry for the "nieborhood". There was 12 people fishing in close proximity and I fed all of us with 1/2 of my fish and I brought the other half home to freeze. The weather was beautiful and it was a Great evening. I wish Myra could have been there.

I have had over 50 King Salmon on or to my boat so far this year. The biggest one so far is 39lbs 10oz. I had 4 guys from Switzerland fish with me for 8 days. They were only scheduled for a guide for 2 1/2 days so that I could teach them how and where to go, but we had such a good time they hired me for their whole vacation and we fished together every day. This was a "33 pounder" that the old boy in the light blue jacket caught. When we are going to release a fish we are not allowed to take it out of the water so I have to release it while it is still in the water. That is a challenge with a fish of any size but it gives them a much better chance of survival if you don't net them or remove them from the water.

It is quite the process to catch these fish. We are fishing in fast water along the edges of the Yentna River , where clear water runs into the river from Lake Creek, and it has not blended with the Silt Water of the Yentna. The fish go to this clear water to clean their gills and or start heading up this creek depending on Their final destination. Anyhow; The water is flowing from 5 to 10 miles an hour depending on the day. We Anchor in a "good" fishing hole and put out lures just like you would be trolling in open water. The fast current makes the lures work while we set still. There maybe one to fifteen boats setting beside, behind or in front of us. When we hook a fish the first thing to do is Holler "Fish-On". This puts everyone around us on alert to get there lures out of the water. These fish are so big and powerful that they pull the lures wherever they want and they will tangle every line for one hundred yards in a heartbeat. Everyone starts reeling in their lines and We pull the anchor rope loose off of our boat and start drifting down stream while the guy with the fish on is fighting the fish. Then I start the motor and begin to drive the boat out into the main river and away from all of the other boats. Once we are clear of everyone else and in a safe drift pattern I turn off the motor and raise it out of the water. The guy with the fish on basically fights the fish for all he is worth, the bigger the fish the longer it takes. The 40 pounder took about a mile of drift before we got it next to the boat so I could net it. Netting it is a whole nother experience because we are now out in the Silt water with about two inches of visibility to see the fish, literally. To net the fish is a lesson in watching the line and looking for the dorsal fin, then "Go for it". Once You have a 30 or 40 pound fish in the net on the end of a five foot long handle you have a hole new fight on your hands to get it in the boat. Wow!

Once the fish is in the boat, whack it with a club as soon as possible because it is not happy, and it tares apart and tangles up everything it can by flopping around. Now cut the line to the pole and start driving the boat back to the anchor and get people set back up to fish. Then once everyone is back to fishing, Un-tangle the fish from the net and remove the lure and repair the line that was cut and stringer the fish and wash down the floor of the boat and pray during the process. The prayer is that the next fish comes right After the clean up and re-grouping is done, not before. I have had another fish on the line and had to re-do the driving, drifting process while still removing fish from the net etc. That gets really exciting.

I have had fish take off up river and strip all the line out of the reel quicker than I could start the boat and chase it. That is a bummer when one breaks off. We are fishing with large poles and 40 lb test and 8" long lures with big hooks and we get a hold of fish sometimes that the gear can't handle. The biggest on boated that I have heard of this year is 52 lbs and the largest boated in the area is 70 something. I had a fish on that out witted me, that I never seen but another guide did see as it went by his boat. That guide "with many years experience" told me it was every bit of 60 lbs. We had a great fight for about 10 minutes before Me and the Client made a mistake and put too much pressure on the fish and it straightened the hook and got away. That will make your heart pound for a while!

For a Whole other experience, catch one of these fish when you are by yourself. I have done it many times now and it is still very exciting. Hook the fish, pull the anchor rope loose, start and drive the boat, watch the drift pattern (going into the shore sucks), fight the fish and Net it one handed, then get it in over the edge of the boat... Yee Haa. It is a blast!!!!

These are the 2 egg sacks from 1 36 lb fish. I will cure these and use them for bait for Coho salmon season. ( No Live bait for King Salmon)

I have most of the fire wood grouped near the cabin so I can go out and do a little splitting and stacking at a time. I have started digging the root cellar.

Myra has left for Ohio for 2 months to "help" Mandy get ready for the wedding. I think she just went to be the "Mother in Law" and make sure the future son in law does not like her by wedding time. Mandy gets married August 13th so mark you calender if you want.

The "same" fuel injector went out on the boat motor again. They replaced it under a parts warranty which means I paid labor only. The part was over $450 so at least I did not have to pay for that again.

This is one of the "Cabin Complexes" near our place. Notice the guys mode of transportation to and from his Cabin? I think he is a lawyer.






It has been over a year, And, Life is good today and every day!
Thank You for letting me share this life with you,
God Bless
Roger

Too Hot, Too much Going on!

Hello Everyone!
I have missed all of you, Sorry I have been away for so long.
It was 83 degrees yesterday. That is the first time I have seen that temperature in nearly 2 years. It did not even get that warm while we were in Florida last winter. It is much cooler today and only expected to get to mid fifties. That's more like it. Many Many things have taken place since last we spoke.
Myra went to town for five days with Jean and mainly ran a whole bunch of errands and did things with Jeans kids.
Ok, Ok, Ok,,, I am getting ahead of myself.... We put the boat into the water, oops, back up just a little farther.
The river broke up and Ice went out on May 5th. The ice flowed out of our slew where we park the boat on the 6th. We actually watched both events happen and it is just as neat as freeze up, only it is in reverse. Instead of watching a river stop flowing and turn solid, we watched over a period of a couple of hours, a solid block of ice turned into rubble then a clear water flowing river. As the ice would jam the water would back up and the river level would raise 4" to a foot then, whoosh, it would flush the jam and start flowing again and the level would drop. Then it would do it a gain.
This is the river on the morning of break-up.
This was about 2 hours after the first picture. The river is flowing a jumble of crushed ice. It is very noisy. The solid snow area in the middle is the gravel bar in front of our place which separates our slew from the main channel of the river.

Our slew did not break up until the next day. You can see the open "leed" of water in our slew but mostly solid ice. Ok, next adventure. We went for a 4 wheeler ride on some trails we had never taken before. We went with Willie, over to Fish Creek via these trails. They had not been traveled all winter so we took a chainsaw along. We ended up clearing 11 trees off of the trail with-in 1 mile. It turned into a lot of work, but, we got thru it and made our way along.

This is Myra's First water crossing on an ATV. We had to cross this little creek to finish our trip out to the mouth of Fish Lakes Creek. The dogs followed like troopers but boy were they a Mess when we got home. It was a very muddy trip but a whole lotta fun.

When we were on our way back to the cabin from the four wheeler adventure we went by the boat landing over by the lake (where we took our boat out). Tom happen to be there looking at whether he could put his barge in the water yet. He had decided against it with his big boat but we looked it over and decided we could put our much smaller boat in. I went home and got the battery and some gas and life jacket etc and headed back over. He got his bull dozer and hooked onto our boat and took it to the launch. I did some prep work on the boat AND---We attempted to back the boat into the water. There was still ice on the edge of the water and the trailer broke thru the ice and dropped down some. No Harm No Foul, so we thought at the time. Anyhow, we could not get the trailer into the water far enough to float the boat so we had to go to plan B. We pulled back up on the shore and slid the boat off of the trailer onto the ground at waters edge. Plan B.

Click on this picture then look under the boat. You will see chunks of ice under it.

We then took a board and a bull dozer and pushed the boat into the water. You can see ice floating around the boat and on shore. The boat started right up and I drove it a few miles home. Life is good!

It was a couple of days later that we left for town. The plan is to pick up Jean at Yentna Station, leave our dogs there and go on in. Myra and Jean are to go there way and I have a lot of running to do to pick up my guide license paper work and log books and tackle and (Oh yea, Willie went with us, I was to take him to a couple of appointments also). Then Willie and I are to return home the next day , to get ready for our first fishing guide job of the year. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans. While going to Yentna Station I told Myra the boat was running slow. The motor sounded fine but something was not right. We were down about 10 miles an hour on speed for the rpm of the motor. I did not remember any problem when we took it out of the water but there is an adjustment that can be made on the jet propulsion unit that can affect this. When we stopped at Yentna station I talked to Dan about this adjustment and he told me it would be best done at the landing, so I decided to wait. I did not even look at it when we were at their place. (Ooops) About 6 miles down river from Dan and Jeans I had to back off the throttle for another boat to pass. When I throttled back up the boat started to speed then Bump, Roar, Stop. Ut Oh.. The motor is running fine but we are going nowhere. We throw out the anchor and raised the motor. The foot of the motor is Gone! Crap! We pulled anchor, paddled hard to shore and re-anchored. I put on my hip boots and out into the water I go. The foot is held on by 6 bolts and they are all sheared off. Upon further review I can see where 4 of them are broken previously and two had just sheared (dirt indications at the break points). Apparently, when the trailer dropped threw the ice the foot of the motor had hit and we didn't know it. That would explain the slow speed and the sheared bolts. The two bolts that did not shear were not enough to hold the torque of the motor on the foot and so, Bump, Roar, Stop. It just so happened about 10 minutes later another boat going down river was going by. We flagged them down. Myra Jean and Willie went to the landing with this boat. I stayed with our boat. I gave Myra a list of parts that we needed and told her to send them out with a boat that is coming this way. I walked the beach and fished and looked around and waited. Five hours and four hundred dollars later the parts showed up. Another guy that lives near where we broke had found me and he supplied me with tools to remove the broken off bolts and I went to work. A couple of hours later I was under way, toward the landing. The boat ran like a million dollars, and still is. Another lesson learned!!! When you think there might be a problem, look for it, don't wait. I could have fixed this for about $20 (new specialty bolt kit) had I found the broken bolts before all the parts fell off into the river where they will never be found. I also would not have been waiting along the river for 5 hours for a parts delivery. OK, Myra spent her 5 days in town and I spent one hectic time getting my and Willies stuff done and getting back home. I have turned our boat into a very nice Charter Fishing boat. I have my Business License and my Guide License and am open for business. Willie and I spent 15 days fishing together all of the time and he has been training me about King Salmon fishing and guiding. He went out with me on my first Hired charter and I took out my second one alone. Willie has been a God Send on teaching me so much about King Salmon and this territory for fishing. I intend to work with him as much as possible this summer.
If ANYONE that reads this blog wants to come up for a free Charter trip this year, get in touch with me and we will do it. Supply your transportation to and from my place and I will supply and air mattress and food and fishing gear while you are here. Lets Go Fishing!
You Might just catch something like this or bigger!! This is my First King Salmon of the season. 30lbs and 39". I have since had a 35#10oz fish in my hands (guiding) and many more. We are right at the beginning of King season. It goes until July 15th. Then it is silvers season. Kings up in this neck of the woods get as big as 75#s, Come on, let's go find it!
I have a lot more I could write about but it is time to get some things done. I will try not to stay away for so long.

Thank You for sharing this adventure with us.
See Ya,
Roger

A Little Info

I have been having trouble getting motivated to post on the blog lately. I don't know why, and I will try to get more frequent at it.
Life has been kind of slow and routine around here lately. I have been collecting this years fire wood and getting ready to cut down next years trees.
It has been very muddy as the frost is just a couple of inches below the surface. The water can't soak in as the snow melts so the surface is just mush on any flat surface.
Myra is still trying to get all of the garden plants started but she is having a time with them. After about two weeks of very good growth they seem to take turns dying off and we can't figure out why.
I walked ( Too Muddy, don't want to rut up the trails) over to Willies place on Saturday to watch a boxing "Pay per View" that he ordered on his satillite TV. I walked into his cabin and this is what I saw. No he is not "wasted" that is just the moment I caught his picture.
The hat he is wearing is his "Boxing Hat" that he wears each time he watches the fights. I guess he got the hat at a fight club in Thiland some years ago and it just gives him good memories.

The 4 wheelers are running well. They both started right up after setting since the end of October.
I built a new trailer frame that has three attachments in the works for it. The first attachment which is done is for picking up the end of logs and making it so that I can pull them around without digging up the yard or hurting the 4 wheeler. I have been using this for collecting my firewood. I had cut down 6 trees last year for this years firewood. It is those trees I am collecting now, getting ready to buck and split them. the other two trailer attachements are a "Barrel Lift" for hauling 20 to 55 gallon barrels and the third attachment will be a large flat bed top for hauling large items that I can not haul in the Skwagon. The Skwagon, by the way, is now a wagon again, for the summer.

We do have a little experiment going. I will get you pictures soon. In mid April I plained all of the boards for building stuff around here. I had created quite a pile of saw dust in the yard. All of the snow is gone around the saw dust now but, there is still 2 feet of snow right under the saw dust pile. We are going to see how long we can "store" snow on the open ground. There is still areas of snow in the woods and on the north sides of hills etc so it is not a true test until All other snow is gone.

Fishing season starts next Sunday. I am excited for that. I have got 9 dates set up so far for Guideing. I will be a professional fisherman for the first time in my life. Wish me luck!
Now I have to get the boat into the water but there is still ice on the lake where we need to launch it and too much mud. I guess I will be bank fishing in the beggining. The Guide dates don't start for a couple of weeks. I should have it ready by then.

That's all for now.
Living the dream!
See Ya,
Roger

Just Workin around Here

We have been working on the cabin for the last couple of weeks. You may have seen some of these pictures before but I wanted to show you the before and after of some of the cabin.


Living in a forest and having so much wood right here it does not make any sense to pay for and haul lumber here. I did receive a gift of a bunch of "Seconds" lumber from Tom and Patty from their lumber mill. It is all 1"x4" edges of the trees that they milled. All of it is rough sawn and odd size and length. I have spent a full day Planing it all to 3/4" thick and getting one side to good quality.


I have also been practicing cutting planks from fallen trees that I seen come down this winter. I cut the planks "free hand" with the chainsaw, then planed them down to usable boards.



We also cut a few saplings a couple of months ago and peeled them. We put them in the cabin for a Month to dry them out so we could use them.


Now I will start putting this all together for you.

These are the rough boards we received from Tom and Patty. Hans is "helping" me with my job site agility by laying in the middle of the work area and making me walk around him with every board. I have to plane every board at least twice to get them to dimensional thickness. I will have to rip every board twice on the table saw to get dimensional width.

This is one of the products of the 1"x4"s. this is a box covering the batteries we use to power the cabin. It doubles as a bench for putting on boots and outdoor clothing and has added storage inside for ATV batteries, boat battery, snowmachine batteries etc. What ever we are not using for a season needs to have the batteries removed and charged occasionally so this works out very well.

The area of the battery box used to look like this.

Then the area was stripped, got a new door and then re-sided with the same wood plus new that was here and already installed all over the down stairs. See the water heater behind the wood burner. That was not there in the previous picture. Oh, neither was the door! (the little white thing in the other picture is the end of the microwave on a shelf in the kitchen)


This is the same area, this morning. The battery box is down to the left under the power panel etc. I still have to build in the power panel and wiring but most of this area is done. This door goes out onto the new back porch. This is our main entrance now. the old door on the front of the cabin is emergency exit only. We don't even have steps to it any more.


We move to the front door area of the cabin now. I needed to make some big shelves for our "Modern" electronics to set on. This is where I used a couple of the planks that I cut and made with my chainsaw and planer.

These planks were cut from a spruce tree that had fallen across one of our trails this winter.

I was able to plane those rough planks into finish boards.

The front edge of both the cabinet and shelf are from the planks. The "post" that go to the ceiling are from the saplings that we cut and peeled. These post support the "electronics shelf" and 40' of shelving around the perimeter of the living space of the cabin. It was 1 year to the day from our Auction when all of this was disconnected, until the day we hooked it up here. We have our real Stereo now! See how we used Burlap material to trim around the Log beams and give it a finished look.


This is the best picture I could find of what the front door area looked like once upon a time. As you can see, it has changed a little bit.
I built this cabinet with the plank wood I made plus 1x4s I processed. Notice the bark edge front. Myra made the curtain for the front.
The shelf is also plank wood plus it is assembled and hung by the saplings.

This is our "New" front area of the cabin. See the self up high? Then the sapling on the wall. This sapling was cut in half length ways then I routered out the back and it is covering wiring that goes down the surface of the wall. Myra is printing pictures to fill this collage frame then we will hang it here. (( HEY Mike and Sharon --- There is an Empty space on the high shelf for Pictures of your kids!!! Hint Hint))
Notice Myras' garden. She has started a bunch of plants that will end up outside. There are more on a shelf above the wood burner. As you can see by looking out the window (these pictures were taken this morning) we are not ready to garden outside yet. The paneling leaning on the wall behind Myra is going to be installed upstairs. Right now the upstairs is just OSB nailed up and un-finished.

AND, while we have been doing all of this, I received word from the Coast Guard on Thursday that my license has been approved and I will be a Fishing Guide this summer. Woo Whoo!

Thank you all for letting us share all of this.
The cabin is becoming Home!
See Ya,
Roger