On the water with the wee folk

I had a chance to get the old canoe out, the one I wrote about here; A Tale of High Adventure, and took sons 1 & 2 plus youngest daughter. We hit a wilderness lake not far from the house for some paddling and fishing.

Every second afield with them is precious, especially in the world we live in today with it's many distractions and time sinks. We all had a great time, with some exciting moments including my oldest son's battle with a Northern Pike.

We set out late in the afternoon, it's not dark here until after 9:30pm so even with the later start we were looking forward to five or six hours on the water.

Getting ready to depart for the adventure.

Some scenery shots as we paddled down the lake.

We stopped a couple times, once on a patch of dry ground about twenty feet long by twelve feet wide to wet the lines. Both son number two and youngest daughter with some fish landed. Yep, that's a Barbie pole and she's wicked good with it!

Setting out for the other side of the lake to fish some cover along the shore, we passed this slider sunning on a stump.

I wish I'd gotten more pictures of what happened next, honestly it happened pretty fast and I was laughing too hard to do much of anything.

Oldest son's rod, the reel base where it slides into the socket on the rod, well it had broken earlier so only one side of the reel base was secured to the pole. He was tossing a Berkly Gulp minnow grub along the cover line just off the shore when a Pike hit the bait hard. I'm not exactly sure what my son said, something like "MINE", "THIS ONE IS MINE"! The canoe took a sharp turn and rocked hard, daughter dropped her Barbie pole into the canoe and grabbed the sides, son number 2 was sputtering some unintelligible language as he braced himself.

Son number one pulled hard back on that pole and that pike jumped about two feet into the air less than a foot from the pitching canoe. Daughter squealed and son number two said "OhMahGawd" as that pike was awful close to his face. There was a loud popping sound and all heck really broke loose. That reel on that old rod separated and went flying, son number one hollered and grabbed the pieces. He wasn't giving up! He wrestled the now two piece rod with separated reel until he had that pike in a choke hold and I mean a choke hold!  Here's the boy proudly holding that pike, well throttling it really.

What an awesome time! While none of these fish were monsters, I assure you the memories truly are huge.

Little Bears of the North Woods

A collection of little bears caught on trail cameras, particularly funny, the cinnamon starts to wave and describe how big Goldilocks was!

The Minnesota State Government Shutdown

I avoid talking politics like I avoid leech pits and the plague, I've found it overly detrimental to my health. However, sometimes one observes stupidity at such a level of absurdity it requires comment.

If I was stupid with my own money, and ran the well dry so to speak, then decided to visit my neighbor and steal some stuff to further finance my stupidity, I'd go to jail for theft. If you decide to rob your neighbor you go to jail.

Riddle me this then, why is it okay for the "rich" to be robbed to further finance the stupidity and vote buying of the state? No, I'm not rich and don't fall into the higher tax bracket the state would increase taxes on, so this is coming straight from blue collar blood dammit. Theft is theft, stealing from one person to give to another is unjustifiable. Besides, who decides who is rich anyway? So this time it's the richest two percent of Minnesotans, next time the well runs dry will it be the richest five percent? Ten percent? Where will it end?

Interesting fact for those who bother to research it, Minnesota was in the black for their budget, democrats want to increase spending by close to 25%, when you're against the wall on debt, do YOU spend more? Does managing your own finances to include not spending more when there is no more to spend make sense to everyone but politicians?

The deeper you dig on the "rich" who by the way, are the majority of folks running and opening businesses, taking risks, providing jobs, benefits and so on the very population that are now demanding the "rich" pay more. Educate yourselves, know the tax rates and the realities, stop listening to sound bytes, stop being lazy, get the knowledge to make informed decisions. Stop waiting for someone else to do for you, to provide for you, to educate you, to care for you. Spine the f*$%k up and stop being a damn lemming.

You will run out of other people's money so stop being a filthy parasite on the hide of humanity, stop selling the vote, stop promising hand outs in order to sway the populace. Govern like you've got an ounce of decency, integrity, oh wait, you're a politician, you are by default, incapable of these things.

The shut down was completely avoidable, had they stuck with the budget, instead democrats want a near 25% increase to spend. Like children with an allowance, they blow it then ask for more, some people, never grow up. Or worse, they become parasitical politicians.

What's wrong with this country today? The question that is being asked more and more often these days. Well there is a lot wrong but there are two things that are really driving things into the toilet.

Lying, thieving, corrupt politicians.
People who tolerate them.

Time to hit the woods and get centered again.

More Bears and Moose

Mother moose and calf still doing well.



More bears, a young black and cinnamon phase blackie tearing a stump up and being general layabouts.

Useful Trees & Shrubs of the North Woods (A Five Part Series) The Alder

Alder

Alnus glutinosa

The wood is a light reddish brown with a coarse texture. Matures at about 60 years, the leaves have a distinctive serrated shape and are fairly broad.

From the time of Theophrastus the bark of the young shoots has been used for dyeing and tanning leather. When these shoots are less than a third of an inch in diameter their bark yields no less than sixteen per cent. of tannin. They produce red, brown, or yellow dyes if used alone, and black on the addition of copperas. The natives of Lapland are stated to use the Alder as a dye for their leather garments.

"They scraped it off (the alder bark) in very fine pieces and rubbed it directly on the skin to be dyed. The dryer the skin the quicker it took the dye. Some skins required two or three applications. Then the sides were folded against each other and the skin was left in a cool place overnight. Shaken free of bark in the morning, it was rubbed and pulled with the hands in all directions. Worked, allowed to dry, worked etc., until it was dry and soft. Oil might be applied if the skin were too hard."

Secrets of Eskimo Skin Dressing

Some images of a young Alder;

In Mors Kochanski's book Bushcraft, he also mentions the high tannin content in the twigs for use as an astringent. An astringent causes tissue to become more compact, such as in the contraction of muscle fiber, blood vessels, or the coagulation of protoplasm of the surface cells, thus diminishing either discharge or bleeding from an external or internal body surface. In the case of a wound or sore, discharge is reduced or stopped, tissue tone improved and healing quickened if the water in which alder bark has been boiled us used as a wash. A moist poultice of the inner bark can be applied to wounds that bleed profusely. This is of particular importance to those of us using sharp tools in the back country.