We put up our hummingbird feeder over the weekend and got to see our first hummingbirds today! One just about hit Bill in the head on the way to the feeder (as it is located about 5 feet off our deck).
It was a glorious day today and we ALMOST got the cabins completely finished. As I was talking to K at the end of the day, she asked about checking smoke detectors and fire extinguisher renewal dates. Just one more detail that I had not thought of. I am going to make a checklist (such a surprise to those who know me!) as this revisiting a cabin about a zillion times is starting to get old. Also, if we have others helping to clean, it will help ensure that everything gets checked and done.
K pushed herself too hard yesterday and so was very sore today and took it easy. It has not been easy for her to sit back and watch all of this when she is used to doing it all. We have talked about how difficult this is but that she needs to let people love on her at this time. If anyone is ever strugging with this topic, there is book called 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper which does a great job of talking about this subject.
Here is the book synopsis: As he is driving home from a minister's conference, Baptist minister Don Piper collides with a semi-truck that crosses into his lane. He is pronounced dead at the scene. For the next 90 minutes, Piper experiences heaven where he is greeted by those who had influenced him spiritually. He hears beautiful music and feels true peace.Back on earth, a passing minister who had also been at the conference is led to pray for Don even though he knows the man is dead. Piper miraculously comes back to life and the bliss of heaven is replaced by a long and painful recovery.For years Piper kept his heavenly experience to himself. Finally, however, friends and family convinced him to share his remarkable story.
Anyway, we got the cabins 99% ready to go and got the lodge cleaned. Bill and D got the fishing cleaning shack and the bait shack ready to go. Bill raked and picked up sticks around the cabins this afternoon (since quite a few showed up from the hail storm)!
Tonight we are heading over for our once a week shower...big occasion in our lives! For those of you who may come to visit, you will be happy to know that we will shower more often as the weather gets warmer and we sweat more! We are also thinking about building an outdoor shower but we really need to get our water system set up and hooked into the kitchen as the first priority. We do plan to get started on the water system once we are past this initial push to get everything ready at the resort.
This blog got pretty long so please feel free to comment if I am rambling on too long! :-)
Friday, May 13, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Heck of a Hail Storm
We woke up this morning to clouds, winds, and thunder. Bill came to the bunkhouse/office about 7:30 or so and we talked about the weather looking kind of ugly. All of a sudden, it started to hail. The first hail was pretty small (about pencil eraser size) but it kept getting bigger and bigger until we had about 1 inch hail falling fast and furious. The insulation muffled the noise inside but it was an incredible racket on the tin roof when we opened the door to listen!! As the pictures show, it looked like it snowed! We will be going to Bemidji on Thursday to have my car looked at (and we need to pick up some supplies for the resort).
Of course, just when we had most of the branches and leaves cleaned up at the resort, this storm has caused a new mess to clean up with lots of little branches, etc.
There were 4 volunteers who came to the resort this afternoon to help put all of the curtains back up and make the beds. I got to be in charge (which is just not me, right?) of assigning people to cabins and getting bedding to the cabins ahead of the crews! I also went around and touched up floors behind the crews and put out toilet paper, rugs, and garbage bags.
I have to say that I do not know how K and D did this by themselves in past years...there is a A LOT of work to getting a resort ready to open (which is not a surprise to anyone who has done this but it is surprising to us novices). Bill spent the afternoon finishing up on the dock work. He reinforced about 1/2 of the dock pieces and notched some that did not fit right over connecting bolts, etc. We are heading back this evening to work on a leak in the fishing cleaning house (from when the pipes froze last week).
Tomorrow we should will finish up the cabins - plug in fridges, turn on gas and light pilot lights, replace a few light bulbs, etc. Then we will finish cleaning up the lodge. Bill and D will be working on finishing the bait shack work (as they put in new minnow tanks this year). Amazing how long all of this takes!
Of course, just when we had most of the branches and leaves cleaned up at the resort, this storm has caused a new mess to clean up with lots of little branches, etc.
I have to say that I do not know how K and D did this by themselves in past years...there is a A LOT of work to getting a resort ready to open (which is not a surprise to anyone who has done this but it is surprising to us novices). Bill spent the afternoon finishing up on the dock work. He reinforced about 1/2 of the dock pieces and notched some that did not fit right over connecting bolts, etc. We are heading back this evening to work on a leak in the fishing cleaning house (from when the pipes froze last week).
Tomorrow we should will finish up the cabins - plug in fridges, turn on gas and light pilot lights, replace a few light bulbs, etc. Then we will finish cleaning up the lodge. Bill and D will be working on finishing the bait shack work (as they put in new minnow tanks this year). Amazing how long all of this takes!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Eagle diving for fish...really cool!
Bill and I got the last 2 rented cabins cleaned today. We still have 2 to clean but they are not rented for this weekend so we have time if needed. We have a couple of people coming to help tomorrow to put all the curtains back up, make the beds, and stock the cabins with toilet paper, garbage bags, etc. With any luck at all, we will have all the rented cabins ready by tomorrow night! We also have to finish cleaning the lodge, get the bait shack ready and filled, and do some additional work on the dock. My sister, Mary, is coming up this weekend to help us get flower beds ready. She has kindly volunteered to plant all of the flower beds with mostly perennials and K is very excited about this!
While Bill and I were cleaning today, he happened to be looking out the window when he saw an eagle drop straight out of the sky and grab a fish out of the lake! I missed seeing the eagle drop but got to see it fly off just above the water. It is pretty incredible that a bird moving that fast can just stop, grab a fish and take off again!
K went to the doctor today and they removed 2 of her drains so she only has 1 left (which is a good thing!). She is healing very well and has only a 10 pound weight lift restriction. Her arms and shoulders are sore so she has exercises to ensure that she keeps moving.
People from church will be bringing over lunch the rest of the week to help out. They are a great bunch of friends who have rallied around K and D throughout this time. Although Bill enjoys cooking, he is not going to mind a few days off as we finish getting ready for the opening weekend! I do have to say that he made some really wonderful beef stroganoff for supper tonight...I do love his cooking!!
While Bill and I were cleaning today, he happened to be looking out the window when he saw an eagle drop straight out of the sky and grab a fish out of the lake! I missed seeing the eagle drop but got to see it fly off just above the water. It is pretty incredible that a bird moving that fast can just stop, grab a fish and take off again!
K went to the doctor today and they removed 2 of her drains so she only has 1 left (which is a good thing!). She is healing very well and has only a 10 pound weight lift restriction. Her arms and shoulders are sore so she has exercises to ensure that she keeps moving.
People from church will be bringing over lunch the rest of the week to help out. They are a great bunch of friends who have rallied around K and D throughout this time. Although Bill enjoys cooking, he is not going to mind a few days off as we finish getting ready for the opening weekend! I do have to say that he made some really wonderful beef stroganoff for supper tonight...I do love his cooking!!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Dock Day!
It was a very lazy morning as we basically sat around and hung out! We got the Iowa Queen (small boat) flipped over and took it (and our laundry) over to the resort to wash. After lunch (and a nap!), Bill worked on cleaning the boat while I worked on cleaning the cabin.
We put up our hummingbird feeder as I thought I heard some hummingbirds when I was sitting outside. We are excited to see and hear all of the birds in the area. K has a CD to learn bird sounds and we are going to borrow that for a while.
This evening we got to help put in a dock. This was a first time experience for me and it was rather interesting! Due to the ice damage and the high water level, there was quite a bit of work to do on the various dock sections. I got to wear waders for the first time and I was amazed at the water pressure and how it sucked the wader tight against my skin! It was like wearing compression socks over whatever part of my body was in the water...very interesting. They certainly kept out the cold water which was great as the water is still pretty cold as I learned when I had to reach in and move cement blocks. We had 3 of us in the water and 2 guys helping from on land/dock. We ended up tipping over one section of the dock and had a bit of struggle to get it upright again but it all worked out in the end. By the end, it was getting dark and I was chilled from having wet sleeves on my T-shirt and the cool night breeze. It felt darn good to take a shower and clean/warm up! Here a few pictures when we were working on the first section of dock!
We put up our hummingbird feeder as I thought I heard some hummingbirds when I was sitting outside. We are excited to see and hear all of the birds in the area. K has a CD to learn bird sounds and we are going to borrow that for a while.
This evening we got to help put in a dock. This was a first time experience for me and it was rather interesting! Due to the ice damage and the high water level, there was quite a bit of work to do on the various dock sections. I got to wear waders for the first time and I was amazed at the water pressure and how it sucked the wader tight against my skin! It was like wearing compression socks over whatever part of my body was in the water...very interesting. They certainly kept out the cold water which was great as the water is still pretty cold as I learned when I had to reach in and move cement blocks. We had 3 of us in the water and 2 guys helping from on land/dock. We ended up tipping over one section of the dock and had a bit of struggle to get it upright again but it all worked out in the end. By the end, it was getting dark and I was chilled from having wet sleeves on my T-shirt and the cool night breeze. It felt darn good to take a shower and clean/warm up! Here a few pictures when we were working on the first section of dock!
Friday, May 6, 2011
What a glorious day!!
Wow...what a glorious day the Lord has made! K came home from the hospital and is feeling like she has been kicked by a mule (quote from her) but is glad to be out of the hospital. She hung around outside for a while as she is tired of being inside (just like the rest of us).
I got another cabin cleaned today with the help of K's sister who is up visiting for a few days. We also got 2 loads of curtains washed so we will hang those back up over the weekend. Bill helped to rake up leaves around the cabins. I also got about half a dozen chairs cleaned. They are re-upholstered metal chairs that were in a bowling alley and then in storage so they are a little dirty!!
We cooked pork steak over the fire for dinner and enjoyed a glass of Gpa Fuchs's wine. His latest medley is really quite excellent!
However, this whole scene was changed by a call from American Eagle regarding an order that I supposedly placed. You guessed it...someone got a hold of my credit card # and was ordering stuff on line. Not sure what tipped off AE to call and verify but I am appreciative of their call. The other good thing is that Discover was absolutely wonderful about verifying which charges were legit, cancelling our card, reversing the fraululent charges, etc. I talked to three different individuals at Discover and they were all wonderfully helpful. Not a major issue...just inconvenient!
We will be putting in a dock tomorrow so darn, we won't be able to attend the local smelt fry. I mean really...why would I want to eat fish with the fins and bones...not breaking my heart that we won't be able to participate in that event!
I got another cabin cleaned today with the help of K's sister who is up visiting for a few days. We also got 2 loads of curtains washed so we will hang those back up over the weekend. Bill helped to rake up leaves around the cabins. I also got about half a dozen chairs cleaned. They are re-upholstered metal chairs that were in a bowling alley and then in storage so they are a little dirty!!
We cooked pork steak over the fire for dinner and enjoyed a glass of Gpa Fuchs's wine. His latest medley is really quite excellent!
However, this whole scene was changed by a call from American Eagle regarding an order that I supposedly placed. You guessed it...someone got a hold of my credit card # and was ordering stuff on line. Not sure what tipped off AE to call and verify but I am appreciative of their call. The other good thing is that Discover was absolutely wonderful about verifying which charges were legit, cancelling our card, reversing the fraululent charges, etc. I talked to three different individuals at Discover and they were all wonderfully helpful. Not a major issue...just inconvenient!
We will be putting in a dock tomorrow so darn, we won't be able to attend the local smelt fry. I mean really...why would I want to eat fish with the fins and bones...not breaking my heart that we won't be able to participate in that event!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Surgery went well!
Why do doctors and hospitals seem to operate on the "hurry up and wait" principle? K had a double masectomy yesterday and while the surgery went well (we are very thankful for that!), it was a frustrating day of "hurry up and wait" all day long! Guess we were all meant to learn a lesson in patience yesterday (and we all know that is a lesson with which I continually struggle).
At the resort, we have 2 of the 7 cabins ready except for bedding (which we will put in next week) and we have the dock about half rebuilt. Tuesday was a beautiful spring day and we enjoyed being able to got some work done. We are hoping that this afternoon will be nice enough to get more stuff done.
We saw 30+ deer on the road on the way back from Bemidji last night (which makes driving at dusk a bit nerve wracking). We had 2 deer in our yard this morning so they must be getting used to having us around (as we have not had them that close to the cabin in the past).
While we have been here only a short time, we are amazed at much less we are spending on "stuff" yet still have everything that we need. Of course, this is much easier to do when we have no real stores within 30 miles and are living in a 16 x 20 cabin with no storage space!!
At the resort, we have 2 of the 7 cabins ready except for bedding (which we will put in next week) and we have the dock about half rebuilt. Tuesday was a beautiful spring day and we enjoyed being able to got some work done. We are hoping that this afternoon will be nice enough to get more stuff done.
We saw 30+ deer on the road on the way back from Bemidji last night (which makes driving at dusk a bit nerve wracking). We had 2 deer in our yard this morning so they must be getting used to having us around (as we have not had them that close to the cabin in the past).
While we have been here only a short time, we are amazed at much less we are spending on "stuff" yet still have everything that we need. Of course, this is much easier to do when we have no real stores within 30 miles and are living in a 16 x 20 cabin with no storage space!!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Siting of a Black Bear
We were on our way back from a trip to town (to get a new handle for the splitting maul and cuz my husband needed a road trip) when we saw a real live BLACK BEAR in the opposite ditch. We did a quick stop and backed up and the bear just sat in the sun, nibbling on grass. It was a pretty big bear...we are guessing 350 + lbs! We took pictures with an older cell phone and are now trying to figure out how to get those sent and downloaded! We could tell that one of its front paws was sore when it finally got up and lumbered off after about 10 minutes of letting us watch it. What an incredible experience to see a bear in the wild!!
Bill was also impressed on Saturday to learn a new way to split wood (from a true Northern MN wood splitter, of course)! If you just tap the wood with the splitting maul at 4 different locations and give it a split, the wood generally just splits into 4 pieces. Bill gave it a try as soon as we got home on Saturday and was amazed at how much easier this is than swinging the maul from on high for each split.
Our friend, K, is having surgery on Wednesday and is really struggling as that approaches so she is coming over to have supper (chicken medallions and wild rice...man, I love my husband's cooking!) and hang out with us so that she is not sitting home alone (as her husband, D, is at work). I pray that we are able to offer some comfort and distraction to her! Keep her in your prayers, please!
Bill was also impressed on Saturday to learn a new way to split wood (from a true Northern MN wood splitter, of course)! If you just tap the wood with the splitting maul at 4 different locations and give it a split, the wood generally just splits into 4 pieces. Bill gave it a try as soon as we got home on Saturday and was amazed at how much easier this is than swinging the maul from on high for each split.
Our friend, K, is having surgery on Wednesday and is really struggling as that approaches so she is coming over to have supper (chicken medallions and wild rice...man, I love my husband's cooking!) and hang out with us so that she is not sitting home alone (as her husband, D, is at work). I pray that we are able to offer some comfort and distraction to her! Keep her in your prayers, please!
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