And Then There Were Two

Hi there. 

Well, we are officially Steve and Andrea right now.  Saturday was the first day since April 30 that we were alone in Camp!  Can you believe that?  Our guests from Treaty 3 left Thursday morning, having put on a successful Fall Assembly over at theWabauskang Community.  Darrell and Doris left Friday morning, having gotten all their grouse and enjoying what continues to be unseasonably fantastic weather.  Our buddies Ben and Greg left Saturday morning, having fished, eaten, and drank beers until they’d had their fill.  Now it’s just us, Gus, and the peace that I used to fight so much–now I welcome it and will miss it when I hit the road.

Sure, I can’t wait to see Rebecca, Jayme, Mackayla, and all my other kin and friends.  However, I do not look forward to traffic or the rush-rush of daily life at home. 

I’ve alluded to a huge adventure while berry picking with Jenny K. in August.  Her man Kraig was doing his annual bear hunt, and Jenny and I were doing our annual berry picking.  I decided to try a spot where Karna, Ann and I had gone a couple of years back.  Karna had really gotten into some nice berries there and since this year was bad for berries I figured we’d give it a go.  Well, the initial berry plants were disappointing to say the least, so we kept going more into the bush–plant hopping if you will–being optimistic whenever we saw a patch of plants up ahead.  After quite a while, we turned and headed in another direction–again, not paying attention to where we were but simply looking to another patch, then another, etc.  After some time we decided we should head back toward my vehicle and realized that we really weren’t sure where it was parked.  I chose the direction that felt right–trying to use the sun as Steve does.  We walked a long, long time in the muggy bush, all the while knowing that the sun was going down.  I was honestly beginning to worry–looking for trees where we could sleep if we had to.  Jenny was sure a trooper!  She trusted my gut more than I did!  Long story short, we finally spotted some trail tape and–next to that–a bear hunter!  He indicated we were going in the right direction.  Mind you, he was in a tree stand all painted and camouflaged (I didn’t even see him!).  I’m sure we ruined his hunt for the evening AND gave him quite the story for his buddies.  “Then, out of the blue these two broads come through the bush looking pretty rough, with maybe a cup of blueberries between them!”  Anyway, Jenny and I probably walked another two miles before we reached my Envoy (which, of course, had our waters and my keys still in it).  Hands down the most scared I’ve been up here in eight years.  I’ve been lost before (Sandra, the car, etc.), but not like this…not on foot, in the bush, nightfall, no one knew were we were (sorry, Jenny, I just found that out).  Eek.

That adventure leads me to this week’s adventure.  Gus wanted to ride to Dutchie’s with me the other morning.  I grabbed some eggs and came out to find that he had locked me out of the car.  I borrowed another car and ran home to get Steve’s spare set of keys.  I think a lesson from both stories is that I should at least take my keys out of the ignition from now on.  At one point lost in the bush, Jenny suggested I press my “alarm” button to see if we could hear the horn.  I had to explain that I didn’t have the keys with me…

OK.  Now for some photos.  Here’s a nice one from Dan who stayed in the Bear’s Den in September.  Eldon has been hanging around mostly in the tree above our cabin.  Dan was able to get a very nice photo of him:

The canoodling mooses (many of you liked the term) have still been around.  I hope Greg and Ben got a good photo.  You’ll see it if I do.

I continued taking foliage photos last week.  Good thing, too, as we finally had some wind a couple of days ago and a lot of the color was blown away:(  Here are some that seemed blog-worthy, though it’s difficult to do this autumn justice:

I took these from the deck of my outside office/fish cleaning facility:

Gruper and I went fishing with the boys last week.  Gruper caught first–a 14″ walleye.  That left me the challenges of biggest and most.  I quickly caught two 20″ers.  We each caught a few others of varying sizes.  I was feeling pretty darned good about biggest and most.  It was not to be; Gruper went on a string of fish, ultimately catching this nice 23″er:

I could not believe it.  He even took variety for a perch he caught.  We kept Mr. Perch so I could have an omelet for breakfast the next morning.  All of our walleye went right back into the Lake to grow during the winter!

Stranger Danger

Mary and Ron were here mid-September, accompanied by Ron’s brother and his brother-in-law (figure all that out).  Mary always takes nice photos while she’s here.  Let’s see what she’s got for us:

She got Max while he was roofing barefoot and Eldon while he was giving advice:

She got their group enjoying a much-needed vacation:

Nice 'eye, Monty!

She got wildlife:

She got sunsets:

AND, she’s got Gus:

Thanks, Mary!  You always do a good job with the photos.  Rumor has it you’ll be here twice next year!!  Twice the blog fodder for me and our readers will be greatly appreciated:)  I’ll close with my favorite Mary photo: