An edifice to the deer gods.....

I built the first deer stand on my property this last week. It's a lot of work when you do it by yourself. About 15 or so trips carrying ladders, boards, tools, etc. Glenda helped me and was instrumental in holding up my ladder when it almost tipped over on me. Don't know how good a spot this will be but we set up the trail camera today so we'll see what wanders by over the next week or so.
I've found a few other spots I plan on building in. They are a lot further from the house but utilizing the road and the ATV trail I've got, I'll get em done. I'm stubborn if nothing else. Now I gotta go but some more wood!
It does feel like deer hunting season. An inch of snow yesterday and it was 22 degrees this morning. Makes for nice walking in the woods and we've scared up a few grouse. Speaking of which, next Sunday and Monday I'll be back in Minnesota hunting grouse with my old buddy. Hopefully the birds will be flying in the direction I'm shooting. Even if they're not, there's no place else I'd rather be.....

Turkeys, campfires and other things.....

Well, those of you that know me well do know that I am probably a certified pyromaniac. Nothin' beats a good fire. I spent a good part of Friday shovelling soggy clay so I could create this little fire pit. It's not up to my standards but one has to be careful with 70 acres of woods right behind you.
It's interesting that in Wisconsin you have to get a fire permit to burn and have to check in each day to see if conditions are such that you can burn. Well, I have a ton of stuff to burn and since it's rained about a foot in that last two days, I could hardly wait to light one up. So, I get on the internet just to be a good boy to verify that I can burn only to discover that this county doesn't allow burning on Sunday!!! What the (&*&&**(())$ That's not gonna sit well with me..... Oh, and that includes holidays as well so I can't even invent some obscure Norwegian fiesta that only I have heard of. I'm not happy...
The misses took the picture of these turkeys right outside our bedroom window. We've been watching about nine or so hens and as many little ones. Haven't seen the gobblers but they must be around somewhere as that's where the little ones come from.
I spent the last couple of days searching for a rifle clip and some Contender shells. I looked everywhere convinced that they must have become victim to spontaneous combustion. I was down to one old metal box I kept coins in. Of course I had lost the key so had to destroy it to get it open and lo and behold, there was my stuff. Now I'm back to being armed to the teeth but will have to buy another metal box...
It's funny this moving thing. You find stuff you've kept for years, not daring to throw away. Then you realize you've been moving it from house to house year after years and have never used it. When we moved the folks out of their last apartment, I found probably every card we had ever given my parents. My mom kept them all. We read a lot of them and then threw them out. I've come to discover that I do the same thing. I've got 20 oe so cards and letters I keep in my dresser drawer. Cards and letters that, well, I just couldn't throw away. I found them today, looked at the pile and put them where they belong, back in that dresser. I couldn't start reading them. I know what's in some of them and it would tear me up to start reading. So then, why do I keep them???
Tomorrow it's finally supposed to stop raining. I think I'll take a long, long walk.

3 1/2 months.....

Howdy! Hard to believe it's been that long since we moved from the lake. Time goes so fast.
The older I get, the less I enjoy being out of my element. I guess I just need that comfort zone and my own space, Never used to be that way....
I did take my own advice, noted in my last blog. I got on the phone and TALKED to my friends. Quite a change from email, blogs and all the other impersonal ways we communicate these days. Even got a few invites for cookouts and the like.
BUT, now it's time to get a move on and start planning some activities. We've been so busy unpacking and trying to get organized, I've hardly spent any time in the woods. That's gonna change starting this weekend. Kurt will be coming up and then Johnny and Uwe. Uwe is our new deer hunter. Always fun to welcome a new hunter into the fold plus I can impart all my great wisdom upon him!
Been seeing turkeys at the end of my driveway, deer of course, and there's at least two bear roaming around. Hope to get out grouse hunting soon after I decide on the location for the next great deer stand.
I had another wonderful idea. I'm teaming up with "Real Texas Fish" and we are going to put together - are you ready for this? "Mel and Dewey's Greatest Hits Volume 1". We're each gonna pick 4 rock and 4 country songs. Mel's already working on his list. I, umm, haven't had the time yet but it's gonna be a great cd.
Well, hopefully tomorrow they can get the hot water heater working. That and some excavating and we're pretty much done except for some furniture left in storage and figuring out how to best organize my garage - the "Man Cave". Damn I hate moving however this is where we want to be...
Hey, a special thanks to Kurt, Blase, Uwe and Stone for walking ditches with Johnny and I over Labor Day weekend. Not many volunteers anymore so we all had to walk two miles each. No matter. Time goes fast when you walk with good people......

Goodbye.....For Now

We had a long weekend to say the least. With the help of our good friends Al, Anne, Ty and "Twig Man", we moved two trailers loads of our stuff into storage in Wisconsin. I don't know what we would have done without their help. Thanks guys!!
I wanted one last picture of Glenda and I against the backdrop of our lake. So many years, so many experiences, so many good friends.....
Glenda took a shot of me planting my dad's rhubarb on our property in Wisconsin. I've taken it with me everywhere I've gone. I hope it makes it. He was so proud of that rhubarb and, well, I am my father's son...What else can I say. I've come to enjoy hearing from you folks every now and then and will miss being able to hear from you over the next 2 - 3 months. This damn internet, email and blogging makes things so impersonal. I'm going to have some time on my hands. I think I'll pick up the phone.....
Until later....... Dew

Fishin', The Last Weekend??

Memorial Day weekend is normally a good time to be fishing our lake. This year, because of a couple of cold fronts, the crappies were pushed out. We did catch a mess of sunfish and Taylor helped us clean them.
Sunday night, John and I decided to make a campfire and watched the grandkids fish off the dock as the sun was setting. Of course, Taylor nailed this nice crappie and the kids caught a few more before they decided to play soccer in the dark...
Taylor also caught this nice bass from shore and with the walleye she caught two years ago, she is becoming quite a fisher person. I told her next is to gut out grandpa's deer. We'll see how that goes.
Earlier that evening John, Glenda and all three grandkids went fishing. I lit up a cigar, poured a Jack and sat on the hill looking over the lake. I thought of all the years we've spent up here (17 to be exact). I thought of all the great people who made the journey up 94 to hang out with us. I don't know if this was ever a home or just a destination, a gathering point for us and our friends.
We pulled the boat that night. While John headed for the boat landing with the trailer, I made one last swing around the lake. A lake I've fished for 35 years. Sometimes I hated that lake. Sometimes I loved it.
But, the only constant in life is change and I think it's time. As Bob Seger said, "..turn the page".

DeweyFest!!!

T'was a fine time this weekend! Everybody took the time to drive on up, or over, to celebrate "The Old Norwegians" 60th birthday.
The NW wind and cold temperatures made fishing lousy, to say the least, but at least it didn't rain.
I got roasted by my 'friends", but they were pretty easy on me. It coulda been worse....
As you can see, much goes on at "DeweyFest" Brian is catching up on the latest news while Kurt concentrates on walking a straight line. Don't ask me why. I don't know...
A special thanks to Doug and Loretta for ALL the work they did in puttng this together. BTW, Loretta's the pretty one and Doug is the one with the funny foot...
I wish I had a better picture of me but this is all ya get. Wind burned dragging Kurt, Al and Mikey all over the lake.
Thanks to you all...... Dewey P.S. "What a long strange trip it's been".....

Noodling, Norwegian Style

So, Tuesday night I stopped at the culvert to make sure water was still flowing out of our lake. The water is still about a foot over the culvert but the vortex was really small. I saw a brown mass stuck in it and figured it was partially clogged with weeds. Being tired and since I was a bachelor last week and had to cook my own dinner, I said to heck with it and started to drive home. A pickup flagged me down. It was one of my neighbors, Charles, and he asked me I saw the weeds in the culvert. He wanted to know if I thought he could remove them with a rake without getting wet. I said'go for it" as I was tired and wanted to go home.
My phone rings aboput a half hour later. Charles was down at the culvert, had got all wet and said the water was too deep. He said he only had waist high waders and needed chest high ones. I asked him if he wanted me to come on down and, of course, he said yes.
When I waded in, the water immediately got all murky and I couldn't see a thing. I reached down with my bare hands and felt what seemed to be a piece of metal wedged in the culvert. Then I grabbed onto what I thought was a piece of rope. I pulled on it with no success and finally stuck both hands down around this object and started to twist and tuen it. Finally it came unclogged and I pulled up, by it's shell, the largest snapping turtle I had ever seen. My response was "AAAAAHHHHH" and some words I won't repeat and I dropped it. It was floating on it's back, as I picked myself up from the mud, and we just stared at it. Of course, since we had now cleared the culvert, a very large vortex now formed and guess what? The turtle was sucked back into it. We stared at each other as now the culvert was plugged again, AND, we knew what was in it. I looked at Charkles and said, "Are you sure that turtle was dead?" He "thought so"...
Well, once the water cleared a bit, I saw the tail and started to yank on it. When it broke free, Charles grabbed it by the back of the shell and we pulled it out of the water. We flung it to keep it out of the wonderful vortex we had once again created. As I pulled myself out of the muck, Charles hollered "it's alive!" Sure enough, it was swimming around. I had Charles push it to shore so it wouldn't get sucked into the ^&**(^%$% culvert again, and there we were.... So, we picked it up with the shovel, walked it across the road, and deposited it into the neighboring lake.
I then went home and poured a giant highball. The next day, the good old boys at work said I was lucky to have all my fingers....
Next time the culvert is plugged, I ain't stoppin'
The crappies started to come in this weekend so fishing should be good next weekend for DeweyFest. But first, I gotta go and try and get another turkey.....