Archive for July, 2009
July 17, 2009 – Rain, Rain
I put the following pictures up as a warning to anyone thinking of coming to Kawishiwi Lodge or the Boundary Waters Canoe Area – don’t visit here! The glossy, sunny pictures are only part of the story – rain, mosquitoes, and wind await you (I don’t want this area to be overrun with tourists)!
This is pretty much the view most of the week – intermittent rain showers followed by a period of just wind without rain showers.
On one foray out, Martin is in the bow and Emma hunches over in the middle of the canoe to stay dry.
The temperatures the 2nd half of the week struggled to reach 55 degrees. On a foray out to an island for lunch, Martin seeks shelter of a rock against the wind and balsam tree against the rain to eat his lunch.
Did I mention the mosquitoes? Here’s Claire’s solution to keeping the bugs at bay.
one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #124″
July 16, 2009 – International Wolf Center
Ely is also home to the International Wolf Center, a place that “advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wild lands and the human role in their future”
Part of the exhibit is an observation enclosure where visitors can try to get a glimpse of the wolves in their 1 1/4 acre enclosure.
The wolves are fed road-kill deer! The center has webcams so you don’t have to go to Ely to see them.
one year ago…”Fruit on the Verge”
July 15, 2009 – Touring Tower Soudan Underground Mine
When it rains, it’s time to do some touristy indoor things, or in this case, underground tours. The Tower-Soudan underground mine is now a state park and you go down the original mineshaft about a half-mile underground.
Here Martin plays with a toy model of the elevator shafts that show how the two shafts counterbalance each other.
Here’s an OSHA-approved open pulley and belt in the crushing room (not operational since the 1960′s)!
Donning hard hats, we’re ready to go down the shaft. Instead of the historical mining tour, we took the science/physics tour this time. The mine is an ideal place for some types of experiments since the half-mile of overhead rock shields out many particles.
Here is one of the main rooms in the physics lab. The large hexagonal thing near the center is the The MINOS (Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search) Far Detector is a 6,000 ton particle tracking device that is observing neutrinos sent from Fermilab, which is near Chicago. MINOS tries to precisely determine mass differences among neutrinos, 3 of the 12 fundamental building blocks of matter.
Another experiment is The CDMS 2 (Cryogenic Dark Matter Search) Detector that seeks traces of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) that might comprise a significant fraction of Dark Matter. This baby is cold – at 0.02 degrees kelvin, about -460. We all knew it could get cold in northern Minnesota, but -460?
One of the most fascinating objects is the mural on the right that depicts humanity’s search for the building blocks of matter. It is so bizarre to see a large mural a half-mile underground.
one year ago…”Willow Nursery on Track”
July 14, 2009 – Overnight in the BWCA in the Rain
In the every other year take a couple of kids to the BWCA for an overnight, this year was the oldest girls and the dads. Given the windy conditions, we opted to stay off of the open lakes and go up the Kawishiwi River instead this year.
Here’s Claire, happy at the end of the first portage. Although you can’t see it, she insists on making it in one trip, so she has the other Duluth Pack on her pack and all the rest of her gear in her hands as I carried the canoe.
First order of business is to gather some firewood for later in the evening.
There were two different pathways for water to flow between these branches of the Kawishiwi River. The main channel is where the portage is, but this smaller channel also travels between the two bodies of water and is little, if ever explored. So, Claire and I grabbed our rods and reels, some spinners and wandered up the stream until it met the lake.
It was great fun to catch smallmouth in the small pools below every riffle. We must have caught a dozen on the trip up the creek. It’s great fun to catch fish in the same water you’re standing in!
Did I mention yet that is was raining a good part of the day. Here’s a makeshift shelter near the campfire that rivals and EZ-Up Canopy! On this trip we forgot the fillet knife and ended up releasing a large number of good-sized smallmouth and walleye – some smallmouth and many walleye bigger than the one I caught off the dock in a previous picture were released on this trip.
July 13, 2009 – Something Fishy!
This week turned out to be the best fishing week in years at the cabin.
This smallmouth was caught right off the cabin dock.
So was this walleye.
Earlier in the Day Emma and I found a nice rock to sit on and fish with large sucker minnows.
She caught this northern practically before I could get my line in the water.
one year ago…”Tribute to Dad?”
July 12, 2009 – Settled in at Kawishiwi Lodge
The first day of vacation dawned cool and clear.
Here’s the view down to the end of the lake off the dock.
The afternoon warmed up enough for one of the favorite activities – dock jumping!
Dock jumping goes on and on for a long time!
one year ago…”Rainy End to Vacation”
July 11, 2009 – 10 Hours in the Car
It’s a 10 hour ride to the “End of the Road” past Ely, MN en route to vacation.
I guess the the highlight of the trip is stopping for lunch at Subway!
one year ago…”Young Girls and Moms Overnight”
July 10, 2009 – Corny
The periodic thunderstorms continue to blow through every few days, sometimes twice a day.
This corn got knocked down a bit, but will find its way back up without too much trouble.
The first sweet corn of the season is appearing – this is a batch from Muscatine.
one year ago…”Dock Life and Bushwacking”
July 9, 2009 – Thingamajig Thursday #170
Here’s this week’s thingamajig Thursday.
Also check out the last thingamajig answer.
As always, put your guess in a comment below.
Some contestants are trying too hard! This is a tomato blossom, I don’t need the variety!
one year ago…”Catching Bait and Fish”
July 8, 2009 – Can You Smell the Dill?
I was struck at the contrast of the flowering dill to the green of the surrounding garden.
The aroma is so strong, I bet if you put your nose close enough to the screen, you’ll be able to smell it!
one year ago…”Swimming and Biking in the Northwoods”
July 7, 2009 – Have They Bonded?
Do you think Martin and the new kitten have bonded?
Oragif is very friendly and can’t get close enough to her people! Martin is showing her how to play in sand. The other cats and dogs are starting to get used to the idea on a new cat on the farm.
Here’s a “self-portrait” Martin took of himself and Oragif. Looks like he got a lot of the cat and not so much of himself.
one year ago…”Settling in at Kawishiwi Lodge”
July 6, 2009 – First Pear!
We’ve been waiting for many years to get our first pear. The pears have been among the slowest of all the fruit trees to give fruit – the cherries, apples, peaches, and plums all beat the pears.
This is one of about a dozen on this tree.
July 5, 2009 – Old Machine Shed Progress
The renovation of the old machine shed is nearing completion. I reroofed the good part of the building a few years back, tore down part of the building that was no good early this year and the last few days put on a new sidewall and remaining few roof pieces.
The side after framing up.
Up on the roof putting one of the last pieces of roofing up.
The view from inside – I love the clear panels that bring natural light into the shed without having to turn a light on.
The building after new siding is applied. It’s not perfect, but it’s done! I’m on the Joel Salatin school of farming equipment – good enough and done is better than perfect and undone. The roof rolls like the ocean, but the building will now stay dry in the rain.
one year ago…”Fruit in Season”
July 4, 2009 – Happy 4th!
Today’s photos are compliments of Emma who was busy at the fireworks. I picked out some of the shots I liked best for today’s blog.
I call this the “Comet.”
This reminds me of something from a Cirque de Soleil show.
Here’s a dandelion!
A parting shot of love from Claire!
one year ago…”Strawberry Renovation”
