Did We Skip A Season?

What an unusual summer and fall we have had. It was rain, rain, rain most the summer with a few sunny days thrown in there and very much on the cooler side. Then September brought us summer with day after day of warm, sunshine. It cleaned all the mold off of us.
Soon as October rolled around, we skipped fall and went into winter. Fall is one of my favorite times of year with the blend of spectacular yellow, red, and orange leaves against the evergreens. It floods my soul with flutterbursts of awe and appreciation for all God's creation. I wish I could make it stay for two months at least. Maybe we'll be surprised and have a warm Indian summer in November. However it turns out, we did get our first blizzard the beginning of October. Even though it is too early, those heavy white flakes ARE beautiful. It was so thick we could hardly see to the other side of the river.
Maybe we'll have an early spring?????

Training Season

With the cool weather comes the excitement of dog training. Joanna goes into high gear when the temps dip below 40 degrees F. That means it's time to get out the four wheeler and hook up the dogs for their conditioning for winter trips and dog sled races. It really is a spectacular sight the first time she comes roaring down the hill from the dog yard along the front of the camp and onto the 325 road, heading for the logging roads. She always trains her racing team first since they need the most miles on them. The training begins with short four mile runs for a little while, then up to six mile, eight mile and so on till she's doing 30 to 40 mile runs. The more miles you can get on them before a race, the tougher and better prepared they are and less chance of injury. John and Joanna take excellent care of their dogs and Joanna is becoming a very sought after breeder with the good blood lines she's developed in the kennel.

First Moose of the Season

Moose season is in full swing now. The temperatures have been much cooler this year than last. A member of Ray Talbot's group came up with this huge bull Moose, the first one in camp. Seeing them up close never ceases to fill me with awe. It must be quite a thrill to not only see one, but to claim it for your own. Another group was able to get a calf.

Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall

I guess I was playing the part of Humpty Dumpty. Although I wasn't sitting on a wall, I was on a ladder leaning against a wall. Joanna and I were attempting to finish up some staining on the side of our two story house during one of the two last warm days of summer, Friday September 25th. Joanna was working on the lower parts while I was on the ladder finishing some higher parts. Of course we were on a side hill which made it a bit more precarious as I had to block one side of the foot of the ladder to try to keep it level. John's last admonition to me was, " Be sure you use big enough boards to block your ladder so it doesn't slip." I looked around but just found a few smaller boards and didn't want to waste any more time looking. (Next time I will look longer.)
As I was making a few final sweeps of the brush above the first floor windows, I felt the ladder sliding off my blocking and knew I was headed to the ground. I landed full force on my right foot and smashed both ankle bones royally. John rushed me to the Dryden hospital for emergency care where they set the bones in place and put on a cast. The following Monday, John drove me to the Thunder Bay hospital for reconstructive surgery with pins and plates in my ankle. I commend the care of the doctors and nurses in both hospitals. They did an excellent job.
Now I have some forced rest on the sofa with my leg in the air. John and Joanna are excellent care givers- what more could I ask for? Maybe a little more common sense.

Fun With the Little Ones

Adam Larson,the husband of John's niece,(pictured on the right) and Eric Oberg, John's nephew (pictured on the left),came up for a first time visit to Agimac River Outfitters. They had heard about the great fishing and plenteous blueberries and wanted to know if the stories were true. It didn't take them long to find out. They hooked a number of Walleyes and got this 37 inch Northern Pike as well. It was also surprising how many blueberries they took home after just a short time of picking; enough to make a number of blueberry pies, I'm sure.
Eric's son, Lawrence and Adam's daughter, Gloria are pictured behind their parents.

King of the Smallmouth

Ernie Baker is John's stepfather. He and Nona, John's mother, have been with us in this new venture with the camp from the beginning. I don't know what we would have done without their support in every way. Nona and her deceased husband started a resort from scratch in northern Minnesota which is still being run to this day by Larry Oberg, John's brother and his wife and family. It's called Timber Wolf Point Resort in Buyck, Minnesota.
Ernie and Nona go south to Texas in the winter and come north to stay at Timber Wolf Point in the summer. They come up from there to visit us at Agimac River Outfitters. Nona is a superb blueberry picker and a true pioneer woman. She has grit. We look forward every summer to having Ernie and Nona come to stay with us. They are such fun.
Ernie really enjoys going fishing on Indian Lake, especially for those delicious Walleyes. But it seems that he has quite a propensity for snagging large, smallmouth bass. So, we nicknamed him the King of the Smallmouth. Here is a picture of one of his beauties and a picture of Ernie and Nona together.