Well, our time here at Pasha Lake Cabins has come and gone, it is time for us to move on. It seems like we just arrived here a few days ago but these past 16 days have flown by.
The final fish tally? It's really not important, we are a team and that's what really matters. Our freezer is full of fish. Well, by full, I mean 6 but that is all we are allowed to take. We did get out on a few more adventures. Chad went back to The States for a few days for his oldest son's track meet and high school graduation. But, Brian, a high school friend of Chad's arrived.
The first day he was here we went "Speck" fishing on Lake Nipigon, Lake Nipigon is huge! It is 1,872 square miles of water, If memory serves me correctly it is something like 60 x 90 miles. It has record Lake Trout, Northern Pike and Brook Trout (also known as Specks). These brook trout are the same ones we fish in the creeks and streams of South Dakota but here they get bigger, much bigger! They are also very elusive. If you see one, you are having a good day, if you catch one, you are having a great day! And it has always been on my bucket list to catch one. I had been out for them twice before in years past where I have had follows and even hits but never landed one.
So off we went, launched boat and headed to our destination. An island 12 miles off the shoreline. Once we arrived we started throwing our spinners towards the shoreline. For 3 hours we moved up, down and around several islands in the area with nary a follow. That's when two things happened. One, it started to rain, and two, our electronics died. The last thing you want out there is to be 12 miles from shore in a rainstorm that you cannot see any landmarks, references or electronics to guide you back. Luckily, Brian brought a back up guidance system so we kept on fishing in a light misting rain. Cast after cast after cast then as I was least expecting it BAM! A Speck slammed my spinner a few feet from the boat. I can still see it in my mind's eye as this thing came from the rocks and hit the spinner. The oranges, the whites, the greens of the fish as it fought at the end of my line. I fought the fish for what seemed like an hour but was probably less than a minute as it danced around trying to get off the hook. We eventually landed it and I held in my hands this 20" beauty!
After taking a few pictures I slid it back into the water where it could someday again make some other fisherman's dreams come true. That night we celebrated our day. Some more than others, Brian was very proud that he guided me to my trophy Speck!
Early on A little while later....
Chad and Michelle's son, CJ, graduated and got first in his two track events, the 110 and 300 hurdles and will now go to state next weekend!
We had another visitor last week when a friend of ours from Beardmore stopped by for an hour or two to visit. We met Wanda several years ago when she worked here and she drove over to catch up. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures but it sure was nice to see her.
Barb also made another friend this week when we went fishing. This is Sam the Seagull.
Barb likes to throw food scraps to the seagulls while we are fishing. On this particular day it was Goldfish crackers. Well, Sam must have really liked Goldfish crackers because I kid you not, he followed us around for 3 hours. We would move, he would fly directly behind us until we got to our next location where he would land and wait for a treat, then he would follow us to our next spot and our next spot and our next spot. It was quite comical.
On our way back home we had to stop for this logging truck that was being loaded. They are logging like crazy up here with trucks going up and down the narrow roads. You really have to be careful as there is barely room to pass. It was cool to see this truck get loaded.
Luckily, they were nice enough to move and let us through before they loaded the rest of the truck.
And here is a short video of Barb bringing one of her many fish.....
I managed to hurt my elbow somehow now it is grotesquely disfigured. Not as grotesquely disfigured as pretty much Dino's entire body but disfigured nonetheless.
It's like someone implanted a golf ball under my skin. I am pretty sure that it is from reeling in all my fish. The good news is that unlike Dino's disfigurements, mine is only temporary.
Our last night here Brian and Chad threw a goodbye party complete with steaks and fresh caught walleye! Oh, and beer, lots and lots of beer.
I am pretty sure they are throwing a good riddance party tomorrow night. So now we start the real part of our GSA. I mean, The Farm and Pasha are adventures but now we are off to new and unknown destinations, wish us luck!
Dogs are so weird. I don't think we could have two more opposite dogs. One big, one small. One outgoing, one shy. One who loves to play, one who loves to just sit and watch the world go by. Dakota was basically raised in a concrete kennel the first two years of her life before we got her. At 2, she had not been in a car, house, or climbed stairs. As some of you may recall, we had to build ramps to get her up stairs and into cars. Although she no longer needs ramps, she still panics when she climb stairs or get into cars. She just panics and does not use her head at all. Forget slippery floors. She either will not go on them at all or she panics and wheels out trying to get to her destination as fast as she can feet and legs flying everywhere.
Zoey on the other hand is the complete opposite, being held and nurtured since the day she was born. She is trusting, fearless and not scared of anything. She will greet anyone with a wagging tail and lick every part of your face if you let her.
There are two things that really strike me as odd though. One is their bathroom habits. Dakota will go anywhere. Well, not in a house thankfully, but anywhere outside. Concrete, blacktop, you name it and she will stop and go. Many times right at your feet. More than once we have been embarrassed as we are walking and we stop to talk to someone and boom, squat time! I am sure that has everything to do with being raised in that kennel.
Zoey on the other hand is a secretive squatter. Especially when it comes to #2. She has to go off into the woods or the tallest grass around, look back to see if you are watching her and then squat. If you are watching her, she won't go! Do you think she was a human in a past life? Once she is done with her business she will often stand and stretch one leg back as far as she can, then the other and return to us. Daisy used to kick the dirt over where she went. I know a lot of dogs do that but do not quite understand the meaning.
The other thing that strikes me as odd is how Dakota greets people. She is very wary. 80% of the time she just ignores people and avoids them until she gets a feel of whether they are friendly or not. Then she will slowly come up for a pet or sniff. 19% of the time she will wag her tail and come up to someone right away sensing they are no threat at all. Then there is the remaining 1%. This has only happened twice in the past 5 years, so maybe it is even less than 1%. The second time was this week. In these two cases when the person entered the room Dakota's hair went up and she growls the entire time the person is there, never looking at them but never taking her eyes off of them at the same time. And she will not leave Barb's side often staying between Barb and the person (To hell with me apparently). She will not let the person touch her or even get within a few feet of her. We thought that maybe it was a man thing but this last time was not a man but a teenage girl. Weird huh? I don't think the person noticed in either instance but it was interesting to watch!
Sorry, Dino and Harry, I have no video for you to watch of either this behavior or the bathroom habits.
Fishing this week has been better but not great. With water temps in the upper 30°'s and low 40°'s, plus it being spawning season, these fish as just not real active. We have gotten out several times however managing to scrape up a limit of walleye each time. As I said at the end of our last post opening day was cold at a mere 34°. We went out with Chad, Michelle and Carmen (11) who were in one boat while Barb and I were in another. We loaded up the boats, hit the water and....it started snowing like crazy!
Hard to see in this picture but it is snowing pretty good!
Barb's new fish finder works great! I should have bought her one years ago. She asked it she could have it at the front of the boat next to her but sadly, the cord is not long enough to reach the front of the boat so it has to remain in back with me. (Little does she know that the cord is plenty long enough but I have most of it zip-tied into a bundle where she cannot see it.)
The lake stretches about 11 miles long by 1 mile wide. We were for sure the first ones on it for the year and, with the lockdowns, probably 2 of less than 100 in the past several years. The local loons were very curious and hung out with us several times during the day. Nothing like the sound of loons on a remote Canadian lake!
We hit all of our favorite spots, but they were neither super hungry or concentrated. We picked up one or two here and there but not the numbers we are used to.
When we had our limit we headed back to find Chad and Michelle as we went in different directions at one point. When we found them it looked like this....
Engine problems?!?!? These motors are brand new they should not be breaking down! Upon closer inspection we found that the buoy string had become wrapped around the propeller.
Chad had somehow convinced Michelle that it was her fault as she accidently hooked the buoy with her fishing line but any experienced fisherman knows that the responsibility of keeping the buoy line out of the prop falls on the person operating the motor. Always!
After 15 minutes or so, they had it untangled and were ready to roll again. That is when we made this fancy video showing off their new electric start motors!
As you can see, they have a great sense of humor and are fun people to hang with.
So, I know many of you are wondering how badly I am out fishing Barb this year. Well, lets just say. I have turned over a new leaf and no longer feel the need to keep score. No need to tally who caught the biggest, who caught the most. I am out there just for the joy of fishing, enjoying nature and spending time with my wonderful wife. In fact, I think it is real petty to keep track of size and numbers. Who would do that?
I'll tell you who....Barb! Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote The Joy's of Grandparenthood? And how competitive our daughter and granddaughters are? Like the time our granddaughter Kendall shouted out "It's 14-2" during a soccer game they were not supposed to be keeping score. How, oh how, did they become so obsessed with winning all the time? The answer came to be again this week as Barb reminded me of the "fish score" every time she caught a fish. "5-0", "6-1", ...."7-1". She would stand up and shout it to the world, like anyone was with 20 miles to hear her anyway. Quite annoying actually. At the end of the day she reminded me by saying some smart@ss comment like: "Remember when Kendall shouted out "It's 14-2!" at the soccer game?" I replied "Yeah, that was cute and funny". Barb then says "That's what our fishing score was today". I did not find that so cute.....or funny.
In my defense I was operating the boat making sure we stayed on the good spots and playing with my, I mean her new fish finder. As a matter of fact, here is proof of one of the fish that I almost caught. You can see how the colored line starts at the bottom and goes diagonally towards the top? That's me pulling a fish off the bottom and reeling it to the surface. Sadly, you see the colored line get to the top and then go right back down to the bottom. That is the fish getting off the hook and going back down.
The next time we went out I did much better and held my own. After 3 hours of fishing she was one fish up on me. With a self imposed quitting time of 3:00, I had 10 minutes at our last spot to catch one to tie, or 2 to win the day! Or would she catch another one and go further ahead of me? With less than a minute left, I hooked one, landed it and did the happy dance! Barb said "What are you so happy about?" I said "We tied today!". Then the replied, "Yeah, well, overall it is 24-11". With that I tucked my tail, started the motor and headed for the boat ramp.
Brrrrr! That's the best word to describe our first week at Pasha Lake Cabins. Thankfully, we do not let a little cold stop us from having fun!
You will notice one thing missing from our pictures this week. Fish! There are two reasons for that. One is that walleye is not open until May 21st and the second is that the perch that we were seeking just did not cooperate.
The first adventure was to Onaman Lake. For those of you have read about our adventures on this lake before, you will remember that it is a walk-in only lake about 1 1/2 miles from where you park the truck. However, before and after fishing season you can drive 4 wheelers in there. The mission for the day was to bring the boat motors in and build some new dock ramps for the boats. Chad and Ian do all the work, I am just there for moral support. There is more water up here this year than we have seen in a while so it was a wet and soggy mess.
But the fun started before even arriving at the lake as the roads were flooded in several areas. This was the worst of them.
They loaded up Ian's 4 wheeler with lumber as well as a boat trailer to bring lumber in and a boat out. Chad was going to ride on top but we decided it was just a little too sketchy.
Off they went down the trail..... Overall, it is fairly dry with only a couple of wet spots. Until they got to this area...... There is a boardwalk, which Chad took with the motors but with the boat trailer, Ian had to take to the water.
After a few hours work they had the boat ramps built and in place and motors.
The next day they did the same thing at another lake. The motors are brand new so they had to put oil in them before we fired them up.
Meanwhile, back at camp, Barb was busy going for walks and practicing with her accordion. She is working on a couple of new songs but will not let me video her yet. Their walks are anywhere from 1-2 miles. The roads are usually very desolate but this year they are logging in the area so you have to be careful of logging trucks speeding down the roads.
Pasha is in the background on the picture on the right.
She also got a painting lesson from the housekeeper Judy. Do I maybe see a new hobby in her future?!?
I have several requests for a picture of the purse Barb so selfishly bought last week. Why anyone would want to see a picture of a purse I have not idea, but here it is.
She is a minimalist when it comes to a lot of things, purses included. Just big enough to fit her wallet, phone and a few other things.
Today is walleye opener and we are going out with Chad, Michelle and their daughter Carmen. Michelle and Carmen are up for the weekend to get the cabins ready and welcome the first round of guests. As I write this at 7:30am (eastern time), it is 34 degrees and we roll in 30 minutes. Wish us luck!
I know you have heard it before, but this week was just another of many examples of how I am the bestest of all the husbands. But more on that later.
Leaving The Farm, we headed east towards Fargo.We had a 6-hour drive ahead of us to the
Super-Secret Undisclosed location just inside the Minnesota border known as The
Oliveri Compound. For those of you who have not been there, this compound is
strategically located in a dense wooded area surrounding by swamps and marshes
on two sides and a river on another. It was specifically designed to protect
the occupants from the inevitable zombie apocalypse that will no doubt happen
in the next few years.
We were warned in advance that in order to gain entrance
within the fortified gates we would have to go through a rigorous security
screening to ensure that we were not zombies in disguise trying to penetrate
the compound. I was expecting some kind of blood test, eye exam or something of
the like but instead immediately upon arrival we were given a Busch Light which
we had to drink within 1 minute of our arrival. Now, we have met a lot of
conspiracy theorists on our travels, but Dino took it to a whole new level. Apparently,
Dino believes that this bottom shelf beer has some anti-zombie oxidants that
sends them into a frenzy exposing the blood thirsty creatures for what they
are. Who knew?!?!Having passed that
test we were allowed access to the grounds.The other thing we did not know, but Dino informed us of very quickly,
is that zombies will not attack anyone with a blood alcohol level over .15 so
anyone on the premises has to maintain that minimum at all times.
Now, no pictures are allowed on the exterior of the grounds,
but we were able to take a few inside. Dino and Lisa have two cats; Moose and Journey. Moose is quite friendly to two and four legged creatures. Journey on the other hand looks like she will rip your face off if you just look at her the wrong way!
Meanwhile, Zoey and Moose reacquainted themselves
with each other. Zoey chased Moose around like crazy, they only place she was safe was on her cat condo.
Yes Harry, another cute animal video! The next two days were a
whirlwind as we worked hard to make sure our BAC stayed above that minimum
level. Apparently, there is no maximum level as that was not discussed at all.
We went on several adventures during our stay. We are always
looking for treasures on our travels so our first adventure was a stop at
several antique stores in the area where I found these two treasures to add to
my collection.
We were in the middle of one antique store when Lisa said
“Oh oh” and pulled out little black pouch that looked like a medical kit. She pricked
her finger and put a drop of blood on a tester of some sort. Barb and I were
concerned, we had no idea that she was a diabetic. After testing her blood she
urgently exclaimed “Oh my God!” and showed the results to Dino. After seeing
the results Dino immediately grabbed Lisa’s arm and ran out of the building
towards the truck. We had no idea what was going on and quickly followed. We thought for sure she was having some sort
of medical emergency and needed to be rushed to the hospital. Once in the truck
Dino tore through the streets like a wild man telling Lisa “Hang in there, it
will be alright”. We were shocked and confused as Dino raced right past the
hospital and came to a screeching halt in front of another building, and he and Lisa ran in leaving the truck running and both doors open. Confused Barb and I
followed behind and entered the building to find out it was one of the local
breweries. Lisa was chugging a beer as we walked in and Dino turned to us and
said “That was close, she was at a .10!”
Well, rest assured we made sure that did not happen again
during our stay! We hit 3 breweries during our stay (well, 4 but one was not open). One of which was a cider house that was actually very good!
1910 Sip House
Pretty cool building
All too soon, it was time for us to leave and continue on
our journey. I had a special surprise in store for Barb today. Since we were at
the farm during Mother’s Day and I was working, I was not able to get her
anything so I wanted to make it up to her. Barb realized very quickly we were
not taking the route on The Plan and asked me where we were going. I told her I
had a special surprise for her today! She quickly said “Not today Honey, I have
a headache”. I reassured her, telling her that this was a really special
surprise as I secretly set our GPS to Walker, Minnesota and went on our way.
Once we arrived, I blindfolded Barb and led her into the store right up to this
very special display. I removed the blindfold and shouted “Ta Da!” She was
beyond words as she opened her eyes to see that she was at Reed’s Sporting Goods standing in front of the fish finder display! “You shouldn’t have” she
said. “No, I insist, you are worth it”, I replied and started going through the
features of each with the salesman. I guess she wanted her Mother’s Day present
to be a surprise as after 20 minutes she turned to me and said “I’ll be in the
women’s section”.
I picked out the perfect unit for her, the Garmin 93 SV in
ultra-high definition of course! The salesman asked if I needed anything else
and I told him that my wife is so special she deserves the portable kit, the
Canadian Lakes Map chip and of course the optional lithium battery! He gathered
up all the components and had someone ring me up. Once the transaction was
complete I went to find Barb. Sure enough, she was in the women’s section
looking at purses. She turned to me and said with a deadpan expression on her
face and said “I’m getting this purse”. I thought it was kind selfish of her to
want a purse on top of everything else I just bought her and told her “But
Honey, I just bought you all this stuff?”. She repeated, “I’m getting this
purse” and walked off towards the cash register. Some women, they just never
get enough!
You may have noticed that Barb's eyes were closed in that picture. That is because she was crying as we left the store and most of the way to our next destination. She was so overwhelmed with joy by her gift, she just kept muttering "What did I ever do to deserve this". Me, I too had a tear in my eye for making my wife so happy.
That evening we landed at the Grand Portage Visitors Center
just a couple hundred yards from the Canadian border. They have a beautiful
waterfall there so after setting up in the parking lot we took the dogs for a
hike to the falls.
The water was so high and falls rushing so fast that the
overspray made it so like it was raining all over us. Very cool!
At 120', the High Falls are the largest in Minnesota. We spent the night in the parking lot/truck stop where the
crickets and frogs sang us to sleep. When we awoke the next morning we headed
to the border crossing. After our last
crossing where we were everything but probed we were a little nervous but this
one was a breeze and we were on our way in two minutes.
30 minutes later we were in Thunder Bay where our first stop
was…..
And our second stop was……
Then it was back in the truck for two more hours until we
reached our final destination.
We will be here for the next 2 weeks or so. Bring on the
walleye extravaganza!
What a difference a year can make. This time last year a major part of North Dakota was classified as having Extreme Drought Conditions. This year, not so much. Last year, most of the sloughs and potholes were dry with nary a duck to be seen. This year, not so much. Last year we started planting on April 15th, this year, it was May 4th. This delay puts them behind the schedule already as have deadlines they need to hit to meet crop insurance requirements. For their area these dates are approximately 5/20 for Canola, 5/31 for Wheat and 6/10ish for Beans.
The first couple of days we were here it was too wet to get out into the field, so we kept ourselves busy doing maintenance on the Landoll. The Landoll is a piece of equipment designed for maintaining the fields and keeping them smooth and level. Think of it as a giant rototiller. It has a series of discs and tines that break up and smooth out the soil as you pass over it and as with any piece of equipment things break. So Dylan and I set out to get it ready for the field!
Most of the tines were just loose so we replaced the bolts, those are the shiny replacement bolts in the picture. Some of the tines were broke and some were missing altogether. It took us anywhere from 15-20 minutes per set to get them back in shape depending on how frozen the bolts were and how many tines needed to be replaced. Not a big deal until you see just how many tines there are!
We replaced over $600 in bolts and washers alone and this did not even count the cost of replacing the tines! Farming ain't cheap!
Once that was done, the fields were still too wet so I went out and started cleaning tree rows. The recent ice storm really did a number on the trees and all the limbs needed to be cleaned up before planting could start. I spent probably a total of 5 hours cleaning just this one row hauling countless piles of brush off the field and this was just one of dozens of tree rows they need to take care of.
They also picked up another quarter of land over the winter. A quarter means a quarter of a section. A section is 640 acres which is a mile x mile square, so a quarter is a quarter of that or a 1/2 mile x 1/2 mile square. It had several rock piles on it so they hired someone to come in and move them with a huge excavator and dump truck. Well, it was not long until we received a call that they had buried the dump truck.
So off we went with the quad track tractor to pull them out. I took a video of the process but before I get to that I want to explain the number of videos I have in this post. I think there are 6. In past posts I have been putting in cute videos of Zoey and Dakota but apparently not everyone likes those. I recently received this message from my dear friend Harry.....
Apparently, Harry does not appreciate my cute dog videos. The only thing I can take from this is that Harry in fact hates dogs and probably all things cute and cuddly. Taking the high road, I did not include his last name in the picture above as I am sure he would be inundated with hate mail from my millions of followers. So instead of sending the hate mail directly to him, feel free to lambaste him in your comments on this post.
I will however, include a picture of him. This picture was taken last summer while he and Dino were at their family reunion. I never even knew that he and Dino were related but here they are side by side. They have one of those very special family trees. You know, the ones that go pretty much straight up with very few branches?
That's puppy-hating Harry on the right, feel free to walk up and punch him in the nose if you see him on the street.
Anyway, back to pulling the dump truck out with a video I am trying to E M U L A T E Dino's video.....
Speaking of getting stuck, I too got a tractor stuck working on clearing a tree row.
I also spent several hours picking rocks. It seems every year a new crop of rocks pop up when the frost leaves the ground. When I was young, I recall walking behind a hay wagon picking up rocks and putting them on the hay wagon. Thank God they have automated rock picking equipment as this old man ain't pick'in up no rocks. With their rock picker, you go along the field until you spy a likely rock, sneak up on it, turn on the picker and capture the wiley rock! Here is another educational video on how this process works.
Many of the fields have bee hives on them. Beekeepers ask permission to place their hives on the fields in exchange for a few jars of honey each year. It is a win/win for both the farmers and beekeepers. Back in the day I had a few hives until we found out Forrest was allergic to them. That was the end of my beekeeping career. I went to get a closer look at some of the hives and took this video.
The closer I got the angrier the bees got. unlike wasps and hornets, honeybees only sting as a last resort as once they sting you, they die. So, instead of stinging they slam into the side of your face to let you know they are not happy. As I was taking this video, I was getting pummeled by some not so happy honeybees! Someday I might get a hive again, I really enjoyed having them in the past.
The day finally came that we were able to get into the field so away we went! The first step is to load the trucks with fertilizer, urea and seed.
Urea going from the hopper bin into the truck!
Then treating the seed from the hopper into the treater and from the treater into the truck.
Then it is out to the field we go where we load the seeder.
Speaking of seeders, they got a new one this year. This new seeder is 66' wide and can plant 86 rows at one time! Here is another education video on the new seeder in action.
Depending on the crop and the field they can plant about 200-250 acres a day. The seeder can hold 1000 bushels of product so he can go about 6 hours or so before he has to fill back up. The seeding days started about 7:30 in the morning getting everything ready for the day and ended around 9pm with the last fill for the seeder. Chris carried on a few more hours to 2-3 in the morning before going home and getting a few hours of sleep and starting all over again!
This went on for 5 days and we got about 1,200 acres planted. Then it rained. A small amount of rain will not impact the seeding but too much and things get too muddy to seed.
Then you need to wait a day or two for things to dry up. So, we took advantage of the day off and went golfing! I am not a big golfer, in fact I had not been in over 10 years I think when we had a outing for work. In fact, my old boss sent me this picture a week or two ago to remind me of my golfing days. I don't mean to say that my boss is old, just that he is my old boss. Who am I kidding, he is both! (I know you read the blog once in a while, so Chuck, that comment is for you!)
We were promoting a new meat brand
So off we went to the Garrison Golf Course! Bob, DeAnne and I golfed while Barb was the score keeper.
We all had a good time, I did better than I thought I would, but it will probably be a few years before I get on the course again.
Barb did have one adventure when our friend Jeannie came over to give Barb an accordion lesson. We may not have a lot of room but Barb did manage to find room to bring along her accordion!
So, for your viewing pleasure is yet another educational video. Jeannie is playing the keys and Barb is playing the cords. Not bad for a beginner!
I also found the time to install some airbags on the truck. We initially thought we did not need them but after getting to the farm I decided to get some.
Air Ride Kit
It was a fairly easy install, taking me less than 2 hours. I noticed a difference right away. The pictures on the left show measurements before the airbags, the measurements on the right are with the airbags at 120psi. As you can see, we picked up about 4" of drop.
The other thing we noticed is that the ride is a lot smoother as well. Rather than bouncing over bumps the truck kind of floats over them.
During the rain break Chris drove down to Bismarck and picked up their new tri-toon! We broke it in by having happy hour in it the night before we left.
Barb and the Sobieck clan
Dylan, Barb and DeAnne
DeAnne and Bob
Sadly, after the rain I never got back into the field again and our time at the farm was up. With the late start and about 20% of their over 5,000 in the ground, they have their work cut out for them. We wished we could have stayed longer to help but according to Barb's plan it was time to hit the road in order to get in everything we wanted to do and meet the dates for the reservations we do have.
To all you dog lovers out there, don't forget to send your hate comments to Harry, I know he will appreciate them! So, down the road we go to a Super-Secret Undisclosed Location in the northern forests of Minnesota in a hunt for the elusive sasquatch! Wish us luck!
