Tom Baker's Cabin Layout Sketch

This past Wednesday Tom was at our house for a Sanner Reunion planning meeting and brought these plans along so I thought I would put them on the blog. The footprint is the same as the gambrel style cabin. This cabin also has vaulted ceilings on the south 20'. First floor has three bedrooms, a full bath, a utility room and kitchen. Tom's logic is also to have space we can enclose and keep heated if necessary.

A couple of other things:

1. I received the bill from Bruce Gunderson for the well activities so far this year; $2545. I sent this on to Russ for payment.
2. We are still hopeful Glenn Anderson can trench the waterline and power cable from the well to the cabin before freeze-up.
3. I just sent dues notifications this afternoon.

Hope you are all doing well.

Bob

MEA Weekend

We got back from Lancaster last night and I thought I would blog an update to Sanchijebanobe.

First, I brought up a 1000' spool of wire that will be used when Glenn Anderson trenches the waterline from the well to the cabin. We actually need about 550'. The balance we will sell to Bruce Gunderson. The cost of the spool was $311.95. Russ, I'll send you the receipt for this wire. I talked to Glenn Sunday night. He says he has two big jobs ahead of this small job. He's hopeful he can get the trenching done before freeze up.

Additionally, on Monday Floyd and I talked to Jamie Pearson to see if he would be interested in quoting the materials and construction of the shell including the concrete. He said he would try to do this for us. Today I sent him a copy of the materials estimate I have from Menards.

Earlier this year I asked Menards if they would provide a materials estimate for this structure approximated in the picture below. This quote ($23,609) includes the materials for the shell of this structure including engineered trusses. As you can see the windows and doors are likely not what we would end up using. Any additions would increase the cost; dormer, additional shed roof, windows, etc.

The goal of this process is to have a best estimate of the construction of at least the shell and concrete by our annual meeting in December. Also in our annual meeting we need to develop a plan to pay for any work we approve.

Menards building rendition.

Some of the Stands

Jeff's new stand in the northeast corner of the 80


Improvements in Matt's stand - insulation and OSB board along with a shelf (left corner, a hanger for his Mr. Buddy heater, and an indoor/outdoor thermometer.


Tommy Baker's stand - west end of pasture

Russ's stand in the middle of the pasture

Tom's stand

Tom getting ready to take a small tank of propane to his stand.

John's stand in the northeast end of the pasture.

Some game cam pictures

Here's a timber wolf in the northeast corner of the pasture who just happened by three minutes after the picture below this one.

The biggest buck seen by any of the game cams this year and likely being trailed by the wolf.

Spike buck by Jeff's stand

From the gate cam, this is a button buck scratching his buttons.

This is also by the gate.

We put some apples by the pond. They didn't last very long.

All trail cams have been refreshed; clean memory and fresh batteries. We currently have six cameras out.

Hope you are all doing well.

Bob

Cabin Update - October 4th

It was a fun time up in Lancaster and Bemidji . .

Sue and I decided to go up to Lancaster this past Wednesday and stay there until Saturday when we would go to Travis (Haskell) and Amy's wedding in Bemidji, spend the night and go home Sunday. We just got home and I thought I should update this blog with the recent activities.

The Lost Moose

On the way out to the camp Friday I saw this moose as I turned south on the road that goes to Lake Bronson. I happened to see the moose and happened to have the camera with me so I snapped some pictures. It's been about 5 years since I saw a moose in this country. It was very nice to see that there are some moose in the area. Byron Chrisopherson was coming from the south and the moose went east into the woods in front of us. Byron called the moose a "lost moose". He had never seen a moose in this country.


Looking for tracks . . .

During well drilling Floyd had noticed some very large deer tracks. In fact, Floyd said they were the biggest tracks he had seen in his life. .

We did find its tracks and took these pictures

The Well !!!!!!!!!!

Here's the picture of our well. Floyd will tell the story better than me, but after drilling three times unsuccessfully at depths from 165 to 253 feet, we found water at less than 40 feet. I think they started seeing hope at about 20 feet and they stopped drilling at 40 feet.

Floyd is so happy with this result. The well is 42 yards west of the power pole and about 160 yards from the new cabin site.

What is this??

Bruce Gunderson stopped drilling at 40 feet because the drill bit hit something hard . . . coal! Doubtful we can make a million bucks but we can say we have coal filtered water. The small rectanguar piece in the middle is actually petrified wood.

Our first bottled water

Floyd asked Bruce if he could collect some of our water in this bottle he had with him, and Bruce said, "sure". As you can see, the level is down a bit since Floyd, Peggy, Sue, Ray Johnson, and I had a taste. The taste was great! There was maybe a very slight iron taste and something that's easily filtered if we think that's necessary. You can also see how clear the water is. WooHoo!

So what's next?

Dick had a good idea. He suggested we should try to get the water and powerline trenched from the well to the cabin yet this year. With that in mind, here's what we decided to do:

1. We called Bruce to see if this would be possible from his vantage point and he said yes. He just asked Glenn Anderson to give him a call a day or so before he needed to install the pitless unit and the submersible pump. The pump, by the way is 220 volts and draws 4.5 amps per leg. Bruce said he would also call with the wire size required for the160 yard run from the cabin site to the well.

2. We called Glenn who is also very busy this time of year. He said he would try to get this done this year.

3. Finally, we called Gopher 1 to locate utility lines. The only utility that needs to be located is internet. This will be done Tuesday morning, either Peggy or Floyd will meet this person out by the cabin.

The flow from this well is somewhere between 10 and 20 gallons per minute which is more than we would need to service the cabin.

Hopefully, by our annual meeting we can define the cabin construction.

We had a great time at the wedding and reception. So fun to get together with folks.

Bob

Spring-Summer 2009 Update

I thought it would be appropriate to update this blog with what's been happening these past four months:


Around Memorial day a friend of Dick's came up to the cabin site to "witch" for water. He's done a lot of it around Melrose and it didn't take him long to "witch" veins as well as his preferred site to drill the next hole.

Check these first set of pictures.

This picture is looking east. You can see part of the drain field and in the lower left and upper right you can see the white flags designating the width of a water vein.


This is a picture looking at the south side of the cabin site. This and the next picture will show you a rock in the center of the background. Near it are three white flags. This is the location suggested for a well site.


A closer picture of the flags and the rock.


Here's part of the crew that was up here; Matt with Kyla, John, Dick, Floyd, Nick, and John

Here a second set of random pictures from when Sue and I were up this past week. We were able to "ATV" anywhere we wanted, so the water has gone down significantly. I would still like to fly over the area from the west side of the county to our side just to look at the ditches and rivers draining this area. Maybe I can take some pictures as well.

We painted the locator rock orange so it can't be confused with any other. Since it is pretty dry in the area now, Floyd thought Bruce might be able to back his rig next to the rock and dig the third hole. I talked to Bruce last night. His daughter is getting married August 22nd and between now and then he has some work to wrap up. After the wedding he said he would give Floyd a call and they can go out to the cabin and decide when Bruce could get started. Assuming it was dry enough, Floyd thought Bruce would be able to back up to the site without moving any trees and without having to add fill/gravel . . . cross your fingers.

I reloaded the five trail cams; one by the crossing, one by the pond, one south 0f the cabin, one northwest of Matt's stand and one between Matt's and John's stand.

Here are some additional pictures:

This is looking southeast at the east end of the 80 looking towards Matts stand. I'm trying to show the food plot from last year. The vegetation is clearly different from what is on the rest of the area. I just don't know if it will attract the deer. The trail cam is on the right side of this opening as you are turning south so it should be able to show us.


Here's the rock with blaze orange paint. I just thought it be easy to describe for anyone not familiar with the area. I also painted the cabin corner stakes blaze orange as well thinking it might be easier to see with the web cam.

I took this picture for a couple of reasons. The first was it serves as a fair indicator about how much water is in the area. The second was to show all the tracks around the pond. These were mostly deer tracks.

Here's Susan on the ATV. Behind her is a trail cam looking south across the pond. It will be interesting to see what pictures we get from this. With regular batteries the camera will take pictures for about two months.

Here's Matt's stand and the progress of adding a stairs. We would also like to do this with John's stand. We are hoping two build one or two additional stands before deer season.


Sue and I also mowed the grass and put some oats in the feeder by the cabin. We mowed in front of the feeder to make it easier to see from the web cam.

So . . . that's the report. I'm hopefull that Bruce will soon be able to drill the third hole. I'm also hopeful, as I'm sure you are, that third time's a charm. If you have any questions, please give me a call or e-mail.

Veterans Day -2008

What a special day!

This Veteran's Day program was held at the Hallock School and included all the grades in the recognition of veterans. From art projects to essay's about what freedom means to the students. Most important to us was a late addition to the program. This addition started earlier this year when Bob Cameron requested Floyd's WWII ribbons and medals that he wanted to put in a display case. At the time we didn't know how this would be presented until a few days before this program.

It wasn't until recently we were able to be aware of Floyd's acts of heroism. Carrie interviewed Floyd a number of years ago when he shared these events with her. As Floyd was presented with this display case, Bob Cameron read the citation that went with the presentation of the Bronze and Silver Star. It was a very emotional moment for all of us. When I asked Floyd what he was thinking about during this presentation he said he was thinking about all the soldiers who didn't make it back.

After the program, we were invited to the VFW in Kennedy for a very nice lunch.

The Display Case

Bob Cameron not only presented the case but also discussed each of the ribbons, medals, and insignias.

TheProgram

As you can see, the program was held the gym of the Hallock School. We had selections by the band and choir along with the winners of the essays. Here they are getting ready to present Floyd with his medals.



Don't know who the guy on the left, but the person at the podium is Bob Cameron, the Veterans Services Officer for the county.


Showing the medals to the audience

Bob & Floyd

After the program

Here's a picture of family present during the program.

Glenn, Floyd, and Bob Cameron. We sent three pictures to the Kittson County Enterprise and they sent copies of their pictures to us. Additionally, they asked to interview Floyd to put a piece together for the paper.

Floyd and three of his 13 grandchildren

Breanna, Chassity, Floyd, and Nick


It was such a special Veterans Day program. What a wonderful community to take the time to remember and pay respects to our nation's veterans. And finally what a special and appropriate recognition of Floyd.

MEA to Deer Season 2008 - Trail Cam Pics/video

Sorry this has taken this long to post. Most of it has to do with learning YouTube and how to convert a trail cam video clip to a "YouTube" video and connecting that to the blog. Thanks to Lonnie's patience, I developed a new skill.

So what's the takeaway from the pictures and video? I think if you plant habitat, the deer will come. We just looked at three of the trail cams. The camera on the north end of the 120 acres still has the San Disk with the pics. The most active camera between MEA and deer season was the pond stand with 18 of the 72 pictures of deer; most were at night. Second was the gate camera with a number of video clips and a few still shots of deer. The most significant video during this time was of a Timber Wolf! Finally, the least active camera was the one by Matt's stand. Although we had some deer activity, we had lots more people activity. During the opening weekend, however, this area was one of the busiest.

I think next year we will be moving some of the cameras and maybe adding one or two. I would also expect we will be adding more habitat.

The Pond Trail Cam


I included this picture since it shows a nice young buck that might be the one that has been rubbing on the spruce tree and willows northwest of the cabin.


I couldn't see what was causing the ripple in the pond, it is interesting to note that something besides Tom Baker swims in the pond

Just thought this was a cute picture of a doe wondering what's going on. Again, most of the pictures during this time were at night.

I liked this picture

Another night time picture

The Gate Camera

Ok, this was the only thing I took from the gate camera. We had some nice pictures of deer along with a few nice videos, but they were all "trumped" by this video of a Timber Wolf walking east on our driveway early one morning.

The Camera by Matt's Stand

The most significant picture was the one I loaded in a previous blog showing John and Nick Sanner dragging their doe from Matt's stand back to the cabin.

The 2008 Deer Hunt

Due to the rain and the weather, there were fewer hunters for opener. Dick and his sons and Mike were there along with Tom Baker and three of his sons; Micky, Tom, and Dan. John and Nick Sanner came up Monday afternoon. Bob and Tyler Norland were hunting today, Saturday, November 15th.

This is a nice buck Tom Baker shot out of his stand on the opening day. Tom said it was close enough he could have thrown the bullet at it.

This was a team effort. Mike and Jason shot this fork horn out of Matt's stand and as you can see below, the meat we had from this deer was delicious!


The mud, the blood, and the deer

This is a nice doe John and Nick Sanner shot out of Matt's stand Monday afternoon. This picture was taken by the Trailcam by Matt's stand and although it is of poor quality, you can see John and Nick are dragging this deer using John's belt; probably the toughest drag we have had in a long time. We have been using ATVs since 1983 and this is the first one I can recall where they did it the old fashioned way.

Probably the best food we had all weekend; some ribeye and tenderloins from Mike and Jason's buck. They cooked it on the grill and used butter and garlic salt. There was no gamey taste to the meat at all.

You can see Patrick, Darin, and Nathan enjoyed the meal. Seems that beer also helped digestion.

Here's another picture with Peggy at the table.