We've each shot a few deer there (Dave, you were the first). This is where my daughter Anne shot her first deer......and her second deer........this year how many Anne? Both bucks were dropped with a Winchester model 88 in .243. Sweet little lever action. I will write another article about a few of my guns at another time.
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| Dave |
Anyway, the boys and I promised Paul we'd help out at his cabin. We finally picked September 11th as the day to get the work done. Bittersweet as we each thought of those who died on this day in 2001. The work consisted of loping down one complete Boxelder, a large limb off a second Boxelder (both trees threatened to wipe out the pole barn roof) and remove two stumps in front of the cabin.
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| Axe murderer? |
Kayla's good friend Conner tackled the stumps while the old men cut down the trees. Kayla and her cousin Sam made a fire (the correct way using gasoline) to burn all the sticks and limbs these Boxelders were to produce. With a fire raging and chainsaws screaming we starting cutting away. We were full of energy due to loading up on coffee and donuts in Clearwater. Conner drank a gallon of some yellow pop - Dew or Sprite.
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| Cousins |
The large limb came down quickly and was cut into a burn pile and a log pile. Jin and his Farm Boss made light work of the project.
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| Hee Man! |
My little old Homelite continues to hum along. I bought this from my brother in law Brock many years ago. Thanks Brock - it still works great! Conner was digging around that big stump and swinging an axe and a sledgehammer. Go Conner go!
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| Push Conner! |
Next the big tree, we looked at it, looked at the roof, talked about it, looked at the roof, looked at each other and burned brush.
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| Da roof |
We came back to the tree and hooked up a rope 15 feet off the ground. Looked at it some more, consulted Conner, talked about it...............finally Dave said let's go for it. I grabbed Jin's Farm Boss and starting cutting about chest high on the tree while the others were pulling like mad. Dad must have been pulling and praying because the tree dropped exactly were we wanted it to go. Thanks for praying Dad! Conner continued to work on the big stump now with a huge come along Jin bought for $3 at a garage sale. Conner cut his pinky and Dad pulled out a bandaid to patch him up. Kayla was no where to be found as she was having too much fun on Paul's Polaris Sportsman!
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| Hold on Gramps! |
Being naturally lazy I hopped on the Craftsman riding mower and cut the grass as the guys continued to burn brush and watch Conner work on the stump. The kid was tireless. Eventually Dave gave him a hand hooking up the come along. They worked the come along while Conner pushed and chopped at the poor stump.
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| Done! |
Kayla was feeding the troops while we fought flies that were recently liberated from the outhouse. You are correct - yuck!
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| White man build big fire.....eat far away |
Jin setup Dad with a Red Ryder to shoot at some cans. Dad, have you ever taken gun safety?? Conner ate quick and with the added energy tore out the stump and slam dunked it into the fire! Nice work Conner! Soon Jin produced his Ruger 10/22 and did some shooting,but his Black Lab Carmen and Dave's Springer named Ernie got in the way. Choosing not to accidentally shoot the dogs, he put the gun away after Dad shot 10 or 20 rounds.
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| Hounds! |
Soon the second stump, which was much smaller was pulled out by yours truly and it was time to go home. Marilyn, who'd been quiet all day in the thorn bushes, asked us to haul all the dead plumb branches to the fire. The super hot fire made short work of the plumb branches. Man those thorn were intense. I thought of the crown of thorns on our Lord's head. Thanks for going through with it for us Lord!
The original fire pit was covered in hot coals. We took water from Paul's new well and completely doused the fire. The place looked like the Monticello Nuke plant on a cold day as steam poured out like crazy.
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| Dad with the well in blue and Marilyn tearing up the brush |
With a trailer full of Boxelder logs, tools, and a neat old Schmidt can, we took off towards home. We drove past the farm to check on the Anderson and Johnson soybeans (future story). Then off to Marilyn's brother Steve's house to check on the sleepy Matthew and the alert Stephanie. We met their Norwegian exchange student and stopped at Geneo's for dinner. I ate a 1/2 broasted chicken and I felt like a two week old tick on a German Shepard. I burped from Long Prairie to Elk River. Conner thought I was gonna barf! We dropper Conner off and got home about 10.
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