Blow Down Memories: Clearing the Road

After twenty-four years of cabin cleaning, I find that I don't need to concentrate too hard on what I am doing in order to get the job done. This in turn frees up my mind to think about any number of subjects while my hands go about the chores. In a week like this, I find myself remembering our big blow-down storm in 1999. The interesting thing is that the calendar this year matches the days to the dates for the storm and its aftermath. Yesterday I thought about Monday after the storm, and today I thought about Tuesday after the storm. Seems rather crazy, but it keeps my mind occupied, and it reminded me that I should really write some of this stuff down, so that someday it will be there for my grand-kids to read.

We all have our own store of personal memories from big events and milestones in our lives. Something I've found interesting as the kids have gotten older is how their version of events and memories differ from mine. In particular, because of their respective ages at the time, their perspective is quite different from what I think that they would/should remember. To that end, at dinner tonight, I asked Paul and Addie what they recalled from the Monday following the big blow.

Monday, July 5, 1999 for Greg and me was about clearing trees off of our side road. We had spent the previous afternoon and evening attempting to restore a bit of sense to our own property by removing trees from driveways, paths, porches and cabins. We cleared enough to make things passable. The big clean-up and hauling away would have to wait. Paul said that for the most part, I had him stationed at home. He said that first and foremost, he remembered answering the phone....a lot. We still had guests in our cabins. Some were waiting for the road to be cleared, as they were scheduled to leave that day. Others had arrived by boat the previous night. They had been able to weave their way up the Trail by about seven p.m. (the storm had hit us at one in the afternoon), and had put their boat in at Gunflint Lodge. Since we had folks in house, I felt that someone needed to be at the front desk. Who would have thought that I'd leave my ten-year-old in that position of responsibility?

Greg had been using his Bobcat skidsteer to move trees around here at the lodge, so it seemed natural to just continue with it on up the county road. He would chainsaw, and then move the big logs. Robert and I followed and moved the smaller pieces of brush and such. I'm sure some of our guests were assisting us as well...I know that we had several "angels" who showed up at all the right moments that week. We got near the mailboxes, and at that point, we joined up with the neighbors from the Mile O' Pine road, to continue along the county road. It was a slow moving work train---chainsaw, push logs, haul brush, then move on to the next batch. At one point, we came to a power line across the road. No one wanted to touch it, fearing the unknown. Finally, our neighbor who was an electrician saw our hesitancy and assured us that it was a dead line, since none of us had had electric power since the previous day. Larry said to Greg, "Go ahead and touch it." Greg said, "No way until you touch it first!" So Larry did, nothing happened, and the work party continued.

On a run back to the lodge for food and water, I picked up Paul to come out and help. By then I was realizing the enormity of the moment, and really wanted him to be a part of it. The phone calls could wait. If we weren't there, they'd call back. Addie, in the meantime, had been hanging out with us, even though she was too young to do much work. She was seven at the time, and so she was mostly just playing with another girl who had been staying with her family at a cabin on the Mile O' Pine. Eventually, Celine's mom took them to their cabin, since they would have more fun there than just lingering on the road while everyone worked. That was for the best, as the work really was dangerous to a certain extent.

When that many people are working in such close proximity, with chainsaws buzzing and hands reaching in to toss the brush and move the logs, it really can get dangerous. We were all very lucky that only one minor accident occurred. One neighbor happened to nick his knee with his saw, just as the chain was winding down. It cut swiftly into the flesh, and suddenly, there he was with a real dilemma on his hands. He definitely needed stitches, but there was no way yet to drive out to the Trail to get to the emergency room. So he did the next best thing in a crisis like this. He went to visit our neighbor who was a retired physician. She was more than happy to assist him by cleaning and bandaging the wound, making it possible for him to continue on with all of us on the road. He took to tossing brush at that point, since all that bandaging limited his mobility.

By five in the afternoon, we were halfway down the three-mile road. At that point, we all were sweaty, sappy, and exhausted. But then we saw and heard the sweetest thing...on the other side of the next pile of downed trees was the county road crew and all of their big equipment. We yelled in excitement, paused to take a group photo, and then folks turned to head back to their cabins. We stayed a few minutes and talked to the road crew, to get a bit of perspective on what they had seen and heard. Then we, too, headed back to the lodge, to let the departing guests know that it was now clear to leave.

I think back now about that amazing effort of teamwork, how we all came together and each person found a way to contribute to getting the road cleared. I remember hearing the birds singing, continuing on with their day, as though not much had changed. We had a lot to contend with, experiencing a natural disaster like that, but we all were so fortunate, too. To this day, I think that everyone would agree that in its own way, it was one of the better experiences of our lives.

All Berries, All the Time

It is going to be a serious berry year. Take a look at these two handfuls.



It's going to be one of those years, where you head out into the patch and all you see is blue, or red, or both, and you can't leave until all of that color is in your bucket, not on the plants.


We still have vacancies this week. Why not think about coming up to pick some of that blue gold, to bring home and stash in the freezer? What's better than blueberry pie in the middle of winter, to remind you of the warm summer days in the Boundary Waters?

Red & White & Blue, Blue, Blue

Did Voyageurs Wear Red Shoes?

The new museum, designed by the Split Rock Studio folks, features a number of kid-friendly displays. In particular, one caught the interest of our children when we recently toured the exhibits. Paul found the Voyageurs' story, and decided to try his muscle at lifting a simulation of a pack that those hardy early travelers routinely carried on their routes through the north country.
The caption behind Paul's shoulder asks, "Are you as strong as a voyageur?" Obviously, Paul stepped up to the task and found that yes, he was as strong as one of those guys, since he, too, could lift the equivalent weight.

Not to be outdone, Paul's dad decided to give it a try, and found that he could do it with one shoulder:
Finally, in the interest of equality and competitive spirit, our youngest voyageur took her turn at it, as well:

But what I want to know is this: Shouldn't extra points be awarded for accomplishing this feat while wearing these great red shoes? Let's see a real Voyageur do that!

Black Mountains walk - Spezet - July 6, 2.30pm

Our next walk is on Tuesday afternoon, meeting at Spezet to drive on a short distance to the start (where there is limited parking). We'll leave the parking area in a side-street opposite the tourist office in Spezet at 2.30.
This is a glorious walk, mostly in shady woodland with some great views and a visit to the towering statue of the Virgin above the tree-line. Medium, Level 2 but with an option for agile walkers to return via rocky crest, easier path for others.

Campfire Marshmallows and Memories

It's been a lovely summer day, filled with warm sunshine, swimming and beach fun, some boating and canoeing. The only thing needed to make it complete is a campfire. Thanks to all of the rain that has fallen in the last month, we are able to have fires in the fire pits. The smell of the smoke and the sound of the conversation and laughter with a circle of friends is a comforting thing. What a great way to make memories! And really, that is what we should be doing as much as possible...having good times with family and friends to build a trove of memories.


As I was looking at the photos to include with this post, I was doing some reminiscing myself. A long long time ago, my family would often go camping in the summer. Holiday weekends were a favorite time to load the trailer and take off for some lake or state park here in northern Minnesota. One campfire incident at a campground in Brainard ended up becoming a family legend, one of those stories that has often been repeated. My younger brother and sister were sitting by the campfire, toasting marshmallows. As youngun's are wont to do, my brother was waving his stick around at one point, with no marshmallow, but a bit of hot coal on the end. He turned quickly and accidentally caught the stick's end right at the corner of my sister's eye. Fortunately, it only caused a very small burn, but it was traumatic nonetheless. Nancy was only about four at the time, but she knew enough about manners to spout off to everyone that Alan "didn't even say sorry or thank you or nothing!" and she was quite indignant about it.

I also remembered many campfires from my Girl Scout camp counseling days. Once a week, we could requisition the fixings for s'mores to have with the campers. We would prepare the candy bars and graham crackers into little "kits", ready and waiting for the roasted marshmallow to be sandwiched in between. After everyone had one, we would put all of the campers to bed, and then gather at the fire to eat the leftovers. We may or may not have rationed the campers in order to have our own fair share...just sayin'. We also came up with lots of wonderful additions to the basic recipe. A little peanut butter on the graham cracker or a few raspberries tucked in to the hot marshmallow are two of my personal favorites. Another good one--and healthy, too!--is to substitute apple slices for the crackers. Can s'mores and healthy even be used in the same sentence?

In the winter, when I walk the familiar paths, all covered in snow, I often pass the campfire rings. They look lonely and abandoned at that time of the year. It's sad. But at the same time, I know that they are in a resting period, so to speak. Soon the calendar pages will turn until before I know it, the fires are burning, the stumps are filled, and folks are laughing and having a good time. I like that full-circle thing.

Meanwhile, Somewhere in St. Louis...

When is a cabin not a cabin? Probably lots of replies would fit that question. Today's answer is: When it is a recording studio. Back in October, the Erin Bode Group came up and transformed Birch cabin into a recording studio, so that they could work on their latest jazz album. The musicians are based in St. Louis, Tennessee, and California, but they all agree that the Northwoods is a great place to converge for a task such as this. They came with their cars and truck fully packed with instruments, speakers, components, and all sorts of other things of which I don't even know the names. One time, Bill, our local UPS man, delivered a big black set of something, clearly for the effort's success.

This was actually the second time they used Birch for this purpose. A year earlier, they had produced a Christmas album in August. They said that the layout worked well for what they were doing: each musician was set up in a room and all were connected by headphones, microphones, and wires...Lots of wires.


That album, A Cold December Night, ended up with a cabin on the cover, one that resembles Birch in a way, with a bit of artistic license thrown in.

Since I am not able to describe the music of this group, other than to say that it is fantastic, I will quote here from their website:

"The Erin Bode Group creates music forged from the Americana of its members' midwestern roots, infused with jazz grooves and made magic by Bode's bell-like voice. Sophisticated arrangements and attention to phrasing, both vocal and instrumental, further distinguish the band's fresh sound."

We have had the opportunity to hear Erin, Syd, Adam and Derek play live in Grand Marais. They have appeared at the Gunflint Tavern, and they performed at the Jazz Festival in 2008. Erin has longtime ties to the Gunflint Trail, and when we visited the museum the other night, we saw pictures of many of her relatives there.

When Erin called to book the cabin for the second album, my main concern was for the outside noise that would be happening here. Since it was October, it was firewood season. We had to keep working our way through the firewood pile, using the very noisy splitter, as winter was not far off. She assured me that it would not interfere, since things had worked so well in the previous year. Back then, my concern was that Moses the donkey would somehow find a way to get one of his songs on the album. Of course, that didn't happen, thank heavens.

During the latter part of their stay, Erin invited us over to hear a preview of the music. What a delightful time we had, listening to the tracks that they had accomplished. I got a quick look into the creative process of musicians, as they would critique each song as it was playing, notebook and pencil in hand. At the end of the song, they would say things like, "What was missing?" or "I think it needed --this-- in that particular spot." I was amazed that they could identify areas that they wanted to change, when to me, it already sounded spectacular.

So, back to St. Louis. Today happens to be the debut for the new album. If I were able to travel in a blink, I would love to be in that city today, to go to the release party. If someone out there in Missouri is reading this, you should go in my place. I know you'll have a great time!

I love that the album is titled Photograph. Be sure to visit the website, as you will be able to learn more about Erin and her group, and you can catch glimpses of some of the photos they took while they stayed here at Heston's. This one in particular really delights me. And be sure to listen to a few of her tracks. They are amazing!