Boundary Waters

I recently went on a canoe trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota. Pictures may be forthcoming, but then again they might not be. I make no guarantees. But I will tell you about our trip. I went with Mr. Schutt, Mr. Kling (Mr. Shutt's new son in law), David, Isaiah, Daniel, and Austin.

I quickly earned the nickname "paddling machine," because they said I paddled like there was no tomorrow, and they also said I had this look in my eyes that could freeze steel... hmm, I'll have to remember how to do that look. Everybody wanted me in their canoe. That's a good feeling.

I saw fresh moose tracks, some of them only 15 minutes old. I also saw fighting crawdads, one of which was blue. I saw some leeches about 8 inches long. When we were canoeing through some windy river areas,m which were full of beaver dams, I saw muskrat poop on nearly every rock. I also saw a lot of mink and otter poop. We even saw a muskrat, which Mr. Schutt named Suzie, and we saw a beaver.

I caught 2 northern pike. One of them was about 2 feet long, making it the largest fish I have caught. Austin brought with him some smelt for fish bait, which, when he saw that they weren't catching any fish, he cooked up and gave to me. And I ate them. Mmm.

Yesterday, our last day, we had our longest portage. It was 480 rods long, which is exactly 1 1/2 miles. When we portaged, everyone would carry their packs, which averaged around 55 pounds, and then some people would carry a canoe as well, while carrying their packs. They carried the canoes on their shoulders, just like a voyageur, although these canoes were doubtlessly a lot lighter than a wooden canoe. These were kevlar and only weighed about 45 pounds each.

Because I have things to do and places to be, I can say no more. But I would definitely go there again, and I think just about anyone would love it.

Convention

This past weekend I went to Chisholm, MN, to meet with roughly 2000 other trappers from around the state. We got there early Friday morning, and I stayed until late on Sunday afternoon.

Friday morning, as soon as we got there, I went to a MN Trappers' Association Instructor course. The MTA pays to educate anyone who wants to become a trapper, and the instructors are all volunteers. I became an instructor and got certified, making me one of the youngest instructors the MTA has had.

Friday evening, I wandered around for a while until I found some friends from Tman. I had brought my guitar, and when they found out, they asked me to play for them. This is the picture they took of me.While I was hanging out there, a tough Minnesotan fellow came beeboppin' along with his prize...
Here is a picture of a great trap which was embedded in a great looking log bench. The trap is worth about $125, and I think the bench sold for about $400.
Here is a picture of our friend Cedar. She and her husband 160user are great people, and I'm glad to know them.
I stayed with a few of the other folks from the MTA and helped clean up on Sunday. This is a picture of us after we had put all the tables away. In order from left to right: Wheelers, Julie (Wheelers' wife), Mr. Gary, Bogmaster, Mr. McElmury, and then, on the far right, you can see me standing in front of a few ladies... I believe they are Mrs. M :)
So that's what I did this past weekend. Now I just got a phone call from a fellow from church, he wanted to know if I could go to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with him and some friends this next week. Heck yes. I got some videos from the last trip we took together, but unfortunately I am not too good with a computer and therefore cannot get those where you can see them. However, I am sure my mother or my sister could do it and make it look easy, so I will let them do it.

Blogging philosophical

From Atlas Shrugged, first published in 1957:

"Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion -- when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing -- when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors -- when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you -- when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice -- you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.

Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men's protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked: 'Account overdrawn.'"