Booghost on the prowl.......

I remember growing up at Ottertail and hold fond memories of my youth. The memories become more vivid and come more often as I grow older. I’ve told people over the years that I feel that my childhood was the best that anyone could have. When you are young, you want the years to pass quickly as each new age presents you with new opportunities, your own bed, or bedroom, taking a walk by yourself, or the hand-me-down bike. This continues into the early teens when you start yearning for solitude, drivers permit, and finally graduation from that damned Prentice High and figuring out just what the hell you are going to do the rest of your life.



You don’t miss anything yet because you just left it, and you can travel home for the weekend and feel comfortable and everything seems the way it should be. Then somewhere along the way things change, you’re not at home as often. Someone moved away, the general store sits empty never again to hold canned goods or wool mittens, the old barn comes down, which gives us a new great view of the east woods, but the playground of my youth is gone.



Right now I can smell the fresh cut grass and can feel the thick carpet on my bare back as the sun beats down on me, crickets singing, grasshoppers hopping, butterflies fluttering in and out of sight, as I gaze at a single white cloud that seems impossibly high in the sky, as it drifts slowly east. That dark green grass that only gets that dark in northern Wisconsin, hiding grass snakes and toads that knew I would pick them up if they left that cover.



Most of all I miss my family, my father the teacher, my mother the nurturer and my siblings no matter the differences we had. I miss that old house that gave me a lifetime of the sweetest memories anyone could ever have.




A short list of what I miss,



Feeding stones to Blackie

Running around a yard that seemed endless to a young boy

Dad coming home with fresh trout

Fresh rolls Mom just made

The sound of fat bike tires over a gravel road

The front porch, endless hours on or around that porch

Lilacs

The South garden

Secret paths around the old sheds, well we thought they were secret

Fresh wash on the line

Eating plums off the plum tree

Playing catch over the pump house

Rolling inside a tire

The gravel pit

Snow tunnels in drifts

Snowmen with leaves stuck to the snow

Skating in the swamp around tag Alders

The old apple tree

Horse tree

The rock pile

Running from hornets

The island

Playing in the woods

Coming in cold and wet to hot chocolate and fresh bread toast

Sundrop soda and popcorn Saturday night

The thunder storms rattling the windows in the middle of the night

The sun setting and sitting in the front hall feeling the warmth

Jack frost on the inside of the window

Fresh Balsam

Crappe frying

The feeble attempt at a tree house

Smoke bombs made of dried pine needles and a tin can



I miss when we all lived at home.



Now I wish I would have savored those moments more and time would have slowed down.

Tim.

Yram comes through..... kudos!

Da Blog! What an undertaking and such perseverance. When I think back on all the changes and milestones in our lives in the past year that have been chronicled here, I am sad we did not have this online journal years ago. The biggies…Liz getting married, Peggy’s Hailee joining us, Gene’s piloting adventures, trips out east and to Canada! I felt a part of it all even though I am wayyyyy out here.

Fondest memories of “Whoose cob is whose”, the apple pie caper, pictures and history of Ottertail lodge, spa week, hornet nest saga, the building of the pergola (and didn’t that turn out splendidly!), 410DUZ, hunting feasts and updates on the day to day goings on in Ogema at large. I am sure I am forgetting things but…can always look back at the archives, an added bonus! The memories are just a click away.

The best part is that the distance diminishes when I am reading a new blog or looking at the one from last week (again!). The pictures you post are amazing and I always so enjoy the shots from around the homestead. I have saved several of my favorite and here are just two of them:



Thanks to Gene and Peggy for taking the time to share your adventures. Don’t quit or else!
Here are a couple pics from my world. The first is of our lovelies Liz and Sadet and the second is John’s latest work of art…copper and redwood. Much prettier in person than in the pics…all three of the subjects!





Love to you and looking forward to the coming blog year! Yram

Thanks, Lucy!! (first in, first published)

Not being a creative writer or great philosopher, don't have 'great expectations' regarding my ramblings. This is Memorial Day and I have been thinking back to when I first moved to Ogema - 1945, almost 61 years ago. Most of the people living on hwy 13 between Ogema and Prentice are gone. The Nelsons, from Warren Carlson's old place, Jim and Dorothy, Jim Bruner's parents, Milton Larsons, Elmer Larson, Laurie Nelson and Myrl, Walter, Herb, Bernice, Oscar Nelsons, etc. But then, on the up side those places are filled with all the wonderful youngster from those families.

On Saturday, Bryn and I drove to Chetek to put plants on my parents grave, Frank and Melva. We visited a cousin of mine in the nursing home there. She is in her late 80's and I don't know if she really remembered me or not. She had never married and lived with her mother east of Chetek. She spent many years growing gladiolas for cut flowers and also sold bulbs in the fall. She kept a huge plot of flowers growing even when she could barely walk up and down the rows. She has no relatives in this north country except me. Her grandmother was a sister to my grandfather, Elwood Hampton.

Thinking back I can't imagine the work involved in building this old house in about 1908. There was no electricity here and they put so much work into the woorwork and floors, and groups of windows. Herb's father, Emil and his brother Victor built the house. They had come over here from Sweden and left the rest of their family there. I think they made two trips back in all the years. But probably the countryside reminded them of Sweden because on one of his trips, Tim had been in Finland and said the country seemed a lot like the trees, etc around Tomahawk.


Hope this is not too morbid, but life is that as well as gay, oops, I mean happy and lovely. I am really upset that one of my favorite words in the English language (gay) has been used for anything other than "showing exuberance or happy excitement: merry----but, I suppose a gay person is all of the above also!!!!!

I think I will stop all this meandering and hope to see a lot of interesting essays on the anniversary blog.

Lucy

Heads up!!!

Dohh!!!!!

Just got back from Merrill. Tuesday night fly night, teamed up with Steve and Karen in Steve's, Pat Heckart in his and me in mine and we headed north to the Irma area. We put down in a 2500', well kept grass strip on private land. The owner has a really nice hangar out there in the sticks with one very nice old Aeronca plane in it and another one in the rebuild process. Lots of parts, wings with no covering on them, endless cool junk to look at... there were four people who had driven cars there and the two people who live there. A little while later, Greg Stevenson flew in from about 10 miles north. Everyone talked and looked at the planes and talked some more. About 8:20 the three Merrill planes headed back and we got there at 8:45. A beautiful evening, especially later after the wind completely died. Smooth going and a really pretty sky. This was my first time flying with other planes, so that was good. I couldn't fly as slow as the Quicksilvers go, so I made lots of turns out to the side, then come back, etc. As for the Doh!!! above, I left my camera on the seat of the truck!!!! What a dope. I missed a major amount of opportunities tonight.
I have about a dozen solo hours in and Steve will now give an endorsement for a recurring cross-country flight so I can get the plane to Phillips!! That will happen as soon as I get in touch with (I could have said "as soon as I get with...", but I hate that.....) Al, who owns "my hangar" in Phillips. Perhaps one evening next week!
Last Sunday we had a 10 hr class in preparation for the practical Sport Pilot test, which consists of an oral section that can be a couple of hours, and a flight test that is shorter. John, a friend from Antigo, just took his tests and the flight portion was only 28 minutes. I'll be glad when this is complete.



So, you're stuck with old photos.... this is from a place north of Thunder Bay. Says these bridges, which you can see in the background (or backsky, as the case may be) are the longest cable type bridges in North America.


And here is a look back from the top to where I was just standing. Cool little gorge.


Here's a look at one bridge. They weren't too bad to cross if you pretended there was something under you... besides the ground way down there. As soon as I looked over the cable railing and saw naught but air, I was a little uneasy!! Give me an airplane any day.


Here is a view of the other span.


Peggy had no problem with going out on these things. I was hesitant. But, the place was really pretty and the bridges were awesome. I still can't figure out why someone would build these things way out in the middle of nowhere??? The little shop near the place has pictures of that gorge in the winter with ice and snow all over. People come there to do ice climbing and there are neat pictures of folks hanging on their ropes on some mammoth ice formations on the gorge walls.


Happy Memorial Day!! Is that a proper thing to say? Oh, well...............

I gotta go, Carlo

Time on my hands....

Just kidding!!!! I'm really super busy. Kinda. Just got back from a two mile walk so I feel wide awake. Here goes.

For those of you who have been here, you probably remember the flowering crab on the south lawn. It's a glorious sight out the west window of the lodge. Lucy was afraid all the rain and wind would strip the blossoms before she got back from her Eau Claire 7 day visit. But it looked just fabulous when she returned today!


As you can see, the grass harvest has begun and will continue through August/ September ..... Yee Haaaa....!!! I will have to admit that it looks O.K. when it's done, but I hate that blasted mower.


Being nice weather for a change today, I got on the motorcycle after work and buzzed around a little bit. I don't know why, but I stopped by Phillips International Airport. Here's a pic of the FBO office. Note the flags standing straight out from the staffs.....


I just included this shot to show how close Al's hangar (where I'll be renting space-hereafter called 'my hangar'....) is to my workplace. The yellowish building in the background is part of Marquip's facility. Short walk and of we go, into... well,you get the idea.


Looking down one of the taxyways you can see the work being done on runway 06-24. Looks like a major re-surfacing job. That's nice, cause I like a nice, smooth runway. And besides, it's being done with county (and probably state, maybe federal) funds, so it isn't costing anything. ;-)


Here it is, my hangar, which faces west on a freshly paved taxiway. When you make Internationl status, you get new asphalt, I guess...


Think back to the broken window episode... if you remember, the 'old squirrel hunter' stated that he/she used only .410 for squirrels. I guess that is correct, as he/she seems to have a personalized license plate in honor of his/her favorite cartridge!! So when someone asks " What cartridge gets it done for squirrels?", you can answer
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Here's a nice pic I scammed out of an email from guess-who? It looks like Caly four nigh ay people either have better cameras than Carlo or way more skill at getting the pix. Probably both.

Ivan, please forgive me for not getting out fishing this spring. My feeble brain is waterlogged from this airplane business. Can we get together soon for some fish and brews?????

I gotta go, Carlo

I'm a lazy lout......

Things have been a wee bit busy lately, but that may just be an excuse. Looks like it's been two weeks since I've written, so here goes.... and I see Peg has beaten me to the 'publish' key today!

Early in May I went to Merrill to replace the fuel pump that I had mentioned earlier. I got the work done and decided that I should maybe test the thing in flight. Weather was great so I took off and did a touch and go, and then headed West to do some maneuvers. I noticed the oil temp gauge was reading a little high, so I returned to the airport to remove the last of the "winterizing duct tape" that was on the oil cooler. I was just ready to go again when Steve pulled in , we talked a bit and he said John "red and white Challenger" was on his way, would I like to go with Steve in his 152 Cessna to meet John?

By the way isn't that first picture of one sweet little plane? It's an Ercoupe, from the mid-40's. Anyway, we headed East, found John and we all headed West again to land at Merrill. John needed to go over some things with Steve as John was going the next day to do the oral part of his practical flight test. Just as I was getting ready to go again, five planes landed and taxied to Steve's hangar. All friends and members of a local EAA chapter. So I listened and looked at the planes and took a few pictures. The blue bi-plane above was built by the guy in the picture. Not a kit, he bought plans and just built it!!!

This yellow job is a Luscombe, and also from the 40's. In the background of the first pic is the Kitfox amphibious float plane that a Wausau guy put together, so that night there were three planes from the 40's, a kit built and a built from scratch. Interesting crew. So I finally got up into the air at 7:45 and did some touch and go's until 8:30. Long night for such short flight time.

I got the last of my stuff from U.S. Ultralight Assoc. The training records will allow me to count my hours in Steve's plane toward my Sport Pilot certificate. Isn't that a nice Certificate that they sent me???


Took this shot one evening as I was on my way to Phillips. The golden streaks from the sun throught the clouds were much brighter in person, but I thought I would include it here anyway. It was one awesome evening, with rainclouds approaching and the sun blasting through where ever it could.


Spring is trying to make an entrance here in the Northwoods. The first item to show itself is this blue thing-a-ma-jig. Could it be primrose? I don't remember.


Only two tulips showed up. Lucy said there were several clumps of them in this bed last year. Where did they go??>?

The silver maple in the south yard appears to have the start of a bumper crop of seeds this year. Early in the season they look like some sort of fruit starting to grow. Looks really cool for a few days.



Nice color contrasts in the yard, with the flowering crab just starting and the hard maple next to it putting out it's pollen things (whatever they're called.) Such an appealing pale green!

Here's a close up of the maple do-dads.

We had a little snow/slush storm on Thurdsday afternoon and throught the night. Here is what was left of the snow on Saturday noon. The only place it remained was under the "source apple tree". Hoping the apple does well again this year.
That's about it from up here. I spent the day doing laundry and bedding, put the batteries in the lawn mowers and did the initial cutting. Rain showers on and off all day today, but I mowed anyway. Weather is not supposed to improve much in the coming week. I'll have to pick up the windrows of cut grass after they dry out a little, probably early in the week. It's supposed to be sunny on Tuesday, but I wouldn't bet on it... By the way, Mag, thanks for donating the Husky to the homestead. I tried it out for the first time today and it works well, especially that hydrostatic drive!!
I gotta go, Carlo