June Time in the North

Thursday the 25th after work, we made the decision to go up then as we were originally scheduled to depart Friday sometime. We were on the road about 7:15pm or so and arrived up north around 11pm. Cam for some reason stayed awake the entire time. We put him to bed when we arrived and continued to unpack. The nice thing about summer is everything is on when we arrive and we really travel pretty light so we are done in no time.

Friday morning we woke and Carrie had to run to Minocqua to pick up a few odds and ends along with a swimsuit as she had forgotten hers at home. I told her it would be OK with me if she did not wear one but for some reason she was not comfortable with that. Whatever.... So off she went. Meanwhile, Cam and I dismanteled the small deck as we had a bit of an issue this past spring with the deck pushing up as one of the posts was on a rock that was not below the frost line. We got the rock out after about an hour of digging. I thought for sure it would take 3 hours so that was pretty good for us. From there, we loaded the boat on Ole Blue and headed for the lake for some fishing. Carrie was still in Minocqua and was going to meet us on the lake. At the boat launch I noticed an issue with the motor on the boat which was going to need immediate attention so I did not blow it up. The water pump impeller had stopped pumping water into the motor which would eventually overheat it. We putted around with the trolling motor for a bit and then back on the trailer after about an hour.

At home, we met up with Carrie. Cam played in the sprinkler for a bit and we had lunch. He then layed down for a nap as I took the dish down and anchored that in the ground with a 4x4 and some concrete. This is a much better setup than I had previously. Cam woke from his nap and we cleaned up the deck after the concrete was dry and also put the dish back on the 4x4 and re-aimed it into the universe. Somewhere in there I found time to get the boat to Tomahawk to the Mercury dealer and then back again to pick it up after it was fixed. $98 was the bill. Could have been much worse. We spent the afternoon at Sand Lake on the beach. From there to dinner at Schaffers Wharf on Lake Nokomis. We had fish on the lakeside deck there and headed over to the windmill for ice cream. Home to put Cam to bed. We were expecting our neighbors late Friday night and they did arrive about 9:30 or so. Once they were all settled, we had a few beers on the deck and did some star gazing.

Saturday we woke to cloudy skies. We had planned on going out in the boat if it was nice. We knew it was going to rain, so we loaded up the atv's and headed to my dad's for some fun. Brian and I left around 8:00am or so. We went all around the trails and it rained buckets on us. Once the rain started, it was way more fun as all the trails were covered with mud and water. We got wet. Home around 1:30 or so and then Carrie and Sam left to do the same. Biian and I hung out with Cam and Ryder at the cottage. Not much work was done then. Ladies were back around 6 as I would cooking dinner. The rain had let up so we ate dinner and built a fire for the night. Good stories and good company by the fire is always a good time.



Sunday we got up to windy and partly cloudy. We again were going to try the boat but the wind was pretty nasty. We went out to Deakin Shores for breakfast and then headed up to the Wildlife Zoo just west of Minocqua. That was better than I thought it was going to be. A bit expensive but Cam had a good time. Back home then, I started and finished installing a screen door on the cottage. Carrie had wanted one for years and I finally got off my butt and got it done.



Packed up and headed home. Back to Pewaukee by 6:30 or so. Cam to the bath, and me to wash the prius as it looked like it had been through a vietnam jungle with all the bugs on it or so my dad says.

Lesson of the week - Make sure there is water coming out of your blow-hole so you don't overheat her.

Father's Day Weekend

Friday June 19th, Carrie, Cam and I headed for the cottage. Our plan was to drop off Cam and Senta at the cottage with Carrie's parents as they had been there all week. We would then travel to Land O Lakes, WI and stay at our old house for the weekend.

Arrived at the cottage around 7:30 or so and then we were on the road again heading for LOL. Got there and unpacked and went to bed. Saturday we woke early as we were scheduled to fish with a guide on the Cisco Chain west of LOL. We fished with an old friend of ours, Patrick Sheehan who was also a musky guide. Check out his site HERE . We met at Bent's Camp around 8am and were on the water about 10 minutes later. A little instruction and we were off for the day. We fished about 10 minutes and I hooked into a 18" Northern. Back in the lake with that one. Headed to a new spot. 10 minutes later, Carrie using a top water bait caught a 42" Musky.







From there we kept heading north on the chain. We continued to fish for the day until around lunch. Patrick raised a 48" - 50" around 1:00pm. This was the one we were after. It hung around for about 5 minutes as he continued to do figure 8's but would not come back up for the hit. We continued on again and finished out the day at that same spot that we raised the big one and then over to where Carrie caught hers. It was a great day of fishing. The weather was fantastic at 82 and sunny all day. From there we went back to LOL for dinner. Cam along with Grandma and Grandpa were already there from our cottage to spend the night with us. Cam swam while we had a few beers and ordered pizza for dinner from Grizzlies.

Sunday morning, Carrie and Bob took the lines with Patrick again. They were fishing for Walleyes on the Cisco again. They managed to boat about 15 walleyes and kept 2 eyes and 1 northern. Patrick filetted them up for them and they were on their way. Meanwhile, Cam, Grandma, and myself went up to Bond Falls in Michigan for pictures as it was fathers day. We got quite a few good pictures and had a good time to that. We all gathered back in LOL and went for a pontoon boat ride on Moon Lake to checkout the sites and then packed up and headed back to the Bearskin Creek Retreat for the night.







Cam rode his atv a bit once we got there while we made some leftovers for dinner. We retired and watched a bit of TV until bed time. I did manage to pick up another Razor moto-x bike over the weekend for myself to ride with Cam. Checkout it out....



Monday, We woke up to Cameran yelling "get down here, I have to show you something!" There in the middle of our driveway was a snapping turtle laying eggs. Looks like she tried to dig 5 holes total before picking this spot. She was there for about 3 hours or so until she was done. Grandma and Grandpa got up and took off by about 8am. Carrie and Cam and I headed over to my dad's house to give him his fathers day present and hang out for an hour. Once home, Cam washed up his atv cuz "it was dusty". We did a few chores around the cottage and packed up for home.





We were home in Pewaukee around 5pm.

A great weekend for fathers day. The best one I have ever had.

Lesson of the weekend - Don't take your wife fishing as she may out fish you!

Finally June and 48 degrees?

Seems like I write the same story over and over here.

Friday June 5, we packed and headed for the north. We arrived around 8:30 and unpacked. It was a nice drive and did not have hardly any traffic. Bob and Donna were already there and had beaten us by about 15 minutes or so. Off to bed.

Saturday it was partly sunny. Bob loaded the boat and left with Cam and Donna for fishing out on Lake Katherine. They did pretty good for the day and came home with 20 keepers. Cam had a good time out there with both Grandma and Grandpa. Meanwhile back on the ranch, I mowed the lawn while Carrie took a 50 minute run. Once she was back I put her to work digging a trench for both the satelite and the power for the garage. Together we got that done. Now we just need an electrician to get the wire into the house.



Right after that, I made a new trail for Cameran for his ATV on the backside of the garage. We only have 1.67 acres up there but he still manages to have fun on the little trails we cut for him.



The fishing crew arrived back at home around 1:30 so we made up some lunch quick and laid Cam down for a nap as he fell apart around 2:00 or so. From there, not much was done, we drank a few beers in the garage and it started raining enough that we did not want to be outside. Cooked dinner at home and packed it in for for night.

Sunday was more of the same. It was 45 when we woke and about 48 when we left. A nice "summer" day. Thank you Al Gore. Cam did get his riding in. I ran to my Dad's house to get Cameran's training wheels welded for his new MotoX bike in Pewaukee. We made lunch and left around 1:30 and back to the house around 5 or so.



Lesson of the weekend - Digging ditches sucks.